| The
Crossing - January 2009
Alright, it’s a new year
and I have a homework assignment for you. Don’t worry...it’s a few days
off and on a scale of one to ten difficulty level, it’s a zero. Here’s
what is requested of you...
On Sunday, February 1st,
a widely popular football game known as the Super Bowl will be held in
Tampa, Florida and will be televised to a mass audience. Chances of you
getting this game on your television is extremely high. I have faith that
everyone here will manage to be able to catch this game. Just for the record,
the remaining teams eligible for this game (as of this writing) are the
Arizona Cardinals, the Baltimore Ravens, the Philadelpia Eagles and the
Pittsburgh Steelers. Will it be an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl? Will it
be neither of those teams? Will it be only one of those teams? Changes
are exponentially high that some sort of bird mascot will be represented!
Anyhow, all we want is a good game! Right? Okay then.
But what’s the assignment?
In the middle of this game...some
would call it halftime...none other than New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen
& the legendary E Street Band will perform. Let’s go over that again.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will perform. Your assignment is
not to get up and go to the bathroom, not to grab a beer, not to grab a
bratwurst, not to change the channel, not to lower the volume, not to chat
with your friends and family at this time, not to miss this performance.
Springsteen is one of the great songwriters of all time and his band backs
him in whatever he does. Even if it’s not use the band! The band follows
Bruce’s lead and lets him work his magic. This will be the first time for
Springsteen to showcase in this special halftime event. And your mission
is to take a few minutes out during this game’s intermission and listen
closely as one of the masters does his thing. One of the songs performed
will more than likely be the
oft-misinterpreted
‘Born in the U.S.A.’ Listen to the words. See what you make of it. Two,
maybe three other songs will be performed. Try and listen to the words.
The key to all good Bruce listening! Anyhow, that’s really it. Just be
sure and check out this American Treasure while you enjoy the game on this
upcoming most American of unofficial holidays. ...And may the best team
win!
Here’s to the start of a
good year for all!!!
Recently released and not
mentioned in last edition:
* Starflyer 59 - Dial M
* Pat Terry - Laugh for
a Million Years
* Sebastien Grainger - American
Names
* The Broken West - Now
or Heaven
* The Hooters - Both Sides
Live
+ Eagle Eye
+ An American Carol
+ Sangre de Mi Sangre
+ Bab ‘Aziz
1/6
* Erin McCarley - Love, Save
the Empty
* Glasvegas - S/T
* Ben Bedford - Land of
the Shadows
* The Gourds - Haymaker
* Chatham County Line -
S/T
* The Reckoning - Road Less
Traveled
* In Fear and Faith - Your
World on Fire
* Brighton Port Authority
- I Think We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat
+ Pineapple Express
+ Righteous Kill
+ The Wackness
+ Bangkok Dangerous
+ Babylon A.D.
1/13
* Royal Bliss - Life In-Between
* Derek Trucks Band - Already
Free
* Stuck Mojo - The Great
Revival
* (Hed) Pe - New World Orphans
* Crooked X - S/T
* Rob Tognoni - Ironyard
Revisited
* Steve Perry - Playlist
(Best of.)
* Saxon - Into the Labyrinth
* M83 - reissues
* Bruce Springsteen - Greatest
Hits (Walmart exclusive. Nothing you haven't heard, however.)
+ Appaloosa
+ Swing Vote
+ Mirrors
+ Operation Filmmaker
1/20
* Fiction Family - S/T (Jon
Foreman of Switchfoot and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek.)
* A.C. Newman - Get Guilty
* Lisa Hannigan - See Sew
* Jane Monheit - The Lovers,
the Dreamers and Me
* Matt & Kim - Grand
* John Frusciante - The
Empyrean
* Umphry’s McGee - Mantis
* Ben Nichols - The Last
Pale Light in the West
* Robert Pollard - The Crawling
Distance
* Keith Emerson Band - S/T
* Bon Iver - Blood Bank
* Psychic Ills - Mirror
Eve
* Bruce Robison - His Greatest
* Delbert McClinton - Live
* Thom Yorke - Eraser Remixes
* Husker Du - Candy Apple
Grey (reissue.)
* Eric Burdon - Animals
and Beyond (CD/DVD.)
* Calexico - Live from Austin,
TX (CD/DVD.)
* North Mississippi Allstars
- Do it Like We Used to Do: Live 1996-2008
+ The Who - The Kids are
Alright (2 DVD’s.)
