Friday Night Lazy Blogging--Springsteen Edition

I've heard it my whole life; "You're from Jersey, you must love Springsteen?"

Uh, no, I hated Springsteen for years just because he was played every friggin' second on the local radio. I hated him until I listened to the decidedly un-Springsteen-like Nebraska album. After listening to that album, I gave the rest a shot.

I wouldn't call myself a Springsteen fan and still haven't seen him live, but I do like select Bruce songs.

This would be one of them. Rosalita recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in London in 1975. Great audio and visual quality. I guess I always like this song because of the San Diego reference or the line "the record company Rosie, just gave me a big advance". Whatever, this is a sweet recording:



Next is the video for Atlantic City off the aforementioned Nebraska album. Bruce painted a bleak picture of the casinos emergence in AC (hell, he painted a bleak picture of everything on the self-recorded Nebraska album). I guess when they opened in 1976, it was bleak with the Mafia getting fat, rich and happy on the building contracts. The first part of the story talk of the "Chickenman" getting rubbed out refers to Phillip Testa, the head of the Philly mob who was blown up by the eventual Don "Little" Nicky Scarfo. The bleakness shows just how bad things were in America in 1981 as the ill effects of the Carter administration were just changing over to the promise of Reagan.

The video brings back memories of when I was younger and used to sneak in the casinos to play blackjack in my late teens. The scene with the billboards hasn't changed much with the exception of the one for the Playboy Casino, which was sold and renamed Atlantis in the late eighties.



Lastly, a cool video with Melissa Etheridge and Bruce singing the epic Thunder Road. Etheridge seems like a little kid when she talks about wanting to sing with him:



As an aside, I also heard "You're from Jersey, you must love Bon Jovi?" Uh. no, I still hate Bon Jovi. Plastic music listened to by dudes who drove IROC Z-28's and had gold chains. I abhor Bon Jovi to this day and that'll never change.

Update: Added bonus! RHCP with Wet Sand. The best song on Stadium Arcadium, live too: