Today my cousin Molly told me about a boy from her high school who unexpectedly passed away yesterday. She told me that all of his friends were trying to fulfill his dream of being famous by spreading the hash tag #Honk4Feet on Twitter (Feet was his nickname). I was due for a video anyway, and I wanted to help out by spreading the word to the loyal followers of my blog because as I’ve learned, there’s always someone out there willing to help out for a good cause. Also, we all know Bruce is always there to help those in need.

I remember seeing the track list for Devils and Dust, I was anxious to hear this one. Mainly because I knew Bruce grew up, as I did, in Catholic school (picture above to prove it), so I expected his knowledge on this subject to be legit.  Bruce could have done a lot of things with this song’s structure, but I appreciated that he kept it simple. It’s really not that different than a hymn you would sing in church. There’s not a chorus and melodically, it sort of stays the same.  The last verse is perfection. I remind myself of that verse when I am tense and feel like the world is going insane.

I am normally good at Lent. One year I gave up Facebook. In high school I gave up diet coke and chocolate. This year, I gave up nothing. I kept meaning to come up with something, but always came up short. This post isn’t to preach or to tell you what to believe. It is just my offering on this Good Friday, because I spend my time singing for a lot of people. I sing for you, I sing for Bruce, I sing for Nashville hot shots, I sing for strangers. Today, I wanted to sing for the person who gave me my voice.

I don’t know what I will do when my bathroom, with all it’s awesome acoustics, is finished. I will have no place to record videos.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I wanted to do a song for you guys that I grew up singing in bars this time and many other times of the year.

Last year for my birthday my Manfriend got me a flip cam so I could make videos for the blog, here we are almost a year later with my first video post!

My goal is to do a series of relaxed, live versions of songs on my new (yet to be tuned) piano in between recordings. This way I can post more often without putting any of my musician friends out for studio time.

My Hometown always rings true with me. Bruce does a good job of writing songs that almost everyone can see themselves in,in some way. Writers in Nashville sit in rooms for days to come up with something that is one tenth as good as this song, and I feel like Bruce just does it naturally. If I didn’t love him, I’d hate him. It’s like a person who wakes up pretty without any help from beauty products.

Of course I had to represent My Hometown’s (closest) baseball team, go Phillies!

Also, if you get tired of watching me you can watch my dog take a nap behind me.

Happy album release day!

Happy almost March. Time flies!

Brilliant Disguise. Where to begin? To be honest, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t done this one yet.

I have always admired this song from a songwriter’s point of view. It’s catchy, it stays in your head, but it’s really not true to normal form. It has layers and layers of depth. I often wonder if that is something Bruce has to work hard on, or if it’s something that comes naturally. You rarely hear cliches in his songs and sometimes depending on where you are in life the song means something different to you than it did before.

Since I last blogged, I left my dead end day job of 5 years to work on music full time. This means, unfortunately, a lot of writer’s block, extra time at the gym, and unfortunately too many episodes of the Kardashians. On days where I am suffering said writer’s block, I almost can’t listen to Bruce for the sake of getting angry. I wonder to myself, “How did he write this? Where did it come from?”

I don’t want to say too much, because I often feel like I am repeating myself in my admiration. So I’ll wrap things up by saying thanks for listening, and there’s a big month coming up for all of us, with the new album and tour. Bruce is playing Philly on my birthday. How perfect is that? Well, not so perfect when the day before Bruce announces the tour, I decide to quit my job to work on music full time Literally, the day after I turned in my notice, out came the tour dates. Here’s hoping there’s another leg with a NASHVILLE date.

Thanks for reading and listening. Last post, I was honored to have the beautiful Maureen Van Zandt tweet about Drive All Night. I’m not sure if she’ll ever know how flattered I was, or how such a simple, kind act meant so much to me. It’s a strange thing that this blog began on my lunch break on a particularly awful day at work and actually got all the way to her speakers.  The internet is amazing, my friends.

One of the common complaints I hear about Bruce is that he is too political. These complaints usually come from people who like U2,Coldplay,Toby Keith. But I digress.

I would say to anyone that gives this argument to listen to this song. This song is a pretty notable Springsteen soundtrack song. It won and Oscar and FOUR Grammies. When it came out, I wasn’t old enough to see the movie Philadelphia. I played it in my piano lessons. It was in a big book of soundtrack songs, along with the Theme from Ice Castles and the one from Home Alone. I thought it was cool because it was about Philadelphia. It’s about so much more.

There is a performance on YouTube of Bruce doing this at the Grammys. As a performer, I am literally blown away by it. It’s raw, emotional, and gut renching. All the while, Bruce just stands there and sings, eyes closed most of the time, no eye contact with the audience or cameras. We all know that Bruce is an entertainer’s entertainer, but here he exemplifies what is so hard for most of us, knowing when to hold back and just tell the story. That stuff can’t be taught. It’s a gift.

What Bruce does in songs so well is not preach, but leave the lesson up to the listener. Here is a song about a lonely man, under terrible circumstances. Instead of preaching acceptance, or making a judgement, or telling the listener what to think, Bruce instead, literally, takes you on a walk through the main character’s streets. By the end of the song, you know the man’s story, and can’t help but feel for him. Compassion. It’s what the world needs. It’s what the Boss does best.