Western ⭐️ Stars ⭐️

If Bruce was going to go through all the trouble of putting out a film for his great record ‘Western ⭐️ Stars ⭐️ then I sure as hell was going to go. So, we ordered tickets, and then I figured out that the movie was going to conflict with the Yankees game.

“Bruce or the Yankees,” Kathy said, with a laugh. “Your head might explode.”

We would be okay. We’d get home by the 2nd or 3rd inning.

Now, I love the record and know every word so the film was going to be good for me. Kathy has listened to the new record, but definitely not as many times as me...

...but she loves Bruce too.

I didn’t know what to expect other than the playing of the songs, but I knew it would be beautiful, and it was.

Great scenery.

Bruce telling us why he wrote what he wrote and of course, wisdom.

None of us get through unscathed.

It’s a theme of the record.

And sometimes we try to change, and sometimes we just live with it, and accept it, but it’s all about getting up and continuing.

Somehow.

“I woke up this morning, still glad my boots were on.”

I was waiting for the intro to the song that wrecks me, ‘Moonlight Motel.’

I had interpreted it perfectly.

Bruce made the point by giving us a glimpse into his life a long time ago. He’s there, with Patti, some beer, a bottle of tequila and the much younger versions of themselves as they laugh and kiss and mug for the camera...

...cut to the two of them...

...30-some years later.

Still the same people.

A little worn.

But their boots still on.

And they’re still singing.

Like everything else he does, Western Stars is about love, faith, and spitting in the face of the Badlands.

So, I was mesmerized.

And by midnight, the Yankees had been beat.

8 hours after that I played my last round of golf in 2019 (played great).

10 hours after that I was in a hot tub in Kansas.

Soaking my aching back.

Living a life.

Bruce ended the film with that message.

“Live a good life.”

“Find the love.”

“Fight through the pain.”

Beautiful.