What's the nature of our relationship to Bruce?

[Zephyrs 23]

It's 1:30 am and I have an Orgo quiz tomorrow morning at 8. But instead of studying or sleeping I was reading the Stone Pony threads, I was wondering about this. It's obvious we go well beyond any normal celebrity/fan limits. I'm a fan of the Patriots (ugh), I'm a fan of Harrison Ford, but I don't watch ever individual move, and wish that by some small chance at some point during my life I ever get to meet them. I can be content watching the Pats on sunday on tv (well, content but not by the content) and by watching Indiana Jones. But I can't be content by listening to Born to Run once in a while. I have a few Police albums I haven't listened to in a month, Bruce I can't dream of going more than a day. I have shows I've never been to on CD, shows I wasn't alive for on CD. I have every album on CD and some on vinyl, I don't own a turntable. I have several square feet of my dorm room wall space dedicated to Bruce, with an E Street Band poster, a couple of my own drawings, the MSG ad from the NY times, 6 copied set lists (thanks to Billy in LI) and the MSG program.
We hang on his ever word at his shows, we buy countless things that are connected to him (how many have read Woody Guthrie: A Life by Joe Klein?) Outside of Biology, I've read more books on Bruce than I have about anything else. I might know more about his life than I do my own family members. I'm trying to learn 3 musical instruments solely to learn his music. I wrote a term paper, which could have been 2 pages long, on him and it ended up 15.
So what am I?
Am I obsessed?
Are we Obsessed?

Is there some psychological term for us?

but now I must I go dream of Bruce interacted with Potassium Promanganate while the patriots lose (again and again) becuase those are my main thoughts of the day.

[Hidinonabackstreets]

It's 'cause he's different.
He had the coconuts to make promises to his fans & his music. More than that, he's kept those promises.

[The Music Traveler]

I wondered what you were doing up at this hour Zephyrs.
Those Stone Pony threads are wonderful, aren't they.....
He has brought alot of us together who probably would never have met.

I know for me it has always been the fact that Bruce has kept me alive - I mean really alive and he's never
let me down. There is not much else in life that I can say that about. He is a beacon for me. Even when he sings about sadness or hopelessness, I can see the hope. I see his truth. And I feel his love. I had always felt that if he could write about all these emotions so clearly and sing with such passion and still see a silver lining, that I must try to see it too. And I needed to give back that passion. He needed that in return.
I remember an old interview with him and he said (something to the effect of) 'the day I look out in to the audience and I don't see myself, that's the day I'll stop singing'. He loves us, of that I am sure.
I have always wanted to know where he was, at any given time, and if he was happy.(I'm soooo glad he is)
The need to hear him live kept me alive. It still does. :D
The boots just reinforce his genius.
They carry me to a place where all is good and the love for mankind is strong. What could be sweeter.....

Obsession? Not for me. Just a deep love for a man who has brought me to life.

[dari]

he is GOD and i am the willing slave....

dari

p.s. perfectly said MT. can't add anything to that.

[Texaco road map]

I think there are at least three reasons that we are here.

Like fine paintings, sculpture, classic plays, great fiction, or epic cinema: the music transcends individual personalities and histories -- it speaks to the universal struggles that every person faces, fails at, endures, and succeeds at.

Bruce's own work ethic [and range] is remarkable and sustained.

Oh, and it's fun!

[NCBruce Fan]

Texaco road map and Music Traveler,

I think that just about sums it up. WELL SAID!!

Bruce is always on in my car, boots or CDs. I really can't think about listening to much else anymore.

[Bustedsister]

Interminable, uncompromising DEVOTION. more later...

[ForYou]

Of course we are obsessed. The only saving grace is that we all know we're obsessed.

[young again]

I don't know about the rest of you, but personally I've gone totally f###ing nuts. ;)

[GoCartMozart]

Well said, Traveler and Road Map. (A most appropriate combination of board names, I'd say!)

At the risk of being repetitious, a friend of mine expressed my feelings best after she saw the 1985 Cotton Bowl shows: "His music makes me think about all the worst things that ever happened to me in my whole life -- and then he makes me feel good about them!" And I forget who it was on this board who said "It's like he's walking around inside my heart looking for song ideas," but I thought that was perfect.

There may be other musicians who make "feel good" music. But nobody else who comes right out and stares the pain of living right in the face, then shows you how to move past that and to realize that "It ain't no sin to be glad you're alive", that faith "will be rewarded" and will allow you to stand your ground when the twister comes "to blow everything down".

Everybody has heard the cliches. "That which doesn't kill me only makes me stronger." "God never gives you more than you can handle." "It takes the pain and sadness in the world for you to truly appreciate the joy, beauty, and happiness" (or at least some variation of that -- I can't think of the specific wording right now, but it does exist). But Bruce makes you actually FEEL the truth behind them.

Pain and joy -- what it means to be truly alive. It's so easy to start dying "little by little" in order to anaesthetize the pain. And there are so many ways to do it, drugs being only the most obvious. Bruce reminds us that down that path is death -- point blank, right between the eyes. That the best way to deal with pain is to feel it, accept it, learn from it, and move on by experiencing all the joy that life has to offer.

