JJ BANKS’ Blog

     One of the rarest comics in my collection is “Iron Man #5″ so needless to say I’ve been a fan of Iron Man pretty much my whole life. And after the taste that “Spider-Man 3″ and “X-Men 3″ had left in my mouth I was a little nervous about how Tony Stark was going to come off on the silver screen. Thankfully, while I don’t think the movie is as amazing as all the fanboys will tell you, I did find “Iron Man” to be really well made and very entertaining.

     “Iron Man” is a very uber-dorky, nerdy, and techy movie but that’s actually what I was expecting and hoping for. Because as much as Tony Stark tries to come off as this “too cool for the room” playboy he really is nothing more than that geek who knows how to turn your toaster into a death ray. However, the whole big badass weapon maker who learns how to love came off kind of sappy. Plus, is it the goal of Marvel movie producers to pick the most annoying actress possible to be the female lead in their movies? Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts would have been better if her character was a mute, ex. “What is that some kind of thing to pick door locks?” The device blows up the lock. “Oh wow!”

     Overall, “Iron Man” is a step in the right direction in a post “Spider-Man 3″ and “X-Men 3″ cinema world. It’s sound and VFX are top notch. Robert Downey Jr. nails his role as Tony Stark and director John Favreau did an excellent job of updating Iron Man’s story to the modern era, a task that’s a lot trickery than most movie goers think. And the future looks bright for this franchise as hints of War Machine and The Avengers have already been put in place.

     “Yeah, peace. Without war you’d be out of a job.” - Tony Stark

***DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED SEASON 5 OF “THE WIRE” (SPOILERS AHEAD)***

     Now most viewers will tell you that HBO’s “The Wire” is a pretty cool show about the war on drugs, when if fact that is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what I now consider the greatest TV show ever produced. The truth is that eventhough some of the characters sell illegal drugs, that is only an aspect of the urban landscape that the series wants to present to the viewer. “The Wire” uses its 5 seasons to explore how the failure, amorality, and corruption within institutions eventually destory the essentially decent individuals involved with them, whether its the neighborhood, local government, work place, schools, family and friends..etc.

     “The Wire” shows how minor and insignificant the individual’s role in soceity is and how if someone has the balls to try and step outside of the chain of command, or rock the boat, or try to affect any kind of change it most often leaves them vulnerable and sometimes dead. So how do the characters of the show deal with this? Well look at the symbolism of the drunken sessions between McNulty and Bunk at the railroad yard. Here are two guys who can’t get their lives on track, who can’t find any direction in life without the daily routine of a job that they both excell at but at the same time is leaving them ruined and empty. You might even say that they’re just pawns in a game of chess, which leads us to season 1.

Season 1: The Drug Trade

     A favorite scene of mine from season 1 is when D’Angelo explains the rules of chess to Wallace and Bodie. D’Angelo even goes on to say that more or less that if you know how the game works you can take advantage of it and even conquer it. But what’s ironic about this scene is that the 3 players involved haven’t realized yet that the game they are a part of in real life is rigged. For no matter what strategy D’Aneglo, Wallace or Bodie use on the corner there is no Queen or piece strong enough to save them.

     People wonder why “The Wire” was snubbed at The Emmys, but its a no brainer because most people in America find this kind of fatalism very discomfiting. Our society is filled with self-centered and self-worshipping individuals who feel their income and items of leisure define who they are, and most of they are afraid to admit that their lives are usually over before they truly begin.

     “The Wire” should scare the shit out of every viewer. Here is a show where the institutions of mankind repeatedly destory the individual and where morality and justice just don’t seem to matter.

Season 2: The Docks

     To me season 2 is really where “The Wire” separates itself from all other so-called “cop shows”. It would have made perfect television sense for season 2 to pick up right where it left off with Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell and the drug trade of Baltimore. But instead the series immersed us into a new, confusing and dangerous world that viewers had never seen before. It makes sense though, because with any decent sized city it would be naive to think that all the crime and problems only happen in one area. Season 2 is about the death of the working class and it pretty much spells out that economics and hard times don’t care about the race of those involved. 

