Biggest Little Bar Band In The World

A few more clips from Bruce and the boys as they continue rolling through their tour. The highlights just keep coming, and you have to stand in awe as this band really does seem capable of playing anything and everything.

Here we find London Calling, the classic number from The Clash. London Calling is my own personal favorite punk rock song (and would easily make my 10 Greatest Rock Songs Of All Time) from my favorite punk rock band.

Given that one of Springsteen's idols is Joe Strummer, the lead singer and songwriter of The Clash, it isn't surprising that he knows this song well. However, it's a wordy song, and that he can immediately remember the lyrics off the top of his head is impressive.

Also, a fiery cover of The Who's classic My Generation.

The E Street Band is giving the world a textbook lesson in rock history, night after night. What a thing to watch.

Poetry Can Pull Down The Bloody Moon

After much searching, I finally procured a modern and fairly complete copy of Ovid’s Erotic Poems, a collection including a number of poetic books he conceived independently, but now conveniently amassed together. And what a find!

Ovid is one of the great Roman poets, better known for his epic masterpiece The Metamorphoses, which (outside of Homer’s Odyssey) is likely the most influential piece of literature in the Western world. Dante read it, Shakespeare stole from it (copiously), ditto Chaucer for his Canterbury Tales. Modern writers from Salman Rushdie to Italo Calvino have cited its influence, and all for good reason. Ovid was one of the greatest poets who ever lived, and Metamorphoses is a work which rings true for each new generation, as its theme of continual change is always current. (For those looking for a good copy of The Metamorphoses, I’d suggest the Charles Martin translation).

I wouldn’t attempt to defend my spotty morals, or whitewash

My flaws with aggressive lies.

However, Ovid made his bones first writing elegiac poetry and forming his reputation as a lascivious bad boy by courting the married women of Rome. Ovid lived at the turn of the tide in Roman history, just after the assassination of Julius Caesar and the rise of Augustus Caesar, Rome’s first Emperor. Unfortunately for Ovid, the new Emperor had quite a stick up his ass, and his newly decreed (and heavily enforced) morality laws put a true crimp in Ovid’s style (he was eventually banished from Rome and sent to small town on the shore of the Black Sea…presumably for the publication of his work The Art of Love, a poetic manual for how to seduce married women).

Yesterday afternoon, while strolling down that cloister

Where all the Danaid statues are on display

I saw her. Love at first sight. I dashed off a note – with

Suggestions –

And got the nervous answer: It’s not allowed.

Why not? I wrote back.

Ovid is truly the first poster boy for cultivating a Bad Boy Image, well-knowing that even a bad reputation gets you farther than no reputation at all. However, it is a great mistake to imagine that Ovid was merely a Roman-era Player, or to write off his erotic poetry as the dirty literature of a fevered mind.

Every lover’s on active service, my friend, active service,

Believe me,

And Cupid has his headquarters in the field.

First, Ovid’s poems are almost never erotically explicit. His stance throughout seems to be that everyone knows what happens between the sheets, he doesn’t need to spell it out. Instead, his poetry focuses on the before and after, the wooing and the scorning, the chase and the breakup, and constantly his personal battles with his own conscience, failings, and the psychology of love.

Further is Ovid’s deft, hilarious wit. He is at once self-deprecating and outrageously confident, both moods eliciting chuckles at his absurdity. But his humor springs out precisely from his outrageousness, as he bluntly writes poems to his mistress’s servant, begging the servant to look the other way and let him get to his mistress, as he opines to the gods that he intended to write epic, Homeric poems, but discovered that they had no effect on young ladies and thus he turned to elegies, which allowed him to bed more beauties, as he rages against the dawning sun, telling it to leave him and his mistress be and let them sleep after a long night of lovemaking, calling Aurora a “dirty misogynist” for getting young girls up so early.

Written to his personal writing block after his mistress has rejected his love poems:

Cheap useless object – I’ll dump you at some crossing

For a laden wagon to splinter with its wheels!

The craftsman who fashioned you from untrimmed timber—

I’ll swear he had guilty hands. The tree itself

Must have been used as a gibbet, then turned into crosses

For some executioner.

It is his bluntness and directness which zings you, bringing forth bursts of laughter over and over. And his directness hasn’t lessened even nearly 2000 years later. He is unbelievably easy to read. For those wary about reading poetry, I would offer Ovid, who brings no immediate challenge. He is clever, funny, and a breeze. The only hang-up would be the references to Greek and Roman mythology, which are rare and not critical to understanding what he means.

After spending half the night begging the doorman to open up and let him slip into his mistress’s home:

Still obstinate? Or asleep? God damn you, have my

Entreaties

Been wasted on empty air?

The only poet I like as much who is as easy to read would be Fernando Pessoa, another poet who writes with brief simplicity.

For anyone interested, pick up the Peter Green translation of The Erotic Poems. It is a Penguin Classic edition.

As for myself, I’m utterly convinced. From here on out, I’m a devout Ovidian.

3 Albums That Kick Booty

Some new music I been rockin on my stereo, all of it worth a listen.

