Jersey City: A Call to Action

Jersey City voters.  Let’s chat for a second.

Prodigal son, Zac Clark here, You may know me as the Rocker Tycoon or maybe you know me as the guy that runs those rock shows you like to go to on the weekends, hell maybe you don’t know me and someone was smart enough to pass this on.  Either way, lemme start by saying Jersey City is a wonderful place to live and work.  There are so many great things about the place that going into detail right now would be down right time consumming.  I’m sure many if not all of you agree.

Let’s talk about a really dark cloud that hung over our fair city about 2 years ago.  If you’re new to town you may not be privy to what happened.  A synopsis ? Sure!  Basically a bunch of politicians (People that are supposed to be looking out for us) took some brides so that big developers could come into town and do things like ruin our view of New York, raise the cost of living and generally just cut corners so they could build the city in their image.  NOT COOL, right?

Let’s talk about the Chain of Lies that followed.  DENIAL AIN’T JUST A RIVER IN EGYPT PEOPLE!  I was there at the Council Caucus, when Steven Fulop called for Mariano Vega to Step down and do the right thing and serve his time.  Vega ignored the call to action.  I did a piece in the The Jersey City Independent about my experience that day.    (Give it a look)

Where was the sanity?  Surely not in that room when every other council member decided they’d rather be a friend, than stand up and be a defender of the public trust.  I sat there with Andrew Hubsch and Daniel Levin, who invited me to come out to get this story to the people.  We all expressed our disappointment.

Let’s JUMP forward one year and one month after Vega had told everyone he was innocent.  The guy waits til a day after the special election can be held so that one of my favorite words in politics could be played out.  HEYO you guessed it NEPOTISM!  Vega got in the final dirty jab by waiting just long enough to claim his guilt so that you and I would be denied our right to choose a representative.  And instead have the political machine that is Mayor Healy camp choose one for us.  Thats some shady shit, right.  I mean the man is guilty and he’s still getting in the last blow.  SCUMBAG JERSEY POLITICS!

No more of that.  Today you have a decision to make.  One that will fill that seat with a strong community leader, one that will help turn the tide of conformity that Fulop has had to stand against alone for so long.  There is a people’s choice on that Ballot.  His name is DAN LEVIN.  Dan Levin cares about Jersey City.  He’s been to several rock events I’ve thrown.  He’s heard my woes as a promoter in a town that has no venue and a huge rock scene.  He’s a father, so you can bet that he’s pro education.  Let’s give Jersey City back to it’s people and remove the power from the big money developers and the laissez faire politicians who have and will continue to become too comfortable in their places of power.

If you understand nothing else from this rant: DAN LEVIN FOR COUNCIL vote today!

http://jerseycityburning.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/a-not-so-fast-one/

WAKE UP ZAC CLARK!

I made a little video, Thanks to the cats at Ben Franklin for the soundtrack.  Only a couple days left I just reserved my hotel room for saturday night today.  I rolled off my check list for watch I need for the festival, it’s all ready.  I how you enjoy the video, I sustain myself purely of of trolling and comments so have at it!

 

 

Brick City Bios: They Had Faces Then

Ken De Poto , Matt Harvey , Brian Goglia and Jared Saviano are They Had Faces Then. Tumbling out of bed with a new EP “1977” in hand.  Another member of the Tiny Giant Artiist Collective, THFT are the masters of setting a mood.  Check out the new album over at bandcamp.

http://theyhadfacesthen.bandcamp.com/album/1977

Brick City Bios: Fairmont

Neil, Andy, Christian, Sam and Clancy are Fairmont.  This Northern Jersey rock outfit is like something out of a Wes Anderson movie.  Longtime veterans of this scene, they are on Mint 400 records.  Strange, somber and at times a little dancy, lyrically dark and musically light check out their site for their music!

http://www.fairmontmusic.com/player.html

Brick City Bios: Cinema Cinema

Coming hard and fast like a bullet fired from a bazooka, Ev Gold and Paul Claro are Brooklyn’s Cinema Cinema.  Full frontal guitar lead power rock, these dudes wail out like Crucial Taunt in Wayne’s World.  Loud, sharp and urgent you can expect Chaos to leave the room when these boys start their motors.

http://www.facebook.com/cinematwice

Brick City Bios: KNTRLR

Brooklyn based TechnoIndieCorePop duo Michael Henry and Chuck Davis are KNTRLR.  Two dudes with a displeasure with vowels and an affinity for electro-rock, KNTRLR combines a darker side of Henry’s song writing with a more rigid style of Davis’ drum.  It’s like a really hard 8 bit game soundtrack with a modern game’s sound quality.  Think Ninja Gaiden with guitar and lyrics.  Expect to be thrown for a loop, then a hook, then a right cross.

http://kntrlr.bandcamp.com/

 

Brick City Bios: Cicada Radio

Dynamically intense, Cicada Radio is Pat Keefe, Mike Keefe, Mike Kundrath Chris D’Ambrosio.  The most recent Victim of Killing Horse’s systematic raping and pillaging of the North Jersey Scene, these fellas are fresh from the studio with a New EP Imposter.  A strong start for these cats, each song is an individual indie achievement.  Hardcore with heart, the album is transcendent of this scene.  Check it out on Bandcamp!  Tom Selleck has only good things to say about it.

http://cicada-radio.bandcamp.com/

Brick City Bios: Blackout Stereo

Take four punks with solid roots in mid to late 90’s punk rock, a love for rock a billy music and gruff voices throw them in Clifton NJ and you got Blackout Stereo.  Jesse Wolf, Matt Brewster, Chris Manning and Mark Pugliese ain’t just four dudes with exceptionally great haircuts and a thing for throwing it down on stage … well they are that too, but they do it with style.  These fellas are a little bit Social D and a little bit Johnny Cash with a foundation in circle pits and and whiskey you really can’t go wrong!

http://www.facebook.com/blackoutstereo

 

Brick City Bios: Those Mockingbirds

Adam Bird, Tory Daines, Kevin Walters, Rob Fitzgerald and Jon Gianino are Montclair’s push rock combo Those Mockingbirds.  Their gritty aquatic style of music recounts artists like Billy Corgan, The Deerhunter and The Decemberists.  A narrative style of song writing, combined with galloping drums, flighty guitar, backed with solid key work, steady bass and dueling vocals puts these cats makes for a truly interesting sound.  They are releasing their new Album Fa Sol La at Brick City Sound Riot, but in the meantime check out this rad cover of The Chain originally by Fleetwood Mac.

http://thosemockingbirds.bandcamp.com/track/the-chain

Photo by Jenna Przybylowsk

Brick City Bios: The Press

Michael Henry, Chuck Davis, Alex Picca and David Schneider are the crack commando team otherwise known as The Press.  Gentlemen by day, charlatan vagabonds by night.  The Press represent a peculiar brand of rock.  Their songs are sharply written, and dare I say at times whimsical.  It’s a combination of revolution rock and jam out.  Check out their album Inteotwijteoae… and see their video for one of my favorties “Master”

 

http://thepressthepress.com/video.html