New Jersey Baby Boomer

Today New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen sang at another Obama event, and while I’m not promoting Obama, not one bit, it gives me an excuse to talk about another NJ celebrity who has been around for as long as I’ve been listening to rock ‘n roll.

Bruce Springsteen was born in Freehold, NJ, south of where I am in NJ, in fact, almost everywhere in NJ is south of us, since we’re at the top of the State. I found a great website that provides some trivia about him, and will give you a taste, but out of fairness to copyright guidelines and all that fun stuff, the link to the full page follows.

Here’s some Springsteen trivia:

* Children, with Scialfa, Evan James, Jessica Rae and Sam Ryan.
* Says his favorite film as a kid was _Searchers, The (1956)_
* One of Springsteen’s most famous songs, “Thunder Road”, took inspiration from the Robert Mitchum movie of the same name.
* Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999, where Bono of U2 gave the induction speech. When U2 was inducted in 2005, Springsteen gave their induction speech, returning the favor.
* Awarded the Polar Music Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music Award, in 1997.
* Bruce Springsteen appeared on the covers of both Time and Newsweek magazine simultaneously. At that time this had only happened to world leaders. [27 October 1975]
* Brother of Pamela Springsteen
* Considered becoming a baseball player prior to devoting himself to music.
* Many of his earlier songs make reference to the New Jersey shore, where he spent his youth.
* Paul Schrader asked Springsteen to write a title song for a movie he had written called “Born in the USA”. After Springsteen wrote it, he liked the song so much, he used for his multi-platinum album of the same name instead. As a replacement, Springsteen wrote another song and that song title became the film’s new title, Light of Day (1987). That is why Springsteen thanks Schrader in the liner notes of the album.
* Father, Douglas “Dutch” Springsteen, died in 1998.
* Has two sisters, Virginia and Pamela.
* Mother’s name is Adele.
* Frequently works with director John Sayles, a fellow Jerseyite who shares a similar social conscience.

Okay, that’s enough…there’s more and a bio at this link, but promise you’ll come back after you visit.

And what better way to close a post on a Jersey blog than with Bruce singing “Jersey Girl”:

I suppose there’s hardly a New Jersey site or blog that doesn’t mention our native rocker, Bon Jovi eventually…it’s my turn…but since I don’t have my own story to tell, I’ll share a story from someone else.  It doesn’t even take place in NJ or in the USA for that matter, but it’s a good one.  But first, for your viewing pleasure, I’m adding on 11/2/08, a video…Bon Jovi sang for this ad that promotes visiting our beautiful state. The story follows.

Bon Jovi Songs And Memories Of A Bon Jovi Concert

By: Patricia A.

Listening to Bon Jovi Songs brings back memories of a Bon Jovi concert that I attended but it wasn t all good! To discover what happened read on..

Whenever I hear any Bon Jovi songs I am reminded of the time that I went to a Bon Jovi concert on Saturday 6th July 1996. The concert at the Milton Keynes Superbowl was towards the end of the mammoth These Days tour that started on 26th April 1995 at the Andheri Stadium Bombay, India and ended on 19th July 1996 at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium.

It took my boyfriend and myself over 3 hours to drive to Milton Keynes and we had to queue for 4 hours until 2pm to get into the Superbowl. It was one of those quirky English weather days, one minute the very hot sun was beating down on us and the next there was torrential freezing cold rain.

When we got into the arena we were able to get a spot at the front of the stage but as more fans arrived and blocked us in I became claustrophobic and worried that I wouldn t be able to escape to the loo during the next 8 hours. I left Mark hugging the front of the stage and escaped to sit on a hillock where I got a pretty good view of the proceedings as the support bands Seven, Gun and Joan Osborne performed.

The most memorable being Joan Osbornes performance, she was great but the weather was still being quirky and it became pretty uncomfortable sitting on grass while soaked to the skin. I wandered round for a few hours and became more uncomfortable as a bloke took a fancy to me and started to harass me despite being told that I was with my boyfriend.

