The Greatest Love Song I Ever Wrote
128The headline, as you no doubt know, is how Bruce Springsteen described his seminal song Rosalita (Come Out Tonight). I love Rosalita too. Well, of course, everyone loves Rosie.
I think Rosalita is the most explosive song Bruce ever performed … he’s written better songs, much better songs, I even think he’s written better love songs*, but I don’t think he’s ever written a song that takes off and flies like Rosalita does. Every so often, as an experiment about life, I will play Rosalita on my iPod and immediately follow it by playing the rather blah “Mary’s Place” off the Rising album. Here were two songs recorded, what, 30 years apart, both trying to say more or less the same thing, both trying to make your heart jump, and if you listen to them back to back (go ahead, try it) I think you will get the most amazing description of what it is to grow old.
*Obviously when it comes to love songs there was the angry and heartbroken “Tunnel of Love” stuff which was amazing, and it’s hard to write a better love song than “Thunder Road.” But I’ve had this weird fascination lately with the song “Leah” off Bruce’s Devils and Dust album. I always thought that was an interesting album, underrated in some ways, rated about right in other ways, unrated in yet others, but whatever I’ve started to think Leah might be my favorite Springsteen love song. Not sure what that says about me. Probably that, like Bruce, I’m getting old.
Anyway, I’ve never written a love song, but I think the Kevin Costner vs. Tom Cruise thing might be the greatest poll I ever came up with. It’s funny, I first came up with this concept on a bus in Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Olympics. We were going somewhere on a bus because that’s pretty much what we do at the Olympics, ride busses, and I was chatting with my good friend Chuck Culpepper, and somehow the topic came up: Who is worse, Kevin Costner or Tom Cruise?
Well, after a few minutes EVERYONE on the bus was involved in the argument. I obviously did not know any of these people but I can tell you that we had people from about 12 different countries arguing, and someone would shout in a German accent, “What about ”The Postman? I wanted to throw up,“ and someone in a Japanese accent would bring up Eyes Wide Shut and how she would rather drown herself in a bathtub than sit through that thing again, and so on. It was inspiring. This question — Costner or Cruise — could bring the world together.
Why is this question so haunting, so challenging, so universal, so divisive, so unifying? I have theories. For one thing, I’d say that most people LIKED at least one or two things that each actor did. For me, I liked Costner in Bull Durham and No Way Out; I liked Cruise in Minority Report and Jerry Maguire. And I’d say that most people DESPISED at least one or two things that each actor did. You might have hated their junk movies — Waterworld and Cocktail, for instance. For me, I probably hated their ponderous performances most — I despised Costner in JFK, and I despised Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July. I realize that these movies have something in common, a movie evil doer that will go unnamed. But the point is both men have hit some very low lows.
And that’s what makes them intriguing … if you have someone you have never liked in anything, say someone like Pauly Shore, then there’s really nothing to argue about. But Costner and Cruise are interesting and worth arguing about because, despite what might be perceived as overall lameness, there are some good moments in there.
The second thing is that neither one can act. I don’t say this in a negative way … it’s like the classic Peter O’Toole line in My Favorite Year* — ”I’m not an actor, I’m a movie star.“ They are both movie stars. They both have TRIED to act, but it has usually come out in embarrassing ways. You see this whenever they try to have an accent. The ”Costner is worse“ people will inevitably try to stamp home their point by bringing up that Costner’s voice range is so bad (his accent in Thirteen Days was so bad, that I think the Russians threatened to start the Cuban Missile Crisis again), he didn’t even TRY an English accent in Robin Hood. Everyone else spoke with an accent of some kind (or at least tried — Robin Hood more or less ended the oh-so-promising career of Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio).
It’s a good point, but one easily deflected with only three words: ”Far and Away.“ I would argue that Cruise’s accent in that movie might have been the worst ever inflicted on movie audiences; it was so bad that it literally affected American-Ireland relations as seen in the combative George Bush Ireland interview that has been making the YouTube rounds.
*My Favorite Year … great movie. Not good movie. Great movie.
No, they can’t act … in fact I think most would agree that they are at their best when they are not acting, when they are playing roles that are closest to their character. Costner’s acting in The Untouchables is as bad as it is everywhere else, and I would guess he acted NOTHING like Elliott Ness. But Costner played him as just a guy, and I suspect that Costner is pretty much just a guy, and it worked. Cruise’s acting was lousy in ”The Color of Money“ but he played a kind of jerk, and I suspect he is a kind of jerk, and it worked.
Then there’s a third factor: Some people LOVE Kevin Costner. And some people LOVE Tom Cruise. And so for them the argument shouldn’t even be an argument; they become furious that other people can’t see the obvious, can’t see that Cruise is so much better than Costner (Did you even SEE Magnolia?), can’t see that Costner is a billion times better than Cruise (I mean the guy acted AND directed Dances With Wolves — won two Oscars himself for that). And it’s fun to watch people angrily defend either one of these guys.
Yeah, I think the whole thing is fun. They both may suck but they suck in entirely different ways. Picking one or the other as worse probably says more about us than it does about them, which is what makes this a great question. I may never get any of my words into a dictionary, and I may not lead Brian Bannister to 20 victories, and I may never get to hang out with Zooey Deschanel or Parker Posey, but I think that someday I will be known as the ”Guy who first came up with the “Costner or Cruise” question — which I think could be the Ginger or Mary Ann of our time.
And one more thing …
I ain’t here for business
I’m only here for fun
And Rosie, you’re the one.
So tom Cruise acts weird and gay. Guess what? The 10 best actors at my school were all weird and gay, too! Who cares? People continue to bash the guy, but he has a ton of good movies that any one of you would watch if it was on. Top Gun, Days of Thunder, a Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, The Color of Money, Rain Man, The Firm, Collateral, War of the Worlds, Minority Report, Last Samurai, Vanilla Sky. I don’t like Magnolia, but he stole the movie. There’s probably others, too. I’m not saying these are the best movies of all time or anything, but that’s a list that any actor in Hollywood would trade their filmography for.
I’m not saying the guy is the greatest, and i’m not saying all those movies are my favorites, but just b/c he jumped on a couch and proved he’s gay and weird… so what? He makes a hell of a movie…
Kevin Costner on the other hand… he’s noticeably bad even when he’s in a good movie. (see : Dances With Wolves, Robin Hood
Yeah, I posted twice… deal with it!
Firstly, “Nebraska” is the greatest love song Bruce ever wrote. An unredeemed psychopath who utterly believes his love has redeemed him, and who’s entire moral compasss exists solely with respect to one woman.
A few months ago I had a very involved conversation — quite late, in a pub with splendid real ale — about whether any other terrible actor has made as many good films as Tom Cruise: Magnolia, Jerry McGuire, Few Good Men, Minority Report, Top Gun, Color Of Money, Rain Man, Risky Business. They’re all pretty good movies.
Costner: it’s Bull Durham, Tin Cup (which are, essentially, the same film), Untouchables and Field Of Dreams.
So, I don’t know who’s the lesser actor; but I know who’s got the better agent.
I’d just like to say: Kevin’s post wasn’t there when I submitted mine.
