An Appreciation for Bruce Springsteen

 

Did you watch Springsteen on Broadway?

That was amazing especially for an old time fan like me.

I was in seventh grade when I got into Bruce Springsteen. In Rolling Stone and Jingle magazine, he was constantly lionized.

When I was in seventh grade, I was talking with my classmate Ben Reyes who was the first person I knew who swore by the Rolling Stones. We spoke about Bruce's new album at that point which was The River.

So I got the seven-inch single of "Hungry Heart" that had a blue Columbia/CBS-Sony label.

Sometime that year, the concert film, No Nukes, was shown in Metro Manila. My classmates and I, Hec Garde, Bam Quimson, Al Rono, Ben, and Jun Neri went to the old Quad in Makati to watch No Nukes. About two weeks later, when I had saved enough for the double LP that was The River, I got it.

And I backtracked, getting Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, and Born to Run. It was because of Springsteen that I backtracked all the way to Bob Dylan and Van Morrison. And this was the time, I got into the Beat Generation writers Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, and Allen Ginsberg. Those three, Dylan, Springsteen, and then Ernest Hemingway had a profound effect on my poetry and writing (this one it took a while to shake off).

I was hugely an impressionable young man during that time... soaking in punk, new wave, metal, and what is now known today, as Classic Rock. Writing-wise, I still hadn't discovered my style. It would take a great many years before I figured that out.

These are my few records by Bruce -- Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., Born to Run, The River, Born in the USA, and the five-LP live album. Not in the picture are Tunnel of Love (the last I got from the 80s) and his most recent, Letter to You.

Watching Springsteen on Broadway was like hearing an old friend and re-reading an old book. It took me back to days when I put myself on Thunder Road and wanted to go on an endless drive. It sure helped that back then the first Mad Max film had come out so I wanted to drive out to these Wastelands and Badlands.

Like Bruce, there were moments -- the stories he recounted -- that moved me to tears. I guess, the pangs of growing up do that to ya.

And yet, I have embraced all the good and bad hurt as it has defined who I am today.

No matter what it was at that time, I found myself smiling and nodding as I watched Springsteen on Broadway.

It felt so good, I had to pull out my old records.

Now I'm on fire.