Fritch Clark is a 48 year old 3rd generation New Bruswicker, who claims he's a shy guy.  But when I broke out the recorder he talked and talked and talked and didn't seem shy at all.  When he talks about music and the New Brunswick "scene" he gets all gitty and smiley. Fritch made a rad movie call “The Last Bastions of Rock” that you should definitely check out.  If the interview doesn't read like a normal interview it’s because Fritch talked for 64 minutes and I talked for 2.  Thanks Fritch. I appreciate the time you gave me.

LP: How did you get into music?

F:  I would listen to RSU to hear about football and stuff and heard music that the big radio stations weren't playing.  In the 70's it was all Led Zeppelin and I could never be that cuz they were just so good.  It wasn't till I heard The Ramones and I was like, these dudes are kinda geeky, I'm geeky, I could do this.  The music’s not great and I can strum along to it.  They were a real people's band.  College radio has gotten me into a lot of bands.  The first big concert I went to was Kiss and I knew I was never gonna be that.  That's why I loved The Ramones so much.  It was cheap to go and you could see yourself doing that.  In 1978 I saw a band named The Dead Kennedy's in Trenton and I just got it. The best music I've ever heard in the worst place possible.  Calhoun Street in Trenton, NJ.  I remember going back to school and seeing kids in their Bob Seager shirts and just being like you don't get it.  You don't know what you're missing.  I had DK and Black Flag shirts.  I got it right away.  This was before the internet so you would show up and put your name on a mailing list and get flyers in the mail.  The 1st I heard of The Court Tavern, it was across the street and Joe's (The bartender) grandfather owned it.  It was called Joe's bar.  Well I would go out, because in those days 18 was the drinking age.  High schoolers went to the bar and drank.  Can you imagine drinking at 18?

LP: Legally you mean?  I knew plenty of high schoolers who drank.

F: But I would come here because my mom said she knew the owner.  But Bobby's father owned it by then, not Joe Zimmerman (the guy my mom knew).  I would come here because people were accepting.  You know when you walk into a bar and everyone turns and stares at you?

LP: You mean you get the record scratch reaction when you walk into the room?

F: Yeah, well that didn't happen here or the Melody.  Nobody really gave a shit.  They were busy doing there own thing.  So New Brunswick became my home base but there was another place, The Dirt Club in Bloomfield that I also liked.  It was owned by Johnny Dirt, who just recently passed away, and it was an old house (Johnny lived upstairs), just a blue collar bar that had original bands.  This guy would tend bar in a leather jacket and boxer shorts.  Back then The Court, The Dirt and City Gardens were the only places to see original music.  Everywhere else had cover bands.  These places had REAL music.

LP: There's a reason why people come here (The Court) the beer is cold, the music is loud and people want to fucking hang out.  Do you consider yourself a filmmaker or was this the best way to tell your story?

F: Oh yeah, I a filmmaker.  I started as a kid making Super 8 films by myself, and then in 1990 I made 16 mm film projection in the Rutgers film co-op.  I learned a lot from Alan Igrin at Rutgers.  He was my mentor.

LP: Was the footage in the documentary all yours?

F: I was lucky to get a lot of photos of from different people and Darrell, from Channel X in Piscataway, gave me a lot of footage.  PCTV (Piscataway TV) was big for me because that's where I learned about video(ED's note- Filming and making a film involves film.  The actual thing known as film.  Video is a tape.  Completely different medium here, especially in those days).  But yeah, that's a lot of my footage.  Around 2001 the Melody closed and I saw a flyer that said Come Save The Court Tavern, because the city wanted to redevelop this area.  I went, along with about 500 hundred other people, to the city hall meeting and I taped it.  It was the most important thing I've ever filmed.  I just wanted to document stuff that was happening to the places I loved.  I walked by the Melody for years (when it was closed) on my way to work and the day they razed it I filmed it.  I just wanted to show how the city changed from when I knew it in 1980.

