Post by SweetNadine on Oct 1, 2004 17:55:52 GMT -5
www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/9794400.htm?1c
Posted on Thu, Sep. 30, 2004
Springsteen accepts risks of partisanship
By Tom Moon
Inquirer Music Critic
When the music quiets and Bruce Springsteen begins what he calls the "public-service announcement" portion of his set at tomorrow night's Vote for Change concert at the Wachovia Center, the New Jersey rocker will do something he has resisted throughout a career of more than 30 years: make an overtly partisan political statement.
"There's some reluctance, certainly, to be coming out and doing what we're doing now," Springsteen said Tuesday in a phone interview about the series of 37 benefit performances he helped organize for Americans Coming Together, the group that's mobilizing voters for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
The barnstorming tour of 12 swing states - which involves Pearl Jam, the Dave Matthews Band, the Dixie Chicks, R.E.M., Sheryl Crow, Keb' Mo', and others - represents a significant change in the delicate mix of rock and politics. While stars have often lent their skills to causes (famine relief, nuclear disarmament, aid to farmers), there has never been such a coordinated campaign to elect a candidate. The two-week effort arrives in Pennsylvania with shows held simultaneously in Philadelphia, Reading, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, State College and Wilkes-Barre. (The Philly show is sold out.)
Springsteen, 55, acknowledges that his stand probably will alienate some fans. He has accepted the risk, he says, because he believes the stakes are too high.
"This election is about a set of ideals, and truthfulness, and creating the country you want your kids to grow up in," says the father of three, who lives in Rumson, N.J. "No other election I can remember has had that kind of significance to me."
Early in the campaign, Springsteen discovered that many of his musician peers felt likewise, and were looking for "some way to have a collective impact." Those conversations sealed it for him: "I realized that this is the time. I can't sit this one out if I meant the things I've been writing about these 30 years."
Springsteen's songbook includes poignant odes about deserted Rust Belt towns and police brutality and the heroic firefighters of 9/11. But while he has spoken eloquently on social issues at his shows for years, he says he isn't preparing a statement to deliver at the Vote for Change performances.
"There will be no intense speechifying from the stage, as far as I know," he says of the bill, which also includes John Fogerty and Bright Eyes.
Yet he knows that everything he says will resonate differently. "The same words are going to be... changed by the moment and the event. I actually think it will add clarity to some of my music, recast some of the things I've been saying in a clearer and more powerful light."
He rejects criticism that the Vote for Change shows preach to the converted. After all, everyone with a ticket knows that his money is going to a group bent on dumping President Bush.
"We're going to find the Republicans in the crowd, and there will be a laying on of hands... . We're going to convert people!" he says, sounding like a street preacher.
Then, turning more serious, Springsteen notes that he has encountered "a lot of people who actually haven't made their minds up" about how they will vote. "I have friends who grew up Republican, and they're unsure. One guy's an outdoorsman, so the environment is important to him. Those kinds of people we might be able to reach."
Another issue is the war in Iraq, a topic on which Springsteen is anything but ambivalent: "If you mislead your people into a war, and that costs a thousand lives and many, many more wounded and $200 billion of taxpayer money, and it turns out the grounds for going to war have been false, you lose your job... . There's an element of common sense to it."
Political observers believe the Vote for Change tour could be a factor in swaying voters.
"You get 10,000 people in a stadium, and swing them to your side, well, we saw states decided by less than that four years ago," says Matthew Felling, media director for the nonpartisan research group Center for Media and Public Affairs.
He believes Vote for Change removes "the conservative's favorite charge against entertainers, that they're chardonnay-sipping out-of-touch liberals. You can't say that about red-white-and-blue Bruce Springsteen."
More important, Felling says, is the capital Springsteen and others have built up. "The singers have a power the politicians don't possess - sincerity. Americans know that the wardrobes of Bush and Kerry are focus-grouped to death. There's more trust with the artists."
But there are risks to the performer. Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, puts it this way: "In a divided country, where people who think one way tend to get upset with people who think differently, could alienate a big portion of the fan base very quickly. This wouldn't have been the case in the '60s, where issues like the draft united whole generations."
Thompson adds that Vote for Change's high visibility poses another danger: the taint of association that could last far beyond Nov. 2. "You're forever linked to this cause, no matter how the election turns out," he says.
That didn't stop Conor Oberst, the singer, songwriter and leader of Bright Eyes, from getting involved in the tour.
"It's not a time for subtleties," says Oberst, 24, who put aside work on a new CD to participate.
"I'm not saying electing Kerry will wipe the slate, but at a time when civil liberties are being flushed down the toilet and there are worries about freedom of speech," having Kerry in the White House "will be a vastly better situation. If you're an artist, I think you have an obligation to talk about these things, do what you can to change the situation."
Springsteen says that while he's been frustrated by the media's handling of Iraq and the apparent unwillingness of John Kerry to treat the election as a "street fight," he remains convinced that the idealism that spawned Vote for Change is not misplaced.
"Sen. Kerry has to make the point that America isn't always right, but it's always true," Springsteen says. "It's as seekers of truth that our real Americanness comes to the forefront.
"That is a deeper sort of Americanism than the jingoism, the right-or-wrong dime-store version of the American myth the Republicans are so good at packaging. To me it's the essence of patriotism, being truthful."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact music critic Tom Moon at 215-854-4965 or tmoon@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at go.philly.com/tommoon.
