tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196783402010-03-31T20:54:23.911-04:00Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.comBlogger103125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-54689514415826432892010-03-31T20:54:00.001-04:002010-03-31T20:54:24.106-04:00

This blog is now located at http://mattorel.blogspot.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://mattorel.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-44550757364556436262009-12-22T22:47:00.003-05:002009-12-22T23:52:05.675-05:00

Cider pressing, that is.The season starts as the summer descends in to its 2nd half. The days are still hot, and tart juice explodes from the transparents on the early tree. Pressings must start late, else the wasps may make things impossible. In the heat, the juice cannot be allowed to sit too long. The kids help, sometimes friends or cousins or neighbors (that's Cousin Elise with Aaron and

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-41145401670545657422009-11-23T21:57:00.001-05:002009-11-23T22:01:22.374-05:00

As my friend Karen and I sat in the seemingly interminable delay on the Blue Water Bridge in to Canada yesterday, I realized that we'd miss the start of last night's concert. We still had 3 and a half hours to drive -- if there wasn't another delay crossing back in the United States to get to Buffalo. We hadn't been set on tickets until 3pm, so it was the best we could do. Karen and I went

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-62472204193381482972009-11-15T22:19:00.002-05:002009-11-15T23:14:42.606-05:00

GOOD EVENING OHIO!!It's national news, now.Check out the video clip.And, yes, tonight Milwaukee got "Good evening, Ohio," too. Guess he needs to write a new song. Call it "In Ohio." I even have lyrics he can use. He wrote 'em in Kalamazoo, Ohio.

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-33367850750033732812009-11-14T03:49:00.004-05:002009-11-14T04:21:14.969-05:00

When I was growing up in New Jersey, the state had a bit of an identity crisis.  It was the suburb of New York and Philadelphia.  When the Giants and Cosmos moved in to Giants Stadium, they kept "New York" as part of their name.  Bruce Springsteen helped change things for us; from his very first album he proclaimed himself to be a New Jersey man.Michigan, on the other hand, is a big state with no

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-88951546299401261972009-10-19T22:17:00.005-04:002009-10-20T02:08:50.948-04:00

Six years ago, Rush Limbaugh went on national TV and said, regarding Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb:Sorry to say this, I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-10131291904599305452009-10-17T19:40:00.004-04:002009-10-17T22:58:10.836-04:00

20 years ago today. Has it really been so long?As I start this note, the clock reads 7:43pm EDT. In about 20 minutes it'll be the exact time.Me? I was in Section 9, Row 10. The ticket stub says so.During the summer of 1989, I began to realize that the best two teams in major league baseball were the two in the Bay Area, and that there was a good chance of a Bay Area World Series. When the

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-39083186341283436062009-09-26T01:37:00.003-04:002009-09-26T02:38:05.725-04:00

September 25, 200910 years ago this weekend, I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play a pair of shows in Philadelphia to mark Bruce's 50th birthday. Tonight, Bruce joined Elvis Costello onstage for a taping of Elvis's show "Spectacle," at Harlem's Apollo Theater. Not so much to mark Bruce's 60th, but to have an evening of talk and music in an intimate setting.First things first: The

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-49479775817141567632009-09-09T19:46:00.002-04:002009-09-09T20:46:38.452-04:00

I was about to call this one, The Beatles are Coming!!, but considering the prices involved, "Sale" seemed so much more appropriate. The links below show some -- not all -- of the major releases of Beatles stuff today. (Yes, the links all work, please use 'em to buy your Beatles stuff from Amazon!!). There are also various combinations involving t-shirts and even "collector's crate" editions (

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-21726313837484564832009-06-14T23:43:00.006-04:002009-06-15T00:41:21.637-04:00

WE DID IT!!Tour de Cure 2009 is in the books. For the first time, all of us did the ride. This morning in Brighton, Aaron and I participated in the 25-mile bike ride out of Brighton, and Lori and Elianna participated in the 10-mile ride. I am incredibly proud of both kids. For Elianna, it has barely been two months since she learned to ride a bike. And for Aaron, what a ride: All the hills.

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-28569177270951489282009-05-22T00:42:00.006-04:002009-05-22T02:35:06.625-04:00

When Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released one fine late fall day in 1979, I went with 16 of my closest friends in Millburn High School to a screening at Essex Green. We had to be there when Admiral James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise reunited on the bridge. And if the loving shots of the ship took too long, and if the movie itself was little more than a regurgitated TV

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-34973476547214481422009-02-03T22:58:00.010-05:002009-02-04T00:36:55.234-05:00

I tried my best this year to avoid all of the Super Bowl hype. Sure, I've been watching them at least since Otis Taylor made mincemeat of Bud Grant's secondary, but I have long since grown tired of all the pre-game festivities. So, I tuned it out. Even with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band finally on the bill as half-time performers, I did my best to ignore the details, paying only

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-84430052736758823372009-01-12T22:34:00.004-05:002009-01-13T00:17:27.864-05:00

Bruce Springsteen's "Working On a Dream" is due to be released on January 27. It finally leaked all over the internet today, so I've spent an some time with it this evening.Some of the early chatter I heard for this album was pretty bad. So... it's, it's, it's not as bad as that. How 'bout that? There are a few high points, and maybe at this point that should be enough.From the beginning. ok

