The Boss Loves Obama

Although I am a non-Boss fan, I think that Springsteen's endorsement for a Presidential candidate carries a lot more weight than any politician or actor.

Has there ever been a more over-rated act? I saw him 3 times the Summer of 1976 and thought that he and his band were a lousy opening act and would fade away. Phew, guess that's why I'm not a judge on American Idol. I can take 'Rosalita' and maybe '10th Avenue Freeze Out' but other than that, I wouldn't walk across the street to hear him whine.

Well, that does it for me. Obama can shoot hoops and is endorsed by Bruuuuuuuuce.

"It's so hard to be a saint in the city".

Tough to top that one.

If only NJ hadn't moved their primary up from June...

"Over here on E Street, we're proud to support Obama for President."

Is E Street really a place, or is it a state of mind?

He's one of those celebrities that needs to retain his 'regular guy' status in order to sell tickets.

While I love Springsteen (although his new CD is awful!!), he stopped being a regular guy years ago.

So it makes sense that a rich, liberal entertainer would be for Obama. Perhaps Springsteen is also shocked by the price of arugula at Whole Foods.

The Boss's endorsement for Kerry certainly worked wonders, from what I recall:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/images/pics/internationalmusic_lg.jpg

"After the terrible damage done over the past eight years"

Devils & Dust
The Seeger Sessions
Magic

I'm in agreement!

What happened to the '80s?

Who does Pope Benedict endorse?

We need a non-elitist prez like the great ones of yore -- you know, Jefferson, Washington, Madison, Wilson, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Bush I and II -- regular guys, one and all.
Soem of those dudes may not have known the price of arugula, but they sure knew how to have it grown (and harvested by "regular" folks, of course).
Let's drink to the salt of the earth!

I think I'll dwell on the price of arugula while I whip up some of Mama McCain's downhome Ahi Tuna with Napa Cabbage Slaw. Just like they used to make it back in the old neighborhood. Ah, memories....

****BREAKING NEWS****

John Bon Jovi has just endorsed Millard Fillmore for President. Film at Eleven.

* * * *

It's amazing how expressing your opinion in a democracy rubs so many people the wrong way. Whether you agree with the guy or not he's entitled to express his opinion.

Iceman - you are as savvy a judge of music as William Buckley.

It's amazing how expressing your opinion in a democracy rubs so many people the wrong way. Whether you agree with the guy or not he's entitled to express his opinion.

Iceman - you are as savvy a judge of music as William Buckley.

cro,

I think the point is the ability to talk to your audience. That rich guys have been Prez is no news.

The question is how they relate.

Asking farmers in Iowa about Whole Foods and arugula is dumb and shows his inability to relate.

Much like Kerry windsurfing.

Mets, no one stopped Obambi from speaking his mind.

And while some may believe otherwise, Obama saying dumb things does not call into question our democracy.

i always like the descriptions of Springsteen's "antiques-filled farmhouse" in that noted proletarian community known as Colts Neck, myself.

And then there's his even more modest fake Tudor manse in the sleepy, working class factory burg of Rumson....

mets2008...I am a long suffering mets fan and my savvy in music tastes seems to rival omar's ability to sign ball players who give a damn.

And I never said BS shouldn't have the right to express his opinion. I'm sure a lot of his fans care what he thinks.

Supposedly, too, Springsteen wrote "The Ghost of Tom Joad: shortly after reading "The Grapes of Wrath." (Nost of us read it in h.s.) We will in great trouble indeed, then, if the Boss ever picks up "The Communist Manifesto" or Chairman Mao's "Little Red Book."

And from all I've heard about Springsteen's quite evident inarticulateness from friends who were in the music industry, and from his song lyrics, it just makes me doubt very much that he wrote that endorsement all by himself.

And mets2008, William F. Buckley had an all-abiding love for Bach's music. That fairly well trumps Bruce's public support of half-talents at best like Gary "U.S." Bonds, Joe Grushecky and even his spouse.

Uh, I would leave Gary & the U.S. Bonds off that list, Cathar. How can you forget the wonderfully rousing song, "Quarter to 3?"

Rousing, maybe, Miss Martta (I was always a "School Is Out" person myself) but badly sung, I think. The dinning production just covered his vocal weaknesses up.

