Truth and Salvage (Bruce's Promise)

Does one judge another by their treasures or their trash? This week, I've wrestled with this as I spin continuously Bruce's "The Promise", the two-disc set of unreleased "junk" from the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions. Old masters, a couple of outtakes, rejected singles and incomplete songs that the man and others have completed.
It's amazing. As good as the album? No, and it's not supposed to be. Not even close. What it is, is simply what helped bring us, arguably, Bruce's greatest album. A friend from long ago called Darkness his best while I claimed that Born to Run was and yet while the argument is pointless since the context of the argument is bigger than the argument itself, Darkness captures something right now that we still are searching for, something we need, and these songs give us the hope that we may still find it. "The Promise" can easily be whittled down to a single disc, minus "Because the Night" and "Fire", singles for Bruce fans that bootlegs and live versions are far superior; what the eighty-minute album hands the listener is the soul-based late-70s album hardcores always wanted. Perfect? Not a chance. Find a perfect Southside Johnny album. They need not be perfect; they're just perfect for what I need this cold winter, with horns, four chords, a surprise nod to a future song or lyric progression that evolved into something identifiable on the lp. I wish my leftovers were just this perfect. As the rumors of a 2011 buzz around the Bruce boards, the questions abound - just how much of this 'garbage' will make up the main setlist? I've felt that since the Magic tour, the setlist is in major need of an overhaul. Casual fans be damned, it's time, my friend to pull out these closeted classics and live barnburners that WE want. Not the Promised Lands but the Thundercracks; Give WOAD a pass and Lonesome Day a rest and give us what you've denied us for over three decades - your Phil Spector/Ronnie Spector/Beach Boys/The Fever/early E Street record that will slam us cynical, middle-aged, over-weight/dulled-yet-hopeful music addicts with the hope that rock and roll, while middle-aged and slow like us, can still give us the hope we seek.

I'm still processing each individual track and will need to leave a synopsis for a later date. Until then, simply go and buy this. Or, save your pennies and do what I'm doing: skipping a mortgage payment and picking up the 3-cd/3-dvd set with concert footage, a making-of documentary, the massive remastered overhaul and booklets galore, which are photocopied renditions of Bruce's actual notebooks. Thank you, Boss.

A nod of thanks to my friend, Tony Holt, for a special holiday present of a bootleg live copy of our 12/5/09 Black Crowes concert. At the time, I felt it was one of the greatest concerts of my life, from the opening band to the headlining set, flow and execution of some great songs. For the last year, I've dreaded actually hearing a recording of the show in case my memory and reality clashed. After throwing the show on tonight, my memory is vindicated and this evening has just been elevated into the pantheon of great rock and roll performances. It was the first time I saw my now-favorites, the Truth and Salvage Co., whose performance from this night I've written about extensively. The Crowes's set started in typical fashion - hard-hitting, spot-on songs to pump up the audience. For a two-decade long fan, however, it isn't the "best" songs that are going to win me over, it's the covers, the b-sides and rarities that make concert-going the worth-while mission I've given my life to. The new songs, unfortunately few, ratcheted up the intensity but it's the second hour (second disc) of this performance that makes this the desert-island performance for me. Just peek:

Dowtown Money Waster - don't believe this song burns? I challenge you to listen to this and not think this is the band's greatest.

Lady of Avenue A - And to think, it's on the band's final album of new releases.

Highhead Blues - cool rarity, spot on.

I Ain't Hidin' - laugh that it's a Stones throwaway and yet that other band has yet to produce a performance in its five-decade career this incendiary. Incendiary.

Don't Do It - Steve, tell 'em. The Crowes doing the Band doing Marvin Gaye? C'mon, folks.

Descending - Steve, it's better on tape than we remember. Adam and Luther and Rich on rhythm are slaughtering this gospel-based Zeppelin-rooted beauty. It's really that good.

Hot Burrito #2 - My favorite song of the late-named group; one of Gram's best. Always delivered with passion by Chris and for me, a nod to my first show in 1995 when I first heard the song.

Will the Circle Be Unbroken - the song I'd waited for. The penultimate night of a great run for a tour of the band's best album. A delay in delivery; roadies running about pulling amps and mic stands and hopes for a great ending. The faithful rewarded. Chris thanked the opening band for being on the road with them for the last four months and wanted to treat us with a finale we'd not forget: The Truth and Salvage Co. on stage with the Black Crowes taking us to church. This was the song that sent me over the cliff a year ago; it's the song that still incapsulates the performances and the evening. How many of us know Delaney and Bonnie and Friends's "Motel Shot?" Well, those of us who do know that there's nothing better, and to see a dozen men and two women performing rock and roll music on acoustic instruments is a true spectacle; only history offers us a comparison: Music at Big Pink, the Rolling Thunder Revue, Mad Dogs and Englishmen. IT'S THAT F***ING PERFECT. The only way to have ended a night on such a perfect song was to stand outside in the drizzling rain waiting for your friends to pee or get another drink or chat with strangers only to have your concert poster signed by the Crowes. Or to later connect with the guys in the Truth and Salvage Co. and see them ten amazing times over the course of the next year. No other year in my life will match that of December '09 to now. No way, no how. Unless I meet Bruce, but I ain't holding my breath.

