Runaway American Dream

Don't Look Back

Jimmy — 2005-11-08T14:00:00Z

In Runaway American Dream, I quote the last sentence of Alain de Botton's alternately profound and silly How Proust Can Change Your Life: "Even the finest books deserve to be tossed aside." I thought of that in the car the other night, listening to Dave Marsh's interview with Bruce Springsteen on Sirius Satellite Radio. The part of the talk I heard was entertaining and informative, and Dave is a talented guy, but it's been nearly 30 years since he started writing his first book about Springsteen, and as much as writing Runaway American Dream has made me appreciate Springsteen's work even more than I did before, I don't want to be writing about or interviewing Springsteen in 30 years. Like thousands of others, I have an intimate relationship with his work, and that's all I want.

With that in mind, it feels like the right time to close this seven-month-old blog. As I wrote on this page back in May, I believe "blogs have a natural life and most of them work best when they're associated with something that has a relatively short life." The purpose of this blog was to provide updates, corrections, and (I hoped) the occasional insight while I was actively promoting Runaway American Dream. I'm not anymore, so the overt reason for the blog is at an end. I posted some notes about Springsteen's Boston concert last week because I promised some readers that I would, but I don't want this to turn into a blog where I comment piecemeal on Springsteen's various moves and releases.

In "Lucky Town," Springsteen sings, "First they made me King/Then they made me Pope/Then they brought the rope." I don't want to turn into any of the "they"'s in that lyric. I've written a book about Springsteen that has brought me some attention and some satisfaction. Thanks for reading. On to the next thing...

Jimmy Guterman

Not the mayor

Jimmy — 2005-11-01T20:03:00Z

I have been assured that the man in front of me at the Garden/Fleet/TD/whatever on Friday was not Mayor Menino. In case you were wondering...

The Boss in Boston

Jimmy — 2005-10-31T18:05:00Z

I promised a posting regarding Springsteen's solo shows this past weekend in Boston. Rather than write an essay, an activity for which I have neither the time nor the discipline on this very busy Halloween day, here are some random notes, in random order, on Friday night's show. Just a list: very bloggy.

If you were worried that Springsteen's audience might be getting younger, you can stop now.
An announcement over the PA system before the show requested that we shut up during the performance "due to the intimate nature of the show." As it turns out, "intimate nature" referred mostly to the fold-up seats on the floor, which were roughly 3/5 the size of a typical American's ass.
As my concert companion and all-around smart guy Owen O'Donnell said, the best parts of the show were when Springsteen got weird: "Idiot's Delight" and "Johnny 99" through the bullet mic, the unprecedented "Dream Baby Dream." I hope the static yet building "Dream Baby Dream," which is ending almost all the shows, points to something new, just as the night-ending "Land of Hope and Dreams" did on the reunion tour.
Maybe a show in which all the songs were distorted beyond recognition would be fun. It would be another way to give tribute to the guys in Suicide.
In "Living Proof," "Part Man, Part Monkey," and a couple other songs, Springsteen sang as hard as he does over a full band ... thus making me miss the full band that much more.
In Runaway American Dream, I countered Springsteen's offhand comment in Songs that he should have recorded Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J solo. Now I wonder whether he should have recorded Devils & Dust solo. Both on the DVD side of the DualDisc and in concert Friday night, he played the new album's songs more efficiently and persuasively without Brendan O'Brien's arrangements grafted on. If you're going solo, go all the way. Speaking of which, he played several D&D songs Friday night accompanied by an offstage synthesizer. Distracting.
His between-song patter was brief, mostly rehearsed, and often about his own fame. It's as if his celebrity is the topic he's most comfortable addressing onstage.
There was a guy in the row in front of me, a dead ringer for Boston mayor Tom Menino except this guy was tall (as are all men who sit in front of me at concerts), who would lift his fist or hold up his lighter whenever he heard a line that moved him.
Really enjoyed "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)," on which Springsteen showed off his punk-rock piano skills.
He's found yet another way to go at "The River" live. He's reframed this song onstage more times than Alanis Morrissette has rethought her only good album.
Why does he keep saying he never wrote songs about relationships before Tunnel of Love, as he did introducing "Tougher Than The Rest"? Does he forget the years he spent writing and recording The River? Sure, "Fade Away" and "I Wanna Marry You" are outside-looking-in relationship songs, but so is "Cautious Man."
Springsteen should never again deliver jokes that include the words "Flintstones" and "homoerotic undercurrent" in the same sentence. And interrupting the narrative of "Jesus Was an Only Son" to explain each verse before he sang it was messy.
During an impromptu electric-piano "All That Heaven Will Allow," Springsteen seemed delighted during the solo when he hit the right notes.
There was a poorly choreographed slow-motion stage "rush" at the end of the main set. As I wrote earlier, don't worry about the audience getting younger.
"Growin' Up" on ukelele!
I enjoyed the show. I really missed the E Street Band. There are many things Springsteen can do with them that he can't do himself, and very few things he can do himself without them.

