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Date Posted: 05:46:06 02/07/03 Fri
Author: cory
Subject: Star Ledger Feature on Dan Bruder and Glimpses



Autobiography reflects a generation
Thursday, February 06, 2003
BY CARMEN JURI
Star-Ledger Staff
If you go by the title of Dan Bruder’s autobiography, you’d think this book is about the personal experiences that helped shape his 46 years.
And in a sense, you’d be right. But, “Glimpses From The Edge: A Collection Of Short Stories chronicling My Indiscretions and Other Infamous Impressions” is more than that.
It is a portrait of life in New Jersey that takes the reader from the Newark Riots of the late 60’s to a utopian life growing up in Maplewood to living through the fears of the nuclear era to his experiences as a band member opening up for such names as the Smithereens, Nils Lofgren and Mick Ronsen.
In short, it is a record of an entire generation.
That’s exactly what Bruder had in mind when he decided to publish his writings, written as a journal. “These are stories I’ve always told. I bore people at dinner parties and they’d say ‘You should write a book,’” said Bruder over coffee at the Maple Leaf Coffee Shop in Maplewood.
While writing the book, however, publishing it didn’t enter his mind. He intended for the book to be read only by family members and close friends. Then, he realized that the stories might have a wider appeal because they deal with topics to which many in a generation can relate.
Bruder then decided to publish the book using 1st Books Library, a print-on-demand company that sells the books online at Amazon.com.
“To people my age, it resurrects a lot of important and fond memories. To those who are younger, it is history,” said Bruder, who owns a technical recruiting firm in Wayne.
He divulges personal anecdotes, such as his wife Helene’s battle with breast cancer and period of self-indulgence with alcohol. Bruder starts with stories of elementary-school pranks with his friend, Harold, throwing lit matches out of his bedroom window, resulting in Harold’s family’s tool shed covered in flames.
Another memorable life experience is working on the Agent Orange litigation as a deposition editor in the ‘80’s, something that had an impact on his life.
“It was the first time in my life that I did something for more than just a paycheck,” he writes. “My efforts helped affect the lives of tens of thousands of veterans who had been wrongly exposed to serious dangers by their own government.”
Becoming despondent reading about blow-by-blow accounts of soldiers watching comrades get blown up and the confessions of wartime brutality, Bruder turned to alcohol. He later relates stories of driving under the influence and being dragged off to the police station.
“I firmly believe that the sharpest double edge sword in our society is alcohol,” he writes, adding that he hasn’t had a drink in 13 years.
Bruder details his life in the music business as head of the Dan Bruder Band and how he was active in the Jersey music scene, hobnobbing with musicians who ruled the musical landscape in those days, such as Bruce Springsteen and members of the group Kansas un their pre-fame days.
As he grows older, Bruder confronts other issues-parenting among them.
So how did he choose the title for his book? “A lot of my life has been lived on the edge. There are many reasons while I shouldn’t be alive. And society is on the edge,” he said.
He compares his writing to the graffiti found on the fortification walls underneath the Louvre museum in Paris. Those who inscribed messages there wanted to leave their mark on the world.
“This is my graffiti,” he said.

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