💥 Battle of the Bros: Springsteen vs. Jagger

A friendly game of 'this or that' keeps things interesting. [READER]( The Daily Reader Chatting on the phone with Mark about nothing having to do with Bruce Springsteen, when, out of nowhere, we found ourselves talking about . . . Bruce Springsteen. We can’t help it. There’s just something about Mark and me that leads our every conversation to Bruce whether we intended to go there or not. This is not unusual for me—though Mark’s the only person for whom the gravitational pull goes to Springsteen. I have many friends with whom I routinely return to certain topics time after time. I take a stand. They take a stand. Doesn’t matter if it's the same stand we’ve been taking for years. The stand must be taken and so take it we must! It’s our way of entertaining ourselves. For example . . . Ben Gordon or Kirk Hinrich—who was the better Bull? I say Ben. Norm says Kirk. He’s said it so many times I can hear his voice in my head saying it right now: “Ben Gordon’s too short, Benny.” And how about this topic for esoterica . . . Was Ted Kennedy actually in the car when it drove off the bridge at Chappaquiddick? I say no. AJ said yes. We debated it for over 30 years (rest in peace, my dear friend). Read Jack Olsen’s book [The Bridge at Chappaquiddick]( and decide for yourself, people. Closer to home . . . Rahm or Chuy? Every year Adolfo and I spend the better part of several White Sox games endlessly rehashing the 2015 mayoral election. I say Chuy. He says Rahm. He has his reasons, which I know by heart. I must concede they make sense—after a bottle or two of red wine. Sometimes my friends and I make concessions. For instance, I now acknowledge Devin was right—though I once insisted he was wrong—to say Prince was as great a guitarist as Santana. Just as Devin now says I was right: Mick Jagger can’t dance. Or Devin would say that, if he wasn’t so freakin’ stubborn. As for Mark, he loves Springsteen’s music even more than I love fried chicken. My position is that the first three Springsteen albums from the 70s were outstanding, but it’s been downhill ever since. It’s a good-natured conversation. Mark suggested we record a monthly podcast in which every episode picks up the conversation from where we left off. Great idea. We’d have at least two listeners—me and Mark. In the latest round, I said those first three records had a unique sound that Springsteen unfortunately never returned to. And Mark said the first record, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., doesn’t even belong in the same category as the following two. Stylistically speaking. Out of curiosity, to see if Mark actually had a point, I listened to Greetings the other night. And, well, Mark, I must tell you something you won’t want to hear . . . There are three songs on that record—“Blinded by the Light,” “Spirit in the Night,” and “Growin’ Up”—that are much better than anything Springsteen recorded after 1980. I realize I’m not addressing Mark’s point about stylistic categories when I make this point. But so what—the stand must be taken, so take it I must! Ball’s in your court, Mark. Let the conversation continue. Oh, and one last thing: hey, Devin, Mick Jagger can’t dance . . . Listen to [The Ben Joravsky Show]( [What Ben's Reading] [Half an Inch of Water]( a collection of short stories, mostly set in the west, by Percival Everett. Like a good poem, these stories sit with you long after you read them. [Debbie-Marie Brown]( on Black small businesses getting the shaft on cannabis licenses [B]( Joravksy]( on the Chicago Fire practice facility at ABLA [Best of the Ben J. Show]( [Kelly Garcia]( in Naperville [Amisha Patel]( then and now [David Faris]( predictions [‘Every footfall leaves an imprint’]( The late Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring and Germaine Acogny and Malou Airaudo’s common ground[s] rearranged every cell at the Harris. by [Irene Hsiao]( [Blame it on Kane]( Mark Pracht’s new play (the first in his trilogy on comics history) examines the conflict between Batman’s creators. by [Josh Flanders]( [Field Medic’s Kevin Patrick Sullivan delves deeper into his psyche on his latest album]( by [Dora Segall]( [Jordan Reyes explores Zen at the release show for his album Everything Is Always]( by [Monica Kendrick]( Want more Reader in your inbox? 📰 [Issue of Oct. 27 - Nov. 9, 2022 Vol. 52, No.]( [Download Issue]( [View this e-mail as a web page]( [@chicago_reader]( [/chicagoreader]( [@chicago_reader]( [Chicago Reader on LinkedIn]( [/chicagoreader]( [chicagoreader.com]( [Forward this e-mail to a friend](. Want to change how you receive these e-mails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](. Copyright © 2022 Chicago Reader, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Chicago Reader, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102, Chicago, IL 60616