A Springsteen gig you might have missed
Ooops! We missed it when the news was reported in the Asbury Park Press over Columbus Day weekend, but when it comes to the Boss, better late than never. Certainly when it comes to writing about his surprise appearance at the USC Shoah Foundation’s Ambassadors for Humanity Gala in New York back in October, where he shared the bill, though not a set, with the announced musical guest, Itzhak Perlman.
Springsteen’s set, played solo with his acoustic guitar, consisted of “Dancing in the Dark” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” his 1995 song that alluded to John Steinbeck’s novel about the Great Depression, “The Grapes of Wrath.” Its lyrics protest against American poverty and homelessness: “Wherever there’s a cop beating a guy / Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries / Where there’s a fight against the blood and hatred in the air / Look for me, Mom, I’ll be there.”
Springsteen was similarly serious speaking to the audience, which included Steven Spielberg, who created the foundation in 1994 to record Holocaust survivors, as well as Meryl Streep, Debra Messing, Drew Barrymore, Whoopi Goldberg, and other celebrities.
“We follow the ghosts of history,” Springsteen told them. “We listen for the voices of the past to take us into the future, and we lean into their stories and listen to them. That we may be protected by their knowledge of history, its glories and its horrors. That we and our children may be blessed in this world not to repeat its faults.”
But Springsteen also struck a lighter note.
“I actually was Bruce Springstein for the first year or two of my career,” he said. “Everywhere I went — I pull up to the club. ‘Welcome Bruce Springstein.’ This happened as late as a month ago. I’m not joking.”
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