I'll finish by repeating a line I wrote a year ago which seemed to strike a chord with some boardmembers. It seems very appropriate today, being Election Eve: "I have no idea whether Bill Clinton has ever felt my pain. I know damned well Bruce has!"

Oops. Not finished after all. This made me think of one more. The SF writer Spider Robinson came up with one of the most accurate aphorisms I've ever heard. He calls it "Callahan's Law": "Shared joy is increased; shared pain is diminished." (Hmmm: You can't get there by yourself!)

Thank you to all the members of this board, for helping to increase my joy and decrease my pain immensely over the last year.

[Edited by GoCartMozart on November 6th, 2000 at 01:31 PM]

[KirkW]

We are sick demented individuals who are just a hair's breadth away from having restraining orders placed on us. But I mean that in a good way. Ditto to what GoCartMozart said.

[Wendy]

Alone, in our homes and offices, we seem a little strange. Together, we make perfect sense to each other. I pity the fools that don't get it and never will. If this is crazy, I want a permanent cell!

An added note...once upon a time Bruce climbed over Elvis's wall...I think he understands us.

[brucegroupie]

Who's obsessed? I'm not obsessed ;)

brucegroupie

Deena

P.S. GoCart Mozart and Wendy said it so well!

[young again]

All I had time for this afternoon was a quip, which was appropriate for my state of mind because every time over these past few months I think I'm ready to back off and get on with my life I keep finding myself back here again and more obsessed than ever. My husband would certainly agree that I have lost my mind. But it has been an eventful year, and Bruce's music and the companionship of the board has made it easier. How did I ever get through "stuff" before, I wonder. Gocart, you said it better than I could so I won't go on at length. And Wendy, I like to believe he understands us!

[imabrucefan]

GoCart:
Beautifully, eloquently stated. Wish I could do that!

[Toots]

Wow! You all said it so very eloquently. I don't have much to add, and I certainly can't top what has been already said. I'm not a religious person, never really have been nor do I think I ever will be. But my connection with Bruce is almost spiritual. I don't think of him as a god, but as someone who takes what I am feeling and living and puts it into words. He shows us that we all have to deal with life's ups and downs, we're not alone in it and it will make us stronger if we perservere. When I am feeling good, I listen to Bruce. When I'm feeling bad, I listen to Bruce. He has a song for just about every emotion I have. His music is my bible, something I look to when I need to feel that I am not alone in this. Whether "this" is pain or happiness, joy or sadness, feeling lonely, or glad that better days are here and I have someone to share it with.

I often wonder what it is about "us" that draws us to him. Is there some common bond among us that makes us love him so? I know we come from all sorts of economic and educational backgrounds. But like we've said before, people either get it or they don't. What is it about you and I that makes us get it? Were we loners in high school like he was? Are we introverts? Extroverts? Successful? Struggling along? Any ideas on all this?

I'm done rambling for now. Zephyrs, as always your posts and topics are thought provoking and enjoyable.

Toots

[Bustedsister]

Toots;

I have been contemplating the same thing myself lately. I look around at the "culture"; the youth, the music, the rampant consumption, the inclination toward self-absorption. I wonder if we (Bruce's fans) are people who are looking for more of a sense of community, of belonging, of sharing. This sounds corny, I know, but when I listen to the boots, what gets me everytime is the crowd. The people. You guys. Singing in unison, loving something, together, united by Bruce. He's the catalyst to our belonging to something, and for me, that is a huuuuuuge part of my attraction.

I've never been a "follower" of anything. Not religion, not popular trends, fashion, anything. But Bruce's integrity and honesty hooks me in. And what a ride.

Love to you allllllll !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Toots]

BS,

I was watching my 6/27 video yesterday. And there "we" were (well I wasn't there but you know what I mean) 20,000 of us raising our hands in the air at all the right moments, we know when to "whoa oh, whoa oh, whoa oh, yea, yea, yea" during "Out in the Street". We raise our hands and sing "Badlands whoa whoa whoa" in unison. We dance at his concerts like nobody's watching. What a feeling! It's liberating and invigorating and makes you feel alive! I hope that May 27 in Vegas was not the last time I ever get to experience that.

Toots

[Hidinonabackstreets]

I said this in a thread quite a while ago:
He got our attention & then had something to say.

[Di]

What all of you have been saying is so right, so true. This was posted in the early days of the board, I copied it down, but not who wrote it, but thought it bears repeating on this thread - whoever wrote it thanks, I agree!!

I wish each of us could just share a few minutes with Bruce and the band and just say..."It was the music. It was always the music" And how it was always all of us up on that stage, singing our guts out, and following Thunder Road, wherever it took us. But of course, it was Bruce. And Miami, and Roy, and Max,and Danny, and Nils, and Gary, and the Big Man, and they spoke to us and they spoke for us and we were so lucky! So lucky to know a joy and abandon that, for those few hours in the arena, and all the hours in our homes and our cars, showed us the meaning of life.