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Showing posts from 2006

I love "Love"

I love Love. That’s the short version of my review of the latest album to be labeled as “The Beatles.” And since the two living Beatles as well as the widows of the other two actually consented to this project, I suppose the label has some legitimacy. I love “Love.” I want to go to Las Vegas and see Cirque du Soleil perform “Love,” to see how the music and show weave together. Music has always been a vital part of the Cirque du Soleil experience, going back to 1992’s Saltimbanco and beyond. So I imagine the stage production of “Love,” as a lifelong Beatles fan and a longtime Cirque du Soleil fan, and hope that eventually I’ll see it. Listening to “Love” is almost like a test for a longtime Beatles fan. It’s not just the 26 tracks on the listing, or the 37 original Beatles songs listed on those track titles. There are quite a few that are unlisted, enough so that for my 2nd listen I took notes. I’m sure I’ll recognize passages in future listens that I haven’t yet identified,

Member of the Class

On December 6, I received a credit on a credit card statement: For "SHEA CLASS ACTION LIT. SETTLEMENT AWARD": -$0.05. Five cents! For what, I don't know, but I am 5 cents richer for being a member of the class. What class? After much searching, I have finally found out: It is for something called "Shea, et al. v. Household Bank (SB), National Association, OCSC Case No. OOCC12585." A settlement for $16 million against the company that issues the GM MasterCard. I had to go to Snopes to find it. Another blogger (scroll down to "Windfall") had already reported getting the refund. Now I feel really rich -- the blogger got only one cent in their settlement. One cent! I got a full nickel. HA! Today, my luck with classes continues: I received my check from the WorldCom Settlement Fund . This one is big, big, big! For defrauding millions of investors, the remnants of WorldCom, Citigroup, and Andersen had to shell out over $6 billion in damag

The season changes

Eleven days ago at this hour it was 63 degrees here in Southern Michigan. I got on my shorts, went outside, and picked broccoli. The plants are hearty, and they'd made it through the early frosts. The side shoots may not be much at the end of November, but... it's broccoli at the end of November. Even the few ounces that I picked were miraculous to me. I picked broccoli again yesterday. Pulling off two layers of covering to do it, and putting it right back on when completed. The plants are wilting now, but holding on. May be the last time, but who knows? Today... first day of ski school for Aaron, with dad as a parent supervisor. Which means helping kids with wickets, and flashback memories of every field trip bus ride I ever took, just with a different perspective. These kids were so much more polite than I ever remember my peers being. The worst behavior was probably the young boys who got a tactile sensation out of touching the wickets, and then wanted to smell th

Revenge of the spammer

Mail programs are better, filters are better. At places such as gmail, I can open my mail relatively free from spam risk. Maybe not quite the same on my home account, but not too bad. So now the spammers are coming for the blogs. Seemingly out of nowhere, I'm now getting 3, 4 spam "comments" per day to various old blog posts. Invariably the ones about Barry Bonds and website traffic are the ones attacked in this manner. I don't post for comments, don't ask for them. The blog has no particular theme, and I don't advertise it. It just is. Whoever finds the blog will find it, and if someone finds it interesting I suppose a comment or two may come (I think I'm at a grand total of 2 now, in just over a year). And yet, now my comments are moderated, as a spam defense. Tonight, the most awful horror yet: I logged in to get rid of the collected spam, and instead of hitting the "Delete" button, I accidentally hit the "Publish" button in

Discography - Amazon fundraising update, Q3 2006

Just about a year ago, I established an associates account with amazon, going primarily from my discography page (http://bruce.orel.ws/discography.html). Any amazon.com sales generated by people navigating to amazon from my site generates commissions, that amazon eventually sends my way. As I noted at that time, anything that comes my way from amazon.com will be turned over to charity, on a quarterly basis, doubled by a match from me. All selected charities will be from the set of charities documented at http://bruce.orel.ws/charities.html. During Q3 2006, a total of 68 items were sold by amazon off links from the site. Total commissions for the quarter were $52.29, more than tripling the previous high. With rounding, this quarter's donation+match is $100.00. I have selected Musicians on Call ( http://www.musiciansoncall.org/ ) this quarter's commission + match. Musicians On Call was originally founded as a division of the Kristen Ann Carr Fund; its objective is to b

