A Fine Night In Pittsburgh

The filly beat a couple of mudders in District 4 and an independent voice discarded a marionette in District 6, ensuring that Mayor Ravenstahl and his boy-band administration will have a bit more adult supervision. Democrats nominated just one unqualified candidate for county judge (note to the stunned: magisterial district justices could call themselves Exalted Intergalactical Jurisprudential Omnipotences if they wished, and I still would not consider them "judges," so I am not referring to Jim Motznik here). Perhaps more striking, they nominated the best candidate in the field and refrained from nominating the worst. What were the odds on that? (Actually, they were listed in the righmost column.)

The evening's biggest source of optimism -- and realism, and morality, and insight, and beauty, and joy, and all-round earthquaking, Burgh-shaking, history-making, heart-stopping, pants-dropping rock-and-roll redemption -- was the revival show conducted by Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band at the Promised Land into which the arena was transformed tonight.

Thunder Road, Darkness On The Edge Of Town, Good Lovin', Youngstown, Candy's Room, I'm On Fire, Jackson Cage and the first-ever E Street edition of Like A Rolling Stone were the rare treats for Pittsburgh. Two Grusheckys were aboard for two songs (check those tickets), Glory Days and Mony Mony. Bruce damn near played Lost In The Flood, too, lingering over a sign before choosing Darkness On The Edge Of Town.

Far too many tours ignore Western Pennsylvania these days, but Bruce never overlooks us. If you enjoyed the show, why not sent 20 bucks to Just Harvest or Rainbow Kitchen? Bruce has been walking the walk and talking the talk on hunger in our region for 25 years, and he has been maintaining relatively low ticket prices, too.