F: The Court started by Bobby Sr. having Bobby Jr.’s friend’s play.  See the mural on the wall downstairs with the fingers in his ears?  That's Bobby's father.  He didn't understand any of that, but he still gave opportunity to the kids. Jim from The Smithereens gave Bobby that gold record and that meant a lot to Bobby Sr.  The main thing about the movie is, it’s a family run bar.  It's like a town center.  It's pretty amazing that in the worse parts of New Jersey, the best music came out.  I really wanted to make this documentary, but it had to be good because people from Brunswick would see it, and show about the Bobby’s, Jr.  & Sr., and the music that came out of it.  New Brunswick was a special place at the time.  The Court, the Melody, the Roxy, Patrix.

LP: The Bowl-O-Drome.  The Underground.  That was under the hotel right?

F: Yeah it was.  I just wanted to show that you need to show love to places that support live, original music.  Even though this place is a dive bar, it's still got a lot of love.  It's run like a dysfunctional family.  Everyone can agree on one thing and that's We need a place to play.

LP: Awhile back while prowling on MySpace I found the map of the New Brunswick bars on your page.  I showed my parents and they were all smiles being like I remember The Underground, I remember Bowl-O-Drome.  Is that who this film was made for or was it more the younger kids to try to educate them?

F: I wanted to make the movie for everybody.  New Brunswick has a great musical history.  We can go way back, the guy who wrote the music for The Charleston came from New Brunswick.  New Brunswick music didn't start in the 80's and stop in the 90's.  It's always been here and will always be here.  It might be different now the in the 80's with all the clubs but I'm not gonna compare this decade to that decade.  The movie gave me a chance to give back.  I feel very blessed to have been a part of this great scene.  I was never in a band, but I lived in these clubs.  They gave me, and a bunch of other people, a place to go and a place to feel comfortable.  It also gave me a chance to interview some people I would have been to shy to talk to otherwise.  I'm kinda of a dork.

LP: Most musicians are dorks to.  That’s the great thing about music, these guys aren't some athlete who's all big and crazy fast, these are regular guys.

F: I could have just made the movie about The Court but I really wanted to show all of Jersey's great music.  These were the clubs I went to and that's what I wanted to show.  I also went to a lot of basement shows.  Basement shows will live for ever here in New Brunswick.  So many huge bands have played basements here in NB.

LP: I think that's why I like playing the Court so much is because it's like playing someone's basement.

F: I also wanted to make this movie as a thank you to the owners of these clubs that allowed me to see shows.  I would have gladly paid more money then I had to, to see these bands.  That's happening now.  You're seeing bands that maybe 20 years down the road you can say I seen them at The Court.  I bought a shirt from Marc Echo when he was a student here.  You never know who these people might become.

LP: Do you think it was better being in a band back when?  Ya know when people had to come to your shows to see you or better now with how easy it is to get your music to the public?

F: AHHH, it's just different now man.  It was a special time.  Handmade flyers and records.  Buying merch directly from the band.

LP: Did me and my generation miss something special?  It's never gonna be like that again.  I feel like I missed something.

F: You're just realizing that the bands you love now are big time bands.  The Descendents, Sick of It All, The Bouncing Souls, and bands like that, they all played places like The Court and City Gardens before they got big.  Ten years from now you might be saying "I saw those guys at The Court" when the next band from here get famous.  Did you miss something?  Well you missed that time and place but you're here for the next time and place.  You're a part of it now.  What's going on now you're a part of.

LP: Just being in a band I feel like I missed out on something.  To be able to play at maybe The Court and The Roxy on the same night or just get on more shows in general.  I don't know.  I just feel like it will never be like that.

F: It won't be like that.  A lot of people at that time lived in New Brunswick.  The Bouncing Souls had a house, Inspecter 7 lived here.  You could drink a lot at any bar and just walk home.  That's one thing I do miss is being able to pop in and pop out of a lot of shows on any given night.  Asbury Park is like that now.  I really like The Asbury Lanes.  I feel like they get it. 

