Jungleland - Bruce #Clarence

By popular demand, it's another Bruce Springsteen classic. Eleven minutes of pure musical pleasure. Enjoy (it). The "it" being necessary if you still, like me, believe the verb "to enjoy" is transitive.Other than that, forget the grammar and focus on this song and THAT sax solo!!

No Surrender - Bruce Springsteen & Brian Fallon #Tortosa_Concerts

El dissabte passat Manel Fuentes i la Vella Dixieland van fer un concert "tribut" a Bruce Springsteen a Tortosa. Quina nit! Dominava el rock, of course, però amb algun toquet de jazz i sobretot sonaven molts instruments de vent. Fuentes és tot un showman, i un crak imitant a Bruce i la seva veu. En fi, una nit per a recordar, on va tocar sense parar ni un minut 2 hores dels hits i no tan hits del The Boss.

L'unica pega, per a mi, són els horaris. Ja estava anunciat per a les 23.30, cosa que per mi no té sentit. Era un concert per guadir en familia, gratis, al mig del parc de Tortosa i no entenc aquesta obsessió per fer les coses com més tard, millor. No hagues passat res per fer-ho a les 23.00 o 22.30. 

Direu, és que ets anglès, però el fet és que els 4 amics tortosins en qui ho vaig comentar també ho troben un disparat. No cal que per a xalar, hem de passar de mitjanit abans de començar els actes! Per més inri, evidentment no va començar a l'hora anunciada sino mig hora, o més, tard. Aixo entenc encara menys. No és tan complicat fer les coses bé.

Però, tornant a lo positiu, quin concert! Com que no tinc bones gravacions de Fuentes i la Vella Dixieland, pero, us passo aquest video impressionant de Bruce amb Brian Fallon del Gaslight Anthem cantant No Surrender.

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Last Saturday, Catalan radio presenter and general "show-man" Manel Fuentes performed his tribute show to Bruce Springsteen in Tortosa with the backing of the incredible Catalan trad jazz band, La Vella Dixieland. What a show!! 

Late night (too late in fact) under the trees of the park, with a cool beer at hand, and kids learning their music history, we really enjoyed it - and free!

Afraid I haven't found any good quality recordings of them yet, though, so we'll have to make do with the original. But, what an original! Here's The Boss with Brian Fallon (singer of Gaslight Anthem) singing an amazing version of No Surrender!

Independence Day, Bruce Springsteen

El 4 de juliol, dia de la independencia pels nort-americans, estarà sempre lligat, musicalment, a aquesta peça de Bruce Springsteen. Independence Day, del LP The River, 1980.

The 4th July, Independence Day for the USA will always be linked, musically, to Bruce's masterpiece. From his 1980 album, The River.

L'Ebre, dia 1 - The River del Bruce Springsteen

30 de maig, tothom a Barcelona .... Els 928 km del Riu Ebre passa per 9 comunitats autònomes abans d’arribar a les Terres de l’Ebre i el Delta. Hi viuen més de 3 milions de persones dins de la seva conca i evidentment qualsevol afectació riu amunt, tindrà conseqüències sobre la part baixa del riu i el seu Delta.
El Delta de l'Ebre és una de les zones naturals més importants de la costa mediterrània, però està en un estat crític. Pateix subsidència, regressió i salinització. Els eco-sistemes del delta i de la zona litoral, la mar del delta, no tenen un futur amb garanties, i això pinta malament per a la gent que hi viu i treballa allí. Pescadors, agricultors, turisme sostenible, industries petites respectant el entorn, tots depenen del bon estat d’un dels únics recursos que tenen les Terres de l’Ebre.
En els propers dies repassarem una mica l’historia recent de la lluita per defensar el riu, fins arribar a la situació actual. Aquí a la foto podem apreciar la bellesa i fragilitat del Delta.

De cançons sobre rius hi ha moltes, però la que he triat avui potser és el més coneguda. The River del LP del mateix nom de l’any 1980, del The Boss, Bruce Springsteen.

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30th May, huge protest march planned for Barcelona in support of the river Ebro ... the river flows through nine autonomous communities with 3 million inhabitants before reaching the Terres de l’Ebre region and the Ebro Delta, 928 km later. Obviously any actions taken, or not, upstream have serious consequences for the Lower Ebro and its fragile river delta.
The Ebro Delta is one of the most important natural areas of the Mediterranean coast, but it is in a critical state. It suffers from subsidence, regression, and salinisation. The ecosystems of the Delta and the littoral areas have no guarantees for their future, which in turn is bad news for the people who live and work there. Fishermen, farmers, sustainable tourism, small environmentally-friendly industries, everyone in this area depends directly or indirectly on the Ebro being in a good state, as it is one of the few resources available for the Terres de l’Ebre. The photo shows the beauty and fragility of the Delta.
Over the next few days, we’ll be taking a look at the struggle to protect and conserve the river...

