It's a national holiday in the US and Canada!

Or rather, it should be.

The NHL playoffs begin today (Hey Jeff Vanderbeek, enjoy them on teevee, you have nobody to blame but yourself) and so many first round series' have intrigue and involve long-time rivals.

Johnny's first round picks you ask?

Chicago over Minnesota in 4 because it can't be 3.

Detroit over Anaheim in 6 or 7. These teams meet like clockwork in the playoffs don't they?

San Jose over Vancouver. It's the playoffs and like always the Canucks are a mess. Sharks in 6.

It'd be great if St. Louis won. Johnny would like to see the Blues win a cup one day. But the Kings have had the Blues number. Kings in 7
___________

Pittsburgh over the overmatched Islanders in 4. Unless Darius Kasparaitis and David Volek plan on suiting up.

Boston over Toronto in 5. Toronto would have been better off playing Montreal but Ottawa ganked that up.

Capitals and Rangers. Hmmmmm, for five minutes Johnny think the Caps will win and for the next five he thinks it'll be the Rangers. Just flipped a coin. Rangers in 7.

Montreal and Ottawa. And CBC will STILL show the Leafs. Montreal in 6.

So dear readers, who ya got?!

Late night open thread

Meanwhile, out on the Turnpike...


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Madison Square Garden sounds like it has become a red-headed stepchild

Yes you're iconic, yes you bring in huge money, yes it seems you have always been Penn Station's hat but you uh, might wanna pack your bags and find a new place to call home some regional planners and politicians are now saying. Despite the The Madison Square Garden Co. spending a billion dollars on the renovation of MSG the Regional Plan Association and Municipal Art Society are saying MSG should only get a ten year renewal lease and then find a new home.

NJ Transit, Amtrak and Long Island Rail Road wrote in a letter to the planning commission in part:

"Despite significant subsequent investments by the station’s rail carriers to better accommodate these passengers," the letter continued, "travelers have for decades been confined to functionally inadequate accommodations in the makeshift underground station, and have been hampered by severely limited street-level access at a handful of poorly marked and architecturally flawed entrances that are in some cases all but hidden from the street."

MSG said, and we quoteth:

"Adding an arbitrary expiration for reasons unrelated to the special permit process or requirements would not only set a dangerous and questionable precedent, but would also hinder our ability to make MSG and New York City the long-term home of even more world-class events, and would harm a business that has served as a significant economic driver for the city for generations."

We liked this quote from Drew Galloway, assistant vice president of policy and development at Amtrak:

"It’s like the Oklahoma Land Rush at 5 p.m. at 34th Street and 7th Avenue."

Suggestions on changes or improvements at olde Madison Square Garden?

Late night open thread

Some tulips in Hamilton Park before bed tonight. You can almost smell them.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

The new Grove St. wine bar, Bistro, takes shape

The front facade on the building housing the new Bistro wine bar on the Grove St. plaza across from the PATH station was left open today and it is looking closer to completed and you can do a fairly good job of sussing out what it'll look like. Our bullpen here in the JCD offices thought it looked pretty good, like a wine bar should. Your thoughts?

The winner of this week's "Just put that anywhere" award

And why are we not surprised to see a vodka sponsored vehicle parking almost all the way across the sidewalk? Was the driver enjoying some of the product? Was a bottle of Devotion Vodka driving? Either way it's not exactly a ringing endorsement for the brand.

Guess who turned 10 years old today?

Why that would be iTunes. April 28, 2003 it changed music. For the better? For worse? Well readers that's up to you. Read this fine article and tell us what you think.

What do you call a pharmacy that isn't really all that good at BEING a pharmacy?

Why, you'd call it Duane Reade. You'd think they could get the pharmacy thing together but maybe not. Maybe that's not their priority.

Late night open thread

22 years and counting. Well done Johnny's Detroit Red Wings, well done...

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Spelunking we will go!

Back into the forgotten warehouses of Jersey City with a Saturday afternoon picture show:

Late night open thread

Some handball this evening from Hell's Kitchen Park.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with STONE TEMPLE PILOTS!

Here's a gem from a while back, before Scott Weiland's personal thing fell apart and stuck a big knife into a pretty good band. Stone Temple Pilots kicking things off tonight with 'Plush'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with CHEAP TRICK!

There are quite a few people who think the intro to this song, 'Ain't That a Shame' live at Budokan is one if not the best song intros ever. Johnny will admit he's so smitten with it he can hit every air drum that Bun E. Carlos hits in perfect time. Add that rolling Rick Nielsen guitar over great the percussion piece and you've got a song worthy of the Music Series.

