{"id":37344,"date":"2022-08-31T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=37344"},"modified":"2022-08-31T06:43:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T13:43:15","slug":"matr-rotd-bruce-springsteen-and-jimmy-fallon-gov-christie-traffic-jam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/31\/matr-rotd-bruce-springsteen-and-jimmy-fallon-gov-christie-traffic-jam\/","title":{"rendered":"MatR\/RotD: Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Fallon: Gov. Christie Traffic Jam"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">&#8220;Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.&#8221;\u00a0 &#8212; <\/span><em><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Email from Bridget Ann Kelly to David Wildstein, August 13, 2013<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>On the first day of school in 2013, the world&#8217;s busiest bridge came to a halt.<\/p>\n<p>Two of the George Washington Bridge&#8217;s three access lanes in Fort Lee, New Jersey were shut down for no reason, and the resulting traffic jams caused hours-long delays&#8211;up to four hours for many&#8211;for harried commuters and schoolchildren.<\/p>\n<p>Did I say\u00a0<em>no reason<\/em>? Oops, that&#8217;s not quite right. I meant no\u00a0<em>good<\/em> reason.<\/p>\n<p>Because someone was using the bridge closure to send a message, and that someone was New Jersey&#8217;s republican governor Chris Christie, as retribution for the refusal of Fort Lee&#8217;s mayor to endorse the governor&#8217;s reelection bid.<\/p>\n<p>(The message actually came from members of Christie&#8217;s administration, who Christie readily threw under the bus as details of the scandal came to light. No evidence ever incontrovertibly linked Christie&#8217;s involvement to the incident.)<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"758\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/34Gdu-TINEM?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>By early 2014, &#8220;Bridgegate&#8221; was a national scandal. Americans watched in outrage and schadenfreude as the true story unfolded, and Christie went from respected presidential hopeful to the butt of late night comedians&#8217; jokes.<\/p>\n<p>One of those comedians was Jimmy Fallon, who carped the diem when Bruce Springsteen joined him on his show on January 14 to promote his new album,\u00a0<em>High Hopes<\/em>. \u00a0By that time, Bruce had already made two tongue-in-cheek appearances with Fallon covering songs like &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/05\/matr-bruce-springsteen-and-jimmy-fallon-whip-my-hair\/\">Whip My Hair<\/a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/24\/matr-bruce-springsteen-and-jimmy-fallon-sexy-and-i-know-it\/\">Sexy and I Know It<\/a>,&#8221; but this time the pair did a rewrite on one of Bruce&#8217;s own songs.<\/p>\n<p>And not just any song. They rewrote &#8220;Born to Run&#8221; in light of recent events (I suspect Fallon and his team did the heavy lifting) and opened the show with Fallon doing his best 80s Bruce impersonation. Before long, though, the real Springsteen (in classic 80s getup) joined him at the microphone.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"www.facebook.com\/SpringsteenChile\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/84278263?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"758\" height=\"426\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Gov. Christie Traffic Jam&#8221; became an immediate viral sensation, thanks to the timeliness of its subject matter. the biting cleverness of its lyrics&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>In the day, we sweated out on the streets, stuck in traffic on the G.W.B.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>They shut down the toll booths of glory \u2019cause we didn\u2019t endorse Christie<\/em><br \/>\n<em> Sprung from cages on Highway 9, we got three lanes closed, so Jersey get your ass in line<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Whoa, maybe this Bridgegate was just payback, it&#8217;s a bitch slap<\/em><br \/>\n<em>To the state Democrats, we got to get out but we can&#8217;t<\/em><br \/>\n<em>We&#8217;re stuck in Governor Chris Christie&#8217;s Fort Lee New Jersey traffic jam<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Governor, let me in, I want to be your friend. There\u2019ll be no partisan division<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Let me wrap your legs around your mighty rims, and relieve your stressful condition<\/em><br \/>\n<em>You got Wall Street masters stuck cheek to cheek with blue-collar truckers<\/em><br \/>\n<em>And, man, I really gotta take a leak; but I can\u2019t,<\/em><br \/>\n<em>I\u2019m stuck in Governor Christie\u2019s Fort Lee, New Jersey, traffic jam<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>Highways jammed with pissed-off drivers with no place left to go<\/em><br \/>\n<em>And the press conference went on and on<\/em><br \/>\n<em>It was longer than one of my own damn shows!<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Some day, Governor, I don\u2019t know when, this will all end<\/em><br \/>\n<em>But till then, you are killing the working man<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Who\u2019s stuck in Governor Christie\u2019s Fort Lee, New Jersey, traffic jam<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;and of course the very fact of its subject&#8217;s well-known status as a Springsteen uber-fan, with over 140 concerts under his belt. I imagine Christie must have had mixed emotions watching that performance on television that night.<\/p>\n<p>The scandal would play out for another two years, with Christie aides and appointees David Wildstein, Bridget Ann Kelly and Bill Baroni eventually all found guilty for their roles.<\/p>\n<p>As for Christie, he remained in office for the rest of his term, flamed out quickly in a 2016 presidential bid, and spent the years since as a registered lobbyist, occasional Trump advisor, and frequent television commentator.<\/p>\n<p>Christie left office in 2018 with an 81% disapproval rating, the lowest in New Jersey history, goosed in some small part by the good-natured ridicule of New Jersey&#8217;s favorite son.<\/p>\n<p>But at least for Christie, there were no hard feelings. On his first day as a private citizen again, he spent it seeing\u00a0<em>Springsteen on Broadway.