Orel Family

Tom Hanks, as Fred Rogers It was the trolley. It had to be the trolley. I loved trains. My first attempt to draw something, when I was not quite 4 years old, was an attempt to draw a train near an overhead bridge in my hometown. When we'd go to my grandparents' house in Connecticut, my grandfather would take me to the giant train station in Stamford just so we could watch the trains come and go. During holiday season, we'd go to the FAO Schwarz store at the Short Hills Mall, and I'd watch the model trains go through impossibly large displays. So, when the new TV show came on, the one with a trolley going to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, I was hooked. "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" was my show. I watched, alone, on the 19-inch black and white Zenith in our den room, and watched for that trolley. Sometimes I'd call him "Mr. Ogers," because the graphic used the same 'r' for the end of "Mister" and the beginning of &q

Bruce Springsteen introducing Western Stars at TIFF Last night, Bruce Springsteen's new film "Western Stars" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film consisted primarily -- at least in terms of time -- of live versions of the songs on the "Western Stars" album, performed at Bruce's barn in New Jersey over a period of several days, for an audience of friends. Bruce has put out accompanying video material to studio releases before; this took the concept to another level. I was among the fortunate 1800 or so to be in attendance at Toronto's Roy Thompson Hall for the first showing. This film is for fans, especially for fans who'd like to see live performances of the new album. Bruce has been emphatic that he will not be touring behind this album, so this is likely as close as we'll come to seeing him perform it live. An orchestra of approximately 30 members backed the live performances at the barn. Several member

Lori and I went to see "Blinded by the Light" this evening, in a "Springsteen Fan Event" at a local theater. There were maybe 40 people there, but that was hardly the point of it all: It was validation night! A motion picture, distributed by Warner Brothers, that gets it. The fist and most obvious question to ask is, "if I'm not a big Springsteen fan, will I like this movie?" To which the only answer I can give is, "how the hell would I know?" With that out of the way, I'll add, " go see it." This coming-of-age movie through the words and music of Bruce Springsteen is overstuffed with set pieces, is unabashed in its hero worship, and yet it still mostly works. It's based on Sarfraz Manzoor's book Greetings from Bury Park: A Memoir and directed by Gurinder Chadha ( Bend It Like Beckham ), and we can sum it up as: boy lives a miserable lonely life (read: no girlfriend) with an overbearing father, has little m

Bob Seger at Pine Knob, June 19, 2019 Bob Seger lives across the other side of the school district . Our kids went to the same public high school . Our kids played in the West Bloomfield High School Marching Band , and we were both active in the Band Boosters Association, separated by a couple of years. And... ok, there's no "and." We live in different zip codes. One summer afternoon, Lori and I visited friends who have a home on Upper Straits Lake and went kayaking. Almost immediately, we saw an immense mansion on the right. "What's that ???" "Oh, that's Bob Seger's new house." But Bob remains a Michigan man, and there's a strong "he's one of us" feeling to many people who grew up here. But in all this time living in the area, the only time I'd had a full concert with Seger was when we just happened to be seated directly behind him at a Bob Dylan concert in 2007. I'd seen him perform just once, a rendition

promotional photo for Western Stars. Bruce and the El Camino. "Maps don't do much for me, friend. I follow the weather and the wind." An album of new Bruce Springsteen music is basically Flag Day. Tomorrow, June 14th, is Flag Day. "Western Stars" is coming out. Western Stars is a set of contemplative vignettes, set out on open roads and empty plains. The characters are aging actors, stunt men, men young and old. They don't talk a whole lot about what they do or how much money they (maybe don't) have, where they're going or why, or where they've been, except sometimes in dark hints. There's a kid wonderstruck by the bigness of his world, the old actor, the failed songwriter, and a lot of loneliness. There are also references to other songs, both Bruce's and others, more than I can count, and yet it's new. The album opens with "Hitch Hikin'." This feels instantly like it's hooking in to the Woody Guthrie so

A soft snare drum part, coming in like a rail car going down the tracks, then a bass line, a rhythm guitar. Then the lyrics: "Had enough of heartbreak and pain," and we know we have a Bruce Springsteen song. The lyrics and melody call back many references. I hear Glen Campbell (take your pick, I'll go with "Gentle on My Mind" ), I hear Danny O'Keefe ( "Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues" ), I hear Harry Nilsson ( "Everybody's Talkin'" ). "Hello Sunshine" is the first song off Bruce's album Western Stars, due out in mid-June. A couple years ago, Bruce told "Variety" magazine that the "album is influenced by Southern California pop music of the ’70s: Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach, those kinds of records." So it's not especially surprising to hear those elements coming through in the first released track. Ron Aniello , who produced "Western Stars," told "Ro

We went down to the courthouse Wednesday morning, and the judge issued the order: As of this day, which is also our second child's 18th birthday, our child shall be known as Ezra Stanley. We filed the order with the clerk, ordered the new birth certificates, and save for some administrative details, it's done. Name Day! The old name is sealed. It's still in the records, it's in this blog . This is the same person who once had a bat mitzvah, the same person who sang and danced with Bruce Springsteen , the same person who swore that unicorns are real and that they eat unicorn food. I will leave those bits of history untouched. This is also the same person who has made art under the old name and new, and the same person who made a mess of our kitchen while we were away on Tuesday, leaving us to discover the concealed chocolate disaster zone. The shift between what was and what is... in some ways that was very slow, and in some ways it was sudden. There were behavio

It was late August, 1976. Every year after all the kids returned home from summer camp or wherever we'd been all summer, my family would take a short road trip vacation. My older brother was going to be a senior in high school, so this year it was time to visit colleges. Our vacation consisted of visits to several colleges in New England: schools like  Amherst  and  Wesleyan . They seemed so tiny. And somewhere in there, we visited Yale . By the time our tour guide got us to Ezra Stiles College , I was sold. "This is where I want to go to college."  Was it Saarinen's building? It was the coolest dorm I'd seen, for sure. Whatever the reason, from that moment on I had one central purpose to my high school years and that was to get in to Yale. In hindsight, I can say that was a profoundly awful purpose; one that I don't recommend for anyone today. My brother was not admitted to Yale. Nor Amherst. Nor Wesleyan. He "settled" for Cornell , my mother&

Last May, I wrote about how different media outlets covered an event. Here's the coverage of the temporary end to the US Government shutdown. CNN:  Short and simple: "Trump caves on the shutdown." THE NEW YORK TIMES: "Trump Agrees to End Shutdown in Surprise Retreat." No doubt as to who is to blame, and how it turned out politically. THE WASHINGTON POST: Lead with the Senate, but then add articles showing public reaction as well as the FBI pushing back. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Trump leads!!! FOX NEWS: Trump leads!!! And, like CNN, Fox also knows I recently googled lodging in Chicago, though they haven't quite figured out that the trip already happened.