On My Mind a Lot This Week

Growin' Up
by Bruce Springsteen

I stood stone-like at midnight, suspended in my masquerade
I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and come out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, but when they said, "Sit down," I stood up
Ooh... growin' up

The flag of piracy flew from my mast, my sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for first mate, she couldn't sail but she sure could sing
I pushed B-52 and bombed them with the blues with my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, but when they said, "Come down," I threw up
Ooh... growin' up

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere, and you know it's really hard to hold your breath
I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress
Well, my feet they finally took root in the earth, but I got me a nice little place in the stars
And I swear I found the key to the universe in the engine of an old parked car
I hid in the mother breast of the crowd, but when they said, "Pull down," I pulled up
Ooh... growin' up
Ooh... growin' up

Stuck in My Head 1.16.2015 - The Line

The Line
by Bruce Springsteen
I got my discharge from Fort Irwin
took a place on the San Diego county line
felt funny bein' a civilian again
it'd been some time
my wife had died a year ago
I was still tryin' to find my way back whole
went to work for the INS on the line
With the California Border Patrol

Bobby Ramirez was a ten-year veteran
We became friends
his family was from Guanajuato
so the job it was different for him
He said' "They risk death in the deserts and mountains"
pay all they got to the smugglers rings,
we send 'em home and they come right back again
Carl, hunger is a powerful thing."

Well I was good at doin' what I was told
kept my uniform pressed and clean
at night I chased their shadows
through the arroyos and ravines

drug runners, farmers with their families,
young women with little children by their sides
come night we'd wait out in the canyons
and try to keep 'em from crossin' the line

Well the first time that I saw her
she was in the holdin' pen
Our eyes met and she looked away
then she looked back again
her hair was black as coal
her eyes reminded me of what I'd lost
she had a young child cryin' in her arms
and I asked, "Senora, is there anything I can do"

There's a bar in Tijuana
where me and Bobby drink alongside
the same people we'd sent back the day before
we met there she said her name was Louisa
she was from sonora and had just come north
we danced and I held her in my arms
and I knew what I would do
she said she had some family in Madera county
if she, her child and her younger brother could just get through

At night they come across the levy
in the searchlights dusty glow
we'd rush 'em in our Broncos
and force 'em back down into the river below
she climbed into my truck
she leaned towards me and we kissed
as we drove her brothers shirt slipped open
and I saw the tape across his chest

We were just about on the highway
when Bobby's jeep come up in the dust on my right
I pulled over and let my engine run
and stepped out into his lights
I felt myself movin'
felt my gun restin' 'neath my hand
we stood there starin' at each other
as off through the arroyo she ran

Bobby Ramirez he never said nothin'
6 months later I left the line
I drifted to the central valley
and took what work I could find
at night I searched the local bars
and the migrant towns
Lookin' for my Louisa
with the black hair fallin' down

Feeling the Influence of the Boss Again

I am always amused at how my consumption of pop culture tends to come and go in floods. Nowhere is this more obvious than in music. I tend to gorge myself on an artist or band, then move on to another, rinse, repeat.

Springsteen consistently returns to me, soothes me, reaffirms me, and arms me to keep fighting, in the face of my darkest and most disillusioned times. Which, frankly, I am very much in right now. I keep coming back to his lessons about endurance and commitment. All this will pass, you must simply...work through it.

"And you've got to learn to live with what you can't rise above"
- from Tunnel of Love

 His work speaks to me on such an intimate, immediate, emotional level. He grapples with the biggest questions facing our society, and never lets the focus grow beyond the immediate. The personal. He never writes about class struggle, he writes about the man who toils in the the factory, or the woman in the car wash. He doesn't write about immigration policy, he writes about two Mexican brothers with no option but working in a meth lab in the Southwestern desert, or turtles eating the eyes of a poor traveler who didn't quite make it across the Rio Grande.

I wish more chroniclers of our times could make this simple connection...big ideas are based on personal stories, and personal stories are what can change hearts and minds. Tell a person's story, and it doesn't have to be positive, negative, or anything else. It has to be honest. That's all. Don't wrap it in a agenda. Just tell the fucking story. Trust the audience to make up their own damn mind.