But when Bonds recorded and appeared live after being "rediscovered" with the considerable help of Springsteen, his inadequacies as a singer becme very onvious. Almost all of Little Steven's beloved "garage bands" sing quite a bit better.

"I always like the descriptions of Springsteen's "antiques-filled farmhouse" in that noted proletarian community known as Colts Neck, myself."

He doesn't live in Colts Neck. But I'm still sure you've read that description many many times. Uh huh . . right o . . .yeah, sure,. . .whatever you say

As for predicting the future, didn't he write "57 Channels and nothing on"?

(My elitist side wants to end this by saying: And now we have 500 Channels with nothing on.)

But I love TV, so the truth is there are tons of channels and loads of great stuff on...

(Starting with Big Brother!!)

He may not "live" in Colts Neck by your odd fan-derived standards, mets2008, but he resides there quite often and generally gives his interviews from there.

And I know where he "lives," anyway used to live, an acquaintance actually drove the skiploader that helped build the berm in front of his Rumson domicile.

For goodness' sake, he even sends his kids to privaye schools. (In towns where this is hardly necessary.) Such a man of the people, no?

I am sure Bruce has crazy fans showing up at the house on a regular basis at 3 am to discuss obscure lines in songs where there just sure Bruce was talking to them. Every safety consultant in the world would advise someone of his statute to put his kids in a private school.

prof, they have a Whole Foods in Iowa.
And suggesting that Iowans find discussions of argula to be beyond them tells me that you share Obama's "disdain" for their level of sophistication. Or you don't know much about Iowa.
Obama's ability to talk is the one area where it seems virtually everyone, ally and opponent, is in agreement. Obama knows how to do it. The question to me is not how he talks, but what he'll do.
Argula is a terrific issue on which to make this call, isn't it?

Of course, now that I think back I was in a Whole Foods in Nebraska, not Iowa. There are stores in Indiana, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and other "rural" states. I'm surprised they are not in Des Moines or Davenport or Ames, but I'm sure they will be. In the meantime, many an Iowan farmer does business with the company.

cro,

Perhaps you know better than the Whole Foods website or the from NY Times 7/07 which stated: "The state of Iowa, for all of its vast food production, does not have a Whole Foods..."

Regardless, yes. He speaks well. Hell Biden called when he told the world how clean and articulate Obama is....

But, other than platitudes and niceties, he doesn't have much to say despite saying it well......

(Though, I've heard a few of his speeches and he really never quite lives up to the "great speaker" everyone claims. Forgive me, but me thinks it's a wee bit of the 'ol Biden in some).

Actually, mets2008, in several years of driving regularly past Bruce's home as part of my preferred route to and from Red Bank, the only people I'd ever see there were usually young Japanese tourists. It was part of a local tourism loop which also included Bon Jovi's French chateau-on-steroids on Navesink River Road and a stop for chips and soda at the convenience store from "Clerks."

But you seem to miss the point. Springstreen presents himself as, so to speak, Mr. Working Class America, though from what I've read and was told by someone whose brother was in Bruce's first band, a power trio called 'Earth,' he's never actually held any kind of joh other than in bands. He's neither been a millwroker nor a store clerk. Not even a gas jockey.

Originally, I thought SPringsteen was presented with this image so he ran with it just as a matter of convenience, that he did not seek it out or nurture it. In the process, however, he threw dry withes onto the bonfire of his own myth; the "soul patch" he's sported is but one silly manifestation of this, as is his seemingly constant state of grubbiness. But it all seems much too calculated as he ages and the old songs become less and less 'relevant' and band members await hip replacements and suffer from other ailments due to advancing age.

I could go on, but will simply ask, why do you think the public school children of Rumson, a town where $1 million and UP is a common enough household income and where cops and firemen cannot usually afford to live in the town they serve unless their parents left them their home, would conceivably pose a threat to Soringsteen's kids? As opposed to, say, the kids at a private school?

The one Bruce's kids went to at least initially, by the way, is diagonally across the street from his Rumson home which, in a "common man" kind of touch before the berm went up, he's even used as a setting for some of his videos. (The Colt's Neck 'farmhouse' seem to be where he presides at interviews, I don't think he's filmed videos there though supposedly some rehearsal sessions for the Seeger album were held there.)

