sweetcharmedlife
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A "TRANSFORMATIVE JOURNALIST" -- AND BRUCE FAN -- PASSES ON I'm still shocked by the news of Tim Russert's death yesterday; as a Sunday morning is about to dawn without the esteemed Meet the Press moderator there to be part of the day, I feel like a word here is in order. Well known to be a huge Springsteen fan (along with his NBC compatriot Brian Williams), Russert told Jon Friedman in a 2007 interview that his "dream 'get'" for an interview was none other than Bruce: "I'm very intrigued by him," Russert said. "He has a real understanding of the political dialogue, of faith and life in urban America." Russert already has a connection to "the Boss." "I booked concerts for John Carroll [University] in Cleveland," Russert recalled. "We paid $2,500 to book him on a Tuesday night in February 1974." Aside from the indelible mental snapshot of seeing a brilliant performer 18 months before he made it big, Russert cherishes the memory for a more practical reason: "I made enough money to pay for my second year of law school." He said he told Springsteen the story once when he ran into him at a New York City restaurant. Springsteen laughed and said, "That sounds like one of my songs."... I asked Russert if he had reached out to Springsteen to request an interview. He shook his head, as if he was unworthy of the meeting. It was reassuring to see that even Tim "No Surrender" Russert, the scourge of Washington, could act a little overwhelmed by someone. Also check out this New York Times blog entry about Bruce's September 2007 Today show performance, when Russert remarked, "I'm just an opening act for the Boss today," and Bruce gave a shout-out to the newsman's haircut. Russert was married to Maureen Orth, author of the famous 1975 Newsweek cover story on Springsteen, "Making of a Rock Star." Our sympathies are with her and their familiy. Yesterday, Tom Brokaw called Russert "one of the premiere political analyists and journalists of his time." Walter Cronkite wrote: "a giant in our field -- a standard-bearer of journalistic integrity and ethics." Carl Bernstein: "Tim Russert was a transformative journalist." And yet -- maybe just from knowing how "Born to Run" got his heart pumping, too -- he also felt like one of us. Tim, you'll be missed. -June 14, 2008
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