entertainment editor. One of his
journalism classes was taught
by the editor of the Asbury Park
Press, a publication for “the city
on the Jersey Shore where I grew
up and where Bruce Springsteen
gets his start.”
The Asbury Park editor hired
Santelli out of college as the
music critic.
“Bruce Springsteen is just
coming up during this time, just
starting to emerge as a major
artist,” explained Santelli. “To go
from the newspaper to national
magazines was really due to
access to Bruce Springsteen and
to the band.”
He added, “I was the guy who
was witnessing it all and got a
chance to write about it and that
led me to a career in journalism.”
His career took flight, along with
his marriage. “It was one of those
Jersey Shore, Bruce Springsteen,
boardwalk kind of stories.”
Many people tell him “Born to
Run” should be his anthem,
because, as he puts it, traveling
is in his genetic make-up. “I need
When I hear
a song or an
album or an
artist that
absolutely
knocks me
over, I can still
connect with
that same kind
of energy and
that same kind
of passion I had
when I was 16.”
to do this,” he said. “This is part of
my DNA — to move and to go —
I’m blessed with a lot of energy
and the ability to stay disciplined
and focused on the task at hand,
so it ‘s not that big a deal.”
“I need it,” he repeats. “I have a
sense of inner motion that needs
to be fulfilled.”
His instinct to roam and hunt
for stories fit his wife’s desire to
stay at home, which is how they
raised their three children.
“I really felt that it was more
important to experience than
to accumulate money or homes
or furniture or whatever,” so he
pursued “these incredible oncein-a-lifetime opportunities and
experiences.”
If music was his siren call to
journalism, freelance writing
was his lifeline. “I wrote about
bicycling, skin diving, surfing,
wind surfing, hiking, whatever I
could to earn a living.”
Some of the ways that he speaks
about the thrills offered to
him through freelance writing
downplay the grueling discipline
required of his being the
breadwinner of his family. As a
young surfer, he often woke at
5 a.m. to scout the rare waves
suitable for his sport. This habit
served his writing process.
“When I was writing full time,” he