Gonna grab my trombone and blow

Went to the Palace last night to see Bob Dylan , and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had clued in to the pre-sale early enough to land 11th row seats, that always helps, though Lori's knee isn't good enough to let her stand the entire show. Some observations: His voice, recently described to me as now coming from a man with a stuck Harley-Davidson in his throat, sounded great. The Harley was humming throughout, and the phrasing was sublime. Sure, he doesn't have the range, and he missed some low notes on Tangled Up in Blue ... which meant, he played Tangled Up in Blue . I mean, come on, he was up there playing Tangled Up in Blue , and it sounded fucking fantastic. He can miss a couple low notes. Bob Dylan & the Just Shut Up and Play Band . This band should have a name, and that's mine. Dressed all in black, and everyone except the steel guitar player with a hat. The violinist who accompanied Dylan at the Masonic in 2005 (Elana Fremerman) was gone, but otherwise it was

2006 World Series, Game 1 (in pictures)

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I went to my 2nd ever World Series game last night. Like the first World Series game I attended, it was the first World Series game in the city in more than 2 decades. And, like the first World Series game I attended, the opposing manager was Tony LaRussa. And, like the first World Series game I attended, LaRussa's team routed the home team. That first game, back in 1989, is hardly remembered. The A's won 13-3, 10 days after the Loma Prieta earthquake. Went with Karen and her brother Larry, amazingly his only other WS game was that very same game 3, 17 years ago. The view from the right field side, as the Cardinals take batting practice. The Tigers are heavy favorites; considering that the Cardinals starting lineup includes David Eckstein leading off, as well as Juan Encarnacion, Yadier Molina and Ronnie Beliard, this is understandable. Most people expect that Detroit will sweep the series, and the big question is whether the Cardinals will win a single game. Bob Seger

It's snowing in Detroit... Play Ball!

There's a saying around here, goes something like this: If you don't like the weather in Michigan, stick around, it'll change. Of course, that doesn't always mean it'll get better . What had been a merely cool fall turned frigid this morning. I woke up to 36 degrees outside. Good thing I covered the plants last night, though I don't know if the covering held -- it was pretty windy out there. At about a quarter to 8, the snow started. According to reports that I have heard, this is the earliest ever recorded snow in the area. And this wasn't some tiny little squall, either, it was gusty with big flakes and limited visibility. There were white caps on the Detroit River today, and several more passing flurries during the afternoon. When I arrived home, there was snow on the ground. Still need to cover tonight, or at least make sure the covers haven't totally abandoned the plants -- not that there's much left, anyway. In the middle of this, the

Barry Bonds post-mortem, part 2: Right on cue

Gotta hand it to Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN . In a column he wrote for espn.com today , Wojo writes: "The martyr -- who missed 31 games in 2006, had only 367 at-bats, couldn't field his position, hit 29 points below his career average and produced his lowest home run total (in 112 games or more) since 1991 and his lowest RBI total (in 112 games or more) since 1989 -- is at it again. " That's pretty much right on cue, as predicted two weeks ago, when I wrote: "Much commentary on Bonds’ performance this year has focused on how he is suddenly 'human' (at age 42, who isn’t?) or that he’s not as feared as he once was, or that the assumed steroids must have worn off... On the surface, these observations might seem to have some merit: As I write, Bonds has a .262 batting average, his lowest since 1989. His .532 slugging percentage and his .988 OPS are his lowest since 1991... He has scored 69 runs; he’s never been below 89 as a qualifier. His RBI total of 6

Barry Bonds appreciation, post-mortem (part 1)

So the Giants went on a 10-game road trip, realistically needing to win 7 to have a decent shot of making a race of it. One game was rained out. In the 9 that were played the offense clicked well enough, putting up 51 runs, including 8 or more runs 3 times. But the woeful pitching became completely disastrous: The Giants surrendered 93 runs in the 8 games, including an astounding 26 first-inning runs (nearly 3 per game). 16 times the home team scored 3 or more runs against the Giants, including at least one such inning in each game. Given these numbers, it's no surprise that the Giants went 1-8 and fell completely out of the race (they were eliminated last night). As for Barry Bonds, here were his stats for the trip: G AB R H HR RBI BA OBP SLG OPS 8 26 5 11 2 10 .423 .464 .731 1.195 Bonds started 7 of the 9 games, and drove in the winning run as apinch-hitter in the lone Giants win. 5 times he was removed for a pinch runner or defensive replacement, including one time when