+ El Norte
+ City of Ember
+ Henry Poole is Here
+ The Deal
+ The Express
+ Max Payne
1/27
* Bruce Springsteen &
the E Street Band - Working on a Dream
* Gary Louris & Mark
Olson - Ready for the Flood
* Pierce Pettis - That Kind
of Love
* Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
* Hoobastank - For(n)ever
* Duncan Sheik - Whisper
House
* Pat Dinizio - Dinizio
sings Buddy Holly
* Franz Ferdinand - Tonight:
Franz Ferdinand (Live.)
* Loney Dear - Dear John
* The Green Fields of America
- S/T
* Maple Bee - Home
* The Bird and the Bee -
Ray Guns are not just for the Future
* Rush - Retrospective 3
(CD/DVD.)
* Fleetwood Mac - Live in
London 1968
* Brian Wilson - That Lucky
Old Sun (CD/DVD.)
* Boston - Greatest Hits
(remastered reissue.)
* Alan Parsons Project -
reissues
* Volcano Suns - reissues
* Saga - Contact: Live in
Munich (2 CD’s/2 DVD’s.)
+ Vicky Christina Barcelona
+ The Rocker
+ Lucky Ones
+ Frozen River
+ Lakeview Terrace
+ Rockn Rolla
+ Pride and Glory
+ Open Season 2
2/3
* Chris Cornell - Scream
* The Fray - S/T
* The Bad Plus - For All
I Care
* Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
- Lonely Road
* Wavves - S/T
* Toy Matinee - S/T
* Melinda Doolittle - Coming
Back to You
* Ben Kweller - Changing
Horses
* Dierks Bentley - Feel
That Fire
* Heartless Bastards - Mountain
* This Ending - Dead Harvest
* Young Dubliners - Saints
and Sinners
+ Nick and Norah’s Infinite
Playlist
+ Secret Life of Bees
+ Hounddog
2/10
* Michelle Branch - Everything
Comes and Goes
* Red - Innocence &
Instinct
* Lily Allen - It’s Not
Me, It’s You
* India.Arie - Testimony,
Vol. 2
* Ben Lee - Rebirth of Venus
* Dan Auerbach - Keep It
Hid
* Van Morrison - Astral
Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl
* Annie Lennox - Collection
(CD/DVD.)
* Roger McGuinn - Live at
the Basement (CD/DVD.)
+ The Blindness
+ Miracle at St. Anna
+ W.
+ Nights in Rodanthe
2/17
* M. Ward - Hold Time
* Robyn Hitchcock - Goodnight
Oslo
* Tommy Keene - In the Late
Bright
* ...Trail of Dead - The
Century of Self
* Lionel Richie - Just Go
+ Body of Lies
+ Choke
+ How to Lose Friends and
Alienate People
2/24
* Morrissey - Years of Refusal
+ What Just Happened
3/3
* U2 - No Line on the Horizon
* Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
* Buddy & Julie Miller
- Written in Chalk
* Justin Townes Earle -
Midnight at the Movies
* Raul Malo - Lucky One
* Diana Krall - Quiet Nights
* Prodigy - Invaders Must
Die
3/10
* Handsome Furs - Face Control
* Madeleine Peyroux - Bare
Bones
+ Porcupine Tree - Arriving
Somewhere
3/24
* The Decemberists - Hazards
of Love
* Pearl Jam - Ten (Deluxe
Edition.)
* Stevie Nicks - Live in
Chicago and Soundstage Sessions
LYRICS of the MONTH:
Accurate depiction? Discuss...
I’m a teenager
Born in nineteen hundred
ninety-five
I’ll see you later
Can’t wait to meet you
If you’re still alive
I hope you’re ready
‘Cause it ain’t cute
Get your gun hand steady
Grab your bible and shoot
It’s the spirit of 2009
We’re still waiting for
the water
To change into wine
There’s nothing left
‘Cause it’s all right
We’re gonna burn some
books tonight
It’s the spirit of 2009
I ain’t got no teachers
They gave ‘em forty acres
and a mule
But I got big brother
preachers
Now I know things I never
learned in school
They put a wig on the
eagle
They took the sex off
your screen
Thank God the pill’s
illegal
I’ll be a dad at fourteen
It’s the spirit of 2009
We’re still waiting for
the water
To change into wine
Forget the left ‘cause
it’s all right
The population is out
of sight
It’s the spirit of 2009
I used to play bass in
a solid mass band
Smoke jelly and hang
out in my pod
But this summer I’m goin’
to astro camp
Learn a trade that’s
gets me closer to God
It’s the spirit of 2009.
Dada, the song “The Spirit
of 2009” off the album El Subliminoso released in 1996.
See you in Febrrruary!
Chris Barlow
|