Sorry Joe, not seeing the quandary here. Costner hasn’t had a single great performance in his entire mediocre career. At the very worst, Cruise has one great performance (Magnolia) to lean on, and a decent list of good performances (Rain Man, Minority Report, Jerry Maguire).
At his very best, Cruise can and has carried a (good) movie. You can’t say that about Costner.
Springsteen’s “Tunnel of Love” isn’t even the best song named “Tunnel of Love,” btw.
Next Poll: Jermaine Dye v. Andruw Jones
They each have a career 112 OPS+. Andruw is a better fielder, but Dye has a great arm. Andruw is younger but is aging poorly.
It’s easy to say now its Dye because of 2008 results, but Andruw had some monster years while Dye was hurt.
Tell him this is his last chance
To get his daughter in a fine romance
Cuz the record company, Rosie,
Just gave me a big advance.
I love debates like this. My friends and I are constantly thinking of “Who would win in a fight” scenarios and the match-up that gets argued the most is Achilles vs. Wolverine. Achilles has one weakness, but Wolverine can regenerate. The debate goes on forever. I for one pick Wolverine.
“The River” gets overlooked as a love song because he used to invariably preface it with stories about his dad in concert…I’ve heard different dad stories in concert than the really amazing one on the live album…so you wind up thinking it is a “dad” song and miss that this is a haunting love song. “At nights on those banks I’d lie awake and hold her close just to hear each breath she’d take. Now those memories come back to haunt me, they haunt me like a curse. Is a dream a lie if it don’t come true? Or is it something worse?” That’s about as good as it gets.
And, in addition to it featuring just about the funniest “double-phallic” name in the world (”Jimmy Johnson” and “Pete(r) LaCock” are close, but “Peter O’Toole” is by far the best), My Favorite Year is an awesome movie. Once again, your “random” lines up with mine, Joe.
Thunder Road - my all time favourite.
Springsteen is the greatest overrated band of all time. he is great, but is overrating makes immortal which is just so not true.
I think Costner has made some great movies, and of course like many actors, some that aren’t so great. I prefer him over Tom Cruise. Open Range is one of my favorite westerns and he was great in that. It’s a highly underrated film and has some of the most realistic gunfight scenes of any movie. He also did a decent job in For Love of the Game even though its not a classic. Field of Dreams, Dances With Wolves, and Bull Durham are all classics. For many Tom Cruise and his insane behavior has gotten in the way of the movies he appears in. When I see a great actor I want to enjoy the film, not be thinking of the actor’s weird antics or statements.
Glen — Don’t forget Randy Johnson, The Big Unit, a double-phallic name with modifying adjective.
To be fair to Kevin Costner, he was really good in The Upside of Anger, where he played, once again, a laconic ex-athlete. Maybe Costner is the DH (Kevin Millar? Big Papi?) of movies … can’t field, can’t run, but in the one situation he knows, he hits it out of the park.
And Dances With Wolves has NOT aged well… next time you watch it, count how many scenes end with Costner falling down in exhaustion or getting knocked out … there had to be three in a row in the middle of the film, which became very, VERY distracting…
But everytime The Postman comes on, I find myself watching it, not because it was a good movie, but because I always find myself WANTING it to be a good movie. It’s a great premise and I do want to be uplifted by some heroic loner figure that inspires a movement to save us all. Of course, the movie’s so ridiculous and lugubrious that it doesn’t achieve its intended objective. By contrast, Waterworld was just too loud and noisy, despite the similar premise and that it actually made money with the global box office, as opposed to the Postman losing $80M…
Essentially, this argument is comparing “movie stars” vs. “movie stars,” not “actors” vs. “actors”. Try comparing John Wayne vs. Clark Gable, for instance. Both in lots of great movies, both occasionally flashed nuances of acting in great roles (like John Wayne in “The Searchers” or Gable in “GWTW”), but you went to one of those movies expecting their archetypical character, and it was jarring when they tried an accent (John Wayne’s Swedish accent in “The Long Voyage Home”). And Clark Gable didn’t even attempt an English accent in “Mutiny On The Bounty”.
I always remember John Wayne in “McQ” when he played a Seattle cop trying to bust up a dope ring:
“Damn, dirty… junk!”
… and when he was trapped in a car crushed by two garbage trucks from opposite ends: “Somebdy get me out of here, I’m up to my butt in gas!”
You need to do the voice, of course for the full effect…
Thunder Road has my vote too. But it’s so obvious that I think you also have to pick a non-obvious best bruce love song.
I’ll take Valentine’s Day off Tunnel of Love
As a Springsteen and Sam Cooke diehard, the thing that bugs me most about “Mary’s Place” is that it is derivative/bordering on a ripoff of Sam’s “Meet Me at Mary’s Place.”
I will echo the comments above, and I don;t love cruise at all — in fact, I think he’s incredibly smug, not to mention somewhat insane. That said, despite the Oscar for Costmer, I don’t think any of Costner’s performances (although I’ve loved some of his movies) can touch Cruise’s peak.
And bravo, Steve. I’m a huge Bruce fan, but the Dire Straits “Tunnel of Love” blows the doors of the Springsteen one…
Maybe it’s because I’m a music geek who likes to find obscure stuff but my favorite Bruce love song performance is a song he didn’t write. A few years back when he was touring for either Devils and Dust or the folk songbook stuff he was closing the shows with a cover of “Keep your Dreams’.
Keep Your Dreams struck me an an unlikely choice for Bruce as it was written by NY punk/noise/techno pioneers Suicide. While it is Suicide’s most tuneful track it’s still not the guitar driven stuff you usually get from Bruce.
Suicide for the record pioneered the whole keyboards, drum machine and sampling thing in the 70’s that later begat Depeche Mode but don’t hold that against them they did it with all of the intensity of well…Springsteen in his late 70’s prime. Both Bruce and Suicide actually played some of the same places back in the day so it’s not impossible to think he originally heard the song at the Old Max’s Kansas City (where Bruce once opened for Bob Marley).
Anyway my point is that Bruce delivered the tune with an understated intensity that highlighted his ability to transform a song and make it his own. I doubt that, besides me, there is much crossover between Springsteen and Suicide fans but I like both versions of the song immensely.
I’ll take Costner over Cruise any day.
“I’ll hit the brakes, he’ll fly right by” vs “If he throws me a first pitch curveball, I’m taking him downtown.”
I think Cruise is a better actor, but I think his public antics have largely ruined any movie he has made, and any movie he will make in the future. I watched A Few Good Men the other day, and while Nicholson was still great, every time Cruise was on the screen I found myself thinking about couch jumping, scientology, and the various other weirdness associated with Cruise. It kind of wrecked the movie for me. I feel the same way about Mel Gibson. In short, I am no longer able to believe Cruise is anyone other than Cruise. On the other hand, I am still able to enjoy Field of Dreams and Bull Durham for what they are without thinking about Costner’s personality outside of those movies.
I give the nod to Costner because he starred in a Skinemax movie called Sizzle Beach USA. This was soft-core at its finest, and its original. Show me a movie where Tom Cruise dry humps a D-list actress and maybe I’ll change my mind. Until then……
I hate to be the guy who aruges with other people in the comments because I find it really, really, really annoying, but you cannot, I repeat CANNOT, under ANY circumstances, say that Top Gun is any thing but absolute garbage.