Cheap Trick, Live at Budokan with 'Ain't That a Shame'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with STEVIE WONDER!

Oh this is a double treat. First off Stevie Wonder. Worth the price of admission right there. Now, throw in the Soul Train dancers dancing to this song in 1974? OMG. No, ZOMG! The fashion, the hair, the dance moves. It's truly a wondrous timepiece.

Steveland Wonder with 'You Haven't Done Nothin'

Do you like movies about war Joey?

Loew's Theatre in fashionable Journal Square will be showing three pretty good war movies and movies about war. Ron Stein at the Jersey Journal hooks us up with logistical things:

The films planned to be shown are Lewis Milestone’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” (1930) tonight at 8 p.m. and Stanley Kubrick’s classic films “Paths of Glory” (1957) tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. and “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” 8:30 p.m.

All films will be projected using 35 mm film to the theater’s massive 50x25 screen. Pipe organ music will be played before the films begin.

See, that's some gooood watching. You can get more on the films by following the link above. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for seniors and ankle biters.


... and the wife says "yeah, Harry, I know, but this one's eating my popcorn!"

Well now this is creepy Jersey City

We're not gonna go into any kind of a panic but this makes you sit up and wonder. Jersey City resident Mykyta Panasenko was arrested the same day the losers attacked the Boston Marathon, for building and having bombs, one of which while unfinished he still took on an NJ Transit train. His laundry list of charges reads as follows:

Panasenko is charged with having “two destructive devices, specifically improvised explosive devices constructed from a cylinder containing Pyrodex (black powder)” on April 5, the criminal complaint says.

He is also charged with recklessly creating widespread risk of injury or damage to a building . . . by constructing the explosive devices, according to the charges filed after the investigation led by the Jersey City Police Department and NJ Transit Police Department.

Panasenko is also charged with having two improvised explosive devices on April 7 aboard an NJ Transit train leaving Hoboken and bound for Suffern, the complaint says.

Jersey City residents owe thanks for the heads up to the NYPD and the FBI who got a tip from someone who knows Panasenko. The JCPD's bomb squad handled the rest.

Now the authorities say he never intended to target public buildings or public transportation. Still, why do people build bombs? To store in a closet? To hold napkins? No they build them to watch them go boom. So going forward can we please keep an eye on this guy? Ankle monitoring won't be enough, those are increasingly being outwitted. We need a Lojack for people on this one. And please please please keep him away from Jerry Walker, Jersey City mayor-to-be.

Late night open thread

The full moon tonight is known as the pink moon. The full moon of each month has a name and the story behind those names are listed in the Farmer's Almanac. How does April's moon, the pink moon, get it's name?

This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names for this month’s celestial body include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and among coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn. Click here for the entire list.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

The trees, they're so fluffy

Tidbits from far and wide today

Tidbits, not to be confused with 'Timbits" the tasty little donut holes at Tim Horton's.

* A New Jersey principal is being shamed herself by the local parents after she tried "slut-shaming" young girls by telling them they were forbidden to wear *gasp* strapless dresses to an 8th grade event.

* Jersey City says they are working hard on clearing up the backlog and tearing down abandoned buildings throughout the city. If you're wondering when you last heard about such a plan it was 2009 a few weeks before they mayoral electi -- HEY, what a coincidence!

* You citizen will soon be able to pull out your smartphone and hail a cab in NYC. The temporary injunction has been lifted so this brave new world of cell phone e-hails is on the way.

* No Fleet Week this year. And we all has a sad.

* Finally today the worst President in American history dedicates his presidential libarry in Texas. No word on if one of the two books will be My Pet Goat.

Late night open thread

The Energizer Bunny was arrested tonight and charged with battery.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Harvard Constitutional scholar NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg thinks we require a change in our thinking about our rights in this age of terror

No we don't.

Late night open thread

If your birthday is today you share it with Billy Shakespeare who was born April 23, 1564. Oh and would you look at that, Billy also died on April 23 (free trivia tonight) 1616. How wonderous it must have been to see the advances in society in Shakespeare's life from 1564 to 1616. Probably great advances in the areas of chamber pots and candles.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Jersey City resident and rock and roll legend Richie Havens passes at 72

The very first performer at Woodstock, Jersey City resident Richie Havens passed away at age 72. The good folks at The Jersey City Independent have more along with the fascinating story about how Havens became be the initial Woodstock performer.