A Barry Bonds appreciation

Last Thursday (September 14), Barry Bonds had 4 plate appearances in a game against Colorado. The plate appearances were rather uneventful – a single in 3 official at bats, and a walk. The 6th inning single and the 7th inning walk both led to San Francisco runs; after the walk Todd Linden pinch-ran for Bonds. The Giants went on to win the game, 5-0. What was significant about Bonds’ 4 plate appearances, at least statistically, was that it pushed his total for 2006 to 453 total plate appearances. This was the Giants’ 146th game. In order to be a “qualifier” for awards such as batting championship or on-base percentage, a player must average 3.1 plate appearances per game, rounded to the nearest plate appearance. At 146 games, that means 453 total plate appearances. Bonds, with his 4 plate appearances, became a “qualifier” for the first time since May 29. Much commentary on Bonds’ performance this year has focused on how he is suddenly “human” (at age 42, who isn’t?) or that he’s

Last Ride

The G6 is gone, and so is summer, nearly. Last Tuesday, the time was up. One last weekend, the long weekend. Aaron's friend Timmy came over, and we had one last ride together. In the bathing suit, barefoot... better drive safely, 'cause I have nothing: no shoes, no wallet, no roof. It was cool out, just barely warm enough to ride with the roof down -- and the windows up. But Tuesday the sun came out and it heated up, just in time for a solo spin through downtown Detroit before returning it. Van Morrison came on the XM, singing Moondance, and summer was gone. The garage called today. The new quarter panel is in, can I bring the car in? I wish, I wish.

The 1961 Hit Parade

In the car, getting late in the evening, driving down I-70 through Maryland near the end of a long family drive. Turned on XM6, the sixties station. They were doing a countdown, I guess of this day/week in 1961. The DJ was managed to mispronounce Warren Spahn's name (Spahn won his 300th game this week that year), but no matter, the music won out. They were doing the top 16 of 1961. Coming in at #16: Ike and Tina, "It's Gonna Work Out Fine." I don't know the last time I heard someone other than Springsteen do this song. Nor did I appreciate just how faithfully Bruce imitated Tina's voice. This put me in a good mood. #15: The Chordettes doing "Never On Sunday." Now, everyone knows the melody to this one. But I don't recall ever hearing it with the words. Nor did I ever really put a context to Bruce's "Never On Sunday" comment in the "Blood Brothers" video. Now I'm smiling, big time: I think I know what Burce was doing

The numbers behind the numbers: Ned Lamont's financial disclosure, Wal-Mart and the Washington Times

On August 4rd, the Washington Times ran an article titled, "Lieberman rival owns stock in Wal-Mart", by Charles Hunt. See "http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20060803-112200-4787r.htm for the article. Since Lamont famously took incumbent Senator Joe Lieberman to task during the recent Connecticut primary campaign over a $1,000 Wal-Mart PAC contribution to Lieberman's campaign, and, accoring to the opening sentence of the Washington Times article, "sharply criticized the employment practices of Wal-Mart," the surface accusation appears to be one of hypocrisy. The article says, "Mr. Lamont and his wife jointly own two accounts containing as much as $16,000 in Wal-Mart stock. Their Wal-Mart holdings spin off as much as $3,500 in annual dividends. In addition, a trust fund he set up for one of his children contains as much as $15,000 in Wal-Mart stock and spins off as much as $1,000 in dividends." Something's not right with those numbers,

Charity results, Q2 2006

Last November, I established an associates account with amazon, going primarily from my discography page (http://bruce.orel.ws/discography.html). Any amazon.com sales generated by people navigating to amazon from my site generates commissions, that amazon eventually sends my way. As I noted at that time, anything that comes my way from amazon.com will be turned over to charity, on a quarterly basis, doubled by a match from me. All selected charities will be from the set of charities documented at http://bruce.orel.ws/charities.html. During the second quarter of 2006, I introduced a new section of the site, "The Songs of the Seeger Sessions," at http://bruce.orel.ws/seegersessions. When the site was prominently linked in from http://www.brucespringsteen.net and from several other high-volume sites shortly before the release of "The Seeger Sessions," traffic on my sites increased substantially. I added amazon linkage to the new section shortly thereafter. Due

Heat, Apples and Crickets

July 23, a cool night, finally time for the first apple cider of the season -- tart! Using the transparents. Nearly 3 gallons, and just in time, we were down to our last gallon, and I wouldn't have wanted to buy any. At the farmers' market someone was selling something called "Lodi," which is very similar. Someone else was selling all the corn you could fit in a bag for $2.50. I bought the corn -- 20 ears. Then, the heat wave. So hot I almost put the roof up in the convertible... but I resisted. The pool hit 88.2 degrees, with zero chlorine. A fungus came and wiped out the cucumbers, pretty much overnight. Not as bad as the animals attacking the corn... but only because corn is nearly holy and cucumbers aren't. July 31, the crickets came out. August 2, a light show as the clouds rolled in and the heat wave finally broke. Heat lightning everywhere. This is the best time of year. Too bad it all ends so quickly.

