Obama's "vision" of a better America makes him the candidate of choice for Bruce Springsteen

The Boss Backs Obama for President - AOL News

After the beating John Kerry took for accepting so many celebrity endorsements in 2004, some stars have been nervous about putting their weight behind a candidate this year. Some conservative Americans get very angry when they see a celebrity endorse a non-conservative candidate. Liberal elitists and other names are thrown at them. So when a concert tour was started in 2004 to support John Kerry, with the likes of Bruce Springsteen, John Fogerty and REM, I'm not sure it helped his candidacy as much as bring out the vitriol of those angry conservatives. But I don't think too many people were fully supportive of Kerry at that time. I mean I recognized his war record and figured he'd better than Bush, but I wasn't inspired by the man. 2004 was more about Anybody But Bush.
But 2008 is different. Bush is obviously a non-factor, but his policies and the disasters he's leaving behind aren't. This year people are inspired by one man and feel excited about his candidacy. Barack Obama has been lighting up people's minds and hearts for several months now and Bruce Springsteen is the latest celebrity to put his name behind this man. I don't believe Bruce was half-hearted when he supported Kerry, but he is way more outspoken about his feelings for Barack. "He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years."
That's huge. People like George Clooney have refrained from giving their support because they fear it will hurt more than help. But I think the people of this country are so disgusted with the direction America has gone these last four years that they are giving no mind to what the angry conservatives are saying. And while the war in Iraq might be part of it, the most disgraceful moment of these last four years has to be the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Because that shouldn't ever happen in America. And people watching TV that week saw themselves swimming in those streets and suffering and dying in the squalor of the Super Dome and having no government there to help them when the time was most dire. This wasn't Haiti or some African province. These weren't mud hut people in Thailand. These were Americans suffering and dying in America and it happened in one of our favorite cities, so why couldn't it happen in your city.
What would the response be after a devastating terrorist attack in your city. A dirty bomb say. Would the government be as slow to help us then? If that didn't enter many people's minds that week and for weeks after I'd be very surprised. While Katrina's aftermath was claming lives, George Bush stayed on vacation in Texas and Condaleeza Rice shopped in Manhattan and went to Broadway shows. They lost any moral supremacy they had that week. Hollywood Liberal Elitist Sean Penn, he went down there and got in a boat and saved people from drowning. He was a hero, maybe for the first time in his life, but he became one that week and because of that His Voice Has Value. Celebrities who help have value, they bring attention to a cause that might lack a spotlight.
I have been very lazy lately and have not read as much about Obama as I want to before giving my unquestioned support, but I'm almost there. That Bruce likes Obama doesn't change anything for me. There's plenty of celebrities that I like and respect who are going for McCain and Hillary. But having listened to Bruce's music for 30 years now I do know what he means about speaking to the America he's envisioned. That's my America, too.

The Freditor

Haha, Oscars have worst ratings ever

Two reasons always make or break Oscars ratings. One, popular movies are nominated giving the audience a rooting interest. Titanic is the highest rated Oscar for this reason. Young girls all wanted Jack and Rose to win it all, which they did. When a movie is nominated that didn't even make as much as a baseball player's salary, then no one is going to care if it wins or loses.

Two, the Host is so important. If the host comes out of the gate with a great monologue people might stick with it, but if he tanks then the casual viewer will move on to something else. Before I left the house I caught three minutes of Jon Stewart's monologue and what I saw was bad, except for the Gaydolf Tittler joke. That was funny. But that's a big problem there. Jon Stewart. Who thinks Jon Stewart is funny? I don't, if I did I would watch The Daily Show. He replaced the Funny Guy on that show, Craig Kilborn.

You want a funny host who used to actually host a funny show. Greg Kinnear from Talk Soup. He's a really good actor who happens to be very funny, and quick on his feet.

Instead they keep bringing back horrible hosts like Whoopi Goldberg. Let's look at the hosts since Johnny Carson stopped doing the show.