Richie Havens at Woodstock with 'Freedom'

For the life of us, we can't understand why Mayor Healy wants Steve Fulop's latest ad taken down

You've seen the ad, it's the FBI video where our Mayor met with Solomon Dwek, Leona Beldini and other Healy friendlies at the Medical Center Luncheonette and thanked Dwek, the FBI informant, for the do-re-mi. It's the kind of ad a prosecutor might use as a closing argument.

Healy, who not two weeks ago said, “I should have gotten a gold medal for effective, honest, open government for that,” wants the ad off the air at all costs, lawsuits at 20 paces if need be.

ORLY?


Why are you sending the Fulop campaign a cease and desist letter? You Healy folk want the ad taken down that the Mayor says he should have won a gold medal for? You might want to double check because you can't do better than a gold medal, that's the best Jerry, the best! So why wouldn't the Healy campaign want more of this on teevee? Color us baffled.

We'd also like to take time out to call Fulop campaign spokesperson Bruno Tedeschi a real butt dumpling. Tedeschi told the media not only no to taking down the ad, but hell no, which would have been fine if he'd left it at that. He couldn't. He just had to try and get in one more dig which won him the title of Ser Butt Dumpling:

“Healy is at the center of the biggest political corruption scandal in New Jersey's history. From the selling of body parts of the dead in morgues to payoffs to politicians, it became a source of national embarrassment. What's stunning is how brazen Healy was then. “

Mr. Tedeschi, where EXACTLY does the issue of body parts being sold enter into Jersey City politics? Do you have some meeting on surveillance tape that Mayor Healy was in with someone talking about reselling kidneys to pay for his campaign? This was a very New York Jewish community issue, is NOT a Jersey City mayoral issue. You could have mentioned Peter Cammarano up in FuHo in that crime sweep. You chose not to. It was a lot more pertinent too. So we're still left wondering as to why you would stain Jersey City as part of something it had nothing to do with. Some of the comments that come out of the mouths of those around Councilman Fulop are truly insulting.

Late night open thread

"She's been married so many times she has rice marks on her face."
 -- Henny Youngman

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

If it's Earth Day you KNOW it's the Hoboken Earth Day Tire Fire and Bar-B-Q!

One of Hoboken's signature events, the event that tops even their constantly changing working paper on what St. Patrick's Day is for family fun, the Hoboken Earth Day Tire Fire and Bar-B-Q is being held along Sinatra Drive. With Boy Scout troops from Jersey City, Newark, Bayonne, Union City, Secaucus all out collecting tires from their towns to add from Superstorm Sandy this year's tire fire promises to be the Mile Square City's best evah!

The city is filling up a barge with gas cans and Hoboken residents will get to try and recreate Bronn's most excellent flaming arrow shot from the Blackwater scene in Game of Thrones. One shot per resident. The winner of course gets to name the barge, or what's left of it, which becomes FuHo's new storm surge blocker.

Sooty the Clown will be on hand (He clears his calendar for this event) to make balloon animals from balloons with lead paint. Sooty will also lead the children's chorus in the singing of "Smoke on the Water" which they're hoping to bring in under twelve minutes this year.

So come on out to scenic Hoboken and have more fun than you should be allowed to have for free.

File photo of Hoboken Earth Day Tire Fire and Bar-B-Q ©2009

If you are a Ward E voter, this story is for you

The Jersey Journal has posted a video of last week's debate between ward E candidates Fletcher Gensamer (Independent), Dan Levin (Team Healy) and Candice Osborne (Team Fulop). The video has been edited down to just the answers, none of the fluff you don't need to help make an informed decision. Serious issues are discussed in a serious format without the usual snarky crappy stay-on-talking-points debates.

The debate can be seen here. 

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Chairs are pretty much gun lockers, right?

NYPD are looking for a man who may have twice identified himself as law enforcement (possibly from down south) who left a loaded gun in a hotel chair stuffed down in the cushions. Police say the man went to the 9/11 Memorial and asked about taking a gun inside and if off-duty police were allowed to carry guns inside. Told no, local security cameras show him going to a nearby hotel (Staff there said they didn't think he was a guest) and stashing the loaded handgun in a chair then getting back in line at the 9/11 Memorial. He stayed at the memorial for about a half hour before going back to the hotel where he noticed his gun was gone (NYPD had the gun but didn't yet have a description of the man) and bolted.

