From: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org (LuckyTown Digest) To: luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Subject: LuckyTown Digest V9 #74 Reply-To: luckytown@luckytown.org Sender: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Errors-To: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Precedence: bulk LuckyTown Digest Wednesday, August 21 2002 Volume 09 : Number 074 NOTE: Sale/trade posts should be emailed to luckytown-ads, *NOT* to luckytown. That includes tix wanted/tix grovels, post them to luckytown-ads, please. Contents: Vegas observations ["Mark Landefeld" ] Eating my words in Portland [Adrienne ] Bruce proved it all night in Portland,Oregon [melissa turner ] RE: MSG Sound [EWiseman@STSSystems.com] Letterman show inclusion ["M. Conens" ] Time Magazine Letters To Editor [TTrulis510@aol.com] No mor Levis for The Boss and a tour thought ["theboss" ] Plan B [Newman541@aol.com] Darlington County [TicCR@aol.com] Al Gore Springsteen tix ["M. Conens" ] PHX Pre-show ["Bill Condon" ] Rumble Doll feedback ["Dave Rotella" ] article @expectingrain.com re:Bruce [kent archibald Subject: Vegas observations Having a couple days to reflect on the Las Vegas show, I wanted to offer a couple observations about the show, my first of this tour. I'll leave the usual setlist review to other LTD posts. The show left me with indelible impressions from the "videocast" in the show. First, I am convinced that Bruce's meticulous attention to the sound check is probably duplicated for the video shots presented on the stage projector screens. Not to say that the video experience is "staged" but rather carefully choreographed for effect in parts of several songs. Together with the lighting, there are several incredibly striking images that I'll remember and look for in future shows on this tour. The Rising # Bruce is backlit, very dimly, and his face is shrouded in blackness. Suddenly the narrative of a fireman who "can't see nothing in front of me" hits you in a way I couldn't have imagined in the show # very powerful stuff. Worlds Apart # During the instrumental opening, Bruce faces stage left # (towards Mecca?) and arches his back, face to the sky, eyes closed with a meditative or prayerful look on his face. With red gel spotlights shining softly on his slightly bearded face, the effect is VERY Middle-East. When I read the Derek Simmonsen's Washington Times review of last week's show, I thought it was odd that Bruce took the stage with the stubble of a couple days growth. When he first appeared on camera in the LV show, I thought it was even stranger. Now I'm convinced it is by design. Later in the song, when Bruce and Patti share a microphone, the camera shoots them facelessly from behind Patti's head, keeping the lovers' narrative "anonymous" # even when the shot on the screens switches to a stage-front camera, Bruce and Patti are out-of-focus # maintaining the effect. World's Apart is a great departure for the group -- and certainly not overly long as it weaves its sonic tapestry. I'm enjoying listening to the ESB stretch out musically. Nil's banjo playing opposite Suzie's strings are sounds I never expected to hear from this group # to be so pleasantly surprised by the musical variety of thirty-year-old band is a real treat. During the encores Bruce made a plea for everyone to watch what is happening to our Civil Liberties in this (post 9/11) time # very pertinent to the tone of this show. He ended it with by noting that keeping your head in the newspapers and staying informed was part-of-the-program "When you're Born In The U.S.A." And surprisingly, we heard the FULL BAND ANTHEM version of BIUSA # something I feared Ronald Reagan had cheated us out of. While I've enjoyed Bruce's solo Delta Bluesy/Far Eastern renditions over the years, this song has always remained an American anthem to me # warts-and-all proud and loud! Not-so-pleasant observation # Empty Sky's lyric "I want an eye for an eye" has a following that chooses to "Whoop" their approval in the middle of a pretty somber song. OK, I understand where the sentiment is coming from, but I think this song is way more about the feeling of loss than it is about vengeance, so count me among those who will appreciate all the space that can be put between me and the Whoopers. My only quibble with the performance # the opening of My City of Ruins finds Bruce moving Roy off his bench so he can play the first stanza on piano. Moving Roy out looks a little cumbersome when he does it and got me speculating (for a moment) that