2006/7--Jon Stewart--Not Funny
2005 Chris Rock---Funny
2004 Billy Crystal---Funny during the Reagan years
2003 Steve Martin---See Billy Crystal
2002 Whoopi Goldberg---Interesting, not funny.
2001 Steve Martin
2000 Billy Crystal
1999 Whoopi Goldberg
1998 Billy Crystal
1997 Billy Crystal
1996 Whoopi Goldberg
1995 David Letterman---Great. One of my favorite Oscar hosts. Got slammed because he wasn't a Hollywood insider. Oprah Uma thing was dumb, but the rest of the show was fun. He'll never do it, but I'd bring him back.
1994 Whoopi Goldberg
1993 Billy Crystal
1992 Billy Crystal
1991 Billy Crystal
1990 Billy Crystal
1989 No official host
1988 Chevy Chase---Rather stick a grapefruit spoon in my eye than watch him.
1987 Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, Paul Hogan---The Ménage à trois from hell.
1986 Alan Alda, Jane Fonda, Robin Williams---The hairiest Ménage à trois.
1985 Jack Lemmon---Only Neil Simon thought this guy was funny.
1984 Johnny Carson--The King.

The Freditor

Tremendous Victory--Giants win 3rd Super Bowl, now can Jets please win one

I was 2 1/2 years old when the Jets won their Super Bowl, I am now 41 1/2 years old. They're due, I'm due.

As thrilling as last night's win was, I've experienced three Giant Super Bowl wins in my adult life, and in this one case I kind of know what it feels like to be a Yankee fan. That feeling of ho-hum, another world title, please pass the Grey Poupon.

I went crazy when the Giants scored their last touchdown, and I was excited to hear the sports talk guys go on about it today, but I guess because the Giants are my second favorite team in football, it lacks that exhilarating feeling that would definitely come if the Jets ever entered the promised land.

Was last night's game the most exciting of all time? The greatest of all time? I'm not sure. It's up there, but Buffalo's missed field goal against the Giants in 1991 seemed more exciting. I guess because it ended the game. Can you imagine if Randy Moss had caught that pass at the 20 yard line with 20 seconds left last night? The Patriots would have gone for a 37 yard field goal to send it into Overtime. That is the only way last night's game could have been better.

Before expansion and parity, teams didn't come back late in games the way they do now. So when Joe Montana and the 49ers came back against the Bengals to score that last minute touchdown in 1989, that was both thrilling and unprecedented. But for sheer 4th quarter theatrics, perhaps the greatest Super Bowl of all time was the 1999 Rams-Tennessee game. That ended with the Titans stretching at the goal line for a touchdown, only to miss it by inches. I wasn't watching football in 1979, but from those who saw it, they tell me that was pretty exciting. Pittsburgh beat Dallas, when Roger Staubach threw into the end zone and Jackie Smith dropped the winning pass.

I started following football in 1981 and fell in love with the Jets that year. They made it to their first playoff game in 12 years that year and then to the AFC Championship the following year. I was young and spoiled and thought they would do it every year. They didn't and in 27 years I have only seen them get to two AFC Championship games. My heart stopped both times and finally was broken. What would my heart need if they ever made it to a Super Bowl and then won? I'd love to find out.

My teams in descending order of passion and year they last won title:

Mets--1986

Jets---1969

Giants---2008

Knicks---1973

Nets---Never in the NBA

Islanders----1983

Rangers----1994

Devils----2003


The Freditor

Bullet the Blue Sky--My work friend tells me about growing up in El Salvador

This guy comes up to me His face red like a rose on a thorn bush
Like all the colors of a royal flush And he's peeling off those dollar bills
Slapping them down One hundred, two hundred
And I can see those fighter planes And I can see those fighter planes
Across the mud huts where the children sleep
Through the alleys of a quiet city street....

Across the field you see the sky ripped open
See the rain through a gaping wound
Pounding on the women and children
Who run
Into the arms
Of America

---Bullet the Blue Sky, U2


When new people start to work with you, you say hello to them upon their arrival, but unless they have a boisterous personality, you tend to stick with your old work friends. And if they are an immigrant who is not great with the English language, you are even more likely to ignore them.

