but we were living. So here is one gigantic update.
May
The North Jersey Taste of the Nation was held again at the Madison Hotel. This time, I was co-chair of the silent auction. Definitely a mean learning curve but now I know what needs to be done this year. Next year, I might bring some of my store's goods to sell; this year they added a vendor's room which seemed to do well (a portion of the sales went to Share Our Strength which then goes to the CFBNJ). Props goes to South Orange's "Heart and Soul" restaurant for the best finger-licking ribs evah!!! Some of the restaurants who were actually open that day (Monday) had trouble getting there in time because a lot of their staff called out to attend the illegal immigration rallies.
Lucky and I went to the Loews Jersey to see Terry Gilliam's masterpiece "Brazil" on the big, big screen. It was the director's cut and was fabulous. Everytime we watch it, there's something new we catch. It definitely has held up and in this governmental era is even more poignant.
Our newly adopted niece had her "Welcome to the Family" party. It was nice seeing people we hadn't seen since our wedding.
I went to the National Stationery Show and placed some orders. Looked for a friend's agent at the Surtex Show which was also at Javits but couldn't find her.
Lucky and I then went to the Little River band show at the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville. The tickets were free from their e-newsletter. Well, kinda free... you had to pay some handling fee and of course parking. Add beer each, and it ended up being around $20 for the two of us. They opened up with "Reminiscing" which was the song that popped into my head when I realized that Lucky was "the one." So honestly, I could have left anytime afterwards. But Lucky wanted to hear some other songs. they weren't bad; and we managed to bump into my friend's husband who we hadn't seen since our wedding (seriously, we have gone outside of our apartment and socialized in the past year. Really). He also decided to take advantage of the free tickets.
Memorial Sunday, Lucky and I joined the Rockin' Cs at Pat DiNizio's Scotch Plains party. We chowed down on spaghetti and draft beer (the pasta was catered instead of home-made but I'm not complaining) which his mom helped serve. Just in case you are wondering if Mr. Lead Singer of the Smithereens gave up smoking to get in shape for his potential baseball career.... the answer is no. The day was filled with music. It started with a set by Howard Stern's official lookalike Stewart Brodian who sang his Monica Lewinsky song and then people took turn jamming with Pat and Smithereens cofounder and lead guitarist, Jim Babjak. Miz C was the only chick with the balls to get up there... she sang a Beatles song, one of the many sung that day. It was soooo much fun and combined with finally getting my concert t-shirt from 1992 signed (they "opened" for the Violent Femmes) and an autographed copy of Pat's new album "This is Pat DiNizio," it was definitely worth the $50 price of admission.
June
June started well... Lucky and I collected CFBNJ donations at Pearl Jam's Meadowlands concert. Just in case you didn't know, Pearl Jam donates $1 of each ticket to two non-profit organizations. Considering that the arena holds 20,000 people; well you can do the math (the other organization that got $20k was ONE). We weren't going to be able to see the concert but two separate people gave us tickets to use. I was fifth row behind the stage and Lucky was third row in the front.
One would think that since smoking is no longer allowed in public places, that the number of people lighting up herbal refreshment would decrease but not so. It felt like I was PigPen with a cloud of potsmoke around me. The concert was fantastic anyways. Eddie Vedder did not ignore the crowd in the back, going back and waving every once and a while (after taking a swig from his wine bottle). Unfortunately, the photos I took with my disposable camera didn't come out that clearly.
June 6th was National Hunger Awareness Day. The FoodBank celebrated with a beautiful ceremony. Lots of local children's musical groups had Gov. Corzine's foot a-tapping. The fact that he stayed as long as he did was pretty amazing considering there was no real media there and elections were going on that day. He's been a supporter of CFBNJ for many years.
My mom and I went to the Market Square trade show in Ft. Washington to place some orders and pick up some new stuff at the Cash and Carry. It was kinda sad since it was the last event the expo center would host before it was torn down to make room for an office building. Most of the events held there are moving to the new Reading center.
The Star Ledger had a breakfast meeting for local merchants and community leaders to explain their new Middlesex County section which is also going to be delivered separately to all nonsubscribers. Smart idea, getting more local news which Yahoo and Google don't supply. And local merchants would be more likely to advertise in that section. Apparently, it's already working in Morris County. Got to chat with Peter Genovese of "Jersey Diners" and "Munchmobile" fame. And got to see the actual mobile in the parking lot (The fiberglass hotdog on top of the 12 passenger van is pure perfection!)
Last Saturday, our friends the Aussies finally got married after being together for eleven years.
The next day, Lucky and I ran around Flemington in the rain trying to look for a landmark on NJ Monthly's Race Across NJ, didn't find what we were looking for in Princeton, but did manage to get a shot of the Twin Lights before we headed to the Arts Center to collect money for the FoodBank at Springsteen's "Seeger Sessions" show. We had wonderful seats given to the volunteers... row S but considering all I could bring in was a cel phone, the photos don't really show how great the seats were.
To call it a Springsteen concert isn't exactly right. It was more like what Great Big Sea calls a "kitchen party"... a bunch of people including the audience getting together and singing their hearts out. Bruce and Patty sang "If I Should Fall Behind" which is our wedding song (and oddly enough, also that of the couple behind us!). "Pay Me My Money Down" was a big hit and was used to signal the end of the real set. It involved Springsteen leading most of the band (20 people in all were on stage including Chatham's Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg) piedpiper-style off the stage, leaving behind one musician to do a ...TUBA solo!!!! When he finally is coaxed to leave, Bruce came back to conduct the audience. As is tradition, he dedicated "My City of Ruin" to the FoodBank. A super super concert. In fact, might be my favorite of all the concerts I've seen of his (having seen The Rising, Vote for Change, Devils & Dust, Seeger Sessions).
So that sums up the last two months. I will be posting more of the NJ Monthly contest once the photos are all in. We are having a blast with doing this. And it's a good thing that Lucky and I visited Bull's Run on Sunday because chances are it's under water now.
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