It’s always a pleasure to watch someone as talented as Jake Thistle make his ascent. The Paramus kid, as the title of his new album declares, is A Stranger By Design. And I must admit to cheering for him when he got all the way to the top 14 out of thousands of applicants on American Idol. Dude looks like an idol. Movie-Star handsome, with a soothing voice, thought-provoking lyrics and commanding stage presence, he makes it all look so easy. Of course, we know it’s not. This issue, he goes “Up-Close” with us.
If you thought Sinatra was the only Hoboken saloon singer with ties to the mob, you’d be wrong, as there was another Hoboken warbler, Jimmy Roselli, who, unlike Sinatra, did not deny his mob friends. Roselli basically told reporters, “so what?” His stance was, hell, he was a singer, he never killed anybody. And he certainly couldn’t help if people who did kill people liked his music. You can hear him answer questions like this in our “Jersey History” section.
This issue, you’ll also meet Son Lewis. He’s a blues-playing, dues-paying, longtime singer with direct influences like Robert Johnson, Otis Rush and Elmore James, yet he’s not from Clarksdale, Mississippi. He’s from Teaneck, New Jersey. And he’s just as valid as his cultural forebears. As a kid in the 1960s, he used to sneak into The Choo Choo Club in Garfield to see his favorite band, The Young Rascals, before they kicked him out for being underaged.
As we celebrate the centennial of Newark poet Allen Ginsberg, we chanced upon a book from 26 years ago about his time in Paris. The Beat Hotel is a fascinating read. It’s where Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs mapped out The Beat Generation which, of course, ultimately begat us hippies. “Jersey Bookshelf” has the dirt.
In “Visual Sound” this month, we go crazy. My own history is pockmarked with Professional Wrestling experience. No, I wasn’t a grappler, but I rang the bell. Liv Morgan is a grappler. But she also has a music video and is from Elmwood Park. Thus, she’s part of The Jersey Sound. As hot as Morgan is, though, she’s no match for the lead singer in Best Ex, Hoboken’s Mariel Loveland, who once promised to ruin the lives of the married men she seduces but now she’s on a “Losing Streak.” The Fullam Brothers make this issue as The Upsides when they sing about their childhood in “New Jersey In The ‘90s.” And two of our favorite human beings on the planet, Bruce and Bettye, flesh out the section.