Scheduled to start at 7:30 it did indeed start like clockwork at 8:30. Now in the old days, Bruce might have started before 8 because he wanted to finish by midnight. But he just can’t rock it for 4 hours straight anymore. Since I can’t either, let’s not get too caught up on this little point. The show was a solid 2:45 front to back. I should be so lucky.

Lets just get the awkward stuff out of the way up front so we can then concentrate on the fun. I saw E-Street first in Ohio in the ’70s and the last time was in Oakland for last year’s Magic tour. As far as I’m concerned they are the greatest rock & roll show band ever. They are consistently tight and just drive the music right through you. I’ve seen Bruce throw curves that would derail lesser bands and this one doesn’t miss a downbeat. They’re a sports car that can change direction between beats on the slightest of wrist flicks from Bruce. But tonight? Well, not so much. Maybe I’ve never seen a tour kick-off show before, but there were a couple of cringeworthy moments tonight. Particularly in the transitions. Clarence headed off into the next song very prematurely at one point drawing a laugh of disbelief from Bruce, and a few other transitions were muddled at best. I guess they stand out precisely because they were so unexpected. At one point Bruce made a joke about thanking the crowd for letting them test on us, or some such thing.

The local papers here, according to knowledgeable fellow pit denizens prior to the show, had said Patti Scialfa wasn’t doing this tour for whatever reason. I was shocked at this, having not picked that up before. But probably not as shocked as she was when she a short time later found herself onstage with guitar in hand. And all the other expected boys and girls were there too.

So enough of that. You folks in Austin or Tulsa probably won’t notice a thing by the time they get to your town. Its hard to imagine the boat not righting itself immediately.

Pete over at Blogness on the Edge of Town has the set list for you if you want to see it. It came pretty close to the one I saw for the final rehearsal shows in Asbury Park. I thought I remembered that he had led with Thunder Road there, and I happily impressed my new pit friends with this knowledge prior to the show. I even loaded up the tweet ready to send as soon as they hit the first note. Unfortunately, by the second note I realized they were starting Badlands. I then decided that bandwidth was a problem in the arena and just put the iPhone back in my pocket and just lost myself to the show.

And despite the the notes above, it was a fantastically fun show. He did most of my favorites from the new album (excepting the weirdly infatuating Queen of the Supermarket), and several from Magic. Strewn in were a lot of big crowd pleasers–Born to Run, Thunder Road, Tenth Avenue Freezeout, Dancing in the Dark, etc. He even gathered a pile of song request signs from the crowd and did a couple of those-Growing Up and Waitin’ On a Sunny Day. they may have already been in the playlist–hard to tell. The highlight of the night for me was Seeds, a song from (I’m guessing) the ’70s that I haven’t heard Bruce sing for more than 20 years in a show. Its a story of a down and out guy who moves his family to Houston to make oil-worker-money only to have the oil collapse leave him living on the streets. Remember back when we had that oil collapse thing? Well, it was sort of like now except then it was only oil, whereas now it is everything. So, a perfect time to dust this one off and they rocked it. Starting with a driving Nils guitar intro, it included Bruce’s best guitar solo of the night and maybe his strongest, most desperate vocals.

Many of my fellow pit folk didn’t even know the song. Its on Live ‘75-’85. Go get a copy. This one song would probably have been enough to make this all worthwhile. But come on. It was Bruce. It rocked all night.

When it comes to Bruce, its not really a love him/hate him thing. Its more of a worship him/just like him thing. Who hates Bruce? For those of us that fall closer to (ok, squarely on) the worship side, his shows are like no other. They heal the sick, feed the needy, save marriages (well, not mine, but other people’s) and turn water into wine. I know. I’m understating this a bit. This show for me was just another in a long line of rock & roll ecstasy, a nearly 3 hour orgasm of rockin’ rebellion. There is nothing comparable.

Now who has extra tickets for any of the shows within easy flights of San Francisco? I’ll buy the beers and stay back and clean up the venue afterwards. Twitter me @lostinafog .

My favorite quote from the letter:

Sometimes a law is just on its face and unjust in its application. For instance, I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an ordinance becomes unjust when it is used to maintain segregation and to deny citizens the First-Amendment privilege of peaceful assembly and protest.

I hope you are able to see the distinction I am trying to point out. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.

Celebrate the day by gaining a bit of context about Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement of his day. Then, regardless of your politics, celebrate tomorrow the nonviolent transition of power in a free country, the ascension of a black man to the Presidency and what that can mean. Surely we can wait until Wednesday before we start attacking each other again…

When four of Santa’s elves got sick, the traineee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, heaven knows where.

Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to he cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor.

