Genetics

If it seems like I'm a raving lunatic with a camera and an obsession with famous people, I'd like to make a case in my defense. I'm blaming it on genetics. Case in point: my father, the Bruce Springsteen fanatic. No one knows more about Bruce and his years and years of music than my dad. I've learned not even to get him started. Don't ask him a question about a song unless you're prepared for a lengthy and thorough explanation, complete with quoted song lyrics and references to other songs, which you will also have to listen to. He just can't help it. He has so much information about Bruce crammed in his head that it occasionally has to come spilling out. And don't bother trying to walk away. He will follow you and continue talking, much the same way he did when I was nearing college age and he would follow me around the bookstore with giant books about college admissions. A particularly bad situation arises when he goes off on a Bruce tangent during a car ride. There is no escape. This situation has been made worse by the recent development of an All-Bruce-All-The-Time XM radio station called "E-Street Radio."

My dad went to his first Bruce Springsteen concert in 1984 and has been to 8 more since then. He has seen Bruce in five different cities in four states. He has planned trips around concerts and spent more time in New Jersey (Bruce's home state) than most of us would care to, trying to track down the Boss and all his old stomping grounds. Included in my pictures from a New York trip we took in 2001 are pictures of The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, and the Jersey Boardwalk. These are not typical detours for families visiting The Big Apple. In fact, most people don't consider crossing the water into Jersey at all, but it was part of our vacation, or rather, part of our continued Bruce education.

Don't get me wrong, I like a good Springsteen song as much as the next person, but my dad takes it to a whole other level. He's been chasing Bruce for 26 years as far as I can tell. That's before I was even born. My couple of years chasing Taylor around pales in comparison to devotion my dad has to Bruce's music. But you can see where I get it. I come by it honestly.

I have now been to 3 Springsteen concerts myself, second only to my 8 Taylor shows. The most fun part was watching my dad enjoy the show, although Bruce still knows how to rock it at the ripe old age of 60. My mom says the best part about going to a Taylor show with me is watching me enjoy it. As crazy as I think my dad is sometimes, I guess I can't deny I'm a little like him in this respect.