Les fans peuvent être rassurés : dans une interview à paraître demain 27 novembre 2009 dans le magazine Billboard, Bruce Springsteen confirme qu’il n’a jamais « vraiment » été question que la tournée Working on a dream soit la dernière avec le E Street Band.

Selon l’extrait de cet entretien publié sur le site du Star-Ledger (cliquez ici), le groupe envisage encore « beaucoup, beaucoup d’années à tourner, jouer et y prendre plaisir » !

Friday was one of the busiest days in Brand Elevation history.  It was a day of major events including my radio interview with United States Olympic Gold Medalist and swimmer Cullen Jones, Oprah’s announcement that she is ending her show after twenty-five years, and seeing Bruce Springsteen live at the First Mariner Arena for his first concert in Baltimore since 1973.

Alright, only two of these things really impacted me. Cullen was a great guest on Elevation Radio and The Boss absolutely tore the fucking house down in Baltimore.

In the penultimate show of the 2009 tour the Boss broke out amazing versions of My Love Will Not Let You Down, Long Walk Home, The E Street Shuffle, Wrecking Ball, For You (solo on the piano), Baltimore favorite Hungry Heart, Ramrod, Rosie, and so much more.

The musical pinnacle of the night was the band’s rendition of every song on Born to Run, as it was played on the album. Powerhouse versions of Backstreets and Thunder Road were particularly memorable.

Besides the music, the Boss just does amazing things with his body for a 60-year-old. Wait, that sounded kind of gay didn’t it? Well, I don’t care. When I’m 60, I just hope to be able to walk from my kitchen to the living room so I can watch Monday Night Raw once a week. Nevermind doing shit like crowd surfing, playing 31 songs in three and a half hours without letting the energy waiver at all, jumping around and dancing like a mad man, and leading 13,000 people in unison like its a religious experience. Honestly, Springsteen has so much energy, he could walk from his house in New Jersey to every venue around the country. It would save jet costs. Although, carrying The Big Man would probably get a little tiresome after a while.

The Boss tries not to get groped while crowd surfing though Baltimore's finest.

Speaking of the Big Man, Clarence and the rest of the band were absolutely on fire. Despite all of knee and back injuries Clarence was on his feet the entire night and just nailed every single one of his saxophone solos. Nils Lofgren and Max Weinberg also had amazing shows. Nils was spinning like a mad man all night on lead guitar, and Max was able to bring the power for every single song. It wasn’t just simple Ringo Starr-keep the beat stuff. Practically every song from American Land to Badlands called for big drum solos. Little Steven Van Zandt and the rest of the band also looked really good too.

The E Street Band cuts down on costs by forcing the entire band to share one microphone.

Probably the only being at the show who didn’t have a great time was The Baltimore Arena. That old girl needed to be torn down in 1985. The sound system was on its last legs by the end of the night and left me a parting gift of buzzing in my ear for the next 48 hours. The arena is just really old-looking and a big dump, however it did provide a nice retro classic rock atmosphere for the show. Next week I’ll get to complete the second part of my Arena double-header, when the WWE comes to Baltimore for a live taping of Raw. If that show is 1/15th as entertaining as Springsteen, I’ll be happy. Due to the fact Mini Me is hosting the show, my hopes are not out of this world. Sheamus becoming the new number one contender to Cena may be a giant rib on the American wrestling fan.

Anyway, back to the Boss. I think you’ll enjoy this video of he and Stevie going nuts on Ramrod.

Now at 60 years old, Bruce Springsteen is a physical specimen with the energy of a 16 year old. HULK HOGAN IS NOT THE SAME WAY. I just thought I’d pass along this fucking clip of Hogan and Ric Flair’s “match” from the first show of the Hulkamania Tour of Has Beens in Australia, or whatever the hell it’s called. Hogan and Nature Boy must really need the money.  Hogan looks less spry than Stephen Hawking at this point. Naitch’ still moves OK, but its a shame that his retirement ceremony from Mania 24 is forever tarnished because he decided to job to Hulk Hogan 4 or times in Australia to pay off his ex-wives. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I also wanted to take this opportunity to be a shameless Billy Mays-esque whore for my latest adventure on Elevation Radio. Before getting down with the Boss on Friday night, there was business to be had Friday afternoon when I interviewed American gold medal winning swimmer Cullen Jones. Cullen was really neat to talk to, and offered some fascinating insights into how he originally got into swimming, the experience of swimming in Beijing for the Olympics, America’s rivalry with France, being a teammate to Michael Phelps, his feelings on representing the African-American community and so much more. It was a nice, tidy quick, show and very interesting.

Cullen Jones (left) celebrates winning the gold medal. The greatest moment of his career, besides appearing on Elevation Radio.

I also discussed the fallout from UFC 105, correctly predicted the outcome of the main event at UFC 106, and offered my uninvited take on the 32 teams who made it to the World Cup. SJX will enjoy that portion of the show. I make some amazingly uneducated generalizations about teams I have never seen before. Quite impressive. So, click this link to hear that plus the interview with Cullen. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/elevationradio/2009/11/20/elevation-radio-with-cullen-jones

Finally, this weekend brings about the 1 year anniversary of The Outsiders Edge. My great thanks to: SJX for being there at the beginning and for continuing to be a great ear for all my rants about the WWE and other things , all the global correspondents, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash for inventing our name, all the guests who have appeared on the radio show, chest tattoos for bringing so many google searches to the site, along with naked  LPGA golfers, Michelle Yeoh, Jean Calude Van Damme’s Bloodsport, world soccer daily, erin andrews video peep pictures, david carradine, and all of the other search terms that bring so many people to this website every day, The Wrestle Rock Rumble video, weird celebrity deaths, Sammy the Samoyed, and to all the readers like you.

We made it to year and will keep on ticking to better and bigger things in 2010!

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 came out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said “Sit down” I stood up.
Ooh-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 ‘em 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-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-ooh growin’ up. Ooh-ooh growin’ up

La rabbia giovane (Badlands, 1973) di Terence Malick

Il Nebraska non è una terra facile da vivere, così come non lo sono in generale le periferie di questo pianeta.  E il destino dei suoi abitanti a volte sembra essere scritto nei propri cognomi, come accade a l protagonista Kit Carruthers (Martin Sheen), il cui nome, come suggerisce il ragazzo stesso, sembra essere “carrozziere”.  In realtà il 25enne lavora come netturbino ma è scontento del suo lavoro e della vita che conduce in questa cittadina del Nebraska. Tutto questo fino a quando incontra la ragazza che le cambierà la vita: la giovanissima (appena 15 anni) Holly Sargis.

Tra i due nascerà una storia d’amore silente e straziante, fatta di poche parole e ancor meno effusioni. E forse errato anche chiamarlo amore, perchè la ragazza ammira nel giovane soprattutto la somiglianza che ha con la star hollywoodiana James Dean. Ma se l’attore americano era divenuto celebre per la sua interpretazione di Rebel Without a Cause (Gioventù bruciata), i due ragazzi diventeranno protagonisti di una nuova storia che si potrebbe intitolare “Assassini senza motivo”.  In effetti, più che la passione, è la violenza gratuita che traspare negli atti dei due ragazzi, una freddezza spietata che porterà ad uccidere 11 persone, tra cui, per primo, il padre di Holly Sargis.

