Black Out, Newark Ave, Northside

Since starting this blog, I just about never go anywhere without the camera. There are a lot of posts with pictures of our firemen and their shiny red trucks. I realize that a lot of these pictures are the same, firemen in their gear, near their vehicles. The images only appear to be the same. The reality is that each call they are responding to is different. The protocols followed—where the vehicles are parked, what gear is taken off the truck, who goes onto the scene first—are identical—they have to be in order to be effective, but in spite of general categories they may fall into, each emergency is unique. I whish I knew more about the procedures because then, each image could be accurately identified, this is the J.C. Fire Department implementing stage I, II, II, and so on. These pictures were after the threat had been ascertained, and the fire fighters are milling about and shooting the breeze waiting for the signal to leave the scene and go back to the fire house and wait for the next call. We have a great fire department in this town. Look at the number of the trucks, parked so traffic is blocked off and the job can be done. It was a nasty day too, gelid rain and wind and temperatures dropping to the 40s. I know a few of these guys, acquaintances mostly and they are just really great, nice folks. So professional and good natured, ask them what is happening and they’ll tell you want they know.

What happened? On Friday on the north side of Newark Ave, smoke came out of a Manhole and the electricity went off in the cluster of buildings in the center of the block. Turned out, there was a short in the cable, and later, PSE&G sent workers to replace the cables. According to one of the owners of Tender Shoot, the produce bodega, it took five hours for the electricity to return, in time for the evening rush. A minor emergency, one of the many inconveniences that happens. It’s not news that there was no disaster, or that the Fire Department was the first responders in a situation and quickly ascertained the nature of the emergency. Next time, we may not be so lucky, but that phrase is a cliché and untrue. Next time, no matter what the situation, we will be so lucky because our Fire Department will be there. They’re ready.

Mercy Shows Jersey City

I hate television. Do yourself a favor, stop watching it now. Apparently, there’s a new hospital show that takes place in Jersey City called Mercy, and the other day, saw them film a bit of business. Director screams the body drops, somebody lets go a small weight of some kind from the fire escape above which lands on plastic garbage bags and two actor cops and one actor nurse kind of run from a faked parked cop car to the garbage bags. I guess they add the grit in post production. Build a set next time! Oh, I’m sure it helps the city’s coffers and it does employ people, and it was humorous watching real Jersey City Cops direct traffic away from the fake Jersey City Cops.

New Art, Dead Industry

Artists behind folding tables, their art on top of the tables, in the lot across an all-decked out Morgan Industrial Center. I love walking around this little nook of a Jersey City neighborhood, once known as the Jersey City Warehouse District. The factories and warehouses and industries here, built the United States into a country that could free Europe. Then of course, Ronald Reagan took our nation’s wealth, consolidated into bulk of into one percent of the population, and allowed these industries to move over-seas, removing the blue collar mostly union worker from the middle class. We don’t make things in America any more. The factories and warehouses are closed, some are land marked, some are being turned into luxury apartment buildings, and some are art gallery spaces like Morgan, until they become condo-ized I guess. The art reminds me of a daisy springing up in a sidewalk crack, a tiny sign of hope. The real art though is what these warehouses and factories used to do, the people they used to employee. And it’s not just here of course, it’s all across the country, reminders of what our nation used to be.

