You never know who will join in on Super Happy Fun Day

Some people have a lot more time on their hands to enjoy Super Happy Fun Day.

Sometimes on Super Happy Fun Day, things go horribly wrong, luckily for us they go wrong for other people

Super Happy Fun Day rolls along with a magnificent clip from TAXI

What would a Super Happy Fun Day be without Christopher Walken dancing....and flying?

It wouldn't be worth much my friends, not much...

Welcome to the Jersey City Desk's first 'Super Happy Fun Day'

Sometimes citizens, the news is just SO BAD, and SO DEPRESSING you go a little crazy if you don't extricate yourself from it all. So today we're going to ignore all the rotten news of the world and have some fun. We'll start with a joke passed along by a friend on a forum. Thank you 'Leon'.

A father, son and grandfather went to the country club for their weekly round of golf.

Just as they reached the first tee, a beautiful young blonde woman carrying her bag of clubs approached them.

She explained that the member who brought her to the club for a round of golf had an emergency that called him away, and asked the trio whether she could join them.

Naturally, the guys all agreed.

Smiling, the blonde thanked them and said, "Look, fellows, I work in a topless bar as a dancer, so nothing shocks me anymore. If any of you want to smoke cigars, have a beer, bet, swear, tell off-color stories or do anything that you normally do when playing a round together, go ahead. But I enjoy playing golf, and consider myself pretty good at it, so don't try to coach me on how to play my shots."

With that the guys agreed to relax and invited her to hit first.

All eyes were fastened on her shapely behind as she bent over to place her ball on the tee. She then took her driver and hit the ball 270 yards down the middle, right in front of the green.

The father's mouth was agape. "That was beautiful," he said.

The blonde put her driver away and said, "I really didn't get into it, and I faded it a little." After the three guys hit their drives and their second shots, the blonde took out an eight iron and lofted the ball within five feet of the pin.

The son said, "Damn, lady, you played that perfectly."

The blonde frowned and said, "It was a little weak, but even a soft seven would have been too much club. I've left a tricky little putt."

She then tapped in the five-footer for a birdie.

Having the honors, she hit first on the second hole, knocked the hell out of the ball, and it landed nearly 300 yards away, smack in the middle of the fairway.

For the rest of the round the statuesque blonde continued to amaze the guys, quietly and methodically shooting par or less on every hole.

When they arrived at the 18th green, the blonde was three under, and had a very nasty 12-foot putt on an undulating green for a par. She turned to the three guys and said, "I really want to thank you all for not acting like a bunch of chauvinists and telling me what club to use or how to play a shot, but I need this putt for a 69 and I'd really like to break 70 on this course...

... If any one of you can tell me how to make par on this hole, I'll take him back to my apartment, pour some 35-year-old Single Malt Strathmill Scotch in him, fix him a steak dinner, and then show him a very good time for the rest of the night."

The yuppie son jumped at the thought! He strolled across the green, carefully eyeing the line of the putt and finally said, "Honey, aim about 6 inches to the right of the hole and hit it firm. It will get over that little hump and break right into the cup."

The father knelt down and sighted the putt using his putter as a plumb, "Don't listen to the kid, darlin', you want to hit it softly 10 inches to the right and let it run left down that little hogback, so it falls into the cup."

The old gray-haired grandfather walked over to the blonde's ball, picked it up, handed it to her and said, "That's a gimme, sweetheart."

The blonde smiled and said, "Your car or mine?"

Late night open thread

Oh what a day. Johnny will spare you the details but he felt like he was at an all day execution-fest. Let's have something fun before bed...


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Monday morning open thread

Johnny is gonna be way busy this morning with this, that and the other thing. Do keep yourselves occupied....

Late night open thread

How 'bout them Spartans? Johnny knows this is Big East country but MSU was exquisite today, working hard and playing great defense to whip the Big East's best team, Louisville. Tom Izzo is the best coach going in college hoops today.

A quick note from Johnny to ESPN gadfly Dick Vitale, stay the hell out of Detroit you bag assed senile moron. We know you're an ACC kiss ass and you totally hate Michigan State, we get it. You've detested MSU since you recruited Magic Johnson to attend your University of Detroit team and told him to skip the big schools at Michigan State and the University of Michigan. Well he ignored you and chose MSU and really, March Madness was born in 1979. Vitale, your comments, tonight on ESPN that North Carolina's victory was more impressive than MSU's upset of the #1 overall team in the tournament were just catty. Your "I'll grow hair" comments before the NCAA seedings came out were simply insulting to MSU head coach Tom Izzo and MSU. Johnny hopes somebody knocks your head off while you're in Detroit this week. You've burned too many bridges old man. Seriously, Johnny will post the bail of anyone willing to kick your ass. He'll then buy that person a steak dinner. If somebody knocks Digger Phelps' head off they get a steak dinner, no bail. Vitale, just do your ignorant reporting from up the road in Bristol, you'll be doing everyone a favor.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

All this attention now being paid to the new Yankees and Mets stadiums? Yawn

Clearly these are PR fronts by both the Yankees and Mets to drum up goodwill and try to knock down the complaints about how these new ballparks are being funded. Yankee Stadium will cost over 1.5 BILLION by the time it's completed. Guess who is picking up 75% of the tab? Reason enough to NOT GO to see the Bronx Bombers and let them suffer and sweat out the financial angle. The Mets are having CitiBank pay for the naming rights to their stadium which is just wonderful now that you and I and every taxpayer in America OWN CitiBank due to out huge taxpayer bailout of this failed company. From this day forward, the Jersey City Desk will ONLY refer to the Mets Stadium at 'Debits Field'. We didn't invent that name but it's very fitting. Hey, they Mets aren't paying the JCD a dime to call it by the name they want you and I to call it. Hence, Debits Field.

The JCD urges readers to simply not go to many, if any games this year. Let them sweat it out. We're already paying enough for both stadiums, now they want your money right out of your pocket as well. What are they giving YOU? A break on ticket prices? A break on jerseys? A break on hot dogs or other concession? Hell no. They can't soak you again, it's time now to soak them and the boneheads who allowed us to pay for these monstrosities in the first place.

Stay away. Repay the Yankees and Mets in kind.

Late night open thread

SPORTS!

Wow, have upsets turned the NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament on it's ear. The Air Force upset of Michigan knocked the #1 East regional seed out. This set up a regional final between #4 seed Air Force and #3 seed Vermont which had one of the strangest endings to any hockey game ever, college or pro. The game went to overtime, Vermont took a shot and it APPEARED to have gone in, in fact it looked like the shot went right through the netting. But did it? Play continued for a couple more minutes until they were able to check replays. Super slow motion replays showed in fact the shot did go right through the netting and out at full speed which gave the impression it missed the net.

You can see highlites here:
http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=ncaa&media=111579

More upsets were found in the Midwest Regional where #4 seed Bemidji State knocked the Irish out of #1 seed Notre Dame in Grand Rapids Michigan. Also Cornell's Big Red the #3 seed dumped #2 seed Northeastern.

#4 Seed Miami Ohio was the winner of the West Regional knocking off #1 seed Denver then # 2 seed Minnesota-Duluth.

