The Boss has been fired.

So the students are doing a research project on a famous dead American. One student picked Elvis Presley. It's a good choice--he's American, dead, and famous. During her research the student discovered, according to one book, Elvis had influenced other famous musicians like Bruce Springsteen. Well, she had no idea who he was. How do I know? Well, I saw her and the other students around her desk whispering, so I decided to investigate. The conversation went a little something like this:

HT: "What's all the hub-bub?"

Student 1: "Do you know who Bruce Springsteen is?"

HT: "You don't know who Bruce Springsteen is?"

Student 1: "No."

HT: "The Boss? The E Street Band?"

Student 1: "No."

HT: "'Born to Run.' 'Thunder Road.' 'Born in the U.S.A.'"

Student 1: "Uh--no."

Student 2: "How do they go?"

HT (half singing): "Born down in a dead man's town / da, da, dadadadada, daaah / Born
in the U.S.A. / I was born in the U.S.A."

Students give a blank stare.

HT: Academy Award winner?

Student 1: For what?

HT: For "Streets of Philadelphia."

Student 1: What movie was that in?

HT: Philadelphia--Tom Hanks--won the Oscar for Best Actor.

More Stares

HT: Okay, you've seen Jerry Maguire, right? He did "Secret Garden."

Student 3: Oh, I love that movie, The Secret Garden.

HT: I'm talking about the song and not the movie. And... you do realize that The
Secret Garden was a book first, right?

Student 3: Yeah. I love that movie.

So I walked away cursing MTV any other entity (including school districts) that decided to kill music appreciation. The topper is that I heard the following while walking away:

Student 1: The book also compares Elvis to a "Frank Sinatra." Should I ask about him?

Student 2: Nah, he was just some opera singer.