LP: Why did you make this movie?

F: I felt it was my civic duty to do this movie.  I wanted to give back to the bar owners and bands that gave me so much.  I wanted to make a positive piece explaining why all these places were so special.  Not everybody got to know Jonny Dirt, Randy Now and Bob Sr. I wanted to get on record what these owners had to say about that time.  I wanted to show people these owners because not everybody knew these people.  New Jersey in general just has a great history of music, movies and art.  I just wanted to show that.  We're not The Sopranos and Jersey Shore strerotype.

LP: What do you think was the decline of the "Rock Club" as we know it?

F: There were a lot of factors.  Drinking age had a lot to do with it.  People started suing also.  Some kid got hurt at City Gardens and sued.  I came from the Old School.  If I got hurt doing something stupid my father would say "You deserved it”, these kids weren't like that.  There were some owner disputes, like at the Melody.  Plus people grow up.  They get jobs and start families.  It was the right time for it and people took advantage of it.

LP: There's a small window for things like this.  For a band, a movie, a comedian, a "scene" even.  You never know, the window could re-open.

F: New Jersey has a great history of music and that's what it's about.  Music is in the last place you look.  Like love, you don't go looking for love it just finds you.

LP: That's a great place to end it.  Do you have any thank yous?

F: Court Tavern, Rest in Piece Jonny Dirt, Che Fontaine from Born Reckless.   

Alco-Hall of Fame: Class of 2012

Last year we inducted 6 members onto the Alco-Hall of Fame for it's inugural class.  This year we elected 4 men and 1 team of legendary boozers.  Here is the Alco-Hall of Fame Class of 2012:

Alfred Manuel Martin Jr. - “Billy” b.1928-d.1989

Drinking buddies with Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and many other teammates along with Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. Got into a massive brawl with teammates (including Mantle, Ford and Yogi Berra) sticking up for Sammy Davis at The Copacabana after somebody was yelling racial slurs at Sammy.  Billy will go down in advertising history as one of the pitchmen for the legendary “tastes great/less filling” Miller Lite ads of the 1970’s. He died on Christmas day driving drunk near his home in Binghamton, NY.

Earnest Hemmingway- “Papa” b. 1899-d.1961

Notorious for making fun of his fellow writers who sought help with their alcoholism, Hemmingway said to F. Scott Fitzgerald (After Scott told Earnest that “alcohol bested him”) “Take your balls and throw them in the sea-If you have any balls left.” It was once said that "His drinking would have killed a less tough man."  Drank in the hospital after a WWI injury, moved back to Europe during prohibition just to drink, drank on the front line of WWII when he was covering it, drank while on Safari in Africa, drank in Cuba while writing some of his best known works, created a drink while be drunk in Florida (A Papa Doble is a Daiquiri with double the amount of rum and none of the sugar) and spent some of the last years of his life drinking on his yacht while sailing the Caribbean.  Known as a messy drunk, he was told by a doctor to stop drinking to save his liver, advice he ignored. He drank to alleviate pain from a bunch of random injuries (it’s suspected that most were caused while drunk) and penned most of his greatest works under the influence (he supposedly wrote standing with a pen in one hand and a drink in the other). He died from a self inflicted gunshot wound after a forced 3 month abstinence from alcohol.