"And the poets down here don't write nothing at all. They just stand back and let it all be"

- from Jungleland

I have struggled with my story. In my acting, in my music, in my life. I have felt lost far, for more often than I have not. I have felt abandoned, betrayed and misled. I have felt my time wasted, time that grows more and more precious to me as the proverbial little crystal in my palm hews more and more toward red. I have felt faith betrayed and loyalty shit on...

...and here I stand.

"Born down in a dead man's town. The first kick I took was when I hit the ground.
You end up like a dog that's been beat too much. Till you spend half your life just covering up"

- from Born in the USA

Waiting for that spark of inspiration. Waiting for faith to be rewarded. Waiting for my own skills and abilities to carry me onward. Waiting for belief. Waiting for brotherhood.

It's no secret that, musically, I would love to be Springsteen-esque. I harbor a dream of a sound that is like Zeppelin fronted by Bruce. The powerful hard rock musicality merged with Springsteen's storytelling. I may not have the actual skill to accomplish it, but I reach for it. The challenge drives me onward.

As an actor, I yearn for the honest moment that The Boss always finds on stage, in his own idiom. The moment where performer and audience merge with an emotional release that illuminates something primal. There are moments when it comes, for me, they are fleeting but pure. I marvel at how the man can extend it to shows that stretch to three hours, or more. It's an act. We know that. I wasn't really Randall P. McMurphy, or Milt Shanks, either, but the connection, and the emotion, is real.

At this moment, as I write, Bruce is playing. I need him now. My strength is low, my faith is broken, but the work must be done.

There's a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
I packed my bags and I'm heading straight into the storm
Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
That ain't got the faith to stand its ground
Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted

The dogs on Main Street howl

'Cause they understand
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister, I ain't a boy, no I'm a man

And I believe in a promised land

- from The Promised Land

A Philosophy for Life

Springsteen has a song for every mood I've ever had. Sadness, joy, fear, anger...there is a tune in the catalog that speaks to me. That said there is one track that, the first time I ever heard it, lifted me up and spoke to me. It whispered in my ear. "you can be of worth, and still not give yourself up."

I often think...ah, hell...I know that I am a fake. I struggle to stand apart, and to put myself forward as a person of worth, a person of quality, a person of creative energy....

I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, but when they said, "Sit down," I stood u

Someone who can be counted upon, who will come through when the chips are down. Who would take the opportunites given to myself and run with them, yet...I haven't always.

I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, but when they said, "Come down," I threw up

But what this song reminds me of is that life is about finding the balance that gives you the room to reach, the space to dream, and the mind and soul to harness all that effectively.

In my mind it is his masterpiece, and this is the best recorded version of it, in my mind.


Growin' Up
by Bruce Springsteen

I stood stone-like at midnight, suspended in my masquerade
I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and come out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, but when they said, "Sit down," I stood up
Ooh... growin' up

The flag of piracy flew from my mast, my sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for first mate, she couldn't sail but she sure could sing
I pushed B-52 and bombed them with the blues with my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, but when they said, "Come down," I threw up
Ooh... growin' up

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere, and you know it's really hard to hold your breath
I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress
Well, my feet they finally took root in the earth, but I got me a nice little place in the stars
And I swear I found the key to the universe in the engine of an old parked car
I hid in the mother breast of the crowd, but when they said, "Pull down," I pulled up
Ooh... growin' up
Ooh... growin' up

It's That Time of Year

Stuck in My Head 11.25.2014 - The Promised Land

The Promised Land
by Bruce Springsteen

On a rattlesnake speedway in the Utah desert
I pick up my money and head back into town
Driving cross the Waynesboro county line
I got the radio on and I'm just killing time
Working all day in my daddy's garage
Driving all night, chasing some mirage
Pretty soon little girl I'm gonna take charge.

The dogs on main street howl,
'cause they understand,
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister, I ain't a boy, no, I'm a man,
And I believe in a promised land.

