Sunday, January 25, 2009

A Springsteen throwdown

I feel a little bit like Beethoven today (and some of you thought I would never reference classical music!) My audio is temporarily out so I'm, well, deaf to what's going on with my computer. And that's too bad, because an old friend and colleague has issued a throwdown to Bruce Springsteen that requires at least one good ear. Damnit, Ludwig, what would you do in this situation???

Charles Walston, whom I worked with at newspapers in St. Petersburg and Atlanta, fronts the band Bourbon Dynasty in the D.C. area, and the group released the song "Girl in the Checkout Line'' on its self-titled 2006 album. Now that the Boss has "Queen of the Supermarket'' on his new album, B.D. has issued this bold challenge: Which song is better?

They dare take on Springsteen??!! It's not like they'll be appearing onstage during the Super Bowl halftime show.


If you're just comparing video, Bourbon Dynasty wins hands down. I mean, the girl in their video is yummy, even if she never gets to the checkout line. If I ran into women like that at Publix I'd become a serial shopper. And speaking of serial (actually, cereal) the guy standing standing there with a box of Fruit Loops (Chuck, is that really you?) missed a golden opportunity in that deserted supermarket aisle.

Check it out yourself and vote at http://www.bourbondynasty.com/ And by all means let me know what you think.

I lost track of Chuck after I left Atlanta, but was a huge fan of his alt-country band there, the Videlias. If you can't track down their exceptional debut CD, "Melodyland'' try this link: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=244004826


I'm not sure how Chuck, with possibly no formal music training and a background reporting on, among other things, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Georgia state capitol, wound up bagging journalism to do what he really loves -- and having some measurable success. But I aim to find out.

2 comments:

  1. Tough call for me on this one. Chuck's a good friend -- and fine musician, to boot. Bruce is on the Mount Rushmore of rock 'n' roll, first in line, an amalgam of all things good about the genre.
    If they do throw down, here's hoping both emerge unscathed.

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  2. Am I the only person who thinks Springsteen is incredibly overrated? Like some of his early stuff, indifferent on most of his mainstream stuff and just get the sense he's mailing it in at this point. Heard his latest radio release last month (name escapes me) and thought it was pretty weak.

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