“Bruce” - Chapters 6 & 7
In which I review Peter Ames Carlin’s Springsteen autobiography Bruce in tiny bites on Tumblr
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CHAPTER 6
The telling sentence in this chapter - covering the end of Steel Mill - is “Something other than an early adopter of feminist principles” describing Bruce’s early relationships. And I get it was a different time and I get that people have changed, but this definitely led up to his treatment of Lynn Goldsmith at Madison Square Garden and thinking that that was somehow okay to do. (This is something that bothered me at the time, and has always bothered me since, even though, again, people change and grow and realize they’ve done stupid shit.) I am struggling with this all hard right now as Carlin relates Springsteen’s less-than-stellar treatment of every woman he’s been involved with thus far in the book.
Patti shows up for the first time, at her auditions for the Bruce Springsteen Band. Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom, which I tried to go as one year for Halloween in high school, just based on those descriptions in the Marsh book, was even more fantastical (and wonderful). The christening of Southside Johnny.
CHAPTER 7
Diane Lozito and Mike Appel show up for the first time, and the Asbury race riots show up. I feel like the account of Appel is fair and balanced and I understand why Bruce defends Appel now, and why later in the book, an objective, informed observer like Garry Tallent does as well.