I'd hear "The Promise" for only my third time ever! Message to Jon L. and anbody else with the show # WE KNOW Bruce is the narrator of the song # keep Bruce at the center stage microphone and let Roy enjoy a well-deserved spotlight on the MCOR opening. Roy and Danny's work doesn't get featured enough and this move by Bruce looks a little piggish # if you're not going to play the WHOLE song on piano, why displace one of the best rock'n roll piano players. (Echoes of Roy's long intro to Prove It All Night and emotive work on Point Blank running through my brain as I type this). So despite the setlist predictability, I think the show still brings a few pleasant surprises to the table. I'm looking forward to see if any other "one night stand" specials like "Viva Las Vegas" creep into the show # and whether we'll catch Bruce staring$almost painfully$at the teleprompter on those occasions. Mark Landefeld San Jose, CA (see ya on 9/27!) _________________________________________________________________ Join the world's largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 00:38:25 -0700 From: Adrienne Subject: Eating my words in Portland Just wanted to report that tonight's show in Portland rocked my ass off and made me eat my whining words about the general admission situation. Bruce has democratized the front rows, and the opportunity avails anyone with $75 and a day off. The show was truly one of the best I ever seen. Yesterday I was agreeing with many of LTers' complaints, but tonight I'm right back where I was 20 years ago--just feeling lucky to be in the room. On a humorous note...Bruce greeted the crowd "Hey Portland. Nice city you have here. I was married here once myself." Then he looks over at Patti and she gives him that look, so he says "Oops! What was I thinking??" They were both laughing when the crowd started chanting "Patti! Patti!" I hope all of you have a million chances to see Bruce and the band. If I never see them again, I'm going to hang on tight to tonight's show. Peace, Adrienne abinor@prodigy.net ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 11:23:21 -0700 (PDT) From: melissa turner Subject: Bruce proved it all night in Portland,Oregon The Rose Garden Show-Portland,Oregon(8/20)Was a Springsteen fan's candy store. The show was flawless- First the content; A beautiful mix of the emotional,analytical,and life's sadness,coupled with the unbridaled joy and feeling that one's glad to be alive, that is the 'Message of Bruce.' I feel that the music's blend and song order was a microcosm of how life presents itself-Just through everyday living,day in,day out- the positive and the negative,bitter and sweet, and goodness rising up through the ashes. And to quote Springsteen/Badlands " It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive." Secondly,the energy level of the show,the sound quality,Bruce's interaction with the audience,E-street band,lighting,length of show- all superior.Bruce gave us his all, and even a little more... __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs http://www.hotjobs.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:59:26 -0700 From: "M. Conens" Subject: Springsteen sues PA bar this from salon.com: Springsteen, Bon Jovi sue Pa. bar ASSOCIATED PRESS Aug. 18, 2002 | PITTSBURGH (AP) -- 'The Boss' doesn't hit town on tour until December, but a lawsuit filed on behalf of Bruce Springsteen and rocker Jon Bon Jovi has already arrived in federal court. The rockers, both members of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, are suing a local bar for allegedly playing their music without a license. The lawsuit, filed Friday by the ASCAP on behalf of Springsteen, Bon Jovi and Universal-Polygram International Publishing Inc., says RPM's in Bridgeville is not allowed to play music by ASCAP members without paying an annual $2,818 fee. The lawsuit alleges RPM's continues to play 'Born in the U.S.A.' by Springsteen, and 'Wanted Dead or Alive' and 'Bed of Roses' by Bon Jovi, despite being warned repeatedly not to do so. The defendants are J&J 1020 Restaurant Inc., the corporate owner of RPM's, and its owner, Joan Martin. Martin was out of town and could not be reached for comment Saturday. The suit seeks $750 to $30,000 in damages and a permanent ban on the use of ASCAP music at RPM's. