Product Description
Based on three years of ethnographic research with Bruce Springsteen fans, and informed by the author's own experiences as a fan, Tramps Like Us is an interdisciplinary study of the ways in which ordinary people form special, sustained attachments to Springsteen and his music and how those attachments function in people's daily lives. An insider's narrative about Springsteen fans--who they are, what they do, and why they do it--this book also explores the phenomenon of fandom in general. The text oscillates between fans' stories and ideas and the author's own anecdotes, commentary, and analysis. Cavicchi challenges the stereotypes of fans as obsessive, delusional, and even mentally ill, and explores fandom as a normal cultural and social phenomenon. He argues that music fandom is a useful and meaningful behavior that enables people to shape identity, create community, and make sense of the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

They All Listen To The Same Boss
If you judge the book by its cover, it looks like a Bruce book. This isn't a book about Bruce Springsteen, nor is it about specific Bruce fans MORE than it is an academic study of people who all like the same artist. It's technical, scientific, and just happens to use specifically-Springsteen fans as the control group.

I believe Bruce was used because his following happens to be notoriously massive, including several generations. This is probably because his music often centers around middle class life.

Several issues:

+ Conversion of a fan - when a person has not always been fond of an artist but turns into a fan. Religious comparisons included.

+ The live experience - what kinds of physical things typically happen, and interviews of psyched concert-goers

+ Community - friendships formed based on fandom, internet communication, etc

+ Participation - things fans outwardly do/behavior study

Now, it's all based on fans of the same subject, so there is a constant reference to Bruce. The people are talking about Bruce - but THEY are the subject of the book.

Know that, before you decide whether or not you want it. I adore these kinds of studies and happen to love Bruce, too - so naturally, I dug this book. But if you're looking for Bruce-specific information, grab something like his Rolling Stone interviews collection.

"In the end, while fans' feelings may fluctuate, connecting with Springsteen means that he becomes a part of each fan, a continuing presence to which they may turn again and again. On the whole, fandom is not some particular thing one has or does. Fandom is a process of being; it is the way one is." --Daniel Cavicchi, the author

I no longer have to write an autobiograpy
The book arrived from amazon yesterday and I never put it down. Having been a Bruce Springsteen fanfor the last 15 years it was uncanny reading. I could relate to almost every aspect of this work as if the author wasdescribing me. The experiance of being a Bruce Springsteen fan has neverbeen easy to relate to people, I no longer have to, I will just lend themthe book. Being a New Zealander it has been a mammoth excercise keeping upwith Bruce Springsteen, seeing shows, waiting for albums and the like, weare just so far away, but this book showed me that the experiance of beinga fan is the same world-wide. Imagine a book which describes you and yourexperiances and passions so well that you begin to wonder if someone hasbeen following you for the last two decades taking notes...freaky.

Like TRACKS, this is one for the real fans.
This book came to me as a gift from a friend who knew of my fanaticism for the Boss's music.It is part scholarship and part testimonial, written in the style of the best New Yorker journalism:not quite high brow but a cutabove ROLLING STONE et al.It's just great to know that there are deep andabiding tramps like us who can publish a book that talks the talk of oneswho have walked the walk, from Asbury Park to L.A. . . . and back again. And now that Bruce & the Band are going to hit the road again, this isJUST the book to prepare for a summer of staying in line for tickets . . .as long as it takes.If you love the Boss and you love good writing,you'll love this book.Thanks Bunny!m.d. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Best Springsteen book
I have read more than 80 books related to Bruce Springsteen and this is by far the best overall book. I have read both of June Skinner Sawyers other books about Bruce and they are excellent insights into the music. This particular book gives a great overview of his life, his music, and his career. I consider this a must-have for any die hard fan and great for any casual fan. ... Read more

Product Description
Essays. "This book is about perspectives, in many wayschallenging stereotypical views of working-class culture and art withthe authentic accounts of those who live and work there... Theconflict between what is said and what we know, what we hear about ourculture and what we experience creates a tension that many seek toremedy through expression. We found the prime motivator of mostworking-class writing is the drive to bridge the perceptual gap withthe truth" (from the Introduction). ... Read more

Product Description
When Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass in 1855, he dreamed of inspiring a race of singers" who would celebrate the working class and realize the promise of American democracy. By examining how singers such as Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen both embraced and reconfigured Whitman's vision, Bryan Garman shows that Whitman succeeded. In doing so, Garman celebrates the triumphs yet also exposes the limitations of Whitman's legacy.

While Whitman's verse propounded notions of sexual freedom and renounced the competitiveness of capitalism, it also safeguarded the interests of the white workingman, often at the expense of women and people of color. Garman describes how each of Whitman's successors adopted the mantle of the working-class hero while adapting the role to his own generation's concerns: Guthrie condemned racism in the 1930s, Dylan addressed race and war in the 1960s, and Springsteen explored sexism, racism, and homophobia in the 1980s and 1990s.

But as Garman points out, even the Boss, like his forebears, tends to represent solidarity in terms of white male bonding and homosocial allegiance. We can hear America singing in the voices of these artists, Garman says, but it is still the song of a white, male America. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Stimulating, Challenging, Fascinating and Important
This is a superb book. Its very well written and exceptionally well researched and thought through. Anyone who's interested in the work of Springsteen, Guthrie and Whitman or the liberatory potential of popular culture will find this book fascinating. I read it like a thriller - staying up all night.

Garman works from a rigorously principled political position which leads him to be very even handed in his assesment of the achievments and failures of the subjects of his study. This is no hagiography but it also has none of the self righteous contempt for the popular that infects so much cultural studies.

This is exemplary work.