Unless southern police departments get their guns from pawnshops this man's story about being PD is sketchy. The gun NYPD recovered was traced to a Georgia pawnshop.

Exactly our thoughts.

Late night open thread

The Islanders and Maple Leafs are actually going to make the playoffs this year. Good thing nobody bet on that happening or Las Vegas would be so broke that to save money all the neon lights would be on dimmers.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Calling all breakfast cereal mavens

Let's just suppose you are at the largest breakfast cereal buffet ever put together. Every cereal you've ever heard of is available. Go ahead, pick your favorite and pour yourself a bowl. That's right, now go to the milk bar and add your choice. Whole milk? 2%? Skim? Soy milk?

OK, now comes the Towering Toppins Bar. Bananas, berries, honey, or anything else you could possibly want to put on your favorite cereal, anything.

What goes into that bowl of righteous cereal you'll soon be enjoying?

Late night open thread

Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside
-- The Doors

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with CYPRESS HILL!

Yep, the clock tipped midnight almost two hours ago which means the calendar has changed to 4/20 and we'll be darned if we'll let the fact we call this the Friday Night Music Series get in the way of a weed related song. Do the kids even still call it weed anymore? Johnny lost track of urban marijuana references with "spliff" and "blunt" a few years back.

Nobody better to honor all the smokers who have blown out their lungs on a bong hit too far than Cypress Hill and the herb-friendly tune 'Insane in the Membrane' sponsored tonight by Visine (that's legally protected parody for those scoring at home).

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB!

Johnny loves songs he calls 'grinders'. Joe Strummer used to be a master of these gems. Just set down a good solid grinding guitar sound and build around it. Here is an excellent grinder which is also being used in a teevee ad, see if you can guess which one when you hear it.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club with 'Spread Your Love'

FRIDAY NIGHT MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE STEVE MILLER BAND!

Wrapping up another music series is a song we're guessing you haven't heard in years. From the incredibly successful Fly Like an Eagle album, (Side one-track four) here is 'Serenede' by The Steve Miller Band.

The Little Sandwich Shop sure meant it today

Only those under three feet tall, or "little" could get some of those fine sammiches. Johnny always feels discriminated against when he can't get a "Banker's Reuben."

No parking in front of Journal Square today

Police have decided in the wake of the Boston situation that cars will be ticketed for stopping or standing outside Journal Square. Yes, it's more than likely an overreaction, it's what Americans seem to be best at anymore but you still can't park or stand in front of Journal Square today and most likely until further notice.

We just hope the cabs will still come by and pick up commuters.

Late night open thread

Sad news tonight. Storm Thorgerson, who with the artwork for Dark Side of the Moon created one of the most iconic album covers ever during his long-time collaboration with Pink Floyd, passed away today. So tonight an extraordinary treat before bed, the entire Dark Side of the Moon album front to back (so smoke 'em if ya got 'em) while you enjoy Storm Thorgerson's eternal calling card.


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Nobody panic but if you hate bugs it would appear you might want to lay in some groceries...

...some peanut butter, to last a couple of days.

Well, more than a couple of day. The 17 year cicadas are imminent according to bug reporters on BNN. While quite fascinating how the cicadas can tick off 17 years and knowing when the earth's temperature hits 64º exactly 8 inches below ground, we're talking billions of these flying things. Yes, billions.

And they're loud. Not loud like a comforting rumble of a freight train through town on a summer night, no, a screeching horrid terrible noise. Behold:


Everywhere. If you live on the eastern seaboard you're gonna get 'em. Walking your dog will be no fun (except for your dog who will see a buffet of big tasty flying things). So get ready New Jersey, this could happen at any time we're told. If you're truly bug-averse perhaps now would be a good time to stock up on canned goods and Raid.

Late night open thread

Two big thumbs up for the new Mexican restaurant on Grove St., Orale. Fantastic doesn't begin to describe the food and food choices. A welcome addition to the Jersey City food scene. Tip top!

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

We'd like to spend a few minutes pointing out how BAD the New York Post is

It has long been said they tend to report now ask questions later. Normally these "errors" go unnoticed, unchallenged, or people simply don't care. This time it's beyond the pale, and we're challenging them.

