Basements

The day after I submit this to the La Palabra editing staff I will be running sound at a New Brunswick basement that’s having their first show. It’s a magical thing. I’m ambivalent at best when it comes to children, but there are three things I get all warm and fuzzy and excited about the births of: 1. puppies, 2. new bands featuring either friends of mine and/or members who we’re previously in now defunct bands I was a fan of and 3. show venues especially house show venues. This new place will be called The Zoo. I’m hoping it will flourish. I hope that this will be the first of many great shows there and it will come be looked at with the same fond regard I have for all of my favorite basements that came before it. In hopes of putting out some positive vibes let’s think about and discuss some of our favorite previous ones. Granted this is a zine article, so it’s gonna be a pretty one sided conversation. But if you write something about your favorites and send it to me as a response, I totally promise to read it. Also please note there were many more than the five I list here, but there’s only so much space I can take up per issue and these were the first ones that came to mind while I pounded this out real fast at work. The Silo – This will always hold a special place for me as it was my first introduction to basement shows back in the summer of 2000. It was called the Silo because it’s where The Atomic Missiles lived, but I’m pretty sure, some, if not all of Mohawk Barbie lived there too. Got to see Worthless play there, and a select few got to see some of The Ergs earliest performances there. The walls were all white and covered in graffiti sort of similar to early Fresh Prince music videos. The Parlor – You can’t talk about New Brunswick basements and leave this place out. This was my, and I’m sure most of my peers’, favorite show basement ever. The Ergs, Hunchback and Screaming Females, the holy trinity of the 2000’s New Brunswick scene all played here regularly. Many times some combination of them or even all three played on the same bill. It was also the first place I ever saw Lemuria. I played there about a dozen times over the years, mostly with Kohuff, but occasionally solo or sitting in with other friends’ bands. It feels like it was around for a really long time, but actually only existed from 2005-2008. The Manor – This place had the highest ceilings of any basement I’ve ever played/attended shows in. Standing at about 6 foot even, that was always a giant plus for me. There was always an awesome party vibe about the place. When bands weren’t playing people were still down in the basement dancing to whatever was being played through the p.a. or occasionally just singing songs and jumping around together even though no band or house music was on. Also this was one of the only places I ever got to see some drunken bare lady parts at a basement show as opposed to the grossly disproportional amounts of dongs and dude ass one would usually be subjected to. Not that those weren’t also regularly present though. 97 Commercial – As far as I know this place never got a name and just went by its address. This was the smallest of all the basements I ever went to shows in. The p.a. speakers had to rest on top of the guitar and bass amps, and if you were to fall over while rocking out you were definitely more likely to hit the wall well before the floor. But, there were mattresses on all the walls which made for a fun asylum padded room type feel which both cut down on injuries and helped muffle sound. Prior to the advent of The Parlor this is where I would always see my Ohio pals Delay. Nick Nolte’s House Of Ribs – I’m pretty sure there were only ever two shows here. I was privileged enough to play at one of them. It’s a damn shame cuz this was an awesome space with a lot of potential. I figure it deserved some print space, as it’s for sure an unsung hero of house show history. I may decide to talk about more basements I’ve loved in the future if I can’t think of anything else to discuss. I also know all of these existed within the same decade and readers older than myself will probably argue there were places in the 80’s and 90’s that were better. Hell Bouncing Souls and Inspecter 7 used to live in New Brunswick and I’m sure they had to play somewhere, but I’m too young to have any recollection of it. Either way I had fun reminiscing about my heyday last decade, and hope there’s many more great house show memories for years to come. Best of luck to The Zoo. May it be a proud addition to the legacy of the many great basements before it and an inspiration for the ones to come. Scuff