As a kid, and into my early adult hood, it was easily in my all time top 10 movies. When I first heard someone bash it, I felt like he was attacking my mother. So in response, I immediately went to the store, bought the movie, had people over for a viewing to prove him wrong, and we all came to the horrid realization that it is one of the worst movies ever made. It’s easily the worst movie that you once thought was great, which is a whole other pole.
Finally, there is no chance in any possible dimension, of the 10 possible dimensions in space and time, that he wins the homoerotic volley ball match against Kilmer and company.
Ugh, I hate Jerry Maguire. I know that puts me at odds with 90% of the human race. But I despise that movie. The script is nothing but cliches and self-important lines. The acting is dreadful. It destroyed Cuba Gooding’s promising career. And everyone thinks it’s fantastic.
Don’t try to persuade me it’s good; you’ll only make me madder.
Should have put the reference to imagining the 10th dimension in my previous post:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7JIjQLJYm8
Costner is about a foot taller, so size-wise Cruise is obviously the “lesser”. I don’t really like either of them, so that will have to do.
[...] JoPo getting me ready to ponder this weekend: [...]
I had the wonderful luck of seeing Bruce perform an acoustic version of “Rosalita” live at a Springsteen tribute concert at Carnegie Hall last year. He stopped halfway through it and started talking about how the hero of the song has grown up and all the things he has gone through since it was written. It was absolutely incredible. Then the concert ended with all the musicians who showed up to honor Bruce singing another impromtu version of “Rosalita”. The singer from the Hold Steady started the song out and and it just kept getting better from there. Awesome.
As for Cruise vs. Costner…I’m partial to Costner. Cruise has gone through two phases in his career, in my opinion. The best in the world guy (pilot, bartender, race car driver, etc..) who falls from grace only to rebound to once again be the best in the world guy. And then the ego-maniac Cruise (hard to tell the difference) that started with Mission Impossible. But he did give us A Few Good Man. For that I will always be grateful even if it was Nicholson who made the movie.
Costner acted in Bull Durham and Field of Dreams, and that is good enough for me. I even enjoyed his work in Waterworld…not nearly as bad a film as it is hyped to be. It’s bad, but not THAT bad. I also liked him in Eastwood’s A Perfect World, Wyatt Earp and as the bad Elvis in 3000 Miles to Graceland. He plays an asshole pretty damned well. And his Westerns are all good. From Silverado to Open Range and everything in between (big fan of Westerns).
So my vote goes with Costner.
Sorry to repeat from the other thread, but that died just as this one was posted. In my opinion, Costner is better by miles. I think, as most have mentioned, that both have had their high points, but in my opinion Robin Hood is being sorely underrated (maybe that’s just a guilty pleasure movie of mine, I don’t know).
I am also heavily biased however, as Tom Cruise worked his voodoo on the formerly beautiful Katie Holmes and apparently made her a whack-job. That ends the argument for me.
I can’t believe I’ve only seen one mention of Silverado. Costner is great in that movie. Maybe I’m a baseball sap, but Field of Dreams sucks me in every time I watch it. The clincher, for me, is the same as Connecticut Mike, I can’t watch Cruise in any movie playing any role and not be thinking constantly how bizarre he is in real life. It ruins it for me.
I gotta go with Costner. He at least has a wheelhouse. You ask him to play an aging athlete of any kind and he’s going to hit a homerun. Cruise, at his best only has warning track power.
Also, kudos to Brian, by far my favorite post on the subject
If the 2004 Red Sox story was made into a movie, Costner would be Kevin Millar, Cruise would be Johnny Damon.
I’m not sure how this relates to the actors credentials, but 25 years from now, people will remember Kevin Millar(Costner’s movies) slightly more than Johnny Damon(Cruise’s movies), even if the latter has more accomplished.
I know the question was, “The lesser actor…” and I think in an absolute sense that Cruise is a better actor than Costner. However, I had to go against the guy whose movies I’d rather take with me on a deserted island. I much prefer Costner’s films.
The Big Chill counts, right? Even if it doesn’t, I’ll take Fandango, Silverado, American Flyers, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Tin Cup, and The Upside of Anger over Cruise’s canon.
Cruise lacks that “guy you want to hang with” quality that Costner does really well. My favorite Cruise films–The Color of Money, Rain Man, and The Last Samurai–are really aided by his co-stars. When it’s just him, there’s a sense of humanity that’s missing.
I’ve enjoyed more Cruise films than Costner films but I find Cruise more personally loathsome so I’m not sure who that is a vote for.
Yup… For Love of the Game is one of the more underrated movies of all time. Not to say it’s on my all-time list or anything, but it’s kind of rated like a 2 on the 1-10 scale, and I think it deserves at least a 6 or 7 for the idea.
We’re all baseball fans here, right? Can you imagine something like that happening? I certainly can… picturing Wakefield or Glavine at the end of the season, deciding whether to hang ‘em up or not, career flashing through their thoughts. And they’ve still got just enough left that it’s not entirely unreasonable that they could go 6 or 7 without a hit…
No mention yet of my favorite Cruise movie: Risky Business. Classic… Think of what that movie did for Wayfarer sunglasses.
BTW, I could not agree more about Joe’s implied assessment of “The Director Who Shall Not Be Named.” Sadly it took my sitting through half of Nixon before I finally figured that out….
For the record, Cruise is a better actor than Costner. I like (and hate) some of both of their movies, but Costner CAN NOT act. When I first saw the trailer for “Message in a Bottle,” the entire theater broke out in laughter when the camera finally shows us the leading man was Costner. Laughter.
Bah, Carrier…I can still watch Top Gun and love every minute of it (except the dumb love scene with Kelly McGillis). Is it schlock? Absolutely. Is it entertaining schlock? To me, absolutely.
I’m not a movie snob, so I’m probably not the best person to judge “acting” ability. Just like I’m not a scout, so I’m not the best person to judge a guy’s hitting mechanics, but I know I like watching Vlad Guerrero swing the bat. And I know who entertains me more.
Cruise: Top Gun, A Few Good Men, Rain Man, Minority Report, War of the Worlds, The Firm, Mission Impossible, Collateral, Jerry McGuire
Costner: Field of Dreams, Tin Cup…
That’s it for Costner for me. And yes I’m a baseball fan who absolutely hates Bull Durham. It’s on my short list of worst baseball movies, just above Summer Catch and Fever Pitch. So maybe I am voting for Cruise’s agent…Cruise picked him, right?
“Mary’s Place” ‘blah’? one of the most righteous moments of the Rising tour was the “turn it up” call and response, that ’shout from the crowd’. And, I mean, you know, Sam Cooke called and all that.