Herbert Walton Gleason Jr. - "Jackie" b.1916-d.1987

Raised by a "Hard working, hard drinking" Father (that left the family when Jackie was just 10) and an "I drink because I buried my child" Mother (who fell further in the bottle when Jackie's old man left), Jackie was born with booze in his blood.  Jackie's father would take him to see the pictures on Saturday, but only after a stop at the speakeasy.  It was on these Saturdays where Jackie fell in love with alcohol and the stage.  On of Jackie's first gigs gave him free booze and it was here that he learned people laughed when he got drunk.  Only problem was Jackie never remembered his act, because he was blacked out, but he did entertain the crowd.  Once Jackie started making some money he felt it was his duty to pick up tabs and buy rounds.  And his daily routine of shooting scenes, going directly to the bar, closing the bar, going to after hour parties and showing up on time the next day were legendary.  He created many drunkard roles on "Cavalcade of Stars" including Joe the Bartender, Rum Dum and Reginald Van Gleason III, who loved booze and the high life.  Drank on set, in front of the camera, on The Jackie Gleason Show.  A lover of drink, food and smoke (he smoked close to 5 packs of cigarettes a day) he also wrote some original songs and released a few albums.

Oliver Reed - "Ollie" b.1938-d.1999

He got drunk, got naked and wrestled a dude on the beach in front of a fire in the movie Women In Love and no one questioned his manhood.  That's how much of a tough guy Reed was.  Got into a bar fight that resulted in 63 stitches in his twenties, beat Lee Marvin in a drinking contest, and once threw up on Steve McQueen after an all night pub crawl.  Almost fought Letterman when he wouldn't stop asking questions about his drinking, had a glass of whiskey poured over his head by Shelly Winters on Carson, and tried to kiss a feminist writer on an English TV show after saying "C'mon big tits, give us a kiss" - all while being stinking drunk.  There are also tales of him and 36 friends drinking 60 gallons of beer, 32 bottles of Scotch, 17 bottles of Gin, 4 crates of wine and a bottle of Babycham in one sitting.  He claims he drank 106 pints over two days before marrying his wife.  Died at 61 of a heart attack one day after downing 3 bottles of Rum.  To see some of his antics YouTube this dude.

The 1986 New York  Mets

Pitcher Bobby Ojeda said "We were throwbacks.  We were gimmie a steak, gimmie a beer, gimmie a smoke and get the fuck outta our way.”  To me baseball and booze goes hand and hand and the 1986 Mets would have agreed.  Pretty much the whole 25 man roster, excluding "The Kid" Gary Carter who didn't partake much in the drinking, loved to party down.  They had a fridge stocked with booze in the clubhouse and often times the trainer would come into the locker room for a day game after a night game to find half a dozen players sleeping face down on the floor with crushed beer cans surrounding them.  The trainer would wake them, give 'em a B12 shot, a couple of aspirin, a couple of cigarettes, a drink or six and send to the shower to get ready for first pitch.  They were also known for drinking at a working class bar in Queens named Finn MaCools where the owner once joked that the Mets singlehandedly keep him in business in 86'.  All this is enough to make them Alco-All Star's.  What gives these guys legendary status is the plane ride home from Houston.  After a grueling 16 inning back a forth brawl of a baseball game, the Mets finally had one more run then the 'Stros.  Now it was time to celebrate.  Even Carter enjoyed his share of Champagne.  The problem was the game lasted over 4 hours and the plane was ready to leave.  This meant most of the celebrating happened on the plane.  Most times the players, manager, and coaches were the only people on the chartered flight.  However, the Mets front office allowed players wives to travel with the team.  This meant that they stocked the plane full of 3 times the amount of alcohol that would normally be on the flight.  Let me tell you, the Mets made them pay for that decision.  The team drank every last drop of alcohol, along with eating all the steak and lobster and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage on the plane.  From what I understand it was one of the wildest parties ever.  When they landed they looked like hell and "The Straw" poured a bottle of Andre champagne over Mayor Ed Koch's head.  Legend has it that Keith Hernandez didn't sleep after game 7 of the World Series until after the parade 2 days later.  "You don't win a World Series drinking milk" is what Hernandez said of the 1986 season

A Few of My Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite things:

Sangria: Ahhh, all the tell tale signs are there. Crooked smile, enibri-eye, a mouth stained with purple teeth. You've been drinking wine my friend. But wait, you weren't drinking just any kind of wine. You were done in by Sangria. Usually Red Wine mixed with, Brandy, Triple Sec, fruit juice, cut up fruit and maybe a little 7up or Sprite. Served with ice it's the best thing you've ever tasted on a summer day. Head on down to the Ironbound in Newark for the best of the best.  Be careful when induldging though, this stuff goes down like water but has mean after effects.

