She: She was moving fast, photographing everyone near her with her phone. I wanted that shot of her. As I approached to snap her in action, she suddenly turned to me, extending her arm to draw me to her for a selfie. But not before I got my shot first (above)
Me: “You’re cute. I had to take your picture.” As she turns away I say, “No one ever takes my picture.”
She : Looking back she says, “They should take your picture…you’re cute too.”
SPRINGER AND CAGLE from the Acoustic Project. “Do you Want To Dance?”
Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor Blogfinger.net in Ocean Grove, NJ
Evidently this Sea.Hear.Now. Music. Festival sold 40,000 tickets which means that about 100,000 people showed up. Last time I tried to get in, two years ago, looking for a press pass, but they turned me away for not applying soon enough. They would not even allow me to go onto the boardwalk to take a few photos.
It continues on Sunday into the night. It is not technically a”rock” festival. The array of acts was amazing and encompassed a wide spectrum of popular music, and some performed by world famous groups.
The tickets cost $200.00 to $300.00, but that didn’t deter the mostly young crowd in attendance. Security was so tight that barriers were erected perpendicular to the ocean, so that no one could walk along the beach, as from the Grove, and walk right in. I doubt that would stand up in court since the ocean front and the boardwalk belong to the people not to the organizers.
The barricades were insurmountable, but some came by in boats dropping anchor in hopes of hearing the sounds. One boat from the Belmar fleet was noted, probably having charged money to bring people to the site without buying tickets
Older folks did attend, but when you reach a certain age, you don’t tolerate standing on your feet for hours in the sun cheering for groups that you never heard of. The crowd was huge, enjoying the music, but some people had passed out on the beach. Alcohol was being sold, and who knows about the drug scene?
A friend attended, but after a short period of time he was checking his watch and wondering what he would do if mass hysteria developed, as in a terrorist attack for instance. The bathrooms were a mess. No 17 year old would consider that sort of thing.
And the sound quality was reported to be quite good, depending on how the wind was blowing.
We live at the North End of the Grove, and a groaning noise could be heard from our porch at 10:30 pm. Some people were returning to their cars singing as they walked. A man walked by and a neighbor asked “How was it?”
He replied, “I can hear the music here better than there.”
Yesterday I turned on the Penn State/Auburn football game coming from Happy Valley. There were over 100,000 fans there, and the stands were a sea of white. No one was wearing a mask that I could see.
So, the fear of a super spreader of virus there seemed unfounded.
At the music Festival here, our reporter saw no one wearing a mask. And this morning, at the Hot Bagel Bakery in Oakhurst, there was a line out the door and a crowd inside–but only a few employees wore masks—not one customer but me, and I said, “fuhgetaboutit” and put mine in my pocket.
The whole mask thing continues to be confusing, but it seems that the communicability of the virus delta variant may be overstated.
This festival is remarkable, and I have nothing bad to say about it even though it contributed to Saturdays parking glut in the Grove. It is very special, but if Asbury were to become like Madison Square Garden, I would not be happy.
We need to fix our own problems here. Do you hear that “Better Parking Alliance” wherever you are?
Here is a Blogfinger post from last year. It contains a very good video. This was posted before they cancelled the 2020 event.
THIS IS WHAT BLOGFINGER.NET SAID IN 2019 (It was cancelled in 2020):
It’s interesting that this private extravaganza will shut down a large swath of north A. Park to the public. I was down there late Friday, and the security and restrictions are reminiscent of a third world country.
Why should this event close down large portions of the public’s beach, boardwalk and parks to the public unless admission tickets (wrist bands) are purchased? Where is the precedent for this at the Jersey Shore, and right in Ocean Grove’s backyard?
What happened to the civil liberties of all who don’t attend but who live around here? You can be sure that there will be gridlock parking in OG. When they have huge events in Central Park, such as Shakespeare in the Park, it is usually free except for rare benefits.
Anyone can photograph in Central Park, but at this Asbury festival they will not allow Blogfinger to photograph despite our press credentials. As of Friday, all press credentials are being denied. Freedom of the press on public property?? They do not want any professional photographers at the events.
Most of the people attending will be from out of town. There will be congestion in small areas. Many hotels in the region extending to Staten Island and Brooklyn are already sold out. This event has tied up the entire area, and to what end? Who benefits? Who gets the huge amount of money to be generated? Will some drop into the coffers of the City of Asbury park to benefit the citizens, the tax payers, the poor, the homeless, etc?
And what about the impact on the environment including the ocean and Wesley Lake?
I bet Bradley, the founder of AP would not approve. And Stokes would jump out of his chair. And the event will go on into the night.
Why is AP allowing and encouraging this? What is really the point of it? In 2012 they allowed Bamboozle, and that was a failure.
