Devils & Dust
by Bruce Springsteen

So here's my initial impression of the new Bruce Springsteen album, Devils & Dust. I really like it. I really like it a lot. It's a really solid album, it's not quite as Nebraska or Tom Joad as the first single, and title track, would probably lead you to believe. It's more of a combination of those type songs and the solid but not anthemic rockers of The Rising. On this album Springsteen has chosen to leave the E Street Band behind, operating largely by himself with contributions from the wifey, producer Brendan O'Brien and somebody(ies) called the Nashville String Machine.

If D&D doesn't necessarily match Nebraska and ...Tom Joad in sound it does match those albums in tone. One of the stark differences of this album is Bruce's voice and I don't mean his narrative voice I mean his actual voice. One of my previous complaints as a former non-Bruce fan was that I wasn't a big fan of his voice and could hardly understand what the crap he was saying half the time. Well just as I've gotten use to the voice issue Springsteen goes and flips the script almost entirely. I mean there are more than enough songs where Springsteen sounds like Springsteen (though with an inexplicable country twang seemingly abondoning his Jersey roots.) But then there are songs where Bruce does the closest thing to a Neil Young impression and adopts a bit of a falsetto. And it doesn't sound bad really. Just really different.

This album is not going to blow anybody away but I don't think it's supposed to. Springsteen's prowess as a songwriter is the main thing that alll my Boss-lovin' friends tried to sell me on. I never really questioned his songwriting chops but as if determined to hammer that point home to anyone willing to listen Devils & Dust contains some of the best-written songs I've ever heard. Period.

One of the album's odd traits is that while the E Street Band is gone Springsteen and O'Brien don't seem to be committed to completely stripping down the music so there tends to be a slightly over-produced feeling on the record. Fortunately the over-production never ruins the songs. However, if you flip the Dualdisc over and put it in your DVD player there's a documentary featuring the Boss talking about songwriting and performing several of the tracks acoustically. It's at this point that you realize that while the additional production values never ruin the songs they do sound equally, if not more, powerful when performed by just the man himself.

I think Springsteen's intention here, as it probably is with all of his work, is to just remind us we're not alone. That there are other people in the world who are just as confused as you are, nobody's perfect and there's nothing wrong with that. Like I said this album won't blow you away and where its weaknesses come from its heavyhandedness, its strengths lie in understatement. I'd expect this to be an album that people listen to for a while, put down and pick up three years down the line and realize how freakin' good it really is.

I have organized a hanging posse to assult Jazzfest on Saturday April 30, 2005. We intend to go early, soak up the vibe, groove to the local brass bands like the Soul Rebels and Dirty Dozen, then jump for joy when Elvis Costello plays around 5:30. The Elvis Costello show shall provide double opportunity as we will be simultaneously shunning Dave Matthews and his band of hippies who are scheduled to play across the fairgrounds at the same time.

Email me if you are going Saturday and want to meet up.

Because I slacked, I hadn't shared a few pictures for Carla's visit to SF. Without further ado...



More in the comments...

last night on the crowded shuttle from georgetown to dupont circle, i sat next to a woman REEEKING of perfume... as someone who grew up with a mom obsessed about perfume, i thought my nose was tolerable for any kind of beauty scents... boy was i wrong...

she smelled like she drenched herself in the worst floral scent possible, and she definitely wore a fleece jacket with animal print of a species that was never identified. she nodded off a lot, and i was scared she was going to lean against me with her scent as if she was marking her territory.

i sat there trying not to inhale, but with my nose itching anyway. i was pretty close to sneezing, and realized i didn't have any tissue with me. actually, i almost had difficulty breathing because of her fucking perfume. it was a 20 minute ride of torture.

i wish the government could pass a law where you could only douse yourself in small amounts of perfume... they can call it, "the italian shower ban"

A while back I considered making a film, and I got Brandon to write me a treatment. Here is that treatment. - Josh