Malt Liquor: Beer that's cheap, available in 40oz bottles and strong enough to be called liquor, count me in. The Forty has a bad rep but it does get the job done like no other.  Anyone who doesn't appreciate the true value or "Bang for the Buck" factor that a 40 holds, doesn't know good from bad. Getting drunk is good, judging is bad. Drink em' up (or down, whatever you prefer).

Whiskey: If you could distill heaven, I believe it would taste like Jameson Gold Reserve Whiskey.  Shots, strait, sour or on the rocks, I want it all.  Irish or Bourbon it doesn’t matter because they’re both great(Canadien Whiskey doesn’t count and shouldn’t even be called Whiskey).  I've read about how Jack Daniel's Whiskey is less proof (80%) then it was ten years ago (86%), and less then the 90 proof Jack used to distill himself, but still claims that it's the same formula (A corporate spokesman for the company claimed customers preferred the 80 proof), so that makes me want it less then ever (never enjoyed the taste).

Beer: The easiest and most plentiful thing to drink.  From Red Dog to Rouge, Palm to Piel’s, Miller to Magic Hat you can find a beer for your taste buds. Beer is that perfect comfort drink to aid us in thirst between shots, mixers, and cocktails as we stumble through our evening.  Whether it’s at 2AM or 2PM it’s always tasty.  Plus the beer industry has been employing Americans since the 1600s so be patriotic and buy a beer.

My Favorite Dives

I love dive bars (See Issue #5), here are some of my favorites:
The Wilton House (Newark Ave, Hoboken)-The Wilton House is right smack in the middle of the "New" Hoboken but retains it old school charm.  It's got wood paneling, and most importantly, cheap drinks.  It's a classic bar in a town full of yuppies, hipsters, preppies and wannabees.

 Ralph's Tavern (Central Ave, Jersey City)-Although it's located right on the major thoroughfare in the neighborhood I've never seen more then two people in there - EVER.  Passed it 20 times then finally went in.  $1.75 Pints, $1.25 Mugs and $.50 short beers (7 oz).  Fifty fucking cents.  I love this place just for that reason.  They only got 2 TVs, 2 beers on tap and no more then 2 customers.  Classic shithole bar, but fifty cents is only fifty cents.

Oh-La-La-La’s (Main St., Bound Brook) - Titty bars can be dives also and this place is proof.  My friend lived with 2 of the dancers at Oh-La's so I got to know the bartenders, dancers, DJ and the bouncer.  We didn't even have to tip the chicks.  Let me tell you though, this place is really a dive.  Don't except to get excited in this place.  Cellulite, strechmarks, bad boob jobs, and dyed grey hair run rampant in this joint.  
Somerset Hotel (Main St, Somerville)-This place is rad, it’s really the only REAL bar left in Somerville.  They don't have any food, except maybe hot dogs from a crockpot, but they do have pool tables, questionable clientele, and a package goods department to rival some liquor stores.  It's also got sick cigarette burns in the Men's room.Rick's Tavern (First Ave, Raritan)-This place is a real hidden gem.  This place looks like a house, is off the beaten path (IE: less cops) and got no draft beer.  I'm not even really sure if they got a liquor license.  But you do have to see the empty patio outside because it's truly amazing.  Stop by and order a drink from either the owner(Rick) or a bartender that has no clue what the hell is going on.    Check this place out and it will amaze you that this place exists.

