The Boss -- Land of Hope and Dreams

Hello Friends,

This is a cellphone shot with my Google Pixel 9 Pro converted to 3D with DepthMaker and enhanced with StereoPhoto Maker and PhotoShop.

This past Tuesday a buddy told me he'd been offered two tickets to that night's performance of Bruce Sprintsteen & the E Street Band's ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’ American Tour at the Forum in Los Angeles. I'm not very knowledgable of his music, more so of his reputation as a poet of the working class, his dislike of Trump's version of America, and his drive to speak truth to power. They played 2-1/2 hours without a break, a performance warm, loud, memorable and inspiring. I have no ability to hear and understand lyrics, so I'd listen for what I'd guess was a song's title, and load its lyrics to follow along. Great stuff!

And of course, Springsteen got political. The concert did double duty, rock and roll, and a rally for freedom and American values. A political speech and prayer preceeded the show, and more speeches were interspersed through it. I didn't record what he said, but instead picked up his commentaries online. So from The Boss:

“Good evening Minnesota. Welcome Minneapolis, St. Paul, welcome to the ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’ American Tour. I want to begin the night with a prayer for our men and women in service overseas. We pray for their safe return. The mighty E Street Band is here tonight to call upon a righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll, in dangerous times. We are here in celebration and defense of our American ideas — democracy, our constitution and our sacred American promise. The America I love, the America that I’ve written about for 50 years that has been a beacon of hope and liberty around the world is currently in the hands of a corrupt, incompetent, racist, reckless and treasonous administration. Tonight we ask all of you to join with us in choosing hope over fear, democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over lawlessness, ethics over unbridled corruption, resistance over complacency, unity over division, and peace over war.”

...

"We are living through some very dark times. Our American values that have sustained us for 250 years are being challenged as never before. We’ve got our young men and women’s lives at risk in an unconstitutional and illegal war. This is happening now.

There are immigrants being held in detention centers around the country and being deported without due process of law to alien countries and foreign gulags. This is happening now. While working Americans struggle, our president and his family enrich themselves by billions of dollars trading on the people’s office in corruption unmatched in American history. This is happening now.

This White House is destroying the American idea and our reputation around the world," he added. "To many, we are no longer looked upon as an often imperfect but strong defender of democracy standing for the global good. We are no longer the land of the free and the home of the brave. We are now, to many, America the reckless, unpredictable, predatory rogue nation. That is this administration’s and this president’s legacy. This is happening now."

...>p> "This past winter, federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis. Well, they picked the wrong city. The power and the solidarity of the people of Minneapolis, of Minnesota, was an inspiration to the entire country. Your strength and your commitment told us that this is still America, and this reactionary nightmare, and these invasions of American cities will not stand."

...

"There’s some very weird, strange, and dangerous shit going on out there right now. In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now. The America that I’ve sung to you about for 50 years is real, and, regardless of its faults, is a great country with a great people. So we’ll survive this moment. Now, I have hope, because I believe in the truth of what the great American writer James Baldwin said. He said, ‘In this world, there isn’t as much humanity as one would like, but there’s enough.’ Let’s pray.”

Like The Boss I'm wishing for better,

Barry Rothstein

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