my best gal pal Tralena, tray, trala
tres as the French say for VERY
took me for a surprise belated birthday gift last night
all she would say was that it was a revival of sorts
and that for me it would be like going home
honey
i was scared
let me tell you full on nervous
because
well first of all
Tres has a wicked sense of humour
so i was thinking either she was sending me to a pentecostal church
or
to an all-you-can-eat buffet in new jersey
well i was part right
she was sending me to new jersey
but not to eat
to a Bruce Springsteen concert at Giant Stadium!!
okay now let me back
up
you see Tres knows
what most of you don't
which is that
i did not leave my home on the Jersey Shore
at the grand old age of 16
feeling happy and tranquil
and ready to take on the big city
no
in fact i spent the last 3 years i lived in Rumson (fancy shmancy little rich town a few minutes from the beach) hating jersey, hating the shore, hating Rumson, hating everything around me about as much as a whale hates harpoons
maybe more, because death by harpooning would have seemed kinder to me
than death by mad boredom and ignorance
you see darlings in my teen years i was a rebel with a cause
my cause was to so shock and horrify my parents that they would let go their
steely claw-like grip and let me fly
i wanted to be an artist to paint wildly
i wanted to sing however badly
i wanted to soar
i wanted to make love to women
i wanted to die my hair pink
i wanted a whole lotta things
that my orthodox jewish family could not fathom
and my super uptight, republican, all-white, all straight, all ivy league, (think the Stepford Wives with more money) could not tolerate
i found salvation in the surrounding beach towns of jersey but there
for every renegade rocker with a sense of adventure that i found, there would be a dozen rednecks who could think of nothing better than to beat up on gay men
no no
the jersey shore from 1978 to 1981 was no place for a girl who loved girls
died her hair pink fuscia and purple and wore leather
and everything that i wanted to escape
everything that i hated
everything wrong with the red neck, beer drinking, gay bashing, ignorant fuckwads that so hated was wrapped up in Bruce Springsteen
they hated Punk, but loved Bruce
they hated gays, but loved Bruce
they hated art, but loved Bruce
honey i hated Bruce on pure principal
if they loved it
that was a good enough reason for me to hate him
i moved to NYC
embraced the punk turned to new wave culture
loved Blondie
loved the Cars
loved Devo
loved Gary Numan
loved the Pretenders
loved the Police
loved the Clash
and hated
hated
hated Bruce
now time has gone by
oh honey a lotta time
22 years
after "911" i bought a double CD set
that was put together as a tribute to the heroe's of Septemer 11th
Bruce's ballad "Rise Up" was on that CD
and his rough, dragged through the mud voice cooing
"Come On Rise Up...Come on Rissseeee Up....My city's in Ruins..."
well that pretty much voiced everything that was sitting in my ribs..
so i slowly started to soften to "The Boss."
okay I still wasn't willing to admit out loud that i was starting to like him
but i stopped saying I hated him
hell even Jersey had changed
Rumson had become a bonovide ex-patriot paradise
and little quaint towns on the jersey shore like Ocean Grove were being massively infiltrated by gay men
and of course, La Cubana loves him
well anyone who wrote "Born to Run"
would be a hero to La C
who values Freedom more than anything else
Im guessing Castro had something to do with that
but i digress
So Tres took me to the concert
the biggest ass concert ive every been to honey
a Springsteen concert in New Jersey
the last for what might be years
oh forgetaboutit
i heard there were a 100,000 people there
and i believe it
i did get a little panicky in the crowd
especially when a plane flew over a tad too low for my nerves
amazing how much "911" has changed us hmmm
but Bruce put on a hellavuah show
the guy works hard for his money
he did 3 encores
and then after we'd walked into the stadium hall
he pulled out another song
and man did that crowd love him
they knew all the words
all the beats
all the right times to raise their fists in the air
and yeah
far too many of them looked like people i went to high school with
and far too many of them looked like
big beer belly guys who beat up on gay men
but damn
the joint rocked
and after a begrudging
hour of just tapping my foot
i started to rock too
so okay
Tres
you did it
you sucked me in
besides anyone who writes the kinda stuff he wrote
after "911'
deserves credit for at least
giving a voice to our sorrow
and i guess i've gotten far enough
and long enough away
from Rumson New Jersey
to admit out loud
that yeah
I'm from New Jersey
but after 22 years
you better bet
that I'm all new yorker now
motherfuckers
come on
Rise up
come on Riseee up
come on riseeeeeee uppppppp
don't worry darlings
i can only get sucked so far in
after all
i still hate
beer
