Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

(Rejected joeks:

Wrecking Balls

Ghost of Tom Choad

Human Crotch)

(...provided just so you can see that I considered - yet discarded - several inferior options, and went with the most elegant pun, which I continue to belive is "Groin in the U.S.A.".)

The P4K thinkpiece is in: https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/bruce-springsteen-jeep-super-bowl-commercial/

I def feel One Eye Open on this. We just talked about how Bruce is (to me) too American (on the musical controp thread) and this is an unsettling iteration of: "You thought I too American? Buddy, you ain't seen nothing yet! I'm gonna do one better, by preaching sanctimonious bullshit, not in church, but in the most American medium: the most expensive add to sell cars!"

xp Good piece, imo

It is.

One more thing about filmmakers steeped in Catholicism (which should be in another thread, but I'm following up on one point made here), I want to say Leo McCarey's best work has done the most effective job in getting across how his Catholic faith has shaped his work. Great filmmaker with a varied and interesting career, he actually got his start directing a lot of great comedies with Charley Chase, Laurel & Hardy and the Marx Brothers' best film Duck Soup. He became especially successful doing more or less his own personal films like Make Way for Tomorrow (a flop but it's possibly his greatest film), The Awful Truth, Love Affair, etc. McCarey made Love Affair twice, again as An Affair to Remember, and as Dave Kehr has written, "just like Love Affair, in which the Catholic theme is even more pronounced, McCarey depicts the relationship between his characters as a step-by-step development from a casual sexual attraction to a sanctified union, a transformation that must be earned through sacrifice and suffering." I was skeptical about it because of Sleepless in Seattle, and it is indeed an imperfect movie, but it ultimately won over for the reasons described by Kehr. Speaking as a complete agnostic, I found those aspects of the movie deeply moving. McCarey made some thoroughly mediocre films when he tapped into that well (like Going My Way, but still a massive hit and won Best Picture) and he made a thoroughly disgusting one in My Son John (if you narrowly see it as a domestic drama, it's quite powerful, but the reactionary politics are impossible to ignore). But as a line of communication to a very different philosophy, he sticks out as someone that I like to watch - the common ground usually translates into something great.

xp That pitchfork piece is great.

"Ghost of Tom Choad" is where i lost it

Some jokes just write themselves

TMZ is reporting that Bruce was busted for DWI in Jersey back in November. I can usually find excuses for most of the things Bruce does, but it's a real dick move to agree to make a car commercial without disclosing to the ppl paying you that you are about to appear in court for a DWI.

Imagine being that, er, state trooper.

Even song title reference aside, imagine being the cop that pulls over Bruce for reckless driving in NJ.

I imagine most cops would let the Boss off with a warning, which does kind of make me wonder if this has happened before.

For sure a mug shot would be a better album cover than 90% of his covers.

Again we return to the "Storytellers" strip club story Josh posted a month ago.

“I used to like to go to strip clubs. Back before they were fancy. Back in the prehistoric days before the lap dancing. One time, as I reached the parking lot, a man and a woman spied me and said ‘Bruce, you aren’t supposed to be here.’ I could see where they were going with the whole thing, so I said, ‘I’m not. I am simply an errant figment of one of Bruce’s many selves. I drift in the ether over the highways and byways of the Garden State, often touching down in image-incongruous but fun places. Bruce does not even know I’m missing. He is at home right now, doing good deeds.’ That usually stupefies and satisfies them. Hey, I gotta get through the world somehow.”

I wonder if Bruce, stopped by a cop, tried this defense. "Actually, Officer, Bruce does not even know I'm here. He's at home doing good deeds. I'm just one of Bruce's many figmental ethereal selves, drifting in the ether."

"Yes, Bruce. You and your many selves were drifting in the 'ether' if by that you mean across the center divider."

"sir is that an open bottle of ether in your hand?"