I've done my best to live the right way
I get up every morning and go to work each day
But your eyes go blind and your blood runs cold
Sometimes I feel so weak I just want to explode
Explode and tear this town apart
Take a knife and cut this pain from my heart
Find somebody itching for something to start

The dogs on main street howl,
'cause they understand,
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister, I ain't a boy, no, I'm a man,
And I believe in a promised land.

There's a dark cloud rising from the desert floor
I packed my bags and I'm heading straight into the storm
Gonna be a twister to blow everything down
That ain't got the faith to stand its ground
Blow away the dreams that tear you apart
Blow away the dreams that break your heart
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted

The dogs on main street howl,
'cause they understand,
If I could take one moment into my hands
Mister, I ain't a boy, no, I'm a man,
And I believe in a promised land
I believe in a promised land...

It's my Boss' Birthday

Happy Birthday Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen; born September 23, 1949

Best Bit From the Australian Tour So Far

Perth 2/8/2014 - Opening Number

Videos of this have been going around, but this is official and pretty high quality.


Bruce, I think you just sold your first show download to me.

RIP Pete Seeger

Monday...er, Thursday With The Boss: Part 18 - High Hopes

The announcement, on November 25th, 2013, of this album's impending arrival was a bit of a surprise. The "rumor mill" had mutterings that the E-Street Band had gone into the studio while touring Australia with Tom Morello standing in for Little Steven Van Zandt.

It was only a few weeks between the announcement of the new album, and release of the title single, and when the album dropped on January 14th, 2014.

I was excited, as I am always excited with a new Springsteen release. That said, the format this project shaped up to be was a little disappointing to me. The are relatively few "new" Springsteen compositions on the record, unreleased leftovers from projects reaching back to The Rising. I am a big fan of this sort of thing, and Springsteen's Tracks box set, a hodge-podge of alternate takes and leftover songs from the first 20 years, or so, of his career, is pretty much on constant rotation for me.

The rest of the tracks consist of covers and Springsteen compositions that are pretty familiar to fans. Songs that have become associated with Morello's "special guest" guitar work. Again, I'm a fan of what Morello's guitar work brings to the E-Street mix. I know a lot of people aren't (Hello Matt K), but I dig it, and Morello's presence at the Wrigley Field shows was a true highlight. The first time I heard a recording of Morello sitting in with the band for The Ghost of Tom Joad, my mind was blown. It still is, every time I hear it live. I was excited to see what Morello would bring to the recording studio.

Thing is, I simply wish that, instead of billing High Hopes as "The NEW Springsteen Album," the record had gone out as a (much) briefer version of Tracks. A way to clear some good numbers off the shelf that Bruce wanted to get out to the public, but didn't fit with the original albums they were written for. Harry's Place, aside from sounding too much (title-wise) like Mary's Place, is a pretty damn cool track, and it has no place on a powerful, directed statement like The Rising album. So, I'm happy to hear it released, and I really like what Morello added. Likewise, The Wall is a really fantastic number about the Vietnam Memorial. I'm over the moon that's it's available to me in high quality, but the connective tissue is tenuous for what I've come to expect from a "New Springsteen Album."

I think the most disappointing thing is the studio versions of tracks that are widely available in live versions. American Skin (41 Shots), one of Springsteen's absolute best protest songs, has a live, and definitive, version on Live in New York City. What Bruce cooks up in the studio simply can't touch what was captured at Madison Square Garden.

The Morello-fied The Ghost of Tom Joad is great, but it's pretty much the exact same arrangement (and guitar solo) that could be found on the Magic Tour Highlights download released to support the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund. Frankly, the energy and power of the live version is not captured in the studio version.

Not to beat a dead horse, but again, if you want the definitive version of Bruce's cover of Suicide's Dream Baby Dream, with The Boss solo on a small pump organ, it's right here. (Side note: I was actually in the house when he played this song for the first time on the Devils and Dust tour at the Rosemont Theatre - it closed every remaining show of that tour, and it was an amazing, stunning performance) Adding more musicians doesn't add to the power of the song, and the intimate feeling I had with Bruce the 3-4 times I saw it performed live. The studio version simply doesn't add anything.

Lest it seem like I HATE this album, or something, there is lots to like here. The three tracks above are all good and listenable, but simply unneeded. The Wall is worth the whole purchase, and I've really taken to the title track (written by Tim Scott McConnell) and the Just Like Fire Would (written by Chris J. Bailey) covers.



