response 562 of 673:

Aug 28 14:30 UTC 2003

Re #560 - good luck. That sounds exciting. I can't wait to teach. :)

IHB the boy and I had something of a fight right before bed last night, but
it was resolved this morning. Yay.

response 564 of 673:

Aug 28 17:55 UTC 2003

Only 25.5 hours of Hell left before I get my vacation.

response 566 of 673:

Aug 29 05:35 UTC 2003

*crosses fingers*

response 572 of 673:

Aug 30 13:28 UTC 2003

I'm about halfway through the Halloween 9 paper, and I am finding
the deconstruction of SCO's legalese very amusing.

response 574 of 673:

Sep 1 01:01 UTC 2003

Fair?  For some reason, I'd guess a brunette.

response 576 of 673:

Sep 1 02:59 UTC 2003

IHB I had a quality Saturday night last night.  Spent it across the 
river on the Jersey side, at Giants Stadium, watching Bruce Springsteen 
and the E Street Band perform live.  Bruce is of course New Jersey's 
favorite son, he lives right near the Meadowlands, so this was 
literally a home field show for him.  Stadium shows are becoming a 
rarity in this day and age.  These days you have acts who have to co-
headline just to sell 12,000 seat arenas.  Stadium shows are fast 
becoming something reserved for multi-act festivals.  This was the 9th 
of 10 shows Bruce has done at Giants Stadium, a facility that seats 
80,000, and all are sellouts.  And not only was this not a co-headline 
tour, or a festival, but Bruce was as usual his own opening act.  A 
three hour plus show, with no smoke or pyrotechnics, or video montages, 
or performers disappearing for long periods of time for costume 
changes.  Just a good old fashioned rock and roll show, where the band 
comes to play, and do nothing BUT play.  Pretty refreshing!  

Bruce played a lot of songs, both old and new, and showed the special 
chemistry he has with the E Street Band.  Rare it is to see a band 
playing that knows each other so well.  These days bands are too often 
artificially created, put together by PR flacks and talent agents 
sorting through head shots, with the songs written by professional 
pop "songwriters" hired by the studios.  When Bruce was 
doing "Rosalita", with this big grin on his face, and jamming to 
Clarence Clemmons' sax solo, you see the affection they have for each 
other and can sense the fact that they were flashing back to days when 
they were playing in nearby Jersey bars years ago and nobody had ever 
heard of them.  When you see Bruce and his band, you are seeing 
something real, and authentic, and sadly, you don't see that much 
anymore.  The whole music business is corrupted now, and the artists 
are corrupted, and most of what you get is packaged and processed, and 
decidely IMO *not* real.

This was a great concert.  I have never seen a bad Bruce show, he is a 
hell of a live performer.  He did great old hits like Glory Days (with 
Bruce and Little Steven VanZandt doing an extended guitar jam), Dancing 
in the Dark, Badlands, Rosalita, Candy's Room, and great new songs like 
The Rising, Waiting on a Sunny Day, Mary's Place, and others.  A 
special thrill was when one of my favorite singers, Emmylou Harris, 
came on stage and a beautiful duet of Bruce's song "Across the Border" 
(which she also sings on her new album btw)  Bruce also doesn't hide 
his political feelings, such as making pretty pointed negative comments 
about the Iraq war and our troops continued presence there. which he 
made to lead into the terrific song, "Land of Hope and Dreams"  Also, 
as I've seen at virtually all Bruce's shows that I've been to, he had 
reprentatives of his favorite causes, the local homeless organizations 
and foodbanks, as well as Amnesty International, in and around the 
building collecting money, and he made pitches for them.

A wonderful show, but when you left the building, you couldn't help but 
feel a little sadness mixed with the adrenalin high.  Because, as I 
said, IMO rock and roll is losing its authenticity, the new performers 
are packaged and processed, and the music is given to them as opposed 
to being the product of authentic struggle and life experience.  Bruce 
and his bandmates are in their fifties now.  When they stop performing, 
and they will at some point probably not too far off, they won't be 
replaced.  Acts don't grow that naturally anymore.  Its all artificial 
now.  So you think, ten or twenty years from now, will you or your kids 
be able to go to a rock and roll show and have the experience be as 
real as this was?  Answer-- probably not.  Bruce is a dinosaur now in 
the industry, the consummate rock performer.  A dying breed, nearing 
extinction.  So when you see him, or others like him, performing live, 
you have to savor the moment-- as I did-- knowing those moments are 
soon not to come again.

response 578 of 673:

Sep 1 12:49 UTC 2003

Richard, sometimes I wonder if you missed your calling to work in PR. 
Half the time you write something, it comes off sounding like a press 
release or advertising copy. :)

response 582 of 673:

Sep 2 02:08 UTC 2003

#577...Bruce is a terrific guitar player, he did some good solos at the
concert.  Granted he is not as good as Nils Lofgren, but who is.  In fact
Bruce first came to prominence in New Jersey clubs as a guitarist,
not as a singer.  He often sat in on club gigs backing up Southside Johnny
and the Asbury Jukes, the one time house band  at the now famous Stone
Pony club, and Bruce was before being "discovered", lead guitarist for
several long forgotten Jersey bar bands...

response 584 of 673:

Sep 2 15:38 UTC 2003

Huh.  I've never really heard a good Springsteen guitar solo - great arranged
parts, but leads generally sucked.  

response 586 of 673:

Sep 2 22:48 UTC 2003

Music could use a little something different.  Not a bad idea.