Orel Family

A quick show, so a pretty quick review. The band is so tight now that they're wonderful every night, it seems. Last night's setlist certainly wasn't as exciting as Sunday night's in Cleveland, and perhaps I felt a few too many moments where Bruce was playing a role... but it's a really good role -- that of "Bruce Springsteen." The setlist highlight was "Jackson Cage," which I don't think I've ever witnessed before. It was flawless to my ears, and the transition in to "She's the One" was perfect. The low-light was "Working on the Highway." A good friend of mine tells me that song is a "girl thing." The line-up for the pit was an extraordinary sight. After 1140 wristbands for 250 pit positions in Cleveland, it was 754 wristbands for 570 pit spots yesterday. Good thing for us, we were 524/525 from the lottery winner. But that's not what made it extraordinary: what did that was that Jerry a...

In late 2005, I established an associates account with amazon, going primarily from my discography page. 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 my charities page. During Q2 2007, a total of 43 items were sold by amazon off links from the site. Total commissions for the quarter were $32.19. With rounding, this quarter's donation+match is $65.00. This brings the total raised for charity since the inception of the amazon account up to exactly $1000, to 11 different charities. The donation for Q2 is being made on November 7, 2007. This evening, Bruce Springsteen is appearing at an event titled Stand Up For Heroes: A Benefit for the Bob Woodruff Family Fund . To ...

One great thing about seeing many Bruce Springsteen shows is, the next show just could be the best yet. It's one of those euphoric feelings that comes from sharing the space during one of those evenings when all I can say is, "he's on fire ." Tonight was one of those nights. As I was in General Admission, I arrived early for the "pit lottery." And, since the arena is connected by an indoor walkway to my hotel, I left my jacket behind. The walkway was closed, the lottery was outside, I was wearing a t-shirt, and though it was reasonably nice out, it was still November in Cleveland. Just behind me in the line was a man with 3 young girls, ages 9, 10 and 12 ("almost 13," she said). They had made signs and the oldest had one rolled up in her pocket, so I asked them to show me. The best of them said, "Dance With Me." There were 1100 people lined up for 250 pit spots, I had no jacket and the temperature was dropping. The setlist wa...