There was no wilder game than in the Northeast Regional today in Manchester New Hampshire. #2 seed North Dakota led the host and #3 seed New Hampshire Wildcats 5-3 late in the third. New Hampshire scored to close it to 5-4 in North Dakota's favor. It was then something amazing happened, New Hampshire scored with 3 TENTHS of a second left to tie it. Lesson here, faceoffs matter big time. They went to overtime where the Wildcats scored 45 seconds in sending the Manchester faithful into a frenzy:

http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=ncaa&media=111566

The NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament is far more unpredictable than the men's hoops tourney, and since it's hockey it's far better than basketball. The greatest hockey game Johnny ever saw was Northern Michigan's incredible 8-7 triple overtime victory over Boston University in 1991 in the National Championship game. Now, granted he's biased as he went to Northern Michigan, but that game was back and forth and to and fro until Darryl Plandowski scored early in the third OT to win it for the Wildcats. The Jersey City Desk makes no claim of ownership of this clip, we're just giving you a link to the greatest ending to the greatest title game:

http://www.thoughtequity.com/video/clip/306076_033.do

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Saturday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with X!

The band with the shortest name in rock history to be sure (well you could count 'M' but X is so far up the dial on the cool list they trump 'M') performing 'Johnny Hit and Run Paulene'. X stopped performing this song for a very long time when they felt the wrong message was being taken from it. John Doe said too many frat boy types were pumping their fists in some kind of tribute to the character 'Johnny' in this song who is really nothing more than a crank addled rapist. Leave it to frat boys to ruin everything and enjoy date rape. John Doe and Exene Cervenka on vocals for this one rock and rollers. Billy Zoom on snarling geetar and D.J. Bonebrake on skins.

Saturday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE PATTI SMITH BAND!

Patti Smith and her band with a song she co-wrote with Bruce Sringsteen, 'Because the Night'. Johnny checked the Wikipedia page and immediately saw that whomever did it for this tune was a glaring doofus as this song was not ever produced by Todd Rundgren, it was from the Easter album and produced by Jimmy Iovine. Never trust Wikipedia for this stuff, sometimes trolls get there and wreck it for everyone.

Saturday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with BOB DYLAN!

Ah yes, the litterbug video lolz. Actually it's Bob Dylan behind the Savoy Hotel in London dropping cue cards to his classic 'Subterranean Homesick Blues'. Note famed poet Allen Ginsberg standing in the background...

Sounds like Mayor Healy might be a little chicken

Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy is ducking the first mayoral debate scheduled for April 1 at the Loew's Theater. Healy had some crap-assed excuse about this not being a fair and unbiased debate which, where Johnny comes from is another word for chicken. The other mayoral candidates will be there, they see no problem answering debate questions by the radical and biased TV host Pat O'Melia, Political Insider Agustin Torres, Jersey Journal columnist Earl Morgan and writer Ricardo Kaulessar of the Jersey City Reporter. Yeah, smart reporters with REAL questions. We can see why Healy would be dodging such an event. They might ask him about his record or something. They might ask him about the rampant crime going on. You know, questions that Healy doesn't want to answer in a televised forum in downtown Jersey City.

The mayoral candidates who WILL be attending are Lou Manzo, Assemblyman L. Harvey Smith, Dan Levin, and Phil Webb.

The Jersey City Desk should hope the organizers would put a big empty chair with a sash that says MAYOR on in that can cluck answers when asked.

Late night open thread

You'll get your music tomorrow night, Johnny is WAY too wired up over the MSU victory over Kansas to pick songs tonight. Oh, and big ups to Air Force's men's hockey team for beating #1 regional seed Michigan 2-0. Yes, Air Force beat Michigan. That coupled with the Spartan victory means a sad night in Ann Arbor. Awwwwwww......

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Why do turkey vultures hate America?

So, Jorge Hurtado is driving his minivan eastbound on I-80, like many of us have. As he drives through scenic Parsippany the unthinkable happens. Suddenly Hurtado's minivan and his wife are ATTACKED by a suicide turkey vulture who flew right into their windshield and hit Hurtado's wife Vanessa in the face causing some minor cuts and scratches.

Police will not say if this was an intentional act by the turkey vulture. We may never know if it was some kind of suicide attack or just a horrible error in judgement on the large bird's behalf. Either way he won't be doing it again. We can only pray as Garden State residents this is not some kind of coordinated strategy by turkey vultures. Luckily however we have State Troopers like Brian Miller who was able to use his extensive background in law enforcement to proclaim the bird dead at the scene.

PETA was none too pleased about Hurtado driving his minivan into the flight path of the turkey vulture at that very moment. They did not see this as a suicide attack but rather cold blooded bird murder:

"We are shocked and horrified by the actions of Mr. Hurtado" said Zoey Manfreddengensen, PETA spokesbeing. "To drive your vehicle directly into a bird's flight path is uncalled for. He should be ashamed. We are also calling for the closing of I-80 immediately as it is now obvious that the I-80 route through Parsippany is a commuter route for New Jersey's turkey vultures."

The dead vulture was taken away by Eagle Towing. No, really, Johnny can only WISH he'd made that part up.


Here we see a turkey vulture laughing at a skunk getting hit by a car

What a swell guy

A Bronx bakery owner worked his employees like dogs, refused to pay them minimum wage, threatened them when the state began investigating and made them work the first two weeks of their employment for free.

One Walter Galiano was arraigned in New York State Supreme Court, charged with 44 felony counts and 240 misdemeanors. Charges include including insurance fraud, minimum wage law violations, tax fraud and the illegal withholding of more than $350,000 in wages. When the state began to investigate his odorous business practices, he began threatening and firing his employees. Apparently, Galiano caused 10 workers to retract statements already made to the Department of Labor.

The Department of Labor also said employees were required to “do a deposit,” which entailed working the first two weeks without pay.

M. Patricia Smith of the Department of Labor is quoted as saying: “I have never seen workers so frightened as in the Arthur Avenue Bakery case”.

You stay classy Walter Galiano.

Late night open thread

Port Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia announced the 'Freedom Tower' going up at Ground Zero will no longer be named the 'Freedom Tower' but instead 'One World Trade Center'. He said that was the address and so that will be the name.

Excellent choice. We wholeheartedly agree. It was almost unanimous here in the Jersey City Desk Editorial office. Kiki wanted 'Hello Kitty Plaza'. Good call Mr. Coscia, seriously.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

'Everything Jersey City' festival will be held May 16th

The 2nd annual 'Everything Jersey City' festival will happen May 16th in the Heights on Central Avenue. It will run between 11 am and 6 pm. There will be food, music, some arts thrown in and of course rock climbing and moonwalking for the kids.

Fun for the entire family, come on out,

Late night open thread

quar·tet also quar·tette (kwôr-tt)
n.
1. Music
a. A composition for four voices or four instruments.
b. A group of four singers or four instrumentalists.
2. A group of four.


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Time to break out the Waaaaambulance for Hoboken Mayor Dave Roberts

Awwww, does wittle Mister Woberts not like the billboard placed by a Jersey City company offering assistance to move to Jersey City to avoid a horrid 47% tax increase in Hoboken? Is him gonna cwy?

Our advice? Grow up man. You are in charge there and for whatever reason you couldn't get your city budget together and the state imposed a 47% increase. Why wouldn't a Jersey City developer, LeFrak Organization, offer to help Hoboken residents either sick of, or unable to cough up all that extra money to relocate. That's exactly what the Metropolitan & Waterfront Residential Brokerage did, offer to pick up some of the tab to get Hoboken residents to move into apartments or condos along the scenic Jersey City (home of the Statue of Liberty) waterfront. That's just business Mayor Roberts. Hard cheese dude. No, you had to cry and snivel over the sign and then get it covered up.

