City Belt

LEGALIZED CORRUPTION

Jersey City Council rejects Redevelopment Pay-to-Play ordinance
By Veronica M. Perez

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Last Wednesday, the sounds of anger and disapproval rang throughout the Jersey City Council chambers. The Redevelopment Pay to Play Campaign Reform ordinance that many Jersey City residents had worked so hard to get passed was voted down. Only Councilmembers Steven Fulop (Ward E) and Viola Richardson (Ward F) voted yes while six others voted no -- Council President Mariano Vega abstained.

"Development is the big Jersey City topic," said Dan Levin, President of Civic JC, a non-partisan community based organization that promotes good municipal government practices. This was apparent -- not only from the crowd's shouts of dissaproval, but from Councilmembers' personal attacks against each other in the weeks prior to the vote. Even Mayor Jerramiah Healy got in on the act by writing a scathing letter to the Jersey Journal denouncing the ordinance as undemocratic.

STEWPOT: TACO BE COLI

By Emma Pollin

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Taco Bell probably should have seen God’s wrath coming when it foisted Fourth Meal (“The Meal Between Dinner and Breakfast!”) on an obese nation. Vengeance came in the form of a deadly bacteria called E. coli 0157:H7. And it came, alas, to New Jersey. The South Plainfield Taco Bell was the epicenter of last month’s outbreak of E. coli poisoning. The restaurant was forced to close temporarily, as were many other franchises across the Northeast.

And guess who had a phenomenal fourth quarter? McDonald’s. Apparently "Inside the Bun" sounds like a nice, safe place to be these days.

 

COMMON GOALS, UNCOMMON TONES

Damian Catera and Bryan Beninghove are among the diverse musical talents coming together for The MusicFest for the Homeless.
By Vincent Berrini

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In the past, Damian Catera has joked that as an experimental composer/musician and media artist, he works in a genre which often appears to have more participants than audience members.

So it is fascinating, for both performer and audience, that Catera -- who over the years has worked with everyone from Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore to jazz composer Anthony Braxton -- has found himself on a benefit bill on January 31, at MusicFest for the Homeless at Victory Hall in Jersey City, surrounded by a disparate group of performers from all genres, and likely in front of an atypical auduence.

Bryan Beninghove, who is also on the bill, in some ways represents the opposite side of the coin. As a jazz musician, Beninghove has performed in front of everyone and anyone for quite some time. In addition to his regular weekly gigs at the Iron Monkey in Jersey City, where he holds court every Thursday with his organ trio, he has performed in situations as diverse as "big-time weddings" and corporate functions, and an occasional odd outdoor gig such as the one he performed at the Journal Square PATH station interpreting holiday standards. As a performer, Benninghove is both a people-pleaser and a jazz cat with serious chops and an unquenchable thirst for musical creativity and expression.

HELPING HUDSON'S HOMELESS

By Will Connor

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Last week the cold crept in overnight, dropping a full twenty degrees. For those without heat, it must have been a cold week. For those without homes it must be hell. Due to rampant development and a rising cost of living, Hudson County's homeless population has grown in the past few years. While a solid statistic is difficult to obtain, officials agree that it is an ever-increasing problem. Without immediate action, the death rate for the homeless residents in our neighborhoods could rise to an unprecedented level.

As a result of dwindling support from governmental agencies, and an all-time low for interest in public support programs, local groups and individuals have had to kick in support for the homeless, in the form of blanket drives and benefit concerts. One such benefit, MusicFest for the Homeless, aims to provide both monetary support and warmth.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK: STOLEN FLASH

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I've always sucked at concert photography -- of course, I've always kind of sucked at photography in general, so it's really no big surprise that my concert shots would be any different. I think that may have ingrained an unrealized bias against concert photography throughout the years. But I really liked Andrew Chien's shot of emo faves Roses Are Red at The School of Rock in South Hackensack, whether the stolen flash was planned or, more likely, a happy accident.