     Chris Bauer turns in the series most powerful performance as Frank Sobotka, the treasurer for the International Brotherhood of Stevedores at the Baltimore docks. This character defines the term “Greek Tragedy” and the scene with him and his son Ziggy in jail right before Ziggy is about to begin a murder sentence is without a doubt the most powerful scene I’ve ever seen on television or maybe any other form of media.

Season 3: Politics and Reform

     Season 3 is mostly remember for Howard “Bunny” Colvin’s apeshit attempt to legalize or should we say ignore the drug problem in certain areas of Baltimore, but to me the most important moment of season 3 is the introduction of Marlo Stanfield. Because with Marlo now in the mix the friendship and partnership between Avon and Stringer is really put to the test. And what’s great about Marlo is how Jamie Hector portrays him. It would have been easy for Hector to make Marlo this over-the-top ruthless sociopath, just think Pacino in “Scarface”, but its Hector’s icy stare and his stoic unquestionable power that is present in every scene that he’s in that really solidifies the role of Marlo as a legitimate young kingpin.  

     The problem with Stringer Bell is that he tried to change the game. Stringer saw the drug trade as a means to an end, while Avon saw it as the only means necessary. So while the end of Stringer Bell’s storyline was definitely a shocker, it only proved how “The Wire” doesn’t put anything or anyone above its narrative and that in this world that is constantly calling for change, the few individuals that actually attempt such things are always out-gunned and out-manned.

Season 4: Family and Education

     The film “City of God” might be the best dipiction of what its like for kids to grow up in less than ideal environments. Season 4 of “The Wire” is very close behind. You might wonder where people like Omar Little, Bubbles or Marlo Stanfield come from and the answer is just take a look at the family and friends they grew up with. Throw in a school system that has its head up its ass when it comes to dealing with kids from broken homes and you end up with generation after generation of criminals ready to hit the streets every 4 years.

     Mayor to be Tommy Carcetti wants better schools in Baltimore but in place is a system that the students manipulate to their own needs as they learn how to con and survive in their ultra-violent surroundings. But all hope isn’t lost as we see how Bunny Colvin takes it upon himself to save the life of one of the show’s troubled youths in Namond Brice. It fact the very last shot of season 4 sums up the series as a whole.

Season 5: The Media and Closure

     The problem with lying is that the more you do it the better you get at it. And the better you get at it the bigger the lies you’ll tell. So the question for season 5 was: How far can you go with a lie? I actually found season 5 kind of ridiculous and would have been satisfied had the series ended with season 4, but it was nice to see closure on the characers. What we see with McNulty is that he’s not a hero, but a guy you thought could have done better with the talent he had. We learn that he’s ultimately better off without a job that was killing him. Marlo obtains the lifestyle that Stringer Bell wanted and takes it for granted. Hell for Marlo Stanfield is a business meeting with a bunch of developers, for Stringer that was all he ever wanted. In the end “The Wire” reinforces that life is very cyclical; McNulty leaves Sydnor replaces him, Dukie replaces Bubbles, Michael becomes Omar. Life is really unfair. What kind of a world is it where Senator Clay Davis gets away with everything? Sheeeeeeeeittttt!!!   

     In the end what “The Wire” points out and what the rest of dramatic television relentlessly gets wrong is that life is truly tragic. Family and friends die. Your personal goals will never be reached. Basically, life is a shit sandwich. And eventhough its futile to rebel, its really the only alternative you have if you want to salvage anything that remotely resembles human dignity. 

Fuck you William Penn!! Fuck you Mets fans!!! Fuck you all you haters that love to trash Philadelphia sports fans!!!

The 2008 Philadelphia Phillies are World Series Champions!!!!!!!!!!!