Turnpike Tunes

Music just may be NJ's biggest export. Not only do we have a history of producing a huge amount of successful and awesome (not always both) artists, but also so many genres. if you open-minded to different styles of music, wake up! It's right in your backyard.
Jersey City/Hoboken - Nancy Sinatra - "Bang Bang(My baby shot me down)"
Newark(Down Neck) - Connie Francis - "Lipstick on Your Collar"
Teaneck - Ricky Nelson - "Lonesome Town"
East Orange - Dionne Warwick - "Anyone Who Had a Heart" she supposedly nailed in one take, in the same session which also brought us "Walk on By"
Tenafly - Lesley Gore - "You Don't Own Me"
Passaic - The Shirelles - "Mama Said" and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" which was also covered by a Jersey boy and his pals from
Newark - Frankie Valli - "Cant Take my Eyes Off of You" also covered by his Newark neighbor Gloria Gaynor and by another girl from around the way in
South Orange/Maplewood - Lauryn Hill - "Every Ghetto, Every City" a real Jersey anthem
South Orange - The Fugees - "How Many Mics?" supposed they were originally guided by Ronald Bell of
Jersey City - Kool and the Gang - they may have been "Hollywood Swinging" but they were New Jeru through and through
Plainfield - Parliament - "Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof Off The Sucka)" P-Funk started out as a doo-wop group in the back of a barber shop in good ol' Plainfield aka P-Funk
East Orange - Naughty by Nature - "Feel me Flow" they were mentored  by their fellow Illtown royalty up next
East Orange/Newark - Queen Latifah - "Just Another Day" and reppin the ladies and the Jersy streets in her video "U.N.I.T.Y."
Newark - Redman - "Jersey Yo!" holding down Jerz for over 2 decades, he can still kick and ill "Freestyle Freestyle" not feeling him? "Whatever Man"
Paterson - Just Blaze (producer extraordinaire of) - "Exhibit C" - Jey Electronica and "Song Cry" - Jay-Z
New Brunswick - Cymarshall Law - "Run This Town Freestyle" I love when rappers take the beat to a shitty pop-rap song and make a way better song out of it
Paterson - Frankie Ruiz - "Esta Cobardia" born and raised in Paterson, he late moved to Puerto Rico and became one of their biggest Salsa artists
New Brunswick-ish - The Sirs - "Break My Heart..."
Jersey Shore? - Big Wig - "Alone in New Jersey"
Lodi - The Misfits - "Skulls" a beautiful love song
East Brunswick - Catch 22 - "Keasby Nights"
Elmwood Park - Adrenanlin O.D. - "Suburbia" go hang out at the Livingston Mall
Asbury Park - Fury of Five - "Takin' Respect" it's not where you're from it's where you're at... that is, except for the purpose of this mix...
Island Heights/Toms River? somewhere down the f'n shore- OS101 - "Pizzacore" nothing goes better with pizza then beer so "Fill it Up" with OS101's predecessor Hogan's Heroes
Bridgewater - Vision - "Two Wishes"
New Brunswick - Lifetime - "Turnpike Gates"
Basking Ridge/New brunswick - The Bouncing Souls - "Quickcheck Girl" ECFU!
Jersey City - Apefight - "I Wish I Was Your Bike Seat (Daniell's Song)" adorably raunchy
New Brunswick - The Gaslight Anthem - "The Navesink Banks" insert comments here
Red Bank - Count Bassie - "Red Bank Boogie" a jumping Jazz uplifter, unless you'd rather feel "Blue and Sentimental"
Hoboken - Yo La Tengo - "Night Falls on Hoboken"