The NY Post is still reporting twelve dead at the Boston Marathon bombing. Except as everyone who watches news knows that sadly three people died, not twelve. Are they sloppy again? Are they simply LYING to sell papers? Well tell you what, read this post by the Washington Post on the New York Post's dubious claims and see what you think:

One outlet that could shed light on the situation is the New York Post. Earlier today, the Erik Wemple Blog contacted the paper’s PR firm, Rubenstein Strategic Communications and Media Relations. At the same time, we tried getting someone in the paper’s newsroom to chat about the reporting. A call to an administrator got me bounced to a New York Post bureau; someone there gave me a cell-phone number for a reporter whose name was listed at the bottom of one of the paper’s 12-dead pieces. The reporter declined to answer questions about the death toll and referred me to a number where we could get some answers. When we asked for the name of an editor who could speak for the stories, the reporter declined. “The people who answer the phone, I believe, will direct you to the proper person,” said the reporter. The people who answered the phone referred me to the PR firm.

Wow, what a way to run a news business. Left hand meet right hand. So, like the Washington Post rightly points out:

If so, it has a stupendous law-enforcement source, one that knows far more than the FBI, the Massachusetts governor, the Boston mayor and everyone else who has gone on record about the tragic events of yesterday afternoon. And that source is sitting on information at odds with the consistent statements that public officials and medical officials have made across a number of news conferences since yesterday afternoon.

So for the sake of honesty, for the sake of real reporters reporting the actual news next time you're tempted to put coin in a NY Post box, think for a second and ask if you're about to buy it for the news or the sensationalism.

Late night open thread

September 26, 2008 had one of the oddest baseball box scores in history. The Giants beat the Dodgers 6-5 in 10 innings in an otherwise nothing game. Nothing except that for the first time in major league history a player Bengie Molina, hit a home run, a walk-off home run at that, but wasn't credited with scoring a run.

How DOES a player hit a home run and not get credit for scoring a run? Read on:

On Sept. 26, Molina lofted a fly ball that looked as if it hit the top of the right-field wall at AT&T Park. So Molina stopped at first. Emmanuel Burriss trotted out to pinch-run for him. And nothing seemed amiss -- until Omar Vizquel told Giants manager Bruce Bochy he thought he'd heard the ball clank off the metal roof just above the wall.

So Bochy asked the umpires to use replay. And whaddayaknow, the call was reversed and Molina had himself a two-run homer. But the umps WOULDN'T let Molina come back to finish his trot because they ruled Burriss was already in the game and couldn't exit. So Burriss finished circling the bases. And Molina wound up with a box-score line that went 3-0-1-2 -- on a night he hit a home run.

Now you know.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Jersey City firefighters, the mayoral endorsement and the anti-Fulop flyer

First things first, two firefighters unions have endorsed Mayor Healy for another term:

Dominick Marino, president of the Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey, and Pete Nowak, president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 1064, praise Healy in a statement issued by the mayor’s re-election campaign.

“Mayor Healy shares our vision for a strong, secure Jersey City,” Nowak says in the statement. “We are proud to stand with President Marino and support Mayor Healy, because he always puts Jersey City first and has unwavering commitment to firefighters and the safety of all residents.”

So that's a good get for the Healy camp. Which for the Healy campaign segues poorly into the next portion of the story.

As the election gets tighter it hasn't brought out the best in some of our fair city's firefighters themselves. Posted in a handful of fire stations, a flyer, obtained by the Jersey Journal, was apparently trying to intimidate would-be Fulop voters:

The employees are backing Fulop “for their own personal gain,” reads the letter, which is unsigned and not on any official letterhead.

“This notification is to let all our members know who the sell-outs are in the department,” it reads. “They are all X-HEALY supporters now they want a favor from FULOP because they feel they were F*****. In one way or another.”

The letter, which claims Fulop plans to slash the department by 30 percent, ends with this note: “ALL 100% FACTUAL AND TRUE.”

Of course the usual HealyvFulop shitstorm broke out over this with the Fulop campaign blaming Healy, the Healy campaign noting they had nothing to do with it and pointing out the fire director took quick action to remind firefighters this is not to be tolerated. A right fine scolding it was.

Johnny gets the last word on this because he's just in that kind of mood.

Yes Jersey City, Taqueria is open again!

And the fish tacos have never been better! Yes, a couple people emailed Johnny and he overheard a discussion on the street concerning taqueria. Yes, they ARE open again!

The candidates for mayor and city council will be everywhere this week

There are many many events planned this week not just between those sparring for the mayorship, but city council candidates will also lock horns in debates going on this week. NJ.com has all the times, persons attending and locales, all you need to do be become a more informed voter is to follow this link.