CANDIRÚ or The SATANIC FINGERS OF SATANISM's MOST BASE DESIRES

a film treatment by Brandon Reilly

SATANISTS are abounding. SATANISTS are on bicycles. The SATANISTS employ imprecations and incantations over CAULDRONS stolen from WICCAS. They fiercely battled the WICCAS. The WICCAS lie in a heap around the CAULDRONS, several, in their death throes shout BLESSED-BE. The WICCAS die. They are dismembered by the SATANISTS. The SATANISTS dump their limbs and pieces into the smoldering CAULDRONS. A LACKEY Satanist uses a WICCA's head to SKULL-FUCK the chief SATANIC PRIEST as he shouts CURSES against GEORGE BUSH.

The SATANISTS dip BICYCLES into the CAULDRON. The Room turns RED. SUSPIRIA RED. The BICYCLES go into the CAULDON colored many HUES, they emerge BLACK. BLACK is the color of the DEVIL.

WHITE GUY HERO is a MATHEMATICS guy. He studies MATHEMATICS to help people. Some people were starving once, but WHITE GUY HERO rescued them from their poverty by instructing them about math. HE has a plaque that says that he is a HERO on the wall. The last time that WHITE GUY HERO's tattooed girlfriend had sex with him was the day that he received the plaque from PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH.

Now she has sex with many people. But she fixes him excellent EGGS every morning and she allows him to masturbate onto her back at night while she sleeps as long as he does not shit on her back. One time he SHAT on her back and she became very angry when she woke up because he was spooning the shit into the bag. He slept on the couch for a while, but things are better now. And when he is tempted to poop on her back, a sign tattooed onto her back warns him: “DO NOT POOP HERE.” When he masturbates onto her back, he thinks about fractals. What he doesn't know is that after he falls asleep. Tattooed girl scoops up his semen and mixes it with his eggs the next morning.

It is her secret ingredient. She read somewhere that semen can make you smart and she relies on WHITE GUY HEROs intellectual paychecks to subsidize her COKE ADDICTION.

A long time ago a NEWSPAPER STORY ran that described WHITE GUY HERO's exploits as a mathematical hero. The HEAD SATANIST read this and wants to use WHITE GUY HERO's entrée with the PRESIDENT to ASSASSINATE the PRESIDENT and bring about SATAN's THOUSAND YEAR REIGN. He is very bad. He urinates on his subordinates. But they like it. There are dead animals nailed to all the walls. However, there are also air-fresheners hanging everywhere because the HEAD SATANIST's girlfriend is a CHEMIST who specializes in FRAGRANCES. SHE uses one fragrance to sooth the HEAD SATANIST when he becomes depressed. ONE time he was really depressed and he tried to pray to JESUS but she stopped him, this is the one thing that she holds over his head, since he has killed many women before her. Their decomposing bodies are on the floor covered in air-fresheners. If his subordinates ever knew that he almost prayed to JESUS once. They would devour him.

HERO WHITE GUY wakes up. Today is the day of the big party. He bought a ring for his tattooed girlfriend. Tonight is the night that he shall propose to her. After he finishes his eggs, he goes outside to pick up his newspaper. Across the Street he watches the neighbors through an open window having sex doggy-style, in pajamas. He watches for a while until they notice him absentmindedly rubbing himself. They are angry and shout at him. But they continue to have sex. The newspaper is at his feet. On the cover is a big picture of the PRESIDENT who broadly smiles. There is another story, something about the RAINFOREST. He reaches out to pick up the newspaper. SUDDENLY, OUT OF NOWHERE, a bearded SATANIST on a BLACK SATANICALLY CURSED BICYCLE sweeps past. There is a loud explosion, a satanic phrase or two is intoned seemingly from above as if from SATAN himself. Two of the fingers on HERO WHITE GUY's right hand fly into the air, as if sliced off by the spokes on the bicycle. He cries out! He is in shock. HERO WHITE GUY uses those fingers both to investigate complicated MATHEMATICAL PROCESSES and also to MASTURBATE. Blood pumps from the stumps of his severed fingers across the picture of the smiling PRESIDENT. Again the momentous SATANIC CURSE from on high is repeated [it could be “These fingers are my servants, in whom I trust” in Latin or something equally pretentious] The SATANIC GUY on the bicycle snaps a Polaroid picture for his MASTER.