Sculpture in Lobby

Shoot, here I thought Exchange Place meant basically the Hudson river waterfront between Pavonia and Liberty State Park, but it turns out, the area between Pavonia and Exchange Place is now called Harborside. In honor of the ghosts of harbors past apparently, not even the ferry docks here now. The official map of the Artist Studio Tour misprinted the location of this Victory Arts Project “Constructions in the Sunken Garden Sculpture at mack-cali atrium.harborside 3. It’s to the left of Montgomery Street not to the right, as the map indicated. I’m wandering this neighborhood of de-humanizing glass and steel canyons. No art tour signs in sight, no people in sight on the block, except for some really sleazy guys who are condo sellers in the luxury condo building, a hideous glass structure for the hideously wealthy I suppose. The salesmen were really creepy guys, the very idea of giving somebody directions or the fact that I hadn’t known that the ugly buildings that have sprung up are named after the architects. They should be named for the bribes given by the developers to the city officials that approved these haphazardly positioned monstrosities. So, I was in a bad mood for this sculpture show, although I found out the invaluable information that the semi mall, the ugly office buildings and such, north of the Path Station, is actually called Harborside. The sculptures were kind of lame, had some native American themes of some sort, in this sunken lobby. I read about in the paper earlier, I thought it would be interesting, the pictures looked interesting. And you know, the pictures I took look pretty good too. A little more lame in person, but the mood was wrecked from the a-hole condo salesmen in the big, glassy ugly building. An illegal bribe is the only explanation for this building, it’s on Greene south of Montgomery. Tell you one thing about this pre-fabricated, sterile neighborhood—Exchange Place and Harborside (please!), it ain’t Jersey City. No exhibit of sculpture is going to change that sad fact.

Lex & Taylor

Note this under: who knew. Or, under: something else I didn’t know. I always wanted to go in this building. Turns out, I probably could have long before this. The Lex Leonard Building, also known as the Lex Leonard Gallery, hosted a few differernt artists at Art Tour. My buddy Taylor Silwue was having a party for his short story collection, Dancing with the Devil, some of which will be the basis of films that are expected online, coming to an internet near you sometime soon. I should have taken better notes (or notes), but I just took pictures of the interesting masks in one gallery, a horror heavy metal goth diaramoro, photographs and paintings and authentically recreated front desk with attendant for a studio system within a pretty cool space.

Antique Reflections

As of September, Antique Reflections, a jewelry and antique emporium on Columbus Ave closed and moved to Chelsea across the river. The store’s focus has intensified on jewelry – Fine Antique & Estate Jewelry – Sterling Silver & Enamel Objects -- Bought & Sold – Jewelry & Sterling Silver Repairs.

Visit the new Antique Reflections at 40 West 25th Street/Gallery 232 (2nd Level). Call: (917) 674-7812,

I bumped into proprietor Pat Bustamante, (pictured here with Eric Chiampas, a business partner), who told me that had closed. She explained: “There wasn’t enough action on Christopher Columbus, and in Chelsea, you get more of the tourist trade.”

Made me sad, and like the name of the store, reflective. I’ve known Pat and her husband, Joe (also a partner in the new establishment), for more than a decade and a half, not because I was a jewelry or antique customer, but for videos. Movie rentals. They operated Video Rent-All, they were the mom and pop behind this mom and pop business, the best one in the neighborhood during this now bygone era.

Like the advent of the automobile meant the demise of the blacksmith, Net-Flix, movies on demand, and all the rest of the new ways to access film, meant the demise of the video store. It’s a change I’ve accepted, but seeing Pat made me feel wistful about the recent past. See, when I moved to Jersey City in the early 90s, it was also the first time I had a VCR. Now, I’ve always been a film buff of sorts. Kind of a close third in terms of interest after literature and music; but that interest seemed well enough satiated by the films on television, the revival theaters that used to be in Manhattan, and the VCR that the girlfriend had at her place. My first place in J.C. was with another girlfriend, and the VCR became a central part of our lives for a few years or so.

Video Rent-All was the best of the half dozen or so video stores that were in the downtown neighborhood. The original location was across from the Grove Street path, a little shanty strip that included a disgustingly dirty gym and a check-cashing place and a space that kept turning over businesses—a chicken place, a jewelry store, a clothing store are the ones I remember. For whatever reason, the businesses seemed always badly run. There were hardly any customers and who ever was working seemed unenthused about being there.