But I was just listening to it on the iPod this morning and wish it was back in the set. Of course, it came out just after Danny passed, few things more appropriate than “Mary’s Place” in that context.
suicide and bruce: i interviewed alan vega for backstreets last year and the connection was fully explained there. the story about drinking vodka with bruce in the bathroom of a recording studio is priceless. bruce knew suicide (um, ’state trooper’ anyone), suicide knew bruce, absolutely, confirmed. jesse malin took alan to see bruce in bridgeport on the D&D tour. et cetera.
and I second both versions of “rosie” from the carnegie hall tribute. watching craig finn and damon gough and jesse malin step up and take those verses was the biggest party i’ve ever been part of. i will try to put that online somewhere if people care.
in terms of love songs, “i want to know if love is wild/i want to know if love is real” tops them all, at least imo. it’s the central question, the central tenet of the entire catalog, isn’t it?
back to mary’s place: if you go by bruce’s statement (from the sommerville shows) that songwriting boils down to one line, the one line is “how do you live brokenhearted?” and the one line in rosie is “some day we’ll look back on this and it will all seem funny.” (and the SEEM being an important distinction. not that it will BE funny, that it will seem funny)
i am glad that rosie comes out more than just in asbury these days.
non-popular bruce love song vote: “happy”
i clearly have no desire to do any work today.
oh, and, tom cruise creeps me out.
Who cares? People continue to bash the guy, but he has a ton of good movies that any one of you would watch if it was on. Top Gun, Days of Thunder, a Few Good Men, Jerry Maguire, The Color of Money, Rain Man, The Firm, Collateral, War of the Worlds, Minority Report, Last Samurai, Vanilla Sky.
Top Gun, Days of Thunder, and Vanilla Sky are dreadful films. I wouldn’t watch them again, and I curse the gods that I’ll never get the time I wasted watching them the first time back.
Color of Money would have been good, but Cruise’s performance is so over the top I was afraid he would pull something.
And let’s not forget the crime against humanity that was Cocktail.
At the end, they’re both mediocre, aspiring towards average.
As for the Boss, I’ll take “She’s the One.”
caryn- Thanks for confirming the Suicide/Bruce connection. Do you have a link to that interview?
The Bodyguard was the best movie ever made and I’ll fight anyone who dares to think otherwise. Bring on The Bodyguard 2 with Jessica Simpson. This is gonna happen.
The thing about both guys is that while they’ve been in some really good movies, a whole numbers of guys could have done those movies and the movies would still be good. A Few Good Men - really good movie. Change Tom Cruise with Bill Paxson, still a good movie. Take out Jack Nicholson and the whole thing falls apart. Bull Durham - Great Movie - take out Susan Sarandon or Tim what’s his name, not the same movie, replace Costner with Tom Selleck or George Clooney, probably still a great movie.
Unbelievable how well Rosalita holds up. I think Joe isn’t a fan of the Rising, but I really think it one of his best. It will age well. Am I the only fan of We Shall Over Come - The Pete Seeger Sessions. I really enjoyed that album.
Most cringe-inducing line:
Costner: “He looks so young. I only saw him years later after he had been worn down by life.”
Cruise: “You complete me.”
Toss-up.
Okay, being an Irish guy from Boston (”White” was originally “O’Banion”…long story), I can offer a bit of perspective on the accent issue. Cruise’s Irish accent in “Far and Away” is bad. No question. But it’s not other-worldly bad, in my view, because there have been a lot of bad Irish accents. Go watch Brad Pitt in “The Devil’s Own” sometime, or Tommy Lee Jones in “Blown Away”. They were both at least as bad as Cruise, so he wasn’t setting the bar at an all time low with that one. Costner, on the other hand, had the hands-down worst Boston accent I’ve ever heard in my life in “Thirteen Days”. There is not one redeeming thing about it, and it in no way resembles the accent of any human being from Boston, ever. This really isn’t all that close.
That said, I give Costner a touch more credit than Cruise for his overall career, because he can actually do comedy, and I think that’s harder. Both “Tin Cup” and “Bull Durham” are true comedies, first and foremost, and they’re not only good comedies but they’re arguably Costner’s best performances as well. Throw in his excellent comic relief performance in “Silverado” and it’s pretty undeniable that Costner’s got a talent for it. Be honest…when you first saw the previews for the upcoming “Swing Vote”, it looked pretty funny, didn’t it? And the fact that it looks like Costner is going to play the same “Tin Cup”, “Upside of Anger” type in it seemed pretty appealing, right?
On the flip side, Cruise has a project slated for next year where he and Ben Stiller are supposed to play grown up versions of The Hardy Boys. Supposedly, it’s a pure comedy (Cruise’s first one since “Losin’ It” as far as I can tell) and it just sounds like a really crappy idea, doesn’t it? Does anyone on Earth really want to see Tom Cruise in comedy? Methinks not, and that tilts the scale to Costner for me.
To bolster the “Cruise is a better actor even if he is more personally loathsome” camp, I would like to submit a performance I haven’t seen anyone else mention: Interview with the Vampire. Everyone, including Anne Rice herself, HATED the idea of casting him as Lestat, but you know what? He pulled it off. Could Costner have done it, in a million years? Not likely.
Bruce, Rosalita, Hold Steady, Carnegie Hall:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtjPO47XIbs
Video quality sucks. Sound is good.
I’m deeply envious of you guys who were there to see this live.
To bring this full circle, Craig Finn of the Hold Steady is a big, big Twins fan. He could hold his own with the posters here.
There are a few Kevin Costner films that I actually enjoy rewatching every few months:
Bull Durham goes in to the DvD player every March. But I think Rich may be on to something. Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins are far more interesting than Costner.
Open Range, was a low-key entertaining western. But the scene where Costner tries to clean up Annette Benning’s parlor by picking up mudballs and stowing them in his hat is fantastic. I loved seeing an action hero get so uncomfortable over something so mundane.
And, finally, I have a special place in my heart for Silverado. It’s not a great movie, and Costner’s role is small enough that it probably isn’t really a “Kevin Costner Movie” (TM). But I have fun every time I see it.
Aside from A Few Good Men, I can’t think of another Tome Cruise movie that I’d want to see more than once. So, after careful deliberation, I have to vote for Cruise as the lesser actor.
Outside of Bull Durham and Field of Dreams, can’t say I’ve ever really enjoyed a movie which starred Costner.
On the flip side, there have been a LOT of movies that I liked with Cruise. However, I have to agree with CT Mike: his recent public antics and Scientologist coming-out have tainted every movie in his repertoire. I can no longer watch some of my favorite 80’s movies from memory, like Top Gun, Cocktail, etc. without seeing him jumping on that couch or corrupting poor Katie Holmes.
Let me be clear: I don’t think either of the aforementioned films are masterpieces of the cinema, but they were fun to watch growing up and Cruise’s overall craziness has ruined them. That pi$$es me off.
Will, backstreets content is still old-school, you have to order an actual issue. Some day I have to put the PDF’s online but you know the usual litany of excuses for being lazy about one’s online presence.
craig finn interview about the twins: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/Content?oid=321198&category=321195
(in which he tells a story about seeing Paul Westerberg at spring training, which is worth the entire interview to me.)
the rising has aged unbelievably well, i think. it’s not the record i skip over when it comes on the ipod, i never think to take it off. i don’t know that i’m going to be able to say that about magic and i know i can’t say it about D&D.
i’m still waiting for that record with social d. given the recent appearance with ness at the pony it’s not as remote a fantasy as it once seemed.