Was the billboard factual? You betcha. They weren't lying on you. So, what's the issue mayor? Embarrassed? Sounds like it. Get one thing straight right now, when it comes to a pecking order in Hudson County; Jersey City > Hoboken.....FACT!

So go ahead and make some kind of lame retaliation billboard talking about Jersey City crime, come on, go for it. We're tough here in Jersey City, we can take anything the Mile Square (emphasis on SQUARE) City can dish out. The fact remains you pitched a tantrum and we're not laughing with you, no, we're laughing AT you. Johnny's an old school online comment troll, he'll have his own wing in the trolling hall of fame one day, and when you are so bothered by a sign, or comment or factual posting you have it removed, well let's just say Mayor Dave Roberts, you just got PWNED by Jersey City.

Second arrow attack in New York, this one in Queens, and it sure wasn't an accident

Thank god for bad aim because there was a second bow and arrow attack in the Big Appletini Tuesday night, this time in Queens.

Eric Weinberger was taking out the trash when he said he saw an arrow whiz right by him. He ran back inside and told his wife and daughter to "get down". The arrow stuck in the side of his home. He of course called police and they showed up along with news cameras and it's then police say they found a second arrow on the ground.

Yikes, so we have a bow and arrow attempted murder and this one, unlike the one in the Bronx was very intentional. Hopefully this is the last copycat incident of this kind. At least in this case the shooter couldn't hit water if they fell out of a boat. For that we are thankful.

Late night open thread

How was your day? No doubt better than this guy's. Run Forrest run!

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

What's the problem officer? He's multitasking

Union City's favorite son William Vadi Jr. is an enterprising type of guy. Not only was he out looking to burgle a home in the Heights, and of course carried with him the requisite tools for the job, he also was planning according to Union City police to sell the 7 packets of heroin he had on his person at the time of his arrest. To top it off, he was doing it in broad daylight. Police were patrolling near Palisade Avenue and Franklin Street when they say they saw Vadi try to pry his way into a home. Not being successful he wandered up the street and was confronted by Union City's finest. A short foot chance ensued until Vadi stopped running and told police "You got me, I give up". Before he gave up he tossed seven plastic packets of 'suspected' heroin on the ground police say he intended to sell.

Vadi had a full Friday afternoon and in his short multitasking stroll through the neighborhoods and racked up an impressive list of charges: burglary, possession of burglary tools, possession of a controlled dangerous substance near a school, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute near a public property and resisting arrest.

All in a days work for an enterprising young man trying to make his way in these hard times.

Rutgers women's basketball team advances to Sweet Sixteen

Much to the chagrin of Don Imus, the Rutgers women's basketball team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen by pounding Auburn 80-52. Rutgers will face Purdue's Boilermakers Sunday in Oklahoma City. Epiphanny Prince scored 27 points to lead the way but Kia Vaughn also scored in double figures as did Heather Zurich and Brittany Ray.

Rutgers totally locked down the Auburn offense holding them to 28% shooting."Defense rules everything," said Ray after the game. Yeah, especially Auburn.

Well done indeed ladies. Best of luck Sunday.

Late night open thread

Since we're on an astrophysics kick here at the Jersey City Desk, here's something cool. You probably know our solar system ie Earth, The Sun, Mars, Jupiter etc., are in the Milky Way Galaxy. But do you know WHERE in the Milky Way Galaxy we are?

Now you do...

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies, The dead rising from the grave, dogs and cats living together...

The uh, weather may get a bit nutty around the Tri-State area tomorrow as foretold by this very site's Accu-Weather link last night. We took a snapshot of it and highly encourage you to check it out. We've never seen a "star-studded sky" during the day so we have no damned idea what we're in for. Maybe it's time to bust out your bucket list...

Monday morning open thread

Johnny and the staff are right busy this morning signing a new lease on some posh digs down by the waterfront, where we can keep a better eye on New York and watch planes land in the Hudson River. You may talk quietly among yourselves on anything that amuses you.

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Around the rink on a Sunday afternoon

Well Boston sent a message this afternoon dropping the Devils to 5 points back in the race for top slot on the Eastern Conference 4-1 in Beantown. The Devils had their shots, 42 in fact, but many were from the outside of the faceoff dot and not the high quality scoring zones the Devils have been scoring from. The Devils also made an uncharacteristic mistake in the first period taking a too many men on the ice penalty which led to Boston's first goal on the powerplay. At that point the Devils were playing from behind which plays to the Bruins confidence level and allows them to play a bigger, tougher style they enjoy. The race in the east isn't over but it's looking like a #2 or #3 seed for New Jersey. To that end Johnny would say the Devils are for more likely to be a successful road team in the playoffs than Boston. A team MUST be able to win on the road come playoff time? Want proof? Last season Detroit on their way to Stanley Cup glory won 1 game at Nashville, 2 at Colorado in sweeping the Nordilanche, 2 more in Dallas in the Western Conference Finals and 2 in Pittsburgh in the Finals. The Devils will be a far better road team is Johnny's guess than the Bruins will.

Now, across the Hudson, the Rangers are playing with fire, and confidence as they make a late season push to secure a playoff spot. Since they changed coaches to John Tortorella, the Rangers are giving effort, effort that wasn't there before. The trading deadline provided some more depth but the real story at MSG is the fact supposed team leaders like Chris Drury, Markus Naslund and Scott Gomez have improved their games under Tortorella. Johnny thinks indeed the Rangers will make the playoffs, it may be as a #6, #7 or #8 seed but they'll get in. We'd hope for a first round matchup against New Jersey of course, one the Devils would win. The difference? The Rangers defense corps isn't scaring anyone or fooling Johnny.

Flying under the radar this time of year lost in NCAA tournament madness is the NCAA college hockey tourney, a true gem in the world of college sports. The seedings and brackets were announced today (click the image for a bigger bracket)

Late night open thread

We're gonna talk some puck tomorrow while the Devils visit Boston to inch closer (hopefully) to the top of the Eastern Conference standings. Tonight, from Madison Square Park at 5th Avenue and Broadway a panoramic quick video of the New York Life Building, followed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower and finally over to a darkened Flatiron Building.

Video is cool...


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

An update on the bow and arrow shooter who we'll refer to as "Eric the Plumber"

Now, we're not sure if unlike the famed GOP plant and idealogue "Joe the Plumber" Eric Collins has his plumbing license (and has paid his back taxes) but accused Bronx bow and arrow shooter Collins pled not guilty to the charge he was the one who accidentally shot Denise Delgado-Brown in the stomach last weekend while she helped a friend out of her car outside the Frances Schervier Nursing Care Center.

You'll recall police detectives said when questioned Collins began acting "squirrelly" and sweating bullets which is when police decided to ask him for a formal statement. Police recovered four arrows and a quiver from Collins home across the street from the Nursing Care Center. They say Collins was not aiming at Delgado-Brown, the shot was a ricochet off of the fenceline on his property.

Delgado-Brown said she would have forgiven Collins if he'd merely checked on her condition: "If it was an accident he would have come over to me and asked if I was all right," she said. "I would have forgiven him. Police say if Collins didn't hear Delgado-Brown screaming it was only because he didn't want to.

Collins is charged with assault and reckless endangerment.

Did you miss getting to go to a St. Patrick's Day parade last weekend?

Or in Hoboken's case a parade and drunken frenzy the weekend before? Well if you still have a little Guinness drinking left in ya, Bayonne will be holding their annual "It's almost April, let's have a St. Patrick's Day Parade" Sunday at 1pm. The parade will step off at East Fifth Street and Broadway, proceeding up Broadway to 39th Street, west to Avenue C, and past the reviewing stand at the entrance to Stephen Gregg/Hudson County/Bayonne Park.

