New Jersey Baby Boomer

It wasn’t until today while reading the latest news about Astronaut Mark Kelly and his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, that I discovered that Mark Kelly is originally from West Orange, New Jersey.  Most of you reading this are aware of the tragic shooting of Gabrielle Giffords in early January in Tucson. She has recovered remarkably well from a bullet to the head, while others shot the same day were not so fortunate.

Mark Kelly, her devoted husband, commanded the final Endeavour shuttle flight, and is now retiring from NASA and the US Navy to be with his wife…effective in October.  They will be writing a book together about their combined experiences, according to one news article that I read.

Video of final launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour, commanded by Astronaut Mark Kelly, husband to Gabrielle Giffords.

I was in my early twenties when Phoebe Snow’s “Poetry Man” played loudly from the speakers of my car radio. Phoebe Snow was born in New York, but raised in Teaneck, NJ and died Tuesday, April 25, 2011, in Edison, New Jersey. We lived in Edison Township until I was about 14 and I worked and attended a small college in Teaneck in the early 1070′s, so the area is very familiar.

Her personal life touches mine as well…as she sacrificed her singing career to care for a disabled daughter. Watching my mother love and care for my disabled brother gives me a picture of what kind of person she may have been like. According to her Manager in an article I read on northjersey.com, the 31 years spent raising her brain-damaged daughter, Valerie, who apparently pre-deceased her, was her greatest accomplishment. Her daughter was born with hydrocephalus and needed constant care, which Phoebe provided for her rather than putting her into an institution. That says a lot about a person, doesn’t it? There are some things so much greater than fame.

Phoebe died at the age of 60 (wow, that’s how old I’ll be at my next birthday…we do tend to notice things like this as baby boomers, don’t we?) from complications of a hemorrhage to the brain she suffered late in 2010 – it was one of those health situations where one thing just seemed to lead to another from the information I’ve been reading.

One thing about losing a musician, actor, or other celebrity, is the fact that you can still listen to them or watch them after they are gone. So it is with Phoebe Snow, as seen in the following video. This later recording of “Poetry Man” by her in 2009 shows her wonderful personality and that almost 35 years later, she was still a very talented musician and will be missed:

Recently I was listening to Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant”, a favorite song, story, ballad or whatever you’d like to call it from my teen years released Thanksgiving of 1967. My husband and I were watching a special on public television with Arlo and his daughter and son-in-law singing and sharing memories.

One of those memories that Arlo shared surprised me. It was about Arlo’s father, Woody Guthrie. Woody lived during the times when many in Hollywood and in the entertainment arts in general were under suspicion of being Communists. They were among many that were “blacklisted” for stands that they took that may not have been communist, but were different enough to make the powers that be in Washington at the time suspicious. It’s almost surreal to watch historical documentaries about those times on television, seemed so unjust, but at that time Communism was a very serious matter.

So where does the Woody Guthrie – New Jersey connection come in? Apparently he suffered from what was thought to be a mental illness, and was picked up as a vagrant on the streets in NJ in the mid-1950′s when I was a few years old, and admitted to Greystone Hospital in New Jersey, a Psychiatric facility. I remember driving by Greystone now and then, and comments about this or that person being admitted there, always in a negative tone like the person was crazy and the facility was not the nicest place to be. But what they did for Woody was positive…they were able to finally determine that he suffered from what is now known as Huntington’s Disease…a degenerative nerve disorder.

Those were interesting times in our history, you can read more about Woody at a website devoted to him, www.woodyguthrie.org.

And since Thanksgiving is days away, and Alice’s Restaurant was released on Thanksgiving….here’s Alice’s Restaurant performed about 5 years ago by Arlo Guthrie…just as good as it ever was.

Over a year ago I did a post about Les Paul and a friend of ours in NJ who often shared stories of the days when he worked alongside Les Paul.  Les Paul got his start here in the Garden State, and passed away today in a NY hospital not so very far away, White Plains Hospital, surrounded by family and friends.

Always sorry to hear about the loss of someone great, and what a long and full life he lived.  It’s my understanding that he passed from complications due to Pneumonia.  

Our best wishes to the family. 

Here is a link to the post in case you’d like to visit – NJ Celebrities: Les Paul and Mary Ford

8/15 – Thought I’d edit in a video for you, enjoy!

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.

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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!