City Belt

DAY JOB: DARREN DEICIDE

Over the past five or so years, there's been a renewed interest from indie rockers, punks, and other assorted rockers in roots music, country and the blues. I can vividly remember hopping from bar to bar in the Lower East Side and East Village on the night of Johnny Cash's death -- who knew so many skinny hipsters considered themselves hard-boiled "Cash men?"

What's that got to do with Jersey City's Darren Deicide? Well, a little, but ultimately, not all that much. While Deicide comes from a punk rock background (he was formerly the vocalist/guitarist for Hopeless Dregs of Humanity) his solo stuff sounds like someone applying the ethics and values of punk rock to front-porch, gather 'round, hootin' and hollerin' blues-stomp -- in other words, it feels natural, not like musical chameleon-ship. His latest release, Temptation and the Taboo, Part 1, is a concept album of sorts, about -- you guessed it -- temptation and taboo, among other things.

'CULTURAL KARATE'

Photo by Fred Askew

On the streets and in the stores with Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir on Buy Nothing Day
By Matt Hunger

Unless otherwise noted, all photos for this story are by Flickr user Ianqui.

My embarrassing confession is that I keep sneaking looks at the passing store windows’ display items -- definitely one of those “wrong time, wrong place” type of situations.

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t walking down Spring Street in downtown Manhattan on Black Friday, mumbling along with Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, surrounded by about 100 red robed activists and a sea of poster board with such catchphrases as, “Manipulative Advertising, Don’t Buy It!” and “I’m NOT a Consumer, I’m a PERSON.” But I am.

SOMEBODY BLEW UP THE FIRST AMENDMENT

Guest Viewpoint
By Daniel McNulty

The State of New Jersey, despite having birthed and hosted a pantheon of great American poets -- Walt Whitman, Allen Ginsberg, and W.C Williams amongst many others -- currently does not designate an official Poet Laureate. Let’s back track a little though.

We once, in the not too distant past of 1999, instated the office, beginning with the appointment of Gerald Stern by then governor Christine Whitman. Amiri Baraka was the next and last in line of NJ Poet Laureates, holding the title for a year starting in July 2002 until the office was officially eliminated under the auspices of James McGreevey in a bill passed through the NJ Senate. The hubub was spurred by Baraka’s poem “Somebody Blew Up America,” read at the annual Geraldine R. Dodge poetry festival, in which Baraka uses the events of 9/11 in the context of questioning many historical atrocities, focusing on the homespun terror inflicted for hundreds of years against blacks. The stanza which ignited the controversy included the following:

Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed
Who told 4000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers
   To stay home that day
Why did Sharon stay away?

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: TIS THE SEASON

I don't know about you, but over the past few days, we've watched a lot of TV. A lot. And I've been absolutely bombarded by Christmas. Apparently, this store has as well. This photo, of the Kennedy Department Store on Central Ave. in Jersey City Heights, was taken by Michael Gates, aka Flickr's Channel Z.

We know more of you are out there, taking pictures of New Jersey. We want to feature you here -- so in Flickr, tag your NJ photos with CityBelt -- or you can just e-mail them to us. If you do either, you might be next week's Photo of the Week.

On the Web:
Channel Z's Flickr page
City Belt's Flickr page

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THE AGENDA: EXECUTIVE ORDER

For full calendar listings, check The Agenda. To have your event listed, please e-mail the editors.

FRIDAY | 11.24.06

Concert. The Hold Steady's lastest album, Boys and Girls in America, extends many of the band's trademark lyrical themes, like drugs, girls, parties, the Mississippi River, Minneapolis, and, of course, Charlemagne. The buzz that has steadily built around this band since 2004's Almost Killed Me is not misplaced -- these guys are a Rock band with a capital "R," and despite the backlash that is starting to unfold, and the just-a-tad-too-slick production of the new album, the Hold Steady are one of the best Big Rock bands around today. If you've got tickets to see them tonight at Maxwell's (a smaller venue than they've been playing recently), consider yourself lucky. If not, you might want to check the Craig, because it's sure to be a killer party ... er, show.

DAY JOB: JOE CONDIRACCI

Joe Condiracci is a well-known veteran around Hudson County's music scene, as a singer-songwriter and as part of the now-defunct Uncle Joe's. These days, the "39-year-old" from Hoboken can be found at the Corkscrew in Jersey City Heights, which, since July, has given Jersey City two new DJ nights (STD Saturdays and now Fridays as well) and may soon start featuring bands.

SPLENDID MARBLES: THE STICK-UP

Editors' note: We at City Belt are very pleased to be working with the excellent cartoonist Greg Strid. He'll be providing City Belt with one cartoon a month, in print and online, titled "Splendid Marbles." Hope you enjoy!

On the Web:
Splendid Marbles

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YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS: MILTON'S MILTON

By Tris McCall

From: Manhattan, via Larchmont, New York. Larchmont is an extremely distinctive suburb, and not just because of its long tradition of talented native sons. Still, Milton’s perspective is likely to resonate with anybody who’s left an automobile suburb to grab for the brass ring in the big city.

Format: Full-length album. Twelve of these songs are new, and Milton appends a live version of “In The City,” his best-known song (so far). If you don’t know “In The City” already, it’ll just sound like a killer closer.

BUT I DIGEST ... LET THEM EAT PIE

By Kimberly Kaye

I am not much of a cake eater - never have been. Sure, the Pillsbury FunFetti cupcakes of my childhood were appreciated when they appeared, but I was generally more interested in eating the frosting off the top and throwing the rest away. I insisted on Snicker’s cheesecake instead of birthday cake as a child, and switched over to my father’s peanut-butter pie (which will, no doubt, also be the top tier of my wedding cake someday) at 16 without looking back. So it stands to reason I’m a pie person. Which is why the news that Grace Van Vorst Church in Jersey City was both hosting an old-school Pie Bake-Off/fund raiser, and asking me to fill in as a judge was nothing short of squeal inducing.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: READY TO PUMMEL

Eric Harvey Brown, aka "Dogseat" on Flickr, is definitely one of Jersey City's most talented -- and prolific -- photobloggers. He took this shot of one of our resident roller girls from the Jersey City Bridge & Pummel roller derby team -- the silhouette/shadow combo makes the photo nice and iconic.

We know more of you are out there, taking pictures of New Jersey. We want to feature you here -- so in Flickr, tag your NJ photos with CityBelt -- or you can just e-mail them to us. If you do either, you might be next week's Photo of the Week.

On the Web:
Eric's Flickr page
City Belt's Flickr page
Jersey City Bridge & Pummel

MORE PHOTO OF THE WEEK
 

 

E-mail the editors