For anyone who found Bruce Springsteen’s music as a young person, you will relate to the upcoming movie, Blinded by the Light (2019). Not only does the movie include Springsteen’s music, but the music plays a major role in the main character’s life.
Blinded by the Light follows a British-Pakistani youth, played by Viveik Kalra, finding his way in 1987 England. One day, he discovers the music of Bruce Springsteen. And it changes his life.
Blinded by the Light is based on Sarfraz Manzoor’s memoir, Greetings from Bury Park. Manzoor also co-wrote the screenplay for the movie, which is directed by Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha.
If the rest of the movie makes me smile as much as the trailer, I think I’m going to love Blinded by the Light. Check out the trailer below.
Blinded by the Light hits theaters on August 14, 2019. For an early review out of Sundance, check out this one on Collider.
What do you think of the trailer for Blinded by the Light? Leave your two cents in the comments.
Bruce Springsteen has released a video for his new single, “Hello Sunshine.” The track will appear on his forthcoming album, Western Stars.
Springsteen has explained that the new solo album features “character driven songs and sweeping, cinematic orchestral arrangements.” And according to the singer-songwriter’s website, the new album contains a “sweeping range of American themes, of highways and desert spaces, of isolation and community and the permanence of home and hope.”
Earlier, Springsteen told Variety that this new record is influenced by 1970s pop music out of Southern California. He listed artists like Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Webb, and Glen Campbell. While one usually does not think of those artists in the same breath as Springsteen, one can hear the influence in the orchestration of the first single, “Hello Sunshine.”
In the new song, the singer asks, “Hello Sunshine won’t you stay?” And while the inquiry may remind one of Springsteen’s “Waitin’ on a Sunny Day,” the new song is not a rousing anthem. Instead, it is a contemplative piano-driven meditation of someone alone on the move. It could be the same subject as the voice in “Born to Run,” only older, slower, and maybe a little wiser.
One of the first Bruce Springsteen songs I truly fell in love with was “New York City Serenade,” the closing track from The Wild, the Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle (1973). Long before I ever imagined I would end up living in New York City, the song’s beauty resonated with me.
From the opening notes on the original recording with David Sancious playing a long piano introduction before Springsteen’s guitar comes in, through the final refrain about the junk man, the music and imagery captures a time and place much like “Jungleland” later did. Unlike the later song, though, the story in “New York City Serenade” is less clear.
Left of the Dial noted the words amount to “a jumble of lyrics with some nice bits which just don’t add up to much.” But the Christian Science Monitor found some parenting advice in the song. But, as Left of the Dial also notes, the music is the star of this song.
Perhaps I found something special in the song because it was not something one heard on the radio. So among most of my friends, the song was something that only I knew.
My lonely connection to the song did not last for long. My college roommates in the early 1980s heard the song over and over again playing on my stereo. The repeated plays annoyed one of my roommates so much that we regularly engaged in a stereo war with me playing “New York City Serenade” against his beloved REO Speedwagon “Heard it from a Friend.”
Actually, I’m not even sure which REO Speedwagon song he used to play. But even though today I am not ashamed to admit I have REO Speedwagon songs in my music collection, I still think my choice of song has held up pretty well.
I have read about early shows where Springsteen closed his concerts with “New York City Serenade.” But I have never been lucky enough to hear him play the rarely performed song live.
Yet, on July 11, 2013, Springsteen dragged out a symphony to play the song with the E Street Band. Thank God for YouTube.
Check out Blogness who asks why Europe was getting Springsteen’s rare songs. What is your favorite Springsteen deep track? Leave your two cents in the comments.
In early 1989, Lou Reed inducted Dion into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with a short poetic introduction, followed by Dion’s short funny recollections.
On January 18, 1989, one great singer-songwriter associated with New York inducted another great singer-songwriter also associated with the city into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Lou Reed, injecting poetic words as only he could do, inducted Dion DiMucci into the Rock Hall.
In the video below, listen to Reed describing the influence of Dion and his music, “Bronx Soul.” Reed does it with language only he would use, all while reading from a sheet of paper that those of us who were around in 1989 recognize as continuous computer paper with holes on the side, printed from a dot matrix printer.
Then, a happy Dion takes the stage to accept with a short funny speech.
The “Phil” that Dion mentions is legendary producer Phil Spector, including a reference to Spector’s production of Dion’s 1975 album Born to Be with Youand the producer’s notorious reclusiveness. Subsequently, Spector’s strange behavior would lead to him being convicted of murder in 2009 and going to prison where he died from complications due to Covid in January 2020. The “Bruce” he mentions is, of course, Bruce Springsteen. Check it out.
The 1989 induction ceremony was one for the ages. Other performers inducted in addition to Dion included The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, and Otis Redding.
Singer-songwriter Jim Boggia has three studio albums and several recordings of his own, and he has worked with many other artists during his music career over the last few decades. But currently, he is focusing on the songs of Bruce Springsteen, reinterpreting the Boss’s songs on his ukulele.
After putting his version of “Thunder Road” on YouTube and receiving positive responses, Boggia decided to create a complete show of Springsteen’s music. So currently he is bringing his ukulele and voice to “Bruce Off Broadway” as a tribute to Springsteen’s music.
There are a lot of covers of Springsteen’s songs out there. But Boggia’s wonderful voice and skill at playing the ukulele make the classic Springsteen songs sound new and refreshing. Watch his interpretation of “Thunder Road” below.
NJArts has described Boggia as a “dynamic performer” who does different things with the ukulele at his Springsteen tribute. For more on Boggia’s “Bruce Off Broadway” shows around the country, check out his website.
And, finally, here is Boggia’s moving version of “Born in the U.S.A.”
Singer-songwriter Jim Boggia has three studio albums and several