He cited Springsteen's lyrics on class, community and other issues that spoke to the heart of Americana, saying they made his work worthy of deeper introspection.

Piffle - Springsteen is a crude hack with a bunch of aging commies for fans.

"Americana" is the RAMONES, Tonio-K, the NY Dolls, and anyone of a dozen other country or blues artists with more insight in one of their toenail clippings than Springsteen has in his whole body.

Never got into Springsteen... figured it was an East Coast thing.
You know... kinda like the Shadows of Knight version of GLORIA over the (much better) Van Morrisson and Them version.

My god,

I forgot the lord god master of real AoS LifeStyle™ Americana - Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band.

Who would dare question the absolute moral authority of lyrics like: "put a quarter in the juke, boogie till you puke"

Every time I hear that song I think its The Animals, not Van Morrisson.

Are You Conservative has the lowdown on the Bo$$
.

Boss Link

I can't stand listening to Springsteen sing, but I love it when he talks. I can't understand a word of it. It's like he's had a major stroke, right there on stage.

"Wuzza uza azzama n'amassica. Moh!"

Springsteen is one of those guys who sounds very profound when you're young but don't stand up to deeper analysis as you grow older. The only way to keep enjoying the old stuff is to listen with the part of your brain that is still sixteen years old. It works great for nostalgia but not for new stuff that shows no further depth.

It's gotten very hard in recent year for me to find anything new to enjoy in music. I frequently hear things that I think would have been vey engaging if it had been around 20+ years ago but I'm not that person anymore.

Meh. A five year old otter could come up with better lyrics than Springsteen.

I never saw what anyone saw in him or his music. Sucked.

I remember back when Springsteen and the E Street Band were just tearing up the Jersey Shore bar scene, and watched them do an incredible set one night at the late, lamented Max's Kansas City, but after they broke nationally, Bruce started believing he was the second coming of Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie melded together in his dumb little Jersey jagoff's ass. After "Nebraska," I told myself, "that's it. Next album he's going straight for the shark."

"Wuzza uza azzama n'amassica. Moh!"

made me laugh my ass off

I refer to him as "Ol' Yeller" based on his singing style. All I've heard of him, the stuff that receives airplay, sounds like he's shouting the lyrics 'cause his vocal range is even narrower than Ringo Starr's.

And "Born in the USA" has got to be the best case of a songwriter not getting is point across and sending really mixed messages. Since the songwriter is always a genius, therefor the people who like the song as an anthem must be stoopid.

The real troubadour of the 1980's was John Mellencamp:

Little ditty, about Jack and Diane
2 American kids growin up in the heartland.
Jacky goin' be a football star
Diane's debutante--backseat of Jacky's car

I guess I have a soft spot for Mellencamp at the momet because I saw him at Tipitino's in New Orleans (which, last I read, has survived the flood). He was, like, the best bar band ever. He was playing this gig at a VH1 party right after Wild Nights was a big hit, but he was not just doing his own stuff. He did a Stones medley that was unbelievable.

Besides writing "Blinded by the Light", I never liked anything this guy did.

Everytime I see him live on TV, he looks like he's trying to squeeze out a telephone pole wrapped in barbed-wire. Sideways.

And his name is Bruce. Bruce.

What? You mean Sean Penn's not the symbol of all that's American?

How about Kanye West? Surely...he's the voice of a generation.

Speaking of Penn...
" Efforts by Hollywood actor Sean Penn to aid New Orleans victims stranded by Hurricane Katrina foundered badly overnight, when the boat he was piloting to launch a rescue attempt sprang a leak.

Penn had planned to rescue children waylaid by Katrina’s flood waters, but apparently forgot to plug a hole in the bottom of the vessel, which began taking water within seconds of its launch
.
The actor, known for his political activism, was seen wearing what appeared to be a white flak jacket and frantically bailing water out of the sinking vessel with a red plastic cup.

With the boat loaded with members of Penn’s entourage, including a personal photographer, one bystander taunted the actor: “How are you going to get any people in that thing?"

That's over at Tim Blair's blog.

GW was the first president but the country was run by Alexander Hamilton, the greatest man to have ever lived 2nd only to GW in greatness but without a doubt genius beyond Einstein.

Springsteen never did much of anything of worth after Nebraska. (I count a handful of songs, among them "No Surrender," "Dancing In The Dark," "Brilliant Disguise," "I'm On Fire," and well...that's about it, unless you count some outtakes like the majestic "Frankie," which dates from the 1983 Born In The USA sessions but was actually being played live as early as the pre-Darkness On The Edge Of Town tour in 1976.)

