Southpaw Jones

Seeing Bruce Springsteen live is an amazing and important moment in life, but you have to be ready, and you have to be open. As good as he is, he can’t force you to get out of your chair and rise above your routine and your baggage. You have to…

Oh, who am I kidding? Of course, he can force you to get out your chair and rise above your routine and your baggage. He’s BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN! I saw him work his magic for Houstonians in the upper deck who didn’t even seem to know what show they were coming to see. It’s like Jerry Seinfeld says about comedy: No matter how big a legend you are, after five minutes, you better be actually funny. Well, Springsteen is a legend, if anyone out there is, and oddly enough, he still had to work hard for two-and-a-half hours to get everybody on their feet. I think he recognized the challenge early on, and I think he enjoyed it a great deal. If he was faking it, well, hell, there was no way he was faking it. He actually rocked.

May I share some contradictions from the evening? Well, the first one is frustrating me, because I swear I’ve seen this specific Springsteen quote before, but now I can’t find it. Not even on this here Internet! I’ll have to paraphrase: A well-done rock show has to simultaneously be the most important and the most meaningless thing in the world. That’s a crazy concept, but I love wrapping my brain around it. Last night, I didn’t have to wrap my brain, I just lived it. It was a religious experience, but it was just a concert. It was a baptism, but it was just a bunch of musicians playing. It was life-affirming and singular, but it was just an aging megastar and his band. If you can absorb this fundamental complication, you may be ready to truly appreciate a Springsteen show.

And another thing: Is it the Boss’s age and experience that make him great or is it his age-defying youthfulness? I don’t know, but one without the other would not have been the same. He jumped around the stage, pole-danced on his mic stand, and kept his energy super-high all night, but then again, he sang songs that only a fifty-year-old man could write, arrange, and pull off.

Springsteen understands that you can make yourself an even bigger star if you elevate the people around you. He loves The E Street Band more than any audience member, and he dang well ought to. They are the best in town, versatile, loud, serious, goofy, and dressed in black. From Stevie Van Zandt’s vocals on “Living in the Future” to Nils Lofgren’s blistering solo on “Because the Night” to Max Weinberg’s machine gun snare on “Badlands” to Clarence Clemons’s immortal saxophone on “Thunder Road,” it was all professional with a capital PRO.

During his encore, Bruce even brought out two excellent Texas songwriters, Alejandro Escovedo and Joe Ely, to play a song each with the band. Ely played “All Just to Get to You,” a song I’ve loved for ten years. I bought that record originally because I heard that Springsteen sang backup vocals on it. Had Bruce brought out Willie, I think Maggie and I would have spontaneously combusted on the spot.

I have some idea what most people might think when they hear the words “Bruce Springsteen concert.” It makes me a little sad. I won’t name names here, but we all know rock stars from the past who tour around celebrating just that, the past. Springsteen is very much about the present, just as much as he was in 1975. He plays classic songs, but he revamps them into something truly new. He doesn’t deny or try to hide his age, he pushes right through it with force and dignity. He isn’t there to remind you that he filled stadiums in the 1980s, he’s there to remind you that there are really good reasons for you personally to wake up in the morning. Faith, friendship, work, play, road trips, escape, soul, music, beer, and girls in their summer clothes! If you want to write music that never becomes stale or dated, write about these things from the beginning.

I’ve already typed too much, but I’ll leave you with a few more contradictions from the wonderful night: Things suck, but life is rich. America is great, but America’s government sucks. Relationships can be very difficult, but is there anything else of true value in this world? We have to work through this! We have to get out of town! We have to make a connection! We have to break this chain! This town rips the bones from your back! Son, we’re lucky in this town! It’s a death trap! It’s a beautiful place to be born!

Whew! “It’s a ride, ride, ride, and there ain’t much cover.” You said it, Boss. Thanks for coming to Texas.

Go see the Boss, fair reader. When you’re ready. I wasn’t near ready when I saw him at 19, and I wasn’t quite ready at 23, so thank God I was ready last night. One last classic contradiction:

Tears.

Of.

Joy.

I’m spent.

I’m sure Bruce would appreciate you looking up your local Food Bank and making a donation:
www.secondharvest.org/zip_code.jsp

as reported in The New York Times

April 15, 1908
LABORERS RUSH TO ALASKA.
Contractors Paying Them $5 a Day and Board.

One clue whose answer consists of two rhyming words:

Ok, let me get this straight. You’ve practiced seven different religions in your lifetime, and now you’re ready for another? Pray tell, which will be your…

Highlight here for answer: [eighth faith]


Model Railroad Slums

I have my ideas, I have my music and I also just enjoy showing off, so that’s a big part of it. Also, I like to get up onstage and behave insanely or express myself physically, and the band can get pretty silly.
Bruce Springsteen

EVERY DANG THURSDAY
with Matt the Electrician
8:00 PM
Flipnotics at the Triangle
4600 Guadalupe
AUSTIN, TX
(512) 380-0097
http://www.flipnotics.com
________________________________________________________________

SAUTRDAY, APRIL 19
8:00 PM
Opening for Will Kimbrough
Bend Studio
5014 McKinney Ave. 75205
DALLAS, TX
214.841.9642
www.bendstudio.com
$20, Doors at 7 pm.