Social Distortion's Greatest Hits


On Wit's advice, I decided to check out Social D's repertoire, and this album was a great buy. These guy's aren't just good...they rock. Here and there the lyrics are overly simple in a heard-that-a-million-times-before kind of way, but only on occasion. Generally they are sharp, honest and to the point. While not master lyricists, the band's musical prowess is impeccable, and Mike Ness is one killer guitarist.

I see why Springsteen likes him. Their respective guitar playing styles are different, but there is a similar attitude, a similar kind of timing and placement of solos.

I've always liked punk, especially The Clash, and Social D has vaulted their way onto my list of favorite punk musicians...and more. I'll be buying more of these guys.

Gotta hear: Ball and Chain, Bad Luck, Far Behind


Together Through Life


Bobby's new album. What can anyone say about Bobby that hasn't been said before? Except, maybe, that he's on an unparalleled run that quite frankly might be outranking his epic, world-altering turnout in the 60's. These days Dylan isn't changing society with his music, but he's still doing something no one else is capable of doing.

The music he's been making since he took over the reigns of producing in the studio is wholly unique, everything from the single Things Have Changed through Love and Theft, Modern Times and now Together Through Life. It's not that it's necessarily greater than what anyone else is doing (though it probably is) or that it's deeper (though it definitely is) or that it's more complex (almost certainly), but simply that there really isn't anyone in music with Dylan's breadth and depth of knowledge, musically, and thus no one who could possibly blend everything they've ever heard together like this. Except Bobby.

The first time through this album you have to adjust yourself, because it's so unlike anything else you're listening to. The first listen is a jolt, and only about the third and fourth time through, once you've grown accustomed, do you begin to grasp the brilliance.

And it is brilliant. Sublimely brilliant.

Gotta Hear: Jolene, Shake Shake Mama, I Feel a Change Comin On


Untold Truths


Believe it or not, Kevin Costner has been working off and on with this band, his band, for some twenty years. He's always loved rock and roll, been a musician, but all that damn acting kinda got in the way. Who knew?

And, believe it or not, these guys are pretty good. Not spectacular, but Costner's voice is steady and suits the country-rock style he's aiming for. The songs, while not startlingly well-written, are strong enough. And the music gets the feet moving, which is rather the point, now isn't it?

The interesting thing is that if you didn't know it was Costner, you'd never figure it out. You'd just think they were another mid-level Eagles imitation with a fair amount of talent who were obviously enjoying themselves. Probably be a lotta fun to see live.

Gotta Hear: Every Intention, 90 Miles an Hour, Five Minutes From America

Stumping the Band

I realize that lately I've been posting a lot of Bruce, but you'll have to forgive me. When the boys are on tour, my attention is pretty well focused on the band. As well, I'm always so excited by the tour that I feel the need to share what's happening.

It is, of course, my opinion that the E Street Band is the mightiest band on the planet, and the 2007-current touring is heavy proof of such a statement. The Magic tour broke for about two months before flowing into the current Working on a Dream tour, and given that the current set lists resemble the end of the last tour far more than a brand new tour built upon a newly-released album, it is fair game to argue that, in essence, we're looking at one long, long tour.

It's also worth noting that Dream was cut literally on the road of the Magic tour, in-between concert nights.

It's not just that these guys play so well. There are other bands that play at an incredibly high level (mind you, not many, but there are a few). One of the most startling and salient points is that lately it doesn't seem like there is anything they can't play.

For reference: A solid rock band will go on tour with a rotation of songs to play each night, some songs popping in and others falling out throughout a year long tour. The total number of these songs generally ranges around 50 or 60 songs, give or take, depending on the number and differences of venues (you play different songs in a stadium as opposed to a small club).

A damn good band will of course play from a larger set of songs, and a band that's been around a long time will obviously have more to draw on.

A perfect example would be The Rolling Stones, who are the longest lasting rock band in history. On their last tour for the brilliant Bigger Bang album, the Stones played through 78 different songs. To be fair, the Stones tend to play highly structured shows with rigid set lists, with little changing at all in the second half of their shows. However, it's likely only Bob Dylan has more music to draw on, and the Stones certainly are capable of playing any of the songs in their playbook. So they can change it up...if they want to.

By contrast, Springsteen and the E Street Band have played over 160 songs on their recent touring, between the Magic tour and the short beginning of the new Dream tour. Between a quarter and a half of the show is being made up of audience requests, and Springsteen as bandleader is calling audible changes almost every song, sometimes changing even the first song after telling the band what to play before going on stage.

Currently, they're daring audience members to try and fool them, and no one has. In the clip below, you can watch Springsteen take an audience sign for "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" and show it to the band. The sign came complete with chord changes and lyrics. Springsteen runs down the chord changes quickly with the band...and they slam into it.

And they knock it outta the park.

Watching this band right now, you have to remember that no one plays like this. No one audibly changes the set lists constantly, never letting the band know what's coming next, and adding new songs to the list every single night. No one plays songs they've never even attempted before, or songs they haven't practiced or rehearsed in over thirty years.

What this band is doing is flexing its muscles. And what a mighty band they are. One can only hope they keep it up, and keep at it for many years to come.