I've lived all over the USA. From New Haven to San Francisco, from Chicago to Phoenix, and from St. Paul to St. Thomas, but for the past 7 years I've lived in Brooklyn, and I've been thinking, this is where I will stay,finally.
Recent events may change things for me and lead me to my ulitimate destiny which seeems to be New Jersey. You see during all those moves I've made, I've never lived in the Garden State, but I have visted there often, and I just happened to have married two women who were from there (exit 9 and 8 respectively). Never mind that I met my first wife in Chicago or my second in San Francisco, they were Jersey Girls; family in Jersey, and to some extent, hearts in Jersey. Last week my wife made the first advances toward moving our family away from the hardscrabble(I always wanted to write hardscrabble, and now I've done it twice in one sentance,Thanks MOG) Brooklyn streets to the manicured lawns, decent public schools, and affordable housing of Jersey. I am conflicted. I feel like after years of searching (ooh, another hot Roy Ayers tune), I've finally found a home in Brooklyn, but it would also be nice to avoid alternate side of the street parking, and noise, and lack of space,too. Like I said though, it looks like Jersey is my destiny. I remember this Roy Ayers tune as one of the first songs I played for my son. As 3 year old we had a little game where I'd ask him: "So Peja, where do you live" He'd answer: "We Live in Brooklyn,Baby" Not for long I fear, son, and I don't think there's a song that goes, We Live in Hoboken, Baby, either. We'll see
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My favorite Roy Ayers song, hands down. Well, the good news is if you do end up moving to Jersey, there will be plenty of Springsteen songs you can quote.
Or, conversely, Bon Jovi.
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Oh My Gosh..The Horror!
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I got a friend from school who plays in a blues band (she's like Mama Cass/ Janice Joplin and Eartha Kitt all rolled into one)... I used to catch the path to see them on weekends back in the day...I forget the name of the city though...just holla if you do, in fact, move there and I'll sort you out...you'll LOVE 'EM!...oh, and you get that great seafood for cheap too...
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ALl I can say is, make sure this is something you really want. I spent 17 years living in the part of New Jersey both your wives hail from. (Actually, splitting the difference - Exit 8A.) Left for the other side of the Delaware three years ago and have never looked back. Of course, if it's Hoboken you're contemplating, that's a little different - in a good way.
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Yeah, thanks everybody. It is early, and Hoboken and Jersey City are good cities, but I'm already in a city. I'm not gonna go unless I get a big ole yard to BBQ and play whiffle ball in. I already have a yard in Brooklyn, so if I do go, I want a lawn tractor sized patch o' land.
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Cody, unless you need daily access to the city, you might consider passing right on through the Garden State and putting down roots here outside Philadelphia. Having house-hunted recently in both NJ and PA, I can tell you with certainty that you get a ton more house and land for your money in the latter. Just sayin'....
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Thanks Ivy, but my wife has the real job and it is in the city, so we have to be close. I also am lobbying that we move no further from Manahattan than we are now. On the train it takes about 35 minutes to get to the city. But stranger things have happened. We might even move back to New Haven,CT. That is..if we move.
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years ago I took a flight from seattle to new york & I shared seats with a passenger from New jersey. we started talking abt things for a few hours... somehow i realised I had always heard weird stuff abt New Jesey but I did not know why (I am not american so i dont know those things). so i asked him what was all about... Suddenly he looked at me with an angry face & never talked back to me. Could you enlight me? what did i do wrong? that tune is superb, Cody.
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Mmmm, yeah.
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SR, to a degree New Jersey is to New York as Essex is to London. There are Jersey jokes and mucho snobbery. (Sample joke: A guy and his girlfriend are parked along the Henry Hudson Parkway - the main road at the edge of Manhattan's West Side - and they're really getting into it. The girl says to the guy, "Oh, baby, kiss me where it smells." So he drives her to New Jersey.) The people who live in New Jersey have developed a bit of a collective chip on the shoulder about all this.
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The biggest problem with New Jersey is that its most travelled areas, ie, the roads that lead to New York City are its ugliest, most industrialized, and smelliest. This is the impression must folks get who are passing through. Clearly as you move away from the City New Jersey has a lot to offer, The beaches and boardwalks of the Jersey Shore to the south and flora and fauna to the west and north.
There can be a bit of a "second city" mentality, like Ivy sez, similar to the feelings Chicago folks have oward NYC. Pride/jealousy..
Hell even within the boroughs of NYC there's a bit of attitude. Brooklyn has a chip on its shoulder about Manhattan, Queens is jealous of Brooklyn, Manhattanites think of Brookyln,Queens,The Bronx and Staten Island, as other countries, like you need a passport to come here. Even though I'm 10 minutes away by car, I try not to go into Manhattan anymore. 'Cause what would I need to leave Brooklyn, for? We got everything here already, baby!
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that was very informative, guys. thanks a lot. :-)
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Beautiful soundz, home is where the heart is.... X
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Cool song. I'll have to teach my son that call and response because we're about to sell our house in Stamford so we can move to Brooklyn.
We've been in exile in the 'burbs for about four years now, and we just need to get back to the city. We'll see if it sticks, but in the meantime maybe I can sell you my Webber and my lawnmower. ;-)
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Iam, I apologize for deleting your post, but MOG told me it was the reason my page had gone all wacky..but what you said is right below. Your G Love song could not be save but it was appreciated.
I am said Hoboken eh. Do you realize that you won’t have to cross the tunnel to get to ” The Embroidery Capital of the World”. Man, it just doesn’t get any better than that.
My condolences and well wishes are with you.