At any rate, given the security situation in Rumson, no, his kids would be no more nor no less safer in either public or private schools.

People, in a really weird way, identify, over-identify with Springsteen in this state. This means they have to overlook an awful lot about the guy that doesn't go with the image they have of him, the image he milks. (Wouldn't it be at least a shade more credible if he'd ever actually labored in the linoleum mills whose closing he mourns in "My Home Town?")

And before you say that the likes of Jimmy Buffett and Joe Mellencamp have their own sociological pretensions, in their favor is that neither milks them so mercilessly as Springsteen and his chroniclers (who are sort of the modern-day equivalent of those medieval monks who collected in illuminated manuscripts the exploits of Sir Gawain and Roland).

In the end, Springsteen's musical talents become obscured by the canonization process of him as a working-class hero that he seems to too eagerly participate in. And the music-making becomes, often, quite secondary to the maintenance of the image. I would suggest that only this explains the wretchedness of much of the Seeger sessions and much else of his work over the last 10 years or so.

Even that Springsteen announces his endorsement of Obama in an avuncular fashion that suggests a message handed down from Mt. Sinai, this is Bruce playing at being a populist rock star. He is wlecome to his opinions. The manner in which he conveys them to the rest of us is much open to suspicion.

(Excellent post, cathar. And I, only 4 months into the year, nominate it as one of the year's best. So please continue to get on my academic cred-- I like it-- and sometimes even oppose my fun-- I like that too. Because I enjoy you too much to take it personally.)

"Well now I'm no hero, that's understood", but you friend move closer everyday.

And from all I've heard about Springsteen's quite evident inarticulateness from friends who were in the music industry, and from his song lyrics, it just makes me doubt very much that he wrote that endorsement all by himself.

Hey, sure, no way he wrote that endorsement all by himself. Guy probably can't even spell. Born To Run, Badlands, Thunder Road...all were really written by that high school kid from Short Hills, right?

prof, right above your post you'll see that I corrected myself on Iowa, noting the stores in Nebraska, etc. The point that is intriguing to me is why YOU think that talking to Iowa farmers about arugula is talking over their heads. Who is condescending?

Jersey girl (not to be confused with, I'm guessing, the "jerseygurl" so beloved of both me and walleroo), if you honestly think that, to cite just one example, "Born to Run" is wonderful prose, then no,ever "get" George Gershwin, Johhny Mercer, Johnny Green, Bacharach & David or even Lieber & Stoller. All of whom, as it turns out, have had their songs recorded by none other than Rod Stewart, who, whatever else he is, is a real singer as opposed to Springsteen.

Certainly, too, even in the carefully staged, worshipful interviews he very occasionally sits for (reminding me in a sense of the Pope's few granted moments to grateful media swine), the Boss doesn't come off as terribly wise, let alone articulate. He is simply a Jersey lug who made it big and is forced, bt clearly enjoys, to play a role of late way beyond his talents, that of pundit.

And thank you for the kindness, profwilliams, I in turn promise to behave a little (maybe even a lot) civilly towards you in the future. Just don't claim to be tenured at Johns Hopkins, okay?

The post above should read "...then no, you'll never get.." I certainly don't wish to be accused of inarticulateness here.

And now back to what I was literally listening to while typing the post above, Jan & Arnie singing "Jenny Lee". Bu bomp bu bu bu bomp bomp bomp bomp...speaking of great lyrics!

(cro, hard to see a post when a browser's window is not reloaded/refreshed. So I'm glad you corrected yourself. Perhaps, as here, in the future you'll continue to "think back" before you post. This will benefit you greatly.....)

And from you comments I guess you would have just answered Mr. Obama's question:

cro to Obama: "Yea. Arugula is threw the roof. I had to switch to a Spring Mix!! This is outrageous." And then I imagine, you got into your hybrid John Deere and got the hell out of there.

Ah prof, just as your frequent grammatical lapses are the fault of your Blackberry, so too is your failure to read before posting the fault of your "refresher" feature. Personal responsibility is a not big with you, so we see.
Yes, I would have answered Obama. I don't think I would have said "threw" the roof, but I would have answered his question. If I was able, being such an ignorant Iowan and being unaware of what arugula is.
At least, according to you.

