For some reason - Bruce gets a bad rap......

[Sparky Kronkite]

And we're talking Springstein here.

Please! Explain to me why.

The way I see it is this.......

1) He's obviously NOT in the limelight - he ain't no Madonna, he ain't no Michael Jackson, he ain't even no Harvey Keitle.

Why? He doesn't want to be.

2) I hear on very good authority (hey, I actually know Nils, we're DC guys, I've done sound for him and his brother - another good person) that he give huge amounts of money to charities - AND DOES NOT PROMOTE IT - like other so-called stars.

3) Regardless of what or how you may critique his writing style - you can't deny his sincerity - he tries - and he tries hard.

4) I was lucky enough to witness a sound-check once - at the old Capitol Center in Landover MD. A wireless Bruce took himself up to the absolute nose bleed seats - didn't like what he was hearing - and CLOSED OFF!!!! - about a hundred seats. He did not want people wasting their hard earned money.

5) He goes home. He visits old neighbors of his families. He eats bacon & eggs. He takes care of his wife and kids.

Now - I'm not saying he's Mr. Normal - I'm not saying he doesn't splurge and buy a sports car or something nice for Patty - I'm just saying - for a guy like that, with all that money, with all that notoriety - he could be on huge fucking asshole - AND GET AWAY WITH IT!

But he doesn't.

And that makes him my absolute favorite celebrity/artist.

If you simply don't like his music - cool - that's simply a matter of taste - but..........

I don't understand why anyone gives him a bad rap, like he's some sort of evil star or something - it's beyond me.

 

[Purple Haze]

Maybe because he sued a bar because the band was playing one of his songs?

Please say it ain't so. It's something I heard.

 

[Sparky Kronkite]

Never heard that one Purp.

Find it hard to believe - why would he do such a thing?

It's not like he has to for the money. It's not like it would be all that fun to do - even evil fun. There's much funner things to do that are wicked.

If it's true - my bet would be that the owner of the club or whoever - had fucked him in the past. Revenge.

Hey, he is from Jersey - revenge is a way of life.

But - I don't by it.

 

[Madame Pandora]

I saw Bruce on the Born in the USA tour. He played almost 5 hours. And, if you've seen a Bruce concert, he doesn't just stand there full of angst and hum. He's all over the place. He put on one hell of a fucking show. It's still one of my favorite concerts from high school.

Dave Barry tells a hysterical story about when he was playing with Stephen King and the rest of the Author's Band and they were in a club one night and Bruce walked up on stage. They were all standing there - their mouths hung open, gaping like school kid groupies.

Then, Bruce says "So, what do you guys want to play?"

And Dave says all of them couldn't speak. FINALLY Barry musters "Um...do you know 'Gloria'?"

And Bruce just grins graciously and says "Yeah, I can handle 'Gloria'."

Dave Barry says there have been SEVERAL other times in his life that he's felt stupid, but asking The Boss if he could play 'Gloria' ranks up at #1.

MP

 

[Sparky Kronkite]

Lot's of people have probably seen this.....

but I saw him once and at about the 4th hour - drenched in sweat and draggin' - after jumping off 15ft high stage monitor stacks - he dumps his head and upper body into a washtub filled with ice water - in to his shoulders - and he stays there submerged - the audience waits and waits and waits - until you think he's passed out or something - then Clarence goes over and taps him on the shoulder (still submerged) and he burst up - water flying everywhere - and launches into Born To Run.

I tell ya - even though you know it's contrived - nobody does that kind of shit - nobody!

 

[Isabella Thorne]

Tramps like us, baby we were born to run

OMG Spark i had no idea you were a fan of the Boss... jeez i'm starting to like ya better every day, darlin'

hey ... did you know that Bruce turned down millions of dollars to have his song Born in the USA used for a car commercial ... interesting to see that Bob Seger's tune "Like a Rock" turned up in ads for Ford ...

Bruce never has and never will sell out ... i love him
__________________
OMG you know Nils????!!!!

 

[Sparky Kronkite]

Well Iz.....

Never is a long time - and I never like to say never. But I do hope Bruce never sells coffe makers at 3am or anything.

 

[nitengale]

I'm not sure I want to confess that I am old enough to have known Bruce from his old stomping ground the Stone Pony In Asbury Park. Oh wait, I just did.

