Give Back The Money, Bruce!

Thanks to Huffington Post.com

Al Norman

Posted January 31, 2009 | 07:26 AM (EST)

Springsteen Should Donate Wal-Mart Profits To Employee Free Choice Act Campaign

Four weeks ago, I figured out something that took Bruce Springsteen months to conclude: it’s a mistake to do business with Wal-Mart.

This week, Springsteen had to do a little “shuffle” of his own to explain his strange consort with the company that puts profits ahead of people.

In this space (Dec. 28th ITunes, Wal-Mart, Springsteen Killing Off the Independents) I wrote: “The Boss has signed on with the Retail Boss, much to the chagrin of his many fans, who saw Springsteen as the voice of the disenfranchised. Now he’s just another Walton commodity. Born in the U.S.A. meets China-Mart.”

It is jarring to see the Greatest Anti-Union Corporation promoting Springsteen’s Greatest Hits CD as a “Wal-Mart exclusive” (for $10–you save $2.98). Now Springsteen is apologizing to his fans for having “dropped the ball on it.” But until he “drops the money” from this deal, Springsteen’s regret doesn’t go far enough.

“It was a mistake,” Springsteen told the New York Times. “Our batting average is usually very good, but we missed that one. Fans will call you on that stuff, as it should be.” In response, Wal-Mart went right to the heart of the problem, anticipating the backlash Springsteen would cause: “We are proud of the good jobs, benefits and career opportunities we provide to more than 1.4 million U.S. associates who choose to work at Wal-Mart and serve our customers every day.”

If Springsteen didn’t get it—Wal-Mart certainly did. This is fundamentally a worker’s rights controversy, and the pop rocker walked smack into it. Wal-Mart, which conducts surveillance over its ‘associates’ to weed out any union ‘salts’ that might be working in its ranks, has become the emblem of the union-bashing employer in America. Wal-Mart assiduously trains its managers on how to spot, and eliminate potential union sympathizers on its sales floors. This is the company that tried to deny it was coaching its employees to vote against Barack Obama. This is the company that together with the Retail Industry Leaders Association will spend millions this year to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act in Congress, which would expand the choices of workers to organize into a union.

Some of the money to fuel that anti-union effort will come from the sale of Springsteen’s CD at 3,500 Wal-Mart stores across America. When someone makes a “mistake” with Wal-Mart, by definition it’s a big mistake.

But the Boss still has a chance to redeem himself. Tomorrow, during half-time at the Super Bowl, Springsteen could score a touchdown of his own by announcing that he is donating the profits from all sales of Greatest Hits at Wal-Mart, to support groups working for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Then he can launch into an ‘exclusive’ version of one of the trademark songs on his Wal-Mart album, retitled: “Made in the U.S.A.”

Al Norman is the founder of Sprawl-Busters, and has been helping communities fight big box stores for the past 15 years. His website is http://www.sprawl-busters.com

Proud Jerseyite NY Giant QB; Eli Manning: Bring on Bruce Springsteen

Thanks to Rolling Stone.com

 Robert Mancini

Anticipation is rising in Tampa. The tension is becoming palpable. Speculation runs rampant, and everyone has an opinion, a theory or a prediction about what will happen on Sunday night.

Yeah, we’re talking about Bruce Springsteen’s halftime set at Super Bowl XVIII.

There’s as much chatter and suspense on the ground around what Springsteen might have up his sleeve as there is for the game. NFL stars who’re more likely to rock Biggie than Bruce are being grilled about it. So far, Springsteen has only hinted that he’s putting together “a 12-minute party.”

In these quarters, there’s only one New Jersey resident with the same juice as Bruce — New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. He brought his team to the Bowl a year ago and upset the allegedly invincible New England Patriots in one of the most dramatic contests the Super Bowl has ever produced. This year, he’s watching with the rest of us. But like any proud Jersey resident, Manning is eager to see what Springsteen has planned.

“I’m just looking forward to getting the boss back onstage,” he told us. “It’s a great band and should be a great performance.”

Follow our ongoing Super Bowl weekend coverage, and check out the best from our archives in our Super Bowl hub.

Bruce Springsteen, Reader’s Comments

	Sue Barber Suebarber9053@comcast.net Suebarber9053@comcast.net 68.34.246.253	Submitted on 2009/01/31 at 10:40pm I am so disappointed that Bruce is dealing with Walmart. This company is one of the worst labor friendly companies in US history. I’m 52 years old and have never been or will visit a Walmart because of their policies of having workers work off the clock, no health care, child labor violations and unfavorable views on unions. I must now reconsider my views and opinions on Mr Spreingsteen and how sincere he truly is.