I love Nebraska, the album not the state, so I’ll go with GWO. How does it get anymore loving than this?
“Sheriff when the man pulls that switch sir and snaps my poor neck back
You make sure my pretty baby is sittin’ right there on my lap”
Never commented on the blog before, but when it comes to movies, I have to throw my hat into the ring.
I have the unfortunate honor of becoming a Tom Cruise fan AFTER he went crazy in real life. In his younger days, I didn’t really care for him at all, but recently he’s been on quite the hot streak. ‘Magnolia’ and ‘Collateral’ are quite a one-two punch of greatness for any actor to have.
The common factor? Cruise is best when he’s playing a really detestable character. For the better part of a decade, he was the quintessential cinematic hero, overcoming his flaws to save the day. Since most people still see the Cruise of ‘A Few Good Men’ and ‘Top Gun,’ his role as a bad guy worked doubly well because of the audience’s preconceived notion of who Tom Cruise should be.
I would even argue the same thing for Costner. ‘Bull Durham’ needs no explanation, but another film that hasn’t been brought up is ‘Mr. Brooks.’ The movie was kind of mess, but Costner was great. Why? Because everyone thinks of him as the perfect good guy, a stoic throwback to 1940s films, and in ‘Mr. Brooks’ he plays a serial killer who shares a brain with William Hurt. Again, playing against type made Costner’s performance even better than it already was.
My personal bias is towards Cruise, as ape$^!^ as he may be in real life, but both actors have enough good movies to cement their legacy. I would watch ‘Bull Durham’ or ‘Magnolia’ any night of the week, and not every actor has even one movie worth repeated viewings.
(Although, in his favor, Tom Cruise does have an awesome theme song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1YBbj_AplM)
Caryn, I clicked through to your blog and I love your review of the REM show at MSG. Best show I’ve seen this year.
I felt pretty much the same way as you. REM playing songs off Reckoning to a sold out Madison Square Garden was basically my fantasy concert in high school. There was a stretch of that show where I was like “Wow. This is really happening. I’m not just daydreaming.”
And Craig Finn is 100% right that it’s way more acceptable now for bands to openly follow sports and I agree with him that it was Pavement that changed it.
Tom Cruise makes me cringe. I think Kevin Costner is very good looking. Field of Dreams is very high on my list of films I hate, but he sure is cute.
I know what is it is to get old(er). Old Bruce makes you remember what it was like to be young. How much that is a good thing is another question.
Costner was brilliant in The Big Chill.
So are we saying that “Top Gun” would be a pixi-movie? I would agree with that statement, and I’d throw in the first Tim Burton “Batman” as well…
Costner’s accent in “13 Days” was unspeakably bad (”We ah tahking abaht nuh-thing less than thuh thre-at of nu-cle-ah WO-AHR!”), but despite that it was a great movie, and Costner was pretty good overall.
And speaking of the movies that have been mentioned here, isn’t it amazing how the careers of Barry Levinson (Rain Man), Rob Reiner (A Few Good Men) and He Who Must Not Be Named (JFK, Born on the Fourth of July) have fallen so far and so fast?
I think I’d call it a “pixi-flix”
Maybe it is because I’m from Jersey and have heard Rosalita so often, but at this point I’d rather listen to Sandy or Incident on 57th Street on my IPOD and, in fact, when I see Bruce (again) at Giants Stadium on 7/31/08, I could do without Rosalita (and even Born to Run).
As for Cruise v. Costner, I think Silverado, The Untouchables, No Way Out, Bull Burham and Field of Dreams, from 1985-1989, gives Costner the better peak.
Am I in a parallel universe where War of the Worlds was good?
Outside a Few Good Men, it’s always Tom Cruise in the movie, the same character (a prick) and how we’re supposed to like him at some point.
Costner may have a really limited range, but as others have said, he can hit that range out of the park.
I found it hard to believe that there’s exactly one movie Cruise is in that I’d willingly sit through - then I saw his list on IMDB.com, and it’s pretty thin.
Anyway, Cruise the Lesser.
Funny how one of your favorite Costner movies - “No Way Out” - was directed by the same guy as one of your least favorite Cruise movies - “Cocktail”. Both movies were directed by New Zealander Roger Donaldson.
I myself have to go with Tom Cruise as the lesser actor. That’s not to say, really, that I think Costner is a *better* actor, but I enjoy the movies he’s in far more than I do the movies Cruise is in. Maybe part of that is that Cruise, as a person, gives me the creeps, while Costner seems likeable enough.
I’d have to say, the only Tom Cruise movie that I would ever watch repeatedly is “Top Gun.” All the rest, if I see them on tv, I just keep on going. Well, maybe with the exception of “Legend” (I kid, I kid…). But if I’m flipping channels and come across “Field of Dreams” or “Bull Durham” or even “Tin Cup,” that’s it. I’m stopping (much as I would if I came across “Rocky IV”). Costner is just perfect in those roles. The likeable slacker, the run-down, aging athlete. I think most of us can relate to those characters in some way. And while I won’t say that Costner really carries those movies (though I would argue he comes pretty close in both “Tin Cup” and “Bull Durham”), he compliments the other characters perfectly.
By contrast, I can’t think of a single movie where I would really consider Cruise to be the anchor of the film (and by that, I mean the person I’d see it because of…). “Top Gun?” Anthony Edwards (and, naturally, Tim Robbins) steals the show. “Rain Man” is obviously Hoffman. “Magnolia” was pretty much an ensemble, so I can’t give him all the credit, though he was good. Even in “Jerry Maguire” he’s overshadowed by Cuba Gooding, Jr. And when Cuba Gooding, Jr. is upstaging you, that’s a problem.
And for best love song ever (sorry, going away from Springsteen here, cause “Thunder Road” is unparalleled), I’d put it as a toss-up between R.E.M.’s “Rockville (Don’t Go Back To)” (okay, that’s a pretty perverse “love song” but I’m sticking with it), Counting Crow’s “Anna Begins,” or Badly Drawn Boy’s “I Was Wrong/You Were Right.”
Hmmm… looking at those songs, none of them are terribly uplifting for love songs. What’s that supposed to say about me?
I define “liked” a movie these days as one I’m willing to watch if I happen on it while channel surfing.
Tom Cruise: I liked Minority Report, Jerry Maguire, and especially Risky Business, which was the only Cruise movie where I thought his character actually evolved during the course of the movie. Maybe Cruise needs to get over himself and play more comedies.
Kevin Costner: I liked Silverado, The Untouchables, Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Dances with Wolves, and Tin Cup.
So Costner gets 6 to 3, plus even though Dances with Wolves hasn’t held up well, in context of when it was written, it was awfully good, and would not have happened without Costner directing as well as starring in it. Cruise hasn’t done anything I liked as anything except an actor. So I pick Costner.
As for Clark Gable being a “Movie Star” as opposed to an actor, go see “It Happened One Night”. The first movie to sweep the four big awards, and still one fine comedy.
Costner is my vote, and NOT just because I am a female. I simply think he is far more talented and many more ways than Cruise. He is an actor, a director and he is currently touring with his band, “Modern West”. Google them. They are pretty damn good! And they have a MySpace blog, too.
