Doesn't look like they've named any acts yet. I'll keep you posted.
Good a time as ever to remind you about two more events:
1. Tomorrow is the every wonderful and lovely Miss'D America Pageant in Atlantic City (unfortunately can't go this year).
2. The Cape May Singer Songwriter Festival will be held on March 30 and 31 in Cape May. First time I can remember that it's not also the same weekend as the Ocean Drive races. Bummed about that too. Ah well.
This site has taken the archives for Aladdin Color, Inc., which was founded in 1953 as a company that made brochures for motels, car dealerships, amusement parks and more.
The photos from those brochures are on the site, which makes them even better because they're super styled and posed (side note: as far as I know, a nine year old me is still in the Avalon Campground brochure).
The site has pics from around the country, but a chunk of them are from 1950s and 1960s Jersey Shore. You Wildwood fans are going to be VERY pleased.
It's probably too late to buy prints as holiday gifts, but I'm booking this one for future presents, and place where I'll go when I'm ready to decorate a new office.
No smoking ban for Cape May beaches. BOO. According to tweets from the meetings, locals opposed it. Really?! That strikes me as very odd and backwards.
Two Halloween-related notes for the upcoming weekend:
Friday kicks off the Asbury Park Zombie Walk. Now in its third year, this thing is HUGE. I wish I could go and be the one person not dressed like a zombie who the zombies can chase (My ex boyfriend did this. I'm not that original).
Last weekend, Moreys Piers opened its new Terror on the Boardwalk attraction. GOOD IDEA! Seems a great way to continue their season, so if you like to be scared, check it out.
I will NOT be at the Asbury Park Relay Marathon this year, but if you are, please note that the start time has been moved from 10am to 7am. Early birds will like that one. If I could run the race, I would.
This is awful - and I will have much more to say about this at another time this week.
My trip was fun. I was underwhelmed by OBX, but that's not a big shocker, is it?
This is just a press release, but it has good numbers in it: more people traveled to Atlantic City this Labor Day weekend early than Labor Day weekend last year, though overall toll trips were slightly down.
Anybody want to live in Sea Isle this winter? Seems a reasonable price. If anyone knows of something similar in Asbury Park, let me know. Might be doing a project up there this winter.
This one caught my eye but got pushed aside because of Irene: Wildwood is trying to shut down "rowdy" houses. I've long said that Wildwood will not completely revitalize its image until homes stop renting to high school kids for senior weeks and prom weeks. This is a step in the right direction.
The Harlem Globetrotters are playing tonight in Wildwood, and as a promo to the event, took a ride on the famous Tram Car. The recording was changed in their honor (temporarily) to say "Watch the Globetrotters, Please."
I'm in my third week of marathon training. I don't know WHICH marathon at this point (I'm signed up for Philly but am being tempted away by the Bucks County Marathon, a first year race limited to 500 people), but it means I'm running. A lot.
And there are some shore races to compliment my training. Here's what's on my radar:
Captain Bill Gallagher 10 Mile Island Run. 41st running! I did this race in 2009 in misery (first race after shoulder surgery, wasn't trained, etc). I'll be down the shore this weekend and went back and forth about this one, especially considering the 5:45pm start time. Final decision is that I'm not going to run it. Instead, I'll be doing the No Shower Happy Hour at the OD. Because I'm an adult that way. I will, however, be running on the beach that morning.
The Wild Half, first year half marathon in Wildwood on August 28. Looks like a great course with lots of nice items thrown in (free weekend admission to the Moreys parks being a big one), but let's talk about the timing. August 28? With a 7:30am start time? Late August is a stretch for someone like me who hates summer running, but I've been getting out there on Saturday mornings. The thing is, I START my run by 6:30am. By 7:30am, I'd be cooking. I want to make the call about this depending on the weather, but they don't do day of sign ups. This is a maybe. Thing I DO like about this race: participants and their families can camp for free on the beach on August 26 and 27. That's a major cost reduction for anyone traveling to the race.