Autumn

I absolutely love November. I always say that September is my favorite month and think that October is the best but the reality is that November is just the greatest. Crisp and sharp mornings, clear mornings and warm sun on the skin, brisk days and cold nights. Once Halloween has past, families gear up for the holidays of celebration and in two weeks, families are to gather to give thanks for another year's bounty.
And yet the reality is, life is much different than we often want or plan for. Last weekend, we celebrated my mother's birthday with a lunch and a cd of Neil Diamond's "Jonathan Livingston Seagull". We talked of family, Christmas and the health of my aunt, her sister, who had been in poor health for a long time. My aunt went on to pass away three hours after my mother's birthday and the sixty-eighth anniversary of my grandparents' wedding. My aunt will be cremated tomorrow, on my uncle's birthday. It's been a hell of a week for my mom, who has been trying to cope with the loss of her sister and the fact that she is the sole surviving member of her family. Nothing is worse than to see your mom in pain. I pray for her as she wakes up each day and feels the sun on her face and thank God for one more day.

My Congressman Jerry McNerney is claiming victory in what has been a wild ride of a race in the 11th district against his tea bagger opponent. While the lead is less than two thousand of a total of nearly one hundred eighty thousand, the statistical victory for McNerney is there. This, however, is only the beginning, as David Harmer is already claiming election tampering and fraudulent tallying techniques. Always the GOP go-to, the claims of tampering or fraudulent activity will trigger recounts and most likely lawsuits. I would actually be surprised if McNerney is able to take office on the third of January when the rest of the Congress begins its ugly, stale-mated session. I'm just thankful that my Congressman has done great things for the country as a whole, veterans who have sacrificed themselves for something bigger and my city that has directly benefitted from his efforts. Thank you, Jerry McNerney, for the last four years of service.

Finished East of Eden and again was rocked to my core as I reassess my parenting abilities, my sanity and how my children will ever be able to grow up and become decent, loving human beings. Judeo-Christian culture and much of western culture has the story of generational conflict and struggle at the center of human activity; we live our lives working through the sins of our forebearers. Bruce Springsteen's "Adam Raised A Cain", balanced with "Long Time Coming" balance out the generational struggle: the first capturing the pain of the younger generation continually carrying the baggage of their parents; the second, in which the older generation prayed to an unborn baby, hoping "may your sins be your own." That has essentially become my prayer for my own children; may they live long, productive, healthy and fulfillled lives while only contending with their own failures and not those of their parents. I can only pray...

I'm halfway through "Death of a Salesman" which I'll complete tomorrow night. Never have moved through it, though familiar with the general premise. Willy Loman is my neighbor, the parent of my student and sometimes, me. Miller's play is brilliant and, unfortunately, timeless.

Off for four days. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. Thank you to those who served, including those who did so beyond their will. Thank you, Dad.

Lately, I've been listening to nothing but Dylan and the Band. The Bootleg series, The Times..., HWY 61, the Basement Tapes. For the last two days, I've tapped into Planet Waves and have loved that wonderful, flawed album. Teaching Dylan made me wonder just how much of the Cheshire Cat should be taught; this year, I held back on breadth but spent time on the impact of Dylan's "plugging in", singing post-modernistic, surrealistic lyrics and helped everyone connect literary and musical connections. Now, if you don't mind, I'm feeling a little "Forever Young" coming on. The second version, that is.

Dickens Is Still Right...

Last night was beautiful - the San Francisco Giants won the World Series with an amazing 7th inning blast by Oscar Renteria to ultimately win the game for the self-proclaimed group of misfits. As I've evolved from a once-fan to a non-fan to a casual observer to an obsessive, I've been watching our Bay Area teams with fascination and excitement over the last few years. While the mediocre A's are still the apple of my eye, in the National League, the Cubbies and the Giants have been tops. The Series was amazing and I actually didn't think the Giants would even win, much less in five games. Congrats, Giants!

It's election night and history was made, not simply because of the cyclical nature of presidential and midterm turnouts. Tonight, the books will mark that Republicans gained the greatest number of seats in the House of Representatives, taking nearly sixty seats away from the flaccid Democratic Party - the greatest since 1938, when FDR's popularity waned due to the '37 recession. Frankly, the Democrats deserved to get clobbered as the social gains have yet to outweigh the economic and, ultimately, political needs for Americans state- and nationwide. Maybe this will finally light a fire under the Democrats and make the party realize that the wave of '08 needs not be a fluke and tonight just a wake-up call and not a complete referendum. While a shame, hopefully Democrats will realize that people and not business matter; that jobs and types of jobs and not the bottom line matter; that, ultimately, if the "liberal" and "progressive" voice is to not only be heard but resonate, the Democratic Party is in need of change. Let's hope that today, the change starts. The Democratic Party had nearly a four-year chance at change and especially in the last two, Americans really wanted to see genuine alterations of the Bush/Cheney/failed GOP model. And yet, and yet. In Northern California, at least, a mixed bag: Jerry Brown won - let's see change. Gavin Newsom, let's see. It looks as though Jerry McNerney is losing and I'm depressed. That the TEA Party could be winning only in my district depresses me though it doesn't suprise me. I'm still pulling but as of midnight now, McNerney is 2,500 votes behind. Boxer is winning (thus far) and the Senate is still intact. Maybe Harry Truman will be the model not for ol' Bushie-Boy (who I was hoping would have been fatally injured by a foul ball these last three games) but for Obama, who still has the chance of making a lasting and historic impact on the presidency and the nation. Here's to 2012...

Now, I must go, as the tooth fairy is due upstairs for my oldest, who lost #2 this afternoon!