L’alienazione che Terrence Malick mostra è inquietante, nessuna giustificazione agli atti di violenza, nessun idillio per i due fidanzati, nessun senso di colpa per gli atti di brutalità che seminano nel loro percorso. Il loro, in effetti, è un viaggio nel nulla. Le frontiere in Nebraska sono inesistenti, così come lo sono i pionieri, sostituiti da fantocci nati per emulazione, marionette che sembrano muoversi all’interno di una pellicola senza regista, frutto di un montaggio casuale. Anche il rapporto uomo-natura è annullato. La natura non è ostile e non è amica, è solo un grosso nulla che icombe, che osserva l’uomo consumarsi nella sua disperazione. Forse può essere un riparo dalla legge ma alla fine dalla legge non si vuol scappare.

Il giovane Carruthers terrorizzò l’america assonnata del dopoguerra a suoni di pallottole, la destò dalla noia e dal torpore e regalò uno scenario brutale di sangue e violenza. Questo era il suo messaggio, questa la sua bruta e spietata fantasia. Il film di Malick è ispirato, in effetti, ad un storia veria, quella del giovane Charles Starkweather e Caril Ann che nell’inverno del 1957 seminarono il terrore negli Stati Uniti. La storia è così brutale che nemmeno a Quentin Tarantino sarebbe saltata in mente di scriverla, e infatti, il giovane sceneggiatore si limitò a registrarla riadattandola per la stesura di Natual Born Killer (1994). Anche il Boss ne rimase colpito fortemente e ne trasse una splendida canzone, Nebraska, che diede il titolo a uno degli album più belli della storia del rock.

Testo Nebraska di Bruce Springsteen

]]> http://savagemusic.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/places-in-time/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:16:20 +0000 savagemusic http://savagemusic.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/places-in-time/

As we approach the new year, lists of the best music of the decade are spilling out from all angles. Many of these lists attempt to include albums that aren’t just ‘good’, but that are ’significant’ and ‘important‘. But ’significant’ and ‘important‘ to what exactly? As NPR explains:

These are the game-changers: records that

signaled some sort of shift in the way music

is made or sounds, or ones that were especially

influential or historically significant.

This is an arbitrary qualifier, because how can we really know if a record created a change or shift in music without placing it among the music around it? This got me thinking: Is it necessary to contextualize music? Surely, how music develops is important, but when the average listener sits down, aren’t they just looking to hear something pleasing to the ear? Thus, when a song or album is contextualized, it becomes less about the music itself.

Many comments I recently viewed in the discussion section of NPR’s “The Decade in Music: ’00’s” revolved around why Bruce Springsteen’s The Rising (2002) wasn’t included. This, however, has more to do with why an album that focused on 9/11 wasn’t included because surely 9/11 was the most or one of the most important events of the decade. But music with lyrics have the advantage of conveying a period of time or event with much greater ease than instrumental music does. So why should The Rising be important just because it talks about 9/11 right after 9/11 happened? If I released an album next year chronicling the Panic of 1819, I doubt it would be deemed culturally significant. And if Bruce Springsteen had released The Rising tomorrow, I am sure it would be considered less significant. So does its place in time make the music more important?

Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works 85-95 (1992) is universally considered ‘important‘ because of the bridge it built between Ambient and Techno music, but today it sounds rather timid. So is it still worth listening to? Perhaps only if we consider its place in musical history. Ambient isn’t exactly supposed to be ‘exciting’ music, but I find much of Brian Eno’s work to be equally significant and to have aged and weathered much better than Aphex Twin’s work.

Someone attempting to check out Billie Holiday for the first time might unknowingly pick up Lady In Satin (1958), which features the singer a year before her death when her voice was significantly withered and she had lost much of her pitch. This album is almost guaranteed to disappoint someone who is not aware Holiday’s physical state at the time of recording, or of her attempt to reminisce about and communicate her extremely troubled past more through emotion than pitch. Only after the story behind this recording is understood does the its beauty emerge.

So considering all this, is it necessary to contextualize music? I’m still not quite sure. I certainly think Lady In Satin is a good album, and at the same time I am kind of frustrated that people think The Rising should be considered musically important just because of the issues it covers. And how about this for contextualization: The Rising ended an almost two-decade long dry spell for Springsteen and led to him becoming one of the most commercially successful artists of the 2000’s, which essentially means he profited from 9/11. And Selected Ambient Works 85-95 is actually technically a compilation of songs, and as soon as it brought Aphex Twin into the spotlight he completely changed the type of music he made (“Flim” is not ambient).

But maybe I am just biased.

Some of the albums that were commonly mentioned on “Best of the 2000’s” lists weren’t necessarily important so much as they were just good, somewhat different, and executed with serious, artistic intentions. In reality, none of us can know how important many of these albums really are because they haven’t had enough time to significantly effect the development of music. Yet we try to form these lists with this disclaimer anyhow, so maybe ‘important‘ music isn’t ‘important‘ anyway…

Creo que en sí el título de la canción lo dice todo. Sé que llevo un par de actualizaciones con música un poco lenta (pastelosa para algunos), pero tiempo al tiempo, a los que os gusten un poco más marchosas todo llegará.

Hoy una en una canción interpretada por Ben E. King y escrita, además del cantante, por Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller (1961). “Stand by me” es una adaptación a una canción de un coro gospel ,The Staples Singers de 1955, pero con un toque un poco más moderno. En principio Ben E King no tenía pensado interpretar la canción, sino que la había elaborado para el grupo The Drifters, pero el cantante murió antes de poder cantarla. Según un reportaje “Historia del Rock’n'Roll”  Ben E KIng decidió interpretar la canción ya que cuando estaba grabando “Spannish Harlem” el productor musical preguntó por más material y éste junto a los dos compositores de la canción decidieron enseñársela. Durante dos años se publicó como un single, después se incluyó en el album de Ben E. King Don´t Play That Song. Se situa en el nº 151 de las 100 mejores canciones según la revista Rolling Stone.

Numerosos artistas han versionado esta canción:

John Lennon en 1975, antes de retirarse de la música  con motivo del nacimiento de su hijo Sean Lennon, la versionó incluyéndola en su album   Rock ´n´ Roll. El inicio de la canción es el inicio de una canción tocada por Ringo Starr.

Sean Kingston hizo una versión pero con un ritmo mucho más pop.

Versiones en español como la de Silvio Fernández Melgarejo “Rezaré”, o la de Bruno Lomas “Rogaré por ti”.

U2 entre 1987 y 1993 durante las giras de Joshua Tree Tour y Zoo TV. Además del concierto ofrecido en Philadelphia con la colaboración de Bruce Springsteen.  Esta versión aunque sea en directo la mezcla de las voces de Bono y Bruce hace que la canción coga un ritmo pegadizo y llevadero.

en 2009 Richie Sambora, Andranik Madadian, Jon Bon Jovi grabaron una versión juntos en solidaridad con el pueblo de Irán por las protestas electorales.

When the night has come
And the land is dark
And the moon is the only light we’ll see
No I won’t be afraid, no I won’t be afraid
Just as long as you stand, stand by me

Charlotte Pichon Muñoz

Some songs just send a shiver through me. Or used to. As a young girl, I felt particularly anxious about certain music. Upon reflection, these songs shared a particular theme: the one I heard today is by The Zombies, and asks, “What’s your name? Who’s your daddy?” We learn later, of course, that it is in fact the time of the season for loving.

Similarly chilling songs included pretty much anything by Rod Stewart, but especially “Tonight’s the Night,” with its very, very veiled metaphor, “spread your wings and let me come inside.” And even “I’m on Fire“: “Hey little girl, is your daddy home?”

Apparently I thought these middle-aged rockers all wanted to come to my house and violate me while my parents were out. Is all I can figure. I took the “daddy” lingo quite literally, too, which was not the intent. Right? Right?