He's one hell of a singer, and one hell of a nice guy.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

I'm basically a Jersey boy. I grew up near Freehold. I hung out at the shore. I rode in cars that sprung from cages out on Highway 9, chrome wheeled fuel injected and stepping out over the line. I knew a wife of an E-Street Band member. (Hell, EVERYONE in Jersey knows somebody who knows Bruce.) I am, for all intents and purposes, one of his people. And where I'm from no one is fake. Everyone is a wise guy and knows the score and is a member of a loud family. Yeah, you got your losers and stoners and liars and cheats -- but they're pretty recognizable. No one wears a mask. Despite the smell from the cow fields once you hit Old Bridge there's a big "No Bullshit" ordanince in every Township down to Toms River. It's definitely something in the water. Nobody brags about "keeping it real" because they just don't know any other way to be. Bruce is exactly what he seems to be. Forgetaboutit.

 

[nitengale]

::::Standing proudly:::: I LOVE, LOVE being from the Jersey shore...DCL, we are old neighbors....OK, I might be older...but I'm a Monmouth County Girl!!

I used to cruise "the circuit" in my 1964 Chevy Impala...NOT in 64, mind you...

Those were the days!!

 

[Madame Pandora]

I can't think about "Born to Run" without thinking of Robert Wahl (Whal? Wuhl?)'s skit about NJ wanting that as their state song...

"'Baby, this town rips the bones from your back...' Oh! Can't you just see it on a T-shirt!"

Here's a funny useless fact. In Customer Service you have a statistic for "call termination." Which means, basically, that the service rep hung up on the customer or was "accidentally" disconnected. That statistic ALMOST ALWAYS shows that calls originating from the NJ area are three times more likely to get disconnected than any other state in the US.


Ornery little cusses.

MP

 

[nitengale]

We are all probably getting ready to go to the beach, so who has time to hang on the phone.

Or I live in a state with a lot of rude people? Nahhhh

[Edited by nitengale on 04-06-2001 at 11:39 AM]

 

[Madame Pandora]

nitengale -

It means the rep was angry/offended/outwitted and hung up. Of course, if you ask any Rep they have NEVER done that. All terminations are "accidental."

MP

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

DCL, we are old neighbors....I'm a Monmouth County Girl!!

Uh-oh. Someone who might actually know me. Shit. Did I say I was from Jersey? I meant to say New Zealand. That's it. I'm a kiwi, mate. I rode on sheep sprung from cages out on dirt road 9, fleece-covered, wool-injected, and grazing out over the plains.

 

[nitengale]

Uh-oh. Someone who might actually know me. Shit. Did I say I was from Jersey? I meant to say New Zealand. That's it. I'm a kiwi, mate. I rode on sheep sprung from cages out on dirt road 9, fleece-covered, wool-injected, and grazing out over the plains. [/B]

Let's see, as I recall there were only a hand full of people living out in Freehold back then...You wouldn't be Mavis and Henry's middle child, are you?

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

New Zealand! I said I'm from New Zealand! And I didn't say I grew up in Freehold, but near it. Shit! Strike that! I never said that! Oops! The sheep are loose, gotta go...

G'day, mate! Meet me at Tennent Church later. I mean, the Kiwi Church.

Damn!

 

[nitengale]

Hmmm, how about Doris and Bud's oldest? Are you their child that went off to college only to return a month later with your head shaved? I heard that story down by the coffee plant....

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Didn't they live on 33 near the Freehold Circle, and didn't they have an aunt that worked at Jersey Freeze? Wait! How would I know that?

Baaaa. Baaaaa.

Lillie-Bell's stuck in the barbed wire again. Gotta go.

 

[nitengale]

No, they were closer to the race track. Bud's mom cleaned stalls there. You might be thinking of Gracie Frohmer's niece Bethany. She worked the 'Freeze', I mean she worked at the 'Freeze'

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Alright, I give up. I know where George Washignton slept in Englishtown. I know Freehold and Manalapan have identical high schools. I know where the best chillie dogs at the Auction are. I know the difference between a funny car and a rocket car. I know to get off the Parkway Exit 123 to get to 9 South. I know where to go sledding in Howell. I know where the cool gay bars in Asbury Park are. I once camped out at Turkey Swamp. I know where Mollie Pitcher's well is.

And I worked three summers at Six Flags Great Adventure.

I give up. So hand me a slice and slap me into a Seaside Heights rollercoaster. I'm from Jersey. Grrrrrrrrr.

 

[nitengale]

me too, me too! I never did the camping at Turkey Hill (swamp)...I did venture into the M&K once...

Ok, now that I have had my fun...

Thanks for reminiscing with me!

 

[Tamtam]

Did i miss out on all the Jersey bonding? I wanted to get in on it i went to the same high school as Springsteen...just several years later but still proub enough to brag about that fact....

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Fuggetaboutit.