I had an appointment today to get my National Insurance Number, which from what I can tell is the UK’s equivalent to a Social Security Number so I cabbed it over to another town. For some reason, the driver and I talked about Elvis for the entire ride. I don’t even know how it began but this man talked so lovingly about his idol. When I told him that I had visited Graceland he had a lot of questions.
I then spent the day walking all over London and ended the day at the British Library listening to a lecture called Race, Religion and Rock ‘n’ Roll: How Bruce Springsteen Saved My Life. I bought the book after the lecture and began reading it on the way home. I felt a bit like a voyeur sitting in an audience listening to people talk about America and Bruce Springsteen. In my opinion, Bruce is one of those musicians that is very much linked with America and New Jersey. Who would think that he could speak to a young boy growing up in the UK? It was a beautiful thing. The person leading the discussion asked Sarfraz Manzoor, the author, why Bruce, why not Dylan or some other artist and I can’t quote the author directly but I wish I could because his response eloquently explained that intangible connection between the artist and fans. He said something like we all put out a frequency and we are drawn to other things of that same frequency. It really is as simple and complicated as that.
I had a friend Kate, who passed away a few years ago that was from New Jersey. I remember her telling me once that she was at a bar on a remote island and the bar had a jukebox. She walked up to put some money in and she noticed above the jukebox that iconic picture of Bruce strumming a guitar in front of an American Flag background. She thought to herself I can travel a world away and I’m standing in front of a picture of a kid who grew up two towns over from me. --J
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