The Romantics play and Elianna rushes

So it was cloudy Friday night, not really pool weather, and I had gotten home early. My friend Alexander was in town and I'd mentioned The Romantics concert as a possible meeting spot, but his family obligations meant not being able to call. What the heck, now that I'd put forward the idea of seeing the Romantics, I thought it'd be nice to take a ride downtown and do it. The first problem was convincing Aaron, initially he said no. He asked if they played kids songs, and he didn't like the answer. A while later, I came up with a better reply: "two guitars, bass and drum, just like The Beatles." That helped, but I needed a clincher: "And we can go to the show in the convertible with the top down." I also had to promise that we'd leave if he didn't like it, in exchange for which he agreed to give it at least half an hour. Elianna has taken to wearing dresses, and she was in a bit of a princess getup, with a pink dress and a little pla

A note from my sister

Gwen writes: Gwen's byline in the Times! http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/19/theater/19roma.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Since you are family I expect this to be up on your websites and blogs. :) Just kidding! We don't kid with the blog. There it is, on the blog.

The truth about unicorns

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We just returned from a week at Michigania , a one week family camp for University of Michigan alumni . One of the great things about the camp is its range of activities for youngsters. Aaron was able to spend his mornings with other 8 and 9 year old boys, and Elianna with other 5 and 6 year olds. The nursery staff handles the 5's and 6's. They teach them songs, go on hikes, go swimming and boating, and engage in a bit of story-telling, including the legend of the sunken pirate ship in Lake Walloon ( Ernest Hemingway once lived by the lake ), and of the Michigania unicorn. Elianna soaked it all in. When we took her kayaking, she refused to go near the buried ship. When we crossed the bridge in to north camp, she told us of the unicorn's home. Aaron was skeptical. Aaron: There's no such thing as a unicorn. Elianna: Yes there is! Aaron: No there isn't. Elianna: Yes there is! I know everything about unicorns. Aaron: ok, then, what do they eat?

A couple nights with Bruce

Blossom, June 16, 2006: My mind is still a bit jumbled after finally getting home from Blossom at 4:30am, so I will just say this: Great, great show in Blossom last night. The new band just cooks, right from the start, and for 2 and a half hours without stop. Some highlights: Long Time Comin'. This was soundchecked over and over, though from the box office it was hard to make out over the unfortunate blaring of the local dinosaur rock station that was broadcasting there -- having to endure Supertramp while Bruce was playing live was distressing. Fortunately, Bruce liked it enough to play during the set, dedicating it to Evan ("lock up you daughters!," he advised to parents). Unlike other Springsteen-penned songs played on this tour, this one was played straight. A debut full-band live arrangement, since all performances on Joad and D&D were solo. Beautiful interplay between Bruce and the band, especially with drummer Larry Eagle and with the violins. Eag

Tour de Cure

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Sometimes we can have fun and do some good at the same time. Tour de Cure is one of those times. Aaron and I will be riding in the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure fund-raising event in Brighton, Michigan, on Sunday (June 11). This is our 2nd year riding together. Last year we combined to raise more than $2400 for a 7 mile ride; this year we will attempt a 15-mile ride. Aaron is 9 years old, but he can do it -- we've completed a 14-mile practice ride last weekend, and other than ending up with some soreness he made it through ok. Our fundraising goal is also higher. Aaron is very excited about the ride. The Tour de Cure is a series of cycling events held in over 80 cities nationwide. Thousands of riders pedal in support of the Association's mission: to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. I am asking you to help by supporting my fund-raising efforts with a donation. Your tax-deductible gift will make a dif

The continuing logic of the 5-year old

Aaron, convincing Elianna not to be scared of something: "It was just a dream." Elianna, remembering a little too much: "But he said dreams sometimes come true!"

More stuff heard around the house...

Elianna: Do dreams come true? Me (after hesitating, with half a smile): Sometimes. Elianna: Sometimes I have bad dreams.