LBI 18 Mile Run on October 9. I was JUST about to sign up for this one then decided to go to Vancouver for Travel Classics conference instead. Bummer. But hey - Vancouver!
Asbury Park Relay Marathon on October 16. I was signed up for this one, and had a great team of runners with the wonderful name of "Tramps Like Us." Then we got a wedding invitation. For a Sunday wedding. No "save the date" warning. Sigh. Tramps Like Us will still be running so cheer for them!
Atlantic City Marathon (and associated races) on the same day. I hear this event is getting better every year.
Forget the Ocean City BYOB issue. This has much more important implications. The beaches of the Wildwoods are free free free, and they tout themselves as being the beach that won't charge. Do they get a lot of day trippers because of this? Yes. But those day trippers are also tourists, who spend money in town. If Wildwood starts charging for beach tags, these visitors will just go to Atlantic City, which also has a free beach. And they'll take all that money with them. Besides the day trippers, this will carve into the budget of people who come to the Wildwoods. Will they accept it? Or reason that, since the Wildwoods are charging, they might as well just go to an Ocean City or an Avalon.
If you see any articles about this, you'll notice the venom in the comments about keeping the riff raff off the beaches. These carry racial undertones - if not blatant bigoted comments. I'm not linking to those stories because I think those comments are disgusting.
If the Wildwoods really need revenue, they could do the one thing that makes absolute sense: merge. Why do there need to be four separate towns on that one island? If they merged into one, they'd save a boat load by sharing services, and would ease taxpayer burden. But this is New Jersey, where apparently that's taboo. But it could work.
Something's going to break here. I hate for it to be one of the reasons the Wildwoods beaches are so popular.
The press release in its entirety is below. Let me know what you think in the comments - but I will reject and mark as spam anything that hints at racism. Please also note that this is from the mayor of just Wildwood, not all four towns:
Mayor Ernie Troiano, Jr. stated that there has been recent publicity advising Wildwood not to enact beach fees. He commented that Wildwood has for decades been a very inclusive town with blue collar roots. “We welcome people from all over the world to enjoy the beach, boardwalk and entertainment at our vacation destination. However, our first responsibility must be to our Wildwood residents and taxpayers, many of whom do not benefit from the huge influx of beachgoers in summer.”
“Tourism is the lifeblood of our economy and Wildwood maintains a world class beach and boardwalk, sponsors events, encourages business development and promotes family fun and relaxation,” commented Commissioner Pete Byron. “The burden on the Wildwood taxpayer has been tremendous and we recently inherited an extremely difficult financial situation. The previous administration left us with more than $1 million in unpaid bills from 2010 and hundreds of thousands of dollars in contractual obligations that were not allotted for in the budget. Even if the irresponsible plan to slash police officers were enacted, we would still be facing a budget deficit. We have an obligation to the taxpayers to explore every possible revenue source.”
The Board of Commissioners agrees that Wildwood’s free beaches have an appeal, but they are not free to retirees on fixed incomes and young families struggling to make ends meet. All Wildwood taxpayers have been, in effect, paying beach fees for a very long time. Wildwood is a small, one square mile town that hosts literally millions of people every summer. Consequently, our taxpayers support an urban infrastructure with expanded public works, public safety and emergency personnel, all far beyond what our small ratable base can reasonably sustain.
The issue of beach fees must be carefully researched, with all effects considered before a decision is made. Wildwood would, for example, lose some local room tax revenue that is linked to maintaining free beaches and we must be certain that beach fee revenue would outweigh any lost income. We would only advocate a very reasonable beach fee, lower than nearby communities, so that we remain accessible to hard working families.
We would rather see an imposed moderate fee on boardwalk amusement rides, allowed by state law, but needing local legislative support for enactment in Trenton. An amusement ride fee would give some relief to the taxpayer, while allowing us to improve the boardwalk with funds generated by its users.