-Jersey Jane

New Jersey's Greatest Hits

I love New Jersey, I love music, and I LOVE music from New Jersey. Here are some reason's why: You could stock a record store full of artists from Jersey. Do you want Old School, how about Hoboken's native son Frank Sinatra? Too old school, maybe try Newark's Frankie Valli and the 4 Season's(The hit Broadway musical "Jersey Boys" is based on The Seasons). You want some new school? Try on some Gaslight Anthem(New Brunswick) or Screaming Females(New Brunswick). We got dudes: Redman(Newark), Donald Fagen of Steely Dan(Passiac), and Bill Evans(North Plainfield). We got diva's: Dionne Warwick(Newark), Whitney Houston(Newark) and Lesley Gore(Tenafly). We even got disco with Newark's Gloria Gaynor. We also got pop: Vitamin C(Old Bridge), Ricky Nelson(Teaneck) and Frank's daughter Nancy Sinatra(Jersey City). We definatley got punk:Bouncing Souls(New Brunswick, by way of Basking Ridge), Lifetime(New Brunswick) and Thursday(New Brunswick). Combine the 2 for pop-punk and you get My Chemical Romance(North Jersey) and Midtown(Springfield). Suprisingly, P Funk was even born here-George Clinton(Plainfield). Want to celebrate some good times? Call Jersey City's Kool and The Gang. That's not even mentioning some of the wackest-but most popular- musicians of the pop world, The Jonas Brothers(Not brothers, but all from the shore area). If I stopped here, the list would still be an amazing list of musicians. Titans in all their respected genres. Rock and Roll Hall of Famers even. Some of the greatest selling artists of all time. But the list doesn't stop there. Jazz great Count Bassie was born in Redbank and has a theatre there named after him. Ska guys Streetlight Manifesto are from the Keasbey area. Even if you're a person who hate's ska, we got you covered with New Brunswick's Hub City Stompers. Don't even get me started on some of MY favorite artists from the Garden State like NJ harcore legends Vision(Bridgewater) or their buddies Shades Apart(Bridgewater). New Brunswick rapper Cymarshall Law reps Jerz hard. As do Inspector 7(New Brunswick), The Fire Still Burns(New Brunswick), Razorblade Handgrenade(Newark, BCHC), and The Turnbucklers(Clark). The Sirs are currently broken but all are from NJ. Two of my girlfriends favorite bands are The Measure(SA) from New Brunswick and Metuechen's own The Roadside Graves. Holy shit I'm outta breath. I didn't even mention own states royalty, Queen Latifah(East Orange). If you're down with OPP then you're down with East Orange's Naughty by Nature. And if we move not to far to South Orange you have the birthplace of Miss Lauryn Hill. Jersey City was home to PM Dawn and Newark claimed rap groups Lords of the Underground, Outsidaz and Artifacts. Frontmen Glenn Danzig(Lodi) and Pete V. AKA Jack Terricloth(Central Jersey) both have New Jersey birth certifacates, as do most of their respective bands The Misfits and Sticks & Stones. The Court Tavern's favorite band, The Smithereens, are from Carteret and Adrenalin O.D. called Elmwood Park home. I'm not EVEN gonna mention all the artists born in Jersey that grew up elsewhere like Ice T(Newark), Paul Simon(Newark), AD Rock(South Orange) and ALL of The Sugerhill gang(Englewood). Or the artist born somewhere else but grew up in Jersey like Akon(Newark), Wyclef Jean(North Jersey), or Patti Smith(Deptford Township.) With all these great musicians you need a place to play, right? Some great musical hubs, past and present, are cities like Trenton(City Gardens and The Conduit) and New Brunswick(The Roxy, Melody, Underground, Court Tavern and Patrix to name a few), Asbury Park(The Saint, Lanes, Wonder Bar, and Stone Pony) and Clifton(Dingbatz, Harp and Bard, and Clash Bar). Plus all the other live music venues scattered thoughout the state like Roxy and Dukes(Dunellen), The Stanhope House, and The Loop Lounge(Carlsdadt). Not to mention the large venues for big touring bands like The Tweeter Center(Camden), The Meadowlands(Secaucus), PNC (Homdel), Starland Ballroom(Sayerville) and all the Casinos in Atlantic City. If you love live music then New Jersey's for you. If you'd rather listen to the radio you can check out 105.5 WDHEA(The Jersey Giant), 88.7 WRSU(Rutgers), 89.5 WSOU(Seton Hall), 91.1 WFMU(Jersey City, longest running freeform radio station in the country), or 88.3 WBGO(Newark, Jazz station). You can watch New Jersey natives Matt Pinfield(East Brunswick) host MTV's 120 minutes or Eddie Trunk(Madison) host VH1's That Metal Show. New Jersey also claims two of the Northeast's largest independent record stores, The Princeton Record Exchange(Princeton) and Vintage Vinyl(Fords). Shit man, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph record in Menlo Park and Victor Talking Machine Company, the largest record player company in the world at the time, called Camden home. Jersey's the shit. Where would the world be without New Jersey's contributions to Rap, R&B, Jazz, Funk, Punk, Hardcore, Pop, or Arena Rock. Oh yeah, Arena Rocker's Bon Jovi were born and raised in the Sayerville area. Almost forgot those guys. And look at that, I made it a whole article about New Jersey music and I didn't even mention that Springsteen kid from Freehold.