Video Rent-All was different. Pat and Joe and the kids that they employed were always nice and fun and loved to talk movies. Their inventory was huge and diverse. Yes, they had the new releases but they had a very health stock of horror movies, foreign movies, classics. I would rent three movies at a time, several nights a week. I got my first Leonard Matlin Guide. Almost all of the films I had heard about, and more that I hadn’t heard about but had some sort of importance—either by some Film Commentary article or other scholarly mention or the fact they featured an actor, director or screenwriter that were better known in some other classic.

Video Stores were like re-imagined libraries. Browsing through the aisles, looking at titles, reading the copy on the boxes, many of them dusty. What an enjoyable experience it was. Sometimes, you knew exactly what to rent. It was in and out. Other times, you had to dawdle, speculate, try to remember the review you saw about the new French film that came out earlier in the year.


So many film memories come back. Finally seeing Fassbinder’s Querele, and finding it awful, even though in my younger years, Jean Genet was a favored author. The Paul Wegner’s Golem, a silent classic of German expressionism that was basically ripped off for Frankenstein & Bride of Frankenstein and the entire look of the Universal Monster Film Genre; Laura Antonellie films. Good lord, they had all these Humphrey Bogart films. A Touch of Evil. And what was that Kurisawa flick, Down There? one of his films set in contemporary times and based on an Evan Hunter novel if I remember correctly, about a kidnapping of the son of a wealthy man but the kidnappers mistakenly kidnapped the son of the wealthy man’s chauffer. Oh God, another film I rented a few times, the French contemporary classic, Baby Blue. Fellini, Passolini, a lot of Bergman, Persona stands out.

One film was only in the store. I can’t get any info on it, even as a google. I believe it was a student film. The budget was minuscule—they got change back from their sawbuck. Entitled Desolation Angels—no relation to the Kerouac Novel—it was filmed in Hoboken, where it was set and featured Christian Bale (I’m pretty sure it was him, if not, his doppelganger), years before American Psycho. This was a fantastic noir flick. The main character returns to town and his girlfriend says she was a raped by the Bale character, a rich kid. It seemed to be a case of date rape. The guy is not even sure if he should believe his girlfriend, but eventually hires a thug to beat up Bale, except the thug mistakes the guy’s best friend as Bale and beats the crap out of him. There’s emotional fallout, lots of guilt and jealousy and class conflict. Cassavettes-styled acting and realistic sounding dialogue. I’ve never seen this movie anywhere else and it was back in the VHS days. If you know anything about it, email me.

It was always worth taking a chance on a film at Video Rent-All because of these rare moments when you encounter a film without any knowing anything about it, completely pre-condition free, and being blown away. That intensely pure feeling of discovery is something that makes life worth living. I had similar experiences with Tarintino’s Reservoir Dogs and Kevin Smith Clerks. Although not as free of hype as Desolation Angels—I had read about them when they were released and both directors were considered young and hip. By the time they were on video I had forgotten why the reviewers raved. When I watched each of these films, I was completely engrossed. When the final credits rolled, I immediately pressed rewind and watched them again. I’ve been fans of both aueters ever since.


My experience with movie rental probably follows a common pattern. At first you are a huge customer and that fades after several months, then you just didn’t rent as often. The good thing about Pat & Joe, they would replenish their stock not with just a full selection of new films, but they would buy a lot of re-issues and such. They were like video courtesans—they knew how to entice and satisfy.


Gradually, I went from renting 10-20 films a month to 5-10, or many months, 0-5. It wasn’t that consistent though, there would be periods where the renting would go up again. Then there would be months without anything. It just depends on what was going on in your life. In recent months, Net-Flix has been in the news for awarding a $1 million prize to a team who wrote a new algorithm to improve its recommendation system to 10 percent success. I’m not going into all the details, but basically the company found that once someone is a member for a few months, their rentals decline. They have seen all the films they had in their mind, indifference sets in. Net-Flix hopes a better recommendation system will improve customer retention. I was a big customer for Video Rental then went wavered between steady and inconsistent. I’m not sure if a recommendation system would work for me, but I do know that looking at the computer screen and counting stars is not as much fun as browsing with the aisles of cases and seeing what sparks my interest.