Wildwood will continue to open its arms to visitors. Our challenge is to provide first class amenities and services without unfairly and disproportionately encumbering taxpayers. Commissioner of Public Safety, Anthony Leonetti said “By generating beach fee revenue, we can further improve our beaches, boardwalks, streets and parks and possibly add amenities. We know who we are as a resort community and we know we need to promote tourism for our economic vitality. It’s also equally important that our local residents are not taxed out of their homes.”
The Board of Commissioners knows they have an obligation to the taxpayers to explore every possible revenue source.
Sunday is the women's World Cup Final: USA vs. Japan. I don't care how nice a beach day it's going to be, but I will be glued to the TV watching this match.
Here's where you can go to watch the game while you're down the shore:
Atlantic City: Game On. It's OK if you roll your eyes. This place is big and crowded and packed for big sporting events, but that is exactly where I want to be for a game like this (and where I will be, in fact. More on that later). You can't get more TVs in one spot down the shore.
Sea Isle: O'Donnell's Pour House. Good beer selection, big TVs, right near the heart of Sea Isle.
Avalon: I have two. First, the Princeton. Second, the Concord Cafe. The Princeton will have plenty of space, whether you want to sit or stand. I prefer the cozy feel of the Concord - but only if I have a seat.
Wildwood: The Shamrock. Space to stand, sit, play pool, whatever you want around the oval bar with plenty of TVs to watch the game.
Cape May: Cabanas or the Ugly Mug. Both have plenty of TVs and good bars with decent beer selections. I assume both will be packed.
I will be at Game On with the dude, who is very VERY conflicted about who he should cheer for. He's Japanese-American, and I understand his dilemma. He'll be wearing his team Japan jersey. I sorta tried to find a U.S. Women's jersey but no luck, so I'll probably just be sporting red white and blue.
Sunday is the first day of my shore vacation - HOORAY! It'll be split between Atlantic City and Avalon this year with a dash of Cape May thrown in. I. CAN'T. WAIT. I've pre-written next week's facts of the day, so hope you enjoy them while I'm doing absolutely nothing.
It's so small you could miss it, but it's there: a chapel right on the Wildwood boardwalk.
In 1945, Reverend Leslie Dunn opened this boardwalk chapel. Today, different churches from the Orthodox Presbyterian Churches of New Jersey take turns running the chapel, with services at 8pm Monday through Saturday and 7 on Sunday (in season only).
Short one today, but stop by again this afternoon where I'm asking YOU for a favor or two!
Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, I present to you a new annual holiday: Saucehose Day. I declare that it shall take place the Thursday before the Fourth of July Holiday weekend. On such a day, we honor the system by which sauce gets on top of the best kind of Jersey Shore pizzas: by a saucehose.
You can see it in the picture above, which was taken at Mack & Mancos. Pizzas are being created and consumed so quickly that the sauce is delivered right on top by that hose. Hence saucehose. It's brilliant. And wonderful. And one of those odd things that make the Jersey Shore so special.
(This kind of pizza is actually called Trenton style pizza if you're looking for a real fact of the day.)
I can't lay claim to the term. That credit goes to @clivedaddy, who first tweeted it. Things came to a head when Mike Meech of the Fightins went on a Phillies-related hunger strike that overlapped with Memorial Day Weekend last year. There was much debate if drinking directly from the sausehose would be considered eating or not. He eventually broke the fast with a slice from Mack and Mancos.
It's been a fun twitter element ever since. Even yesterday, Jason Nark of the Philadelphia Daily News tweeted "I'm near a #saucehose Alien territory for me," referring to being in Ocean City. Mack & Mancos isn't the only sausehose place, though. So in the comments, tell me your favorite saucehose pizza.
Speaking of which - we're trying to get #saucehose to trend today. So if you tweet about this, use that hashtag. And you can follow me on twitter to. I'm @jerseyshorejen.
A few people have accused me lately of excluding Wildwood from my recent shore writings and interviews I've given about the book. The most recent was from a local writer on a story I wrote about Best Beach Bargains.
Normally, I wouldn't comment - especially to a statement that is so false it's laughable.