The election is less than one month away, time to pay attention peeps.

Late night open thread

Which A-List actor played the school principal in E.T., only to have his scene cut when director Steven Spielberg decided that his presence would be too distracting? Answer in comments.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Downtown Jersey City and City Hall overrun by children

The spokesman for the children won't say what their demands are!

But seriously folks...A group of children Johnny heard were on their way to city hall took over Newark Avenue this morning in quite a parade procession. Here are a few pictures for you to say, "Awwwwww, they're so cute!" over.

Late night open thread

WSM, the voice of the Grand Old Opry, is just a click away. Follow this link for great country music til dawn on this internet radio outpost.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

A beautiful day for a drive

And you just can't beat coming back into town on the Turnpike, what a view!

Late night open thread

Did you know that Raquel Welch auditioned for the part of Mary Ann and Jayne Mansfield auditioned for the part of Ginger on Gilligan's Island? You do now.

Time for Jersey City After Dark

This blogger as reporter shield ruling might mean big changes at the Jersey City Desk

First off some background. Tina Renna has a citizen watchdog blog in Union County. She wrote some things that upset the local leaders so much they sued her. Ms. Renna wrote that Union County workers took generators intended for Superstorm Sandy victims and used them personally. That's a serious and very embarrassing charge. So in an effort to intimidate and silence Renna/get to the bottom of the case, the Union County Prosecutor’s Office wanted the names of 16 county employees Renna claimed had improperly used county-owned portable generators after Superstorm Sandy. Renna told them no, reporter shield laws protected her. Darned if she wasn't right. Judge Karen Cassidy concluded Renna was covered and did not have to release her sources. 

Seeing this an emboldened Johnny is now looking for a new intern to rake muck and get all badgery with the interviews. If Johnny is covered under shield laws wooooo lookout. Email Johnny with your application and papers of servitude. We already set journalism back decades here so hello shield law and hello The Front Page circa 1974!

Late night open thread

Top 5 bacon markets in the US of A:
1) New York
2) Los Angeles
3) San Antonio/Corpus Christi
4) Baltimore/Washington DC
5) Chicago

Is it breakfast yet?

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with SPLIT ENZ!

All the way from New Zealand (not to mention all the way from 1980) to kick off the music series this week here is Split Enz with 'I Got You'.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

One of those songs that could be about a million things and it is indeed interesting to go and try to find out what others think this song, 'Lump', is all about. Google around, you'll get some laughs.

Meanwhile, 'Lump!'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with SAM COOKE!

And why not? If you want those toes tapping and those fingers popping you gotta get with this song daddy-o. Sam Cooke with 'Twistin' the Night Away'

Extra! Extra! Itchy and Scratchy fight it out while Jerry Walker and Abdul Malik look on in disgust

Lincoln High was the site of yesterday's two hour debate between Jersey City mayoral hopefuls Jerry Walker, Abdul Malik, city councilman Itchy and Mayor Scratchy.

Sure we could tell you how Healy and Fulop hogged the lion's share of the time and questions, sure Jersey Journal columnist Earl Morgan sounded out of touch again, sure we could tell you about charges of corruption and the fact Itchy said of Leona Beldini it was a shame that Mayor Scratchy let "grandma" take the fall. Sure we could tell you all these things but wouldn't you rather read about it here and then follow-up in the snarky comments section? Of course you would.

Late night open thread

“What hath night to do with sleep?”
 -- John Milton

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Did we really need a court ruling to make this official?

If you open your door smoking a joint and there is a police officer standing on the other side of the door when you open it, he CAN come inside your house and search it.

It would seem one Rashad Walker did in fact need clarification stemming from a case in Newark in which Walker answered the door smoking some doobage when it was police who had come to call. They searched his place, and Walker said cops needed a warrant but the New Jersey Supreme Court disagreed. Most thinking people disagreed. Johnny has a healthy distrust of the police but if you're smoking in front of them and don't have a state medicinal card, you're gonna get busted.

Remember, should you get arrested for opening your door with a joint in one hand, the Hudson County clink doesn't sell Twinkies.

Late night open thread

On this day in 1970 Paul McCartney announced the breakup of the Beatles. There has always been a lot of speculation and blame laid at the feet of Yoko Ono but Johnny thinks all this argie bargie could have been put away by simply taking the time to read McCartney's comments he made at the time:

"It was Yoko's fault."