I suppose 18 Grammy's and an Academy Award are proof of his ability to "play his role way beyond his talents." The guy is good. The people who play with him are incredibly talented musicians. Regardless of rumors about how articulate he may or may not be the guy sure manages to have a way with language that resonates with a lot of other "lugs" and average guys out there. And I'm sure he could not care less about what anyone here has to say about him.

(cro, times like this I want to use certain language to describe you. But I'll refrain.)

I will only say, yes. You're right. I should have magically "read" your post as I was writing my own before yours appeared in my browser.

But tell me, how am I to do it?

Right now if I'm writing this and you're posting something, how am I to see it?

Do tell since you appear to have special software that enables you to "read" posts before they post...

Isn't that what that silly cap is you wear?

And cro, your idea that "personal responsibility" extends to the use of a keyboard on a cellphone or the lapse in time from reading and writing and posting in a browser window is specious at best.

Or just plain old dumb.

(My crack addition is a better example.)

But really, what is that cap of yours?

And why do you insist on wearing so often?

prof, you may use any language you like to describe me. If it isn't mangled -- as your other posts are far too often -- I'll survive.
It is pretty hard for me to imagine that your opinion of me is any lower than, say, mine of you.
Now please, find something else to do today as I really have less and less patience with your nonsense. You are truly an empty suit -- or perhaps empty gown.

Though now a very wealthy man, Springsteen was raised in a working class family with an under-employed, heavy-drinking father, a hard-working mother, a knocked-up sister, etc. No, he never worked in a factory or a steel mill. He's an artist whose worked is based on imagination and is clearly informed by his background. But why does that even matter? Do artists need to be authentic for their work to touch us? I don't think Shakespeare was ever a Danish prince but he nailed that. And would you say that Irving Berlin, who wrote "White Christmas," has a credibility problem because his first language was Yiddush? Whatever your personal views of Springsteen's talents as a songwriter or performer the truth is that his work has been meaningful to enough people to make him an extremely wealthy man. If he wants to spend that money on private school tuition and costly antiques, I'd say he's earned it.

As to the question of his articulateness--since when do we judge a person's talent for the written word by how eloquently they speak in public? Not everyone is blessed with both abilities. If Springsteen has a surfeit of one and deficit of the other then great--he'll keep writing songs and penning political endorsements on his website...and not run for the senate!

cro says: "Now please, find something else to do today..."

So, you're now in charge of this ship, huh?

Should we alert the Barista's that all post must go through you first?

I guess you are the H*IC.

(And your "empty suit" comment has me runnin'...)

prof, simply a suggestion -- far from a command.
Your classy use of H#IC is a nice touch, though.
But of course, by your previously posted "logic" you're "allowed" to use that term.
My comment has you runnin'? Would that it were so!
But if you do lace on the Chucks, might I suggest a nice run along the Watchung tracks?

"Walk tall, or, baby, don't walk at all."

Cathar: you can go on and on about how Springsteen is a fake, etc. You're right. Forge ahead. I have first hand knowledge that it simply ain't so. He's incredibly generous to many many unheralded causes, from putting siding on poor people's house to making anonymous donations to the families of dead police officers. If not paying for funerals. If you knew 1/10th of what the guy has done -- seeking not a shread of publicity, but in fact actively preventing it, I think you'd have a different opinion of him. Once personal anectdote. I was parking in the lot at the back of the Stone Pony one night a few years ago when he pulled in unnannounced to join someone for a show. There was an older, I would guess homeless black guy in the back cleaning the parking lot before the show. Probably in his 60s. I could only imagine that he's the kind of guy who shows up to make an easy $30 the night of a show. Essentially picking up broken bottles. And he didn't look particularly well groomed. The only reason I knew Bruce pulled into the lot was because this guy starting yelling his name and waving. Bruce saw they guy, yelled him a big hello, walked across the lot, and gave him a big hug hello and chatted with him for a while. It was a private moment that I had the opportunity to watch that suggested to me that anyone who is worth 100s of millions of dollars but goes out of his way to be nice to someone many people on this board would shun and ignore can't be all bad. In fact it seemed pretty damm cool to me.

mets2008,

Thanks for sharing that.

