Orel Family

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...

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 ...

Forward, and Away We Go!!! In an interview for the UK paper  The Guardian  in February 2012, Bruce Springsteen said, "I campaigned for Kerry and Obama, and I am glad I did. But normally I would prefer to stay on the sidelines. The artist is supposed to be the canary in the cage."  When he reviewed Obama's performance at that time, his response was measured:  "He kept General Motors alive, he got through healthcare – though not the public system I would have wanted – he killed Osama Bin Laden, and he brought sanity to the top level of government. But big business still has too much say in government and there has not been as many middle- or working-class voices in the administration as I expected. I thought Guantanamo would have been closed but now, but he got us out of Iraq and I guess we will soon be out of Afghanistan." That was then.  That was before Obama had an opponent in the general election, one who opposed the very things that Springsteen praise...

A few days ago I received a forwarded message from Eli Smith of the radio program Down Home Radio . He hosts the show on WNYC radio in New York, along with Henrietta Yurchenco. The message read, in part: "My co-host on the show, Henrietta Yurchenco sent me down to the WNYC archives a while back where archivist Andy Lanset gave me the transcription of a program which Henrietta was the producer for back in 1940. It is Leadbelly's show and his guest that week was Woody Guthrie. It's really a great show, about 1/2 hour long, and the audio fidelity is so good that it really gives you a taste of what it must have been like to turn on your radio and have these two great musicians playing live over the air. I don't believe this program has been heard since it was first broadcast 67 years ago." Eli sent out the note to his own distribution list, and fortunately one of the recipients forwarded it on to me. But I was busy, whatever, I didn't follow up. So, last ...