There you go.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

The #7 subway line into New Jersey is being discussed again in NYC

An idea once thought dead, bringing the #7 subway line through a tunnel into New Jersey, is simmering once again.

A report commissioned by New York City, expected to be posted this morning on the city's Economic Development Corp. website, extols the benefits of the plan.

Unlike the ARC Tunnel that Governor Christie, wrongly in our opinion, shut down in 2010 this one does have a tentative OK from Christie's office.

The Star-Ledger has more on the planning:

The report, obtained by The Star-Ledger, noted the next step would be an advanced study on the feasibility of extending the No. 7 subway line — which runs from Queens to Times Square — into Secaucus Junction. Coordinated with the Federal Transit Administration, the study would include a cost benefit analysis, identification of financing opportunities and analysis of ridership and revenue.

NYC mayoral hopeful and former MTA chairman Joe Lhota said “It’s not going to happen,” he said. “Not in our lifetime. Not in anybody’s lifetime.”

Sounding like a completely uninformed goober, Lhota went on to say “Of course New Jersey would like to have it. They think they’re going to get across the river for $2.50.”

Um, Joe, we unwashed masses in New Jersey ALREADY get across the Hudson River on PATH for $2.25, needle-dick. Sorry you couldn't run your subway system better, you know like PATH does.

Wait a minute, maybe all that was needed for Joe Lhota to get his ass out of the MTA job and voila, progress!

Late night open thread

Tonight friends a short history of the Oreo cookie. Steven Wright once said he ate a box of Oreos before going to his oral hygienist because he thought she was cute.

Bite of History: This dunkable delight debuted in the spring of 1912 by the National Biscuit Company (now known as Nabisco and owned by Kraft). But it wasn't a stand-alone offer. The Oreo was packaged as part of the Trio: the Mother Goose, the Veronese, and the Oreo Biscuit. It soon became clear that the Oreo was the star of the bunch, and the other two treats became a matter of historical record.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Do you like explosions? Johnny sure does

Check out this video of the sandhogs blasting under Grand Central Terminal tunneling to connect the Long Island Railroad and their guest conductor programs to Grand Central. Make sure to stick round for the slo-motion blast of the video:

Late night open thread

One President and one President only has ever discovered a new proof for The Pythagorean Theorem. Can you name him? Answer in comments.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Maybe you set them down with the best intentions

Attention Jersey City: There is a pair of dark blue Calvin Klein men's underpants off of Columbus Dr. not too far from the Grove St. PATH station. Maybe you had some kind of wardrobe malfunction this past weekend or on your way into the office today. Maybe you just set them down for a second and got distracted when people started looking your way with that, "Ewwwwwwwww" look in their eyes. Well you're very lucky that a quality item like this is still there. You may pick them up anytime today.

"I got some new underwear....well, it was new to me."
 -- Johnny Action Space Punk

Johnny's gonna just go ahead and call it Spring...

...finally! What is your favorite part of Spring?

Late night open thread

Johnny's got friends coming from all over these United States this weekend starting early tomorrow so he's releasing the interns from their shackles and we'll take a timeout we don't have until Monday.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Work has begun on the Powerhouse building for Jersey City's new teevee offering

Men with no fear began putting scaffolding up around the stacks of the Powerhouse building this morning. This is all part of next season's show which will take place in Jersey City called "Wipeout: Death Factor!" It takes the wildly popular format of the show Wipeout (seen here) and ups the ante. Sure the cash and prizes will be bigger because instead of falling off an apparatus and landing in 'the fluids' you might just land 10 stories down on Washington St.

Production should begin later this summer.

Why is it you never see pudding used as evidence on CSI or NCIS?

Because pudding and pudding cups were at the crux of a case so big and so serious it took 5 years to bring it to court. Here's the backstory courtesy of The Jersey Journal:

Efrain Rivera, 52, of Jersey City faced burglary and theft charges stemming from a May 2008 incident where a Jewett Avenue man had more than $8,000 in power tools stolen from his basement apartment. 

The assistant prosecutor had linked Rivera to the scene through DNA evidence taken from two cups of Boost pudding and a bottle of cranberry juice.

That's all Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor Jason Cieri needed, somebody's DNA on a pudding cup.

So there you have it readers, his DNA was all up in those pudding cups and therefore he took the tools. 

But, wait, hold on a minute...

Nope, the DNA says he did it, he ate pudding now he must pay for his crimes.

It would seem to most people you'd want to ask...

Nope, open and shut case because PUDDING!

