Saturday, October 24, 2009
Historians Reassess Battle of Agincourt - NYTimes.com
WE HAPPY FEW AT EVEN STRENGTH, WE BAND OF BROTHERS: As it turns out, the Battle of Agincourt may have been more of a fair fight than we've been led to believe.
THE AMAZINGLY DELAYED RACE: CBS is now offering email/text alerts to let us know how late to set our TiVos on Sundays because of football overruns. This week, the East/Central pockets in blue and gold on this map have that risk -- including the NYC metro area because of NYJ-Oak.
TEN YEARS BURNING DOWN THE ROAD: Frequent commenter Adam C. saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band finish their four-show Philadelphia run this week. He files this report:
Tuesday night, Bruce and the E Street Band wrote their final chapter at Philadelphia’s Spectrum. Starting off with “The Price You Pay,” a gem off of The River that hadn’t been played live since 1981, Bruce and the ESB set the tone – it would be a night of fun (two extended trips through the pit, including crowd-surfing back to the stage during “Hungry Heart,” and pulling his mom Adele onstage for the Courtney Cox part of “Dancing in the Dark”) and of surprises (a so-infectious-you-must-be-clinically-dead-if-you-aren’t-dancing version of Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” in the Stump-the-Band slot at the end of the main set; original ESB drummer Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez taking over the kit for “Spirit in the Night”; and a double shot of “Thunder Road” and an un-setlisted “Rosalita” to close the show). Also a surprise: Patti was absent for the last show – Soozie Tyrell pulled double duty, adding rhythm guitar to her usual violin/backup vocals.
Mid-show, as planned, they played the Born in the USA album in its entirety – intense, straight-ahead, and with little between-song banter, but that only seemed to reinforce the continued relevance of those 12 tracks. For me, the album, which came out when I was 13, was largely a gateway to Bruce’s earlier work – BitUSA has plenty of its own high spots, but a few songs I’d consider filler. Bruce himself has talked of the complicated relationship he has with BitUSA as an album and as a mid-80s phenomenon – in his book Songs he writes frankly about his ambivalence and dissatisfaction with much of the final product. It was the poppiest music he’d released to that point, yet lyrically it’s pretty grim and downbeat. Only two of the songs (“No Surrender” and “Bobby Jean”) end with something of a happy/hopeful ending (“Dancing in the Dark” is another that at least doesn’t end on a somber note). Largely, the album is about loss – of opportunity, of innocence, of love, of freedom, of control – and the disappointments we find and the cynicism that takes hold as we grow older.
In concert, all in one chunk, Bruce certainly played up the poppiness where it wouldn’t totally gut the songs – still, “Downbound Train” and “I’m On Fire” earned the first mass sitdown/bathroom break of the evening. He has slyly converted “Dancing in the Dark” from the synth-pop studio cut into a guitar-driven, pogoing blast (and yeah, bringing his mom up to dance was irresistibly cute). Together, the album cuts hold up remarkably well as live numbers – the themes of the songs generally fit with the “hard times” narrative that tends to occupy the middle of his setlists on these last two tours, and many of the songs are favorite singalongs anyway. But after the final keyboard stains of “My Hometown” fade, and Bruce takes a moment to acknowledge Garry, Max, Roy, Steve, Clarence and the late Dan Federici as “the men who made Born in the USA,” he takes us right into “Promised Land,” the Darkness song that perhaps most fully expresses an earnest hopefulness. The contrast in tone couldn’t be clearer, even when he audiblizes to insert “The River” before the next setlisted song.
Anyway, nearly three-and-a-half hours of masterful stage- and crowd-play later, I could think of no better way I could have said goodbye. Not just to the Spectrum, a place where I’ve seen dozens of rawk shows, numerous Sixers, Flyers and Big Five games and Duke-Kentucky 1992, and where I took my kids to their first circus and (God help me) the Wiggles. No – I had the distinct feeling I was also saying goodbye to the E Street Band.