Sometimes too much is ... too much

Jimmy — 2005-10-24T14:56:00Z

From the mailbag:

"In Chapter 2 of the book, you wrote:

'An early, much longer draft of this chapter (which, honestly, you're lucky not to be reading) played that If-Only-You-Could-Hear-It game. It burrowed through the music that Springsteen made before he signed with Columbia in '72, in great detail. (It had to be great detail, because I had to assume that few readers had access to the music in question). But then I realized that approach was unfair. The music of units like the Rogues, the Castiles, Steel Mill, Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom, and the first Bruce Springsteen Band may be cherished by diehard fans with an addiction to BitTorrent, but it's marginal, juvenilia, early work of a soon-to-be-but-not-yet-major-artist that sheds little light on what makes him great. You can hear bits and pieces of the beginnings of his singing and guitar style, but not much of the songwriter he would become. [...] The more I listened to them, the more I realized the songs are not important to any understanding of Springsteen's subsequent work. [...] Springsteen never plays these songs, he never talks about these songs, he never uses them as source material. Unfortunately, I had to devote many hours listening to that music before I came to that conclusion. But, in the spirit of reissue producers who whittle down 50 hours of archives into one or two CDs of what is worth listening to, I listened to it so you don't have to!'

Considering how much I enjoyed reading your comments on Springsteen's post-1972 work (whether I completely agreed with them or not), I would love to read your detailed analysis of his pre-1972 work! And I'm sure I'm not alone in that sentiment! Is there any chance that you might post that "much longer draft" of Chapter 2 on your website for all of us fans to enjoy?"

Reply: Hmm. I could go for humor or just tell the truth. I'll go with Option B. That section didn't make it into the book because I didn't have anything interesting to say about that music. Either the work of the Castiles, Steel Mill, etc., didn't move me to any insights, or I just didn't have any insights. Either way, I wasn't kidding when I said you were lucky not to be reading it. I just looked at the early version for the first time in a year and I'm glad it's still locked safely in my hard disk in a directory entitled "REJECTED." Sorry.

Two new reviews #2: From Mojo

Jimmy — 2005-10-24T14:53:00Z

In the November Mojo, the periodical of record for rockists, James McNair reviews the book. He liked some of it, didn't like some of it. Hey, I feel the same way about it.

Two new reviews #1: From the blogosphere

Jimmy — 2005-10-24T14:51:00Z

Blogger Ron Canyon had some kind words to say about the book:

The last few nights I have been buried in music writer Jimmy Guterman's "Runaway American Dream." His goal it seems was to write a book that focuses on the songs, the power of the arrangements and the magic of the words. He seems to shy away from the gossip stuff....Anyway, the book is fun. The guy is definitely a big fan, but quite capable of throwing some criticism here and there. But for the most part he does a good job of laying out factors that fueled so much extra power and drive in to so many songs. The intricacies about the arrangements, the build up of certain songs and the incredible work of various e-street members on certain segments of certain songs (he makes a case for the e-street band being the best American rock band of all time). Most of all I have loved how he has isolated certain lines from songs and remarked things like: Now who in the hell in the history of humankind has ever stated this line. At first it seems like a cut to Springsteen, but then he will say something like: But it works, it sounds natural even though people don’t talk like that.... It has been fun to read as it has brought me back to a very fun time in my life where Springsteen’s lyrics were the soundtrack.

Grushecky: Anything But Lost in the Flood

Jimmy — 2005-10-15T16:08:00Z

I'm keeping my mouth shut here until the shows up my way later this month, but others aren't. Sometime Springsteen collaborator Joe Grushecky has a good, angry new song, "Lake Pontchartrain," available via his website and I strongly recommend leaving this feeble page and going there right now.

Chronicled in Austin

Jimmy — 2005-10-07T16:06:00Z

Runaway American Dream is reviewed, along with another Springsteen-related book, in this week's Austin Chronicle.

A quiet couple weeks on the posting front

Jimmy — 2005-09-29T01:37:00Z

I won't be attending any shows on the upcoming leg of the Devils & Dust tour until it stops in Boston in late October. Due to some pressing deadlines, it's unlikely I'll post here until then. I do remember I promised to write about the show(s) I see.