Nothing here is "bad," it just doesn't coalesce into what my expectations (admittedly high) are of a "New Springsteen Album."

After receiving my (early - I feel so important! ;-) ) copy of Kathy Zimmer's latest Static Inhabited (which you should download RIGHT NOW - it's terrific), I immediately reached out to tell her how much I loved the song order. I felt weird, honestly, after I sent it...it seems like faint praise, "yeah, the songs are in a nice order." Thing is, what I was trying to get at is that her record felt like a unified whole, with a flow of music that took me on a journey. That's how I feel about pretty much every Springsteen album.

High Hopes doesn't make it, and it's really just because of my expectations of a "New Springsteen Album," if I'm honest with myself. If the marketing had placed it as what it truly is, a collection of leftovers and sundries that are absolutely worthwhile, but aren't a unified vision, I'd probably be singing this record's praises.

Favorite Tracks
High Hopes
Harry's Place
Just Like Fire Would
The Wall

Stump the Band?

Never

Persistance Is Rewarded

So, here's the story -

An Italian fan was following Bruce Springsteen around Europe with a huge banner that said "NYC SERENADE." Show after show, Bruce would see this guy's banner...and then they played Rome on July 11th....


Bruce hired a string section to come up and play this one tune at this one show, and dedicated the song to this persistent fan.

Amazing song. Amazing performance. Amazing story.

New York City Serenade
By Bruce Springsteen

Billy, he's down by the railroad tracks
Sittin' low in the back seat of his Cadillac
Diamond Jackie, she's so intact
She falls so softly beneath him
Jackie's heels are stacked,
Billy's got cleats on his boots
Together they're gonna boogaloo down Broadway and come back home with the loot
It's midnight in Manhattan, this is no time to get cute
It's a mad dog's promenade
So walk tall, or baby, don't walk at all

Fish lady, fish lady, fish lady,
she baits them tenement walls
She won't take corner boys,
ain't got no money
and they're so easy
I said, "Hey baby,
won't you take my hand,
walk me down Broadway
Well mama take my arm and move with me down Broadway
I'm a young man and I talk real loud,
yeah baby, walk real proud for you
So shake it away,
so shake away your street life
shake away your city life
And hook up to the train
Hook up to the night train
Hook it up,
hook up to the, hook up to the train"
But I know that she won't take the train
No, she won't take the train
No, she won't take the train
No, she won't take the train
She's afraid them tracks are gonna slow her down
And when she turns, this boy'll be gone
So long, sometimes you just gotta walk on

Hey vibes man, hey jazz man, play me your serenade
Any deeper blue and you're playin' in your grave
Save your notes, don't spend 'em on the blues boy
Save your notes, don't spend 'em on the darlin' yearlin' sharp boy
Straight for the church note ringin', vibes man sting a trash can
Listen to your junk man
Listen to your junk man
Listen to your junk man
Listen to your junk man
He's singin', singin', singin', singin'
All dressed up in satin, walkin' past the alley
Watch out for your junk man
Watch out for your junk man
Watch out for your junk man

Happy Birthday, Boss!!

Happy Birthday to a man I consider the world's greatest living songwriter, and an personal hero.

An artist who embodies self-reliance and actualization while never forgetting our duty to our fellow man.

A man who, in the face of a tough, cynical world, writes songs and stories of transcendence and heart-on-your-sleeve earnestness, that really inspires me. Inspires me in the sense that I can rarely drum up that myself.



You show us the way, Boss. Happy Birthday.

A Bit of Obscure Springsteen Genius

One of Bruce's best songs, only appearing on the Tracks rarities collection.....