There will be 11 piper bands, as well as the Bayonne High School Marching Band.

Big Brother is watching in Hoboken, and the Hoboken City Council is OK with that

The Hoboken City Council asked for, and received permission to install "Red Light Running Automated Enforcement pilot program" cameras for stoplights at 14th Street and Willow Avenue. These are the kinds of cameras that take pictures of motorists who might be skating through red or yellow lights and issue citations through the mail.

Now the Hoboken City Council has said no decisions have been made as to install the cameras. They'll need to discuss if they really want to spy on drivers. Guess what, they're going to do this. If they were going to do it for safety reasons, they'd have said YES instantly. If the TRUE idea was for safety, they'd have made this a done deal right now. If it was REALLY about safety they'd have made significant changes to the intersection by now. No, citizens, the REAL reason this would be done is money. Cold hard ticket money. Imagine the power to raise revenue by doing nothing. That's what this is really all about. Cash in the coffers.

Wait and see, they'll pass this and they'll say it's all about safety, and they'll be lying through their teeth.

And uh, Mayor Healy and the Jersey City Council, don't get any ideas or we'll rain holy hell down upon you. Big Brother, at least to most thinking people, is a BAD idea.

Late night open thread

Johnny's off to Madison Square Garden tomorrow night for the Rangers game vs. Buffalo. A full account of the Rangers after the game. Buffalo is really facing a must win on the morrow to keep their playoff hopes flickering. The Rangers right now if the playoffs started today would be facing the Devils. Now wouldn't THAT be fun?

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE BROTHERS JOHNSON!

As a kid Johnny could never figure why this song was called 'Strawberry Letter 23' when clearly in the song they only say Strawberry Letter 22. Then he did some digging and found out Shuggie Otis aka Johnny Otis Jr.wrote this classic hit at the age of 17. Otis wrote this for his girlfriend, who liked to send him letters written on strawberry scented paper. Teen love, go ahead and make sense of THAT.

Either way, it's a fantastic jam and we're happy to feature it here tonight.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN!

'The Killing Moon', with that hypnotic twang of Will Sergeant's Vox Mark XII 12-string teardrop, hard to beat kids, it truly is. It cuts off tad at the end as TeeVee shows will sometimes. From 1984 here are Echo and the Bunnymen with 'The Killing Moon'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with JACKSON BROWNE!

OK, Johnny heard 'You Love the Thunder' and really really really wanted to play that song tonight as it is his favorite Jackson Browne tune. Not that this one is bad, he's just stunned in this day and age you can't find 'You Love the Thunder' anywhere on video, even MTV with crappy ads in them.

So, here is said Jackson Browne with 'Running on Empty' from 1979

Jersey City Desk Action News Team ON THE SCENE of injury accident at Tonnelle Circle

Yes, the Jersey City Desk Action News team is the FIRST to bring you pictures from the scene (even faster than the Jersey Journal no less). A very bad car accident at Tonnelle Circle, where Tonnelle meets the 1&9 has sent at least three people to the Jersey City Medical Center and three to Christ Hospital. Police and Traffic copters are hovering the scene. There is quite a traffic snarl down Tonnelle Avenue.

Luckily, NYC police speak squirrel

Police arrested Eric Collins, 27, of Riverdale, in the Bronx in the bow and arrow shooting of a Bronx resident when they were interviewing him and they said he was acting "squirrelly". Police were canvassing the area after Denise Delgado-Brown was shot with, and had an arrow lodge in her stomach, and asked Collins if you know, maybe he had seen or heard something. Cops said while he was saying what he saw he was sweating and shaking, like squirrels do, and was taken downtown for questioning.

Delgado-Brown is resting at home after being released from the hospital.

NICE!

Late night open thread

Woo, the Jersey Journal takes Mayor Healy to the woodshed over the use of a Jersey City Incinerator Authority flatbed truck in last weekend's St. Patrick's Day parade. They say it was an illegal 'in kind contribution'. It's well worth a read. Did the mayor try to pull one over on taxpayers of Jersey City? Read on citizens....

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Let's see, today we COULD cover real news and serious issues facing Jersey City and the Five Boroughs....OR

We could sit on or asses and watch the basketball tournament on the Jersey City Desk high-def 40 inch teevee and see how our brackets are coming along.

Guess what's gonna happen....Who the hell do you think we are, CNN?

Here, so you don't feel cheated today, here's Stephen Colbert shooting lasers out of his hands and hitting evil bears. Bears as we know from the Ypsi City Desk are mindless, perfect killing machines.

Late night open thread

Tonight before bed, a few good minutes with Cabbage Head.


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Pack Attacks outside The Rock in Newark pinpoint a gay couple

A group of 15-20 teenage boys and girls attacked a gay couple, shouting anti-gay slurs outside The Prudential Center after Saturday's Britney Spears concert. Bobby Daniel Caldwell, and his partner Joshua Kehoe, 25, both from Kearny said they were on their way back to their car when they were set upon. The gang stole Kehoe's cell phone and kicked and punched them severely. Caldwell suffered a broken jaw. A group of four female college students were the next to be assaulted by the splinter group (more on that in a minute), one of them had their purse stolen.

Caldwell and Kehoe tried, desperately tried to get police to assist them, as did the group of college students but no police assistance was forthcoming for 45 minutes even though they tried flagging several police officers and police cars down. What was Genius Mayor Cory Booker's excuse for the lack of police response time for these victims?

Police were busy at that time breaking up a crowd of 400 to 500 teenagers fighting in front of the Sugar Rays nightclub.

Mr. Booker, you have a problem, a BIG problem. You have wild gangs numbering in the hundreds, some of whom take time out from attacking each other to violently assault and rob your out of town guests. You cannot in any way shape or form claim your city is safe, nor can you guarantee the safety of those buying tickets to see events in Newark. Your recovery plan for Newark isn't worth a hill of beans if sites like the Jersey City Desk tell people to stay out of your city because it's not safe.

Newark is NOT safe for visitors, it's simply not. This is not the first time recently people attending events in Newark have been attacked, no, this is simply the most spectacular attack. We'd expect a complete and full accounting over the lack of safety in your city for visitors before we endorse any more events there.

Late night open thread

Martin Brodeur got win number 552 tonight, on St. Patrick's Day, oddly breaking the record of Patrick Roy, in some hockey circles called St. Patrick. That's strange stuff. The Devils defeated the Blackhawks 3-2 inching closer to the East leading Boston Bruins. In other good news, the Red Wings beat the Flyers by the same 3-2 score. Why is this good news New Jersey? Come on, it's Philadelphia, and they now enjoy not having won in Detroit for 21 years. Yes, 21 YEARS.

Hats off to you Mr. Brodeur


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

What's that? You want MORE Irish song and dance to go with your drinks?

OK then, how about the Chieftains and The Corrs doing some Jigs and Reels....

Lucky sez: Manly yes, but let's let the lasses play some as well

Lucky is proud to bring you Deirdre and Eimear Reilly with an Irish Reel called 'The Mossy Banks'.

That's what this leprechaun is talking about!

Lucky sez: OK, by now maybe you've tossed back a couple stouts....

...and there's no point in drinkin if ya can't do the singin. So enjoy the Dubliners with the 'Rocky Road to Dublin'.