I’ve liked Costner in only one movie (Bull Durham), but then, I liked him more in that movie than I ever liked Cruise in anything–a tough call indeed.
As for the Boss, the Springsteen love song that has just blown me away for about the last year or so now is “Tougher Than the Rest” (off “Tunnel of Love”). I got introduced to it through a gorgeous cover version by The Mendoza Line (the late, great, much lamented Mendoza Line). Everyone knows the Springsteen songs where he nails down what it is like to be young and in love–”Rosalita”, “Born to Run”–but “Tougher Than the Rest” pulls off a bigger trick. It is about when you’ve reached the point in your romantic life that you’re so worn down by your past failures, so disillusioned by your evaporated dreams, that toughness and guts, more than hope and enchantment, are what you need to get back in the ring. The third verse always floors me:
Well it ain’t no secret I’ve been around a time or two,
And I don’t know babe, maybe you’ve been around too.
But there’s another dance. All you’ve gotta do is say yes,
And if you’re rough and ready for love, honey I’m tougher than the rest.
I don’t know about Costner. I think he appeals to the older people here. The 35+ crowd. I haven’t had any interest in seeing a Costner movie in a long time. But Cruise’s “Collateral” and “War of the Worlds” were both ok, and at least had me interested. This is a list from IMDB of Costner that goes back to Untouchables, and there is just nothing recent since Tin Cup that I had any interest in seeing. That to me says something about his drawing power. I guess to settle it, since they both are kind of the same actor, I’d say look at box office receipts, or call it even. Bull Durham was great but it’s no Rain Man. And I don’t think Cruise has the bombs to match Waterworld, Postman, 3000 Miles to Graceland. Edge goes to Cruise.
Mr. Brooks (2007) …. Mr. Earl Brooks
The Guardian (2006/I) …. Ben Randall
Rumor Has It… (2005) …. Beau Burroughs
The Upside of Anger (2005) …. Denny Davies
Open Range (2003) …. Charley Waite
Dragonfly (2002) …. Joe Darrow
The Road to Graceland (2001) (voice) …. Thomas J. Murphy
3000 Miles to Graceland (2001) …. Thomas J. Murphy
Thirteen Days (2000) …. Kenny O’Donnell
For Love of the Game (1999) …. Billy Chapel
Message in a Bottle (1999) …. Garret Blake
The Postman (1997) …. The Postman
Tin Cup (1996) …. Roy ‘Tin Cup’ McAvoy
Waterworld (1995) …. Mariner
The War (1994) …. Stephen Simmons
Wyatt Earp (1994) …. Wyatt Earp
A Perfect World (1993) …. Robert ‘Butch’ Haynes
The Bodyguard (1992) …. Frank Farmer
JFK (1991) …. Jim Garrison
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) …. Robin of Locksley
Dances with Wolves (1990) …. Lt. John J. Dunbar
Revenge (1990/I) …. Michael J. ‘Jay’ Cochran
Field of Dreams (1989) …. Ray Kinsella
Bull Durham (1988) …. Crash Davis
No Way Out (1987) …. Lt. Cmdr. Tom Farrell
The Untouchables (1987) …. Eliot Ness
What’s always pissed me off is that the “Rosalita” video from ‘78 on the “Video Anthology” edited out the band intro. Has it ever been released uncut?
Friggin’ Bruce: what gives?
My best friend from high school once dated a girl whose aunt IS Rosalita (Rose, really) . . . the relationship didn’t work out, obviously, but having _that_ song written about you ain’t a bad consolation prize, eh? God, I love that entire album. Born to Run is the greatest album he ever made, but The Wild, the Innocent is closer to my heart, becuase it’s so . . . exuberant. The E Street Shuffle, Kitty’s Back, and Rosalita never fail to put a smile on my face, and that’s not even taking into account Incident on 57th St. or Sandy, which are both incredible.
That said — it’s been mentioned already, but I’m going with She’s the One as the best love song he ever wrote. The first verse is so incredibly evocative, you can’t help but picture _exactly_ what he’s talking about in your own mind.
With her killer graces and her secret places
That no boy can fill with her hands on her hips
Oh and that smile on her lips
Because she knows that it kills me
With her soft french cream
Standing in that doorway like a dream
I wish she’d just leave me alone
Because french cream won’t soften them boots
And french kisses will not break that heart of stone
With her long hair falling
And her eyes that shine like a midnight sun
Oh-o she’s the one, she’s the one
Rosalita may be more fun, but those lyrics from She’s the One put it over the top for me. But, yeah, Rosalita’s incredible. I’ve seen Bruce in concert about 10 times now and still haven’t seen Rosalita live . . . now, it’s the Bruce song that I absolutely must see before I die. (It used to be Jungleland — somehow he didn’t play it the first 6 times I went to see him. He had this thing going for a while where he would play either Backstreets or Jungleland on alternating nights, in the same place in the setlist; I always semed to get Backstreets — which ain’t the worst thing in the world!)
Anyway, baseball and Bruce. This _must_ be why I seem to reload this blog every 5 minutes, hoping for updates. Amazing.
My vote is Cruise, but only by a hair. Costner can at least play himself; as far as I can tell, there is no there there for Cruise.
As far as love songs, the best for me are 1) “Pannonica” by Thelonious Monk; and 2) “You Can Have It All” by Yo La Tengo. The former is as brutally honest a non-verbal exploration of love as I can imagine. The latter would’ve been the First Dance song at my wedding, as not only do the lyrics encapsulate the essence of love, but the way the male & female vocals switch as the wedding organ kicks in absolutely puts it over the top.
However, instead of a reception, we threw a party at our favorite pub in SF a few days after the event, and instead of a First Dance I ended up in a blues duo, playing “Nuts About That Gal” (Lonnie Johnson), which is also a great love song but sort of confused everybody at the party who’d never heard it before.
Oh, and worst accents: Nick Cage in “Vampire’s Kiss” is a true short lister, but I think the worst all time was Tom Hulce in some indy movie about being Stalin’s projectionist. Not only is it a bizarre moive, but everyone slathers the dialogue with these bizarre stabs at Russian accents. You have to see it to believe how bad it is.
Dire Straits’ Tunnel of Love blows away Springsteen’s song.
Costner hands down. F*** Cruise that little queerbait midget (deleted).
Costner seems like someone I could be buddies with. Cruise reminds me of someone I’d fight.
Fandango, The War, Silverado, Bull Durham. At least Costner seems like he has a fucking personality.
Say what you will about Pauly Shore, but “Pauly Shore is Dead” is one of the most brilliant movies ever made
Saying Alan Vega and Suicide had ANYTHING to do with pioneering the “Synth, drum, bass” type bands like Depeche Mode is very wrong as well as irresponsible. Suicide was a VERY fringe band that ONLY Ric Ocasek liked enough to help out by producing and giving an opening slot on tour for the Cars with (and when they came to my area, which wasn’t far from Vega’s NYC home, we booed their terrible tuneless butts off the stage). Vince Clarke–the Original genius behind THE three essential Synth-pop bands of Depeche Mode, Yaz AND Erasure, was doing what he was doing and making people listen AND buy it before Vegas experiments were falling on deaf ears, and with Yaz doing a reunion USA tour this Summer, more people will probably buy tickets in the US to a band that hasn’t been together in any shape or form for 25 years than have EVER paid to see Suicide live—the band’s name is/was very apropos—I wanted to commit Seppuku after seeing them.
