Atlanta Vacation This Summer

For several summers we have visited major league cities and booked a hotel within walking distance of the ball park.  We took Jay Buckley Baseball Tours in 2006, 2007, and 2010 and enjoyed them thoroughly.  We have taken trips to Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and Cleveland to see ball games among the other attractions in those cities.  This year we will be going to Atlanta,

Motown the Musical

Jukebox musicals very often fail on Broadway.  Jersey Boys is the only one in recent years that has thrived.  The problem is usually that the rock n roll musicals lack a strong story line.  Over the years I have read several biographies of Motown recording artists so I know the story of how the company started, grew, and eventually declined.  The show plays the music roughly in the order of when they charted.

The musical performances were excellent.  The actors greatly resembled the recording artists they portrayed.  The highlight of the show was Diana Ross leading the audience sing Reach Out and Touch.  I highly recommend this show to my oldies enthusiast friends.

You Know My Name Look Up the Number by the Beatles

I requested this silly Beatles Song on Bob Radil's 60s 70s show

200,000 Page Views of Bruce's Journal

Bruce's Journal uses Blogger software provided by Google which gives me statistics on what entries are accessed. As of today there are 200,000 page views of this journal since October 2005.  I sense that only a few people who know me check in regularly.  Most people do a Google search and land on a single entry.

The entry that got the most hits (about 9000) was a short entry called TGIF.  Some of the posts were just Youtube videos of a song that came to mind. There were posts that were autobiographical while others reviewed books, movies, concerts, CDs, and museums.  I also documented sporting events that I attended and several vacation trips.

Thanks for dropping by.

Remembering Richie Havens

I heard the bad news today that Richie Havens passed away today from a heart attack at age 72.  I have written about Richie several times in this journal.  Murray the K introduced me to Richie when he was on WOR-FM in the late 1960s.  Pete Fornatale named a radio show after his seminal album shown above.  Mixed Bag is still heard on WFUV Saturdays from 4 PM - 8 PM and is hosted by Don McGee after Pete's untimely passing.

Richie is best known for his show stopper Handsome Johnny at Woodstock in 1969.  It seems since Richie was the only performer who arrived at Yasgur's Farm, he was allowed to start the show.  I remember Richie as one of the best interpreters of Bob Dylan's songs.  At dinner tonight we heard his CD Richie Haven sings Beatles and Dylan.  My favorite has to be Just Like a Woman.  Please see his performance at the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert.  If there was a Folk Music Hall of Fame, Richie Havens would be one of the first inductees.




 Please also see this video of the late Pete Fornatale talking about Richie Havens.

Mets 2 Washington 0 and some Bob Dylan News

Today Karen, Lee and I joined Bill Dillane, Ken Dulberg, and Alan Berman at Citifield to see the Mets play the Washington Nationals.  I was not disappointed as Dillion Gee pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings followed by 3 2/3 flawless innings by the bullpen.  John Buck hit a home run that went 460 feet.

Box Score

It was a pleasant surprise to find out that Bob Dylan's Never Ending Tour will be returning to the NYC area in late July with supporting acts Wilco, Richard Thompson and My Morning Jacket.  On Friday July they will play at the Pier A Park in Hoboken while on Saturday the 27th they will be at the Jones Beach Theater.  Since we have seen Zimmy at Jones Beach several times I am interested in the Hoboken venue.  However, I really don't want to go to a venue where I'll have to stand.  If general admission seats are announced for Hoboken, I'll go to Jones Beach.  I am getting a little old for standing up for a concert.

Happy Birthday Karen

On our very first date in August 1980 I found out that Karen's birthday was one day after mine, but not the same year.  She is older than 39, but I will not reveal her age.