Jersey Boys

You're my Chinatown baby

Sittin' on the front stoop

Crying out the crazy.

-"Chinatown"

Bleachers

I am fast approaching my "mid-fifties".  I have lived my entire life, which I know has a "much longer than mid-fifties" feel for those who regularly interact with me, in the State of Concrete Gardens.  I was born here. I live here.  I shall, in all likelihood, die here although on a date later than that most people I know are rooting for and/or have played in the pool.  

I am a Jersey boy. I have no desire to relocate to any other state.  I have no desire to pretend I am from elsewhere, such as New York City.  I love where I live.  Always have.  Is it expensive? Yes.  Is it overcrowded? Yes.  Is it paradise?  Not even f*ckin' close.  It is for me what it has always been.  It is home. 

We have the Shore.  Obviously, New Jersey is not the only state that has beaches.  Nevertheless, the Shore is very much a Jersey thing (and not because of that inane MTV show).  Unlike California, Florida, or Hawaii, we are not blessed with "endless summer".  We have fifteen or sixteen summer weekends annually.  That is all.  No more.  For me at least, the secret sauce in the Shore's appeal is not limited to those hot, humid beach weekends.  It is found in the "off-season" when the places that were packed from Memorial Day to Labor Day are now much less so (and a number of them are, in fact, closed) but the beach and the ocean are right where they have always been.  The Shore's beauty is not diminished by calendar page or temperature reading.  Recognizing and embracing that fact is very much a Jersey thing. 

 

While I have been an ardent fan of Bruce Springsteen's music since I was a very young child (thanks to my big brother, Bill), Bleachers is a band with whom I had zero familiarity until (I think) a couple or three years ago.  Jack Antonoff, who fronts the group and its principal creative force, is unabashedly a Jersey boy.  Just the other day, Bleachers dropped two singles from an album (I'm old so I still say album) scheduled for release in 2021.  For one of them, "Chinatown", he enlisted Mr. Springsteen's assistance.  It is, for me, 4:41 exceptionally well-spent...

...and not simply because of Mr. Antonoff's choice of t-shirt, which is inspired.  If you watch the video, you will see the shirt of which I speak and immediately know what I mean. I neither know nor care whether you shall appreciate his clothing choice as much as I do. 

It's a Jersey thing.

-AK