Italian Day of Bruce

Written by Eric Olsen
Published December 09, 2002

Bruce Springsteen to be scrutinized in Rome according to Launch:

    Bruce Springsteen Day will be held in Rome, on Tuesday (December 10) at the Centro Studi Americani (Center for American Studies). [that would be the place for it]

    Scheduled events include seminars and speakers on the rock icon's songs, a look at his lyrics as poetry, and one lecture called "Bruce Springsteen. A working class hero?" The day will be capped with a live performance from Springsteen cover band Big Mama.

Ideally the name of a tribute band should evoke their muse unambiguously: Beatlemania, Crystal Ship, Sticky Fingers - these are pretty easy to figure out. But "Big Mama," featured in the lyric to "Song to the Orphans" from Springsteen's original demo tapes for John Hammond at Columbia, is pretty obscure, not even a song title, much less a reference to Springsteen himself. But then Big Mama may not be quite up on the niceties of naming tribute bands in English: they're Italian:
    Presentare Springsteen potrebbe sembrare banale; la sua figura, musicale, umana, politica, parla attraverso la musica. Da oltre venticinque anni Sprigngsteen ci esalta con liriche dense di umanità e di speranza, rocker come nessun altro che ogni sera dal vivo si immola attraverso un rito pagano al proprio pubblico, superando di gran lunga le tre ore di esibizione. E' divenuto un mito, inevitabilmente. Eppure in quello sguardo trasparente si evince che pur con la sua fama e i suoi denari, Springsteen è personaggio coerente, al di sopra delle polemiche e delle mode, capace ancora di parlare alla gente con la stessa onestà degli esordi. La sua ultima produzione "The Rising" lo dimostra; a metà fra la celebrazione del nuovo corso con la sua E Street Band e il commento dell'America ferita dopo l'11 settembre 2001, egli trova una via di condanna ma anche di ammonimento, esortando a non lasciarsi abbagliare da chi fa dell'altro il nemico da abbattere, dai falsi profeti e a mantenere una autonomia critica e di pensiero impermeabile all'approccio aggressivo e mono-direzionale dei media....
Regarding the serious exploration of Springsteen's oltological status as "working class hero": he began as one, he wants to be one, but when you have been a multi-millionaire rock star for as long as he has, you can only assume what the working class stance would be on a given issue, you don't live it anymore.

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and publisher of Blogcritics.org, which, quite frankly, rules - as do his wife and four children.
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Italian Day of Bruce
Published: December 09, 2002
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Section: Music
Filed Under: Music: Classic Rock and Oldies, Music: News, Music: Rock
Writer: Eric Olsen
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