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Gov. Christie Traffic Jam<br \/>\nFirst performed:<\/strong> January 14, 2014<br \/>\n<strong>Last performed:<\/strong> January 14, 2014<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the height of the Bridgegate scandal, Bruce reprised his 80s-era team-up with Jimmy Fallon to throw some shade Governor Christie&#8217;s way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meeting-across-the-river","category-roll-of-the-dice"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Bruce-Springsteen-Jimmy-Fallon.jpg?fit=1138%2C719&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9w3Lk-9Ik","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55588,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/14\/kingdom-of-days-january-14-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":37344,"position":0},"title":"January 14","author":"Ken","date":"January 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On this day: the release of High Hopes, the one and only performance of \"Gov. Christie's Traffic Jam,\" and more.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Kingdom of Days&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Kingdom of Days","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/kingdom-of-days\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/high-hopes-album-bruce-springsteen-1389043820.jpg?fit=960%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/high-hopes-album-bruce-springsteen-1389043820.jpg?fit=960%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/high-hopes-album-bruce-springsteen-1389043820.jpg?fit=960%2C960&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/high-hopes-album-bruce-springsteen-1389043820.jpg?fit=960%2C960&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11637,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/18\/where-the-band-was-fort-monmouth-july-18-22-2002-marks-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":37344,"position":1},"title":"Where the Band Was: Fort Monmouth, July 18-22, 2002 (Mark&#8217;s story)","author":"Ken","date":"July 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Guest-blogger Mark Cunningham takes us behind the scenes at Bruce\u2019s Rising Tour rehearsals.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Where the Band Was&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Where the Band Was","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/where-the-band-was\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Fort_Monmouth_Expo_Theater.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Fort_Monmouth_Expo_Theater.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Fort_Monmouth_Expo_Theater.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24153,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2021\/01\/20\/cover-me-the-star-spangled-banner\/","url_meta":{"origin":37344,"position":2},"title":"Cover Me: The Star-Spangled Banner","author":"Ken","date":"January 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The Star Spangled Banner\" was written on and for a day like this very one. Watch Bruce Springsteen play a lovely version of it in 2004.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/banner.jpg?fit=1200%2C988&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/banner.jpg?fit=1200%2C988&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/banner.jpg?fit=1200%2C988&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/banner.jpg?fit=1200%2C988&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/banner.jpg?fit=1200%2C988&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24478,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/04\/roll-of-the-dice-this-is-your-sword\/","url_meta":{"origin":37344,"position":3},"title":"Roll of the Dice: This Is Your Sword","author":"Ken","date":"February 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The debut performance of \"This Is Your Sword\" was more memorable than the song itself.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Roll of the Dice&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Roll of the Dice","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/roll-of-the-dice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/swordshield.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/swordshield.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/swordshield.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/swordshield.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/swordshield.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15204,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2019\/12\/30\/cover-me-anne-mccue-born-to-run\/","url_meta":{"origin":37344,"position":4},"title":"Cover Me, Anne McCue: Born to Run","author":"Ken","date":"December 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Singer-songwriter Anne McCue gives Bruce's signature song a Seeger-esque treatment, breathing new life into a rock anthem.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cover Me&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cover Me","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/cover-me\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/btranne.jpg?fit=700%2C700&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/btranne.jpg?fit=700%2C700&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/btranne.jpg?fit=700%2C700&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/btranne.jpg?fit=700%2C700&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57666,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/11\/kingdom-of-days-july-11-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":37344,"position":5},"title":"July 11","author":"Ken","date":"July 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The power goes out in Paris, the strings come out in Rome, Jake and Clarence share the stage, and it's Christmas in July. It's a date for unusual events in Springsteen history!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Kingdom of Days&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Kingdom of Days","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/kingdom-of-days\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2013-07-11-rome-it.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2013-07-11-rome-it.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2013-07-11-rome-it.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2013-07-11-rome-it.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/2013-07-11-rome-it.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37344"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37384,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37344\/revisions\/37384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}