He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel said very cheerfully, “Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn’t this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?”

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas All!

So perhaps a little perspective is called for on this election versus the last two. Obama’s margin in the popular vote last night was nearly three times greater than the combined popular vote spread in Bush’s 2000 and 2004 wins. Obama’s electoral vote spread (lets assume North Carolina goes to Obama and Missouri to McCain, though neither are assured at the moment), is nearly 5 times greater than Bush’s from 2 elections.

[Real numbers to substantiate: in 2000 Bush lost the popular vote by 540K votes, and in 2004 won it by 3012K votes. As of this moment, Obama is up by 7333K. Bush won in 2000 by 271-266 and in 2004 by 286-252, a margin of 39 total electoral votes. As of now (with NC and MO caveats above) Obama won by 364-190.]

Here are some quotes from conservative commentators following the 2004 election:

Having restored decency to the White House, President Bush now has a mandate to affect policy that will promote a more decent society, through both politics and law. His supporters want that, and have given him a mandate in their popular and electoral votes to see to it. Now is the time to begin our long, national cultural renewal (”The Great Relearning,” as novelist Tom Wolfe calls it) — no less in legislation than in federal court appointments. It is, after all, the main reason George W. Bush was reelected.
–William J Bennett in National Review

So the lawyers didn’t decide this election after all. The voters did–including millions of conservative first-timers whom the exit polls and media missed–emerging from the pews and exurban driveways to give President Bush what by any measure is a decisive mandate for a second term.

Never mind the closeness of the electoral vote, this time Mr. Bush easily won the popular vote, the first President to win more than 50% since his father in 1988. The Republican gains in both Houses of Congress mean Mr. Bush also had coattails, unlike Nixon in 1972 and even Reagan in 1984.

…Above all, we think Mr. Bush can claim a mandate on his handling of the war on terror. … We won’t know for years whether this really was “the most important election in our lifetime,” as John Kerry so often said. We do already know, however, that Mr. Bush has been given the kind of mandate that few politicians are ever fortunate enough to receive.

–The Wall Street Journal

I don’t suggest that President Obama should follow President Bush’s example and push a strictly partisan agenda. Certainly if the country understood in 2004 what we only learned later about extraordinary renditions, torture, illegal wiretapping of US citizens, etc., the 2004 election would have been decided differently.

I hope President Obama will seek to govern from a centrist position. If nothing else, even his detractors must admit that he showed again and again in his campaign the willingness to engage thoughtfully with those who disagree with him. He will make mistakes and he will have victories. I will disagree with him, no doubt, on a myriad of issues. But I support wholeheartedly his uniting vision for leadership of this country and the world.

Will we see a Mavericky call by Senator McCain and Governor Palin for this convicted criminal to resign his Senate post immediately?[EDITORS ADDITION: McCain did indeed publicly call for Stevens to resign. Its good to see there is still a sense of what is right left in McCain after a campaign that I can only believe he will look back on with nothing but regret. Governor Palin voiced regret for Stevens and Alaska, but made no similar call for him to step down. Hopefully the voters in Alaska will do the right thing.]

Next up is Stevens’ Alaska congressional pal Don Young. I guess Palin’s unethical abuse of power for personal revenge is small league by comparison.

McCain has virtually given up (stopped spending ad dollars) on a handful of states now that they thought were givens early on–New Hampshire, Colorado (just yesterday), Wisconsin, Michigan, Maine, Minnesota. The campaign folks will deny it, but look at the $$. The math is beginning to work big time against him. The strategy at the present seems to be to throw everything at Pennsylvania in the hopes of showing some momentum change. But PA is virtually an impossibility for McCain, barring some external event (say Michelle Obama going on a shooting rampage in downtown Philly). For the first time in quite a while it appears that Obama will carry more registered dems than McCain does republicans. In PA that means that McCain needs to win the independents by something like 30%. Right now he is down by a big number in that category and it seems impossible for him to turn that around. So no chance in PA. Virginia is floating more Obama every day. Florida, Missouri and Ohio are close but leaning dem. For McCain to have a chance he has to win virtually everything that is still close to close. Doubtful.

The national numbers are ticking up again into double digit territory and the political junkies are starting to talk about a Reagan-like landslide. In the Reagan-Carter matchup, Reagan was ahead by a few points (5?) until about 3-4 days before the election when all the undecided floated his way and he won in a walk. It appears that Obama was in a similar spot a couple of days ago and the daily polling is showing the swing of the undecideds starting. If you want a daily poll reading between now and the election the best is fivethirtyeight.com — it is pure statistics wonderment!

And in case you miss the reference, 538 is the total number of electoral votes.