Chuck Abdella's Reviews > Let's Go!: Benjamin Orr and The Cars

I grew up in the 80s and the Cars were my favorite band, but I always felt like I was the only kid in the world whose favorite member of the Cars was Ben Orr. I thought Ben's bass playing was underrated and his vocals were not featured on enough songs in the Cars catalog. I even met Ben in the 1990s when he was playing a concert with his band "ORR" at South Station in Boston. Very randomly, as I got off the train for the concert, I saw Ben all by himself tuning his guitar. I approached him (calling him "Mr. Orr") and told him I was a huge Cars fan. He was super-nice and signed an autograph which I still have framed in my house. When Ben died of cancer, I was devastated. All of this is to say, even though he was one of my rock heroes, I knew very little about Ben Orr and thought no one was a fan but me. Enter Joe Milliken. Mr. Milliken has spent 11 years researching this book and he takes you from Ben's childhood as "Benny 11 letters" all the way to his untimely death. The detail is fascinating and the book really takes off when Ben and Ric Ocasek form the Cars. I try not to give an excessive amount of 5 star reviews, but I give "Let's Go" 5 stars because it filled a void for me. Ric Ocasek was always the face of the Cars and Ben sort of faded into the background. Milliken does a real service by trying to shine some light on a rock star who was just as important in the Cars' meteoric success. If you grew up in the 70s or 80s, love the Cars, or just want to read about a guy who succeeded beyond his wildest rock dreams and didn't let that stardom change him, pick up this book. My 2 minute interaction with Ben Orr seemed very typical, based on Milliken's research. Ben Orr was a good guy and remained a good guy, even when the Cars became a Hall of Fame-caliber band with the fame to match. I hope Milliken's book lights a fire under someone to release all of Ben's songs with one of his final bands, ORR. And I want to thank Mr. Milliken personally for all of the time and effort he put into this book. Clearly I am not the only guy in the world who thought that Ben Orr was a phenomenal rock star.