HERO WHITE GUY searches for the fingers in the grass. He finds them and they are motionless. Curiously they have landed in a depression in the mood that resembles a hand giving the DEVIL HORNS. It is his PINKY and INDEX FINGER.

The HEAD SATANIC GUY sees the PHOTOGRAPH and is well-pleased. He is so well pleased that he allows the BEARDED SATANIST to perform fellatio on him, while his GIRLFRIEND Recites POETRY and SPRAYS things with PERFUME.

Behind him, HERO WHITE GUY's Tattooed girl friend looks on, smirking, she pops a hand-full of scrambled eggs into her mouth. HERO WHITE GUY runs into the house. Blood is squirting everywhere. He calls for her help. The TATTOOED GIRL FRIEND summons him to the kitchen. She is naked. He is confused. She offers him a glass of MILK to preserve the fingers. They plunk into the glass. She is becoming soaked in his pumping arterial blood. She throws open the shades. Some teenagers are splashing in the puddles of blood outside. ONE is lapping up the blood like a cat. The girls who watch on are giggling and making up songs about CATS with BIG DICKS who like to DRINK BLOOD. Across the street, the couple CONTINUES to have SEX. The TATTOOED girlfriend shoves his bloody stump into her crotch and begins to moan. BLOOD runs down her legs along with weird chunks including tiny doll arms and legs. She turns toward the window and present her vagina for penetration. HERO WHITE GUY complies. The teenagers continue playing. From across the street the neighbors having sex both flash a big thumbs up. In the meantime, the fingers sneak out of the glass of milk. They are soon finished. The teenagers wander away and the neighbors across the street continue. HERO WHITE GUY asks the tattooed girlfriend to marry him. She feigns deafness, but squeezes a finger to make it squirt. They both laugh while the severed fingers watch ominously from atop the refrigerator.

LATER that NIGHT at the big PARTY, HERO WHITE GUY and tattooed girl are having sex in bed, while the PARTY GOERS party outside. DASHIKI URBAN WARRIOR is there. CONSTANCE, PRUDENCE, and TEMPERANCE a screamo, electro-clash band is playing. The song addresses Anti-Semitism. It's refrain is a LOGICAL SYLLOGISM: “If JEWS OWN everything and no ONE OWNED IDI AMIN/ Then someone lied about the JEWS/ This is a sin / UGANDAN truth belies your INCONTINENT THOUGHTS/ Have you forgotten Uruguay?”

HERO WHITE GUY gives her the ring which she TURNS DOWN. He BEGINS to CRY. Things were going so well. And now his fingers are missing and she won't marry him. He attempts to smash his HERO PLAQUE, while she laughs demonically from the bed. While this is going on, one of his fingers leaps onto the bed. In the past hours it has grown filthy, hairy, and claw like. She notices it at the last moment, and attempts to pee on it to kill it. The urine seems to energize the finger which flies into her crotch amid general screaming and bug-eyed horror. She is very angry and frightened to have the finger in her insides. She cries for help. HERO WHITE GUY turns his attention to her.

She screams “Candirú” and passes out. In the meantime the finger is becoming a sort of cocoon. The Tattooed girlfriend begins to turn red.

HERO WHITE GUY reads about Candirú in the encyclopedia. He reads that, unless Candirú drowns in the blood of its host, it will devour her flesh until she dies. HERO WHITE GUY begins to stab her over and over again in the belly, crying and apologizing while explaining that she needs to bleed in order to expel the evil fish. He is unaware that is a satanic finger that has invaded her body.