We loved these gals outside Conor O'Neill's last year, so here they are again

Now this is Irish....

Lucky the Lucky Charms Leprechaun has a question...

And those of you who remember the Ypsi City Desk had to know Lucky was getting dusted off but Lucky has a question...

"Ya want a rocker? Ya really want to set your feet to tapping? Here's The Dubliners with The Pogues performing "Irish Rover"

One more from The Chieftains!

It's a traditional St. Patrick's Day celebration here at the Jersey City Desk

It's tin whistles and uileean pipes today kids. Zoltron is even changing his name to Seamus for the day. We'll kick it off with an amazing and heartbreaking rendition of 'Molly Ban' performed by the matchless Chieftains with Alison Krauss.

Any of you gals unlucky enough to get your chance to participate in a modeling riot, your chance cometh again

If you missed you chance to participate in the the 'America's Next Top Model' mini riot last Saturday, great news, you'll be getting a second shot at rioting stardom. Famous person model and self indulged show host Tyra Banks said she's just sick about the fact so many gals under 5 foot 7 never got their chance to show their rioting stuff so there will be another tryout.

"It is so important to me to redefine beauty, and make sure that everyone gets a fair chance to pursue their dream." If Tyra, you mean redefining beauty you mean bruised and battered and knocked into retraining walls, dumped over barricades and a chance to scream "Gun Gun Gun", we're right there with you. Of course she never did apologize or admit culpability in any way for what happened, trying no doubt to avoid the specter of lawsuits (which are no doubt on their way), but did promise another shot for contestants to be humiliated by being eliminated from her show.

Late night open thread

Tonight we celebrate the human condition that causes all of us at times to "Fight the Power"


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Apparently, almost 100 MILLION in money appropriated to keep PATH and NY subway travel safer has gone unspent

A stunning story this morning by Bob Braun that reports of 127 million (only 7.2 million of it has been spent) approved for such things as more police, better technology, bomb sniffing dogs, and hardened walls is just rotting. Your tax money, approved to help protect you, is not being used to do such.

Now, luckily, this was discovered before somebody tried attacking a commuter train. There is still time to implement such security (we hope) and get the idiots in charge of spending this money to actually do the will of congress. You can't blame Congress this time kids, they did their part making the funds available. Nope, where jobs should be lost are in the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

FACT!

Late night open thread

Well, the NCAA Tournament brackets are out.

Who ya got?

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Still time to head out to the Jersey City St. Patrick's Day Parade

Now, with 70% less disturbing behavior than Hoboken's St. Patrick's Day Parade. The Jersey City Parade starts from Lincoln Park and Kennedy Boulevard and heads north up to the reviewing stand at Journal Square. It starts at 12:30 and will go until about 3:30 give or take.

Although Johnny's Irish he's also an atheist. He's gonna drop a history lesson on you as to why he refuses to celebrate St. Patrick. Why is St. Patrick famous? Legend says he drove the snakes out of Ireland. Snakes were a metaphor for Pagans and other non-believers. It was celebrating Christianity's victory in Ireland over people like Johnny who don't get caught up in stupidity like religion. Supposed Christians sat in bars these last few weeks enjoying a drink called 'Irish car bombs', a drink that no doubt 'celebrates' the Catholic vs. Protestant violence in Northern Ireland. They are actually throwing back alcohol in celebration of Christian savagery on their fellow Christians.

FUN!

Instead, let's enjoy some Irish culture and music shall we? And you'll be getting more Irish culture on Tuesday, March 17th.

Late night open thread

Another of Johnny's pictures from today high atop New York City. Same routine, click it for a bigger image.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Johnny took a camera into New York today

He wound up on top of the Empire State Building. Here is our fair city from the 86th floor observation deck. Click the image to go big.

Devils Martin Brodeur can tie the NHL all time record for wins tonight

Fittingly, in his home town of Montreal, Brodeur can tie the wins record held by former Montreal Canadiens and Colorado Nordilanche netminder Patrick Roy of 551. This is going to be, when he achieves it whether it's tonight or whenever, an amazing feat. Johnny already thinks Brodeur has surpassed Roy in the 'who's better' category. Though being a Wings fan Johnny is partial to Terry Sawchuk in the best ever category they would forever be 1 and 1A. Brodeur has shown class and never waivered in his excellence. A nice piece by Terry Frei on ESPN about who we rank netminders and Johnny thinks by decade is a great idea as the game has changed, so have the styles....

A career retrospective:

Games played: 985
Minutes played: 58194:41
Wins: 550
Losses: 293
OTL: 22
Shots against: 24697
Saves: 22563
Save %: .914
GAA: 2.20
Shutouts: 100

Playoffs:
Games Played:169
Wins: 95
Losses:74
Minutes played: 10,520
Goals against: 344
GAA: 1.96
Shutouts: 22

Stanley Cups: 3

Late night open thread

Well, Johnny made it past another Friday the 13th without being killed at Camp Crystal Lake. Take that, Jason...

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with LINDA RONSTADT!

Ah, Johnny's first crush. Linda had the pipes and the looks to drive the mens wild back in the mid-70's. Playboy magazine thought so too and offered her a cool million dollars to be their centerfold. Linda laughed them off the phone. Good for her.

Here's Linda with the classic 'You're No Good'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE WHO!

Ok Mods, get that GS scooter out of mothballs and gig once again to The Who, here from 1966 playing 'Substitute'. Try not to crack up watching Keith Moon, who Johnny thinks is THE best drummer ever.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with PAUL SIMON!

Paul Simon with 'Boy in the Bubble'. As Paul says this concert was about showcasing the music and musicians of South Africa.

Simply AMAZING game over at MSG last night, one they'll talk about forever

For a facility that calls itself the most famous arena in the world, the Big East conference tournament game between Syracuse and Connecticut will go down in legend. The Orange outlasted the UConn Huskies 127-117 in SIX, yes, SIX overtimes. The game ended at 1:22 am today. Words cannot do this game justice, though some will try. We'll give you a chance to catch up on it here, and here, here and here.

If you stayed up til the wee hours to watch it, what are your thoughts? Share them in comments....if you're up yet. If you were over at MSG, please tell us what it was like.

Late night open thread

Ah, the old pitchfork in the window jam trick. Yep, a local resident Gregory Trowell, actually used a pitchfork to attempt a breaking and entering last night. Witnesses reported seeing Trowell attempting to wedge open a window with said pitchfork before it became lodged in the window jam and he tried sneaking off. The Jersey City po-po arrived on scene and found Trowell skulking away and picked him up. He'll be charged with burglary, possession of burglary tools and criminal mischief. No word on where the hell he found a pitchfork in Jersey City to begin with. They don't carry them at the local bodega Johnny goes to.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

When you went to bed last night it was in the upper 50's, it's 31 right now in Jersey City

Johnny was whipped by the cold winds on his way into the Jersey City Desk offices. Be warned commuters, it's ass-weather Thursday in the big city...

A second rail tunnel into New York City begins this week

Well the bid parts anyway. Years from now when they run the first trains on it to much fanfare, you'll be able to think back on the day you first read about work starting for it. The project's first bids, an underpass to be constructed beneath Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen, will begin accepting bids Friday. Construction is expected to begin this spring and the new rail tunnel will run under the Palisades.

Dig baby dig.

Late night open thread

Remember the line in the movie 'Stripes' where Bill Murray as John Winger is getting dressed down by his soon to be ex-girlfriend Anita for staying up all night listening to Tito Puente albums and Bill replies "Tito Puente's gonna be dead, and you're gonna say, "Oh, I've been listening to him for years, and I think he's fabulous.""

