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Today was the bi-annual Arts and Music Festival
in Hoboken. This is a giant street fair with music, food, art
and other wares being peddled. It stretches from 7th Street
all the way down to Newark Street. Ironically, the thing I
hate the most about these types of festivals is what actually
makes them bearable for me. With so much swirling around, loud
and crowded with stimuli, anyone can find a certain, safe haven
to hang for the day.
My safe haven was a return to the seemingly renamed Rodeo
(xxx Washington Street, Hoboken). Some time ago, the restaurant
called Rodeo was transformed into a foodless nightclub called
The Ristra. Because the sign outside remained the same, folks
began to call it The RodeoRistra Lounge. That name stuck for
a while as it became home to the long-running ArtKore.org Open
Mic Tuesdays.
After a few years, the owners decided to take another stab
at the upscale, hoity-toity restaurant biz and
renamed the place once again. This
time they were calling it Tazzo. I must confess, I never
ate there. At that point, not being sure of the future there,
ArtKore decided to find another home for their live music events.
Not too long ago, Tazzo became Privee—a more disco-like,
exclusive-feel club—for some reason . I’m not sure
if they were still serving food. The common scene of over-dressed,
under-sexed money (or is it the other way around) effectively
kept me away from the thump, thump, thump and the Veri-Lites.
Many of the invitations going out for ArtKore’s all-day
affair had a different venue named. Luckily we all knew where
to go, at any name. As the day went on, performers were confused
about where they were. Some said Tazzo, some Privee, others
Rodeo, etc., but at one point manager Javier yelled from the
front of the place, “It’s Rodeo!!” Therefore
I will assume it is Rodeo once again.
The day began with me driving to pick up Lisa. There was no
way she’d find parking here on this day. Being a resident,
I can park anywhere no matter how far away. After that we walked
to the bar, keeping to the side streets to avoid the crowd.
Once there we met up with a ton of friends and good music.
Aside from walking out to look for food with my friend Aileen,
I pretty much stayed put. I can’t deal with the close
clamor of that outside crowd. One good point about us being
out was I got to hear a small part of South Side Johnny and
the Asbury Jukes. They sounded great, but it was time to get
back.
A distinctly weird part of the day was the full-blown Puerto
Rican christening going on in the basement of the Rodeo. Complete
with loads of food, loud music and small children. A wheelchair-bound
old woman had to be carried down the precarious ascent. Both
events seriously interfered with the other. Especially the
quieter, acoustic acts upstairs. It made me wonder why anyone
would agree to have these two events happen at the same time.
 Now
on to the pix!
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