But man, his '70s stuff is sometimes transcendent, especially his Van Morrison-esque The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle-era material. Even the outtakes capture a very particular, ineffably American magic that nobody else ever managed to catch. "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," "Rosalita," "Incident On 57th Street," "For You," "Growin' Up," "Blinded By The Light," "Santa Ana," "Thundercrack," "Tokyo (And The Band Played)," "Thunder Road," "Jungleland," "Meeting Across The River"...that stuff is almost worthy of the insufferable mythmongering bullshit spun around it by Rolling Stone critics like Robert Christgau (who quit rock criticism to become his Svengali-like manager!) and Dave Marsh. The rot was beginning to set in by Darkness, where you could tell he was taking himself too seriously, and not in the sense of the winsomely engaging bombast of Born To Run, but rather in the sense of a guy who's been plyed with too much Steinbeck and warmed-over rock & roll Marxism by his manager. Still, I'll take "The Promised Land," "Independence Day," "The Promise," "Wreck On The Highway," "Badlands," "Point Blank," and any number of tune from 1976-1980 over most American music of the era.

His rediscovery of acoustic guitar, "the heartland," and his all-encompassing egomania was his undoing, though. Born In The USA is a thoroughly mediocre album, all the more embarrassing for the obvious pride he still seems to have in it. Yay, Bruce, you finally managed to strip all of the quirkiness and character out of your music to create banal, faceless anthems. I'm sure you're proud. How about another encore of "Glory Days," eh?

Oh my God!

Rove has forcasted his evil hurricane plan in a PS2 game!

http://www.activision.com/microsite/shaunMurray/

Go to the "locations" link, then to "Springfield" and you can wakeboard in what look likes New Orleans.

http://media.ps2.ign.com/media/016/016382/img_1706848.html

Here's a link to a screenshot of wakeboarding in New Orleans.

Not like anyone cares, but I had a brain fart. Jon Landau quit rock criticism to become Springsteen's manager, not the equally inexcusable Robert Christgau. Would that they would both spontaneously combust.

Oh, how I want to hate Bruce Springsteen. Pretension is not an endearing trait.

But "Born to Run" and "Thunder Road" are such great songs. And a few of the songs from The Rising are pretty good as well.

Why can't he just completely suck and allow me to hate him in peace?

Why can't he just completely suck and allow me to hate him in peace?---Slublog

This is so true. I actually have always liked Bruce. Call me shallow but I have. Still do like most of the music.

Bur I loath the politics and wish he would just STFU and exercise his 'freedom of speech' a lot less frequently.

Rabid politics and music(or frankly any creative art) really are a poor mix despite the modern belief to the contrary.

This is off-topic, but I've been watching New Orleans coverage on Fox News most of the evening. Does anyone else think that Geraldo Rivera is finally coming completely unglued?

Sorry guys, but no - Springsteen always has, and always will suck. He was the generic brand version of rock (no roll) - basically background elevator / mall music. Nobody ever really paid any attention to what he was singing, because he was unintelligable 90% of the time. He's a piss-poor vocalist and an unimaginative lyracist. Nine stars out of a possible ten of suckitude.

I notice that people seem to be staying rather far away from him. His level of personal stank must be near the top of the current NOLA scale. The man looks like he's become afraid of water. Someone please give him a bath. And a valium.

That was me replying to DB's comment on Geraldo.

Yeah I can see one of those mandatory vacations in his near future. I mean he is just ranting and raving with a crazed look in his eyes.

Which is to say, more than usual.

I mean he is just ranting and raving with a crazed look in his eyes.

No big deal, Geraldo's just just channeling Howard Dean.

If his head starts doing 360's and he hurls buckets of blood - THEN get concerned...

And if I can make one more point about Geraldo. The man is an assclown. And for a man like that, at his age, to have a full head of hair like that, there is just no justice.

Gotta disagree there, Enas Yorl (is that a real name? - kind'a cool if it is): Springsteen was perfectly intelligible on Nebraska, every song.

HOWEVER ...that's the only Springsteen I ever purchased OR listened to. I don't know nuthin' 'bout anything else he done did.

...but I liked the Nebraska lp a whole bunch; thought it was better than what Dylan was writing at the time, actually.

Hey stop bashing Geraldo.

He is invariably kind to the people he interviews and he did some great work yesterday with people being rescued. Did you see his work with the dog lady? Have you noticed that the military guys seem to like him just fine? Is this just co-incidence?