To be featured as Photo of the Week, tag your Flickr photos with CityBelt -- or you can just e-mail them to us.

On the Web:
Andrew's Flickr page
City Belt's Flickr page

MORE PHOTO OF THE WEEK

POEM: AS THE PRESIDENT SPOKE

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Someone hung dolls from the chandelier and
a nun fingered an abacus in her mind.

Prisoners giggled in their cells, watching
a pederast pass cigarettes between the bars.

Grandpa wiped his glasses with a dishrag while
a sophomore solved equations with a cheese-slicer.

An amputee said he "didn't see it coming," and
a mother of three said, "Who uses a car as a weapon?"

An estimated two million illegals flushed toilets while
an emergency-room janitor mopped up blood.

It began to pour, and
citizens ran for shelter.

-- Michael Gates

MORE POETRY

ALL EARS: AMERICAN WATERCOLOR MOVEMENT

Photo by Tone

American Watercolor Movement
It Takes Fifteen To Tango In My Book, What Book Do You Read?
By Vincent Berrini 

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Editors' note: Yeah, we're a little late with this one, considering it came out a little over three months ago. But better late than never, right? We're also happy to welcome yet another writer to the mix today, and also to refocus the All Ears column to reviews of New Jersey artists. If you're interested in contributing reviews, or want your CD/DVD/smoke signal reviewed, shoot us an e-mail.

There's a groove, and American Watercolor Movement is working it.

It's akin to the groove Sonic Youth worked on Bad Moon Rising with which Kim Gordon called on us to use the word fuck. It's akin to the one John Lydon and Jah Wobble worked with Public Image Ltd on Metal Box. It is a groove which is frightening and calming all at once -- it is a strange groove, because it somehow inspires both movement and paralysis. Movement because the rhythm is so intoxicating, and paralysis because of the feeling that some major shit is going down and all you can do is stand back and watch.

THE AGENDA: EXECUTIVE ORDER

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

FRIDAY | 1.26.07

Concert(s). After a little while of relative quiet, with shows seemingly scattered here and there, the Roadside Graves are gearing up for a new album release in April. They've got an EP, What Happened to Him Could Happen to Anyone, coming out Tuesday, and they're playing on two fantastic bills this weekend in New Brunswick. Tonight, they're playing a show put on by 90.3 FM at the Court Tavern, along with Where's Alaska?, Know Think,  and the Carpetbaggers -- New Brunswick bands, one and all. It all starts around 9/9:30 or so. Tomorrow night, they're part of a fantastic basement show at The Parlor, aka 233 Hamilton St. -- also on the bill are some of central Jersey's most interesting bands: Fun Machine, Calamity Menagerie, and Thunder Kids. This one starts up 'round 6/6:30. So you've got your pick -- Friday's bill is a little more straightforward indie rock, possibly a little mellower too (with the exception of the Carpetbaggers); Saturday's is artier, weirder, and will most definitely involve more analog synthesizers. It just goes to show how robust the indie scene in the Hub City and surrounding areas is these days.

DAY JOB: JOHN RANGO OF ECHOFISSION

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For almost six years now, Echofission has been an exemplary Jersey workhorse band -- playing out a ton, recording, and gradually growing what has become a substantial fan base. 30-year-old John Rango plays guitar and provides some vocal duties in the Bergen County-based band, who's newest EP, Amplify The Sun, ranges from upbeat harmonic modern rock songs to funkier interludes.

MOTUS IMAGO: TEARS OF THE BLACK TIGER

Thai Technicolor Dreaming
By Nightdreamer

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Is it just a splatter movie? No, it’s more than that.

Is it just a Thai spaghetti-western style movie? No, it’s more than that.

Is it a heartbreaking love story in all its magnitude? No, it’s more than that.

Is it a very clever directed parody of older Thai melodramatic films? Don't you get it? I said no -- it’s more than that.

Then what is it about? It’s about tears. And when these tears come from a "black tiger," they are very valuable for us as spectators.