 The Commerce Casino. The Bicycle Club. If you play poker seriously then you’ve heard of these venues. I myself had never been to either one of these establishments before, but after spending a week in the Los Angeles area I have to say that these poker rooms do not live up to the hype and praise you’ve heard about them.

The Commerce Casino - Commerce, CA

     The Commerce Casino is perhaps the most famous card room in LA. It might even be the biggest card room in the whole world (Foxwoods?). But let me tell you as a player that prefers the likes of The Borgata and The Bellagio, The Commerce Casino is a dump! You’ll find dirty people loitering around the casino and sometimes even dirtier people sitting at your table. And everyone is eating all the time! My #1 poker pet peeve is eating at the table and it seems that in CA when most people decide to go out to eat they somehow found their way to a poker table. I swear of the nine people at the table at least 5 of them were eating or ordering something during the whole session.
     Next, let’s talk about how fucked up LA’s buy-in structure is for No-Limit Hold’em. Listen to this, the max buy-in for a 3-5 NL Hold’em game is $200! WTF? I thought the logic for NL Hold’em was to have a max buy-in of at least 100x the big blind. At a buy-in of only $200 and where the average pre-flop raise is around $20 - $30 it doesn’t take long for you to get your stack committed in situations you wouldn’t normally desire. Basically the game can turn into a coin-flip shove fest. So my biggest problem with LA poker is that there doesn’t seem to be much “play”.
     During my time at the Commerce I was surrounded by loose bad players that unfortunately I wasn’t able to exploit. But it was fun to watch this guy sitting next to me with about $800 in chips get felted after he got drunk and started playing every hand and trying to bluff everyone every hand. In a string of five hands this guy went from $800 to nothing. It was one of the worst displays of poker I had ever seen. But the one good thing I can say about the Commerce Casino is that the parking lot isn’t as bad/dangerous as everyone says it is and the parking is free as well.

The Bicycle Casino - Bell Gardens, CA

     The Bicycle Casino or commonly refer to as “The Bike” is cleaner and nicer than the Commerce Casino but the quality of players is still pretty bad, also everyone loves to eat at the table, as a matter of fact if you play 3-5 No-Limit Hold’em or higher you can get all the free food you want from the casino. That’s a first. But what would seem like a nice perk for the players actually was kind of annoying to me as I watched players display their gluttony as it seemed like everyone was ordering 5 course meals plus desert. The poker table turns into this centerpiece surrounded by side tables filled with food. And as if live poker wasn’t slow enough, all the eating going on only slows the game down even more.
     So there I was playing 3-5 NL Hold’em with their bullshit $200 max buy-in which led to me playing pretty tight and waiting to take advantage of the loose and wild players around me splashing every pot. Because of this structure I believe you just have to be patient and wait for a situation where you can get involved with the best of it, and boy did I find such a situation. Long story short I held Qs Js with a board of 9s 10s 8c which resulted in me stacking my opponent. So yeah you can say I had fun at The Bicycle Casino.

Hustler Casino - Gardena, CA

     I’ve heard a lot of stories about The Hustler Casino. How Larry Flynnt flies in the world’s best poker players to take on, so I was excited to check out this place out. And with the name Hustler involved I was expecting to see hot sluts walking around everywhere. Well, that’s not exactly what you’re going to see. I really didn’t see any hot chicks anywhere inside, even the waitresses were kind of beat and rundown. But the card room was comfortable and well laid out, and from what I was told the table where Larry and players like Phil Ivey and John Hennigan play ultra high stakes games is right there amongst all the normal tables. Well I didn’t see Larry or Phil playing anywhere but my 3-5 No Limit Hold’em game was actually the most solid game I had experience since playing in LA. Most players knew how to control their bets in accordance to their stacks and there really weren’t any shove fests to speak of. This might be a result of the high number of house players I spotted in the card room. Actually the number of house players I saw in LA poker rooms was abnormally high in comparison to other card rooms I’ve been in around the country. But hey I don’t mind house players, they keep the game going and most of them don’t get out of line too often with their betting. 