There were other songs that intimidated me. Genres, really: Pretty much all heavy metal. And rap. I’m not sure if this had to do more with the performers or with the people at school who liked said music. But I have had many moments, in recent years, when I heard something by Metallica or AC/DC or Run-DMC and thought, “This is not scary. At all. What was my deal?”

I can’t think of any music that scares me now, I suppose because I’m a gwone-up. But when I hear the Zombies play those opening licks, it doesn’t take much to leap back to a time when they had the power to send a shiver down my spine.

Our representatives in Albany will stop saying everything is on the table and stop attacking school expenses first. They should then put everything actually on the table from their own expenses, their offices, the monies wasted on committee seats, the hellaciously over generous stipends, the “Authorities” and more. To just attack healthcare and the schools because their tabs are big is lazy. There is a reason their bills are large.

Bruce Springsteen releases a live record heavily borrowing from Sunday night. I’ve seen him nearly three dozen times over the years and any show that can have Pat Riley in the pit in Buffalo and Debra Messing and Mariska Hartigay squealing like school girls merits commemoration.

The bank that took seven days to correct a 10 second mistake would apologize for trying to blame me for their web site error and quit telling me about customer appreciation week.

A pending computer upgrade goes smoothly (it won’t, I’m like Han Solo in this realm as I have “A bad feeling about this.”)

The former Vice President quits griping about how the current President is trying to mop up a war that the former advocated but never bothered finishing. Dick, follow John Wayne’s lead: “I didn’t vote for him, but I hope he does a good job.”

The Buffalo Bills stop crapping on the intelligence of the fans here (both of them). We know Bill Cowher won’t come to Buffalo. We know Jon Gruden won’t come here. Mike Shanahan probably won’t come here either, and that is okay. Let’s see some evidence of a plan. Go get a real football GM and the world would welcome Jim Haslett or Marc Trestman with open arms, provided we get evidence the organization wants to win along with just filling the seats. A good product solves a lot of issues.

Christmas stuff can’t come out while Halloween stuff is still on the shelves and the music stays mothballed till Thanksgiving. The holiday is just a day, and it isn’t always Currier and Ives for everybody. Some of us struggle a bit with the weight of the holidays and seeing that simulated cheer on your mug (which is usually gone the day after Boxing Day) makes us want to smack you that much harder.

Work on these, got others.

Bu aralar sürekli olarak geçen senenin en iyi filmlerinden biri olan The Wrestler‘in soundtrackinden filmle aynı adı taşıyan Bruce Springsteen dinliyorum.Filmi izleyeli neredeyse bir yıl olacak ama ben şarkıyı daha yeni indirdim ve durmadan dinliyorum.Bir de yine geçen senenin en iyilerinden Gran Torino‘nun soundtrackinden Jamie Cullum şarkısı.Hemen ardından da Cat Power‘dan bir Nina Simone cover’ı olan The Greatest‘ı dinlemezsem içim rahat etmiyor.Sanırım genel olarak depresif bir havadayım ki bu aralar çok gülüyorum.Garip…

La Santa fa scuola: dopo che lei aveva salutato Manchester con un bel “What’s up London”, ora anche Bruce Springsteen si adegua e durante un concerto in Michigan, saluta uno stato a caso degli altri 51, più precisamente l’Ohio…

Britney Rulez.

Music is important. It inspires us, consoles us, uplifts us and comforts us. It is part of what defines us each as individuals. It is a highly personal and subjective thing. What appeals to one person may not necessarily appeal to another. Some people love jazz, others swear by heavy metal, others find meaning in hip hop. For some music is just a means to dance, a conduit to acquiring a lover. For others music is a means of rebelling, of setting ourselves apart from our parents or our community.

We all listen to music for different reasons and with different ears. Like you, I have a great passion for music but I was lucky enough to have a professional interest in it. During the late 80s and 90s, I was a music critic for a variety of publications, mostly the San Jose Metro newspaper but also Calendar Magazine (which would become SF Weekly) and a myriad of online and print magazines. During that time, I was exposed to a wide variety of music from avant garde to alt-country, from reggae to punk, from death metal to Christian rock.

In a real sense, it just means I have an opinion. Of course, we all have an opinion but I was fortunate enough to have a vehicle for expressing it (in an era before blogs, there weren’t a whole lot of those). I tried to use that vehicle wisely. It’s very easy to point a finger at someone’s music and say “that sucks,” or in a more critical way, “that is the aural equivalent of Ex-Lax.” It’s very easy to tear things down, after all. Finding something worthwhile in music you’re not particularly connected to is much harder, and only the really good critics can do that. I have to admit I took an easier route – I tended to only write about bands that I found some connection to. Fortunately, that was fairly easy – I had access to a whole lot of music and there were a lot of performers that caught my ear.

“Bands That Matter” is a terribly subjective appellation. Matter to whom, for example? And how do they qualify? I will admit that this is a somewhat dodgy endeavor, as my English friends might say. For one thing, I’m picking three bands at random that I think are worthy of putting on a pedestal. Some of them are well known, some not so much. I will admit this is more of a self-portrait in my musical taste than a real scholarly effort to discover bands that have made a serious effect on music in general, but I think when you see the list below you will admit that all of these bands have had some sort of impact on music, society or both although truly, some impacts have been more profound than others. One thing to remember – these aren’t necessarily the three bands that matter most, even to me. They are just three of the bands that matter. There are certainly many more that do, which is why this will be an irregular series.

It would be easy to lead off with the Beatles and/or John Lennon here, but I’m restricting my three to bands that are extant in one form or another. This isn’t a list of major hitmakers, although some of these bands have had their share of success on the charts. Mostly these are bands/performers who have either had something to say, or something to share and I think you will agree, the world is a better place for having all of them in it.

U2

Many bands have come and gone since this band burst onto the scene in 1979 but I can’t think of many that have operated for 30 years without changing membership at all. The same four individuals who played on their debut album Boy are still playing in the band today. Unlike other bands that have kept stable, U2 hasn’t been afraid to re-invent their sound from time to time. They’ve gone the pop route, they’ve gone the arena rock route but even when they haven’t been as successful, they’ve always stuck to their convictions.

From the beginning, the band has exhibited a social consciousness, exemplified by their lead singer Bono. As the band would become more and more successful, he would become a tireless advocate for the poor, the starving and the downtrodden. He has lobbied nations and individuals to take a stand to help those in need for various charities, going all the way back to his work in Band Aid, of which he was an integral part. He is one of the most charismatic front men in the business and he has used that to capture the attention of the world media for causes that are important to him ranging from world hunger and AIDS to social justice and global warming. His compassion for his fellow human is exemplary in a business where most rock stars are the definition of self-centeredness.

Bono and his guitarist The Edge have a knack for creating soaring, soul-stirring music that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. Few bands make you want to stand up and cheer for nearly every song in their repertoire, but that’s how U2 affects most people. While they are not as confrontational as, say, the Clash their songs nevertheless cannot be ignored. When you hear “Pride (In the Name of Love)” or “Sunday Bloody Sunday” you cannot really treat them as background noise – they require a response, emotionally or intellectually. Agree or disagree with the bands politics (and they aren’t really political in the sense that they are active campaigners for politicians or a particular political party) you will find yourself responding to their music.

Part of that is due to the guitar work of The Edge. He is the kind of player that plays from the inside out; his style is distinctive but easily accessible. His sound is the equivalent to a falcon in full flight; it soars and moves at speed but can swoop down at any time without warning and tear at you. Before you know it, a piece of you is missing.