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-18475077611132224622008-10-30T00:36:00.003-04:002008-10-30T00:43:53.195-04:00

My cousin, Andrew Horowitz, is a Certified Financial Planner and author of The Disciplined Investor: Essential Strategies for Success. We saw Andrew and his beautiful family last weekend, and after talking some finance in email, he sent me this gem last night:Bruce Springsteen’s Economic Wisdom

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-38332497029072253592008-10-08T21:39:00.001-04:002008-10-08T21:41:19.001-04:00

My better pictures from Ypsilanti are now up as a photo album at shutterfly. Go to http://ypsilantibruce.shutterfly.com to see the pics or slide show!

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-74581438230220708632008-10-08T01:41:00.004-04:002008-10-08T02:22:08.136-04:00

October 6, 2008:A year ago today I flew back from Philadelphia, having spent an exorbitant amount of money to see my first show on the Magic tour, my first show since my dad passed a month earlier. The E Street Band had its full original line-up, and played in an arena named for the mighty Wachovia Bank. It was 80 degrees outside, pool weather. The market crash had not yet begun, and the

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-89876000015665108352008-10-06T00:52:00.003-04:002008-10-06T01:36:40.270-04:00

I'm a sucker for going to see Bruce shows... even if they're far away and not really full shows.Today's performance at The Main Oval at The Ohio State University was one of 3 scheduled performances over this weekend, coinciding with voter registration drives in battleground states. Yesterday's was in Philadelphia, and tomorrow's will be in Ypsilanti.It was a beautiful Sunday, and for a change I

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-92209768229265043672008-09-20T23:29:00.003-04:002008-09-20T23:37:16.529-04:00

September 19, 2008:Thirty years ago today, my life changed a little.No, I wasn't there. I was up in my bedroom 20 miles away from Passaic's Capitol Theater, 7 months from having a driver's license, alone with my combo radio/tape recorder, listening quietly for the first time to Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band play live. I had gotten in to Bruce the summer before... well, the summer

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-19498435335075781442008-07-27T22:57:00.005-04:002008-07-28T00:46:50.110-04:00

Just like that, it was over. As an official sort of thing, anyway. In Jewish tradition, it is customary to be in mourning for 11 months after the death of a parent. Some traditions hold that it is 11 months from the date of death, others hold that it is 11 months from the date of burial, and yet other hold that it is 11 months from the date of death unless the burial is delayed by 3 or more

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-30793523103520455492008-07-22T22:01:00.003-04:002008-07-22T23:22:25.853-04:00

The days are long and hot. I've gone through the cherries, and the strawberries, and on to the red raspberries and now my hands and arms are sore from the prickers of the black raspberries. The snap peas grew, were snapped up and devoured. Lettuce, too. I've done battle with the mosquitoes to get to the summer apples. And still, no tomatoes! Waiting, waiting, waiting.Lori plants the seeds

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-69521085342065367562008-07-13T22:28:00.003-04:002008-07-13T22:54:14.148-04:00

Van Morrison doesn't make it to Detroit very often. He was here in 2006, and before then, I have no idea, but it was before I first came here in 1991. I missed that 2006 show, and determined to see Van Morrison perform sometime in my life, joined his mailing list so I'd get a notice on a pre-sale should he ever return. That night happened on Wednesday, and I didn't miss out this time. Though,

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-57437976700657989402008-06-12T00:27:00.002-04:002008-06-12T01:35:02.022-04:00

WE DID IT!!Tour de Cure 2008 is over. Sunday morning, Aaron and I participated in the 25-mile bike ride out of Brighton. This was an ambitious ride for Aaron; he'd never gone more than 15 before. And, it would be a special challenge, as predictions called for extreme heat.Everything in the basic setup for the right involves a bit of nerves. There's the fundraising, of course (and there's

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-35807869889187058952008-04-28T23:14:00.011-04:002008-04-30T07:09:06.717-04:00

April 27, 2008The afternoon before my father's funeral last September, our family met with the rabbi. He explained Jewish customs of mourning. I knew most of them, but there was one that was new to me: during the 11-month mourning period, it was prohibited to attend any performance of live music (unless required by profession). I immediately thought, I don't think I can observe that one.

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-56012606160316984512008-03-27T22:22:00.002-04:002008-03-27T22:26:58.809-04:00

My report from the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert in Columbus, March 24, 2008, as published on the official Bruce Springsteen website.Before the Cincinnati show, I told some friends that just once, I'd like to be "between the mics," that small portion of the front of the pit between Bruce and Steve. The lottery odds of that are rather small, of course, but last night my number

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678340.post-38670845432296879532008-03-27T22:10:00.003-04:002008-03-27T22:19:20.383-04:00

My report from the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band concert in Cincinnati, March 22, 2008, as published on the official Bruce Springsteen website.At just about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band left the stage, having just completed "American Land" before a nearly packed house at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. The crowd was loud and had been on its feet -- even

Matt Orelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16216172951304608707noreply@blogger.com0