Saw an errant figment of one of Bruce’s many selves handcuffed to the bumper of a state trooper’s Ford

"Hey, I gotta HICCUP get through the world HICCUP somehow..."

I've felt for some time that Bruce is most likely an alcoholic and in denial about it; hopefully this will wake him up but I doubt it. It takes a lot of denial to a. do your own driving instead of paying a driver when you're as rich as Bruce is, and b. make a fucking Jeep commercial for the fucking Super Bowl a few months after getting busted.

oh my boy

Is DWI the same as DUI? /nonmurican

its different between different states but my understanding is DWI always refers to alcohol intoxication while DUI generally refers to other 'impairments' that can be observed but not tested for onsite, i.e. drugs.

I see, thanks.

Sorry to keep beating a dead horse; clearly I have too much emotionally invested in Bruce Springsteen-as-human-being rather than Bruce-Springsteen-as-artist, but this both pisses me off and bums me out.

It's one thing to get a DWI. It's obviously shitty and irresponsible to drive drunk, but we're talking about someone with an unpredictable mental illness and an unacknowledged drinking problem, a year into a pandemic that's exacerbated everyone's mental health issues. The actual arrest is depressing but not all that surprising.

But the sheer entitlement of agreeing to be in the world's most visible car commercial, a couple weeks before his court date, and not thinking he has to disclose it, just blows my mind. Did he think it wouldn't come out? Did he convince himself people loved him too much to care even if it did come out? Did he just think he was too important to have to change his plans or behavior because of a DWI?

I don't normally find myself feeling bad for people who handle advertising for car companies, but imagine spending a decade trying to get Bruce Springsteen to be in your ad, finally succeeding, and then finding out three days later that he hid this from you. Motherfucker.

I don't follow the minutiae, but has there been worry about Springsteen's drinking habits for a while?

i dunno about the drinking habit stuff. Feeling for Lily Dale more than Bruce! And i was already feeling bad for him with that stuff upthread about the Capitol riot,holy shit. We've discussed here and on other threads about his identity AS AMERICA but those words around the Capitol stuff are the first I know of, of him really buying into that nonsense, which seems like a total mindfuck

Iirc, he's admitted to serious alcohol abuse during the late '70s.

Jeep's now pulled the ad in response to that DWI arrest from last year. This is by far the lowest week I can recall Springsteen ever having, though I didn't follow his career until very late.

I'm not that familiar with alcoholism, but the first person I know (who had recovered) made a point that there could be a genetic component, making it a concern for children of alcoholics like Bruce, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's struggled with it.

rc, he's admitted to serious alcohol abuse during the late '70s.

― "what are you DOING to fleetwood mac??" (C. Grisso/McCain)

damn! No idea. I haven't read it in interviews, admittedly without following too closely. I knew he liked his tequila and beer, yet I can see how his fitness obsession in the mid '80s was an attempt to purge the devil liquor.

xp It's mostly my personal impression, based partly on his memoir and partly on his recent docs and his radio show. I should have indicated that in my comment, sorry.

His memoir has the standard "how I fell in love with drinking" chapter that you generally see in memoirs about alcoholism, everything he writes about alcohol in his memoir is v. focused on drinking to get drunk; he says in the memoir that he was afraid to drink until he was 22 for fear of inheriting his dad's alcoholism, but stopped having that worry when he realized he was a fun drunk rather than an angry drunk. He mentions having driven very drunk a lot back in '78 or so, and generally it sounds like he's been a pretty heavy drinker for most of his life.

It also looks from his latest documentaries, movies, etc. like he centers a lot of his social and work life around alcohol - the band ritually doing shots each time they record a song, that sort of thing. It looks to me like someone telling himself he can't have a problem if he's open about his drinking and does it socially, and then organizing his life so that every social occasion involves a lot of drinking.

But that's just my impression, I do not know.

I think the fitness obsession and the drinking were both attempts at self-medicating for what he's implied is bipolar disorder.