REQUIRED LISTENING: The Joshua Tree is their commercial breakthrough, although the band had success prior to that both at home, in the UK and here in North America. It contains many of their signature hits, such as “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Where the Streets Have No Name.” It also has lesser-known songs like “In God’s Country” which are among their best. However it must be said that I have a particular fondness for The Unforgettable Fire which not only contains one of their signature songs (“Pride (In the Name of Love)”) but also two of my very favorites, the title cut (see below) and “A Sort of Homecoming.”

THEY’RE PLAYING MY SONG: The song that has the most meaning to me is the title track from The Unforgettable Fire. It was off the album that marked the beginning of their fruitful collaboration with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois and is one of the rare songs in their repertoire to make extensive use of keyboards in the mix. I still think of it as the quintessence of U2 although there are those who might disagree. More of a soundscape than a song, “The Unforgettable Fire” shimmers with layered guitars and synthesizers while Bono’s voice rings clear as a bell over the aural landscape. I still get chills whenever I hear it.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

The Boss burst out of Asbury Park, New Jersey on the shoulders of the saucy Latin-spiced “Rosalita” and hasn’t looked back since. He has one of the most rabid fan bases of any performer in rock and roll, and while some regard him as more of a cult item, there is no doubt that Springsteen is one of the most influential performers of his generation.

Few others can lay claim to being the voice of the working class, and in these difficult times we need his voice more than ever. Springsteen’s values are blue collar to the core and American in their essence. While working the bar circuit on the Jersey shore, he assembled the legendary E Street Band, a group of musicians who would complement Springsteen like peanut butter and grape jelly; while Springsteen is the focus of the band being the lead singer, primary songwriter and guitarist, he might be just a great songwriter with a blue collar focus if it weren’t for his musical partner-in-crime saxophonist Clarence Clemons.

There’s something about their collaboration that is truly magical; one can’t think of his great hits “Born to Run,” the aforementioned “Rosalita” and “Dancing in the Dark” without Clemons’ sax. The Big Man is the yin to Springsteen’s yang and in live performances the chemistry between the two is electrifying.

The rest of the band ain’t too shabby either, with Mad Max Weinberg on drums, Garry Tallent on bass, Danny Federici on organ, Roy Bittan on piano, Little Stevie van Zandt (and while van Zandt was pursuing other musical directions, Nils Lofgrin) on guitar and later, his wife-to-be Patty Scialfa would join the clubhouse. 

Springsteen has not been without controversy; when the Reagan campaign appropriated his song “Born in the USA” Springsteen was outspoken with his annoyance. He is a lifelong Democrat who has leant support over the years for Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Michael Dukakis along with a plethora of candidates for office in New Jersey, not to mention weighing in on subjects near and dear to the heart of his own constituency.

Springsteen’s appeal lays in his ability to get to the heart of the common man. In that sense, his album titled The Ghost of Tom Joad is no accident; Springsteen himself is a latter-day Tom Joad, a decent man with honest values horrified at the liberties taken with the working class. In some ways, he has been able to cross party lines; there are an awful lot of Republicans that I know who think The Boss is Da Bomb and have “Hungry Heart” and “The River” on their iPods.

One of the things Springsteen has managed to do successfully is keep his mystique intact. You don’t see a lot of him in the tabloids and he doesn’t do a lot of interviews. While he has contributed songs to movies like Philadelphia and The Wrestler, he is very careful who he allows to use his music and he has been known not to license his songs to filmmakers when he hasn’t been satisfied with the content or the quality of the movie they’re making. For someone with the kind of popularity he enjoys, he has more or less managed to stay out of the public eye and yet when his concert tour comes through any given city, there is a feeding frenzy to snap up the tickets.

You can safely say that Bruce Springsteen comes from a long and honorable line of musicians that include guys like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, and he keeps the traditions of their music for the common man alive. Springsteen, more than any pop star today, is identified with a specific voice and I don’t mean his singing voice. He is the voice of the factory worker, the mechanic, the construction worker, the farmhand. He sings for the grocery clerk, the waitress and the road worker but you don’t have to be one of those to appreciate his music….or the man.

REQUIRED LISTENING: There are three albums that no Springsteen fan should be without – not that Springsteen fans are without any of his albums. In chronological order, they constitute his most fertile creative period and while he continues to create compelling, important music today I suspect that it is these three albums he’ll be remembered for; Born to Run, an album that would cause him to become the first man to be on the cover of Time and Newsweek in the same week; The River, an epic double album set that is in many ways his most ambitious work of his career and his commercial apex Born in the USA which brought Springsteen out of cult status.

THEY’RE PLAYING MY SONG: When I think of Springsteen, I hear “Jungle Land” off the Born to Run album. This is a song that captures desperation and despair, the triumphs and tragedies of being young and free. It is epic in scope and stirring in places, often juxtaposed by quiet moments of self-doubt and self-realization. The heroes and heroines of “Jungle Land” are flawed but doing their best in a world that has become perdition. Sometimes, it’s not escape that’s important but merely the act of attempting to and that’s what “Jungle Land” is all about.

SIGUR ROS

After the first two bands on this list, I’m sure there are an awful lot of people shrugging their shoulders, rolling their eyes or just saying “Huh?” Certainly this Icelandic band doesn’t have the pop chart success of either Springsteen or U2, nor do they have the presence in the mass consciousness of Americans in general.

That’s not to say that we are the be-all and end-all of world opinion mind you. In fact, in their home country Sigur Ros are much admired and highly popular. More than that, however, they are creating a style of music that is unique and compelling. Whether or not that has any kind of lasting impact on music in general remains to be seen. I can tell you that what they are trying to create should have a lasting impact, if music is to mean anything in the coming decades.

One of the problems I have with modern pop music is its soullessness. The primary motivation to creating music seems to be in moving units, selling albums; making money, in other words. Music is being made by committee, with hired gun songwriters cranking out safe, homogenized songs that are in turn gotten hold of by celebrity producers and session musicians until the performer lends whatever stamp they can on the vocals. It is what “American Idol” is all about and quite frankly symbolizes everything I can’t stand about popular culture in general.

Sigur Ros make music for all the right reasons. They never pursued success; it found them. After one of their songs was used on the soundtrack for Vanilla Sky, people responded and began to seek them out. Eventually their songs would appear in commercials and on blogs. Suddenly there was a demand for them and the band found themselves touring the world, all the while wondering how on earth they got there.

One of the reasons Sigur Ros appeal so much is that while they are proudly Icelandic and carry the values instilled in their upbringing in that society with them, their music is accessible on a global level. While some of their earlier albums were sung in Icelandic, they have taken to giving up lyrics almost completely. Singer Jon Thor “Birgi” Birgisson sings in a combination of nonsense syllables and a kind of free-form Icelandic poetry to create his own language which he calls “Hopelandic,” a play on the title of the band’s debut album.

Birgisson sings in a falsetto that swoops and flutters like a seabird, soaring one moment and whispering the next. His bandmates provide music that washes over you like the cold waters of a mountain stream, enveloping you like a fog. Often their music is quiet and simple, utilizing mostly acoustic instruments. From time to time, the band will exercise their rock urges and when they do, they are overpowering.

What I like best about their music is that it isn’t meant to be listened to, at least as far as I can tell; it’s meant to be experienced, to be felt. It is literally music for the heart, and nearly every song elicits an emotional response. This is not a band that wants to make you angry although some of their themes involve subjects that might be upsetting. This is a band that wants you to feel, and then act on those feelings.