Hollywood Park Casino - Inglewood, CA

     My final session of LA poker came while I was waiting for my red-eye flight back to Philly. The Hollywood Park Casino is only a stone’s throw away from LAX and is a pretty cool place to play. I loved the fact that there are arcade games everywhere surrounding the poker room. And we’re talking cool arcade games like Donkey Kong, Operation Wolf and an Elvis pinball machine as just a few examples. But like everywhere else in LA there was the $200 max buy-in for the 3-5 No Limit Hold’em game which I again will tell you how much I detest. And once again I was at a table where players were just making huge over-sized bets pre-flop and just shoving on the flop. Is this poker? Maybe its just a result of all the action junkies in the room who are also betting the horses while sitting at the table. 
     Now don’t think I’m being a whining little bitch, because I know how to adapt to this structure and this kind of play, but the thing is, is that on this day some bad luck and some cold cards resulted in a pretty decent dent in my bankroll. I’m not going to tell you how much I lost but just let me point out these few hands: my set of 4’s stacked by a set of Kings, a guy all-in rivering a flush to beat my straight, I was short-stacked with pocket 8’s and of course my opponent with AK nailed his Ace on the flop…OK, maybe I am starting to sound like a bitch because no one likes to hear bad beat stories, but it just seemed like that during my time playing poker in LA I didn’t exactly feel like I was “playing poker”. I almost felt that due to the structure that comes with a low buy-in for a No-Limit Hold’em game that most of my actions were pretty much determined by the math involved and not by any kind of high level thinking. Man, I can’t wait to get back to The Borgata. 

     As golden as the arches of this fine establishment, the same can be said for the money making opportunity that awaits you. I’m of course talking about the annual artery clogging game called “McDonald’s Monopoly”. But before you abandon your healthy lifestyle of tofu and hummus for Big Macs and Large Fries I thought it would be nice to provide you with the list of “Rare Pieces” for the game:

     Now if you don’t know how the game works….well…you’re a moron. Don’t worry the Mickie D’s employee with Down Syndrome by the shake machine can explain it for you. Don’t get me wrong. I know this game is a sucker’s bet in its truest form. Hell, the game was halted back in 2001 after a company called Simon Marketing, which organized and promoted the game, had been removing all the “rare pieces” from play and distributing them to friends and family. The scam went on for several years and netted the conspirators over $24 million in prizes. The scheme was eventually uncovered when one of the participants informed the FBI. There’s always one, isn’t there?

     But its good to have you back “McDonald’s Monopoly”. I already have “New York Avenue” and “St. James Place”. Anyone out there have “Tennessee Avenue”? We’re talking $5000 the easy way here.  

THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Rated: PG - 13
Runtime: 152 min

     Not that there aren’t enough people talking about this film already but for what its worth here are my two cents about the biggest movie to hit the screens in a decade. First of all, I’m a big fan of the Tim Burton era of Batman. In fact I’m such a fan of Burton’s work that I didn’t even bother to see “Batman Begins” when the series restarted itself a few years ago and I really had no desire to even see “The Dark Knight” until I heard everyone going apeshit over it. So I then figured, well I have to check this out, but in order to do so I thought it would only be fair to start with where Batman go his new jump start.

“Batman Begins” (2005)

     “Batman Begins” was a great film and I thought it really shined in separating itself from the previous Batman films. Nolan presented a fresh new viewpoint of a story that had already been told. However, I found the film dragging in some places, especially in the beginning. I thought they could have gotten to Batman making his Batcave and going to fight the bad guys a little faster. Also, the casting was kind of weird. You got an English actor trying to come off as an Italian Mafia Boss? And for some reason Liam Neilson has never been intimidating to me. Don’t even ask me about Katie Holmes’ character. I did like how the ending set-up the next film, but to steal a line from The Joker I’d like to ask Christopher Nolan “Why so serious?”