Bruce Springsteen, Reader’s Comments, Boss Still a Mystery

Martha Barn bigguitarshop.com/blog/ plymth.martha@yahoo.com 216.230.133.70

Submitted on 2009/01/31 at 3:50pm Quite an interesting article, I really enjoyed it.

Rose Street Design, “The Cutest Paper on the Planet”

I have a friend who sells beautiful personalized announcements for any occasion. Her company is called Rose Street Design “The Cutest Paper on the Planet.” She is having a special on Baby Cards. Rose Street Baby Cards are made of the finest paper stock and every Baby Card is unique and every Baby Card is distinctive and ever Baby Card is personal in its design. The artists at Rose Street Design are always there to help assist you in finding the right design to expresses your joy. For more information about Rose Street Designs, you can access the Rose Street Design Website at http://rosestreet.com/. You can also email Rose Street Design at info@rosestreet.com; or call them toll free 800-706-3579. Rose Street Design, “The Cutest Paper on the Planet,”1485 Leestown Road, Lexington, KY 40511, 859-231-8933, 859-254-1968 fax.

Bruce Springsteen to play second Irish date after ‘phenomenal demand’

Bruce Springsteen will play a second Irish concert, it has been announced, after his first sold out in 15 minutes.

By Jon Swaine
Last Updated: 12:36AM GMT 31 Jan 2009

Ticketing telephone lines and websites were swamped on Friday morning by fans desperate to attend the July show 11 at Dublin’s RDS arena.

And those left disappointed when tickets sold out shortly after going on sale at 9am were promptly handed a second chance to see The Boss.

Aiken, the concert promoters, said an extra date was being added at the same venue, on July 12, due to the “phenomenal demand”.

The original Dublin gig had been planned for some time, but Springsteen and his E Street Band only disclosed earlier this week that they would be embarking on a world tour.

The rock star has not announced any British dates yet, but it is thought he may headline the Glastonbury Festival in June.

The Working On A Dream tour will start in San Jose, California, in April 1, before moving across the US and Europe in the spring and summer.

The singer, who performed at Barack Obama’s inauguration in Washington earlier this month, is due to play at next week’s American football Super Bowl.

His European dates announced so far include shows in Stockholm, Munich, Vienna, Rome, Turin and Bilbao, the Dutch festival Pinkpop and Santiago, Spain.

Working On A Dream is Springsteen’s 24th album and was recorded in Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles and New Jersey.

Bruce Springsteen, “The Boss” Of Super Bowl Marketing

Thanks to (MarketWatch) 

This commentary was written by MarketWatch media columnist Jon Friedman.

I have a confession to make.

Photo Suart Ramson, Associated Press Files

I say this apprehensively because I know it could sound sacrilegious, if not downright un-American: I’m sick of Bruce Springsteen, who is appearing Sunday evening at the Super Bowl.

He’ll be masterfully taking advantage of the utterly American institution to help sell copies of “Working on a Dream,” his 15th studio album. It arrived in music stores on Jan. 27, featuring his long-time collaborators, the fabled E Street Band.

It looks to me that Springsteen was Born to Sell.

Yes, I agree Springsteen is shrewd to perform in front of a television audience of millions of Americans. These are tough times in the topsy-turvy music industry, and it makes business sense for Bruce to thrill his core audience of baby boomers and try to tap new fans.

The Super Bowl gig also will jump-start Springsteen’s 2009 world tour, which begins April 1 in San Jose, Calif.

Is it just a coincidence that tickets for many of Springsteen’s upcoming shows go on sale Feb. 2, the morning after the Super Bowl?

What especially irritates me is that he and his management are so intent on presenting Springsteen as an American institution, someone who is obviously so sage and venerable that he belongs on Mount Rushmore — right alongside Tom Hanks, as a matter of fact. Somehow, Hanks has also become bigger than life in American culture.

Likewise, we had Springsteen’s recent appearance as the lead act in the concert to celebrate the inauguration of President Barack Obama. That was as much a television show as it was anything else, and it reached a sizable (albeit cable) audience watching at home on Time Warner Inc.’s HBO channel.

On that Sunday afternoon, Springsteen sang “The Rising,” his 2002 patriotic anthem to a post-9/11 America. I thought that Bruce-the-opportunistic-huckster shamelessly used that song to capitalize on America’s grief.

