The Road Goes On Forever

I prefer the Joe Ely version.

9 hours, straight shot from Wormtown to Cleveland. Great drive. Straight across upstate NY, left at Buffalo and down along Lake Erie. Checked in, cleaned up, quick dinner & a couple drinks with Watson before strolling over to the Springsteen show.

Bruce was good. Not the best Bruce show I've ever seen; the tour opener in Hartford a month ago was better. Sound mix was a little muddy in the lower bowl of the "Your Name Here" arena. Having seen him many times over the years, it's a little disheartening to know that Bruce is essentially doing the same show every night, save for a few old songs rotated in & out nightly. But those nuggets are choice...last night included "Hard to be a Saint in the City" and "Kitty's Back." Bruce still has the passion, but watching the show you just want him to cut loose one more time, call an audible and play with the real fire that sustained him all those years and all those tours. Don't spit in the face of those badlands Bruce, just spit in the face of the iconography, spit in the face of encroaching complacency on stage.

Funny, midway thru the show I was thinking back to Van Halen at the Garden last week. Sure, VH is doing something very similar, playing nearly identical setlists each night, but it's expected with a band that hasn't played together in 22 years. That show was stunningly good; jaws were hanging open in the crowd. Dave is actually singing again. Some reviews have noted that Dave has a new, limited range...when wasn't his range limited? I've got bootlegs from 1976 and he could barely sing then. Eddie was once again demonstrating why he's one of the 5 best rock guitarists EVER, and finally looking healthy too. No sign of the formerly ever-present cigarette. Wolfgang erased any concerns over Michael Anthony not being there. I'm tellin' ya...I dug Van Halen much more than last night's Bruce show, and dammit, I love Bruce!

And yet more rock...just back from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame here in Cleveland. It's the rock fans' equivalent of making hajj to Mecca. Walk in, go to coat-check, and then the first thing I see is a pair of display cases housing famous guitars. Saw 3 of Jerry's custom guitars and got a chill. Memories of Dead/Jerry Band shows past. Walking into the Ahmet Ertegun Main Exhibition Hall, past the photos of Ahmet with nearly the entire music world over his 60-years in the biz and stopping to examine the lineup of "Roots of Rock," focusing on the forebears, Hank Williams and Robert Johnson, Ma Rainey and Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly and Howlin' Wolf and knowing I was grinning like a kid skipping school and getting away with it. Beatles stuff, some amazing Stones stuff (Mick's stage costumes from over the decades...skinny fucker that one), Roy Orbison's 67 'Vette convertible and on & on. Upstairs to the real shit from Sun Studios, the piano Jerry Lee cut his first records on, the console that caught it all, the Gibson that Johnny cut his first records on. Tons of Elvis stuff. Exhibits on the rock history of various cities, from Memphis (where it all began) to Detroit to London & New York to Seattle. Ramones stage gear. Hendrix' clothes and rare guitars. The Doors exhibit...getting that creepy feeling that I'll be listening to The Doors for a week or so, much like I do whenever the movie's on TV before getting bored with them all over again...

I couldn't help but wonder though, looking up at the cars used on U2's Zooropa tour, about the current state of the music industry. Record labels and radio. Major labels and radio played a major part in the majority of these artists' success, and many others. Why? They were allowed to DEVELOP. It wasn't one record, one single, and if it isn't a hit you're done. U2 took 3 albums and countless touring before they became U2. Springsteen too, and many more. There was a commitment from the record companies, a long view of these artists' having careers, not being disposable products. Radio played them. Hell, radio broke most of them. FM radio was the hippest, coolest, biggest tastemaker of all, starting in the early 70's. Radio was vital. Now? Most rock radio formats are afraid to play new music. "Research" shows the audience doesn't want new music, they want HITS. They want the familiar. How the fuck do you think these artists BECAME familiar? Airplay. Now it's up to the internet, and touring, and strategic placement, for a song and artist to break through. And really, does anyone expect to hear another hit from Plain White T's in 3 years? Ya think friggin' Fall Out Boy will ever be enshrined in the Hall? Please. There is a musical movement happening, and it's happening right under the noses of the people still clinging desperately to power on both sides. Word of mouth, social networking, any channel outside of the established channels are the future. I do hope radio figures out how to reinvent itself. I do still love radio as a medium, and I hope it finds its way. Until then, I just hope I find my way to Pittsburgh tomorrow.