Court Tavern-(RIP, New Brunswick)-Yeah it was a music venue, sometimes, but it was a dive bar ALL of the time.  That place smelled, had warm beer, bathrooms that didn't work, it was hot in the Summer and cold in the Winter, plus a thousand other things that made that place the shittiest of shitty places to drink.  All that being said, I would trade every bar in New Brunswick to get the Court back.  No joke.  Sorry Ale and Witch, McCormick's, Tumulty's and the others, but some of the best times of my life, and many others I know, happened at this place.  Don't know if we'll ever have another place like that.
Riverside Tavern-(RIP, South Bound Brook) - You never forget your first love and this was it.  This place was located around the corner from where I grew up and was empty at night.  They had a sick lunch time and after work crowd but for some reason couldn't keep it crowded.  They had a huge bar, real darts (no plastic shit), food, and frosty mugs plus they had a side room that had a pool table (crooked as shit), 5-10 tables and about 8 TVs that was always empty.  I always knew the bartender's so I would get hooked there also.  It was a great place and I wish I could have shared a pitcher with you there.  Now it's a high end restraint.  Bullshit.

Liquor Store Guide

Liquor stores are a dime a dozen right?  No way.  Everyone is different and unique in their own ways.  With that being said, most liquor stores can fit into one of these 6 categories.

1. The Chain - Buy Rite, Wine Country and Bottle King are some examples of the chain.  I love Mom & Pop liquor stores and generally hate chain stores in general, but sometimes the prices of these places make them hard to resist.  Also most have parking lots, fantastic selections and take credit cards for the cash strapped.  Lack of atmosphere and the one on one relationship you build up with the corner store guy hurts these places in my mind though.

2. Combo Liquor Stores - My favorite is the liquor/pharmacy combo store.  Two prescriptions, one stop.  Need that Valtrex script and a sixer, they got you covered.  Also available in the liquor/deli, liquor/pizza and liquor/fried chicken variety.  These places are all over Jersey City and some, like Manhattan Liquors, would stand alone as a very good liquor stores even without the combo.

3. Emergency Store - This is the place that somehow doesn't follow the law.  It's the store that's open at 10am on a Sunday or still selling booze at 2am.  Sometimes it's a combo store (like above) or sometimes it's one of those weird liquor stores with 4 stools and no taps that actually count as bars - but you would never drink there because all the lights are on and there's no TV (Hub City Liquors).  Other times it's a house illegally selling booze out of the back door (like in Plainfield a while back) or a bar with package goods (Somerset Hotel has a better selection then some stores I've been in).  Anyway you slice it, these places are usually way over priced and are used only in an emergency.

4. The IT Store - Whether this place is your Boone's Farm spot, your 1/2 pint spot or it's the only place that carries that fancy imported beer you like -It's the place that has IT, has the best selection of IT or has IT for the best price.  Couldn't even really tell ya how the rest of the store is because you usually only buy one thing there.  IT.

5. The Convenience Store - This place usually sucks but it's very "convenient".  It's the place you pass leaving work, or the place that has a parking lot(parking is tough in Jersey City and I think I know most of the liquor stores with parking lots and would then deem most of them "convenient"), or it's the place you can see from your front door.  Chances are this place is overpriced or only carries 4 kinds of beer but you're there a lot because it's "convenient".

6. The Old Faithful - Ahh, the cashier knows your name and is reaching for a 1/2 pint of Beam when you’re reaching the register.  You’re greeted with a friendly smile and hello that's genuine because you're in there so goddamn much.  You know the selection back and front and know exactly where everything is.  You actually notice new products or price increases.  If the cashier held on to all your receipts for a month it would blow your mind of much money you've spent there.  But you love the Ol' girl and wouldn't trade her for the world.

Now sometimes you get lucky.  My 40oz and 1/2 pint spot are the same.  It's also my "Convenience" store because I can walk there and so it's become "The Ol' Faithful".  Lee's Liquors in Jersey City is the lucky recipient of about 25-35 percent of my monthly pay.