:-)

Way back, my good friend used to tell me about this guy from the shore who was the best guitar player in NJ and how he would be famous one day..

No, jerseygurl (knew I could get you to emerge!), the guy is decidedly not that talented, even if he puts on lengthy, energetic shows. Through all the years, his voice hasn't gotten any better and his band remains a lugubrious passel of second-stringers, whose tempos and timing often drag. That Springsteen maintains such a hold on his similarly semi-articulate fan base is hardly proof of the real scope of his abilities.

And jerseygirl with an "i," that Springsteen has not worked at any of the jobs he limns in his songs isn't exactly the issue. Rather, it's that he milks and very consciously and obviously goes for the image as a warehouse worker manque'. He was anointed into this beyond-his-real-capabilities position, of course, by the sort of earnest "rock critics" who wear steel-rimmed glasses and blue chambray work shirts with ties for political purposes of their own (Bob Seger has thankfully proved much more reistant to this form of sociological idolatry). But that is a topic for another time. By contrast, however, Irving Berlin was always quick to own that he remained "Izzy from Bialystok." Even Shakespeare stayed modestly in the authorial background (to the irritation of his biographers). Whereas Springsteen is only too happy to play avidly and near-constantly to the mis- and near-mythic perceptions so many of his fans insist on holding about him. The galleries call and he invariablly responds.

As for the Academy Award, come on, now. That we give them out for "songs" such as "It's Hard Out Here..." just indicates the yearly paucity of material in this category. No one has walked out of a theater humming a future Oscar-winning song for many years now.

I was always taught that one key to a real artist is growth, the ability to expand one's horizons. Lieber & Stoller, for example, proved they could do exactly this by their song cycle for Peggy Lee which includes "Is That All There Is?" Bacharach and David did a pretty decent musical, "Promises, Promises." Even Paul Simon, that apostle of self-conscious wimphood, tried with "The Capeman."

And one of my own personal faves, Scott Walker, defies commercialism with every rare new release (even if I wish he'd get back to singing pop music rather than a tuneless ditty about the mystical braying of donkeys.).

Against all of these projects, however, the calculation of something like "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "The Seeger Sessions," both of which merely seem designed to reinforce Springsteen's sweat-stained image as a working-class voice, falls very short indeed. Really, Bruce should just go read some of Alan Sillitoe's novels, then shut up publicly for a year and re-emerge as an unrepentant, umashamedly wealthy and aging rocker.

"apostle of self-conscious wimphood"!!!!!

Brilliant.

Mets2008, that you cite as evidence of his great spirit Springsteen's greeting of an apparently homeless guy in a parking lot, really, that just hints at how low you set your own sights. (And no, no one is disputing the guy's personal financial generosity, but then he's got to atone somehow for that truly dismal song about all those police shots, doesn't he?) Actually, I'd be more impressed if it turned out you'd witnessed Bruce handing the guy a Benjamin with which to go forth and buy wine.

There really is no talking to Springsteen true believers in this state. They seem to identify much too closely with what they perceive as Springsteen's "reality." Which closely tracks alongside their own in so many ways. (This never happened with Brian Wilson, for example, we always knew he'd never surfed, and Waylon Jennings was plainly never the "outlaw" his first-person songs made him out to be.) And then it becomes a matter of misplaced pride even for politicians and people of similar or greater wealth to Springsteen's to also be clear in evidence at his shows, as if, somehow, to affirm their own core "Jerseyness."

The problem is that Springsteen seems only too happy to try gulling them into believing that is so. This is called nurturing his fan base when one is being kind. But there also are other words for it, even if they strike his jersey girl and boy-like fans as anathema.

Interestingly, too, most rockers are initially at least quite reluctant to accept this kind of identification. Dion, a much truer representation of blue-collar spirit and of genuine past pain in his personal life, would never stoop so low. Yet Springsteen seems to connive with his chroniclers and management alike in this farce. I find that unsettling, despite his admittedly commendable charitable giving.

Well Cathar, at least one can't quite hear the Thesaurus pages flipping when he speaks which is more than I can say for some here. I'm not a fan, but he's made the image work for him not unlike many other stars. And at least he lives close to home. As nice as Rumson is, most rock stars prefer more glamorous surroundings like LA, NYC, London, Cabo or Montserrat.