I've never seen any indication, in interviews or otherwise, that he had any serious, heavy problem with alcohol. This is a guy who has been in the public eye, and a relentless machine at that, for decades. I mean, I guess it's possible.

I recall Dave Marsh saying in one of his books something to the effect of, "Bruce gets silly after just a couple of drinks so he doesn't overindulge".

I'm not a fan of armchair speculation. The guy's been getting professional help since 1982, and for a long time, that wasn't exactly made public. Whatever problems he's had (or still has), he's likely been getting proper help.

You're right, that wasn't at all fair of me. It's not the way I usually try to write about celebrities, and I would have kept my impressions to myself if I hadn't been all worked up about this business.

I guess I'm naive in the ways of marketing - I wouldn't have made the connection that the DWI news causes a headache/image problem for Jeep (I mean, it's not like Bruce's car was at fault...). In my mind, it would have been more relevant if he had done a liquor or beer ad!

!!! https://t.co/uBwopszXws

— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 11, 2021

Hmm. I don’t know how valid this is, but it certainly adds a new wrinkle. Lots of speciation on Twitter that this was a cop that wasn’t happy he’s anti Trump and for some of his older material that wasn’t entirely worshipful of cops.

I recall Dave Marsh saying in one of his books something to the effect of, "Bruce gets silly after just a couple of drinks so he doesn't overindulge".

I though that was the subject of the ongoing revive.

xpost

Well I think the revive was originally about his Super Bowl ad before morphing into a conversion about the DWI. My link was to a story that said he apparently only blew about a quarter of the legal limit and shouldn’t have been charged with one at all. I didn’t see that new wrinkle having been discussed, but I may have missed it.

It is a new wrinkle, though it sounds like there were a few addl charges (whether bogus or legit)

that is literally one Miller Lite

That's a relief. What a weird story. I'm still not happy with his going ahead and making the Jeep commercial, but this does make it slightly more understandable.

Btw, I don't mean to revive the whole discussion about alcohol that I shouldn't have started in the first place, but just wanted to clarify that everything I was saying came from Bruce's book. I haven't read anything by Dave Marsh.

citations for driving while intoxicated, reckless driving and consuming alcohol in a closed area

Yeah, this doesn't sound like a new wrinkle, it sounds like bullshit. This sounds to me like he had half a beer with a friend in the park and got busted for a) even having the beer can and b) making an illegal u-turn in the parking lot or some shit. Especially since he reportedly blew well under the legal limit. Fwiw, a quick google revealed this from a couple of years ago:

SANDY HOOK, New Jersey -- The last public beach in New Jersey to allow alcoholic beverages has joined the rest of the state in banning them.

The National Park Service announced Tuesday that safety concerns at Sandy Hook - related to excessive drinking - led to the decision. Officials say more than 300 alcohol-related issues occurred on the beach between 2016-2018 - including a motor vehicle accident serious enough that two people were flown to hospitals.

Officials are also banning smoking on Sandy Hook except in designated areas and parking lots.

Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy had banned smoking last year at all state and local owned beaches. Sandy Hook is part of the federal Gateway National Recreation Area.

So yeah, I smell overzealous park cop BS. Plus, I mean:

Springsteen has no prior DWIs, traffic or parking tickets or other charges in New Jersey listed in municipal court records.

If anything this is a savvy way to get the Jeep ad off the air or whatever.

Well, by "new wrinkle" I just meant that this appears to be quite different from what has been reported over the past day or so. This isn't so much a story of "Bruce Springsteen charged with DWI" as "Bruce Springsteen faces bullshit charges from an overzealous cop", which are two very different scenarios, imo.

reading the story about the .02 blood alcohol level, it's all but guaranteed that the "source" was either his publicist or someone in management. which doesn't mean it's automatically wrong. but it doesn't mean it's automatically right either. for whatever that's worth.

Well, it would very soon revealed to be a lie, so what's the point in even lying about it?