DASHIKI URBAN WARRIOR and many other persons burst through the door, heeding the screams of the Tattooed girlfriend, they pull HERO WHITE GUY from her, thinking that he is attacking her. HERO WHITE GUY is severely beaten as the Tattooed girlfriend completes her transformation into POD PERSON TATTOOED GIRL. As such, she appears to emerge from the shed skin of the former TATTOED GIRL. As a new-born she completely LACKS ALL TATTOOS. She begins to ATTACK EVERYONE IN THE ROOM. Many people die in many splendid ways. SEVERAL people including HERO WHITE GUY, who now has a pencil shoved through his eye, escape the bedroom.

They slam the door on one of POD PERSON TATTOED GIRL's fingers which severs easily due to the purification of her undead flesh. It escapes but is stomped by the party goers until it no longer moves. For comic effect, HERO WHITE GUY's CAT hides in an enormous litter box. Suddenly there is a popping noise and SATANIC FINGERS EMERGE from beneath the bedroom DOOR. THEY fly in all directions invading crotches male and female. People are somewhat instantly transformed by the SATANIC FINGERS, which are more potent when they come from an UNDEAD SATANIC BODY. HORRIBLY, the men begin to slice off their PENISES which bulge with the undead fingers in order to avoid becoming SATANIC UNDEAD. HERO WHITE GUY shoots his HEROIC BLOOD at the undead through the stumps of his fingers. The heroism of his blood wards them off, but, unfortunately, one of the fingers makes it through and invades his most precious appendage. Thinking that he is soon to become SATANIC like them, the UNDEAD leave, instead chasing DASHIKI URBAN WARRIOR, who managed to escape without being SATANICALLY PENETRATED.

HEROIC WHITE GUY painstakingly finds a butcher knife and slices off his prodigiously and grotesquely swollen penis. He stomps on the penis until it stops flopping, then he amidst tears of pain and regret he lovingly cradles what once gave him so much joy in life. A few long moments pass. HEROIC WHITE GUY manages to coax his cat into the car. He must meet with the PRESIDENT.

At the WHITE HOUSEthe PRESIDENT receives the HEROIC WHITE GUY. At first he seems DUBIOUS about the story. HE asks for PROOF. HEROIC WHITE GUY produces the penis and digs out the SATANIC FINGER. The PRESIDENT, although disgusted, is unconvinced. In the presence of the FINGER, HEROIC WHITE GUY's CAT suddenly SHEDS it's SKIN. It is now a nasty, furless undead SATANIC CAT One of the WHITE GUY's original fingers has transformed it. The CAT VOMITS EVERYWHERE. Luckily the SECRET SERVICE is there and they eliminate the CAT. THE PRESIDENT stomps on the CAT's HEAD. Seemingly, the SATANIC PLOT TO KILL THE PRESIDENT has been thwarted.

The HEAD SATANIST is keeping tabs on the PRESIDENT through SATANIC SURVEILLANCE through the CAT's dead EYES and EARS. He doesn't seem angry that the cat failed to KILL the PRESIDENT.

“What should we do?” The PRESIDENT asks HEROIC WHITE GUY.

HEROIC WHITE GUY hesitates:

Then, he continues:

”The CANDIRÚ comes from the Amazon. We must destroy BRAZIL. I can tell you this with MATHEMATICAL CONCLUSIVENESS. I may not have my fingers, but you trusted me before to great acclaim, Mr. President, trust me now. Destroy the AMAZONIAN RIVER BASIN and all of its tributaries.”

That very day, all of BRAZIL disappears in a firestorm.

The HEAD SATANIST is very pleased. The PRESIDENT wasn't the target at all, BRAZIL was. To the great SATANIC pleasure of all present at the HEAD SATANIST's QUARTERS in various stages of celebratory debauchery, the HEAD SATANIST points on a MAP to the MOUTH OF the AMAZON RIVER, over which an illusion appears of spewing, BLACK WATER, BLACK, the color of SATAN.

SATANISTS HATE the RAIN FOREST. They tricked the good people of the USA to DESTROY it.

The story ends in uncertainty. What will become of the WORLD?