“Why so serious?”

     Ok Batman fanboys get ready to flame!!!

     To me there’s enough cynicism in the world already that I don’t need it in my superhero movies. I like triumphant endings where we know good has conquered evil. Once again “Why so serious???!!!” You guys do realize that when all is done and said this movie is still about a guy who dresses up as a fucking bat and fights crime. So “Why so serious?” I understand how this extreme grittiness and edge would appeal to certain guys at certain ages, but I want my superheroes to just be superheroes and not case studies in manic depressive indentity disorders.
 
      Next, let’s take a look at the cast of “TDK”. How many people did Maggie Gyllenhaal’s agent have to blow to get her this role? I mean c’mon I’ve seen hotter girls working at the DMV. Also, as great as Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker is, to me that role isn’t that hard. Put some crazy makeup on and act like a complete psychopath is actually kind of one dimensional role, but hey it’s a shame he croaked before the film came out, so let’s all praise him. And just exactly how was The Joker able to get all these thugs that gave me “Manhunt” flashbacks and set-up all these elaborate schemes at a moment’s notice? It’s funny how fanboys claim how realistic this film is when actually its very far from it.

     What “The Dark Knight” did accomplish better than any other comic book film ever was that its plot actually had a legitimate reason for having more than one villain in it. This was pulled off way better than any other film ever (yes I’m pointing at you “Spider-Man 3″). Overall, Nolan made another very original and exciting story about Batman but for all these fans standing in line to see the film for the 7th time with a raging hard-on, I think you need to relax. 

     Yesterday I headed down to the Tropicana in Atlantic City to check out “Batman: The Dark Knight” on an IMAX screen. Unfortunately the 4pm, the 7pm and the 10pm shows were all sold out!!! This movie is totally ape! So I headed over to the poker room and played some 1/2 No Limit for 8 hours and banked $179. The Trop has a bad beat jackpot now I guess to try and attract more players. Bad beat jackpots are cool but I’m not really thrilled about the $5 rake they use to build it, because I mean what are the odds you’re actually going to be involved in it? It’s a sucker bet if you ask me, that’s why real card rooms like The Borgata don’t need these kind of antics to attract players. But anyways, I left the Trop around 1am and since I didn’t know how many more times I’ll be out late like this this summer I decided to head to my favorite after hours hangout.

     I got to Jilly’s Arcade in Ocean City, NJ around 1:30am and was ready to take down the “Spider-Man” pinball machine but to my surprise there was some hot chick playing it while her boyfriend was playing air hockey with his friends. C’mon what are the odds? The whole reason I come to the arcade late at night is because I know that most of the machines will be open, and they were, all excpet for “Spider-Man”. So instead I cashed in for a pocket full of quarters and headed over to the “Medieval Madness” machine.

     “Medieval Madness” by Williams is an awesome pinball machine. It’s humorous, has a great layout and very fun and exciting to play. There are multiple ways to rack up a high score from destorying the castle, killing the Dragon, launching catapults, winning jousts…it goes on and on. I had played this game a few times before tonight so I already knew the real key to getting a high score was destroying the castle, which I did a few times and before I knew it I had a ”REPLAY” by getting a score of over 25,000,000. I went to see if the hot chick was still playing “Spider-Man”, she wasn’t, but instead there was some young kid with a huge afro playing it now. WTF? So I looked for another game to play.