Thundercrack
by Bruce Springsteen

Well her brains they rattle
and her bones they shake,
Oh
She's an angel from the inner lake

Thundercrack
Baby's back
This time she'll tell me how she really feels
Bring me down to her lightning shack
You can watch my partner reelin'

She moves up, she moves back
Out on the floor there just is no one cleaner
She does this thing she calls the "Jump Back Jack"
She's got the heart of a ballerina

She's straight from the Bronx
Hung off the line
She slips, she slides, she shops, she bops, she bumps, she grinds
Even them dance hall hacks
From the west side of the tracks
Move in close to catch her timing

She moves up, she moves back
Out on the floor there just is no one cleaner
She does this thing she calls the "Jump Back Jack"
She's got the heart of a ballerina

She ain't no little girl, she aint got no curls
Her hair ain't brown and her eyes ain't either
Round and round and round and round

My heart's wood, she's a carpenter
She's an angel in the night, what she does is alright
Dance with me partner
Dance with me partner
Dance with me partner

Thundercrack, baby's back
This time she'll tell me how she really feels
Bring me down to her lightning shack
You can watch my partner reelin'

She moves up, she moves back
Out on the floor there just is no one cleaner
She does this thing she calls the "Jump Back Jack"
She's got the heart of a ballerina

She ain't no little girl, she ain't got no curls
Her hair ain't brown and her eyes ain't either
Round and round and round and round

My heart's wood, she's a carpenter
She's an angel in the night, what she does is alright
Dance with me partner
Dance with me partner
Dance with me partner

Bruce Pays Tribute to Sting

After years of "meh" reactions to anything Sting-related (not involving The Police)...

From the Sting birthday tribute at The Beacon Theatre.

Wow. Bruce crushed it. I'm also going to Sting props, this is an awesome song. 


Early one morning with time to kill
I borrowed Jeb's rifle and sat on the hill
I saw a lone rider crossing the plain
I drew a bead on him to practice my aim
My brother's rifle went off in my hand
A shot rang out across the land
The horse he kept running, the rider was dead
I hung my head, I hung my head

I set off running to wake from the dream
And my brother's rifle went into the stream
I kept on running into the salt lands
And that's where they found me, my head in my hands
The sheriff he asked me "Why had I run"
Then it came to me just what I had done
And all for no reason, just one piece of lead
I hung my head, I hung my head
 
Here in the courthouse, the whole town is there
I see the judge high up in his chair
"Explain to the courtroom what went through your mind
And we'll ask the jury what verdict they find"
I said "I felt the power of death over life
I orphaned his children, I widowed his wife
I beg their forgiveness, I wish I was dead"
I hung my head, I hung my head
 
Early one morning with time to kill
I see the gallows up on the hill
And out in the distance a trick of the brain
I see a lone rider crossing the plain
He's come to fetch me to see what they done
We'll ride together til Kingdom come
I pray for God's mercy for soon I'll be dead
I hung my head, I hung my head

I Hate Feeling So Out of Sorts

I cannot get a handle on where I'm supposed to be right now.

My creative energies are scrambled and, well, lost. The love of the work that gave me solace and a sense of self is harder and harder to find.  I find myself longing to shut myself into my "studio" and just make music. Retreat into myself, just as I did in College.

I've found myself thinking a lot about my future as an actor. I don't know if it's just because I'm burnt out, or if I've genuinely just lost my passion for it. The worst thing is, I'm working right now, and it's throwing me off, I can't seem to learn lines, I can't focus. Which makes me feel like I'm letting people down, which just makes me more depressed, and...well, spiral of self-loathing, y'know?

The thing about when I work on my musical explorations, it's just me, y'know? I don't have to ask anyone else to give me an opportunity, I don't have to wait for somebody to allow me to do the kind of work I'm passionate about...it's all me. It's also all me in terms of who I can let down. If I listen back to my latest track, and I think my voice sounds like shit...well, no one has to pay the price but me if I just don't find the strength to fix it.

Springsteen and I

I am a Bruce Springsteen fan.

 I'm going to be honest about this, I didn't expect a whole lot out of this documentary. I mean, I expected to get emotional over it, because...if you missed it...*I am a Bruce Springsteen fan.* That goes without saying, because I am the target audience for this film. I'd read a few reviews that positioned it that way, as well. Pleasant, interesting, but not revelatory.

