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:

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.

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!

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”:

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 -

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.

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:

It was at his home in Mahwah, NJ, about 1/2 hour from where we live now, that Les did some of his pioneering work on the solid-body electric guitar…which means he had a significant role in the rock ‘n roll industry, can you imagine rock ‘n roll without an electric guitar or two or three? I believe Les Paul guitars were later made by Gibson. It was always fun to hear Earle’s stories, and until I did my homework on Les Paul, I didn’t fully appreciate the significance.

Our friend, Earle, traveled with Les and his wife, Mary Ford, as their sound technician. If you click this link, you’ll be taken to a “Stars and Stripes” photo of the day that has a picture of our old friend, Earle, with Les Paul, his wife Mary and his son…I’d like to bring the picture over here, but want to respect copyright guidelines…it’s a great shot.

I believe Les is close to 90 and still making beautiful music, correct me if I’m wrong?

(I found the guitar pictured on eBay, on sale here in New Jersey. I don’t know the seller and have nothing to gain sharing the link to the post, but here it is just in case you’re looking for a vintage Les Paul guitar.)