Flashback Friday 35: Sarfraz Manzoor, This One's For You

You know, you just start up the 2nd generation of your blog, you start posting, and in one of those posts you write about a book you own about a Pakistani guy who has his life altered by the music of Bruce Springsteen but haven't read it yet (but you want to except you are also a piddling lazy ass), but then you get the flu and you ignore the blog for a few days, and in the interim, the author of said book comments you back, imploring you to get off your lazy ass and read his well-crafted work.

Well, Sarfraz Bhai, you probably weren't expecting it, but you just got yourself roped into a Flashback Friday. A shukria to you for helping me figure out what the hell I was going to post this week, because my flu-addled brain was at a complete and utter loss.

Lo, behold:

Bruce Springsteen - Dancing In The Dark

Yeah, I think this pick is pretty much obvious. It's an awesome song. It's got Bruce. It's got a vat-load of white man dance moves. It's got an unsuited Max Weinberg on drums, way before Conan found him. I think it's got Silvio Dante lurking the shadows somewhere, but I can't spot him (can you?). And it's got Courtney Cox, back when she was a hot midwestern-looking pixie who didn't speak but just got pulled onto stages and just danced the white girl dance and then smoothly faded to black. And I'm wondering: who was her agent? Because without her 20 seconds at the end of this video, would she have been commanding $1 million plus on Friends? Would she even be an extra on Friends?* You gotta ponder. Such is the power of The Boss.

Bruce Springsteen - Brilliant Disguise

Obviously Bruce decided to become more serious once we hit junior high. No more adrenaline-pumped concert videos or misinterpreted national anthems that really talk about the plight of Vietnam vets of our elementary years. New Bruce was mellow. Scaled back. No angular star of the Scream series in sight. This was the Bruce that could do an entire studio video in one shot, 3 years before Sinéad stared blankly at a screen for 5 straight minutes. Talking about disguises and tunnels of love and all that. This album may not have been the most engaging for a kid in his teens, but I appreciate it a lot more now. Maybe that's because I'm now in that whole "adult contemporary" demographic. Hell, I don't even understand VH1 anymore.

In any case, to all of you, have a great weekend. My weekend is going to encompass me lying on my couch and drinking chicken noodle soup (note: I really hate chicken noodle soup at this juncture, although I still won't complain about lying on my couch).

And maybe, while I'm doing nothing besides staring at the wall, I'll go ahead and actually read a book. Because sometimes I'd like to think of myself as being spontaneous and productive. Right? No?

Cue crickets.

* No offense to anyone who is a rabid fan of Courtney Cox, "Friends", or white girl dance moves