I think that's selling the film short. I don't want to over-hype it, but something very interesting, and I think far deeper than simple fan connection was going on here. It goes beyond wanting to feel a connection to a rock star, and, yes, plays into the Springsteen Fan belief that Bruce's songwriting touches something deep an primal. The film really, to me, is about how these people...people who recorded these vignettes themselves, with  no promise of reccompence, look into what Bruce has written, and see themselves. Who feel that going to a Springsteen show isn't just a concert, it's a connection to humanity, as a whole.

Certainly part of that is that Bruce works VERY HARD. There's a lot of performance footage to prove that. But lots of performers work hard, yet, people look at Springsteen on that stage and they see someone that reflects themselves. Who shares intimate stories that feel like your own.

The film, in many cases, is a chance to reciprocate. There are a LOT of really great, personal, and in some cases, intimate stories told, and I think most of these folks saw this film as a chance to thank the man who's brought them a lot of joy and solace over the years.

I was particularly taken with one woman, who shared the story of, as a thirteen-year-old ninth grader in the mid-70's, sneaking out to go to a concert. She worked her way up to the front row, and was lifted onto the stage with Bruce by the men around her, and then gently back down. Ultimately, you realize that what this woman is sharing is her sexual awakening, with that "beautiful man" on the stage in front of her, and the men around her, as she was soaked with sweat in her red silk dress.

I have to admit, she was obviously reading something she had carefully written out, and that made the whole story a little odd and overly flowery. Yet the power of what she was describing, the way it obviously affected her..it was powerful. The emotional truth of what she was describing just transcended the ever-so-slightly overbaked prose.

I also loved the couple who's video mainly consisted of the husband grousing about being dragged to concerts, which, in his opinion, went on WAY too long, by the wife he obviously loved very much. It was lovely, in that it wasn't mean-spirited, and yet truthful.

The English factory worker, who saved up and took a trip to New York to see one of the epic Reunion Tour live shows at Madison Square Garden. Staying in a crappy hotel, eking by financially, only to find their tickets are basically the worst in the house...last row, top tier. Then a man approaches, who, by description, I would guess was Springsteen's Road Manager Terry McGovern, asks to see their tickets. "I think we can do better than that," he says, handing them pit passes and front row seats.

Every Springsteen fan has heard these stories. I teared up listening to this man tell his tale. Sometimes it feels like magic happens, when "the organization" seems to know exactly who needs something special to happen, and when.

I could go on. Some critics have knocked the film for a few self-aggrandizing vignettes, and, y'know, that is true. They are there, but every time it was getting too much, the editors cut to something far more intimate.

So, I enjoyed it, a lot.

I'll share one more of the stories, because, damn it, it was my favorite.

One of the fans, throughout the film, is a greenskeeper for a stadium in Stockholm, I believe (memory is fuzzy), where the E-Street band is playing. The epilogue of the film involves several of the fans having a meet and greet with Bruce (including the mildly disgruntled husband, "we tried to cut it short for ya tonight, but it didn't work out!" says Bruce).

The groundskeeper is quiet and respectful during the meet and greet, when Bruce approaches him they begin to talk about his job. He tells Bruce he'll be back on the field at 10 AM the next day to repair the damage from the concert. The conversation ends...

Then we see an interview with the man after, and he relates that, once the camera were turned off, Bruce returned to the room. Springsteen walked up to him, and removed a leather bracelet from his own wrist, and placed in on the fan's. I couldn't believe how calm the guy was when he described Bruce looking at him and saying, "this is a symbol of brotherhood."

On the way home CByrd and I wondered why Bruce would do that. Was it because the guy was so quiet and respectful? Now I realize, that guy, by putting the place in order after the show, was part of the team. He's part of the machine that makes an E-Street Band show possible, and he wanted to acknowledge that.

I'd have lost it. Completely.

If you're a fan, it's a must-see, obviously. If you're not? It's entertaining, and if you've wondered about the connection that hard-core fans have with Springsteen, the film offers some rather effective first-hand witnessing. It also offers enough silly moments and pure fun so as not to be off-putting.