He is 'over-the-top' but I prefer him to the mercenaries that masquerade as reporters in much of the media. In fact for the most part I HATE the media types.

Now if Geraldo just punched out Anderson Cooper on National TV, that would complete the whole package.

Yeah, I sorta agree with dougf. I know Geraldo was the laughingstock of the '80s, but whenever I've seen him I've thought he hasn't done a bad job. Sure he's pretentious and pompous like every TV reporter (prerequisite for the job, methinks), but unlike most of them, you get the impression that he actually cares somewhat about the people he's interviewing.

And hell, I'll admit I'm always a fan of batshit-crazy hysteria.

Now if Geraldo just punched out Anderson Cooper on National TV, that would complete the whole package.

Yes. That would be beautiful.

I might cry, even.

I dig a lot of Springsteen's older stuff, and I thought the Rising was a good album, but his "I write songs about the plight of the working man despite the fact that I'm a gazillionare" is getting pretty damn stale. Bruce has got more money than the GNP of Borneo, yet we're supposed to buy his salt of the earth bullshit. And this overwhelming sense of self-importance and pretentiousness is pretty common among lefty musicians these days. I mean, Eminem is anti-war now? Great, I can't wait to hear what a vile, sawed off little skate-rat who likes to smack women half his size has to say about foreign policy.

About 30 years ago, Springsteen made the covers of both Time and Newsweek the same week and was labeled the greatest thing since sliced bread. This resulted in years of ridicule for him.

Yeah, I'm with dougf and jeffb. Geraldo can be entertaining. I even liked the Capone show. Sure there was nothing in the vault but he made the show interesting even though the ending was a dud.

I missed the story with Geraldo and the dog lady. What was that about?

And hell, I'll admit I'm always a fan of batshit-crazy hysteria.

The crazier the better I always say.

Geraldo isn't any worse than the rest of them as far as being a pompous ass goes, and I've noticed the troops seem to like him, even when he's giving away their position on TV (Iraq). That's got to be a reflection of his behavior when he's not on camera.

Punching Cooper would put him ahead of the pack.

Penguin's right -- they were un-f*n-believable as bar band, before they made the big time. One rare benefit to being (a) and old guy, and (b) from Jersey.

I missed the story with Geraldo and the dog lady. What was that about?

Ok now taking into account that I can't tell a story to save my life, here goes.

According to FOX a 71 year old lady called friends from a flooded out neighbourhood in NO to let then know that she was there with her 15 year old dog and did not leave because she would not leave without him.

Somehow the story got to Fox, and Geraldo got the responsibility of doing something about it. He showed up with a boat and the clip showed him talking with her in her house and carrying her dog out to the boat which took her to a staging area.

He followed up throughout the day and the last shot was him talking to her as she waited for the helo to fly her out to the airport. Evidently an Ohio family has offered to take her in until she might be able to return.

What impressed me was his obvious concern and kindness. I don't think you can really fake that stuff especially on live TV. He just made her feel better. Same as another rescue where he complimented an older woman on a painting of her when she was younger. How many reporters would think to say;" Well you're still a beauty". Bet it made her day.

That's why I like Geraldo.

Re' Springsteen;
I do like some of his older stuff.I find it good basic rock and roll.But I had a house mate in school from New Jersuy and I got the feeling Sean would have been honored to blow him.It's also hard to get into Bruce as a "no nonsense,real pedrson "when he has the worst hair dye job south of Mick Jagger.

dougf, ok i guess you are right about Geraldo. He would just be easier to respect if all of his reports weren't so breathlessly over the top. Especially when the stories often can speak for themselves.

Me and Crazy Janie makin' love in the dirt, singing a birthday song...

I always liked that lyric. Maybe because Janie (who WAS a little crazy, come to think of it) was a blonde in my high school class. She occasionally flashed beav, blissfully ignorant, while sitting in shorts on her front porch.

Then again, it could have just been all the beers I chugged, parked out in the sticks, late weekend nights, as the radio was playing...

Ok now taking into account that I can't tell a story to save my life, here goes.

Me either. Thanks. :)

Never much cared for Springsteen myself. Though I do enjoy the music of Steve Earle, much to my chagrin.

About Geraldo and the lady with the dog...didn't anyone else notice that the dog was having trouble walking? When the lady was on the arm of the policeman walking toward the helicopter pickup area, the police had her bags and the leash for the dog in his left hand. The camera showed the lady, the policeman and the dog walking away slowly. Then the dog's legs didn't seem to work, and he was struggling. Soon the dog was on his side, then on his back, being dragged on the leash--when all of a sudden the camera broke away.