{"id":135,"date":"2024-09-07T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-07T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/?p=135"},"modified":"2024-09-04T15:36:18","modified_gmt":"2024-09-04T21:36:18","slug":"the-3-stars-blog-september-7-2024-springsteen-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/the-3-stars-blog-september-7-2024-springsteen-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"The 3 Stars Blog &#8211; September 7, 2024 SPRINGSTEEN EDITION"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was working the 7-12 shift at WTTS on a Tuesday afternoon in November 1999. I was part-time at the time, splitting time at the station and filling in for the ailing nighttime jock. There were a pool of tickets available for the staff to claim for the Wednesday extravaganza at Conseco Fieldhouse. Earlier that year, Bruce Springsteen announced that this war, vendetta, this Sicilian thing with the E Street Band had ended, and they would tour again.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was on the shortlist to get a ticket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s when our music director paid me a visit. It was one I\u2019m sure she didn\u2019t want to make. She knew that I was extremely excited about going to the show.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHey, I need to talk to you about Springsteen.\u201d She looked down, which should have been my first clue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYeah, what\u2019s up?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo,\u201d she started, pausing to find the right words. This was when I had started to sense that this was not going to be a pleasant conversation. \u201cWe need someone to be here when the show goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I knew where she was going to this, but I had this emotionally self-injurious streak in me that I needed her to finish her thought.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI need someone I can trust to work the show.\u201d It was her way of softening the blow. \u201cI need you to fill in.\u201d I couldn\u2019t be too angry. I knew where I stood in the pecking order, and she had been championing my work for over a year. I had no claim to the right of tickets, and having that level of trust was gratifying.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, it\u2019s Springsteen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since then, this almost 25-year quest to see Springsteen has gone unfulfilled. I\u2019ve missed shows because I was out of town when he was playing Minnesota. I missed the chance to meet him at a book signing in Denver because I got to the line too late. And some forced austerity measures had me passing on his tour last year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It almost seemed that the Universe was just messing with me, never to fulfill my destiny to see the Boss\u2014however, a new wrinkle in this story will play out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Boss. Nationals Park.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tonight, I finish the story.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As I am out of town, I\u2019m doing a variation on a theme for the blog. Instead of The 3 Stars of the Week, I will do the 3 Stars of the Springsteen catalog. There are a couple of standards that I will put. I will not have two songs on the same album. It\u2019s just too easy to do, and there is a lot of Bruce to go through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Number 3 Star: Rosalita (Come Out Tonight) &#8211; <\/strong><strong><em>The Wild, the Innocent &amp; the E Street Shuffle<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bruce Springsteen - Rosalita\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/HC4bf67s5lQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was an early, non-<em>Born In The U.S.A<\/em> track in my Springsteen journey. The first time I heard it was when I was working at WGBF when I was 18. \u201cRosealita (Come Out Tonight)\u201d was one of those fill songs (I wrote about in the Tom Petty chapter in <em>Sundry Notes of Music<\/em>). There\u2019s something about this upbeat, joyful song convincing your girlfriend to defy her father by going out and celebrating signing a record contract.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Especially at three in the morning and I had another three hours to go in your show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still to this day, when I hear this song, I\u2019ll jump up and down at as the song comes to an end, just like I did in 1992.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Number 2 Star: My Ride\u2019s Here &#8211; <\/strong><strong><em>Enjoy Every Sandwich: The Songs of Warren Zevon<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"My Ride&#039;s Here\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EbV-jnFlgbQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Okay, I can already hear the resistance to this one. \u201cIt\u2019s not even a Springsteen song,\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re just trying to be provocative,\u201d and \u201cHow dare you!\u201d I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s the second-best Springsteen song; it\u2019s my second-favorite Springsteen recording.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was recorded a couple of days after Warren had died. I\u2019m not 100% sure Zevon knew he was dying when he wrote and recorded it. I\u2019m sure he knew that the end was nigh. It\u2019s Warren\u2019s Requiem Mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But this performance was a sweet moment, and it\u2019s our good fortune it was recorded. It was an opportunity for Bruce to honor his friend while mourning the loss of one of America\u2019s great songwriters, along with a sold-out crowd at Toronto\u2019s Sky Dome. It\u2019s beautiful, and we\u2019re all lucky it exists.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Number 1 Star: Jungleland &#8211; <em>Born To Run<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jungleland\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l6IwxpL-ZDk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the undisputed best song on the undisputed best Springsteen album. Springsteen is absolutely a gifted storyteller, but the closing track is the most significant display of lyrical genius. His use of language is more prose than words that match a tune&#8217;s rhythm. It\u2019s almost like Springsteen is a beat poet, channeling his inner Jack Kerouac.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s a stark contrast to the writing of the rest of the album. It\u2019s darker while adding an air of romanticism hidden behind the gritty gang life of New Jersey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jungleland is a triumphant rock n\u2019 roll epic. It\u2019s big, inspired, and beautifully executed. It has been a singularly influential song. You can hear its sonic specter in Dire Straits \u201cRomeo and Juliet\u201d from the live album <em>On The Night<\/em>, Bob Segar\u2019s \u201cNight Moves,\u201d and it was what Jim Steinman tried to duplicate while composing every song on Meat Loaf\u2019s<em> Bat Out of Hell<\/em> two years later.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was working the 7-12 shift at WTTS on a Tuesday afternoon in November 1999. I was part-time at the time, splitting time at the station and filling in for the ailing nighttime jock. There were a pool of tickets available for the staff to claim for the Wednesday extravaganza at Conseco Fieldhouse. Earlier that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[30],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-stars","tag-bruce-springsteen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136,"href":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions\/136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thatianshane.com\/website_6386482e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}