WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. -- For a guy who dropped out of community college, Bruce Springsteen sure has become a big man on campus.
Especially here, this weekend, at Monmouth
University, located five miles up the road from the seaside town made
famous by the legendary rock 'n' roll singer's first album, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.
A four-day symposium on Springsteen's life and music wraps up today
with a tour of his favorite stomping grounds along the Jersey Shore.
Yes,
the 165 symposium participants, who flew in from as far away as
Australia, qualify as hard-core fans. Yes, the program included concerts
at The Stone Pony -- the stage, locals say, that Springsteen has played
more than anywhere else. (And no, Springsteen, who turns 63 this month,
didn't show. Through his publicist, he declined to comment for this
story.)
Attendees hoping for personal tales
got them. Peter Ames Carlin read stories from his forthcoming biography
of Springsteen. Mike Appel, Springsteen's former manager, spoke on the
making of Born to Run. But at its core, the symposium was an
educational event, designed to showcase the "wide, diverse body of
faculty who have found ways to relate Springsteen -- his lyrics, his
performances, his impact -- to the academic arena," says conference
coordinator Mark Bernhard, 45, an associate provost at the University of
Southern Indiana in Evansville.
And so,
there were papers on religion, politics, sociology, business, literature
-- every discipline, it seems, but math. Springsteen's latest album, Wrecking Ball, a sometimes angry commentary on corporate greed and economic injustice, was the focus of at least a dozen papers.
Archives and essays
It
has been a banner year for scholars of The Boss. In March, an academic
press published a collection of essays co-edited by Bernhard. In
January, Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio opened the doors of a
Springsteen archive affiliated with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and
Museum in Cleveland. Monmouth, which recently acquired more than 15,000
Springsteen documents, had an open house Friday. At this conference,
there's talk of creating an online academic journal.
Not
long ago, Williams College professor Steve Fein says, students would
"laugh at the mention of Bruce," but as more of today's younger bands,
including The Gaslight Anthem and Arcade Fire, laud Springsteen, his
"coolness factor has increased."
College of
New Jersey sophomore Craig Ismaili, 19, says views on Springsteen's
music fall into two categories among his peers: those who "just dismiss
it because their parents liked it" and those, like him, who see cultural
relevance in the album The Rising, Springsteen's response to 9/11.
"I can actually remember listening to that song. I was 10 years old," Ismaili says. "He's transcendent."
A 'Priest' of rock 'n' roll
Father Kevin Keelen, a Catholic priest and friend of the Springsteen
family, attempted to answer a looming question in opening remarks: Why
is his audience so compelled not only to study the man and his music,
but share it in their scholarship and classrooms?
"Like
nothing else in life, music transports us more than any sermon or
lecture you could do," he told them. Springsteen "is a priest, and a
priest brings people together."
USA Today