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 16:28:27 -0400 From: EWiseman@STSSystems.com Subject: RE: MSG Sound Replying to JZellers@dhhs.state.nh.us re : MSG Sound, I was in sec 328 row M, and can confirm the exceptional sound, I was very pleasantly surprised. I could hear everything perfectly and my ears did not hurt at all - a first time for both. As for the material, it was great to hear so much from the Rising, it's what I expected. The crowd was generally supportive and cooperative save for the isolated cheer during the phrase "I want an eye for an eye". I also agree that Bruce can lose the pre-recorded samples during Worlds Apart, the song can easily be performed without them. I need to thank a very special person who miraculously got me a ticket the same day by watching posted ads by extra ticket holders, safely got me down on the subway to meet my contact and accommodated me for the night. And he didn't even have a ticket for himself. Gary, you're the best! And I thank you, Chris, for agreeing to sell to a stranger! Earle ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 12:14:36 -0700 From: "M. Conens" Subject: Letterman show inclusion Monday, Aug. 19, during a sketch where stage manager Biff Henderson uses a stopwatch to time ridiculous things: He timed how long it took to open up a new copy of The Rising, with the title track playing in the background. I don't recall how long it eventually took because, frankly, after 20 seconds had elapsed my interest in the sketch was wavering. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 14:50:02 -0400 From: TTrulis510@aol.com Subject: Time Magazine Letters To Editor Hey LTer's, in this weeks Time Magazine's letters to the editor, some really nasty remarks about the Bruce cover story. One in particular questions Bruce's abilty to heal with his music. Here is my letter in response. "In a previous letter, Mr Sprenger calls Springsteen's attempt to heal the wounds of a nation with his music "despicable". Evidently Mr Sprenger does not have much faith in the power of music. I guess the hymns we have been singing in church for the last thousand or so years are not so much for comfort but jingles to incite the faithful. Never heard of Woodstock either." Cheers, Tom T. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 10:41:28 -0400 From: "theboss" Subject: No mor Levis for The Boss and a tour thought For those keeping score: Bruce no longer wears Levis. He has joined the ranks of pro hockey players and the fashion elite. He now is wearing Diesel Jeans. I also wear Diesel jeans and I thought the stitch on his pocket looked familiar, when he got next to me on the side of the stage I noticed the label on the front pocket. They were black either the Kulter or Kratt Style. They look like they for sure were custom tailored. My sister adds "They make his ass look so good" He also had on Nike shoes. They make a line of semi-formal type shoes with the air sole hidden. About the tour, I loved hearing the new songs but when he did Thunder Road and some other old songs I sorta got a wierd feeling like it....I don't know how to put it in words it was strange. I love Bruce, I wish it was 1977 again, in a live show scence. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 21:58:43 -0400 From: "John Crane" Subject: Tickets I was just checking out dates for The Counting Crows on their website. They have put up a feature where you can buy tickets on their website. This is their blurb... We are proud to introduce Counting Crows Ticketing, our new system that allows you to buy tickets online, directly from the band for upcoming shows, in an effort to reduce the high surcharges and to offer a more convenient ticketing option. Please CLICK HERE to buy tickets now! I got 2 tickets for NYC and they charged a $4.50 surcharge per ticket. This saved a few bucks, but the nice thing is that they are not available on Ticketmaster until 8/22. A nice gesture to get tickets out to the "hardcore" fan! We'll be in Albany in December......looking forward to it! - - John [text/html attachment deleted] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:24:35 EDT From: Newman541@aol.com Subject: Plan B Based on the laws of Supply and Demand, it appears that I will not find a pair to Albany. I am thinking of the drop line as Plan B. I would like to know what kind of experiences and success people have had particularly in CAA and MSG where demand was so great. Can tickets realistically be gotten? How far in advance do you need to get there? Do they drop seats or GA? Let me know before I go to Plan C and head out of the Northeast. Rob Newman541@aol.com PS I am still open to Plan A if anyone has an Albany Pair to sell at face + shipping. