Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. the pre-Christmas crush. Both "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night" were released as singles by Columbia, but neither reached the U.S. charts. Manfred Mann's Earth Band released a version of "Blinded by the Light" on their album "The Roaring Silence", which reached number one on Billboard's Hot 100 on 19 February 1977 and #1 on the Canadian RPM chart the same day. This recording of "Blinded by the Light" is Springsteen's only number one single as a songwriter on the Hot 100. His best showing on the Hot 100 as a performer was in 1984, with "Dancing
Asbury Park, New Jersey eminent domain of the Board of Education building on Lake Avenue. The Board of Education moved to the third and fourth floors of 603 Mattison Avenue, the former "Asbury Park Press" building, where it paid $189,327 in rent per year. In February 2007, the offices of the Asbury Park Board of Education were raided by investigators from the State Attorney General's office, prompted by allegations of corruption and misuse of funds. Per-student expenditures in Asbury Park have generated statewide controversy for several years. In 2006, "The New York Times" reported that Asbury Park "spends more than $18,000 per student each