They’re currently on a bit of a hiatus while their members are working on some side projects but they are due back with another album next year. In the meantime, seek out their music, find a quiet place and listen. You will be richly rewarded.

REQUIRED LISTENING: Heima/Hvart is the soundtrack album of their astonishing concert film Heima. The band performed a series of free concerts in a variety of venues around Iceland after returning home from their world tour off of the Takk album. The first disk contains songs from that film; the second, Hvart, contains demos and outtakes of music from throughout the bands career. However if you really want to get an essence of what the band is both live and musically, see the DVD if you can find it.

THEY’RE PLAYING MY SONG: Although in many ways atypical of Sigur Ros’ sound, the track that first placed this band into my heart is “#8 (A.K.A. Popplagio).” From their 2002 album () (which is essentially untitled – as are all the songs on it), the song starts off slow and dream-like, with vocalist Birgisson warbling bittersweet over an almost dirge-like tune. However, the eleven-minute magnum opus doesn’t stay that way. With drummer Orri Pall DyRason signaling the change with a low, unsettling drumbeat, Birgisson steps up with soundless vocals soaring over an unnerving guitar-bass riff, the music swelling until reaching a crescendo of crashing drums and guitars. The effect is invigorating, much like a plunge into a frigid Icelandic lake after a session in a sauna. It’s hard to do anything but applaud and admire upon hearing it.

Working on a Dream Tour 2009

Concerti: 83 di cui,  27 USA prima parte; 27 Europa; 29 USA seconda parte

Canzoni: 191 diverse di cui 64 covers

 USA (prima parte) 699 canzoni  di cui 100  diverse tratte da:

Europa  749 canzoni  di cui 111  diverse tratte da:

USA (seconda parte) 820 canzoni di cui 151 diverse tratte da:

Devils & Dust è l’unico album rimasto fuori con nessuna canzone  proposta

Brani sempre presenti nelle Setlist:

American Land

Born to Run

Working on a Dream è rimasto fuori dalla scaletta 1 sola volta l’08 Novembre – New York Madison Square Garden

Concerto più lungo:34 brani il 22 Novembre – Buffalo, NY HSBC Arena

Concerti più corti: 24 Brani il 7 Aprile / Tulsa, OK / BOK Center

                                         24 Brani il 15 April / Los Angeles, CA / L.A. Sports Arena

                                         24 Brani il 14 Maggio / Albany, NY / Times Union Center

                                         24 Brani il 30 Maggio / Pinkpop festival, Landgraaf (OLA) 

 Canzoni presenti 1 sola volta in scaletta: 

 

(I Don’t Want To) Hang Up My Rock’n Roll Shoes - 22 Novembre – Buffalo, NY HSBC Arena

99 Tears - 26 Aprile – Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena

All Or Nothin’ At All – 12 Settembre – Tampa, FL Ford Amphitheatre

All Shook Up – 19 Ottobre – Philadelphia, PA Spectrum

Bad Luck (w/ Mike Ness) – 16 Aprile – Los Angeles, CA - L.A. Sports Arena

Born to Be Wild – 02 Agosto  – Monte del Gozo, Santiago (SPA)

Brown Eyed Girl – 03 Novembre – Charlotte, NC Time Warner Cable Arena

Coma Girl – 27 Giugno  – Glastonbury Festival - Glastonbury (UK)

Crush On You – 08 Novembre – New York, NY Madison Square Garden

Da Doo Ron Ron – 20 Settembre – Chicago, IL United Center

Double Shot (Of My Baby’s Love) - 16 Settembre – Greenville, SC Bi-Lo Center

From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come) - 30 Maggio  – Pinkpop festival, Landgraaf (OLA)

Give the Girl a Kiss - 15 Maggio - Hershey, PA - Hersheypark Stadium

Great Balls of Fire - 01 Agosto  – Estadio Josè Zorrilla, Valladolid (SPA)

Green Onions - 22 Novembre – Buffalo, NY HSBC Arena

Gypsy Biker - 05 Maggio - Charlottesville, VA - John Paul Jones Arena

Heat Wave - 23 Agosto – Mansfield, MA Comcast Center

I Wanna Be Sedated - 22 Aprile - Boston, MA - TD Banknorth Garden

If I Should Fall Behind - 22 Agosto – Mansfield, MA Comcast Center

I’ll Work For Your Love - 22 Novembre – Buffalo, NY HSBC Arena

I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide - 21 Aprile - Boston, MA - TD Banknorth Garden

Jailhouse Rock - 02 Ottobre – E. Rutherford, NJ Giants Stadium

Like A Rolling Stone - 19 Maggio  - Pittsburgh, PA - Mellon Arena

Little Bit O Soul - 13 Ottobre - Philadelphia, PA Spectrum

Little Latin Lupe Lu - 18 Maggio - Washington, DC - Verizon Center

Living Proof - 15 Novembre – Milwaukee, WI Bradley Center

Louie Louie - 07 Maggio - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre

Mary Queen Of Arkansas - 22 Novembre – Buffalo, NY HSBC Arena

Merry Christmans Baby – 22 Novembre – Buffalo, NY HSBC Arena

My City Of Ruins - 19 Luglio  -  Stadio Olimpico – Roma (ITA)

My Generation - 08 Maggio – University Park, PA - Bryce Jordan Center

New York City Serenade - 07 Novembre – New York, NY Madison Square Garden

Pretty Woman - 02 Luglio  – Olympiastadion , Monaco (GER)

Quarter to Three - 28 Luglio  – La Cortuja Olimpic Stadium, Sivilla (SPA)

Queen of the Supermarket - 05 Giugno  – Stocholms Stadion, Stockholm (SVE)

Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man - 13 Novembre – Auburn Hills, MI Palace At Auburn Hills

Restless Nights - 22 Novembre – Buffalo, NY HSBC Arena

Ring Of Fire - 18 Novembre – Nashville, TN Sommet Center

Rockin Robin - 20 Settembre – Chicago, IL United Center

Roll Over Beethoven - 25 Ottobre – St. Louis, MO Scottrade Center

Roulette - 05 Maggio – Charlottesville, VA - John Paul Jones Arena

Save The Last Dance For Me – 20 Ottobre – Philadelphia, PA Spectrum

Seaside Bar Song – 13 Ottobre – Philadelphia, PA Spectrum

Seventh Son – 02 Maggio – Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum

Sha La La – 19 Agosto – Hartford, CT Comcast Theatre

Stand On It – 02 Novembre – Washington, D.C. Verizon Center

Stolen Car – 08 Novembre – New York, NY Madison Square Garden

Streets Of Philadelphia – 29 Aprile - Philadelphia, PA / Wachovia Spectrum

Sweet Soul Music – 08 Novembre – New York, NY Madison Square Garden

The Angel – 22 Novembre – Buffalo, NY HSBC Arena

The Dark End of the Street – 02 Giugno  – Ratina Stadium, Tampere (FIN)

The Last Time – 09 Ottobre – E. Rutherford, NJ Giants Stadium

The Wanderer – 21 Settembre – Des Moines, IA Wells Fargo Arena

Then She Kissed Me – 13 Settembre – Ft. Lauderdale, FL Bank Atlantic Center

Travelin’ Band – 21 Luglio  – Stadio Olimpico – Torino (ITA)

What Love Can Do – 14 Ottobre – Philadelphia, PA Spectrum

When You Walk In The Room – 19 Ottobre – Philadelphia, PA Spectrum

Wild Billy’s Circus Story – 07 Novembre – New York, NY Madison Square Garden

Wooly Bully – 08 Maggio - University Park, PA - Bryce Jordan Center

Wreck On The Highway – 08 Novembre – New York, NY Madison Square Garden

You Really Got Me – 05 Maggi – Charlottesville, VA - John Paul Jones Arena

Le 191  canzoni del tour, e il numero di quante volte sono state suonate

Quel futur pour le E Street Band de Bruce Springsteen après l’ultime concert de la tournée Working on a dream à Buffalo le 22 novembre dernier ?