The Video That Never Fails to Reaffirm My Faith In, Well....Everything

Stuck in My Head: Point Blank

Point Blank
by Bruce Springsteen

Do you still say your prayers little darlin'
Do you go to bed at night
Prayin' that tommorow, everything will be alright
But tommorow's fall in number in number one by one
You wake up and you're dying you don't even know what from
Well they shot you point blank you been shot in the back
Baby point blank you been fooled this time little girl that's a fact
Right between the eyes baby, point blank
Right between the pretty lies that they tell
Little girl you fell
You grew up where young girls they grow up fast
You took what you were handed and left behind what was asked
but what they asked baby wasn't right
You didn't have to live that life,
I was gonna be your Romeo you were gonna be my Juliet
These days you don't wait on Romeo's
You wait on that welfare check
And on all the pretty things that you can't ever have
And on all the promises that always end up point blank
Sot between the eyes
Point blank like little white lies you tell to ease the pain
You're walkin' in the sights, girl of point blank
And it's one false move and baby the lights go out

Once I dreamed we were together again, baby you and me
Back home in those old clubs the way we used to be
We were standin' at the bar it was hard to hear
The band was playin' loud and you were shoutin' somethin' in my ear
You pulled my jacket off and as the drummer counted four
You grabbed my hand and pulled me out on the floor
You just stood there and held me, then you started dancin' slow
And as I pulled you tighter I swore I'd never let you go
Well I saw you last night down on the avenue
Your face was in the shadows but I knew that it was you
You were standin' in the doorway out of the rain
You didn't answer when I called out your name
You just turned, and then you looked away
Like just another stranger waitin' to get blown away

Point blank, right between the eyes
Point blank, right between the pretty lies you fell
Point blank, shot right through the heart
Yea point blank, you've been twisted up
till you've become just another part of it
Point blank, you're walkin' in the sights
Point blank, livin' one false move
Just one false move away
Point blank, they caught you in their sights
Point blank, did you forget how to love,
Girl, did you forget how to fight.
Point blank they must have shot you in the head
Cause point blank, bang bang baby you're dead.

Stuck in My Head: Lost in the Flood

God, this song is just...awesome.


Lost In the Flood
by Bruce Springsteen

The ragamuffin gunner is returnin' home like a hungry runaway
He walks through town all alone--"He must be from the fort," he hears the high school girls say
His countryside's burnin' with wolfman fairies dressed in drag for homicide
The hit-and-run plead sanctuary, 'neath a holy stone they hide
They're breakin' beams and crosses with a spastic's reelin' perfection
Nuns run bald through Vatican halls, pregnant, pleadin' immaculate conception
And everybody's wrecked on Main Street from drinking unholy blood
Sticker smiles sweet as Gunner breathes deep, his ankles caked in mud
And I said, "Hey, gunner man, that's qucksand, that's quicksand, that ain't mud
Have you thrown your senses to the war, or did you lose them in the flood?"

That pure American brother, dull-eyed and empty-faced
Races Sundays in Jersey in a Chevy stock super eight
He rides 'er low on the hip, on the side he's got "Bound for Glory" in red, white and blue flash paint
He leans on the hood telling racing stories, the kids call him Jimmy the Saint
Well, that blaze-and-noise boy, he's gunnin' that bitch loaded to blastin' point
He rides head first into a hurricane and disappears into a point
And there's nothin' left but some blood where the body fell, that is, nothin' left that you could sell
Just junk all across the horizon, a real highwayman's farewell
And I said, "Hey kid, you think that's oil? Man, that ain't oil, that's blood"
I wonder what he was thinking when he hit that storm, or was he just lost in the flood?

Eighth Avenue sailors in satin shirts whisper in the air
Some storefront incarnation of Maria, she's puttin' on me the stare
And Bronx's best apostle stands with his hand on his own hardware
Everything stops, you hear five quick shots, the cops come up for air
And now the whiz-bang gang from uptown, they're shootin' up the street
And that cat from the Bronx starts lettin' loose, but he gets blown right off his feet
And some kid comes blastin' 'round the corner, but a cop puts him right away
He lays on the street holding his leg, screaming something in Spanish, 
still breathing when I walked away
And somebody said, "Hey man, did you see that? His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud"
I wonder what the dude was sayin', or was he just lost in the flood?
Hey man, did you see that, those poor cats are sure messed up
I wonder what they were gettin' into, or were they just lost in the flood?