Video Rent-All moved to Columbus Ave right before they knocked down that shanty strip and replaced it with Grove Pointe. The store gradually switched over to DVD and eventually I was informed that VHS would not longer be available. Stores were practically giving away the damn machines so I too switched to DVD.

Soon after, Net-Flix began. I’ve never joined Net-Flix. I need another monthly bill like I need another hole in my head. Maybe if a sizable back log of films I need to see still existed, maybe I would join. When I was renting 20 films a month, it would be the thing for me. I’m no longer in that place.

I know a lot of Net-Flix members, they all are happy with the service. For me, I don’t find the whole mailing system appealing. I hate the lack of spontaneity. I don’t like the idea of planning a Woody Allen weekend that far in advance, scheduling while waiting for the discs to come in the mail. I liked the what I am going to do this weekend Friday and then just going to the video store on the way home from work. I also liked the atmosphere of Video Rent-All, it was cool place to kill some time, a kind of respite.

When I ran into Pat, she admitted that the store could not compete against Net-Flix. But she made a better point too. “It was the movies. They just aren’t as good as they were in the 90s.”

True that. There have been a lot of entertaining movies, a lot of good ones, many interesting and even a few great ones. But seriously, how many must-sees have you seen made in this century? Anything ground-breaking like Reservoir Dogs or Clerks? I haven’t. You miss something in the theater, there isn’t that sense of urgency to catch up.

Video Rent-All kept up. They replaced a lot of their VHS library with DVD versions, they maintained their quirky, cinephile instincts with foreign films, indies, reissues of classic films and had the TV shows, like Sopranos. They started some incentive deals, like extending the return by date, rent two, get one free. Finally, it was not enough and they added an antique and jewelry store, phased out the rental business and now moved out of the neighborhood. The new customers, the young and heavy renters, were joining Net-Flix and steady but inconsistent ones like myself were insufficient to sustain a business.


Within ten years, you won’t have to wait for the discs in the mail. With the click of the mouse, any movie ever made will be on your screen. Why argue with progress? Personally, I don’t think it’s progress to replace neighborhood businesses with national monopolies. That’s just me, I guess. Through more than a decade of renting at Video Rent-All, I never returned a movie late. Pat said I was the only customer to hold that record. I’m in now in the same record book as Chariot Race winners, Catapult champions and Blacksmith of the year.

Any Day Parade Marches Home

“This is the second stop on our Jersey City tour,” announced Tree, leader of Any Day Parade before the band got into their set, capping off the 4th Street Art & Music Festival. It’s more than a year now that I’ve been “following” this Jersey City band, praising them to anyone who will listen. The other tour stop was as the finale of Groove on Grove, nicely book-ending the series by being both opening and closing act.

I’ve seen them a few times now, I always make the effort or at least try. They write really terrific songs, are excellent musicians and together produce a unique, infectious roots sound. I love their music. It is witty and intelligent. They lean towards energetic country-rock, yet possess little to no maudlin self-absorption that can be endemic to this genre.


ADP was on tour in the Summer through September, playing gigs in the Midwest and Southeast, rare for a local bar band. One stop was a Lexington Kentucky bar, the first time Tree played in her hometown.

Earlier this year, they changed bassists and before the tour they changed drummers. It’s been a year of change and experience and one imagines, searching for the sound.

When I last saw ADP in May, they were good—shoot, they’re always good—they were trying some new things, particularly in the song, Together We Fall, a dialog song—Tree and Larry Brinkman, the other guitarist, singer and songwriter, trade lyrics, taking the male and female role in this romantic tragedy. They had just put the song out on their second EP/CD and it seemed to swerve into a new, Emo-inspired direction—it was a hard-edged rock outing that ends in a hard-core, blues-tinged crescendo. I will get back to this song.