Expanding popular music horizons
Bryan Garman's book provides an indepth study of those singer-songwriters who, according to the author, follow in Whitman's footsteps. He analyzes Woody Guthrie and Springsteen's work thoroughly. The consideration of Guthrie's "hurt song" is fascinating.The author also makes a good case for expanding our horizons beyond the white male heterosexual dominant order. I was rather taken aback to learn that some of my old favorite English folk club singalong songs smacked of homoeroticism. In particular, we are told that Tom Paxton's "Rambling Boy" is "a love song that contains and expresses a homoeroticism that permeated the work of socially engaged artists from Whitman to Traubel, Hughes to Guthrie" (p 159). Gosh, I wonder what Paxton would say about that! I agree with Mr. Garman, however, that much of this New Left rhetoric marginalizes women. That is why folks like Ani Di Franco seem far more engaging and even revolutionary than Springsteen. A Race of Singers has proved an invaluable book for me as I prepare my PhD dissertation at a Spanish university. I recommend it to anyone studying contemporary folk music and its place in recent history.

Very well written
Garman's analysis of Springsteen, Dylan, Guthrie, and Whitman is very provocative. Especially his insights into Springsteen and the way in which his music played off against (or was interpreted as being in sync with) Reagan's politics, and pop culture in the 80s, such as Rambo. Definitely a worthwhile read for someone who considers her or himself a fan of any of the aforementioned singers, or someone interested in an in-depth analysis of the politics of these singers.

New Academic Insight on Springsteen
As a cultural figure of the late 20th century Bruce Springsteen has long been admired as well as the object of derision in some circles.Garman's work places Springsteen in a context far removed from the fickle nature of fame.By linking Springsteen with Guthrie and with Whitman Garman allows us to appreciate Springsteen as far more than his icon status as "the boss", but rather as the latest in a long line of cultural critics who allow us to "hold a mirror up to nature" as Shakespeare had Hamlet say long ago. Garman's book is not just for an admirer of Springsteen, but also for anyone with an appreciation for social commentary and its long rich history in the US. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Daydreamer to Rock Star
Dave Marsh's biography tells the story of how Bruce Springsteen went from daydreaming of being just like Elvis, to Rock 'N' Roll icon. Marsh painstakingly details Bruce's rise from obscurity to his peak in the musicworld. Sometimes preachy, sometimes succumbing to information overload,Marsh writes from the subjective viewpoint of a true believer. Essentialreading for any Springsteen fan. ... Read more

Product Description

Bruce Springsteen grew from a dishevelled, bearded singer of youthful street ballads to become the hottest name in the rock world - twice. The resilience of the New Jersey troubadour has seen him top the album charts in four successive decades, and his epic world tours with the legendarily hard-working E Street Band are still sell-outs well into the new millennium.

Product Description
Book for The World Tour 1984-85, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Born in the U.S.A. ... Read more

Product Description
Arranged for Guitar Tablature & Standard Notation, With Lyrics, Chord Names & Chord Frames. Matching songbook to the acclaimed 2006 recording. Also includes color photos andseparate lyric pages. The Seeger Sessions' features Bruce's personal interpretations of thirteen traditional songs, all of them associated with the legendary guiding light of American folk music, Pete Seeger, for whom the album is named.Contents: Old Dan Tucker, Jesse James, Mrs. McGrath, O Mary Don't You Weep, John Henry, Erie Canal, Jacob's Ladder, My Oklahoma Home, Eyes On The Prize, Shenandoah, Pay Me My Money Down, We Shall Overcome, Froggie Went A Courtin' ... Read more

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33 page book of Bruce Springsteen & The E street band's live performances/1975-85. Colored and Black and White Photos, Lyrics to many of Bruce's songs. A must for any collector ... Read more

Product Description
Bruce Springsteen's melancholy "Meeting Across theRiver," a song rarely performed but beloved by his countless fans,serves as the inspiration for this eclectic mix of short storieswritten by an array of acclaimed authors.

"Meeting Across the River," from Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run album, is asong with an evocative melody and lyrics that unfold like a noir fable: aman down on his luck but desperate to make things right with his girl tellshis buddy, Eddie, that they have to get across the river for a last-chancemeeting with someone, all in the hopes of a big score: two grand. With thatmoney, our hero can win back his girl and all will be right with theworld-but if he and Eddie screw up, the consequences will be grave. Authorsincluding Eric Garcia, C. J. Box, Barbara Seranella, David Corbett, GreggHurwitz, and Steve Hamilton, among others, have written imaginative,heartbreaking, funny, and bold stories based on this classic American storyof hope and despair, each a surprisingly different experiment with characterand plot. For as familiar as this story is, Springsteen's spare lyrics leavemuch unsaid. How these authors fill in the absences is what makes thiscollection, published a month before the thirtieth anniversary of therelease of Springsteen's Born to Run, such an unusual treasure, provingthat, just as with music, in literature no two performances are alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An original and engaging collection of stories!
While I like the Boss, I'm not actually a fan, so I was somewhat reluctant when a friend recommended this collection. I can't say how delighted and surprised I was by the stories. Although all inspired by the same song, the yarns were vastly different -- some comedic, others very intense. Eddie Muller's "Last Call" and Eric Garcia's "Meeting Across The River" were particularly compelling. A quick, memorable read, heartily endorsed!

Incredibly creative concept!
I have to say - I'm a Springsteen fan to begin with, but this has to be one of the most creative ideas I've ever seen anyone come up with. To take a song by someone so loved and invite so many different creative minds to elaborate on what they believe happened - I'm in awe of you all and I'd love to read more collections like this based on other such loved songs! More please! ... Read more

Product Description
A MUST HAVE FOR KIEFER SUTHERLAND, WHO, PEARL JAM, SPRINGSTEEN, OR MADONNA FAN. ... Read more