Orel Family

The most important thing to note about Bruce Springsteen's Opening Night in his return engagement of Springsteen on Broadway, is that there was an opening night of Springsteen on Broadway, of anything  on Broadway, of live music, of entertainment. As Bruce noted in his opening remarks, it was good to see people sitting next to each other, no masks, for his show. Over the past 15 months in the spiritual diaspora, it was easy to lapse in to a mode of thinking in which such an evening seemed too far away to grasp. The vestiges of the pandemic remain, though. Outside the theater, several dozen anti-vaccine activists protested the theater policy that only people vaccinated for COVID-19 would be allowed to enter (and yes, the theater did  check, so if you're thinking of going to this show, make sure you have your evidence). Inside the theater, people crowded the souvenir and $20 drink lines, as if to prove a point that they could. The St. James Theater was not sold out, and secondar...

March 14, 2020. On March 14th, 2020, I began posting COVID-19 updates to my facebook page, regarding the status of the COVID-19 pandemic. I have used data from worldometer as a primary source for daily and cumulative data, with frequent supplementation from various national and local sites. Notables this week: Cases outside the United States rose sharply Italy announced new lockdowns to begin March 15th Cases in the United States continued to fall Deaths in the United States fell by nearly 28% This blog post compiles the period of March 7th through March 14, 2021. see  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/  for more March 7 | March 8 | March 9 | March 10 | March 11 | March 12 | March 13 | March 14 MARCH 7 Today's counts Location Total Cases Cases Today Total Deaths Deaths Today World 117.45 million 378,475 2.605 million 5,893 USA 29.70 million ...

On March 14th, 2020, I began posting COVID-19 updates to my facebook page, regarding the status of the COVID-19 pandemic. I have used data from worldometer as a primary source for daily and cumulative data, with frequent supplementation from various national and local sites.  Notables this week: the number of people in the United States receiving two vaccination doses now exceeds the number of reported COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic several states, starting with Texas and Mississippi, have announced easing or even elimination of COVID-19 restrictions Cases and Deaths in the United States fell significantly Cases worldwide were up slightly, including increases in 6 of the 10 countries with the most cases This blog post compiles the period of February 28th through March 6th, 2021. see  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/  for more February 28 | March 1 | March 2 | March 3 | March 4 | March 5 | March 6 FEBRUARY 28 Today's counts ...

On March 14th, 2020, I began posting COVID-19 updates to my facebook page, regarding the status of the COVID-19 pandemic. I have used data from worldometer as a primary source for daily and cumulative data, with frequent supplementation from various national and local sites.  Notables this week: new cases went up worldwide and were flat in the USA the world death total from COVID-19 surpassed 2.5 million The Johnson and Johnson vaccine was approved for Emergency Use in the USA. This blog post compiles the period of February 21st through 27th, 2021. see  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/  for more February 21 | February 22 | February 23 | February 24 | February 25 | February 26 | February 27 FEBRUARY 21 Today's counts Location Total Cases Cases Today Total Deaths Deaths Today World 111.97 million 319,960 2.478 million 6,510 USA 28.77 million ...

A couple of days ago, Spotify dropped the first two episodes of its podcast series featuring Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen called "Renegades: Born in the USA." Recorded starting in late July, 2020, at Springsteen's home in New Jersey, the first episode largely covers their origin stories and how they met, while the 2nd focuses on race. The podcast is, in a word, terrific. It starts with Springsteen offering Obama whiskey. "You need it, you go get it," Bruce says. When they talk about their early meetings, Obama mentions White House dinners, singing Broadway tunes, "and there were libations involved, there was drinking." "That was good," Springsteen chimes in. This seems a bit disquieting, perhaps, considering Bruce's now-dismissed DWI charges from a few months later. The conversation quickly turns serious, warm-hearted, realistic, and to the "deep waters below the stillness" that they found as a common thread betwe...

On March 14th, 2020, I began posting COVID-19 updates to my facebook page, regarding the status of the COVID-19 pandemic. I have used data from worldometer as a primary source for daily and cumulative data, with frequent supplementation from various national and local sites.  Notables this week: new cases and deaths continued to fall sharply in both the USA and worldwide The weather catastrophe in Texas also held down reporting there This blog post compiles the period of February 14th through 20th, 2021. see  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/  for more February 14 | February 15 | February 17 | February 18 | February 19 | February 20 FEBRUARY 14 Today's counts Location Total Cases Cases Today Total Deaths Deaths Today World 109.42 million 304,469 2.412 million 7,240 USA 28.26 million 66,466 497,249 1,114 The number of cases in the...