Today on this date, thirty years ago, was the last reported appearance of Bruce Springsteen in this state. Springsteen has made a career out of being the quintessential American rock icon. He writes about the dreams and despair of the common man.
Four years ago, the motherfucker and his buddies did a series of shows for Moveon.org where they played in supposed battleground states. They played in Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Funny, how Wikipedia doesn't remember the show in Asheville, NC or the show in Virginia.
But I do... Four years ago, I spent days calling Moveon.org trying to get one of the concert planners on the line to ask them why they were deliberately navigating around West Virginia. I got to talk to a lot of people, including one of the grassroots founders of the organization. I got anybody I wanted except somebody who was willing to answer the question: why?
Thirty years ago was the last show Bruce did here. Four years ago, when the election mattered, Bruce and his buddies wrote off this battleground state as a battle not worth fighting. They wrote us off as a people not worth winning.
This is what the quintessential American music icon showed me. America doesn't necessarily include the hillbillies.
2 comments:
I saw the 1978 show and it kicked ass.
We walked up to the box office of the old Civic Center the night of the show and bought floor tickets about 15 rows back.
Too bad he's such a dick now.
Looks to me like everyone else, including the candidates, have also written off West Virginia this year.
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