Ah the gift of foresight.

Neko Case's acclaimed new album Middle Cyclone (Anti- Records) has debuted at #3 on the Billboard Top 200, the highest opening to date in 2009 by an independent release on Billboard's main album chart. Middle Cyclone also bows at #1 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart.

Case's strong showing follows recent television appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC and The Tavis Smiley Show on PBS, as well as widespread critical acclaim for Middle Cyclone.

"Indie's greatest singer." - ROLLING STONE

And Johnny got you all in on the ground floor...


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Johnny loves him some Michigan State Spartan basketball and holy wow, Earvin "Magic" Johnson will be in Jersey City today signing autographs

Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Michigan State's most legendary basketball player and highly decorated NBA Hall of Famer will be signing autographs at his new restaurant down on the waterfront, Magic Johnson Marketplace, at 95 Greene Street.

The first 200 people in line will get autographs. Earvin is scheduled to sign autographs from about 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Jersey City Desk happily welcomes Magic to our town.

Eat this Larry Bird

The City of Hoboken felt the need to hold an EMERGENCY Quality of Life meeting over their St. Patrick's Day festivities

Now, we agree it's a good thing to meet, and see where things can be done to keep people from peeing off rooftops and double check security. But to have and EMERGENCY meeting when you have a whole year before the next one sounds like political grandstanding.

It's not even St. Patrick's Day proper THIS year and you're holding an EMERGENCY (with Kevin Tighe and Randolph Mantooth) meeting on 2010? Oh that nutty Hoboken.....

A nice effort by Seton Hall last night, they dump South Florida 68-54 in Big East Tournament

The Hall will now play Syracuse tonight over at Madison Square Garden to advance in the Big East Tournament. Seton Hall is now 8-11 in the Big East and 17-14 overall.

Late night open thread

Famous last words edition:

"I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis."
--Humphrey Bogart, January 14, 1957

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

The stock market's in the toilet, unemployment is reaching catastrophic levels and here comes Rutgers football to RAISE prices $10 a seat

What alternate reality is happening in the Rutgers Athletic Department where they think now is a good time to reimburse themselves for a horrible renovation of Rutgers Stadium? What color is the sky in their world? They totally overestimate the amount of private donations, then have to borrow huge sums. This is where they plan to get back a chunk of that money it seems. So, Rutgers fans are actually punished for bad decision making by the university at a time when people aren't worrying about football tickets, they are worried about eating and housing and paying basic bills.

What a stupid time to raise prices. For a family of four it's an extra $40 bucks a GAME, imagine of you were a season ticket holder, 7 times that $40 is $280, no doubt parking will go up, concessions, oh you bet those will go up, food prices are up everywhere. It's our guess it'll cost you at least an extra 60-75$ bucks to attend a game this upcoming season than it did last year. Not a lot of people have an extra $500 bucks to throw around today. Yeah, things are THAT bad. Who do you get to see for your extra cash? Howard, Florida International and a big old TBA on October 10th. Sure you get the Big East foes but for that lame of an non-conference schedule, really, come on.

Johnny's new here and Rutgers is the big team on campus, he hopes they do well and win win win. But raising ticket prices $10 bucks a throw in a recession/depression is a bad message to send to fans of ANY team. We're guessing attendance will drop this year and will do some digging beyond what Rutgers says about attendance to confirm it.

Admit it Rutgers, you just made a mistake.

Spelling does not seem to be a strong suit in Brooklyn

For whatever reason, the NY Daily News points out that city street signs as well as subway signs seem to be misspelled with regularity. One street, a mere four blocks long has four misspelled signs. A G train line reads Brodaway instead of Broadway. Other amusing results can be found here.

Late night open thread

Tonight, a few good minutes with comic genius Steven Wright. Johnny loves him some Steven Wright


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

If people are peeing from rooftops and falling down drunk, it MUST be a St. Patrick's party in Hoboken

Hooo weeee man, they sure know how to have a good time up the street. According to a Jersey Journal story, things got a little nutty in the Big H this past weekend. People peeing off of rooftops, people performing sex acts in front of a window as the parade went by, teenagers falling down drunk in the streets and the usual spate of alcohol related mischief; police gave out 376 summonses this year: 220 for holding an open alcohol container in public, 52 for public urination, 33 for public consumption of alcohol, 32 for disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace, 26 for overly rowdy house parties, one for littering, 12 for other assorted violations, AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE, oops, wait, wrong holiday.

Hoboken Public Safety Director Bill Bergin says he wants to cancel the event. The Jersey City Desk couldn't disagree more. We need material to write about on a quiet Monday night. Readership improves when you have tags that say public drunkenness, public sex acts, and peeing from rooftops. God bless the Googlers. Bergin says he thinks even if the National Guard tried to keep the peace they'd have just as many problems. Mr. Bergen, they wear green, so invite them. The Guardsmen have been known to knock back a few cold ones.

Now Hoboken is doing everything in their power to ruin the fun by passing out willy nilly $BIG MONEY open container tickets, and really, how silly. How many other days do 20,000 people head to Hoboken for God's sake? The city handed out scads of those open container $BIG MONEY tickets. Now do you see why poor poor Mr. Bergin will never get his wish? It's a cash cow for Hoboken. Poo-pooing the party guests while grabbing penalty cash with both hands makes for faux outrage.

Come on down to old Hoboken Town, we've got St. Patty's fun for the whole family (language warning)

This is how kids lose front teefus while drinking. Now keg stands are nothing new, but normally said keg should have some brew in it.

But Jersey City could stand to be more like Rome and Istanbul

There is a movement afoot to tackle Jersey City's feral cat problem. A local resident wants to educate city residents on how to catch and neuter feral cats or the city could wind up with tens of thousands of them. Hasn't she seen Rome or Istanbul, beautiful international cities and hubs of travel and industry? Besides, think of it, rats and mice on a steep decline. Let's not be so hasty to get rid of the kittehs, lest we raise the ire of, oh, Johnny doesn't even want to say it. He fears the outcome of attacking the feral cat problem could raise the ire of something so beastly, and so evil he dare not speak it's name. Jersey City, if we do this the Giant Space Cat Head with laser beams for eyes of Ypsilanti could find it's way here and begin avenging Jersey City residents.

We simply cannot risk it. Let the kitteh's be...

Late night open thread

Johnny wants to give a little love to the Blue Ribbon Bakery where he had dinner last night. Blue Ribbon has a few joints around town but The Bakery is in the West Village and boy can they do appetizers right. You could almost turn their appetizer menu into a Tapas type dinner. Their fried chicken is to die for. Checking out the kitchen downstairs is pretty cool too. If only all restaurant kitchens were laid out so well and so serenely in association with their guests.

Johnny also bought a fake Rolex down by the World Trade Center, doing his part to help with the stimulus of New York City. Hey, if Bloomberg can run for three terms, Johnny can dicker and deal his way to a fake Rolex.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Sadly, St. Peter's basketball season came to an end yesterday

The St. Peter's Peacocks, the pride of Jersey City, lost their quarterfinal game in the MAAC tournament 67-58 to Rider. The Peacocks will end their season at 11-19 overall and 8-10 in the MAAC. They really had shown improvement over the last few weeks of the season, winning 5 of their last 7 games. This bodes very well for St. Peter's as they will return everyone but two seniors, Akeem Gooding and Ismaila Traore, next year. Big things are brewing in Yanitelli Center next season, we can feel it. Is a MAAC title within reach next year? Could be Peacock fans, could be.

