Bruce Springsteen "4th Of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)"

I always thought Bruce did a great job of capturing a certain melancholy feeling about the 4th Of July from the perspective of a young adolescent male.

When you're a kid, Independence Day is about parades and fireworks and your nascent understanding of patriotism.  It's hot and fun and loud and great.

When you're an adult, you enjoy those things too, but you also have a fully developed sense of what Independence Day means to you, which may or may not involve a mixture of pride, respect, sadness of loss, wonder or gratefulness.  You may just be eating a hot dog, but its likely to be a reflective hot dog.

But when you're a young man, you're too old for parades, and too young and stupid to fully embrace the emotional weight and/or complexities of the day.  You experience the day in that self-absorbed way that young men experience, well, most things.

The 4th Of July is kind of like a summertime New Year's Eve.  It never lives up to the hype.  You never have as much fun as you think you are going to have.  Sitting and watching fireworks just makes you feel a little bit lonely, especially when you start thinking about that waitress you were seeing.  The whole night feels like time is running out.  And if you do meet a girl, something about the whole thing smacks of desperation . . .

Bruce paints this picture quite vividly.

Happy 4th!


Hear the song on Youtube.

Elvis Costello "Indoor Fireworks"

I think at this point, the truth can be told.

Probably my least favorite gig in radio, is covering fireworks.

I mean, c'mon, is there anything less designed to be broadcast on radio? 

(Go ahead and pause for a moment, because I know you want to top me with answers like: Staring Contest, Mime Olympics, Golf)

And yet, every year the stations I have worked for have been involved in local fireworks.  And that has required a DJ (me), to be on-site broadcasting live.

A fireworks event is a big game of hurry up and wait.

The event holders want to get the fireworks going as soon as possible.

But they have to wait for the sunset.

And they have to make sure the winds are right. 

And the technicians are in position.

And the safety checks have been performed.

And the fire department is ready.

And . . . and . . . and . . . I'm sure load of other important things.

All the while, they keep telling me, "We're almost ready to go.  Make sure they are ready back at the station.  Are you ready?  Really ready to go?  Because we're going in a minute.  As soon as everybody's ready.  Are you ready?"

This goes on for 30 to 45 minutes.

In the meantime, as the DJ in the field, I am speaking by phone with the radio station.

Back at the radio station, someone (often Alison) is playing CD after CD waiting for the event to start.  When they're ready---really ready---she'll play the coordinated "Fireworks Soundtrack" that has been designed by the fireworks company to match the display.  In the meantime, she's playing relevant tracks, picked by me.

Like "Fourth Of July" by Dave Alvin.  Or "Independence Day" by Bruce Springsteen.

"Are you ready to go?"

Yes, I say.

"Really ready?"

Yes, I say.

"Okay.  So are we.  Tell them to start."

Wait!

Alison is playing "Indoor Fireworks."  She's not just going to stop the song in the middle.  Let's wait for it to end.

"How much longer?"

I dunno.  It's almost over, I think.

"Are they ready back at the station?"

Yes.

"Is it almost over now?"

It doesn't seem like it.

"How long IS this song?"

At this moment, it feels like it's about 4 hours long.

"Is it going to end soon?"

I'm sure it will.

"We're waiting on you guys."

Yes, I know.

"We're ready."

Yes, I know.

"'Indoor Fireworks.'  He just keeps saying that."

Almost over.

"Is this it?  Is that the end?"

That's it.

"Are we ready?"

Let do this.

"GIVE ME THE COUNTDOWN!"

And from there, radio listeners can enjoy a half-hour of "The 1812 Overture" with the distant faint popping sounds of what probably are some spectacular fireworks, if you could somehow only see them on an audio system.


Hear the song on Youtube.

Schoolhouse Rocks "Fireworks"

When my wife and I first became parents, we did a lot of reading to prepare ourselves.

Maybe too much reading.

There are lots of horrible, scary things to be horribly scared about, as parents.

One bit of advice for parents-to-be:  Don't read "What To Expect When You're Expecting" from front to back.  Just use it like a reference book, and look up stuff as you have question.  If you read the full laundry list of everything that can go wrong, about every possible orifice that can ooze fluid from, about every disease you and your baby might possibly have, you'll lose your f-n mind.

We read a lot about TV, and TV consumption by kids.

Most research says to limit your child's TV time.  Some suggest that an hour of TV is too much.  Others say that any kid until 2 years old should not watch any television whatsoever, for fear of warping their small brains.

So early on, we didn't even have the TV on, if the kid was awake.

But slowly, slowly, we started letting her watch.  And when the 2nd kid arrived, we were much looser about the whole thing.

The turning point for me, was when my daughter would start telling me about the things she learned on PBS.  Having a 3 year old explain to you what a herbivore is or what nocturnal means, did make me thing that her mind was not shut off when she was watching a show.

And I thought about my own childhood.

I can still recite the entire Preamble to the Constitution. 

How?  Not because of something I learned in a classroom.  I learned it from Schoolhouse Rocks.

They set the Preamble to music, and even today, I can still sing the whole thing.

I first learned that a noun is "a person place or thing" from Schoolhouse Rocks.  And I knew exactly what qualified as an interjection from their song on the subject.

So when I was thinking of a song to post for the 4th of July, I thought this one would be good.

Names like Phillip Livingston and Roger Sherman may not have otherwise crossed your lips today, but it's good to remember some of the details that make up Independence Day.

Happy 4th!


Hear the song on Youtube.

Dave Alvin "4th Of July"

What with the holiday specificity of this track, you'd think it would be more popular at this time of year, but you don't really hear this one around, do you?


See the video on Youtube.