I am something of a social person, but oddly I like to eat my lunch alone. That quiet time allows me to read my newspapers and magazines and be at peace with myself. When I was younger I felt compelled to befriend every new worker who came into my company, no matter what company that was. Sometimes they became good friends, other times they moved on to others who were more their taste. But sometimes these new people tended to cling on like puppies. I am not a fan of cling-ons, they tend to interrupt my lunch peace. So I have to get cold with them and then they leave me alone. Sounds mean, but too bad.

Well at my current job virtually every new hire lately is an immigrant. They are all quite nice and they all tend to stay to themselves. One guy is a Latino fellow named Carlos. He started working with us a little over a year ago. He looks a bit like and has the build of famed Dodger pitcher Fernando Valenzuela. I say hello and goodbye to him and say "que paso Primo" when I'm joking around. Carlos has got a plum assignment. One of our other workers is an army reservist who has been stationed in Afghanistan for about a year or so. In his absence Carlos gets to do his route for that entire time. That route is next to mine.

Around Christmas time, I was looking for a letter from a customer. I asked Carlos if he could swing by my route and see if it was there, because I think the garbagemen have been stealing it the last couple of years. He got it for me and I was very grateful. I offered to buy him coffee, but he didn't want anything. He said, "You're my friend."

I was touched by this, but also saddened because of our limited contact. He was out of work a few days because of an emergency with one of his kids. When he came back, I drove over to his route to find out if everything was alright. While there we got into a pretty long conversation and I sat in my truck amazed.

This man is about 36 years old, but looks younger and he is usually smiling, so you imagine he had a pretty good life growing up. But appearances are deceiving. I assumed he was from Mexico, but he was actually born and raised in El Salvador. As you go south, first comes Mexico, then comes Guatemala and then comes El Salvador. He moved to America back in 1995 and doesn't sound like he's ever going back.

He was born in 1971 and the first 8 years of his life were happy and peaceful, for both him and his family. His country was divided as always by the very rich and very poor. Then war broke out in 1979. It took place mostly in the mountains and hills, but was still a burden on his country for 12 years. It was not unusual for helicopters to fly low overhead and start shooting.

Then one Saturday afternoon, November 11, 1989, there was a wedding in a church in his hometown, the capital city of San Salvador. Inside the church were all the guests with their gifts at their sides. Inside the giftboxes were concealed guns. They opened the boxes and ran out in the streets firing these guns in the middle of town.

Now 18 years old, Carlos would hear from his house, "pop pop pop pop pop pop", constantly, for 3 months. Sometimes the machine gun sounds were low and far away and sometimes they were very close and he and his family would be ducking on the floors of their house. His father was not a military man or a political man, so the guerillas had no reason to shoot him, but machine gun fire doesn't make those distinctions. One day there was fighting behind his house and it seemed to last forever. The next day his father and he went in the backyard and found dozens of stray bullets and shell casings littered across their yard.

On New Year's Eve 1992, the two sides signed an accord and peace was declared after 12 years of war.

A decent economy was destroyed by the long civil war and the rural areas were especially devastated. Young people from the farmlands with no place else to go are now causing trouble in the cities. Because of this two huge gangs have grown out of the mess and gangland violence and theft are the norm. Refugees who fled during the war have also come back with little industry to welcome them. Many have turned to drugs and violence as their new ways of life.

Carlos smiles because he's happy to be away from all of that.


The Freditor

Hall of Fame selection of Goose Gossage a welcome relief

How do you spell relief? The Yankees spelled it G-O-O-S-E from 1978 to 1983 and few did the job better. Like most Yankees I didn't like him at the time he played, but appreciated him way more after he left the squad. He earned 310 saves in a career that began as a starter. In fact, he was a reluctant reliever for the Chicago White Sox at a time when relievers were still considered the scrubs of a pitching staff.