Un indice supplémentaire (après celui relevé ici) avec cette reprise du bluesman Chuck Willis, au titre révélateur : (I don’t want to) Hang up my rock and roll shoes !

Alors, croisons les doigts pour que non seulement Bruce Springsteen, mais tout le E Street Band ne raccroche pas ses rock and roll shoes !

No, this isn’t another article about observing your management team. It’s about what you can learn from the “Boss” Bruce Springsteen. Yep, that’s right. There are a handful of extremely helpful takeaways that all of us business people can learn from this veteran rock and roller.

Connect with Your Audience in a BIG Way

A Bruce Springsteen concert is never a quiet, low-key show. He works the crowd and plays his band like an orchestra. You can’t help but feel as if he’s singing straight to you, even in a sold-out stadium. Bruce gets it. Without his legions of devoted fans, he’d be just another guy from New Jersey.

In business, it’s just as important to make the connection with those around you. To grow long-term success, you, too, need devotees that truly believe that you’re working just for them. Build your fan base just like Bruce.

Be Real, Not Superficial

Even though Bruce probably has more money than some small nations, he still successfully projects an image of blue-collar, straightforwardness that you rarely see in other rock stars.

You just can’t envision him lip-synching a song on stage, nor wearing a sequined, glam get-up. Because he’s so good at what he does, there’s no need for distracting background dancers, dizzying light displays, or overly-synthesized songs. That’s just not Bruce. He writes and performs real music that’s straight from the heart. He wears jeans and a t-shirt and plays his guitar. No muss, no fuss!

Being down-to-earth is a good strategy for business, too. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to spot the salesperson who is better at show-boating than really selling or the marketing director who has a knack for making a sub-standard product look very appealing in a presentation. Instead, the best approach is always honest and real. Having a reputation as someone who isn’t full of B.S. will always work to your benefit in the long run.

Work Hard

Anyone who has ever been to a Bruce Springsteen concert knows that they can be long. While most performers tire and quit after an hour and a half, Bruce can go on for hours and hours. During one tour in the early 80s, his band consistently played nearly 40 songs over four hours each night. His tireless work ethic has definitely added to his popularity and mystique. When you buy a ticket to one of his concerts, you know you’ll definitely get your money’s worth.

Bruce has found success through hard work, and so can you. By putting your hours in, you’ll not only improve your skills, you’ll establish yourself as a roll-your-sleeves-up type who is willing to do what’s necessary to get a job done.

Be a Perfectionist

Like all rock and roll stars with staying power, Bruce Springsteen makes performing look easy. He just picks up a guitar and plays, right? Not hardly! His “E Street Band” has up to nine performers on stage that all must work in synch to create the incredible music that they’re known for. This requires tremendous amounts of time rehearsing, practicing, and fine-tuning. Want to be a business rock star? Perfect what you do and then make it look easy.

Over Deliver

At the core of every performance is Bruce’s desire to do anything and everything to make his crowd happy. Even now at 60 years old, he works the stage and makes his way into the audience just as he has done for decades. He takes audience requests for songs and belts out each tune with the enthusiasm and vigor of someone half his age. Of course, he rarely ends any show with less than a five song encore. Why do many fans almost consider his concerts “pilgrimages” that they couldn’t dare miss? It’s because he consistently over delivers, always leaving them feeling like they’re truly appreciated.

Are you going over and above the call of duty and providing more than expected with your prospects, clients, and colleagues? Take it from “The Boss”, if you’re really “Born to Run”, you’ll make it your passion to over deliver, too!

D’un autre côté est-ce que je sais ce que je cherche ? Et d’ailleurs est-ce que je cherche quelque chose ?

Weil Tom Waits’ Reibeisenstimme klang, als gurgele er morgens mit Whisky und atme Luft ausschließlich durch filterlose Zigaretten, bewarfen ihn seine Zuhörer einst mit Obst und Gemüse. Sein neues Live-Album “Glitter & Doom” beweist, dass die Stimme zwar geblieben ist – dass Waits aber sein Publikum, dieses “wilde Tier”, inzwischen vollkommen beherrscht.

Schon auf seinem im Jahr 1973 erschienenen Debüt-Album “Closing Time” weckt Tom Waits unweigerlich Assoziationen an einen betrunkenen Barpianisten – ein Image, das er auch danach noch lange Zeit pflegte. Waits lehnte es von Beginn an ab, mit seinen Songs den Massengeschmack zu befriedigen – selbst den der Jugendkultur nicht. Angesagt waren zu jener Zeit Glam-Rocker wie Gary Glitter und Marc Bolan oder Prog-Rocker wie Mike Oldfield und Manfred Man.

Doch Tom Waits sang düstere, melancholische bis depressive Lieder über romantische Verlierer, die nachts zusammengesunken irgendwo in einer Kneipe rumhängen und über warmes Bier und kühle Frauen lamentieren. Seine Songs klangen wie Vertonungen des berühmten Edward-Hopper-Gemäldes “Nachtschwärmer”, auf dem drei einsame Barbesucher ohne jeden Bezug zueinander sinnlos ihre Zeit absitzen.

Obwohl die Zahl seiner Fans und der verkauften Platten klein blieb, passte sich der am 7. Dezember 1949 geborene Künstler nicht an. Während sich die in den 1980er Jahren alles dominierende Popmusik seicht und eingänglich präsentierte, begann Waits mit seinen “Found Sounds” (gefundenen Klängen) zu experimentieren: Er verwendete fortan auf seinen Alben Gegenstände, die er auf dem Müll gefunden und zu Instrumenten umgebaut hatte. Angeblich setzte ihn sein Label deshalb vor die Tür. Der Chef der Plattenfirma soll sein Album “Swordfishtrombones” (“Schwertfischposaunen”) für unverkäuflich befunden haben, nachdem er einige Demos gehört hatte.

Ausflüge zum Film

Doch Tom Waits blieb sich weiterhin treu. In den 1990er Jahren wurden er und seine Musik bekannter – was auch an einigen Nebenrollen in Filmen lag, die Waits etwa in “Down by Law” oder “König der Fischer” übernommen hatte. Der Sänger hätte seine Popularität leicht weiter steigern können, indem er nur ein paar Alben mehr veröffentlicht und einige Konzerte zusätzlich gegeben hätte.

Stattdessen ließ Waits zwischen seinem 1992er Album “Black Rider” und seinem Album “Mule Variations” sieben Jahre verstreichen. Auf Tour ging er in dieser Zeit nicht und auch danach trat er nur sehr sporadisch auf. Dies könnte ein Grund dafür sein, dass Tom Waits in seiner inzwischen fast 40-jährigen Musikerkarriere keinen Nummer-1-Hit landen konnte. Obwohl sein Name inzwischen längst sehr bekannt ist, schaffte es noch keines seiner Alben in die Top-Ten der Charts.