Fans have speculated for a while about this, but Clarence Clemons, who will turn 68 in January, truly looks like a man who is taking his victory lap. He had a lot of spotlight moments Tuesday, but C’s body has betrayed him. He’s had both knees replaced and struggles with hip and back problems. Rumor is he needs back surgery and that the recovery will be lengthy. He doesn’t move much during the show – when Bruce brought the surviving BitUSA-era E-Streeters center stage for their mini-set curtain call, Clarence had a hard time getting over from stage right. On the songs that called for C to blow baritone sax, he played without taking the instrument from its stand. Trumpeter Curt Ramm, who played on Bruce’s Seeger Sessions tour, joined the band for several songs, and it had the feel not just of augmentation, but of a subtle passing of the torch. Clarence has gutted it out night after night on this 2-year tour, but given all of the above, you can’t help but think that his performing days are, perhaps imminently, nearing an end. Tellingly, the jokey byplay between C and Bruce, so much a part of the stage show even through the Magic tour, is now limited to Bruce running over to Clarence to share the mike on a handful of verses.
So if this turns out to be the last time I see Bruce Springsteen play with a heart-stopping, pants-dropping, house-rocking, earth-shaking, booty-quaking, Viagra-taking, love-making, legendary E Street Band that includes The King of the World, The Master of the Motherf**king Universe, The Big Man, Clarence Clemons, then I can say that there was no better way to have ended a run of live ESB performances that I’ve enjoyed dating back to 1988’s Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Show at the old JFK Stadium. This was a top 3 show for me – it made me wish I had been of concert-going age in the late 1970s and early 1980s so I could have compared it with the epic shows on the Darkness and River tours.
* * *
Tuesday night, Bruce and the E Street Band wrote their final chapter at Philadelphia’s Spectrum. Starting off with “The Price You Pay,” a gem off of The River that hadn’t been played live since 1981, Bruce and the ESB set the tone – it would be a night of fun (two extended trips through the pit, including crowd-surfing back to the stage during “Hungry Heart,” and pulling his mom Adele onstage for the Courtney Cox part of “Dancing in the Dark”) and of surprises (a so-infectious-you-must-be-clinically-dead-if-you-aren’t-dancing version of Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” in the Stump-the-Band slot at the end of the main set; original ESB drummer Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez taking over the kit for “Spirit in the Night”; and a double shot of “Thunder Road” and an un-setlisted “Rosalita” to close the show). Also a surprise: Patti was absent for the last show – Soozie Tyrell pulled double duty, adding rhythm guitar to her usual violin/backup vocals.Mid-show, as planned, they played the Born in the USA album in its entirety – intense, straight-ahead, and with little between-song banter, but that only seemed to reinforce the continued relevance of those 12 tracks. For me, the album, which came out when I was 13, was largely a gateway to Bruce’s earlier work – BitUSA has plenty of its own high spots, but a few songs I’d consider filler. Bruce himself has talked of the complicated relationship he has with BitUSA as an album and as a mid-80s phenomenon – in his book Songs he writes frankly about his ambivalence and dissatisfaction with much of the final product. It was the poppiest music he’d released to that point, yet lyrically it’s pretty grim and downbeat. Only two of the songs (“No Surrender” and “Bobby Jean”) end with something of a happy/hopeful ending (“Dancing in the Dark” is another that at least doesn’t end on a somber note). Largely, the album is about loss – of opportunity, of innocence, of love, of freedom, of control – and the disappointments we find and the cynicism that takes hold as we grow older.
In concert, all in one chunk, Bruce certainly played up the poppiness where it wouldn’t totally gut the songs – still, “Downbound Train” and “I’m On Fire” earned the first mass sitdown/bathroom break of the evening. He has slyly converted “Dancing in the Dark” from the synth-pop studio cut into a guitar-driven, pogoing blast (and yeah, bringing his mom up to dance was irresistibly cute). Together, the album cuts hold up remarkably well as live numbers – the themes of the songs generally fit with the “hard times” narrative that tends to occupy the middle of his setlists on these last two tours, and many of the songs are favorite singalongs anyway. But after the final keyboard stains of “My Hometown” fade, and Bruce takes a moment to acknowledge Garry, Max, Roy, Steve, Clarence and the late Dan Federici as “the men who made Born in the USA,” he takes us right into “Promised Land,” the Darkness song that perhaps most fully expresses an earnest hopefulness. The contrast in tone couldn’t be clearer, even when he audiblizes to insert “The River” before the next setlisted song.
