land of hope and dreams

Springsteen’s speech from the first of three free concerts for Obama:

I’ve spent most of my creative life measuring the distance between that American promise and American reality. For many Americans, who are today losing their jobs, their homes, seeing their retirement funds disappear, who have no healthcare, or who have been abandoned in our inner cities, the distance between that promise, and that reality, has never been greater or more painful.

The whole set in Philidelphia can be seen here

people to discover

The ever brilliant Damien, who has done me many a good turn by promoting my films and connecting me with people (including most recently Savannah Murphy, star of Wakeup Call), seeks to continue the turning by spreading word of others. With work returning and a half dozen films in the works, I’ve not had time to look over all of the people, so while I cannot vouch directly for them, I can vouch for him. Anyone he wants you to know about is worth knowing about, if not also following slavishly and drowning in heaps of money.

That being said, of those on his list I can offer up a quick recommendation for artist Kirsten Brown as I own some of her work myself, the site grinding as it is among the top feeds I check, the game work of Zachary Anderson who I fortunately know in real life, albeit not as well as I’d like, and the also wonderful art of Ben Templesmith (the 21st century’s answer to Bill Sienkiewicz, not that Mr. Sienkiewicz is not still producing great work, but if you like the latter, you’ll probably like the former and vice versa).

converting reel-to-reel tapes

Anyone know of a place in town that can convert reel-to-reel audio tape to CDs?

My mom is looking to convert tapes of my late stepfather (he was a drummer and played with several well known people and groups including Little Richard (other names are escaping me now)). If you know of somewhere (particularly if you’ve dealt with them) or even just know someone who might know, please let me, uh, know.

this is what will be

A pair of good Springsteen interviews, one from the New York Times and the other from the Times Online from across the pond though the author in the latter seems to have never listened to the lyrics of “Born in the USA”.

Such a frustratingly long wait until they announce the ‘08 tour dates.

i’ll cut you in half/while you’re smiling ear to ear

On my second listen of the new Bruce album, Magic, and I’m liking it quite a bit. There’s a couple of songs I could do without, but by and large it’s pretty great.

Where the Rising was largely a reaction to 9/11 and was thus a mix of mourning and celebration, this one is a clear reaction to the six years since. A couple of tracks sound like lost Pet Sounds tracks musically, but with lyrics that undercut such an upbeat melody. The title track in particular starts off as just a throw away tune, slowly twisting around into a condemnation of the powers that be.

Some of it’s not quite so subtle though:

Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake
The last to die for a mistake
Darlin’ will tyrants and kings
fall to the same fate
Strung up at your city gates
Who’ll be the last to die for a mistake