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 00:36:16 EDT From: TicCR@aol.com Subject: Darlington County In a message dated 8/19/02 9:29:12 PM, owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org writes: << >> "Our pa's each own one of the World Trade Centers", Good lord, I'd forgotten about that. I wonder if he'll ~ever~ (great, now you've got me doing the tilde thing) play that song again. not that I'll miss it terribly.. >> In a message dated 8/19/02 9:29:12 PM, owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org writes: << >> "Our pa's each own one of the World Trade Centers", Good lord, I'd forgotten about that. I wonder if he'll ~ever~ (great, now you've got me doing the tilde thing) play that song again. not that I'll miss it terribly.. >> Well, he did sing it (line intact) at the benefit shows at the Stone Pony in April for the Rumson County Day School. Phyllis ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 17:54:13 -0700 From: "M. Conens" Subject: Al Gore Springsteen tix This from the Washington Post, about the Al/Tipper Gore ticket 'request': Finally, Fox News writer Roger Friedman on a couple of Bruce Springsteen fans ­ with a classic anonymous cheap shot: "Take, for example, former Vice President Al Gore and his lovely wife, Tipper. Sources close to them and to Springsteen tell me Tipper tried to get free tickets to the Springsteen show for the entire Gore staff. When that didn't work, and she was told even paid admission would be hard to come by, the ex-second lady persisted. "'They wound up being offered four,' says my source. 'But when they were asked to pay $75 apiece, they said forget it. And you know, that's why Gore isn't president, in a nutshell.'" We'll resist telling you that Gore was born to run. But wait! Salon charges that Fox is fudging and maybe even fabricating: "By midday, Gore's spokesman had spammed political reporters to insist Fox got the story wrong. "'Tipper Gore did not ask for free tickets, ever,' says Gore spokesman Jano Cabrera. 'In fact, she has tickets, four of them, that she paid for ­ $75 each.' Cabrera says he did not know where Tipper bought the tickets, but pointed out that Al never had any plans to attend the Springsteen show; Tipper will take 'three of her friends' to the concert, including one member of Al Gore's staff. "Springsteen's publicist and record label did not return calls yesterday, but Fox kept serving up its story. Network officials refused calls from Cabrera to modify or remove the story on their Web site, saying they stood by their source. Sources close to Gore said the network didn't back down even when Tipper called personally to lodge a complaint." Paging Ken Starr. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 07:40:07 -0500 From: "Bill Condon" Subject: PHX Pre-show Hi Have any LT folks planned on a pre-show meeting before Phoenix. I am flying in from Dallas and wanted something to do before the show. Please email me . condoaggie@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 09:11:27 -0400 From: "Dave Rotella" Subject: Rumble Doll feedback In reading a few previous posts I noticed that Patti's Rumble Doll had been mentioned. This was a great, great disc! Really...not just because she is the wife of my favorite artist. The entire disc is backed by Tom Petty's Heartbreakers....just having Bentmont Tench and Mike Campbell in your band should make it a good piece of music! Quick story...we went to Cleveland last week to see Bruce. 2 of the guys in the car were making cracks about Patti (probably just to peave me off). So, I said..."just listen to a few songs from the disc and then tell me what you think". I put on Baby Don't, Rumble Doll and another track....they really enjoyed it...enough so that they listened to the whole disc. One guy even picked it up at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame store. I just wish she'd finish her new disc...it's been a decade...even Bruce puts 'em out quicker than that!!! And if you think of the story for the introduction and you listen to the words of Rumble Doll it fit very well! Great disc and definitely worth having in your collection. Dave Rotella Jr. Web Development, ICT Business Education Council of Niagara www.becon.org - --------------------------------------------------------------- Look for BEC's new web site. Coming this fall! www.chooseniagara.com - --------------------------------------------------------------- [text/html attachment deleted] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 22:49:30 -0300 From: kent archibald Subject: article @expectingrain.com re:Bruce