Anyway, nearly three-and-a-half hours of masterful stage- and crowd-play later, I could think of no better way I could have said goodbye. Not just to the Spectrum, a place where I’ve seen dozens of rawk shows, numerous Sixers, Flyers and Big Five games and Duke-Kentucky 1992, and where I took my kids to their first circus and (God help me) the Wiggles. No – I had the distinct feeling I was also saying goodbye to the E Street Band.
Fans have speculated for a while about this, but Clarence Clemons, who will turn 68 in January, truly looks like a man who is taking his victory lap. He had a lot of spotlight moments Tuesday, but C’s body has betrayed him. He’s had both knees replaced and struggles with hip and back problems. Rumor is he needs back surgery and that the recovery will be lengthy. He doesn’t move much during the show – when Bruce brought the surviving BitUSA-era E-Streeters center stage for their mini-set curtain call, Clarence had a hard time getting over from stage right. On the songs that called for C to blow baritone sax, he played without taking the instrument from its stand. Trumpeter Curt Ramm, who played on Bruce’s Seeger Sessions tour, joined the band for several songs, and it had the feel not just of augmentation, but of a subtle passing of the torch. Clarence has gutted it out night after night on this 2-year tour, but given all of the above, you can’t help but think that his performing days are, perhaps imminently, nearing an end. Tellingly, the jokey byplay between C and Bruce, so much a part of the stage show even through the Magic tour, is now limited to Bruce running over to Clarence to share the mike on a handful of verses.
So if this turns out to be the last time I see Bruce Springsteen play with a heart-stopping, pants-dropping, house-rocking, earth-shaking, booty-quaking, Viagra-taking, love-making, legendary E Street Band that includes The King of the World, The Master of the Motherf**king Universe, The Big Man, Clarence Clemons, then I can say that there was no better way to have ended a run of live ESB performances that I’ve enjoyed dating back to 1988’s Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Show at the old JFK Stadium. This was a top 3 show for me – it made me wish I had been of concert-going age in the late 1970s and early 1980s so I could have compared it with the epic shows on the Darkness and River tours.
Friday, October 23, 2009
GODLESS KILLING MACHINES DESK: Further evidence that bears remain the #1 threat to humanity comes from this story, which raises many questions--why teach a bear to ice skate? Can a bear do a triple salchow? How does the bear skate--four legs or two? And why, given that it already has sharp claws and teeth, would anyone strap blades on a bear?
UP NEXT, THE 'GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD' LITIGATION: If your Baby has not become an Einstein after watching those DVDs, Disney will give you a full refund. Settled prior to (threatened) litigation, so no one's going to be able to object to a class settlement; details on how to obtain relief here.
THIS GUY NEEDS TO BE TICKLED: Dr. Eric Foreman and 13 others constitute the Boston Globe's list of 14 annoying tv characters. As critic Matthew Gilbert explains, "Not the ones created to irritate — remember Steve Urkel on 'Family Matters'? — so much as those who offend our personal tastes. They grate on our sensibilities, sometimes so acutely (David Caruso, 'CSI: Miami') they are dealbreakers." Still, there's one included in there on which he is very, very wrong, someone whom I and many here would list among tv's finest fictional constructions.
LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU: So, apparently, EW is looking for folks worthy of holding the title Entertainer of the Decade, a topic on which I am sure have opinions. (Also worthy of discussion--who's this year's Entertainer of the Year?) For reference, Entertainers of the Year since 2000 are: Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Denzel Washington, J.K. Rowling, Jon Stewart, Robert Downey Jr., and the casts of Lost, Grey's Anatomy, and Lord of The Rings: The Return of the King. If you're picking from that list, I think you have to go with Rowling for longevity and influence--there wouldn't be Twilight without Potter. Going off the list, there's a strong argument for American Idol, at least the show and its "top tier" winners--Clarkson and Underwood.
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