29-09-2011, 02:41
In the last two weeks I have enjoyed two Elvis Costello interviews with Bruce Springsteen on ABC TV in Australia.[SUP]1 [/SUP] Life is busy even in retirement and it has taken me this week to synthesize Springsteenâs ideas about R&R, its new energy and direction since Elvis Presley in the â50s and the Ten Year Crusade(1953-1963)[SUP]2[/SUP] in which I was involved. The answers Springsteen gave to Costelloâs questions led to this prose-poem.
I am no authority on Springsteen; I have simply enjoyed some of his songs over the years since he came to fame in the early to mid-70s some 40 years ago. His early years(1962-1972) and his years of initial struggle for success(1972-1974) mirrored my own. My career in the teaching profession took off about the same time as Springsteenâs in the music world but, of course, I never flew as high. We all fly and sink in varying degrees of success and failure in this earthly life.-Ron Price with thanks to: [SUP]1[/SUP]âSpectacle: Elvis Costello With Bruce,â ABC TV, 11:30-12:15 a.m., 17 and 24 March 2011; and [SUP]2[/SUP]The first international teaching Plan of the global Bahaâi community which my family was involved with starting in Burlington Ontario in 1953.
You said, Bruce, that so many of
your songs were about identity:
who am I and where am I going?
spot on, Bruce! Thatâs what my
poetry is all about too and we all
tell stories in such different ways
because our identity is so unique.
But getting other people to share
oneâs obsessions is a big ask, Bruce.
You can die tryingâ¦..We each work
out our modus operandi, our modus
vivendi, as we walk the walk and talk
the talk, eh Bruce? Life-art is one long
conversation with our audience, Bruce,
eh? And one must keep oneâs little bit
of sermonizing in very low gear: people
run away if you turn up the volume, eh?
You just canât tell others what to think,
can you Bruce? So thanks, Bruce, for your
helping me manage whatâs eating me. You
put things well, Bruce after all your years back
to 1962 when we both got going: me on my
Bahaâi trip and you with your many several
commitments with our respective impact on
the marketplace of ideas: you were definitely
a winner there, yes, Bruce: congratulations!!!
Ron Price
23 to 27 March 2011
I am no authority on Springsteen; I have simply enjoyed some of his songs over the years since he came to fame in the early to mid-70s some 40 years ago. His early years(1962-1972) and his years of initial struggle for success(1972-1974) mirrored my own. My career in the teaching profession took off about the same time as Springsteenâs in the music world but, of course, I never flew as high. We all fly and sink in varying degrees of success and failure in this earthly life.-Ron Price with thanks to: [SUP]1[/SUP]âSpectacle: Elvis Costello With Bruce,â ABC TV, 11:30-12:15 a.m., 17 and 24 March 2011; and [SUP]2[/SUP]The first international teaching Plan of the global Bahaâi community which my family was involved with starting in Burlington Ontario in 1953.
You said, Bruce, that so many of
your songs were about identity:
who am I and where am I going?
spot on, Bruce! Thatâs what my
poetry is all about too and we all
tell stories in such different ways
because our identity is so unique.
But getting other people to share
oneâs obsessions is a big ask, Bruce.
You can die tryingâ¦..We each work
out our modus operandi, our modus
vivendi, as we walk the walk and talk
the talk, eh Bruce? Life-art is one long
conversation with our audience, Bruce,
eh? And one must keep oneâs little bit
of sermonizing in very low gear: people
run away if you turn up the volume, eh?
You just canât tell others what to think,
can you Bruce? So thanks, Bruce, for your
helping me manage whatâs eating me. You
put things well, Bruce after all your years back
to 1962 when we both got going: me on my
Bahaâi trip and you with your many several
commitments with our respective impact on
the marketplace of ideas: you were definitely
a winner there, yes, Bruce: congratulations!!!
Ron Price
23 to 27 March 2011