President Obama calls Springsteen rock 'n' roll laureate

NJ.com ^ | December 07, 2009, 10:45AM | Jay Lustig/The Star-Ledger

[a fool in paradise]

Here is what President Obama said about Springsteen:

Finally, we honor the quiet kid from Jersey ... who grew up to become the rock 'n' roll laureate of a generation. For in the life of our country only a handful of people have tapped the full power of music to tell the real American story -- with honesty; from the heart; and one of those people is Bruce Springsteen...

It's no wonder that his tours are not so much concerts, but communions. There's a place for everybody -- the sense that no matter who you are or what you do, everyone deserves their shot at the American Dream; everybody deserves a little bit of dignity; everybody deserves to be heard.

I've seen it myself. Bruce was a great fan -- a great friend over the last year, and when I watched him on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial when he rocked the National Mall before my inauguration, I thought it captured as well as anything the spirit of what America should be about. On a day like that, and today, I remember: I'm the President, but he's The Boss.

And Bruce continues to inspire, along with his "house-rocking, earth-shaking" E Street Band. At 60 years old, he's still filling stadiums, still whipping fans into a frenzy, still surfing the crowd, still jumping off pianos, and still reaching new fans, and still being nominated for Grammys. It's been a long road from that stage at Stone Pony in Asbury Park to this stage today, but this much we know -- after more than 30 years and 120 million albums sold, Bruce Springsteen is still one "cool rockin' daddy."

[a fool in paradise]

The number of Jews permitted at the Obama White House Chanukah event is 400, down from 800 in the Bush White House.

Reportedly the Obama White House is cutting the number of Jews because of “the economy”. Hasn’t cut the Obama entertainment budget I see.

[astounded]

I know what you are saying, and it’s too bad, for America. In my view, Chuck Berry was a genius musically and lyrically. I am amazed at the complexity of the lyrics, like “School Days”, sheer genius. He used words with multiple syllables, used words that one would never expect to hear in a rock and roll song, let alone coming from the mouth of a black man from St. Louis, Missouri.

He is far more influential than Springsteen could ever hope to be, in my view.

[a fool in paradise]

Chuck Berry found impressionable fans in The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, and others. Each who sounded nothing like the other band.

Who did Bruce Springsteen begat? John Cougar Mellencamp?

By the way, Bruce seemed most successful when he was writing songs for other musicians (but he always took them back). Fire was written for Link Wray. Hungry Heart was written for the Ramones.

And we all know now that Courtney Cox was a plant in the audience when she danced on stage with Bruuuce in that Dancing in the Dark music video from the 1980s.