Posted on Thu, Sep. 30, 2004
Springsteen accepts risks of partisanship
By Tom Moon
Inquirer Music Critic
When the music quiets and Bruce Springsteen begins what he calls the "public-service announcement" portion of his set at tomorrow night's Vote for Change concert at the Wachovia Center, the New Jersey rocker will do something he has resisted throughout a career of more than 30 years: make an overtly partisan political statement.
"There's some reluctance, certainly, to be coming out and doing what we're doing now," Springsteen said Tuesday in a phone interview about the series of 37 benefit performances he helped organize for Americans Coming Together, the group that's mobilizing voters for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.
The barnstorming tour of 12 swing states - which involves Pearl Jam, the Dave Matthews Band, the Dixie Chicks, R.E.M., Sheryl Crow, Keb' Mo', and others - represents a significant change in the delicate mix of rock and politics. While stars have often lent their skills to causes (famine relief, nuclear disarmament, aid to farmers), there has never been such a coordinated campaign to elect a candidate. The two-week effort arrives in Pennsylvania with shows held simultaneously in Philadelphia, Reading, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, State College and Wilkes-Barre. (The Philly show is sold out.)
Springsteen, 55, acknowledges that his stand probably will alienate some fans. He has accepted the risk, he says, because he believes the stakes are too high.
"This election is about a set of ideals, and truthfulness, and creating the country you want your kids to grow up in," says the father of three, who lives in Rumson, N.J. "No other election I can remember has had that kind of significance to me."
Early in the campaign, Springsteen discovered that many of his musician peers felt likewise, and were looking for "some way to have a collective impact." Those conversations sealed it for him: "I realized that this is the time. I can't sit this one out if I meant the things I've been writing about these 30 years."
Springsteen's songbook includes poignant odes about deserted Rust Belt towns and police brutality and the heroic firefighters of 9/11. But while he has spoken eloquently on social issues at his shows for years, he says he isn't preparing a statement to deliver at the Vote for Change performances.
"There will be no intense speechifying from the stage, as far as I know," he says of the bill, which also includes John Fogerty and Bright Eyes.
Yet he knows that everything he says will resonate differently. "The same words are going to be... changed by the moment and the event. I actually think it will add clarity to some of my music, recast some of the things I've been saying in a clearer and more powerful light."
He rejects criticism that the Vote for Change shows preach to the converted. After all, everyone with a ticket knows that his money is going to a group bent on dumping President Bush.
"We're going to find the Republicans in the crowd, and there will be a laying on of hands... . We're going to convert people!" he says, sounding like a street preacher.
Then, turning more serious, Springsteen notes that he has encountered "a lot of people who actually haven't made their minds up" about how they will vote. "I have friends who grew up Republican, and they're unsure. One guy's an outdoorsman, so the environment is important to him. Those kinds of people we might be able to reach."
Another issue is the war in Iraq, a topic on which Springsteen is anything but ambivalent: "If you mislead your people into a war, and that costs a thousand lives and many, many more wounded and $200 billion of taxpayer money, and it turns out the grounds for going to war have been false, you lose your job... . There's an element of common sense to it."
Political observers believe the Vote for Change tour could be a factor in swaying voters.
"You get 10,000 people in a stadium, and swing them to your side, well, we saw states decided by less than that four years ago," says Matthew Felling, media director for the nonpartisan research group Center for Media and Public Affairs.
He believes Vote for Change removes "the conservative's favorite charge against entertainers, that they're chardonnay-sipping out-of-touch liberals. You can't say that about red-white-and-blue Bruce Springsteen."
More important, Felling says, is the capital Springsteen and others have built up. "The singers have a power the politicians don't possess - sincerity. Americans know that the wardrobes of Bush and Kerry are focus-grouped to death. There's more trust with the artists."
But there are risks to the performer. Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, puts it this way: "In a divided country, where people who think one way tend to get upset with people who think differently, could alienate a big portion of the fan base very quickly. This wouldn't have been the case in the '60s, where issues like the draft united whole generations."
Thompson adds that Vote for Change's high visibility poses another danger: the taint of association that could last far beyond Nov. 2. "You're forever linked to this cause, no matter how the election turns out," he says.
That didn't stop Conor Oberst, the singer, songwriter and leader of Bright Eyes, from getting involved in the tour.
"It's not a time for subtleties," says Oberst, 24, who put aside work on a new CD to participate.
"I'm not saying electing Kerry will wipe the slate, but at a time when civil liberties are being flushed down the toilet and there are worries about freedom of speech," having Kerry in the White House "will be a vastly better situation. If you're an artist, I think you have an obligation to talk about these things, do what you can to change the situation."
Springsteen says that while he's been frustrated by the media's handling of Iraq and the apparent unwillingness of John Kerry to treat the election as a "street fight," he remains convinced that the idealism that spawned Vote for Change is not misplaced.
"Sen. Kerry has to make the point that America isn't always right, but it's always true," Springsteen says. "It's as seekers of truth that our real Americanness comes to the forefront.
"That is a deeper sort of Americanism than the jingoism, the right-or-wrong dime-store version of the American myth the Republicans are so good at packaging. To me it's the essence of patriotism, being truthful."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact music critic Tom Moon at 215-854-4965 or tmoon@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at go.philly.com/tommoon.
Come on, now tell me Road Trip! wasn't so worth the lost day (or two, ok maybe three at my age ;D) spent in a stupor. 
;D 
Prove It All Night definitely has a whole new meaning for me now though. 
Only quibble is I'd have rather had Bad Moon Rising than Proud Mary...and they did switch the night after. 
But you have to admit it, PM kicked ass! *-) ;D 
The things we have to put up with sometimes. 
...maybe you shoulda volunteered to give 'em a hand. 