Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with MARTHA REEVES AND THE VANDELLAS!

Did you know that Martha Reeves is currently a Detroit City councilwoman? In fact she is. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas help show the great versatility of Motown music. Whereas the Supremes were heavily Doo-Wop influenced, Reeves was a gospel singer early on. Working with the Funk Brothers you can clearly hear the more soulful, gospel influenced sounds the group recorded. Reeves supplied the alto vocals while Vandellas Rosalind Ashford's soprano and Annette Beard's contralto rounded out the sweet sweet harmonies.

It was the Vandellas who were the original break out successes of the Motown girl groups with hits like 'Jimmy Mack', Dancing in the Streets' and 'Quicksand'. As fate would have it, Berry Gordy had his thing for The Supremes and they were then the more heavily promoted group ultimately becoming the face of Motown.

Here's Martha and the Vandellas (their original name) with 'Nowhere to Run' from 1965

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE TEMPTATIONS!

And what would a Motown tribute be without the fabulous Temptations? Not a very good and or complete one for sure...

From 1966 here are the Temptations with 'Get Ready'

Make sure to stop back tonight for a SPECIAL Friday night music series

Motown turns 50 on Monday, and in celebration of some GREAT American music, we'll have a special collection of videos tonight. Well worth coming back for...

Jersey City Desk names Utah as National Champions of college football

Anybody else tired of being forcefed this utter crapola that the BCS decides the national champion? You don't have to ya know. The BCS is about ONE thing and ONE thing only, money. That's it. Propping up the big conferences with millions in ad revenue and big payouts. It's CRAP. Utah won all their games, they went undefeated. They played some pretty darned good teams. But, you see the BCS loses cred if a team from the smallish Mountain West Conference or WAC lays claim to the national championship. By losing cred they lose money and again, that's all this is about. We actually saw yesterday some schlub commissioner from the ACC assured himself the BCS was completely legal and not an anti-trust situation. Thanks there Mannix, thanks for helping perpetuates this sham on the American public.

What the BCS does is suck the life and fun out of college football.

Here now the FINAL Jersey City Desk football rankings

1) Utah
2) USC
3) Florida
4) Oklahoma
5) Boise State

End of discussion.

NO, end of discussion

Journal Square-33rd line PATH Trains back on schedule after equipment delays

They were being delayed by some 30 minutes, inconveniencing many local citizens. Things are back up and running on time now.

We hereby accept your apology, Port Authority.

Late night open thread

3-5" of the white stuff rolling in Saturday afternoon. Depending on the path of the front, it could be more than that.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Hudson County jail corrections officer supposedly slid a handcuff key to an inmate on the sly

Anthony Hunter, a Hudson County corrections officer, well not anymore, was indicted Tuesday for actually passing a handcuff key to an inmate. Yep, you read that right. A guard gave an inmate a key. Hunter could face 10 years in the clink (how's that for irony?) if convicted on the charges of official misconduct, attempt to smuggle contraband into a jail and conspiracy.

Thanks for keeping us safe Anthony. Thanks for thinking of the rest of us out here, Anthony. If you're convicted we're thinking the inmates at your new home will have a field day with you once they find out your former career.

What happens in Battery Park, stays in Battery Park

So let's see, gays can't marry because marriage is a 'sacred sacrament' in America, right?

Well, in the race to the bottom of the marriage barrel, New York City wants to turn lower Manhattan into a type of Las Vegas cheap, quick, and schlocky wedding center where you can buy a marrigae license for $25.

"Forget the wedding band? No problem. The new bureau offers an elastic faux-diamond band for $9. No flowers? They are available as well — $4 to $7 for a single stem and $25 to $50 for a bridal bouquet. There is also hairspray ($4), disposable digital cameras ($16.25) and tissues, at $1.75 a pack, for the weepy types."

$4 hairspray? Johnny's getting all choked up.

Sacred.

If you wants you some wedding music, just plug-in the iPod to the docking station and the lucky bride can wander up the aisle to perhaps 'Beth' by KISS, or 'Silly Love Songs' by Wings.

Sacred.

Yep, NYC has even set up an oversize photograph of City Hall to be used as a backdrop for pictures. Awwwwwww. Nothing says love like a fake backdrop. "Look kids, this is where we wish we'd been hitched, isn't it purty?"

New York City will partner with something called 'The Knot' or theknot.com and just listen to the romantic underpinings of The Knot's Carley Roney:

“Weddings are a $72 billion business in this country”. Awwwww, love, you can't beat it.

Sacred.

You stay classy NYC, and we hope soon drunken hoards of cheap and easy marriage seekers are wandering lower Manhattan and taking the Staten Island Ferry for their dream wedding cruise.

Sacred.

Late night open thread

Tonight we'd like to do our part to help pet adoptions across America. Here is an example of a loving kitty named Pinky who is ready for adoption and looking for a good home (if they can find him).


TIme for Jersey City, After Dark

New Yorkers apparently call to complain about a better smelling city

Over 30 callers to NYC's 311 info line called to complain about a sweet smell that was drifting from the Upper West Side, across Central Park and into the Upper East Side. One person called from Queens. New Yorkers described the smell as a mixture of hazelnut and pancake syrup.

This very smell was reported in 2005 and NYC officials 'blamed' it on a possible smell wafting in from a New Jersey food processing plant.

Making New York City smell like syrup and hazelnut? Instead of complaining they should be thanking the Garden State.