Search the Weekly: Help | Advanced Date: August 19, 2002 |Local time: 6:40PM |Weather If you could be The Boss why aren't you? Penn explains the greatness of Bruce By Penn Jillette • Photos by Joe Pickett III You could never be Bob Dylan. You have no chance of that. You won't be Eddie Van Halen. You'll never practice enough. Even if you could write as well as Eminem, you don't have a thick enough skin to be him. Yeah, you can play bass as well as Sid Vicious ever did, right now, but you'll never be in that right of a place at that right of a time. You're already as good a musician as Ozzy or Courtney, but it's harder to be Ozzy and Courtney than it is to learn to do something. You'll never have the attitude required to be famous with no skill and no talent. You couldn't live with yourself if you stooped to doing impressions of people who really are talented, so that option is out the window. You're too old and/or not good enough looking to be in a boy or girl band. But, you know, you really could be Bruce Springsteen. You could be the Boss. Put on "Born in the USA" and give that a listen. It's a record you would have wanted to make. It sounds pretty good when you sing along, doesn't it? You could have done that. Anyone could be Bruce Springsteen. It's not that Springsteen is incompetent. Not at all. He's not a hack. He's not sloppy. He's not a follower. Everything he does, he does well. He's a superstar and a major talent. And he's a superstar who's one of us. The goofy thing is that it doesn't matter very much who the "us" is in that sentence. Springsteen is one of the people, no matter who the people are. If the greatest art conceals the art, Springsteen is a great artist. Sit around with your rock-snob friends and talk about great guitar players, great singers and great songwriters. Hendrix, Pete, Eddie, Prince, Page, Zappa, Clapton, Richards and Carlos are some of the guitar names you'll throw around. Elvis, Lennon, Roy, Elvis, Freddie and Fogerty are some of the singer names. Dylan, Prince, Elvis, Glimmer Twins and Beck are some of your great songwriters. (There are no women on the list, because we're talking about "rock snobs," which is a boy's club. Yeah, lots of women should be on that list, but they're not. Rock snobs, right now in this culture, are heterosexual men loving other men.) These lists were off the top of my head, I don't pretend they're up to date, complete or even close to accurate; there are lots more in every category, and there's lots of room for argument, but the point is that Bruce isn't on any of those lists. However, if you're not talking to snobs, if you're talking to people who would put Elton and Joel on that list, Bruce is near the top of all three of those lists. If you're talking to The People, they'll pick Bruce right away. When you go to see Dylan, you want to hang on his every word. You want to study how he stands, where he's looking and how he breathes. Even when Bob touches your heart directly, there's still a lot of mystery. We're always studying Dylan; we want to learn as much as we can about who Dylan is. Dylan falls in love and gets his heart broken just like you, but Dylan isn't really just like you. Even when you mumble "right on" under your breath, even when you know exactly what the hell he's talking about, he's still Dylan and you're still just you. You never get that feeling with Bruce. He's always talking about "us." Always. Even his personal little tape-recorded albums done in the middle of the night in his house alone are about us. He's even anti-social like everyone else. Going to see Dylan is like going to the most wonderful freak show ever devised. You're going to see "someone very special." He makes no attempt to reach you. You come to him, he doesn't reach out to you. Bob doesn't make you sing along. Bob doesn't ask you how you're feeling. You're there to see him, and his major job is to be Dylan, and he does that perfectly. Going to see Bruce is going to a pep rally. When you go to see Bruce, you're going to hang out with all your peeps. He's a cheerleader for all our lives. I grew up in a dying factory town. I had friends come back from Vietnam. I had friends not come back from Vietnam. Bruce lets you sing along. If he had time, he'd get everyone on stage to sing into the mike with him. He's not on display; he's inclusive. He looks at everyone in the crowd. A Springsteen show is about us. I remember seeing Elvis Costello for the first time and being bothered that people around me were singing along. These were private thoughts that