Bruce Springsteen: America's Local Hero
letter, not thinking much of it, and it was forgotten in the weeks following. However, the next time DeLeon wrote about Bruce (one of his favorite subjects, too), my letter constituted the majority of his column. He identified me only as "a reader from Woodbury," but everyone who knew me, knew. This was my first "real" newspaper exposure, and it gave me the confidence to keep writing, keep submitting, keep believing. I have Bruce, again, to thank.
(I also thank DeLeon, who sent me a copy of the column signed, "Because you understand.")
Springsteen used to tell another story about how he made a pilgrimage to Graceland during Elvis's final years. When he got to the gate at 3 a.m., he saw that all the lights in the house was still on. "I said, "I gotta go see if he's home." So I climbed over the gate and started up the driveway," Bruce used to tell the intimate crowds that filled stadiums and arenas to hear his stories.
"And I was almost at the front door, getting ready to knock, when I see this guy looking at me from the trees.....I said, "Is Elvis here?" He said,no, he was in Lake Tahoe or something. Well, now I'm pullin' out all the cheap shots I can think, you know, I was on "Time," I play guitar, Elvis is my hero, all the things I never said to anybody, because I figure I gotta get a message through."
The guard at Graceland was unimpressed. "He just said, "Yeah, sure. Why don't you let me walk you down to the gate. You gotta get out of here." He thought I was just another crazy fan, which I was."
This year, which has probably been as jam-packed with Bruce news as any in recent memory, Springsteen took his place among the likes of Elvis and the other heroes of rock and roll. The Jersey guy who scaled the walls of Graceland has become an insider, an icon, a hero, with fans as devout as those who make the pilgrimage to Memphis. The King is dead; long live the Boss.
And that is the difference, really. Elvis and all the other rock icons of old seemed to be royalty - untouchable, people to be worship. But Bruce is no royal; he's the boss, and a working boss at that. He's one of us, he tells our story, because after all we are all family -
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