Bruce Springsteen and Mike Ness (of Social Distortion) with a rousing version of Social Distortion’s Bad Luck, April 16, 2009, Los Angeles, CA.

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band — Merry Christmas Baby, on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, December 12, 2002.

Hawaiian slack-key guitarist Makana didn’t exactly put his life on the line when he sang his protest song, “We are the Many,” to President Obama and other leaders at the Asian-Pacific Economic Conference dinner. But he did pull off a gutsy, well-meaning public relations coup on behalf of the global Occupy movement.

Bruce Springsteen – How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live

Christmas is a funny holiday. Pegged to the old pagan winter solstice celebrations, it’s on the calendar now as the time Jesus was born. For the record, if I’d been a Wise Man I’d of brought the baby Jesus a Howlin’ Wolf record.

Bruce Springsteen — Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, live at the Capitol Theater, Passaic, New Jersey, Sept. 20, 1978.

In a perfect embodiment of the vapidity of Glenn Beck’s tea party movement that is infesting the National Mall today, we see in this morning’s Washington Post that Bruce Springsteen’s iconic war protest song “Born in the USA” is once again being misused and abused. The sentiments embodied in Springsteen’s song are directly in opposition to everything Beck and his movement represent.

Howard Zinn’s monumental book, A People’s History of the United States lifted the curtain on the traditional American narrative, revealing class struggles, dissent and the efforts of everyday Americans, people of color, women, day laborers, migrant workers to gain and live with the rights promised in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

In The People Speak, Zinn is joined by a group of talented actors and musicians in bringing these people’s stories to life. Morgan Freeman, Viggo Mortensen, Marisa Tomei, Sean Penn, Rosario Dawson, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, David Starthairn, Danny Glover, Kerry Washington, Benjamin Bratt, Sandra Oh, Jasmine Guy, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Pink, Eddie Vedder, John Legend, DMC, Chris Robinson and Rich Robinson are among the stars lending their voices to The People Speak, a documentary based on A People’s History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States, the companion volume of 200 primary sources, co-created with Anthony Arnove.

Bruce Springsteen — Thunder Road, Barcelona, Spain, in 2002.

Bruce Springsteen – Glory Days.

What’s on your mind tonight?