Non-Springsteen-related benefit concert post

Jimmy — 2005-09-29T01:33:00Z

Springsteen will kick off the next leg of his solo tour with a benefit for the Jersey Coast chapter of the American Red Cross on Tuesday night, but I've been asked to pass on the word about another concert, this time in the Boston area. Since a quick look at this blog's server logs suggests that many of its readers live in 617 Nation, I thought I'd pass on this note:

I’m working with a friend to make the below Hurricane Relief Concert a success. I hope you can come, and please forward to any music-loving friends. It’s going to be quite a show.
See you October 5th!
Tickets available at: www.bostonkatrinaconcert.com
NEW MUSIC, NEW HOPE, NEW ORLEANS
Wednesday, October 5th at the Somerville Theatre
Apollo Sunshine – 2005 Boston Music Award winner, their new album is getting rave reviews (www.apollosunshine.com) and see today’s Boston Herald for a feature on the band.
Mieka Pauley – also a 2005 Boston Music Award winner
Protokoll and Furvis
Doors open 7pm - music starts at 8pm.
Tickets $12 on sale now at the box office, concert website and soon to be sold through Ticketmaster.
The funds will be donated to the American Red Cross and the Tipitina's Foundation for Artist Relief, which supports displaced artists and is helping to rebuild the New Orleans music community. All profits will be donated to relief efforts.

Another voice

Jimmy — 2005-09-20T15:35:00Z

Dan Kennedy is a fine media critic now doing good work with the students of Northeastern. His weblog is usually devoted to matters of national interest, but he recently weighed in on you-know-who. I don't agree with everything there, but it is provocative and definitely worth reading.

We get letters

Jimmy — 2005-09-12T13:37:00Z

Time to empty out the Runaway American Dream mailbag.

Loved the Springsteen book. You should write one about the Stones next.

Several apparent career advisors have suggested just that, probably because the Rolling Stones are touring behind a not-entirely-terrible record and there's a perception that I can write only about oldish white guys with guitars. I did attend the band's opening night at Fenway Park last month, and I witnessed a pretty good band doing pretty good versions of some great old songs. And for a couple of numbers -- the new blues "Back of My Hand" and a recreation of the standard "The Night Time Is the Right Time" in the Ray Charles arrangement -- all those transfusions seemed to pay off and they seemed 100-percent alive. But that was two songs out of 20 or so, and any project that would force me to listen to Undercover of the Night again should be avoided. I am working on another book, but I'm not going to jinx it by blabbing too much about it before it's done. I can either write something or talk about what I'm going to write. When I phrase it that way, it's an easy call.

Why haven't you written more about the current Springsteen tour?

I didn't write about it in the book because it hadn't happened yet, and I didn't write about the earlier legs of the tour on this blog for a variety of reasons, among them general overextension. But enough people have asked that I will weigh in when the tour heads through my town in late October.

Your book got a rave review on the front page of The New York Times Book Review. You must be rolling in it.

(insert rueful laughter)

That joke comparing the Springsteen symposium to a Star Trek convention was unfair.

The symposium was this past weekend and I haven't yet talked to anyone who went. We'll see if it was unfair; I'll report later in the week.

Goldmined

Jimmy — 2005-08-27T18:00:00Z

Some press clippings arrived in the mail today. One I hadn't seen was from Goldmine:

"Fans of The Boss looking for substance over hype will want a copy of Jimmy Guterman's Runaway American Dream. The books focuses almost entirely on Bruce Springsteen's music, using a series of seven essays to explore the man's tunes and the times and events that shaped them. If you want to know Springsteen's favorite food, this is the wrong book, but if you're interested in what makes him and his art unique, then read on."

Blogged

Jimmy — 2005-08-26T18:01:00Z

Runaway American Dream has been blogged by The Digitalyst.

Garbagepickin'

Jimmy — 2005-08-25T17:57:00Z

Sorting through the detritus of my family's vacation, I have just been confronted by a small flyer for the Vermont Teddy Bear Company. On the cover, which you should be grateful I'm not reprinting here, there's a teddy bear wearing sunglasses, wearing a white t-shirt, and blue jeans rolled up at the bottom. Aside from the "Mom" heart tattoo on his left arm and the fact that he's a teddy bear, it looks like a shor from the photo sessions for Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. cover. Indeed, the words "Born in the USA" appear under the bear, along with a trademark notice. The company was founded in 1981 and a quick search suggests they've been using the "USA" slogan only recently. But what if the teddy bear people indeed own the use of that term and they get a piece of Born in the U.S.A.? Yeah, I highly doubt it, too, but at least there'd be some rock'n'roll money coming into Vermont not tarnished by association with Phish.