Bruce Springsteen - Classic or Dud ?

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?

Wait, why would it be a lie? The charge may be a bogus, but you can't fake an blood alcohol level.

I'm saying if his publicist or someone else claimed it was .02 when it wasn't, that would be a quickly disproven lie.

maybe his blood alc level gets revealed, maybe they quietly settle things out of court, who knows? the number could be accurate. but whoever provided it didn't attach their name to it, so the only person who'll ever know is the reporter, who is unlikely to ever hold them accountable. this isn't uncommon in celebrity journalism.

Who knows, it just certainly doesn't seem like a simple, straightforward story. I mean, I know Bruce is hugely popular and a big celeb, but that doesn't usually stop damning police reports from getting out anyway (in fact, the bigger the celeb, usually the bigger the change it does leak). Seems odd that no report or mugshot ever came out.

i'm loathe to wade into this but this is annoying me:

• a low blood alcohol for a person who seems impaired is a red flag for cops to drug test so it may not be just alcohol
• relatedly, you don't *need* to be .08 or over, it's an "or." "Under the influence of alcohol, or a drug, or drugs, or any combination thereof, to a degree that renders the operator incapable of safe operation; or [.08 or above BAC]"

Springsteen took a single shot of tequila before the park cop’s cherry top rips this holy night. https://t.co/Mr0hkZH0S1 pic.twitter.com/LcJjBRiQgM

— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) February 11, 2021

i never doubted him for a second

Just came here to post that. Springsteen story very much in character.

this thread needs the Goldwater Rule

it really does

sounds like the problem wasn't so much one of BAC, but one of ACAB

dealwithit.gif

"quick, Bruce, chug that shot and drive erratically- what your career really needs is a DWI so people FINALLY know who you are! look what it did for Lohan!"

BACACAB

Was it you or was it me?
Or was it he or she?
Was it A or was it B?
Or was it Bruce Springsteen?

Now I feel like a real jerk for assuming Bruce was at fault.

Sounds like one of those stories where no one comes off great - the fans should have known better than to offer the shot, and Bruce should have known better than to take it - but the real bad guys are definitely the cops, who could have reminded him it was illegal before he took it, but instead seized the opportunity to arrest him on multiple charges. He was probably just in automatic talking-to-fans mode and wasn't thinking about the setting.

I will add - and then I will shut up - that everything I said upthread, which I wish I could delete, was stuff I've thought for a long time based on things Bruce has said about himself. I shouldn't have mentioned it and wish I could take it back, but it wasn't based on this story.

Just observing that this is one aging white dude, and all of a sudden his every move is under a microscope.

Like, we aren't discussing the actions and decisions and blood-alcohol content of seven thousand other people on the same day spread all over the USA and the world. Dunno what to about it but there is something weird about it

I think the speciation around substances being involved tangentially is hilarious. “Bruce was caught in a DRI! But ARE THERE MAYBE DRUGS INVOLVED TOO???” who gives a sh1t

He was caught playing crossover music?

get in the pit

With Dylan and Gene Simmons?

And Scarlet Rivera?

I think the speciation around substances being involved tangentially is hilarious. “Bruce was caught in a DRI! But ARE THERE MAYBE DRUGS INVOLVED TOO???” who gives a sh1t

― calstars, Thursday, February 11, 2021 12:08 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

fwiw i wasn't doing this and don't care about this story or bruce springsteen *at all* just getting itchy about ppl questioning this alleged .02 and how one could possibly be charged because you can be and many people are. it's not worth it to me to speculate based on this little information and i agree that would be stupid.

Fwiw, I think it's just as stupid as just as much bullshit when the cops arrest Joe Schmoe for blowing a 0.02 as when it happens to Bruce. Bruce will be just fine, most victims of this kind of thing aren't nearly as lucky and lose more than just a Super Bowl commercial.

this thread needs the Goldwater Rule

Never mind the thread, it's a good guideline in life.

I feel like I'm digging myself in deeper here and I should probably just shut up, but I realized that what I said upthread re: bipolar disorder probably came across as really unjustified armchair diagnosis. Just wanted to cite this passage from his book to show you where I got that:

(Talking about his father refusing to take his meds) "He told me he was frightened it would all go away: the energy, the purpose, even if it was aimless; the egocentric strength; the high of his manic state--everything but the long, drawn-out depressions. I understood. I'd been there, though not to his extremes. Manic depression, the bipolar personality. It's the prize in the Cracker Jack box in our family."

That passage stood out to me because bipolar happens to be the prize in the Cracker Jack box in my family as well; we've got quite a few people who are diagnosed and several others who have intense and scary mood swings but no diagnosis. One family member in the second category is a cousin who I shared a house with for several years, who has been self-medicating with alcohol in a big way for most of her adult life and is very much in denial about it. So there's a set of behaviors that I've spent quite a bit of time with up close, that I'm very attuned to, and maybe I'm primed to see them where they don't really exist. In any case, it's none of my business, and I was letting my personal shit influence my views of someone I don't know in a way that really wasn't appropriate. Sorry, everyone.

No need to apologize

Here for the Lily Dale redemption arc

yeah i mean it's not the first or last time anyone on here was speculating about a musician

Last chance power post

Baby you are O T M!!!

caaaaaaaaaaar

Tequila On A Motorbike
Sex In A Car!

The coverage of this is making a big deal out of Bruce initially refusing the breathalyzer. I would refuse too if you tried to breathalyze me right after I did a shot; there's no way that's going to give an accurate reading. Sounds like a trap.

Breathalyzer ARE traps. Never blow unless you haven't had one drink.

In some places not blowing is an automatic failure, though. A friend of mine got a DUI that way; he got pulled over, was pretty sure he was under the limit but not by much, and thought he had the right to ask for a blood test instead of the breathalyzer. He did not have that right, turns out.

I owned a police grade breathalyzer and even those instructions said you can't get an accurate reading unless you wait 30 minutes after your last drink

I blew like a 0.2 once minutes after one drink lol. not 0.02. 0.2

wow dang i knew they were wonky but that's crazy

Yeah, it wildly varies state by state and iirc, in some states you can get a 1-year mandatory suspension of your license for refusing one if the cops can "prove" you were driving under the influence, which at that point comes down to the cops witness statements and testimony. Which means you are basically screwed.

I mean, I'm sure it's a trap, that's what cops often do, wait around for someone to break a posted law (speeding, not coming to a full stop at a sign, etc.).

Why were the alleged fans not ticketed or arrested or whatever for drinking, too? And how in this day and age have none of their reported selfies showed up? Also, what's up with the cop noting that Bruce took 45 steps instead of a dozen or whatever? 45 steps is a lot! Maybe he was trying to escape!

there's a one step up and two steps back joke in here somewhere

Lots of jokes making the rounds of it not being the two shots that got him in trouble but 41 shots.

My favorite quips I've seen so far:

Springsteen, according to the officer, took 45 total steps during the "walk and turn" test "instead of the instructed 18."

Yeah and he plays 3h shows when everyone else phones in 90 minutes, so?

Baby he was born to walk

At least he'll be able to do a Patron tequila advert for next year's super bowl. Thom Zimny will have a field day with drone shots of Mexican Agave plantations.

Also enjoying the "was he swaying or waving" jokes.

I get that people can sometimes be impaired and not have it show up on a breathalyzer, but cops def abuse their discretion. Another friend of mine got pulled over for driving while Native, blew a .04 (he'd had one drink and was driving friends home from a party), and still had to go to jail for the night because the cop "used his discretion" i.e. jailed him for being Native.

like a river that don't know where it's flowin'
he took a wrong turn and he just kept goin'