Late night open thread

The Devils playoff run starts Wednesday night at The Rock against Failadelphia. Wednesday night at 7:30 and then Friday night (and Johnny will be in attendance Friday signing autographs and patting kids on the head and telling tall tales of the sea). Friday's game is also at 7:30 so you get a game and you can be in the Big Appletini by 11 for a late supper. Johnny loves this town.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

A very somber moment of remembrance last night in Jersey City for the tragic plane crash that killed Poland's heads of government

Of course Johnny being the newsbug he is had spent a lot of time watching the horrible news about the death of so many Polish heads of state and government near Katyn in western Russia. Imagine the horror here if half the administration and much of the military brass were killed in a plane crash. Johnny and the missus wandered down by the riverside last night after dinner as it was a spectacular evening to be out. As they got closer to Exchange Place and the Katyn monument they could see a very large crowd and hundreds if not thousands of candles on and around the monument. Crowds there, many speaking Polish or with heavy Polish accents were so very upset as they prayed and conversed and drew strength from each other. For those who may not know of the Katyn massacre where some 20,000 Polish army officer were slaughtered by Russian secret police in 1940 for now assimilating to Russian occupation, the full story can be found here.

The great irony here is that the Polish contingent was in Russia for the 7th anniversary of the Russian government even admitting it's part in the massacre. A somber remembrance turned horribly tragic.

Late night open thread

Some good pictures of a very somber event tonight in Jersey City. We'll bring those to you right off the hop tomorrow.

Til then.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Let's talk some Devils hockey this morning

Johnny was stunned and then distraught that the Devils coach Jacques Lemaire was considering resting players for the playoffs vs. trying to top Pittsburgh for the division crown in this last weekend of the regular seaon. The Devils and the Flightless Birds are dead even. Even Steven. Exact same record. BUT The Devils gave Pittsburgh a red ass beat down every single time they played this year.

The New Jersey Six hold the tie-breaker.

Would you rather face a tough hard nosed Ottawa club in the first round? No, in Johnny's opinion Johnny would want the Bruins in the first round. They have a glass jaw. It's not as famous as the glass jaw worn by the San Jose Sharks but it's there and if the Devils could win the first two at home the B's might just go away. Sure Chara is a beast but the Devils could easily work around that.

The Canadiens in the first round wouldn't be a horrid matchup for the Devils but they do score on the powerplay at a clip that could win a game and send one or two to overtime. Always a good idea to stay away from hot powerplay teams in the tournament. Halak has used his strong Olympic performance as a springboard to much better play in the NHL.

The Flyers have just enough up front to win a game or two. Mike Richards seemingly scores 1 or 2 shorthanded goals a series. Their netminding might as well be that Capital One goat that goes skiing only on skates but their forwards can score. Then there is the Pronger factor. Take it from a lifelong die hard Red Wings fan; Chris Pronger is capable of any evil. The Wings have been playing against Pronger since seemingly the dawn of hockey time. He will and does take cheap shots and is capable of injuring ANY Devils player. Plus, looking at those orange sweaters would make your eyes bleed by game 4.

All of this speculation is out the window if the Devils shut some players down and don't win the division. Excuse me Mr. Lemaire but didn't the core of this team just get a couple weeks off for the Olympic break? Marty Brodeur certainly didn't wear himself out. Patrik Elias didn't play a ton of games either. Parise is the Energizer bunny so he needs no break.

Johnny thinks it'd be a horrible error to rest guys at this point and not spend the energy to win the division. A couple games now could mean 4-5 days off before the second round when you REALLY need to rest guys.

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE J.B.'s!

How about some early early 70's funk with The J.B.'s the original backing band to James Brown. Turn this up, smoke 'em if ya got 'em and grooooove with the J.B's on the elongated cuts from 'Doing It To Death'.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE STEVE MILLER BAND!

Growing up, Johnny's best friend 'R' was also 3 and a half years older than Johnny. R was always getting to do things ahead of Johnny. R was of course driving a good long while before Johnny could as well. He had a stunning blue 1976 Buick Regal. He waxed it three times a week and yes he drove Johnny and some neighborhood kids to school. The Regal had a state of the art speaker system for its day but was saddled with an 8-Track player. R owned 2 8-Track cassettes; Changes One by David Bowie and Fly Like and Eagle by The Steve Miller Band. Hearing this song made Johnny realize he left his science book at home and he has an open book quiz second hour.

The Steve Miller Band with 'Take the Money and Run'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE TEMPTATIONS!

Classic Motown. Detroit's own Temptations with 'Ain't to Proud to Beg'.

It's tax season again citizens, and here's a tax prep place you might just want to avoid

According to a class action suit, and backed up by New York City detectives, the H&R Block at 3736 Riverdale Avenue in the Bronx MAY have hired identity thieves to work the seasonal tax preparation jobs so prevalent this time of year. Two women claim they went to this particular H&R Block and after filling out their taxes for a refund got calls the next day saying they had already filed and their thousands in refunds had already been paid out. That's a fine how do you do, no?

According to the New York Times article on this:

"Both Ms. Hawa and Mr. Johns said they were told by police detectives investigating their cases that at least 20 customers of the branch and possibly many more had been robbed by identity thieves who were very likely H&R Block employees. Both said that the fraudulent filers used their previous year’s adjusted gross income as proof of identity."

At LEAST 20. It seems upon doing some research this particular H&R Block in the Bronx isn't the only place tax-chickanery is taking place. In Indiana "two former H&R Block employees were charged last month with stealing the identities of more than 60 customers and pocketing at least $290,000.". Similar lawsuits to the one in New York have been filed in Arizona, Michigan and Illinois.

It seems kids that H&R Block could be doing a far better job of screening their employees, temporary or not. Maybe it costs a little more to run thorough background checks on all the seasonal help. Hard cheese, it's called cost of doing business H&R Block and until you learn that, stories like these denting your public image will continue to proliferate. In other words, worry more about your customers security than your own bottom line.

Late night open thread

For years Johnny and his best friend Paco have sworn by the Mmmmm Mmmmm SO GOOD taste of Queen Bee Barbeque. Now you too web traveler can learn about the magical faux Queen Bee Babbycue:

"Mexican soup, with goat guts in it." It's soda spittin good!

In the mid 1980's, Texas Radio Personality "Harley David" Belew created a series of humorous radio commercials for the fictitious fast-food restaurant, Queen Bee Barbecue (pronounced: "babbycue"). The commercials were created around 1985 while Harley was employed at radio station KSBJ in Humble, Texas. They were recorded in the production facility of this radio station using royalty-free stock production music, over which Harley vocalized an impromptu radio jingle using some of his many character voices.

The Queen Bee Barbecue commercials have received nationwide airplay on many local and syndicated radio programs, but the legendary friend-to-friend distribution method of these elusive radio spots generally overshadows the public broadcast of this material.

THIS VIDEO CONTAINS:

1: The Original Queen Bee Barbecue Radio Commercial
2: Queen Bee Barbecue Drive Thru Window
3: Queen Bee Barbecue All Night Service
4: Queen Bee Mexican Menu
5: Queen Bee Chittlin' Pita Supreme
6: Queen Bee Breakfast


Time for Jersey City, After Dark