But Goose helped change that. He became the team's closer. The fireman who came in and doused the flames of the other's team's attempted comeback. Back then, offense wasn't as prevalent as it is now and a starter could probably get to the ninth inning more than half of the time. But then there were the moments when Ron Guidry or Tommy John would run into trouble and out of gas, and out of the pen would come this bull of a man, The Goose. The Mets used to have this silly looking, but fun baseball-shaped golf cart that they'd drive the relief pitcher in with. The Yankees used a boring K-car. Now I can't remember if Goose drove in with this K-car or not, I'm hoping not. It would have hurt his entrance. He had a thick Fu-Manchu moustache and a nasty scowl and he'd scare opposing hitters with his high hard heat.

Of course, hating the Yankees as I do, my favorite Gossage moment was when he gave up a go-ahead home run to George Brett in the 1983 Pine Tar Game. As Brett crossed home plate, Billy Martin showed the umpires that Brett had too much pine tar on his bat and he was thrown out of the game and the home run was disallowed. Brett went nuts, the AL president overturned the umpire's decision and the home run stood. But it was similar to another home run Gossage gave up to Brett in the 1980 playoffs. But pointing out two times when Gossage failed is unfair compared to the rest of his body of work.

He converted 50-plus saves that were from the 7th inning on, unlike today's "closers" who only come in for the 9th inning and usually with no one on base. He also converted 81 saves with the tying run on base, unlike Mariano Rivera, who has only saved 29 such games. In a group of the greatest closers, you have to separate the players into two categories. One would start with Dennis Eckersly, the first "modern" closer, who was not brought in before the ninth inning and rarely with men on base. That would start in 1988 and before that you would have the older closers like Rollie Fingers, Gossage and Bruce Sutter. The older guys' 300 saves might be worth more than the younger guys' 500+ saves. I know John Franco had 400+ saves in the modern era and I would not take five of him over one Goose.

As for taking 9 years to finally put the Goose into the Hall of Fame, I'm not sure what the baseball writers are thinking sometimes. I understand certain players deserve to go in on the first ballot over others, like a Babe Ruth or Willie Mays, but after that, what makes you a Hall of Famer in your second year of eligibility versus your 9th year. It is these kind of shaky grounds for election that make me appreciate the Hall of Fame less and less each year. Really, any kind of event that involves voting over performance. Jim Rice should have been in long ago, now he'll have to wait for his 15th and final turn at bat.

I enjoy wrestling because you have to pin the man to win, but I don't like boxing because a "judge" votes on whether you won or lost. Point totals of how many and how hard your punches are should be the deciding factor, but they are not. That's why champions keep their titles unless they are knocked out. Figure skating has a similar bias built in. Any event that relies on voting really disinterests me.

When Keith Hernandez, a tremendous clutch hitter and the greatest defensive first baseman of all time, is no longer eligible for the Hall of Fame, then that is an organization that really does not deserve my attention.

The Freditor

Black Dog--Led Zeppelin Tribute Band Brings It On Home with Excellent Show

***** (out of 5)

On New Year's Eve Eve, Dec. 30, it had been a long time since I Rock and Rolled as I went to see Black Dog play a show at BB KIng's Blues Club in the heart of New York's Times Square. This is my third tribute band show at BB's and they have all been excellent, but this might have been the best act of all, because recreating Led Zeppelin on stage is so hard even Led Zep has a hard time doing it.

I've never seen LZ in person live, but have seen enough of them on TV to know that their records might be more products of production than mere talent. Robert Plant's screams on stage have never matched his record output and I heard that in the studio he would drink tea with honey between takes to get that perfect scream down. Doing it night after night on stage is a much harder trick. But Black Dog nailed it.

Four guys, who all look to be about 40, and who probably jammed to Led Zep in their mirrors when they were younger much like I did, were up there having a blast recreating some of the greatest music in the history of rock and roll. The thunderous applause that grew through the night had to be a better high for the band than any drug they could have taken. BB King's holds only about 300 people, but my ears were ringing from the crowd noise on my way home. Not an easy feat from hardcore New Yorkers, much less hardcore Zeppelin fans.