Piety

It appears that some people have held this view of Springsteen for many years. Back in 1985, the brilliant culture critic James Wolcott wrote in Vanity Fair about Springsteen: “Piety has begun to collect around Springsteen’s curly head like mist around a mountaintop.”

Understand, I am not an inveterate Bruce-basher. I own most of his albums and have seen him in concert about 15 times in the past three decades-plus, thoroughly enjoying every show (yes, even when he insisted on singing an endless version of the boring song “Mary’s Place”). I was even there at Post College on Long Island in 1975 when Bruce may have debuted his timeless version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

The marketing of Springsteen is paying great dividends. For his part, Springsteen is enjoying a remarkable success, even as he nears his 60th birthday in an industry where teen idols strongly outnumber guys with college-age kids.

When people call Springsteen “The Boss,” they pay tribute to his uncanny ability to fill and thrill concert halls. Now, Springsteen is presiding over a masterful program that you could dub “2009 Super Bowl Marketing 101.”

But Springsteen is persevering, and the Super Bowl, pitting the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Arizona Cardinals, has emerged as the linchpin to his marketing strategy.

More power to him, right? Well, maybe.

What will he play?

One of the great parlor games taking place among sports and music fans is to guess what songs Springsteen will play at the Super Bowl.

For what it’s worth, here’s my guess: 1) “Born in the USA” 2) “Hungry Heart” 3) “My Lucky Day” 4) “Born to Run.”

But it would be lovely if Springsteen, a keen student of rock and roll history, took the occasion to pay even a brief tribute to Buddy Holly. On Feb. 3, music historians will mark the 50th anniversary of “The Day the Music Died,” as Don McLean put it famously in “American Pie.” On that sad morning, Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper all died in a plane crash following a concert stop in Clear Lake, Iowa.

A Web site called BetUS.com has devised a betting line on, among other items, what Springsteen may play at the Super Bowl.

Click here to see what analysts at BetUS.com posted as the odds on the Super Bowl XLIII halftime show.

MEDIA WEB QUESTION OF THE DAY: What songs will Springsteen play at halftime?

Join the online community of Media Web readers by commenting directly on the story at MarketWatch.com.

By Jon Friedman
Copyright © 2009 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved

Bruce Springsteen, Asbury Park Press, Take The Super Springsteen Quiz

Here is a light post I thought you would enjoy.  Take the quiz and see what kind of Bruce Springsteen fan you are?   I took the quiz and got  10 out of 10.  I was not sure about a couple of the questions and they were guesses.  I was also tempted to check out the lyrics of a couple of songs, but I just reached back into the recesses of my mind and pulled them out.    Good Luck!

Thanks to the Asbury Park Press, APP.com, By CHRIS JORDAN • Gannett New Jersey • January 30, 2009

Bruce Springsteen has composed loads of songs about girls, cars and the trials and tribulations of the common man.

But he’s hardly written a word about football — or baseball, for that matter. Test your knowledge with our Springsteen sports quiz:

1. WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THE 1970S SOFTBALL TEAM COMPOSED OF E STREET BAND MEMBERS AND ROADIES?A. The Bosstones; B. The Sign Steelers; C. The E Street Kings; D. Red Bank Rockers.

2. CLARENCE CLEMONS PLAYED FOOTBALL AT WHICH SCHOOL?A. Rutgers University; B. Notre Dame; C. Maryland State College; D. Juilliard School.

3. WHAT DOES SPRINGSTEEN CALL A FASTBALL IN THE SONG “GLORY DAYS?”A. Ole High and Inside; B. Speedball; C. The Express; D. Chin Music.

4. WHO DOES SPRINGSTEEN IMAGINE HIT OFF HIM AT THE END OF THE “GLORY DAYS” VIDEO?A. Babe Ruth; B. Graig Nettles; C. Rusty Staub; D. Choo-Choo Coleman.

5. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE BOXER “THE HITTER” DEFEATS FOR THE TITLE IN THE SPRINGSTEEN SOLO SONG? A. Jack Johnson; B. Jack Thompson; C. John Jackson; D. Tom Johnston.

6. WHO HAD A HOMECOMING IN HARLEM LATE LAST NIGHT IN “JUNGLELAND?” A. The Yankees; B. The Mets; C. The Rangers; D. The Knicks.