But this kind of stuff can damage my reputation as a shore expert, and I think explaining how I pick what places go in articles, and how I chose what to talk about, would be interesting to some people.
So let's cue up the Bobby Rydell and look at what I've been saying about the Wildwoods lately.
At my Haddonfield Library talk, I discussed how some shore towns seem to identify with different areas in Philadelphia. That's mentioned in this report about the event. What she didn't mention was the long discussion I had with the audience about the Wildwood boardwalk, where I vehemently defended the safety of the rides at Morey's Piers, and how much the boardwalk has improved since the fatal boardwalk fires of the 1970s (not that I blame the reporter - I talked about a LOT that night)
Speaking of Morey's, I gave perhaps my longest comment about the incident to Jersey Kids. I also recommended the American Inn in Wildwood to anyone who still wanted to book a shore vacation for not a lot of money (they drop the price down the week before Labor Day).
Then there's the items you can't see. The Wildwoods figured prominently in my Jersey Shore trivia round at the Pop Shop on Monday night.
In August, I have not one but two articles in SJ Magazine that feature the Wildwoods heavily. I even emailed with the editor today to get one more Wildwood spot in the Best of the Shore feature because after going there on Saturday, I thought it deserved to be wormed in (she said yes).
And then there's the book, of course. It seems obvious to put that on the list, but one of the commenters, in an exchange on Twitter, admitted that she hadn't read it. I don't see how anyone can say I don't ever write about Wildwood when there's a big chapter dedicated to it in the book. Anyway.
For fun, let's go back to stories I've written about Wildwood in the past. Want another video? OK:
Which leads me to how I pick what I write about and what I talk about. Here are three general factors:
1. What are editors buying? For every story I get into print, at least five ideas are rejected. This year, Wildwood stories just weren't selling. They sure did last year (which is one of the reasons I put up that list of previous stories), but this year? Editors wanted Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Ocean City and Cape May. Those are the story ideas they bought from me, or assigned to me, so that's what I wrote. The other ideas about other towns will go into my pitch file to be brought out again next year. Sometimes they sell. It took me three years to get this one into print. I'm persistent in stories I believe in. Some of those are Wildwood stories. They just didn't get past the editorial hurdle this year.
2. How many spots am I given? One post that received one of the Wildwood comments was this one. Chris asked me to give him five places for the entire Jersey Shore. So that's five places out of the 140+ miles of beach that is known as the Jersey Shore. There are dozens of shore towns. I'm not slighting someone but not putting them on the list. It'd be impossible to include everyone. Even in the long feature I did for Edible Jersey about shore foods, I couldn't include everyone. I tried, but this isn't the All Star game. Not every town gets a representative.
3. What do they want in their round ups? This goes for stories that I write, guest blog posts, and interviews. Before the interview with the Patriot-News, I was told that he wanted what would be considered luxuries. Breakfast in the Sky was one of them. For the interest.com piece where one of the comments lies, my editor said that he wanted a free beach with free, easy parking. That beach is Strathmere, not the beaches of the Wildwoods. They're too crowded in season to be considered beaches with easy parking. Plus, there's meters where Strathmere has none. So Strathmere made the list. Back to that post for Chris, he wanted very VERY specific things to recommend, and not the obvious places, which is why I picked the items I did. I was criticized for not writing about the Wildwood Boardwalk. That's too obvious. So was Lucy the Elephant, who also didn't make the cut. Instead, I chose to write about one special ride on one pier in Ocean City. That's not a slight to Wildwood. That's doing what Chris asked me to do.
I don't keep a tally of what towns get mentioned where. There is no keeping score. I'm not paid by anyone to talk about their town more than another. That'd be against the journalistic ethics I maintain. I'm rarely pitched by PR people on what to write about, and they never pressure me into making sure they get mentioned in every article. While I'm conscious of trying not to repeat the same places over again, I'm going to write about or talk about exactly what I think the audience wants to read or hear about, whether that's an editor assigning me a story, or a blogger asking me to do a guest post. If you ask me to recommend a family friend boardwalk, I'm always going to say Ocean City. And if you ask me the best place to take teenagers for rides and/or water parks? The answer will always be Wildwood. I can't control the kinds of questions that are asked, or who asks them. I just answer them the best that I can.