It took a jury of his peers a mere two hours to declare Mr. Rivera not guilty. Somebody in the prosecutor's office might have thought to, in these last five years, ask if Rivera had business in that apartment building. He had several legitimate contacts and reasons to be in the building it turns out according to his attorney and witnesses who testified in court.

Several legitimate contacts. Five years. Extensive pudding cup DNA tests. Court and attorney fees. Well done indeed.

Late night open thread

"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever."
 -- Napoleon Bonaparte

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Healy and Fulop go toe to toe, mano y mano, one on one...

And this is the part where Johnny dissects some of what was discussed.

Something has been eating at Johnny since he read the debate stories where Councilman Fulop challenged our Mayor because so many of his closest political allies, his deputy mayor (and campaign treasurer) and others who did business with Mayor Healy (how are those pancakes at the Brownstone Diner tasting now?) are in jail, have killed themselves or resigned in disgrace. Mayor Healy's actual response on his meeting that day with Solomon Dwek, Leona Beldini and others:

“I should have gotten a gold medal for effective, honest, open government for that,” he said.

That wasn't The Onion making up that quote, no it was Mayor Healy himself.

You don't get a gold medal for not committing a crime. You're expected to not commit crimes all the time and everywhere you go. You do not get credit or a gold medal for all your closest allies going to jail while you weren't arrested. You're don't get to elevate yourself as some paramour of virtue because you weren't indicted and your pals were. 

Unless.

Unless you were one who helped turn state's evidence, secretly of course, once you found out just how out of control this vipers nest at city hall had become. Unless you decided to take a stand for honest and open government and made a phone call or two. See that would be how one would get a gold medal in all this. But as of press time you haven't claimed credit for helping in the investigation.

Back to Mayor Healy's very bad debate day (and remember last time when he didn't even bother to show up for a few of the debates because he knew he had Lou Manzo whipped already). When pressed by Fulop on how Journal Square becomes a priority two months before each election Healy basically said well it was better than the dump he inherited (and then ran three times to govern over it). Ah yes, it's not a swamp, it's only a bog. The very Journal Square theatre the debate took place in came up as a topic of debate. Healy said he wouldn't drop any taxpayer money into the 'in-progress' rehab of historic Loew's Theatre. Fulop said rehabbing Loew's is vital to anchoring the Journal Square area. 

Check local cable times for the debate to air in it's entirety. 

We'd like to pass along a "what a douchecanoe" aimed at Hudson Media Group's Pat O'Melia who decided that Jersey City mayoral candidate Abdul Malik wasn't allowed to participate in the debate. Again, douchecanoe. He's on the ballot. Who cares if YOU don't think he can win. How about we as a right-thinking city excuse this clown from further debate decision making?

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

A reminder that tonight is the first Jersey City Dishcrawl!

So all of you who are going do not forget tonight is the first Jersey City Dishcrawl. This has been such a success that there are NO MORE tickets available for tonight's event. Make sure to check this site as well as the Dishcrawl site for future events. They did after all choose New Jersey's culinary first kingdom. They could have tried Hoboken (meh), they could have tried Atlantic City (double meh) or anywhere else. They knew where the true foodies live.

Hopefully some of the folks on the Dishcrawl tonight can give us some commentary on how this all went.

Mayoral showdown at Loew's Theatre today at 1pm

Historic Loew's Theatre will be the site of a showdown between some of the Jersey City candidates looking for the top job. Mayor Healy will be there as will Councilman Steve Fulop. Jerry Walker has been invited but illness may keep him away. Candidate Abdul Malik wasn't even invited and actually wasn't even allowed to participate. That's shameful.

So get yourselves on that Journal Square train, or head in from Nidia's Neighborhood and see the fireworks beginning at 1pm.

Late night open thread

Mark Twain was born on the day of the appearance of Halley's Comet in 1835, and died on the day of its next appearance in 1910.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

The Yankees have traded for Justin Verlander!

OK, it's an April Fool's joke on an Opening Day Monday. The Yankees can only HOPE to get Justin Verlander if perhaps the Tigers organization takes silly pills.

However baseball fans, for the first time since the 1950's the Yankees and Metropolitans will open at home in the same day at the same time, 1pm.

Johnny actually sees a World Series rematch this year, with his picks of the San Francisco Giants and the Detroit Tigers now set in stone. Wanna talk some baseball? Why you've come to the right place. Drop some predictions or trade possibilities for the Yanks and Mets in comments.

Play Ball!