     “The Sopranos” pinball machine is a pretty tough machine. The ramps and power-ups are pretty hard to hit and the main level up element is a safe right in the middle of the board that is kind of dangerous and causes a lot of your balls to fall down the middle. But the game is definitely entertaining and does incorporate a lot of the characteristics of the TV show. With a few tries and the help of an extra ball I was able to get a “REPLAY” by getting a score of over 15,000,000 which is actually kind of low for a replay score, but then again this game is really challenging.  I then played a game of the “RollerCoaster Tycoon” pinball machine but the top right flipper on the machine didn’t work so after 3 balls I was done with this game. Jilly’s is pretty good with maintaining their machines, but I’d avoid the “RollerCoaster Tycoon” and “The Adams Family” pinball machines because they have flipper problems. I then noticed that of the 10 pinball machines on this side of the arcade that I had obtained a “REPLAY” on all of them before except for the machine at the very end. So I forgot about playing “Spider-Man” and headed over to the “Harley-Davidson” pinball machine.

     If you want to play a fun and easy pinball machine than “Harley-Davidson” pinball is the game for you. The “REPLAY” score on this machine was 70,000,000 which seems a lot until you start playing and notice that you can score 30,000,000 bascially without doing anything special. Whereas the game isn’t very challenging it does excel at being a lot of fun. The machine shakes and sounds like a real motorcycle. Obtaining multiballs is easy and hitting the jackpots is even easier. So needless to say I got a score of over 100,000,000 with no problem and had my third “REPLAY” of the night. It was around 3am and the “Spider-Man” pinball machine was open but I thought “maybe next time webhead” and headed home.

     Let me tell you about the story of New Jersey’s “Blue Hole”. Located deep in the Pine Barrens of Winslow, NJ “The Blue Hole” is a small but legendary body of water that is said to be bottomless and also a favorite hang out of The Jersey Devil. Although the surface is calm and blue unlike the neighboring flowing rivers that sport a brown undertone, those foolish enough to venture into “The Blue Hole’s” waters have told stories of powerful currents that try to suck you under and freezing water tempatures regardless of the time of season. Some believe the hole was made by a meteorite striking the Earth. Others believe its a portal for the supernatural. Whatever the true secret of The Blue Hole is, I was determined to take a look at it and decide for myself.

The road to “The Blue Hole”

     My journey to The Blue Hole began by turning down a dirt road that lead me into the heart of New Jersey’s infamous Pine Barrens. The road is actually pretty close to the Atlantic Ciy Expressway, which I’ve been on a million times so I didn’t feel that uncomfortable. However, my comfort level soon changed as the foilage of the trees grew thicker and thicker and the image of the main road in my rearview mirror grew smaller and smaller.
 

The New Jersey Pine Barrens

     You see most people that go on these weird travels usually don’t go alone. But yet here I was all by myself driving further and further into the Pine Barrens looking for some obscure hole in the ground. Maybe if I was used to hiking and camping this wouldn’t seem so unusual but I don’t know how to explain it, The New Jersey Pine Barrens has a spirit of its own. Its almost like no matter where you are you feel like someone or something is watching you. Even in the middle of a beautiful summer afternoon I was getting sudden feelings of dread as my Jeep slowly crept down the dirt road.
 

The Parking Lot for The Blue Hole

     Eventually the dirt road led to a circle with a group of trees in the middle of it. This is pretty much as far as you can go by vehicle, so I parked and set out on foot for the rest of the trip.

The dirt road quickly turns to heavy sand. 

     If you don’t have an SUV you probably want to stop before reaching the Tree Circle landmark because the dirt road suddenly turns into sand. Heavy sand that the tires of my Jeep sank into and I could only imagine a normal car gettting stuck in. 

The Broken Bridge to The Blue Hole

     After parking I noticed I was right by a river and what appeared to be a broken bridge. This bridge once made the “The Blue Hole” easily accessible, but about 40 years ago a violent storm wiped it out. At least that’s what they say. Maybe the destroyed bridge is a way of someone saying you don’t want to go down this path any further.

The Water Walkway to The Blue Hole

     Fortunately to the left of the broken bridge is a shallow area of the river that is passable on foot. You can see in the picture above that the rocks on the floor of the river almost make a clear walkway right to the path on the other side. On the day I went the highest the water got was to my knees, but don’t get me wrong, I was just waiting for something to jump out of the water at me. However, I ventured on, knowing that my goal was only a few hundred feet away down the path on the other side of the river.

