The Vig

Springsteen: There’s not a lot to add that Jack hasn’t said already (Part 1, 2, 3). It probably escaped most folks’ notice, but Rose Garden Poo Bah Mike Scanlon was at the north entrance as fans entered the arena on Friday night. That guy runs a tight ship. Few details get past him. As for the show… I laughed, I cried, I called Betty with Sunglasses. The highlights for me were “Lonesome Day”, “She’s the One”, and “Lost in the Flood”. Oh, and I may have cried during “The Rising”. I sort of wish I’d taken a seat rather than being on the floor. The energy down there was great and all, but I couldn’t quite take in the whole spectacle. I love watching Max do his thing, for example, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t concentrate on him. Too many other distractions. It was fun, though, to watch Charlie Giordano flip frantically through his song book as Bruce audibled “For You” and “Lost in the Flood” back-to-back. Giordano, filling in for Brother Danny Federici as he battles cancer, spent most of the evening looking out into the crowd, clearly enjoying his time with the band, but for those two tunes, his eyes were glued to his book. I thought he did a great job. Props also to Gary W. Tallent who came down and sang back-up on “American Land”.  I also ran into my friends Brad and The Tin Man.  They were there with their wives and friends.  One of the friends evidently coaches Springsteen’s son, so everyone in their party were wearing backstage passes.  Unfortunately, I didn’t make the cut.  *sigh*

Tall in the Saddle:  There was a Star Wars-esque plot twist in the fifth act wherein it turned out the hottie I was hoping The Duke would end up with was actually his cousin.  Instead he got Ella Raines.  Not a bad consolation prize, I suppose.  The movie also featured Gabby Hayes as “Dave”, one of the few times he played a character not named Gabby.  As usual he got the best line of the movie.

“She’s meaner than a skillet full of rattlesnakes.”

As Pete in Parkrose mentioned, I think I may have dated her at one point.

Man City:  The Blues have slid all the way down to 9th place in the table.  Safely out of relegation, but also safely out of European contention.  They’ve been a frustrating team all season.  They’ve shown an ability to go run with the big dogs, but then they get beat 3:1 at bottom-dwelling Birmingham.  I don’t get it.

Jim Norton:  I should have known it wouldn’t be my kind of show when I saw all the KUFO banners hanging in the lobby of the Winningstad Theatre.  But I was such a fan of his HBO special, I wanted to get out and support him.  I thought he was a young up and comer.  Turns out, he’s a regular with Opie and Anthony.  Now that’s a show I don’t get.  I knew we were in trouble when he went straight to relationship talk straight out of the chute.  He does the same thing on his Letterman appearance.  Lame, lame, lame.  And from there it just got worse.  And by worse, I mean the little old ladies who were acting as ushers were shocked.  It was the first night for one of them.  Two other ladies had to reassure her that not every show and not every crowd was “this bad”.  Norton did have a pretty good opener though by the name of Al Jackson.  You can see him here.  Comedy is a tricky thing.  There’s not a lot that separates them from musicians like Springsteen.  Every joke to a comedian is like a song to Springsteen.  The difference is while I love to hear Bruce break out the old tunes when I see him, I don’t want to see a comedian break out the same jokes every time I see them.  The only exception I can think of is Andrew Dice Clay.  Hmmm….  Just something I’ve been rolling over in my head.

Major League Baseball:  Diamondbacks over the Red Sox in six.  That’s based on nothing but pure speculation.  And any guess you make is based on the same thing.

The Big Lebowski:  I made the mistake of having three White Russians before the show last night.  I couldn’t get off the couch at all today.  Yes, this makes me a lightweight.  I don’t drink.  Like ever.  I figured if Jeffery Lebowski could guzzle Caucasians by the bucket load in that movie, then certainly I could do the same in real life.  Turns out I was wrong.  Lesson learned.