Springsteen on Broadway ~ the Netflix premiere

Springsteen on Broadway

the Netflix premiere

From listening and watching him talk
about how he "became so wildly and absurdly successful
writing about something he’s had absolutely no
personal experience with”;

and for being “tinged with a little fraud”…

I laughed out loud.

He made it all up.

That’s how good he is!

From hearing and watching him talk about the love-hate relationship

that he and many of us have with our hometowns;

describing how he felt growing up in a death trap and a suicide rap,

in a place called Jerseykistan…

You know, “one of those little ‘stan places

that nobody knows a fucking thing about?”

I laughed out loud.

From listening and watching “Mr. Born to Run” 

and “Mr. Thunder Fucking Road”

talk about not being able to stand still in one place,

and wanting to get as far away from Jerseykistan as he could get,

and never return,
I could totally relate.

“I was born to run, not to stay.

“I am gonna run, run, run,

and I’m never coming back…

Currently,

I live ten minutes from my hometown.

But uh, Born to Come Back?

Who’da bought that shit?
Nobody.”

I laughed out loud.

And for reminding me of…

“All that youthful freedom.

And the feeling of finally being un-tethered from
everything you’ve ever known:

The life you’ve lived, your past, your parents,

the world you’ve gotten used to,
that you’ve loved and hated.

Your life laying before you like a blank page.”

Oh!

“It’s the one thing I miss about getting older,” he said.

“I miss the beauty of that blank page.

So much life in front of you.

Its promise.

Its possibilities.

Its mysteries.

Its adventures.

That blank page just laying there,

daring you to write on it.”

I was extremely moved.

For listening and watching him talk about
losing his buddies to the Vietnam war,

and what led him to write Born in the USA.

And watching him sing with Patti.

Tears were in my eyes.

For when he talks about his mother.

Oh, my fucking god!

When he talks about his mother

and the pride he had in being her son, growing up.

I wept.

For when he talks about the greatest moment he had with his father.

I wept.

Apologies will do that.

Yes, as I hung off every word that spilled forth from his mouth,

tears welled in my eyes.

I didn’t expect these stories to hit me harder

watching Springsteen on Broadway on Netflix this afternoon,

than they did last September when I watched
Springsteen on Broadway, live and in-person

at the Walter Kerr Theatre in New York City.
(Oh, how lucky was I to have been there!)

Or harder than when I read the stories in his autobiography.

But they did.

It was because of that camera that kept zooming into that face.

That while I hung off every word

(and there are oh-so many glorious words in this performance.

Words that, as always, describe what I can
so easily relate to in my own life),

they were made all the more moving

when seeing the raw emotion on his face and in his eyes,
so up close and personal,

through the Netflix camera,

as he delivered them in his shaky voice.
Oh, watching and listening to him talk about that family stuff,
the passage of time, growing older,
and death.
It hit me hard.

Watching and listening to his words of regret, heartbreak,
love, joy, and truth

struck a chord way down deep inside,

as his always do.

For like no other,

Bruce Springsteen has a way of capturing and expressing
the true spirit, youthfulness,  

and romance of the rock and roll heart.

“You know what they say about Catholics…”

Now streaming on Netflix…