Many songs talk about rivers, but we’ll start with perhaps the most famous one. The River by the Boss from his 1980 LP of the same name.

This Land is Your Land - Pete Seeger & Bruce - Day 5

... probablement la cançó més coneguda del Woody Guthrie és This Land is Your Land, escrita a l’any 1940. Una cançó preciosa que ha guanyat un lloc d’honor en la memòria col·lectiva americana, com es podria apreciar a la celebració de la victòria de Obama quan la van cantar Pete Seeger i Bruce Springsteen. I així en 5 apunts hem anat de Bruce a Bruce ....

...perhaps the most well-known of Woody Guthrie’s songs is This Land is Your Land from 1940. This beautiful and evocative song has become extremely popular in American culture, as seen at Obama’s Inaugural Celebration when it was sung by Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen. From Bruce to Bruce in 5 days and 5 posts ....

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway
I saw below me that golden valley
This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and I rambled and I followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
While all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, and I was strolling
And the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
A voice was chanting, As the fog was lifting,
This land was made for you and me.

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn't say nothing;
This land was made for you and me

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters
This land was made for you and me.

Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen - Day 1

De Bruce a Bruce en 5 dies... a la cançó Thunder Road, del LP Born to Run (1975) Bruce Springsteen diu “... as the radio plays Roy Orbison singing for the lonely ...” ...

From Bruce to Bruce in 5 days ... in his 1975 song Thunder Road, Bruce sings “... as the radio plays Roy Orbison singing for the lonely ...”

My Hometown - Bruce Springsteen

Una noticia dolenta per a les Terres de l’Ebre. Sembla que avui es confirmarà que la fabrica LEAR a la ciutat de Roquetes tanca, deixant més de 500 persones al carrer. Ja es veia venir, diu molta gent. Espero que si és així, els Presidents, politics, sindicats, també ho veien venir. Han tingut temps per fer tot el possible per a evitar aquesta situació o buscar solucions. Tal com va dir l’alcalde de Tortosa, tancar una fabrica així a la nostra comarca és l’equivalent de tancar una de 10.000 persones a Barcelona.
Veritat que esperaríem una reacció forta del govern de Catalunya si passis això a Barcelona? Pos, a veure que diuen ara …

Fa uns quants anys Bruce Springsteen ja parlava de una ciutat patint, primer, la tensió racial de la dècada dels 60, i després, una crisi econòmica, on les botigues tanquen, tothom marxa si pot, i les fabriques entren en un “procés de deslocalització” – en aquella època, no s’usava termes tan políticament correctes i es podria dir directament que els empresaris et feien una putada, ficant-te al carrer i deixant una família sense futur per guanyar uns quants cèntims més.

My Hometown (Springsteen) del LP Born in the USA. De l’any 1983 – el temps passa, però l’historia es repeteix, i sempre guanyen els mateixos. Crec que la veu i la música ja transmet el missatge amb prou força però per a ajudar més, aquí està la lletra en anglès, i desprès el vídeo amb subtítols en castellà.
És una de les meves cançons preferides del bloc fins ara, encara que més m'hauria agradat no haver-de posar-la ...

I was eight years old and running with a dime in my hand
Into the bus stop to pick up a paper for my old man
I’d sit on his lap in that big old Buick and steer as we drove through town
He’d tousle my hair and say, son, take a good look around
This is your hometown, this is your hometown
This is your hometown, this is your hometown

In `65 tension was running high at my high school
There was a lot of fights between the black and white
There was nothing you could do
Two cars at a light on a Saturday night, in the back seat there was a gun
Words were passed in a shotgun blast
Troubled times had come to my hometown
My hometown, my hometown, my hometown

Now Main Streets, whitewashed windows and vacant stores
Seems like there ain’t nobody wants to come down here no more
They’re closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks
Foreman says these jobs are going boys, and they ain’t coming back to
Your hometown, your hometown, your hometown, your hometown

Last night me and Kate, we laid in bed talking about getting out
Packing up our bags, maybe heading south
I’m thirty-five, we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said, son, take a good
Look around
This is your hometown

No Surrender

Ja que falta menys pel cap de setmana, pos, escoltem alguna cosa amb un mica de marxa per anar canviant de xip. No Surrender (Springsteen) del LP Born in the USA, 1984. Fa falta dir que és de Bruce Springsteen, The Boss?

El clip és d’un concert a Washington DC, any 2004.