Calling oneself a Bruce Springsteen "fan" is always relative. I consider myself one, but there are levels upon levels upon levels of Springsteen fandom, not unlike having "wealth" in New York, being a "heavy gambler" in Las Vegas or acting like a "thug" on the University of Miami football team.
But no matter how Springsteen-crazed one is, I can't imagine anyone being interested in a product Amazon.com recommended to me via e-mail this weekend:
Charlie Rose's Dec. 20, 1998, interview with Bruce Springsteen on DVD ... for $25!
Most DVD purchases confound me. Rentals are about 1/4th of the price (are you gonna watch the same thing four times, and actually pay for each viewing?), and for the cost of 9 DVDs at $20 each you can subscribe to Netflix for an entire year and view, oh, about 50 DVDs (even that is a conservative one-a-week estimate).
Nonetheless, people buy DVDs like mad, stocking their shelves for when 120 channels of TV programming isn't good enough. (Springsteen's 57 Channels (And Nothing On) sure seems dated, huh?).
But $25 to own an interview with Bruce Springsteen? C'mon, man.
For that price on Amazon.com, you can get the 4-CD Live/1975-85 box set, a staple in any Boss collection, or the Live in New York City DVD, also highly worthy of multiple playings.
If you absolutely must view the interview, however, you can buy the hour-long program through Google Videos ... for 99 cents.
And While We're Talking About the Boss...
My favorite Springsteen tribute band, Tramps Like Us, is back in NYC next month for the 5th annual concert to benefit the Marc S. Zeplin Foundation, named on honor of a young father fallen on 9/11.
Tramps Like Us
Saturday, Nov. 18, 8:30 p.m.
Lion's Den — 214 Sullivan St.
Full details and ticket info
I'll be there, and I hope to see many of you as well.
Today's Web Finds:
• YouTube: Miami vs. FlU Football Melee — A little grainy to see who started what or who's to blame, but just listen to the U of M announcer gleefully promote the Hurricanes' thuggish image. I know fans "hate" the Yankees and all, but Torre runs a pretty professional ship. This stuff is plain garbage, and you have to think president Donna Shalala fielded a ton of phone calls from irate professors on Sunday. (Found on Airing of Grievances)
• YouTube: What We Saw on 9/11 — Absolutely powerful video from a woman who filmed the tragedy 36 floors up and 500 yards away from the North Tower. The images are horrific, of course, but it's the sounds — cries of fear and sorrow as the towers crumble — that always get to me.
• Sam Bassett Photography — Got an e-mail from this NYC artist this week after he found something on my site. So I went over to his URL and, wow, such creative work. Plus, a few titties, which never hurt anyone. Not bad for a former captain of the 2000 national champion Syracuse lacrosse team.
• House of Carters Fan: Family Has Right to a Private Life — I watched a little of this show's premiere, because it intrigues me what a young, super-rich guy like Nick Carter aims to benefit by whoring out his family. Fame for the others, maybe? Anyway, I noticed in the credits that Nick is an executive producer, meaning he's the one who is ensuring his family doesn't have a private life.
• Google Gadgets For Your Webpage — Over 1,500 (yep, 1,500) counters, games and randomizers for your site. When I get to redisegning PK.com — ya know, one of these years — I'll add a few. (Found on Reasearch Buzz)
• Drinking With Bob Rant: Paris Hilton gets Punched in the Face — Bob says if this was a TV show, he'd watch Pairs get popped in the grill 24/7. Me, too, man.
• Beyond the Tumult, Rodriguez Is a Key Contributor — Benjamin Hoffman writes in the New York Times that A-Rod is too worthy of a player for the Yanks to give up on, pointing out that he's been far from the only dud in the last three playoff series losses. I agree, and I leave it to the Yanks to determine whether he's too much trouble to deal with. If teammates really do roll their eyes at him, he's gotta go. If not — if he's no worse of a clubhouse loner than others I suspect — then you can't give up that production without equal value in return. Which is still higher than he gets credit for.