Seeing my discomfort a group of Bon Jovi fans told the bloke to leave me alone and asked me to join them. That was lucky for me in 2 ways, one that it got rid of my stalker and the other in that we were in a marvelous position to watch the show, close to the stage but to the right away from the main crush of fans.

It was just before 7.00pm and I was feeling tired, very wet and shivering from the cold. I couldn t have been wetter if I had stood in a pool fully clothed. As I tried to warm my by now numb blue hands I was miserably wishing that I hadn’t agreed to go to the concert.

A few minutes later a helicopter arrived and shortly afterward I could see the band climbing up the steps to the stage. I did a double take at seeing Jon, he was dressed in a tight tan leather jumpsuit which gave the impression of him being naked from a distance.

The band started up and for 2 hours my discomfort was forgotten as Bon Jovi launched into a string of their hits including Always, It’s My Life, You Give Love A Bad Name, Someday I’ll Be, A Saturday Night and my long time favorite Living On A Prayer.

Imagine a sea of over 60,000 fans joining in with the choruses, swaying, waving and punching the air together. It was a spectacular sight on and off stage as Bon Jovi rocked the Superbowl. I was enthralled with the bands performance and stirred by the music and the interaction from the crowd.

I felt disappointed when a fireworks display ended the magnificent performance 2 hours on, but afterward Bon Jovi reappeared for an air punching encore to round off the show. I was still very wet and cold but warmed by a magnificent performance from the entire band. I absolutely recommend seeing Bon Jovi in concert and despite my discomfort I would go through it all over again – it was worth it.

I’ve been watching videos from the 2008 Lost Highway tour and think that Jon Bon Jovi has still got what it takes. Bon Jovi are a great band and 12 years on I am still a big fan of Bon Jovi songs and hope that I get a chance to see them in concert again, but perhaps an indoor concert!

P.S. As for my boyfriend I dumped him after the show. I don’t rate a guy that lets a woman he is supposed to care about wander off on their own for hours in a strange place and in a 60,000 plus crowd. He cared more about getting a place close to the stage than my safety. I probably ended up with a better view than he did and I was able to go to the loo when I wanted!

Author Resource: The author Patricia Jones writes for several websites including http://www.megamusicsite.com and the http://www.uksmartguide.com where you can freely search for the best hotel deals worldwide.
She is also the co owner of http://www.megamusicvideos.co.uk where bands can upload their videos and audios free and music lovers can freely listen to or download the videos or audios.

Article From Selling With Articles -

I haven’t spent much time introducing you to some of the finer places to spend time in New Jersey.

One of these places is the 30+ year old New Philharmonic of New Jersey, the picture is borrowed from their website. Their 2008-2009 season began last month at the fully accessible Dolan Performance Hall on the campus of the College of Saint Elizabeth close to the center of Morristown, NJ.

Along with the concerts scheduled this year, the New Philharmonic of New Jersey “is proud to honor two local champions of the arts. At [their] November 23 concert, [they] will honor Judith Wharton for her support of fine music and her work to foster a love of music in people of all ages. At [the] March 15 concert, [NPNJ] will honor the late Jerry Ben-Asher for his lifelong devotion to classical music”.

If you love classical music, and are local to, or will be visiting, the New Jersey area over the next several months, visit New Philharmonic of New Jersey’s website for schedules, cost and directions. Read the interesting link to their history.

Congratulations, Aaron McCargo, Jr., on winning “The Next Food Network Star”…I borrowed your picture from this site…please visit for more info. about Aaron.

This is my first season following the competition, and it won’t be my last, what great fun! I have to say that for much of the series, my husband and I thought Lisa Garza was going to win…she was my hubby’s favorite to win…hmm, wonder why, the cute squinty eyes? The charming personality?  I don’t blame him:-) But tonight (okay, I’m a day late, we Tivo’d the show and watched it tonight) when each one was making their introductions, it struck me that she already had so much going for her, a husband who is an Executive Chef, a fashion business of her own, and more. Sorry Lisa, please know you did a GREAT job, and we loved you, but it’s just kind of neat that a humble guy from New Jersey won, so you go “Big Daddy”, we’re looking forward to seeing what you cook up for The Food Network next week, and by the way, Venison isn’t all that bad.