The Blue Hole

     I had made it to “The Blue Hole”. At first I wasn’t that impressed, but after looking at it for a minute or so the thing I noticed the most was how deathly silent it was around it. No cheerping birds, no wind blowing the branches, it was really strange. Also, its crazy how almost perfectly round the hole is, and how it just seems to appear out of nowhere for no reason. One second your walking on a dirt path and the next there’s just this random round body of water to the left of you. 

What lies beneath these strange waters?

     My pictures don’t do “The Blue Hole” justice but there really is a blue tint to the water. I think its because that same heavy sand I experienced earlier is probably what lies beneath the water causing the sun to reflect off of it and make the water look blue, a la the kind of water you see in The Bahamas. Now did I test out the waters? No fucking way! I’m not going to sit here and lie to you, there was no way I was going in that water. Being in the woods alone is one thing, swimming alone in the woods is just fucking crazy. Again, for you nature freaks out there you’re probably laughing at me and calling me a noob, but I don’t care. I had made my way and found the legendary Blue Hole all by myself, that has to count for something.     

BONUS MATERIAL: Check out this short film about “The Blue Hole”
 

     “Medium Rare” is The Mighty Mighty Bosstones most recent release. It’s a mixture of old B-Sides and some new songs, two of which I got to hear on Sunday July 13th at the Starland Summer Campout in Sayreville, NJ. It wasn’t exactly a real “camp out” but then again I didn’t see any stars so its all good. What it was…was the first time I had seen The Mighty Mighty Bosstones in about 6 years after the band went on a hiatus. Now before I get to the Bosstones let me tell you about the venue.

     This so called “Summer Campout” was one of the most unusual concert events I’ve been to. Now it sucked to pay $35 to see just The Bosstones because all the other bands on the list I had no interest in, but in comparision to how some people pay like $100 to see most shitty bands, I actually got a deal. What was crazy about this and maybe it was because it was staged outdoors in the Starland Ballroom’s parking lot, but you had to park in a vacant lot at the Garden State Technology Building about 2 miles away and then take a shuttle bus just to get there. It was pretty weird, but then again this is New Jersey, so I’ve grown to live with the weird.

     The Mighty Mighty Bosstones took the stage at 6:30pm and the whole band was dressed in plaid. They were bad in plaid once again and it was amazing to see them! They played a great mixture of old school songs and more recent ones but my highlights of the show were when they played a cover of The Clash’s “Rudy Can’t Fail” and for the first time ever I heard them play “Toxic Toast” (they used a pretty cool guitar rift to fill in for the piano part of the song). The crowd was pretty young and older fans like I who had listen to The Bosstones in high school were definitely in the minority, but they can still rock, even if they are moving a little bit slower which was evident in Ben Carr’s dance antics which have slowed down a little bit over the years. Another thing to mention is that there should be some kind of unwritten law about “crowd surfing” in that if you weigh more than 150 lbs you shouldn’t be allow to do it. Numerous times during the show I saw kids getting crushed by these dudes who must have been over 200 lbs crowd surfing. But I also saw these crowd surfing douches eat dirt when then were passed along the crowd to an open space; with no one there to hold them up they usually went head first crashing to the concrete and that was good for a laugh.

     The Bosstones played for an hour and I took the shuttle bus back to the parking lot because I really had no interest in hanging around for The Dropkick Murphys. It was cool because the show ended at 7:30pm and I was home by 9:00pm, unlike most shows you go to when the earliest you get home is usually around 1:00am. Overall, all I have to say is that The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are back!!! And I can only hope that this wasn’t just a one time thing. Because I’d love to see them again where they are the headlining band and playing to a non-festival crowd and all Bosstones fans at a place like The Troc or The Electric Factory in Philly. Someday I Suppose.