Bruce wasn't drunk

A judge threw out the drunk driving charges against Bruce Springsteen. As it turns out, he did take a breath test at the Sandy Hook park ranger station, and he blew only a 0.02. In New Jersey these days, the legal limit is 0.08.

The park ranger dude who had made a thing out of the incident had alleged at one point that the rock icon was glassy-eyed, was unsteady on his feet, and did not correctly follow the instructions on the trap sobriety test. I guess none of that got anywhere in court; the government gave up its case. Bruce was fined $540 for drinking in a park.

When I am 71 years old, I will not be riding around on a motorcycle. I also will not be drinking tequila of any quantity just before operating a motor vehicle. Oh, and also, I am not Bruce Springsteen.

Now he can return to his elder statesman shtick. In addition to the Super Bowl Jeep commercial, which is back up on the 'net, he's in some kind of podcast with his BFF Barack Obama musing about this and that. It's not for my taste, but die-hard fans will no doubt enjoy.

Meanwhile, there is the arc of Springsteen's music, from teenagers making out at night by a lake, to a young man strutting around New York City, to a Vietnam vet wondering what the hell happened to him, to a cop letting his criminal brother get away, to watching a marriage crumble, to seeing yourself on a velvet painting in a junk store, to losing a loved one in a terrorist attack, to conducting a terrorist attack, to being broke and trying to find a place for your kids to sleep, to a dad watching young girls walk past, to a Black kid leaving home in the ghetto and trying out a new life out west, to an old man burying yet another friend. There's a lot there. For me, this is what will be.