by Benjamin | Jul 31, 2008 | Blog
Rock ‘n roll is all about release. Leonard Cohen calls it “the minor fall and major lift.” Bono says it’s “when God enters the building.” Call it what you will; it’s all about transcendence. And it’s difficult to come...
by Benjamin | Jul 29, 2008 | Blog
Giants Stadium. Dusk. The house lights flicker, then fade. Carnival music wafts from the PA. The E Street Band emerges: Little Steven, Patti, Clearance. A spotlight burns a white-hot line through the summer haze. A figure ascends: rounded shoulders, unruly mane. The...
by Benjamin | Jul 28, 2008 | Blog
This is it: The Fall of Rome. And this is how it goes: blue sky, 85 degrees, 300,000 people, 42 modified stock cars hurtling around a two and a half mile track at 170 mile per hour, and lots and lots of beer. This is the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, aka The...
by Benjamin | Jul 26, 2008 | Blog
In the summer between my sophomore and junior years at Syracuse University, I drove from Philadelphia to San Diego and back, camping and crashing at friend’s and family’s homes in Chicago, Iowa City, Minneapolis, Denver, and points in-between (including an...
by Benjamin | Jul 26, 2008 | Blog
Prevailing wisdom about San Diego’s Comic-Con is that it’s an assembly of misfits, nerds, freaks and geeks salivating over B-listers, back issues, and collectibles. In fact, I traded in that very same simplistic, diminishing description as recently as just...