Elvis and I shared$what right did these people have to sing them out loud? But, with Bruce, it's "tramps like us" who were born to run. "WE" were born to run, not "I was born to run." As brilliant as Dylan is, you can disagree with him and still love him and want to see him. Hurricane probably did it and not everyone must get stoned. But do you ever really disagree with Springsteen? What's to disagree? Where's he pushing the envelope? What creepy ideas does he have? He's not Eminem dressing up like Bin Laden and saying nasty things about sweet little girls with records out. Bruce has the same opinions you have. Yeah, he supposedly angered a few cops with "41 Shots," but I was at that show at Madison Square Garden and, as far as I can tell, the press was making it all up. People weren't walking out in disgust. They were walking out for hot dogs during a new song they didn't recognize. They just wanted to be fortified for the hits that would be coming up in the encore. It's a long show; you need provisions. Besides, how far out on a limb is it to say that maybe cops don't have to shoot the wrong guy 41 times? I remember a Springsteen line from one of the early bootlegs: "There's something about a pretty girl on a hot summer night that gets this boy excited." What?! What a creep, huh? What kind of nut would get excited by a pretty girl on a hot summer night? Man, that puts him out there with Ozzy, Trent and Marilyn, huh? I saw an ad for "Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J." when I was in high school in January of 1973. The ad was just the lyrics to "Blinded by the Light." That was enough for me. I bought the album the day it came out. I've been a Springsteen fan as long as possible without living in Jersey in 1970. I saw him live before anyone you know. I saw Bruce open for In Cold Blood and It's a Beautiful Day on May 6, 1973 in Amherst, Mass. His hair was short and he was wearing a leather jacket and no bell-bottoms. Some of the hippies in the crowd (it was all hippies, it was an outdoor concert with It's a Beautiful Day) taunted him by yelling "Sha Na Na." The spotlight operators didn't know who to put the spot on. They seemed to think it was Garry Talent, the bass player, and the E Street Band. The story should end with him blowing away the whole outdoor festival, but he didn't. He did OK. He did fine. He did his job. I left right after Bruce because I wasn't a hippie who wanted to see those other bands. I had hair down my shoulders and I'd never been to Jersey, but he was singing for me. I wore out the "Greetings" record. I loved Bruce as kinda Bob Dylan, and I liked the next album where he was kinda Van Morrison. "The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" album is Springsteen's best. I guess that's one thing that makes Springsteen different from everyone else. Everyone's second album sucks$even the Clash's second album isn't that good$but Springsteen's second album is the best in his career. I like it even more than any real Van Morrison record. It's amazing, it rocks, it swings and it touches my heart. It kills me. And if you haven't heard it, you'd love it, too. Anyone would like this album. That's Springsteen's style. You feel like you own his music. On April 19, 1974, I saw him in a half-full little theater in New Jersey. This was so early in his career he couldn't even sell 500 seats. Not even in Jersey. He did a perfect show. He had no less energy than when I saw him sold out at Madison Square Garden. So, maybe that's a little harder than the rest of us would work for so few people. He's just like us, but he works a little harder. He's just like us, but a little better than us. I saw the "Born to Run" show at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis on Sept. 21, 1975. He was so much one of us that he didn't even stay on stage. Teller and I were in the front row, and he ran in the audience and laid across our laps while someone else from the audience held his guitar. It was a great show. It made us dance around. Everyone in the audience was in his band. He was our Boss. I saw one of his first stadium shows in Philly a couple years later, but with Springsteen, you stop bragging about the shows you saw after "Born to Run." He lost me at "The River." I liked some of the fraternity rockers on that album, and I bought "Nebraska" and "Born in the USA," but when he was deep into his John Fogerty singing style and getting "Friends" to come up and dance with him on stage, well, I was too much of a rock snob for that. I loved him for appealing