Bruce Performing At "Stand Up For Heroes", November 6th, 2013

Today, we're treating you to a longer video, so pull up a chair and relax for 20 minutes.  Earlier this month, Bruce performed with other musicians and comedians at Stand Up For Heroes, a charity event focused on raising money to support troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.  Here, Bruce performs a stripped down set, featuring an acoustic "Dancing In The Dark", Patti Scialfa assisting him on "If I Should Fall Behind", and "Dream Baby Dream", which seems to be getting heavy promotion recently.  However, rather than the touching, personal stories we are used to from Bruce, each song is introduced by a "dirty" joke.  And, boy, are they groaners - Bruce becomes the proverbial drunk uncle of the party, and you feel forced to laugh if only to not make the situation any more awkward.  At the end of the set, Bruce quips he should have been a stand up comedian.  After seeing this, it is safe to say he made the right choice.

However, in some sense, it is a wistful insight into Bruce's off-stage persona.  In Clarence Clemons' autobiography, he claims that he was the king of dirty jokes.  It is easy to imagine Clarence telling all these jokes to Bruce in a dilapidated bus going to their next gig, and Bruce cracking up like a madman.  So, if you factor in that unsubstantiated sentimental notion into the video, it could make it more enjoyable.  But, you should probably just stick to listening to the songs.

Springsteen Links - The New Yorker

David Remnick's profile of Bruce Springsteen in The New Yorker is a must read. It could take about an hour to get through it but it's well worth the time.

The piece offers a more frank description of Bruce's relationship with his father, Doug Springsteen, than we're used to reading and this aspect of the piece has grabbed a lot of headlines - along with Bruce's battles with depression.

But there's a lot more to the piece, including candid insights to the band's dynamic (Max Weinberg refers to himself and the band members as 'employees' and Patti Scialfa says her place in the band is more figurative than musical) as well as a transcendental description of Bruce's stage performances that brings you about as close to the real thing as possible. There's also the less told story of original drummer Vini Lopez along with more familiar tales of Bruce's original manager Mike Appel and Bruce writing "Dancing in the Dark."

I was happy to see that the piece bolsters two of my long standing suspicions: that Bruce has had cosmetic surgery and that he's never done drugs. But more than anything, Remnick articulates my appreciation for Bruce in a way that I've never been able to...

Thousands of fans, many of whom had been waiting outside since morning, were allowed to enter the stadium grounds at six o’clock for a show that would not begin until ten. I noticed a few young Spaniards carrying a sign, in English, reading, “Bruce, Thanks for Making Our Lives Better.” I tried to imagine a sign like that for—whom? Lou Reed? AC/DC? Bon Jovi? (“Richie Sambora, Thanks for making our lives better.” Doubtful.) The ultra-sincere interchange between Springsteen and his fans, which looks treacly to the uninitiated and the uninterested, is what distinguishes him and his performances.