Springsteen Edges Into the Future

In the 1988 Tunnel of Love concert, a palpable sense of change

I used to be a Valentine's Day resister: A Hallmark holiday, likely the holiday on which greeting card fortunes were built. Unless it was Mother's Day, of course. Neither were big holidays in our house growing up, because our dad always forgot, not even flowers. I mean, we were a family with my birthday in December, and my brother's in February. When he and I were kids, one year we were treated to a joint birthday party in January. And in later years, if we got our mother a present, there was always a chance she might not like it, and would say so. I bought her a book I thought she'd like for her 40th birthday (I was working in a bookstore part time) and she so resented it that she yelled and threw it out. I promised never to buy her another present again, and I didn't.

So, is this a great tie-in to posting my review of Bruce Springsteen's "Tunnel of Love" concert in 1988 from Nassau Coliseum, two days before Valentine’s Day? Maybe not. But it takes a lifetime to unlearn the bad habits…