to everyone, but eventually, when he really did appeal to everyone, I started to lose interest. But I didn't really turn on him. I never really trashed him. I didn't make fun of my friends who still loved him. I didn't argue. In my heart I knew he was still us at our best. I'd see the occasional video: "My Brilliant Disguise (makes me look like Fred Flintstone)" and the walking-through-Philadelphia one. OK, so I did make a little bit of fun of him. It's fun to kick people when they're up, but I never hated him. I never felt like he "sold out." No one can really sell out until they play here in Vegas. So, Springsteen is coming back to Vegas for the second time, and I don't feel like he's sold out at all. It'll be a great show. I saw him at Madison Square Garden a couple years ago. I hadn't seen him for a long while. My friend Max Weinberg invited me to go, and I figured, what the hell? I went casually, I didn't really care. I'm embarrassed by that. It's a really jaded, stupid way to go to a concert. It's not fair to not care; it's not right. The tickets were really hard to get, and there are so many people who so want to be there, why would a person like me, who didn't care, take up space on that special night? But I went. And I sure didn't stay jaded for long. Damn, he was just as good as he ever was, and that's about as good as anyone gets. It's hard to remember how good he is, because he's so one of us. He's only special in being so good at not being special. He's not the anti-social-outlaw rock 'n' roll; he's good-guy rock 'n' roll. He's everything that's good about all of us, rocking. As he sang, I screamed along every lyric. I danced. I cried about friends and family I had lost. I cried about lost love. I was hopeful for future love. I danced for the whole show. I was crying and dancing. I agreed with every word he sang. I was really one with all of those people at Madison Square Garden, and that's really amazing because I am a real creep. I have many deep political, social, moral, ethical and stylistic differences with the people around me at a Springsteen concert. But Springsteen makes those differences unimportant. We were all born to run in the USA. We were all dancing in the dark. And we all wanted Rosalita to jump a little lighter. He can make ME feel just like everyone else and like it. He's going to be good when he plays Vegas. He's always good. He'll work hard and he'll give us our money's worth. He'll speak for us. He'll rock the Thomas & Mack. Because I'm writing this, I was supposed to get an advanced copy of the new album, but Springsteen, like everyone else his age, is a little afraid of the Internet, so his people were very careful about who got copies in advance. I didn't get a copy in advance, and by the time it came out, it had already gone to No. 1, so I guess he didn't need my press boost. I haven't had a chance to listen carefully, but the press I've read said it's "heavily influenced by 9/11." Could you say less about something in 2002 America? My dry cleaning is heavily influenced by 9/11. So I have no idea what the album is like, but I know exactly what it's like. It's what we're all feeling. And if Springsteen gets sick the night of his show in Vegas and can't go on, well, we can all go on stage together and fill in for him. Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this: That you are dreadfully like other people. $James Russell Lowell, 1819-91 Back to homepage ------------------------------ End of LuckyTown Digest V9 #74 ****************************** ********************************************************************* ** LuckyTown WWW URL ** The LuckyTown FAQ, back issues, web-based subscription/unsubscription, and many other things can be found on the LuckyTown WWW Page: http://www.luckytown.org ** LuckyTown mailing list addresses ** You can send email to go into the next LuckyTown Digest to: luckytown@luckytown.org You can send email to go into the next LuckyTown-Ads Digest to: luckytown-ads@luckytown.org Any questions for the list admin should be emailed to: owner-luckytown@luckytown.org To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@luckytown.org with message body: unsubscribe luckytown-digest To get further information on how to subscribe/unsubscribe/change your subscription address, as well as the other available commands, send email to majordomo@luckytown.org with message body: help ********************************************************************* The contents of this digest are not necessarily approved by the list admin.