  String Theory includes a plethora of higher-spin excitations, which clearly
lie behind its most spectacular properties, but whose detailed behavior is
largely unknown. Conversely, string interactions contain much useful
information on higher-spin couplings, which can be very valuable in current
attempts to characterize their systematics. We present a simplified form for
the three-point (and four-point) amplitudes of the symmetric tensors belonging
to the first Regge trajectory of the open bosonic string and relate them to
local couplings and currents. These include the cases first discussed, from a
field theory perspective, by Berends, Burgers and van Dam, and generalize their
results in a suggestive fashion along lines recently explored by Boulanger,
Metsaev and others. We also comment on the recovery of gauge symmetry in the
low-tension limit, on the current-exchange amplitudes that can be built from
these couplings and on the extension to mixed-symmetry states.