But Grovers, you might just want to go. It does look like fun, and some of you did go last year.
Why not move this thing to California or Woodstock–they have lots of space there.? Why not have it at some fairgrounds around here or some Woodstock style property. It’s because they want to make money by exploiting the public’s beaches and ocean.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor of Blogfinger.net and Dean of the Ocean Grove Off-Shore School of Medicine.
a. HEADS-UP! Blogfinger will sponsor the 10th Annual OG Town-wide Yard Sale. Due to repetitive bad-luck weather in May, we are changing the date to (tentative) Saturday June 18. And we will have a rain date. More information will be forthcoming, but mark your calendars and start collecting some stuff. We can be the best town yard sale at the shore, and we will not cause any parking problems.
b. Speaking of parking, what happened to the phony-baloney consortium of groups trying to solve our parking problems in the Grove? We predicted that they will fail due to too many self -interests, too much interference by private groups, too little interest by the Neptune Comedy, no representation for the tax paying residents, and failure to face up to the core problem which is too many cars and too few spaces.
It reminds me of high school where we had too many guys and too few cheerleaders. Thank goodness for the flute players in the band.
As we have said, we need more attention to the needs of residents. A permit parking plan can work here to give residents a bit of advantage in the parking wars. And then to have the Township grow a pair (x5) and start refusing permits for so many giant events where only the tourists and the sponsors win.
Ocean Grove. Let’s find fun for the residents; the kind of events that do not bring more cars and tourists to town. PG photo. 2015
But these parking mavens in town cannot even make timed parking downtown happen, an idea that most people agree on including the business owners.
c. And, today, Saturday Sept 18, again we again had parking glut, and LABOR DAY IS OVER! Don’t let anyone tell you that our parking problems will end on Labor Day. This was a gorgeous September Saturday, and most Grovers were isolated in their homes. This beautiful day should have belonged to Grover residents.
There was a morning 5K run for the Arts and the usual useless downtown British car show. Also there was a Christian music festival by the beach.
Why are those Chamber and CMA Anglophiles able to shut down our streets and promote yet another tourist magnet that benefits no OG citizens. And why do the Neptuners spend our tax money to promote events such as this? And why are they celebrating the major cause of carbon emissionsd–the automobile.
Those three events today were self inflicted, but then there were those Asburian devils who put on a massive music festival today, and that made the parking troubles worse in the Grove. And the Festival will get to torture us some more with the 2nd day of the event. And in October the Chamber of Commercials will be treating us to a harvest festival.
We’re from Jersey and NYC–who needs harvest festivals?…..Let’s do something for us: How about bringing in some food trucks to the pathway or downtown and let the Grovarians walk over and chow down, relaxing with the neighbors. Or how about porch concerts where strollers can visit venues where small groups are performing. That would be perfect.
Israel Times where 3 million have already received booster shots.
d. As for COVID booster shots, the Israelis have found significant reductions in risk with booster shots. Officially we are told by the CDC that only those with immunesuppression should receive a booster, but soon those over 60 will be permitted as well.
However, many individuals who do not fit into those categories have managed lately to get boosters. I think that is fine if you can do it, but you should wait at least for 4-6 months after the last shot. By 6 months the immunity is beginning to fall off. The feds might choose 8 months.
Those who have gotten booster shots who are under 60 have sometimes been able to simply walk into a pharmacy and get the shot. Some have lied when they check the immunosuppressed box on the form. That’s between your conscience, your doctor and your pharmacist. I have heard of no one who has gotten into trouble doing that. And some who didn’t answer the immunosup. question and still got the shot.
One reason to wait is that the data isn’t in as to the details of 3rd shot boosters. They seem to have similar side effects as the first two shots, but maybe they will turn out to be more toxic. And there will be more data rolling in once large scale trials are completed. It seems likely that there will soon be official approval of more candidates for boosters.
I personally know some folks who have had the 3rd shot booster, and their side effects consisted of a sore arm and flu like symptoms—feeling crummy: headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, low grade fever . But more time could reveal some severe reactions.
Some doctors have begun ordering antibody levels on their patients, but it’s not clear how those results will be used to guide patient care. However I think those results will become valuable and can detect certain risk components and guide decisions on boosters.
I know that we have posted this image before—the birth of our son Michael. But I don’t think we posted the actual magazine article. The journal Hospital Physician chose this photo.
The obstetrician, Carmel Cohen, MD, was struggling to deliver Michael because a shoulder got stuck (“shoulder dystocia”) and that’s why his gown was falling off. I stood there planning to take pictures, but I was frozen in place due to the drama.
The last resort procedure would have been to fracture his collar bone; but then Michael popped out and reached to the sky. And then I tripped the shutter.
Some years later we went for a bike ride and Michael crashed into a parked car. So he got to break his clavicle himself.
