Hudson music scene has largely been a tale of two cities | Testa – NJ.com

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times …
When I look back at my 25 years of writing about local music at The Jersey Journal, I think of Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities.” While musicians live and perform in other communities in Hudson County, my time at this newspaper has largely focused on Jersey City and Hoboken, and to pluck a line from a popular song, oh, what a long, strange trip it’s been. In 1991, when I was asked to come aboard and write for The Journal’s Gold Coast magazine, “local music” meant “Hoboken.” By the late 1990s, the Mile Square City supported a rock scene that included not just the iconic Maxwell’s, but Live Tonight, the Goldhawk (formerly the Liquid Lounge), the Shannon Lounge, and John Vargas’ Love Sexy, all hosting original music regularly.
At the turn of the 21st century, a local promoter even put together a Hoboken music festival called “Stop & Smell the Locals,” modeled after Austin’s famous South by Southwest. Jersey City had Uncle Joe’s, a ramshackle dive bar next to 111 First St. (then a thriving artists colony). Bars like the LampPost, Lucky 7’s, and, later, the Iron Monkey, might let bands play late at night, after they stopped serving food and moved a few tables around. There were a few Jersey City bands of note, first and foremost Rye Coalition, which proudly touted their Jersey City credentials on tour back when most bands from North Jersey said they were from New York City. And there was a terrific indie band called Spent that shared a house in Jersey City Heights.
But when Uncle Joe’s (like 111 First St.) fell to the forces of gentrification, there wasn’t much left. After a hiatus when Gold Coast closed, I returned to the Jersey Journal in 2010. At the time, there were fewer places to play but more bands than ever, it seemed.
Then, in 2013, the owners of Maxwell’s decided not to renew their lease and live music in Hoboken waned as other clubs closed and the bars in town installed wall-to-wall TVs catering to Hoboken’s young, upwardly mobile condo dwellers. Meanwhile, a music lover dubbed “Dancing Tony” (because he couldn’t stand still to the sound of a good band) emerged in Jersey City. And when Dancing Tony Susco teamed with Eileen Markenstein, who had stepped in to rescue the Historic Jersey City & Harsimus Cemetery from financial ruin and disrepair, live music in Jersey City changed forever.
Warm weather shows at the cemetery became hugely popular, especially the Halloween event “The Ghost of Uncle Joe’s.” City officials saw a good thing and entrusted Susco with a weekly live music series at the Grove Street PATH Statin called Groove on Grove. More outdoor music followed. Venues came and went, as they do, but music became part of Jersey City’s identity, from rock and pop to hip-hop and jazz. In Hoboken, some of the old guard, those musicians who came to town because of Maxwell’s in the 1980s, stayed. One of them, Geri Fallo, became Hoboken’s Administrator of Cultural Affairs. For decades, she promoted the city’s music and art with wondrous events, from movies in the park to studio tours to outdoor concerts, and, of course, with the biannual Hoboken Arts & Music Festival.
Glenn Morrow, who with his bandmates in a short-lived group called “a” had convinced Steve Fallon to introduce live music to Maxwell’s when it first opened, started a successful record label called Bar-None Records that remains a Hoboken staple today. That band “a” split into Morrow’s group the Individuals and a pop trio called the Bongos whose popularity would come to epitomize the “new Hoboken” of the ‘80s. When the Bongos added a fourth member, it was Jim Mastro, who would stay in Hoboken as the owner of Guitar Bar, a music store that sold guitars and amps in the front and let local musicians earn a living giving lessons in the back. Last year, Mastro opened 503 Social Club, an intimate space on Hoboken’s West Side that hosts live music and art exhibitions.
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times … and ever-changing times will march on.
Jim Testa is on SubStack at jimtestanj.substack.com (subscribe for free) and on Facebook at facebook.com/Constant-Listener-Jim-Testa-On-Hudson-Music-108591071738628. He can also be reached at jim@jerseybeat.com.
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