And as far as Costner vs. Cruise goes—Cal Ripken beat Costner’s butt for hitting his wife Kelly, and aq fast acting Angelos save the Streak—but Cruise gets dumped by the very MILF-y Mimi Rogers because he was impotent—COSTNER WINS!!!!
Not to nitpick, but the Suicide song referred to, I’m almost certain, is “Dream Baby Dream”, with which Bruce closed the vast majority of the Devils & Dust solo tour, including the final show in New Jersey, which I was lucky enough to see. As for the album I really like it, but it’s an album I have to be in the mood for, whereas there’s stuff on most of his albums that will always appeal to me. I do think The Rising is aging quite well, and gets bonus points in my book for being the only quality 9/11 tribute of any quality.
The greatest love song thing is a tough one, and there’s a lot of Bruce songs that I think are unclear wehter they qualify. That said, and I know this may count as blasphemy around here, but I think Born to Run may be Bruce’s most overrated song. I’ve seen about a dozen Bruce shows, and I think he’s played it every show except the aforementioned Devils & Dust finale. Frankly, I miss Thunder Road the last few shows much more than I would ever miss BTR. I too had ot wait severl shows for Jungleland, and then a few more for Rosie (although got it at my last 2 E Street shows).
One song I woudl ove to hear Bruce sing, but likely never will, is The Fever, best surprise I ever got was The Promise.
I also echo the idea that while Born to Run is his greatest album, Wild, Innocent is closer to my heart and just brings such joy….
A friend of mine — a theater professor, wrote a couple good books about acting — has something called the “Ali McGraw rule.” It says basically that any actor, no matter how bad, will eventually give a decent performance if he/she sticks around long enough. (It’s named in honor of Ali McGraw, who finally gave a decent performance after 10 years or so of lousy ones.) My friend claims that Tom Cruise is the only actor to seriously challenge this rule, as he’s yet to give a decent performance after 20+ years in the business.
Like you, Joe, I thought Cruise was passable in movies like Jerry Maguire (mostly b/c that glassy self-conscious look he carries around with him actually suit the character well), but I’m not sure he’s ever given a genuinely good performance. (And yes, I’ve seen Magnolia. He’s godawful.)
I know it’s obvious, but to me Thunder Road is still the shiznit. Regardless of acting ability (neither are great) at least Costner has a feel for baseball (semi)——–Cruise probably loves soccer or lacrosse or some other lame sport.
whether any other terrible actor has made as many good films as Tom Cruise
Two words: Keanu. Reeves.
River’s Edge
Dangerous Liaisons
Bill & Ted
My Own Private Idaho
Dracula
Devil’s Advocate
Matrix
That’s just my list. You may also like:
Point Break
Much Ado About Nothing
Speed
Replacements
The Gift (co-starring Katie Holmes’ breasts)
Something’s Gotta Give
Maybe these flicks aren’t as good as Tom’s or Kevin’s good ones. But Keanu’s a much worse actor, so the ratio of crap acting to good movie is larger (or smaller?).
Anyhow, Keanu has to take the medal.
and the tiebreaker goes to….
scientology puts Cruise over the edge (ha, literally, i’d say). Coster can be horrible, but he’s relatively harmless.
Sorry if these points have been laid out already, but to me, it’s three items:
1) Cruise ABSOLUTELY made Rain Man…Hoffman played a static character with autism…the entire emotional heft of the movie was carried by Cruise…and IT WORKED…Hoffman, playing a (spot-on)one-note character won the Oscar, but the movie only worked because of Cruise’s nuanced performance
2) His performance in Magnolia is over the top…his character is OVER THE TOP…if you know anything about great acting, then you–IMO–have to give props to the scene where he enters an interview and expected one thing and got somethig else entirely…the slow melting of his facade, from cock-sure and awful (”Respect The Cock!”) to unsure and vulnerable (”I’m zitting here judging you…”) is an acting clinic.
3) Tom Crusie is a bona-fide, 100% whack a$$ nutjub. But Costner at his Bull Durham best ain’t got nuthin’ on whack-a$$ Tome Cruise in the acting department
One caveat to the Cruise/Costner debate and my choice of Costner as the better actor of the two.
As Black Francis kind of alluded to above, NO ONE gives more to a movie than Cruise…in my opinion. Hate him or love him. Respect him or think he’s a fool. That man works his ass off in every single role he takes. Costner seems to sleepwalk through a bunch of his films.
I don’t know if that makes Cruise the better actor, especially given my preference for Costner, but it makes him pretty special. He’s the little engine that could. So to speak.
Jeffsol — it totally sucked how Thunder Road has been missing from the setlists for most of this decade. However . . . I actually have a good story about this. I’m originally from the Jersey Shore (one town away from Asbury Park, actually), but now I live in Chicago, where fortunately, I have a fiancee who loves Bruce as much as I do. So, for her birthday last fall, I got floor tickets for us to see him at the United Center.
Thunder Road is her favorite song of all time, and for the days leading up to the show, she kept on asking me over and over, “do you think he’ll play Thunder Road? OMFG I’d be so happy I would cry.” And I had to tell her that no, he hasn’t played it in a long time, and we probably won’t get to see it.
Encore rolls around, and something amazing happens, as the Backstreets setlist review for that night said:
“Clearly about to play “Girls in Their Summer Clothes,” Springsteen called quite an audible to lead off the encore instead. The change of heart came from seeing some kids right up front in the pit: “There are a lot of young folks up here tonight,” he said, switching guitars and calling out (an un-soundchecked) “Thunder Road” to the band. “Last time we played this was five years ago… but we played it for 35 years before that, so maybe it’ll balance out.” It did — well-rested, with Bruce clearly wanting to play it rather than feeling obligated, it was the best “Thunder Road” in recent memory. The crowd lapped it up.”
And of course, I picked her up for most of the song so she could see the stage. And she did cry — unashamedly — the second she heard the opening harmonica part. Bruce does amazing things to people. Woulda loved to have heard Girls in Their Summer Clothes, though. Unlike you, I’ve never thought The Rising is all that great (with the notable exception of Lonesome Day), but I think nearly all of Magic is absolutely tremendous, especially Gypsy Biker. Hope to hear a lot of it when I see him at Giants Stadium on 7/31.
Also, I sorta hear you on BTR. It’s cool when the house lights go up, and everyone screams their ears out with every word and non-word . . . but I’ve heard it so many times. It’ll always be an amazing song but even the best can suffer from overexposure.
I can’t really care about Cruise or Costner, or even Reeves (I loved River’s Edge, but for Glover and Hopper, who made it). I will say, though, that I entirely subscribe to the notion that there are no bad actors, only bad directors. There are a few directors I think made use of those two actors limited talents. Paul Thomas Anderson, I argue, gave Cruise the role he was born to play, however painful it may have been to watch; Kasdan did the same for Costner — in the Big Chill. Costner’s scenes were deleted. Perfect.