The comeback from the tour, the first “stop” on the Jersey City Tour, the Groove on Grove set, they had a new sound. The bass player has learned to bounce those notes like a country musician, and the new drummer propelled songs with fills and rolls. I hypothesize they have found the sound they’ve been searching for, or maybe it’s their songs that have found their sound. Tighter than ever, ADP played more as a unit than before, coalescing in a way that makes the whole more than the sum of the parts. In the Bob Dylan documentary, No Direction Home, the young folksinger leaves the Minneapolis folk-scene for his first visit to Greenwich Village, returns a month or so later and his North Country peers are astounded by his newly attained skills, invoking the old Down to the Cross Roads myth. I had the same thought with ADP. Maybe their recent, extensive tour is their crossroad or perhaps they made a group field trip to that fabled intersection. A leap forward has been made. The twang has been ramped up, the rhythm section drives the songs forward with more purpose. Their inner Creedence is unleashed!

The Grove gig was on Wed. and the Fest gig was on Sat. and the set list was similar. On of their stand-by cover songs is their rousing version of that old war-horse, “Stay A Little, Longer.” It used to be in mid-set, sung by Brinkman. Now, it was the finale, the last song, with Tree and even lead guitarist, J.D. are taking some of the verses. These cats know they have found their sound—or at least got a lot closer to it—and they know they are playing great together. “Stay A Little Longer,” has become a victory lap to end their sets.

The Grove set was good. Never an optimum setting, made even less conducive by unseasonably chilly weather, but ADP soldiered on and entertained the small crowd. The Fest set though, I’ve never saw them better. It was a hot set. Their gaggle of friends, fans and followers—about a dozen or so twenty something’s—pretty gals and skinny guys—formed a semi ring around the stage, and there were dozens, behind them to welcome the band. They opened up with Broken Lamps, a rousing rock & roll ditty from their first EP. Haven’t heard them play this for a while. It rocked, the unmistakable message was delivered: we are in for a special night. As good as Grove might have been, this was something else entirely. The stops were pulled out. The band and the crowd shared an extraordinarily good mood. A home coming celebratory atmosphere pervaded. The relentless energy of the musicians grew, feeding off the enthusiastic audience.

Tree’s voice, brassy and full, seamlessly moved to the higher range. She was simply having a great night voice-wise. She can shout and holler with the best of them, then change on a dime and coo as delicately as a nightingale.

A new song—I didn’t catch the name and though I think I had heard it before, it was not like this up-tempo country rocker (again, Creedence), which also showcased some accelerated lead work by J.D. Now, there’s a cat ready for the big leagues. Another new trick was a country-blues song—a young banjo player was brought on stage and Larry played some stinging slide guitar. The interplay created a nice forlorn mood. When the band went to Together We Fall, the emo arrangement was softened, neatened up, made presentable. The pace sped up, a modicum of adrenaline added. The interplay twixt Tree and Larry resembled the song Jackson (June & Johnny). ADP can play the grunge punk, but it’s better when they countrified up a song some—it is more suited to their strengths and attitude.

The show ended with Stay A Little Longer. I’m never going to love this song, but it sure is an audience favorite. The crowd cheered the high-powered set, acknowledging the triumphant return of local musical heroes. As the song thundered to a crescendo and ADP thanked the crowd and they looked like they were going to call it a night, there was still applause. ADP did something I never saw them do before—an Encore.

Brinkman snatches up the acoustic guitar and sings one of his from the first EP, Hold On Me (a local hit for nearly 10 J.C. residents). Not only have they further refined their sound and were having a really good night, these cats have a new confidence and stage-manship. What ever they had has been made better by hours of practice and weeks on the road, playing for non-hometown crowds and I suspect, winning them over.

Welcome back and show us what you got! October night, sweet and warm. Dozens of neighbors flowing towards Brunswick, enlivened, uplifted and encouraged by the music of Any Day Parade. Fortified! Great music on a Saturday night. No better place to be.

ADP MySpace page here