Hassliebe gegenüber dem Publikum

Seine Aversion gegen Tourneen hat vor allem zwei Gründe: Zum einen hat er keine Lust, seine Familie über Monate hinweg nicht sehen zu können, zum anderen hat er schon seit dem Beginn seiner Karriere ein sehr schwieriges Verhältnis zu seinen Anhängern. Die Hassliebe entstand, als ihn sein erster Manager Herb Cohen im Vorprogramm von Frank Zappa & the Mother of Invention auf Tour schickte. Beim Publikum kam er damals nicht gut an.

“Sie kamen und schmissen Obst und Gemüse auf mich”, sagte er einmal. Seitdem sei das Publikum für ihn ein wildes Tier, das man nicht zu häufig füttern sollte, wie er einmal in einem “Spiegel”-Interview sagte. Und außerdem: “Lange Tourneen, der ganze Stress mit Hotels und fremden Menschen machen mich nur noch mürrischer. Und ich bin auch so schon oft sehr finster gelaunt.”

Abschied vom Barpianisten-Image

Wie gut, dass sich der fast 60-jährige Künstler im vergangenen Jahr doch überwinden konnte und auf Tournee ging. Denn so ist sein 23. Album “Glitter & Doom Live” entstanden – ein Mitschnitt in exzellenter Tonqualität der ausverkauften Tour, die Waits durch die Vereinigten Staaten und Europa führte. Die erste der beiden CDs enthält 17 Lieder, die fast alle im Verlauf der vergangenen 20 Jahren schon einmal veröffentlicht worden sind. Waits hat sie bei verschiedenen Auftritten während seiner Tour gesungen. Allerdings sind sie so gut zusammengeschnitten, dass es klingt, als handele es sich um die Aufnahme eines einzigen Konzerts.

Nur der Song “Live Circus” ist neu – ein Waits-typisches Spoken-Word-Stück mit leichter, musikalischer Untermalung, wie er sie schon in den 1970ern am Barpiano zum Besten gab. Die übrigen Lieder stammen in der Mehrzahl von den beiden Alben “Bone Machine” und “Real Gone” aus den Jahren 1992 und 2004, die wichtige Eckpunkte in Waits Karriere markieren. Auf “Bone Machine” begann er, sich von seinem “Betrunkener-Barpianisten-Image” zu verabschieden, und auf “Real Gone” ist er beim alten Delta-Blues und den Wurzeln des American Folks angelangt. Auf diesem Album verzichtete er erstmals komplett auf das Piano, das bis dahin so charakteristisch für seine Musik war.

Die zweite CD von “Glitter & Doom Live” ist ein reines Spoken-Word-Album, auf dem die vielen skurrilen Geschichten zu hören sind, die Waits auf der Bühne gerne zwischen den Liedern erzählt.

Gedanken an eine Durchfahrtsstraße

Auf seinem neuen Album präsentiert sich Tom Waits in Bestform. Der “Klabautermann des Röchel-Blues”, wie ihn die Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung einmal genannt hat, faucht, krächzt und jault sich durch seine Texte, in denen er bisweilen Geschichten von am Straßenrand verlorenen Träumen erzählt. Dazu Musik, die klingt, als habe Waits Blues, Rock’n'Roll, Jazz, Gospel oder Zirkusmusik in einen Sack gepackt, diesen lange genug geschüttelt und zu Guter letzt noch mit aller Kraft darauf herumgetrampelt. Heraus kommt Waits eigener, kaputt-klingender Sound, der so wunderbar mit seiner Reibeisenstimme harmoniert.

Zwischendrin ist immer mal wieder eine dieser Waits-typischen, brüchigen Balladen versteckt, wie das großartige “Fannin Street”, das Waits ursprünglich John Hammond jr., dem Sohn der Blueslegende John Hammond, für dessen Album “Get Wicked” überließ, und das Waits für sein 2006 erschienenes Album “Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards” dann doch noch aufnahm. Vermutlich hat noch nie jemand in der Musikgeschichte solch überdrüssige Gedanken über eine Durchfahrtsstraße in der texanischen Großstadt Houston gesponnen, wie Waits in diesem Lied.

Keine Hoffnung mehr auf Sonnenschein

Überhaupt der Blues: Der findet sich ziemlich häufig auf “Glitter & Doom Live”. Zum Beispiel “Get behind the mule”, Waits’ ganz eigene Verbeugung vor dem König des Delta Blues, Robert Johnson. Waits erklärte dazu einmal, dass das Lied von dem inspiriert worden sei, was Johnsons Vater einst über seinem Sohn gesagt haben soll: “Das Problem mit Robert ist, dass er morgens einfach nicht hinter sein Maultier kommt, um zu pflügen.”

Flotter geht es dann bei “Goin’ out West” vom 1992er Album “Bone Machine” zu. Ein manischer Bluesrock, bei dem es schwer fällt, sich seinem stumpfen und stampfenden Rhythmus zu entziehen und der den Hörer zwangsläufig in seinen Sog zieht. Eine Wirkung, die Waits Beschwörung “Make it Rain” vom “Real Gone”-Album noch wesentlich stärker entfaltet. Nach diesem Lied hofft niemand mehr auf Sonnenschein. Und mit “I’ll be back some lucky Day” beschließt Waits das Album mit einer Ballade, die wirklich jedes noch nicht versteinerte Herz berühren muss.

Kaum Überraschungen

Insgesamt enthält “Glitter & Doom Live” wenig Neues. Fans kennen die meisten Lieder bereits, wie das bei den meisten Live-Alben der Fall ist. Dennoch steht Waits nicht im Verdacht, sich mit der Veröffentlichung nur eine zusätzliche, leichte Einnahmequelle erschließen zu wollen. Es lohnt sich, das Album zu kaufen, und dafür sorgt Waits selbst. Er präsentiert seine Lieder live in leicht veränderter Form und trägt sie mit einer Innbrunst vor, die man von den Studioalben so nicht kennt.

Doch die überraschendste Erkenntnis des Live-Albums ist: Der fast 60 Jahre alte Waits ist noch immer ein großartiger Dompteur, der das Publikum, dieses wilde Tier, unter Kontrolle hat, mehr noch: der es begeistert und verzückt, wie der Szenenapplaus, der immer wieder mitten in den einzelnen Stücken aufbrandet, beweist. Schade, dass Waits das Tier nur noch so selten füttern will, zumindest in Deutschland. Hier trat er das letzte Mal im November 2004 in die Manege. Es wird langsam mal wieder Zeit.

“Glitter & Doom Live” ist am 20.11.2009 erschienen.

Erschienen am 20. November auf ARD.de

#Tweetsgiving has to be the coolest topic on Twitter I have seen to date.

With the celebration of Thanksgiving (the start of the kick-ass food season, as I like to call it…) mere days away, the trending topics of Thanksgiving and #Tweetsgiving show me just how grateful and gracious the Twitter world is- through Twibbons, Tweetups, and more.

#Tweetsgiving doesn’t start until 12 today, but it got me thinking about things for which I am thankful.  Of course, I can list the very obvious: my health, my job, my family + friends, my diploma, the long weekend, etc.  But what’s the fun in being obvious?

A beautiful tree in my town

So let’s try to dig a little deeper.  What else am I thankful for?  Trader Joe’s curry chicken salad and all of its goodies, the beautiful piano intro of “Backstreets” and all [good] music in general, the radiant colors of nature in the fall, social media and all of its daily entertainment [what would I do without status updates and trending topics?], my best friend’s bachelorette party in Atlantic City a few weekends away [hey, I need a get-away!] and her fiancé and her brother [both in our military, her brother stationed at Ft. Hood and her fiancé in Iraq] both serving our country, both safe and sound.  I am thankful for wonderful coworkers and all the food they bring into the office.  I am thankful for Macy’s and their Turkey Day Parade- the musical performances, the Rockettes, and the floats.  See which ones have been especially memorable over the past 80 years here.  If this doesn’t get you in the mood for Thanksgiving, I don’t know what will…

Mostly, I am thankful for the opportunity to have secured a job 4 months after graduating, in this economy, and actually be doing what I studied in college.  And all of this while working for a non-profit, using the compassion and commitment to social justice taught at Loyola.  Woohoo Jesuits.