On Suicide vs Clarke, there is no question the latter sold a lot more records. There is also no question that the former precedes the latter (Clarke was maybe 11 years old when Rev met Vega in NYC), and that the former are the pioneers to which ‘punk/noise/techno’ artists look. Good-time synth-pop has its place, but that’s not what Suicide were, and that’s not what we’re talking about. That said, Alan Vega’s work has pretty much sucked since Martin Rev left.
i stood next to someone at a bruce show once who said, “‘i think born to run’ is bruce’s gift to rock and roll,” and i liked that. a lot.
if turning around at Giants Stadium when the house lights are up after that “1-2″ count into BTR doesn’t give you goosebumps, you’re not alive. i don’t care how many times you’ve seen him. I remember standing in the pit the last night of the Rising Giants run, urging my sister - “Turn around, you never know if you’ll see this ever again.”
The other thought is - no matter how many times you’ve seen BTR, there is someone at the show for whom it’s the first time they’ve seen it and they think it’s the greatest goddamn thing in the entire world. that’s the energy I tap into every time I’m there, and it carries me through, even if the performance is lackluster. the last time I see BTR will break my heart, more than the last time i see “she’s the one” or the last time i hear “backstreets” or the next time i hear “real world”.
but “born to run”? BTR is life-changing, life-affirming. anyone here from cleveland or nyc and remember when that was the first song played at 5pm every friday to open the weekend? hell, it STILL should be.
darkness is always my favorite (and for that reason it kills me i didn’t just pony up the 1k to go to the Red Bank show) but I still believe that BTR is his best work, the best album, the most cohesive story. it’s damn close to perfection.
i respect the fact that he stopped playing Thunder Road. Just like I respected the decision to put Rosie away. I like that he won’t sing it if he doesn’t think he can mean it. That’s important, I think.
tougher than the rest - there’s a reason it gets played on patti’s birthday.
–
you weren’t supposed to like suicide. you were supposed to have a violent reaction to them. they scared the heck out of me the one and only time i ever saw them in their prime. but i didn’t go see them to feel safe.
I will have to dig out the Vega interview now, but the Suicide song IS called “Keep Your Dreams”. There is an evolution there that my brain isn’t recalling right now and it’s 12:08 and I just got back from the Mets’ 7th win in a row….
I agree about Keanu Reeves being much worse than both.
Why are we not mentioning Oliver Stone? I kinda like JFK.
Caryn — you had me at your blog address. My favorite Bruce lyric of all time is from that song. “Well my feet they finally took root in the earth, but I got me a nice little place in the stars . . . ”
Agreed with you on BTR as an album. Like I said before, I think it’s clearly his best work, and I think it’s mostly because of how great the less-acclaimed (or at least, less well-known) songs on the album are: Night (rocks), She’s the One (best love song he ever wrote, IMO, like I said), Meeting Across the River (haunting . . . one of the most underrated songs he’s ever written and a personal favorite of mine), etc. There are NO weak songs, there are no weak moments. Every moment on all eight songs is indispensable, and I’ve never heard another album by any artist for which I’d make that same claim. Like I said earlier, The Wild, the Innocent gets my blood pumping more, but BTR is sheer perfection.
And I’m fine with him putting away Rosalita — but not until I see it first!!
Joe,
Joe you have done it again - now not only are you truly the “star” of the KC daily but your blog has become - obviously - a favorite of some very smart Bruce fans offering up some good commentary and what sounds like first hand information (JeffSol & Caryn) to name a few. They sound like they know the stuff like maybe they saw Bruce when he was singing Rosalita at Edgewater in Highlands before “time and newsweek”.
As a Middletown High (back when there was only one) graduate and now an 18 resident of Kansas City - I first like your sports stuff then when you started to include Bruce - I was floored!
Now one quick comment about a favorite love song - I was reminded when someone mentioned The Devil & Dust solo - which I caught at the Fox in St. Louis - he sang “Back In Your Arms” it brought tears to my eyes - “I carried you inside of me…pray it wouldn’t be too late” — and the line “saw your face in every star” c’mon that is pretty romantic — contemporary poetry that stands up to Keat’s and his gang.
And what came to mind when someone mention suicide - the line from “Tunnel of Love” Bruce’s anti suicide line — off the top of my head — “…some may want to die young now -
young and gloriously
get it straight now mister hey buddy that ain’t me”
Because he has a date and wants all the time heaven will allow.
Same song has great line to bouncer –”All I wanna do is dance but I swear I left my wallet back home in my workin pants
C’mon Slim slip me in - I’ll make it up to you somehow —”
Classic ! Thanks again Joe ! I enjoy reading the original comments and what they reap.
FOG
You know I just read my post to check for stupid mistakes it is after 12 — and the only one I noticed s I should have added Ben in good comment paranthetically (sp?) so here it is (Ben).
FOG
As has been said about a dozen times already, Costner does have one narrow region in which he does well: athlete (mostly baseball) flicks, and westerns. In those he pretty much just gets to sort of play himself (or as Joaldo said, he plays “just a guy”), and you are able to enjoy the story.
The mark of a really bad actor for me is when you notice them instead of the character and story. They, and their forced idiosyncrasies, draw your attention away from the things you are supposed to be seeing. And this is what Cruise has done in every single movie he has ever done, even the few really good ones such as Magnolia. Costner can blend in on a narrow band of characters, Cruise can’t blend in on anything.
I’d like to throw another name into the mix. Someone we were having a discussion about at a message board I frequent a while back: Nicky Coppola (Cage). I think he fits into this category very well, and is a more worthy opponent for Costner with Cruise being below them both. He was quite good in Leaving Las Vegas and adaptation., and he didn’t really do anything to screw up Raising Arizona or Bringing Out the Dead. But then there’s Con Air. And The Rock. And Next. And the remake of Gone in Sixty Seconds. And National Treasure. And dozens of others, and he’s been terrible in all of them.
And Nicky manages to use the same distracting idiosyncrasy in all of them: he holds his hands out about a foot from his sides with his fingers spread and does a full-body shiver, usually with some sort of shuddering sound.
I like putting Cage and Keanu in this mix. But here’s maybe an even better poll: Worst “stupid movie” actor:
Will Ferrell
Jim Carrey
Adam Sandler
Jerry Lewis
Man, that’s a depressing poll.
On a more positive note, Springsteen is incredible, has a ton of great songs, love and otherwise, but my favorite album of all time remains —
Poetic Champions Compose. (Van Morrison)
It can’t possibly be as bad as Julian Sands’ Russian accent in “Leaving Las Vegas”, where he’s merely decided to imitate The Count from Sesame Street. Every time he’s on the screen you think he’s going to start saying “One… one codependent stripper/alcoholic Ha Ha Ha Ha HA!”.
Mary’s Place is about death, not love.
Kevin Costner’s best performance was in the Big Chill, but you say he wasn’t in that movie, well actually my friend he was. Kevin Costner was actually cast as the friend who died, and the only scene of his that didn’t get cut was the funeral scene, those where his slashed wrists, and I believe he was also in the casket (but I could be wrong about that). Anyway as a favor since he was good friends with the director, he was cast in Silverado, which is a movie I have never seen.