Their guitarist, Dan Toto, like the rest of the band looks nothing like his band alter ego, Jimmy Page, but boy can he play like him. His first few songs were note for note copies, but Toto had such a serious face and closed his eyes so much that you sensed he had to feel his way through the chords. But around halfway through the show he started playing more solos and he lightened up considerably, having a great time by show's end with flourishing guitar theatrics. Yes, he even pulled out the violin bow for Dazed and Confused, although thankfully the solo only lasted about 2 or 3 minutes compared with the 23 minute version on "The Song Remains the Same."

Jeff Mott is an excellent bass player and really laid the groundwork for many of their better rhythm numbers. Until Sunday night, I never realized how important bass was to the Led Zep sound. He also plays a decent mandolin on Goin' To California. Tom Capobianco got the beats right on drums and never made a show of himself. Again, the drum solo was thankfully short. Nothing kills a rock concert for me like pretentious, overlong solos. To me, bands who play them are just trying to build beer sales.

Of course, no Led Zep tribute band would be complete without a Robert Plant sound alike and Rob Malave has the vocal chops to pull it off. He's been playing in Zep tribute bands since his days with Four Sticks and it takes balls to reach for those high octaves, as well as act out the almost gay handshow that is Plant's moniker.

The only gripe I have is that since the show started at 11:30, they could not play a full set. Chuck Berry played from 8 to 10:30, so our late crowd was forced to leave at 1:18. I thought that we would get to see them play until 2AM. But they managed to squeeze in many favorites along with a few surprises and shockingly No Stairway or Whole Lotta Love. But honestly those songs are heard so many times on the radio, do you really need to hear them once more on stage? What was even cooler is that while the crowd went wild for the group and made a ton of noise for an encore, no one called out for either Whole or Stairway, but more for Gallo's Pole, which I would have loved to hear, but they didn't have time for.

What we did hear was magic:

Electric:
Communication Breakdown
The Song Remains The Same
Good Times Bad Times
Heartbreaker
Living Loving Maid

Acoustic Set:
Goin' To California
What Is & What Should Never Be
Hey Hey What Can I Do

Electric:
Bring It On Home
The Lemon Song
Immigrant Song
Dazed and Confused
Since I've Been Loving You

Encore:
The Ocean
Rock and Roll
Black Dog

The Freditor

Whoa, The Sopranos' Season Finale goes out with a Whimper

Whoa, The Sopranos' Season Finale goes out with a Whimper
After three seasons of knocking this show I thought this year was a bit of a comeback. My friends were all disappointed in it, but I kept saying that while it was nowhere near as good as the first two seasons, it was back to being entertaining at least.
But last week's episode with the home movie of Carmela in Paris was admittedly pretty bad and this week, virtually NOTHING happened.
Well, one thing happened. A storefront gets blown out in "Sheepshead Bay."
Actually, the town they used really wasn't Sheepshead Bay but my town of Ridgewood. I was working out at the gym a block away the night they filmed this explosion. Fresh Pond Road, between Catalina Bakery and the Glen Lo Irish Pub, which you can see in the scene.
But other than that, nothing.
Next season they have the Eight Final Episodes and everyone is hoping the show goes out a winner, but really what leads you to believe that that is even possible. They've clearly run out of ideas. They've killed off at least half their great characters and the other half are being given less to do.
Off the top of my head, I don't remember a great ending to a great TV series. Seinfeld was awful in retrospect. Everybody Loves Raymond was ordinary. Cheers was weak. Mary Tyler Moore was memorable, but great, nahh. MASH was overlong and actually revealed everything that went wrong with the show after Frank Burns left.

I'm putting it to you. I would like you people to tell me what you think was a great final episode to a TV series. Because I'm stumped. When Mike and Gloria moved to California, that would have been a perfect finale to All in the Family, but instead of letting the show go off in the sunset, it jumped the shark with the ugly little niece and the Puerto Rican tenant (Mr. Bunkers).

As Paulie Walnuts would say, "Marone."


The Freditor