Adam, hey Adam Gertler, I don’t want to forget you, we loved the chicken/beer recipe, and the idea of using ideas shared from people by email, then using a webcam, GREAT idea!  Really liked that too.  Hope to see something like that on Food Network soon!

Last night hubby and I Tivo’d this seasons first episode of Monk, and didn’t get around to watching it until tonight while eating dinner. Monk gets a new therapist in the show because the old one, Dr. Kroger, played by Stanley Kamel, has had a heart attack. AS we watched, wondered if the actor died in “real life”, but got absorbed in the show and forgot about it, until at the end, they showed Kamel’s picture, and stated that the show was “In Memory of Stanley Kamel”. So I googled the name, and found that Kamel had indeed died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 65 on April 8th of this year.

He was born and raised right here in NJ in South River, a “New Year’s baby”, born on January 1, 1943. He attended the Rutgers Prep. School., and like many on the east cast, especially near New York, started his acting career off Broadway. Though he is best known for his role as Dr. Kroger in USA Network’s “Monk”, staring the multi-phobic Adrian Monk played by actor Tony Shalhoub, he has appeared in numerous television programs, getting his start in the popular Soap Opera, “Days of Our Lives”.

Last year toward the end of the season, my husband mentioned a few times that Kamel didn’t look as healthy as he usually did, but whatever the case, he will be missed.

Click here to view a very brief tribute to Kamel.

I must be living on another planet if it took a news report about the performers smoking as part of the show being an issue at the Chicago showing of “Jersey Boys” to get me to post about one of my favorite groups “back when”. I admit that even though New York City is not all that far from our home, we don’t venture into the City that much. Hubby and I spent a lot of time there in our early years of marriage, especially around Christmas, and took the Staten Island Ferry in and back with the children when they were young…an inexpensive boat ride. But now that they are grown, we’ve kicked back and settled into a relatively rural lifestyle here in the Highland region of NJ.

Anyway, back to “Jersey Boys”, a great production that has been, and is, touring the Country, telling the history of Frankie Valli and “The Four Seasons”. According to a Cleveland article, Frankie Valli stated that there are few options for someone growing up in NJ, you can “leave town, join the mob, or become stars”. Of course I don’t feel that way about my home State, but that’s because of where I grew up. Frankie was born in Newark, a NJ City, so life was quite different for him…he probably saw and experienced things I can only imagine. Well I’m glad they chose to be stars, because they were among my absolute favorite groups in the ’60’s, I can’t think of a song they’ve done that I didn’t like.

Here’s a clip from Dave Letterman Show, Paul S. sharing his passion for the show when it was on Broadway, and then a performance by the cast from 2006 doing a medley of some of the most popular hits by the group:

And the post wouldn’t be complete without a video from the real deal, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” performed in 1967…enjoy!

I wanted so much to mention George Carlin on my New Jersey Baby Boomer blog that I went out of my way trying to find connections to NJ. First, I found that he was born in New York, the closest connection there is the constant reminder from my Colorado relatives that when they think of NJ, it’s just an extension of NY to them. I don’t usually take to kindly to that, but if it brings George Carlin closer, then okay.

Next I was reminded that he was in the 2004 movie “Jersey Girl” where he plays a father to the character played by Ben Afflick, and he lives in…you guess it… NEW JERSEY, how exciting, a connection at last, thus connecting George Carlin to my humble home State.

Although George Carlin is best known for going over the line as far as using words that I avoid, I’d like to focus in on his better side….I’m back here on July 9th, editing this post. It was too focused on the negative, my dislike for his being popular for his use of bad language.  I am just going to edit that all out right now, and say that I did listen to, and laugh at George Carlin on a number of occasions…there were some great “clean” skits that he did that really made you think.  George Carlin is often quoted as stating the following, but according to Snopes, he never did, and was upset at even being associated with it.  But I like it, and am leaving it in the post, no matter who said it.

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers,
wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete…

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, “I love you” to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and and embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.