I know, that's a long response. But this has really bothered me. For these people to dash of something they're assuming by looking at a sliver of my body of work - it's not just unprofessional, it's potentially damaging.
So there. I had my say.
Now, shall we end with a video? Take us out, Floss Stingel:
On Saturday, the dude and I drove down the shore early to sit on the beach in Strathmere for a few hours before my book signing at the Shamrock in Wildwood.
I was stopped at the bottom of the off ramp from the Garden State Parkway onto the causeway into Sea Isle when BUMP! The driver behind me rear ended my car.
Sigh.
If he hadn't been driving an old Nissan Pathfinder with a sharp grille in the front, I'd probably have been fine, but that was the result - a punctured bumper. I know it doesn't look like much in the picture, but it's not good.
While waiting for the State Trooper to fill out the accident report, the dude and I started chatting with the guy who hit me. End result: the guy bought a book and had me sign it to his son.
Lemonade out of lemons? Maybe I'll tell you how I feel after I go through the process of getting the bumper repaired, and how much it'll end up costing me (getting the accident report starts at $5.75, and while I have insurance, there's that good ol' deductible...) I haven't been in a car accident since I was 17 when I was was hit by a drunk driver, and my mom handled the insurance claims that time.
Anyway.
Fun signing! They even made a special drink for the event, the "Jersey Jen."
A lot of you have been tweeting and emailing me about where you're seeing the book for sale. If you snap a picture and send it to me, I'll run it on the blog!
The big music to do this weekend in Atlantic City is the DMB Caravan. But that's not the only music show in town this weekend:
O.A.R. tonight at the House of Blues
Peter Frampton tonight at the Borgata
Boyz II Men tomorrow at the Hilton
G. Love & Special Sauce tomorrow at the House of Blues
Robert Plant tomorrow at the Borgata
And we've got a D-list appearance, too: Cheryl Burke at the Pool at Harrah's. If you don't know who that is, that's OK. Really.
If you're in the Wildwood area, stop by the Shamrock from 5-8pm. I'll be hanging out and signing a few books - they've added on extra Happy Hour drink specials for the occasion!
Saturday, June 18: Happy Hour Book Signing at the Rusty Nail in Cape May from 4-7pm. It's OK if you're coming right off the beach. Why? Because I will be, too, since the weather report is looking mighty fine. Here's the Facebook invite for this one.
Wednesday, June 22: Talk about the Jersey Shore and travel writing, followed by a book signing at the Haddonfield Library at 7pm. Yes, this is at the actual library, NOT Grace Church.
Saturday, June 25: Happy Hour Book Signing at the Shamrock in Wildwood from 5-8pm. Same thing goes in regards to coming in off the beach. They will have specials for this event.
Monday, June 27: Hosting a Jersey Shore trivia round of Pop Quiz at the Pop Shop in Collingswood. The game runs from 7:30-9pm. This is a super fun event and, yes, it's BYOB. It's for kids and adults - most teams usually have both.
Same rules go for every event: $20 a book, cash or credit. If you already have a book and want it signed, of COURSE I will! Can't make it and want a signed copy? Drop me a line at jenmiller27 [at] gmail [dot] com.
Forget the beach tags. If you just want to sit on the beach for a day, free, head to Strathmere, any of the Wildwoods, or Atlantic City. Their beaches are free.
Also free: the beaches along the Delaware in Cape May. That includes Sunset Beach and my favorite, Higbee Beach. Sunset and Higbee are also dog-friendly. Are we surprised I love them? Emily, my dog, doesn't like Sunset, though. The consistency of the sand hurts her paws.
Jen A. Miller is a an author and freelance writer. Her memoir, Running a Love Story, was a Philadelphia Inquirer best book of the year. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, SELF, Buzzfeed and the Guardian, among others.