You can't take white people anywhere anymore

Dateline: Kearny, where two white men robbed a gas station after brandishing a gun Saturday night and stabbed the clerk. The two caucasian criminals bolted on foot after absconding with somewhere between $500-$1000 of Uncle Sam's best green pocket liner. Even after being stabbed in the leg the 54 year old clerk still chased after whitey. Later after he called the police he was transported to University Hospital in Newark.

Oh no, Alex Rodriguez to have surgery

The bleating NY/NJ media are at it again, worried about ole A-Roid having surgery. First it was steroids they were panicked about, then should he have surgery or shouldn't he, oh my god it's just terrible it could really affect the Yankees chances and the club said he was fine and could play through it and only need surgery at the end of the year but his agent said it might be important to get it done now and then the media asked if he would need it and again the club said no but his agent said was and now oh dear he'll be out 6-9 weeks and STOP IT, enough!

Here's your A-Roid news:

Late night open thread

Set your clocks forward so you're not, uh, late for church and stuff Jersey City...

Sunset tonight over our fair city.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Just a quick note in advance of St. Patrick's Day celebrations and parades

Yes, we know Hoboken and New York City have big old St. Patrick's Day celebrations. Johnny's Irish, he knows. He also knows people have a tendency to advertise or be taken in for advertising for GREEN BEER. Nobody should ever drink green beer. The Lords of Ireland would never ever condone such blasphemy. The land that gives us Guinness, Murphy's, Beamish, and Harp does not sell green beer. Johnny long ago gave up the drink, but he knows damn well those drinking green beer claiming to be Irish for the day profane Ireland.

Johnny is also bummed he won't get a chance to photograph all the fine St. Patrick's Day festivities outside Conor O'Neills in Ann Arbor. He had fun with that last year with some of his pictures winding up on blogs as far away as Germany.

Sober? Nìl siad (Gaelic for 'They are not', also note they dropped in a handicapped spot)

Late night open thread

Boy is Johnny worked up tonight over not finding videos he'd like to use to PROMOTE music and bands that could lead to them getting PAID. So, you get a bonus video tonight and it should explain how Johnny feels about now. We'll toss in the lyrics for FREE.

Tom Petty-The Last DJ

Well, you can't turn him
Into a company man
You can't turn him into a whore
And the boys upstairs
Just don't understand anymore
The top brass don't like him
Talking so much
And he won't play
What they say to play
And he don't want to change
What don't need to change

There goes the last dj
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
There goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
There goes the last dj

Some folks say they're gonna
Hang him so high
'Cause you just can't do what he did
There's some things you just can't
Put in the minds of those kids

As we celebrate mediocrity
All the boys upstairs want to see
How much you'll pay for
What you used to get for free

There goes the last dj
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say

Hey, hey, hey
There goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
There goes the last dj

Well, he got him a station
Down in mexico
Sometimes it'll kinda come in
And i'll bust a move and
Remember how it was back then

There goes the last dj
Who plays what he wants to play
And says what he wants to say
Hey, hey, hey
There goes your freedom of choice
There goes the last human voice
There goes the last dj

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with SARAH MCLACHLAN!

It's getting harder to find these videos kids. The damned record companies I guess don't like free promotion. We're not here to sell you things or run ads in the videos like so many videos on YouTube or MTV try to do. That's crap. We play the video, you might just decide it's time to BUY the song or the record, and you know where to go to do that.

Now, On International Night here at The Jersey City Desk, Canadian Sarah McLachlan, the voice of an angel, and a very very strong songwriter who never loses her own self in her music. You can always feel Sarah right below the surface of her songs. Johnny loves strong women who have a unique voice and story as told by their lyrics. Here is Sarah McLachlan with 'Sweet Surrender' and yeah, if you don't have it, go buy it. Support the artists directly, not some crap product that needs to be prostituted in front of an artist's video.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with EDWYN COLLINS!

Now this is some sassy riffin'. We don't get a chance to feature many Scottish acts here at the Jersey City Desk but Mr. Collins is a right sharp one. After a cerebral hemorrhage in 2005, Edwyn is still on the road to recovery and we wish him nothing but he best. He's a long time singer/songwriter with such cool indie acts as Nu-Sonics and Orange Juice.

Tonight though it's Edwyn Collins solo with 'A Girl Like You'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE SMITHS!

The Pope of Mope aka Steven Morrisey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, legends of an experimental era long gone. Word around the music industry campfire is they will reunite for the Bonnaroo show in Manchester Tennessee later in 2009. Will they? Won't they? Guess you gotta buy tickets if you think they might...

Here are The Smiths with 'How Soon is Now'

Bad girls bad girls, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you

Our good friend Trixie Action Space Punk over at the Naperville City Desk ran a piece recently on females who have run afoul of Johnny Law, well Jersey City, looks like over the last couple days we're needing to cover such ourselves. Adding to Hudson County Sheriff Officer Aleisha Cruz alcohol related issues, today we find out that a Hudson County corrections employee was arrested on several drug and weapons charges after police busted down the door of a drug dealer's house and found our gal, Juvenile Detention Officer Terea Lucas in bed with Muddathir Muhammad. Now, this was no small potatoes operation we're talking about here:

Fifty bags of suspected heroin, a 9mm handgun, bulletproof vest and samurai sword and sheath were confiscated from the apartment they were in.

Sounds like Terea isn't gonna wind up in Juvenile Detentions, sounds like big girl prison for her....

Late night open thread

State trivia night

The first successful parachute jump to be made from a moving airplane was made by Captain Berry in 1912 in which state? Answer HERE

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

We're gonna go out on a limb and say maybe police officer isn't the job title she should have

Look, everyone fights their own demons. We all make mistakes, but this is becoming a habit for one local police officer.

Hudson County Sheriff Officer Aleisha Cruz was arrested for a drunk driving incident this past weekend in New York. Details are still coming in but we do know she was stopped at 42nd Street and Dyer Avenue in Manhattan, and Port Authority police arrested Cruz when she refused a breathalyzer. Cruz had been on modified duty due to another alcohol related incident in which she repeatedly rammed another man's car, then him, in 2005. Officials referred to the 2005 incident as a "drunken temper tantrum".

Maybe if she still has a burning desire to fight crime a nice safe desk job would be the place for her. We here at the Jersey City Desk do have immense respect for the badge, but that trust and faith must be reciprocated by officers keeping their noses clean, setting a good example and not putting us in harm's way.

Latest 'pack attack' victim dies

You remember the poor guy who was beaten into a coma with a brick by EIGHT teenagers, well sadly he passed away Tuesday. Carlos Orlando Quinones, who was 27, died before his mother could arrive from Puerto Rico.

Again, we as residents are going to be holding the judges in this case accountable. Go easy on these thugs and we won't go easy on you on election day.

Late night open thread

Strong opinions ahoy....

New York Governor, David Patterson is offering to have the state of New York to pay for the college education of the children of those killed in the commuter plane flight near Buffalo. Why? Does New York cover the college tuition of those killed on New York highways in car accidents? Do New York murder victims children get college covered? What's the point of this? Call Johnny crass but why should tax payers pay for these costs?

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Keep it right here at The Jersey City Desk for breaking Devils trade news on this, NHL trade deadline day

Johnny will be all over any Devils deals today, or any deals that could impact the Devils closest rivals in the chase for the Stanley Cup.