I love much of Springsteen's music. I admire the passion that he injects into his guitar playing. He's not a great technician, but there is NO denying the FEELING that he puts into his playing, and this is something that can't be faked it's either real or it isn't and with Springsteen it's real.

His songwriting has run the gamut from brilliant to banal and so has every other artist's who've been around as long as he has.

I much prefer his vocal style from his first 2 albums. It was a scratchy sounding, plaintive sound much in keeping with the streets that he loved and sang about.

"decidedly not talented" , perhaps the dumbest, ass thing I've read in a long time.

Montserrat, jerseygurl, is well nigh uninhabitable these days save for the few who can't afford to move. (I was there a long time ago myself.) I also doubt very much that any recording at all is done there these days (that darn volcano!), but in any case rock stars never "lived" there for more than the week or two necessary to cut a record. Wherever someone like Frankie Valli lives, however, he is plainly always of and from Jersey. That Springsteen lives near Pete Dawkins I find neither to or against his credit. Suffice that he has a house few here could aspire to.

And there is no thesaurus being consulted. Believe it or not, some of us actually have a basic vocab of more than a few hundred words. (God bless the nuns and the brothers, you know?) Why, even the basic reason that dictionaries exist is to help expand one's use of words. Did you know that?

If Springsteen "loved" the streets as much as you think he does, MellonBrush, he'd maybe be well advised to spend more time on them. If only by way of gaining new inspiration for some real rock and roll songs that aren't so dirgelike. There are few if any pedestrians in Rumson, after all, and no hangouts whatsoever for genuine socio-economic lowlifes (and only a few for the high-earnings "drinking class"). I've never seen so much as one '67 Chevy there, either.

If Bruce wishes to become the musical voice of the upper-upper-middle class, however, then Rumson as both homesite and inspiration makes perfect sense.

Really, MellonBrush, you have to disengage.

When this guy cites "Is That All There Is?" as an example of artistic growth, doesn't that tell you all you need to know?

Cathar,

Yeah, I miss the Bruce of "Glory Days" and "Prove it all Night" and "Candy's Room".

Good Lord, the man wrote some incredible songs.

I like two or three of his songs but I don't quite understand the Legend Status, either. Also, as with Cathar, I don't associate him with the "plight of the working man."

It's the songs that capture the spirit of the "plight of the working man". His music and lyrics speak to certain people, not his lifestyle.

MM,

Springsteen earned his 'legend' status on stage in front of millions of rock fans, not always the kindest or most patient of audiences.

To each his own, I guess. I've seen him in concert 3 times and never got the mojo, not like the feeling I got when I saw Johnny Cash perform (on TV, of course).

MM,

:-)

Lucky for Bruce that more people got his 'mojo' than didn't get it, otherwise he'd be teaching sullen 10 year olds how to play Nirvana songs.

LOL. Or hosting American Idol.

Sounds like Conservatives are mad that Bruce publicly supports the Liberal.....

Looks like John McCain won't be stealing any Bruce tunes for his campaign. Don't call John Cougar either. He's down with Obama too..

"Wherever someone like Frankie Valli lives, however, he is plainly always of and from Jersey."

He used to live on Edgewood Terrace. Yep - Jersey.

(McCain is not dumb enough to think that any artist being "down" with him is important. Whereas, I can't wait to see Bruce cheesin' next to Obama.)

And KNS why would "conservatives" be mad that a liberal entertainer endorse a liberal politician?

Lady Dee, listen someday to the song cycle, not just one song. It is a piece of brilliance (as is Willie Nelson's "Red-Headed Stranger" album, and Scott Walker's last three, and Gary Allan's one bfore last and...), akin to the best of German art lieder. You snort purely out of ignorance, not because of careful listening.

Jerseygurl, to quote from another one of my faves, there you go again! You totally don't get it (as walleroo has already told you more than once). In any way, too. People confuse Springsteen with his music (and, of late, his very bad lyrics), tell themselves that there but for fortune in this state of ours...And he milks the confusion for all he's worth. Which is plenty.

