It seemed like an eternity. A multitude of events started, seemingly, so long ago. An accident. The slow recovery. A ten year relationship gone missing. Never to return. Waiting for a payoff, literally, that never reaching the zenith of its promise. Trips back east, that seemed more a tease, with only short term pleasures. It was the loss that brought things into focus. The loss of self. The loss of youth. The loss of love. The loss of home. These were the things that drove me to this place … and my Soul.

Each one of these things informed the other. In a vortex of circumstances, not unlike Dorothy, and her damn little dog, my psyche, my heart and my home were ripped up by their shallow roots and transported to a former place of glory, creativity, peace and prosperity, so many miles away.

Leaving the Emerald City, after a sixteen year adventure, was difficult. Even at its worst moments, in every dark valley of each of those seven magnificent hills, there was something that made me crawl back up and out. Maybe it was my survival instincts. But in the end, with nothing left to lose, I took a three-thousand mile leap of faith. And I landed back in Asbury Park, NJ.

I lived in Asbury Park in 1986. I lived in a storefront on Bond Street, which, by the way, is only blocks from my new apartment on 6th Ave. There are a lot of good memories here that will help feed the ones yet to be made. Asbury is in another “Phoenix … rising from the ashes” phase, like so many times before. But somehow this one seems different. Much more committed. A place for second chances. I’m up for that! Continue Reading > > >

It’s memorial day weekend. It’s cold and it’s gray in Seattle. Forecast? Rain! Rain! Rain! Go figure! I always have to remind myself. Joe. There are other parts of the world where the forecast is … sun, sun, sun & fun, fun, fun! Like. Wait for it. Asbury Park, NJ! ; )

Asbury Park, NJ? Really? Yeah … really! We have history. We have rapport. Though we’ve been estranged, we’re not irreconcilable. I’ve paid my dues in purgatory. Now I want my reborn “city in ruins” back! It’s my stopping grounds. It’s by new rebirth right! Okay. I’m just soooooo fucking tired of Seattle I want to scream! There I said it! I own it!

I lived in Asbury for five years of my life. They were some of the most rewardingly creative years of my life. Plus I love the Jersey Shore. Not the stupid reality show … the beach! The Atlantic. The smell of salt air & Coppertone commingling, igniting cherished and iconized childhood and adult memories.

I just read recently, maybe in a AP Boardwalk or In! Asbury linked story on Facebook. And it’s so true … or at least I think so.

There’s something about Asbury Park that draws people looking for their second chance, their dream …

I also have reason to wax poetic about Asbury this weekend …. it’s the 29th anniversary of The Clash attack on Asbury Park weekend. Three days of  music and one incredible party on the last night at the Amusement Casino. But I digress …. Continue Reading > > >

Ever since my first blog post about my friend Gary Croslin’s band Junior Smoots And The Disturbers, people have come in droves. It amazes me still! One … that people Google Junior Smoots. And Two … that I’ve reconnected with all the (living) members of the band and quite a few fans. One of the people who recently found me was Bruce St. Laurent. Bruce was the sound man for the Smoots band in the early days. And thank goodness he did. Because now boys and girls … we have thirteen … count them … thirteen well recorded live songs, recorded direct from the sound board,  from an early gig at the Harbor Inn in Brielle, NJ.

If you were a Smoots follower … you know The Smoots band played the Harbor Inn A LOT! When I was living with Gary, Judy, & Kenny at the Smoots house in Wall Township, I’d go to most of the shows. I know I’d go and dance all night long too! We all would … you know who you are!

Without any further fanfare … Continue Reading > > >

Should I stay … or should I go.

It was the question I asked before the fateful trip. The Asbury excursion. The one to reunite the three.

In my heart I was waiting for this moment. I couldn’t be in attendance last year. But this year I WANTED to be there. I hadn’t seen any of them since the mid-nineteen-eighties. For argument’s sake and our love of round numbers I’ll call it twenty-five. Had it been that long? Maybe. Maybe more. Even our collective (failing) brains could not arrive at an accurate accounting. At this age … what’s a few years give or take.

After trading eMails with Geoff … and his kind offer of plane fare … I was able to come up with the money to buy my own round-trip ticket on Continental. If I went for two weeks the fare was reduced to $400.00. Time I had. Money. Not so much. Friends like these? Not enough!

It was set. Asbury Park, August 11th and leave for my family in south Jersey on the morning of the 16th. But on August 14th … The Hoover Hootenanny!

Geoff’s lovely wife Tatiana picked me up from Newark Airport the evening of my arrival. Like most New York City transplants Geoff never learned to drive. Good thing Tatiana did! “Yo Hoov! How will I know your wife? Will she have a sign?” “Oh. She’ll have a sign!.” Continue Reading > > >

Crazy Janey and her mission man were back in the alley tradin’ hands
‘long came Wild Billy with his friend G-man all duded up for Saturday night
Well Billy slammed on his coaster brakes and said anybody wanna go on up to Greasy Lake
It’s about a mile down on the dark side of route eighty-eight I got a bottle of rose so let’s try it
We’ll pick up Hazy Davy and Killer Joe and I’ll take you all out to where the gypsy angels go
They’re built like light and they dance like spirits in the night …

Bruce Springsteen . Spirits In The Night

New Jersey September 1974. I had just started my first semester as a photography major at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in wonderful New York, New York … just like I pictured it … skyscrapers and everything. I was living in an apartment with my sister Diane in Rahway, NJ and commuting every day to the fashion district of NYC. Walk a few blocks. Hop a train at the Rahway station … four stops later … Linden, Elizabeth, Newark … arriving at New York Penn Station. It was an amazing time of learning and spreading my newly found seventeen-year-old wings to fly. Continue Reading > > >

I almost forgot about this show. Shows what a little digging in my slide archives and a little Internet searching will do. The show was REM opening for The English Beat at Fountain Casino, Aberdeen, NJ in 1983. I saw the slides before me and I knew I was there, I also had some vague recollection that REM ‘might’ have played but all these years later it was a bit foggy.

As I was scanning the first batch of 12 slides, images of Dave Wakeling, check. Images of Rankin Roger, check. Even one of the keyboard player. All well and good. So while these are scanning I’m racking my brain to figure out where this show was at. I Googled “English Beat shows 1983″ got hits but no real detail. Then I figured I’d try “REM English Beat 1983 NJ.” Bingo! Sometimes you just have to admire how some people out there record every detail of bands they love. The hit came from an REM fan page listing show dates for REM in 1983. REM opening for The English Beat at Fountain Casino, Aberdeen, NJ, April 24, 1983. Amazing! Continue Reading > > >

UPDATE: Junior Smoots @ The Fast Lane … NOT Junior Smoots @ The Harbor Inn … D’oh! Thanks to Bruce St. Laurent (Smoots Sound guy) for pointing out what should have been obvious to me.
These are live shots I took of Junior Smoots And The Disturbers at the Harbor Inn in Brielle, NJ Fast Lane, Asbury Park, NJ. The photos were taken one night in August of 1982. I would imagine it was the Harbor Inn. If anyone knows differently leave a comment below. Or just leave a comment for the hell of it. Continue Reading > > >