You don't want that

Johnny is convinced you can watch the teevee news and no matter the bad news story you can respond with one of two lines, either "Don't go there" or "You don't want that". This morning we bring you "You don't want that"

New York City's Penn Station is temporarily CLOSED to traffic because Amtrak is unable to close Portal Bridge in Kearny.

Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Line and Midtown Direct train service lines are affected. NJ Transit passes and tickets will be accepted to use on the Path lines at Hoboken and Newark and using NJ Transit bus service.

Good luck commuters, godspeed.....

Late night open thread

Tonight, a few good minutes with Drew Carey, a very young Drew Carey on the Tonight Show.


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Odds and ends on a Tuesday evening

*The New York Rangers have claimed the human circus pest freak show known as Sean Avery off of NHL waivers. Stay classy Sean Avery. Maybe New York Rangers fans can explain to their children what 'sloppy seconds' means.

*Rutgers has dismissed Junior wide receiver Dennis Campbell from the Scarlet Knight football program for breaking team rules. Knowing what Johnny knows about college football, to get out and out dismissed, this must have been a serious infraction.

*Speaking of Rutgers football, their victory over North Carolina State in the papajohns.com bowl was a costly one. The payout to Rutgers for going was $1.2 million. After all the costs for travel and hotels were tallied up, Rutgers lost $16,456.

*Police have arrested two losers for a three week crime spree that included murder and robbery. Raymond Perry and David Fate are both charged with the senseless murder of Daniel Pritchard, a good guy just doing his job on February 22nd in Verona. At the time of the murder a person who knew Pritchard said "The kid -- what a super kid". The two animals, Perry and Fate will both be charged with murder, assault, robbery, conspiracy and weapons offenses. Idiots.

*Jersey City police have arrested EIGHT local teens for the most recent 'pack-attack' with a brick that left a 26 year old Jersey City resident in a coma. Next time you go to the ballot box Jersey City, and you think those votes for judges are throwaway votes, think again. See how the judge(s) handling this case react and remember it on election day if the go easy on these supposed 'children'. This poor soul in the coma could well have been you. Pack attacks are on the rise all over town, think about that on election day.

We don't normally call for people losing their jobs lightly, this is one of those times

People lined up yesterday in blizzard conditions at the Social Security Administration building on Kennedy Boulevard for various reasons. Some walked, some took public transportation however all were met with a building locked tight and one that even though it should have been transacting business never did open for the day. All these poor people stood there like the old saying goes "like a jackass in a hailstorm" while government employees decided they didn't want to come to work on such a cold snowy day. Reporters got no answers, U.S. Rep. Albio Sires got no answers.

Whomever is in charge of that place should lose their government job, plain and simple. If you can't be trusted to haul your lazy rear end into work at some point, or make arrangements for someone to post a message for the people who rely on your services, you're not taking your job seriously enough and need to move on to doing something else. Again, we're bordering on a depression nationally, we don't call for people to be tossed out of their jobs lightly, THIS however is one of those times.

Late night open thread

Don't forget kids, Neko Case's new album/CD/release called Middle Cyclone drops in another 20 minutes. Hop on over to Amazon or iTunes and get your order in, a preorder nets you two bonus tracks and a live performance clip.

Here's the EPK of this release, Neko giving you the backstory on the songs and the thought process therein. Good stuff rock and rollers...


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Snow scene from today

Johnny submitted this photo to the New York Times earlier today where, on their front page, they were asking for reader submissions of today's snowstorm but apparently they hate snow in New Jersey and didn't use it...

Snow day open thread

Go out, make a snowman, throw snowballs at cars on Kennedy Ave., Go sledding, do anything but work or school today....

Late night open thread

Just about everyone around the area can expect NO SCHOOL tomorrow. You can take our word for it or check the list here. If you have some cool photos of the snowstorm or the inevitable car accidents from it, send them in, we'll make you a published photographer.

Also a reminder to be a good neighbor and shovel your sidewalks. We're not unreasonable here, we don't mean every 90 minutes while the snow is falling, but by late tomorrow afternoon, see what you can't do. Remember, if you can't shovel your sidewalks, Mayor Jerramiah Healy will happily do it as he's running for re-election and the goodwill he'll garner will sure look good in his teevee ads. Simply call him at his palatial city offices and let him know where you're at. We're sure that he'd be willing to help out in order to secure another vote or two. Tips are always a nice gesture. FYI, did you know the term 'Tips' is short for To Insure Prompt Service.

Enjoy your snow day Jersey City!

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Devils open a can of whoop ass on the Flyers, Brodeur records 100th career shutout

Devils netminder Martin Brodeur recorded his 100th career shutout and 547th career win in New Jersey's 3-0 skunking of the Flyers at The Rock this afternoon. Brodeur's win leaves him only 4 behind Patrick Roy for winningest goalie of all time in NHL history. It will be a well deserved mark when it arrives. Brodeur, unlike Roy, isn't prone to histrionics and poor sportsmanship. He plays the game the way it was meant to be played.

As for the game, the Devils got goals from Jamie Langenbrunner (20th), Brian Gionta (14th) and Johnny Oduya (5th), one in each period. The Devils defense kept Philly off balance and bottled up in the neutral zone allowing only 27 shots. The Devils had an impressive 9 takeaways helping jump start their offense and won the faceoff battle 36-26. If you want a key to the upcoming playoffs for the Devils, keep an eye on the faceoff numbers. If New Jersey can control the play from the beginning, and start with the puck it'll keep the offense fluid and also allow them to get pucks deep in the opponents zone and let their impressive forechecking game go to work. It's an often overlooked stat by fans but coaches and players will tell you, it's a vital part of winning close games.

The Devils travel to Toronto on Tuesday for the next game (and last before the trading deadline), and are out on Long Island next Saturday night.

Yep, it's gonna be a blizzard

The worst possible storm track is happening. By Monday night we'll have 10-14" of snow here in Hudson County. 40 mph wind gusts, and wind chills near zero. The snow will start slowly later this afternoon and really start in earnest this evening.

Be ye warned!

From Wunderground:
Today
Cloudy. Snow and sleet likely this morning...then a chance of snow this afternoon. Up to an inch of snow and sleet accumulation. Highs in the mid 30s. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph. Chance of precipitation 70 percent.

Tonight
Snow. Snow may be heavy at times after midnight. Snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches. Windy with lows in the mid 20s. North winds 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow near 100 percent.

Monday
Snow in the morning...then snow likely in the afternoon. Snow may be heavy at times in the morning. Total snow accumulation of 10 to 14 inches. Windy and cold with highs in the mid 20s. North winds 15 to 25 mph. Gusts up to 40 mph in the morning. Chance of snow near 100 percent.

Monday Night
Mostly cloudy. A slight chance of snow showers in the evening. Brisk and cold with lows around 14. Northwest winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. Chance of snow 20 percent.

Late night open thread

The Jersey City Desk Action Weather Team needs to inform you that Hudson County and New York City are under a Winter Weather Advisory which will most likely quickly change to a Winter Storm Warning tomorrow afternoon. We'll be cool tonight and tomorrow morning, after that, well it's every blogger for himself. Tomorrow beginning in late afternoon we'll start off with snow and some sleet before it changes over to all snow. Overnight Sunday into Monday we'll get 4-8" of the powder. Snow may be heavy at times. Monday morning will bring more accumulating snow. Again, snow may be heavy at times. Depending upon the track a storm now near Missouri takes, we could wind up with over a foot of snow by Monday evening.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark