A couple of months ago I ran across a fairly new blog about Springsteen and his music, but one with a definite twist. Soul Boogie Alex has created Boss Tracks and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
What makes Alex's blog different is that it focuses on two unusual aspects of the Springsteen fan experience. First, he gives background in amazing detail of the cover songs Bruce has done through his career, usually posting both an MP3 of the original and an MP3 of a Bruce cover version from one of the bootlegs. Second, for those of us who collect bootleg Springsteen recordings, Alex gives us detailed reviews of both old and new releases. While we disagree on which era of Springsteen's career might have been the best (Alex leans toward the Born to Run tour, while I tend to prefer the Darkness tour recordings), the reviews are invaluable to a collector -- especially one like me who wants to own every great bootleg release, but not necessarily every release.
To steal from Stephen Colbert, I send a "Tip of my hat" to Alex and urge all you Springsteen fans to check out Boss Tracks. You'll find it well worth your time!
With that said, here's a new Bruce video for you -- "Mary's Place" from the July 19, 2008 show at Camp Nou in Barcelona. It doesn't have great sound quality, but it definitely captures the experience of seeing a great live Bruce performance. Hope you enjoy it!!
Monday, July 28, 2008
A must for all Bruce fans!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Happy Birthday, USA!
Hello, I'm back again after a considerable absence while looking for work. Let me tell you, this economy really sucks -- especially trying to find a job where I reside. Oh well, enough of that...on to more important things.
First, today's video is from July 1988, a rousing version of Born In The U.S.A. performed in East Berlin. It seemed appropriate, especially since Bruce opened his show in Gothenburg, Sweden, today with the song. I looked for a full clip of that but couldn't find it -- but this is an great substitution (and check out the audience and their participation)!
Next, it's time for me to express my intense disapproval of Barack Obama's decision to support the "compromise" FISA bill. When I use the term "compromise" it should actually read "Democratic capitulation to the lame-duck Bush administration and fear-mongering Republicans." Don't get me wrong, I'm still supporting Obama -- but this stance seems antithetical to everything I've thought the man was standing for and it pisses me off to no end. I know that a Dem has to move to the center to a degree to have any chance of winning in the general election, but this abandonment of the Constitution by a Constitutional Law professor in order to draw some "moderates" is wrong, no matter how you look at it. Come back Barack from wherever it is you've gone -- we need the guy who got me to overcome my cynicism and believe in hope again, not the one caving into the Repubs for fear of looking weak on terror.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
I wont say im sorry any more
was talking about the day JFK died today. I knew who Republicans were in the 3rd grade. I've met some of them as the years have past. Very few of them are veterans All the crap aside brothers, (i read because you fight for change) lets take a breath and say no. Lets ask what McCaine has done. Ifeel for you folks who grew up with Ray Gun. Just about everything you accept as norm was paid for in blood under Johnson and Nixon. Ronnie was a pimp. As men and women who have killed for our nation why don't we have the right to demand that every leader who sends a generation to war (yep 5 fookin years of war) expend every last effort to talk?
Anti War Pro War
Lets do a day of peace. Let every veteran on this planet stand up one day and say peace.
Imagine
Pick a date before the election in the US.
EVERY VET IN THIS NATION STANDS UP AND SAYS PEACE. Do you think it might create a situation of neutrality? Nah thats not possible.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
If this doesn't piss you off.....
I just read this in today's New York Times, and I can't even describe how angry it makes me. Every time I think about the callow attitude this administration and its corporate butt-buddies display with their gaudy no-bid contracts and shoddy (at best) work, it, to quote Billy Jack, "just makes me go berserk!"
Check this out:
"One electrician warned his KBR bosses in his 2005 letter of resignation that unsafe electrical work was “a disaster waiting to happen.” Another said he witnessed an American soldier in Afghanistan receiving a potentially lethal shock. A third provided e-mail messages and other documents showing that he had complained to KBR and the government that logs were created to make it appear that nonexistent electrical safety systems were properly functioning."
Naturally, KBR denies any fault:
For its part, KBR, which until last year was known as Kellogg, Brown and Root and was a subsidiary of Halliburton, denied that any lapses by the company had led to the electrocutions of American soldiers. “KBR’s commitment to employee safety and the safety of those the company serves is unwavering,” said a spokeswoman, Heather Browne. “KBR has found no evidence of a link between the work it has been tasked to perform and the reported electrocutions.”
Ms. Browne declined to respond to the specific accounts of former KBR electricians.
I swear, the more I think about it, the more I feel that Bush, Cheney and the CEOs of Halliburton and KBR need to face their day in front of a jury of their peers. Actually, that may not be possible. It will be exceedingly difficult to find and get together 12 people as stupid, dishonest and contemptible as these people. And just think, if John McCain gets elected our servicemen and women can look forward to at least four more years of this kind of treatment.
With that in mind, here's today's Bruce video -- from Belfast, recorded last December 15:
Friday, May 2, 2008
A Sad Month
Well, it was confirmed yesterday. 52 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq last month, the worst month since last September. Almost a trillion and a half dollars wasted, well over 25,000 wounded, and there's no way to count how many innocent Iraqis have died, all so that the shrub, Darth Vader, the idiots Rumsfeld, Feith, Wolfowitz, etc. could make buttloads of money for their corporate buddies.
I can't even describe how ill this makes me feel.
I also haven't written about the fact that Phantom Dan Federici passed away on April 20. My first experience seeing Bruce was seeing Danny wail away on the accordion as the show opened with Wild Billy's Circus Story. So here's Devil's Arcade from Chicago last October, with a haunting job by Dan.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Who'll be the last to die....
On the Magic album, Bruce asks John Kerry's question, "Who'll be the last to die for a mistake?" Well, I took the time to look up the answer. The last U.S. soldier to die in the mistake called Vietnam was PFC Kelton Rena Turner, an 18-year old Marine. He was killed in action on May 15, 1975, two weeks after the evacuation of Saigon, in what became known as the Mayaguez incident. His remains were identified on May 17, 2000.
Others list Gary L. Hall, Joseph N. Hargrove and Danny G. Marshall as the last to die in Vietnam. These three US Marines Corps veterans were mistakenly left behind on Koh Tang Island during the Mayaguez incident. They were last seen together but unfortunately to date, their fate is unknown.
I promised Peace Vet a couple of weeks ago that I would look this up and I've been remiss. I apologize. However, I note that the anniversary date is coming up soon and I think that this is a name we should all remember. In remembrance of PFC Turner and 4036 (as of April 18) U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq thus far, along with 308 coalition troops, and another 29,780 soldiers wounded -- not to mention countless Iraqis -- I offer this video of Bruce doing "Last to Die," recorded in Milan last November.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Another Kristol Klear prediction
I have to love Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard and (inexplicably) the New York Times. I look forward now to Monday mornings since the Times added him to their op-ed page (I'm assuming it's due to some repressed comedic sensibility that the grey lady has heretofore kept well hidden). Today's column in the Times shows off our man Bill's brilliance at reading politics once again. A little excerpt, for your delectation:Perhaps the most obvious way McCain could upend the normal dynamics of this year’s election would be a bold vice presidential choice. He could pick a hawkish and principled Democrat like Joe Lieberman....He could persuade the most impressive conservative in American public life, Clarence Thomas, to join the ticket.
Does Kristol really think that McCain could get even one Democratic voter with Lieberman or Thomas on the ticket? Seriously, this guy has been smoking some very serious skunkweed.....
Thanks, Sam
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it."
-- Mark Twain