7. WHAT RECENT SPORTS MOVIE DOES SPRINGSTEEN SING THE TITLE SONG FOR?A. “Million Dollar Baby”; B. “The Wrestler”; C. “Leatherheads”; D. “Speed Racer.”

8. WHAT SPORTS FOUNDATION DID SPRINGSTEEN PERFORM AT A BENEFIT FOR IN 2007. A. Women’s Sports Foundation; B. Yogi Berra Home for Boys and Girls; C. Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation; D. Police Athletic League.

9. WHICH ATHLETE JOINED SPRINGSTEEN ONSTAGE AT THE ’07 BENEFITREFERENCED TO IN QUESTION 8? A. Martina Hingis; B. Floyd Mayweather, Jr.; C. Bernie Williams; D. Jack McDowell.

10. WHICH SPRINGSTEEN SONG WAS OFFERED TO FANS AS A REPLACEMENT FOR NEIL DIAMOND’S “SWEET CAROLINE” AS THE METS’ EIGHTH-INNING SING-ALONG BY THE METS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 2008 SEASON? A. “Born to Run”; B. “Prove It All Night; C. “Waitin’ On A Sunny Day,” D. “Does This Bus Stop At 82nd Street?”

 

ANSWERS: 1. C; 2. C.; 3. B.; 4. B; 5. B; 6. C; 7. B; 8. C; 9. C; 10. C.

0 to 3 right: Benchwarmer; 4 to 6: Got potential; 7 to 9: All-star; 10: The Boss of Bruce sports trivia.

<!–span style="font-size:8px;">ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW<br /–>

Bruce Springsteen, ‘Outlaw Pete’ Kiss Inspired?

Is Outlaw Pete, the opening song on Bruce Springsteen’s latest album ‘Working on a Dream,”  inspired by the Kiss song ‘I Was Made For Loving You?”  You be the judge? 

Springsteen Lightens Music For Obama Era, Meet The New Boss!

By Walker Simon

 

Thanks to NEW YORK (Reuters)

 

After years of excoriating the Bush administration for what he believed was the hijacking of American values and ideals, Bruce Springsteen is welcoming the Obama era with a noticeably lightened tone, both political and musical.

 Springsteen’s “Working On A Dream” album, released a week to the day after President Barack Obama‘s inauguration, turns inward and addresses relationships and aging in lush arrangements with a sound evocative of classic 1960s pop music.

 ”In terms of lyrics, it’s a much more personal album, focusing on themes like romance and maturity rather than expressing outrage sparked by government policies,” said Entertainment Weekly music critic Simon Vozick-Levinson. 

The album stands in stark contrast to 2007′s “Magic,” on which he railed against the war in Iraq and the erosion of civil liberties. Touring for that album, he told fans that America was now known for voter suppression and illegal wiretapping. 

“MOMENT OF OPTIMISM”

 The new album isn’t the only thing to raise the Boss’s profile lately. Springsteen appeared at Obama’s pre-inaugural concert, won a Golden Globe award for the title song for independent film The Wrestler, and will be the halftime act at Sunday’s Super Bowl.

 Experts say the new record and more relaxed approach to politics is simply a reflection of the changing times.   ”Working on a Dream is loosely evocative of the moment of optimism and engagement in the Obama administration,” Jim Cullen, author of “Born In The U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition,” told Reuters.

 ”Working on a Dream” is the fourth Springsteen album produced by Brendan O’Brien since 2002, and music watchers say its sound was clearly influenced by 1960s pop hits by Roy Orbison, The Turtles, The Byrds and The Beach Boys. “It’s a throwback to (his) musical heritage of melodic 1960s pop,” said Cullen. “There’s an aural lushness … with a dense smooth background,” incorporating multiple keyboards, several guitars and a synthesis of the sound of strings.

 The 59-year-old Springsteen and his long-time group the E Street Band will kick off a tour in San Jose, California, on April 1, then head to Europe at the end of May. 

While Springsteen’s legions of fans will no doubt scoop up the new album and concert tickets, their idol’s decision this month to sell a “Greatest Hits” compilation solely at Wal-Mart riled some.   Wal-Mart is know for its anti-union stance and has faced criticism from those who believe their cut-rate prices overwhelm “Mom and Pop” businesses.

 ”Doing a deal with Wal-Mart goes against his principles that he has said he has stood for,” said Charles Cross, author of “Backstreets: Springsteen, The Man and his Music.”

 (Editing by Christian Wiessner, Mark Egan and Philip Barbara)