It grows and grows

When The Songs of The Seeger Sessions launched a couple of weeks ago, it included 1567 recordings, and I had 69 audio or video links. Today, we're up to 1625 recordings, including 93 audio or video links, including 34 audio/video just for "John Henry." The scariest moment was realizing that there might be lots of audio out at The Prairie Home Companion website . No, the scariest moment was finding them. But it did lead to finding several good recordings, and also a fiendishly funny take on "Shenandoah" from 1998, in which Garrison Keillor proposes that the song be outlawed, and invents phrases such as being arrested for "committing Shenandoah" and having a "Shenandependency." Best moments? The feedback. From people remembering albums they had as kids, to artists finding (or sometimes not finding) their own recordings. For some artists, a google of their name plus the song(s) they recorded pops up the site as the first item. Hopefully

The Traffic of The Songs of the Seeger Sessions

My website has generally been a relatively quiet place. My personal pages get a few hits a day, and the Bruce stuff a few more. The discography got more hits, due to it really being the first major Springsteen discography on the web, and still among the more complete (and without those annoying pop-ups). When the last tour ended, traffic dropped off, and it really hadn't come back at all. A typical day might include 2000 or so total hits, with 50-60 of them being for the discography. But that all changed last week. For about a month, I put together a project called The Seeger Sessions. This was a totally self-contained sub-site documenting the various songs of the new album. Dave Marsh, who was writing verbose liner notes for the new album, loved it. The folks at brucespringsteen.net were agreeable to the idea of linking it -- site unseen, even. Most of my work was doing the research and putting together the data; the site itself didn't escape from my imagination

Stuff heard 'round the house the last few days:

Me, to Aaron: How did you do on your spelling test? Aaron: I got them all right, and I almost got the bonus word. Me: What was the bonus word? Aaron: "Commandment." I left out the first m. Aaron had a recent school project on the Titanic. So happens, we have the movie, it was a $5 laserdisc closeout. Lori let him see it. They got to the car scene. He's 9; Lori let him watch... Aaron: What are they doing in there? Are they naked ? Aaron and Elianna, arguing after I'd done something mean to him (probably telling him to stop shredding his napkin at the table): Aaron: Daddy is mean. Elianna: No, he's not! He's a nice daddy. Aaron: Yes he is. I should know, I spend more time with him. Elianna: No you don't. I jump on him more. Aaron: No you don't. Elianna: Yes I do. I jumped on him this morning.

The Songs of The Seeger Sessions

How many artists have recorded "John Henry"? Which song from Bruce Springsteen's upcoming release "The Seeger Sessions" was once recorded by Bob Seger? Which song did Elvis Presley do? How about Judy Garland? What song had a new wave of popularity after Enya recorded it, and would you like to see her video for it? What singing group included 4 of these songs in their 1940 concert at The Library of Congess? Get the answers to these questions and others at The Songs of The Seeger Sessions , a new section of my site.

Return to Mount Holly

Or, return to the scene of the tears. We got back the verdict on Lori's MRI on Friday. Torn ACL and torn meniscus, which means 3 weeks of physical therapy and then surgery and then more physical therapy. We had to take a CD from the MRI lab to the doctor; I tried to read it in the interim, but didn't get too far. Shoulda made a copy and posted an image or two: Lori's leg, cross-section. But we still had the free passes from Mt. Holly, so I took Aaron up on Saturday afternoon. They had a little slalom race going for skiers of "all abilities," so I signed us up. We're not racers. We finished 28th and 30th out of 32, according to the website. But we did finish, every time down. Got to the lodge and up to the eating area. I tried to explain to Aaron some of what I'd learned about Mt. Holly's history. I told him that some famous people had played concerts there, that Bob Seger used to play right over on the other side of the building. Aaron&

Why aren't you any bigger today?

Sunday was Aaron's birthday. On Saturday, a plumber had been over to work on the bathroom. Elianna gleefully told him, "My brother's turning 9 tomorrow!" She told him, multiple times. Sunday morning, we piled in to the kitchen. "Happy Birthday, Aaron!," she squealed. And then, examining her now 9-year old brother a little more closely, she asked, "Aaron, why aren't you any bigger today?" I took Elianna to the party store to get balloon's for Aaron's party. Elianna told the clerk, "Today is my brother's birthday! He's 9!! His name is Aaron!"

What is it with marriage proposals at concerts?

Maybe I just don't get it. Maybe it's me. I mean, I'm sentimental and all, but I just don't get why someone would take their most intimate moment and put it on display for hundreds or even thousands of people. But that's what I've seen now, 3 times in the past half year: Men taking time out from the middle of a concert -- twice on stage and once from the audience -- to propose marriage. The first time was last September 10, in Asbury Park, New Jersey. I was there for the weekend, for the Springsteen symposium . The first night, I went with a few friends on a pilgrimmage to the Stone Pony to see Joe Grushecky . I'm not much of a Grushecky fan, really, and his following is rather modest -- though perhaps it's a bit more down on the shore, where his Springsteen connection helps. Here are my notes from the show: "Got to the Pony about 11pm, just in time for Grushecky. He was...Grushecky. Eventually Mary and I headed out to the outside area, I t