Ok, so most of those were sappy and expected.  My bad.

In the wise words of Sally Brown, Charlie Brown’s blonde little sister, “Anyway, why should I give thanks on Thanksgiving? What have I got to be thankful for? All it does is make more work for us at school.”

While it does make for more work in school, it’s still something to think about.  In this time of economic turmoil (among other things), what are you thankful for this season?

Finis, d’un seul coup, le suivi angoissé des setlists, la recherche des tour et world premieres, la quête aux vidéos sur YouTube et aux commentaires sur les forums, la pioche aux infos sur Tweeter, Facebook ou Google News…

Pour les fans de Bruce Springsteen, la fin de la tournée Working on a dream, qui se terminait en apothéose hier 22 novembre à Buffalo, est un peu l’équivalent de la fin d’un voyage au long cours, voire du sevrage pour un alcoolique ou un toxicomane. Il va falloir apprendre à survivre sans ces “drogues” quotidiennes. L’occasion, à l’évidence, de se souvenir, pour ceux qui l’auraient oublié un instant, qu’il n’y a pas que le E Street Band dans la vie…

Mais le pays de l’espoir et des rêves n’est sans doute pas à remiser définitivement au rayon des esprits dans la nuit. Car, selon le compte-rendu de Chris Philips sur le site de Backstreets, Bruce Springsteen a indiqué, au cours de la dernière chanson, Rockin’ all over the world, que c’était le dernier show du groupe “pour un tout petit moment”.

So we’re gonna say goodbye, but just for a little while… a very little while… because… because…” before singing again, “I like it, I like it, I like it!”

Alors, arrêt définitif ou simple pause ? Vos avis et infos sont les bienvenus !

Dearest MamaKitt, that was quite an entry today. Mine will not have the same power, I’m afraid, both because you’re awesome and because I am sorely under the weather, but I will bring some parallelism: Where you wrote of fire, I’m writing of water. Sort of.

Last night I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in concert for the fourth time, and this time was a doozy. Word on the street is that this might have been the last we see of Bruce and the full complement of E Streeters for a while, and boy did they make the most of it. Three and half hours of music, with Bruce bouncing and running and crowd-surfing to the bitter end, all of it rocking your socks off.

Toward the end of this tour, Bruce et al have been playing each of their records, front to back, starting with the most recent and ending, last night, with Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. I didn’t know many of the songs from that record, I have to say — I loooove Bruce in concert, but I am not an expert on his recordings. But last night, man, “Lost in the Flood” tore me to pieces.

They played the shit out of that song, with the fervor and fire and apparently heartfelt enthusiasm I have only before observed at other Springsteen concerts. These fellas (Patti was absent last night) just seem to genuinely love what they do, and to care about putting on a good show. That shouldn’t be such a rare quality in overpaid performers, but it seems to be.

Anyway, I gained a renewed love for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band last night, a new favorite song, and a whopper of a cold. Sorry I can’t do better by the blog, or by Bruce, today, but so it goes. Read the Backstreets entry on last night’s concert for a better report.

Was für eine Setlist ! Was für eine letzte Show ! Das Greetings Album inkl. den Tourpremieren “Mary Queen of Arkansas” und “The Angel” wurde Mike Appel gewitmet: “to the man who got me in the door. Mike Appel is here tonight — Mike, this is for you.” Hinzu ein unglaublich Version  von ”Lost in the flood” Solo.

“Restless Nights.” , “Merry Christmas Baby” und Chuck Willis’s “(I Don’t Want to) Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes,” als Tourpremieren. 

Sie feierten auch den Geburtstag von Little Steven auf der Bühne (22.11.1950). Kevin Buell brachte die Geburtstagstorte (mit einer Gitarre drauf) auf die Bühne. Mit Max Hilfe sangen das Publikum Happy Birthday.  ”For Steve!” sagte Bruce und Suprise Suprise startete, “Well today is your birthday, we traveled so far we two
So let’s blow out the candles on your cake and we’ll raise a glass or two”, danach probierte Stevie die Torte “”Not bad!” und Bruce fügte den Lyrich hinzu: “And when the sun comes out tomorrow, it’ll be the start of a brand new day…”.

Es war nicht die letzte Tour mit der E Street Band: “We appreciate you coming out to see the E Street Band. So we’re gonna say goodbye, but just for a little while… a very little while… because… because…” before singing again, “I like it, I like it, I like it!”
Setlist:

Wrecking Ball (mit Curt Ramm)
The Ties That Bind
Hungry Heart
Working on a Dream
Blinded By the Light
Growin’ Up
Mary Queen of Arkansas
Doe This Bus Stop at 8nd Street?
Lost in the Flood
The Angel
For You
Spirit in the Night
It’s Hard to Be a Saint in the City
Waitin’ on a Sunny Day
The Promised Land
Restless Nights
Surprise, Surprise
Green Onions (instrumental)
Merry Christmas Baby (mit Curt Ramm)
Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (mit Curt Ramm)
(I Don’t Want to) Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes
Boom Boom
My Love Will Not Let You Down
Long Walk Home
The Rising
Born to Run
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out (mit Curt Ramm)
* * *
I’ll Work For Your Love
Thunder Road
American Land (mit Curt Ramm)
Dancing in the Dark
Rosalita (mit Curt Ramm)
Higher and Higher (mit Curt Ramm)
Rockin’ All Over the World

I have a twitter account, but I find the entire service mostly unnecessary. I’m not a student with a gazillion friends who needs to know where the hot party is. I’m not a corporation attempting to manufacture buzz for a product. I couldn’t find a reason to use Twitter.

But last night was Bruce Springteen’s last concert of his Working On A Dream tour and I didn’t have tickets. Finding myself at my computer around the time the concert started, I wondered to myself–is anyone Twittering this? Well, they sure were. Go to Twitter search, enter #springsteen and voila! Virtual concert. Several Twitterers were at the show and would post each song off the setlist as it came up (especially quick was @addictedtovinyl) I’d then cue up the song on my iTunes. A couple of cover tunes I don’t have on my computer, so I played the Otis Redding version of Merry Christmas Baby and the Jackie Wilson version of Higher and Higher.

Some of the folks following the show on Twitter would post links to YouTube clips of the songs he was currently playing, but from prior Bruce shows (including a great clip of Bruce and the E Streeters doing the Band’s “Dont’ Wanna Hang Up My Rock & Roll Shoes” from 1978!)

During the course of the evening Twitterers posted a few links to photos from the concert and one person even posted some shaky video.

While I obviously would have preferred to have been in attendance, I’m glad I followed along on Twitter. It reminds me of the old-time minor league baseball practice of recreating the calls of games over the radio using teletype descriptions of each pitch.

Although many people have been worried that the E St. Band was wrapping things up for good after this show, Bruce and the band left a few hints that they’ll be back. It may take awhile, but I think I’ll have a chance to put this Twitter thing to good use again.

Next up . . . the concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Hame–four hour highlight show on HBO this Sunday: Bruce w/ U2, Patti Smith, Tom Morello, John Fogerty, Darlene Love . . . and more!