The Outsiders' Edge

Friday was one of the busiest days in Brand Elevation history.  It was a day of major events including my radio interview with United States Olympic Gold Medalist and swimmer Cullen Jones, Oprah’s announcement that she is ending her show after twenty-five years, and seeing Bruce Springsteen live at the First Mariner Arena for his first concert in Baltimore since 1973.

Alright, only two of these things really impacted me. Cullen was a great guest on Elevation Radio and The Boss absolutely tore the fucking house down in Baltimore.

In the penultimate show of the 2009 tour the Boss broke out amazing versions of My Love Will Not Let You Down, Long Walk Home, The E Street Shuffle, Wrecking Ball, For You (solo on the piano), Baltimore favorite Hungry Heart, Ramrod, Rosie, and so much more.

The musical pinnacle of the night was the band’s rendition of every song on Born to Run, as it was played on the album. Powerhouse versions of Backstreets and Thunder Road were particularly memorable.

Besides the music, the Boss just does amazing things with his body for a 60-year-old. Wait, that sounded kind of gay didn’t it? Well, I don’t care. When I’m 60, I just hope to be able to walk from my kitchen to the living room so I can watch Monday Night Raw once a week. Nevermind doing shit like crowd surfing, playing 31 songs in three and a half hours without letting the energy waiver at all, jumping around and dancing like a mad man, and leading 13,000 people in unison like its a religious experience. Honestly, Springsteen has so much energy, he could walk from his house in New Jersey to every venue around the country. It would save jet costs. Although, carrying The Big Man would probably get a little tiresome after a while.

The Boss tries not to get groped while crowd surfing though Baltimore's finest.

Speaking of the Big Man, Clarence and the rest of the band were absolutely on fire. Despite all of knee and back injuries Clarence was on his feet the entire night and just nailed every single one of his saxophone solos. Nils Lofgren and Max Weinberg also had amazing shows. Nils was spinning like a mad man all night on lead guitar, and Max was able to bring the power for every single song. It wasn’t just simple Ringo Starr-keep the beat stuff. Practically every song from American Land to Badlands called for big drum solos. Little Steven Van Zandt and the rest of the band also looked really good too.

The E Street Band cuts down on costs by forcing the entire band to share one microphone.

Probably the only being at the show who didn’t have a great time was The Baltimore Arena. That old girl needed to be torn down in 1985. The sound system was on its last legs by the end of the night and left me a parting gift of buzzing in my ear for the next 48 hours. The arena is just really old-looking and a big dump, however it did provide a nice retro classic rock atmosphere for the show. Next week I’ll get to complete the second part of my Arena double-header, when the WWE comes to Baltimore for a live taping of Raw. If that show is 1/15th as entertaining as Springsteen, I’ll be happy. Due to the fact Mini Me is hosting the show, my hopes are not out of this world. Sheamus becoming the new number one contender to Cena may be a giant rib on the American wrestling fan.

Anyway, back to the Boss. I think you’ll enjoy this video of he and Stevie going nuts on Ramrod.

Now at 60 years old, Bruce Springsteen is a physical specimen with the energy of a 16 year old. HULK HOGAN IS NOT THE SAME WAY. I just thought I’d pass along this fucking clip of Hogan and Ric Flair’s “match” from the first show of the Hulkamania Tour of Has Beens in Australia, or whatever the hell it’s called. Hogan and Nature Boy must really need the money.  Hogan looks less spry than Stephen Hawking at this point. Naitch’ still moves OK, but its a shame that his retirement ceremony from Mania 24 is forever tarnished because he decided to job to Hulk Hogan 4 or times in Australia to pay off his ex-wives. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I also wanted to take this opportunity to be a shameless Billy Mays-esque whore for my latest adventure on Elevation Radio. Before getting down with the Boss on Friday night, there was business to be had Friday afternoon when I interviewed American gold medal winning swimmer Cullen Jones. Cullen was really neat to talk to, and offered some fascinating insights into how he originally got into swimming, the experience of swimming in Beijing for the Olympics, America’s rivalry with France, being a teammate to Michael Phelps, his feelings on representing the African-American community and so much more. It was a nice, tidy quick, show and very interesting.

Cullen Jones (left) celebrates winning the gold medal. The greatest moment of his career, besides appearing on Elevation Radio.

I also discussed the fallout from UFC 105, correctly predicted the outcome of the main event at UFC 106, and offered my uninvited take on the 32 teams who made it to the World Cup. SJX will enjoy that portion of the show. I make some amazingly uneducated generalizations about teams I have never seen before. Quite impressive. So, click this link to hear that plus the interview with Cullen. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/elevationradio/2009/11/20/elevation-radio-with-cullen-jones

Finally, this weekend brings about the 1 year anniversary of The Outsiders Edge. My great thanks to: SJX for being there at the beginning and for continuing to be a great ear for all my rants about the WWE and other things , all the global correspondents, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash for inventing our name, all the guests who have appeared on the radio show, chest tattoos for bringing so many google searches to the site, along with naked  LPGA golfers, Michelle Yeoh, Jean Calude Van Damme’s Bloodsport, world soccer daily, erin andrews video peep pictures, david carradine, and all of the other search terms that bring so many people to this website every day, The Wrestle Rock Rumble video, weird celebrity deaths, Sammy the Samoyed, and to all the readers like you.

We made it to year and will keep on ticking to better and bigger things in 2010!

I stood stone-like at midnight suspended in my masquerade
I combed my hair till it was just right and commanded the night brigade
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone and came out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said “Sit down” I stood up.
Ooh-ooh growin’ up

The flag of piracy flew from my mast, my sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for first mate, she couldn’t sail but she sure could sing,
I pushed B-52 and bombed ‘em with the blues with my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing,
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd but when they said “Come down” I threw up
Ooh-ooh growin’ up

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere and you know it’s really hard to hold your breath.
I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid in full costume dress
Well, my feet they finally took root in the earth but I got me a nice little place in the stars
And I swear I found the key to the universe in the engine of an old parked car
I hid in the mother breast of the crowd but when they said “Pull down” I pulled up
Ooh-ooh growin’ up. Ooh-ooh growin’ up

~ by lordelevation on November 26, 2009.

Posted in Uncategorized
Tags: Beijing Olympics 2008, Bruce Sprignsteen and the E-Street Band, Bruce Springsteen, Bruce Springteen Baltimore, Cullen Jones, Hulkamania Tour, Michael Phelps, Ramrod, Ric Flair