Orel Family

The bikepath on the way to the vote. Peaceful and free. At 11am yesterday, I decided it was time to vote. The polling place is less than a mile from my home, and I thought it might be a good idea to walk it. The day was warm, as pretty much the entire fall has been warm. My fitbit said I'd been pathetic lately with the steps. Most of the leaves were down, and it was colorful and beautiful outside. I took some snapshots. "This is what my America looks like today." Regardless of who would win this thing -- and I had severe doubts -- this place, at this time, seemed a good place to be and good time to be here. I walked around the corner, and up the next street. It started to rain, just a little rain. I didn't have an umbrella, and I was too far to come back home, so I kept going. I thought of walking songs, and the first one that came to mind was "This Land is Your Land." One of the most openly -- and great -- political songs of the last century, and I ...

Bruce Springsteen opened a 2-night stand at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park last evening with a 32-song 3 hour, 43-minute set.  Again, this is the opening night of a two-night stand.  Tonight he comes back to try and top it. Bruce goes back a long way in Philadelphia, and yesterday he made sure to remind the crowd of his long roots here, going back to when he played the Main Point 40 years ago.  This was evident not only during between-song chatter during the show, but also in references to Philly inserted in to song performances:  During "Sherry Darling" early on, he was stuck in traffic in Philadelphia, and later on he referenced -- with plenty of f-bombs for all the kids down front -- the experience of coming down the New Jersey Turnpike to get to Philly. In a sense, the show really started with an are you fucking kidding me???  sound check that included the very rarely played "None But the Brave," the once-ever played "County Fair," and fi...