E Street Band Clemons, Federici, Lopez, Sancious, Tallent and Van Zandt honed their skills in numerous bands, both with and without Springsteen. These included Little Melvin & the Invaders, the Downtown Tangiers Band, the Jaywalkers, Moment of Truth, Glory Road, Child, Steel Mill, Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom, the Sundance Blues Band, and the Bruce Springsteen Band. In 1972, when Springsteen gained a recording contract with CBS, he picked the cherries among Jersey Shore musicians to record – and to tour in support of – his debut album, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." By 1973, they had recorded a second album with
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