Whatever you wish to make of the guy's talents, it's just indisputable that he's also something of a phoney. The nervous kind, because he spends a lot of time ducking serious contact with a genuinely inquiring press; his management has its "pets" among journalists, and even to them it carefully parcels only bits of Bruce out. Have you ever read the famous/notorious "Saint Bruce" piece which once ran in either GQ of Esquire? It represents what his camp most fears, a somewhat really objective look.

Where did he get that pretentious twang he affects even in his speaking voice, come to think of it? Riding the range in "west Freehold?"

Well, this has been an interesting discussion. The fact is, kiddies, that Bruce's endorsment will help Obama and will, in all liklihood, sway many thousands of undecided voters to the Obama camp.

.. especially in PA. He got his start in Philly.

(McCain is not dumb enough to think that any artist being "down" with him is important).

Said John McCain of that titanic talent and great thinker Heidi Montag of "The Hills", who recently came out for the ancient Arizonan:
" I'm honored to have Heidi's support and I want to assure her that I never miss an episode of "The Hills", especially since the new season started."

Your acuity never ceases to amaze, prof.

It's a sad day for America when ANY politician relies so strongly on the endorsement of musicians and/or entertainers.

I think it's sadder when entertainers actually become politicians and then Americans actually vote for them.

For sure! Only in America. :-)

And I, MellonBrush, continue t have great difficulty with the fact that Merle Hagarrd (!!!!!)has written a song for Clinton's campaign titled "Hillary." That is a long, long, looooonnng way indeed from Bakersfield. I'm hit hard on this one. Reeling, even.

But I also think that any lugs out there who think that a multimillionaire rock (or country) star's endorsement really indicates that the endorsee is necessarily the best man or woman for the job are quite foolish. Taking seriously Springsteen's endorsement is akin to taking seriously his bardic aspirations to stand alongside the pink-enough-already-thank-you Pete Seeger.

Cathar, do you realize you are calling lugs foolish for caring about an endorsement from another lug?

Cro,

Your acuity never ceases to amaze me!

Have you and the 'Shrieking Decibels' found a rehearsal space yet?

Cathar,

Well, the clincher for me was Obama's 'no look' pass to a team-mate as he ran the ball up the floor.

Springsteen's endorsement was just icing on the cake.

(cro, me thinks you're the only one who who didn't get his cheeky remark. Whereas here, Obama will act like this is a serious endorsement that bring with it all folks from "Jersey.")

Jerseygurl, I realize that and so many more things. Few of which are accessible via your own limited grasp of things, I fear.

MellonBrush, I'm sure that Obama didn't learn his court moves at that prep school in Hawaii he went to. Or in Indonesia. That part, if even the only part, is pure urban Illinous.

Goodness! "Methinks". You sound like a guy who knows from arugula. Mayhaps.
I'm quite aware of McCain's "cheeky" side. I've heard it often on the Don Imus Show -- you know, the celeb who endorsed him (twice), and whose show Senator John visits more often than Bernie, these days.

But maybe you're the only one, prof, who doesn't get that. Methinks.

cro, you're an Imus fan-- it all makes sense now: he's on the RFD network and you love arugula.

I didn't realize you were such a good 'ol boy.

Or just a hayseed?

Forsooth,methinks yon squire Imus hast booked sundry knights. What do "youthinks"?

oh my god, I didnt realize this before but now its so clear.

Cathar, are you a failed writer?

That's a stupid question, jimmytown (but no disrepect). How can anybody who writes like cathar possibly be considered a failure?

No, I snort because you cited "Is That All There Is?"--in my opinion, a forgettable song recorded by the genius song stylist Peggy Lee--as an example of Lieber and Stoller's "artistic growth". Give me "Spanish Harlem" any day of the week. Yes, yes, I'll rush out to find a copy of "Mirrors"--but in the meanwhile, you should check out the Seeger Sessions. You will likely be dismissive, but I think that you are a person of taste (well, "That All There Is" aside), and I don't think you've given it a chance. I saw Springsteen and the band of very talented musicians he assembled perform those songs live and it was perhaps the most joyous concert I ever attended.

Now go ahead and insult me again. Nothing can hurt today as much as the loss of Danny Federici.

as is well known, i'm not a fan of bruce's music but that doesn't mean I don't feel bad that a band member died. My thoughts go out to Bruce and his bandmates cause I know they have had many fund raisers to help their buddy.