Parts Catalog Accessories Catalog How To Articles Tech Forums
Call Pelican Parts at 888-280-7799
Shopping Cart Cart | Project List | Order Status | Help



Go Back   PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum > General Discussions > Off-Topic Discussion

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 02-14-2004, 09:35 PM
sfloriII's Avatar
Still pedaling...
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 1,614
Thumbs up Bruce Springsteen: Bringing Charity Back Home

I read this article today. I'm not a huge fan of his, but I really admire the charitble works he does.


"An Authentic Common Touch

Bruce Springsteen’s America: The People Listening, a Poet Singing (Random House, 2003) by Harvard professor Robert Coles, relates the rocker’s relevance to his audience in the first-person narratives of people from all walks of life.

Springsteen’s great appeal is based on his common touch, which fans perceive as authentic. Through a remarkable string of albums that includes Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, Nebraska, and Born in the U.S.A., Springsteen turned an increasingly compassionate eye on society’s downtrodden and regular folk such as Vietnam veterans and blue-collar men and women. “The Boss,” as he is known to fans, also manages to balance his albums with songs that celebrate life’s simple joys.

Significant Charitable Works

But while Springsteen’s artistic sympathies are well known, relatively few are aware of his significant charitable works. His acts of compassion are managed, for the most part, without fanfare, and are steered directly to those in need. And he’s been helping people for a long time. As Marsh describes in Two Hearts, Springsteen used his new-found fame and fortune during the 1984 Born in the U.S.A. tour to donate generously to food banks and pantries in the cities where he performed.

He has also performed in big charity concerts such as No Nukes, and at benefits for Amnesty International and for victims of 9/11. But lots of singers perform in these kinds of concerts. Sometimes such fundraising rubs a sheen of respectability on otherwise sullied reputations. Hip-hop impresario P. Diddy (Sean Combs) recently competed in the New York Marathon to help raise $2 million for his charity benefiting the children of New York City. That’s good public relations for a rap star seeking to find artistic legitimacy with a wider audience. But the fact remains that Combs and his music and film industry cohorts glamorize promiscuous and violent lifestyles without accepting responsibility for the inevitable outcomes of disease, unwanted pregnancies and death.

His Most Worthwhile Legacy

Much of the direct help that Springsteen offers the needy is consistent with the criteria laid out by Acton Institute senior fellow Marvin Olasky. In Effective Compassion: Seven Principles from a Century Ago, Olasky wrote: “Before developing a foundation project or contributing to a private charity, we should ask: ‘Does it work through families, neighbors, and religious or community organizations, or does it supersede them?’”

Springsteen limited his giving in the early 1980s to communities on his itinerary that had reputable mechanisms for distributing food and necessities to individuals needing temporary assistance. Some of his charitable works have helped individuals and groups in his home state of New Jersey, the state that served as inspiration for many of his better-known songs. He financed the building of the Newark Community Food Bank in the 1980s, and donated a reported $50,000 to replace the roof when it collapsed. He donated another $80,000 to help out union workers laid off from the 3M factories in Freehold. In the late 1990s, he gave more than $350,000 to provide home improvements for the needy in Monmouth County. The Newark Star-Ledger reported that $9,500 of that sum went to repair the home of a retiree confined to a wheelchair.

Recognition of the inherent dignity of all human persons is a theme of many of Springsteen’s songs. That sympathy colors his private charitable acts. Rather than succumb totally to the impulse to donate his talents and fortune to high-profile causes run by abstract bureaucracies, Springsteen told Kurt Loder in the 1980s: “I want to try and just work more directly with people; try to find some way [to] tie into the communities we come into.” Aside from a body of pop music rivaled only by the Beatles and Bob Dylan, this may be his most worthwhile legacy."


Bruce Walker writes about the arts from Birmingham, Mich.

(This article is a product of the Acton Institute — www.acton.org, 161 Ottawa NW, Suite 301, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 — and is reprinted with permission.)

__________________

Current:
2014 VW Tiguan SEL 4Motion 43,000 miles.

2016 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport (wife's).

Past:
2006 Jetta TDI 135,970 miles. Sold Nov. '13.
1995 E-320 Special Edition. 220,200 miles. Sold Sept. '07.
1987 190-E 16 valve. 153,000 miles. Sold Feb. '06.
1980 300-D 225,000 miles. Donated to the National Kidney Foundation.
1980 240-D manual, 297,500 miles. Totaled by inattentive driver.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-14-2004, 10:25 PM
2.5 TURBO
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Send me back to Atlanta
Posts: 876
I like ol Bruce

He sells out all of his concerts in Atlanta
__________________
2000 Ford 7.3 Powerstroke 4x4
2006 Mazda Tribute
1983 Black 300 D (donated to charity)
1993 Teal 300 D (160K) Sold
"I love the smell of burnt diesel fuel in the morning, it smells like ....VICTORY"

Semper Fidelis
USMC 1973-1976
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 02-14-2004, 11:51 PM
GRCBoca's Avatar
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Boca Raton FL
Posts: 177
That's why he's The Boss.

"...Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend
I want to guard your dreams and visions
Just wraps your legs 'round these velvet rims
And strap your hands across my engines ..."

Bruce Springsteen, "Born to Run", 1975

__________________
Learn as though you will live forever.
-Ancient Hindu Proverb
(Are there any modern ones?)

1998 E320 Blk\Blk
1995 BMW 530i (bad engine) sold
1989 BMW 535i sold after 170,000 fun miles
1996 Lincoln Town Car (6 passenger land barge, still smooth and quiet at 130,000 miles, make me an offer!)
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 02-15-2004, 07:54 AM
MedMech
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Bruce, is my all time #1 fav. We went to two of his shows last year and I will go to more when he tours again.

The Clash also shares 1st place.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 02-15-2004, 08:17 AM
MedMech
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Re: I like ol Bruce

Quote:
Originally posted by GA-W123 Diesel
He sells out all of his concerts in Atlanta
I think his last non-sellout anywhere was 1973, simply amazing.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 09-23-2009, 05:08 PM
Medmech's Avatar
Gone Waterboarding
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 117
Happy 60th Boss!!!
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 09-23-2009, 05:12 PM
Mistress's Avatar
No crying in baseball
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Inside a vortex
Posts: 626
I really like that guy....

__________________
"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On




All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:05 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2024 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Peach Parts or Pelican Parts Website -    DMCA Registered Agent Contact Page