Holme Fries - 7/31/06

We had so much fun the week before that Donna, Marian & I returned to D’Jais for more.  Mr. T. McGraw look-a-like greeted Donna at the door with a “Hello Beautiful”.  We were off to a good start.  I had made a “I ♥♥ Justin” button to wear to his birthday party last week but had forgotten it at home.  Before I left my house this night I scooped it up from my nightstand to take with me.  My dad was coming over & I didn’t want him to speculate about my love life.  I wore it in D’Jais & it was hit with Justin.  Toward the end of the night I passed it onto Patty his co-bartender & she wore it with pride.  Who doesn’t love Justin?

The band added a new song to their repertoire - “Rosalita”.  Harry not only sings it, he owns it!  It’s a real keeper.  A reader of this Blog named Lynn introduced herself to me.  She had been a bartender @ D’Jais for a year back in the day & had traveled from Pennsylvania to see the band. She’s very nice but reluctant to have her photo posted.  Bobby Banderia’s son joined Holme onstage for a tune or 2.  Frank was kind enough to grant my request for tee shirts for D & M.  I hadn’t known that Donna had really wanted one.  Peter told us his grandchild saw his photo on this Blog.  After the band went off I sat at Justin’s bar & continued to drink while Donna & Marian went out to the snack bar.  They were having french fries when the Playwright stopped by.  They offered him some fries but he refused them saying he tries to stay away from the stuff.  Donna & Marian informed him they are worth every gram of fat in them.  Sometime during the night (maybe at the snack bar) the Playwright informed them he was going to appear in a play the next weekend in a park in Spring Lake.  The play was Shakesphere’s “A Mid-Summers Night Dream”.    As this encounter was going on a fight suddenly broke out across the bar from me.  I couldn’t tell you anything about it other than no one saw it coming & Bill Ludeke was involved.  When the fight emptied onto the street outside, Donna came into the bar to make sure I was safe.  She found me sitting at the bar with a big smile on my face.   That was the memory she took away with her from the night.    

Love, M

 

Holme Boy - 7/24/06

Me, Donna & Marian and no work the next day.  It was Justin’s birthday.  It was partyville.   We had a celebrity sighting of Tim McGraw at the door.  Steverino greeted me on bended knee and kissed my hand.  Justin was honored by his friends with cake (both the food & girl type).  Kip looked tired.  DJ Charlie did a fresh one “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” and it was good!   Firemen Glen, Al & John were there.  I hadn’t seen Al or John in about 15 yrs.  Glen said he was there the week before too but I hadn’t seen him.  He also said he feels young @ D’Jais compared to the Columns crowd & he is bored of retirement.  I can’t even imagine.  On break we took our drinks out on the porch.  Harry stopped by & asked after Sharon.  Frank sat down & chatted up.   I asked if the Hummer in the parking lot was his.  I thought not – it wasn’t him but Fireman Glen thought it was.  Frank does drive it but I was right.   When he left the table I noticed the curly light wiring on the porch was clean.   A short time ago I pointed out to Frank that it was grossly dirty.  I never got the chance to ask him if it had been cleaned by someone on staff or by the torrential rains we had.  Back in the bar Stanley’s biggest fans put on tee shirts that read “We know who John Eddie is but who the hell is Stanley K?”  Stanley wore one too.  Later Pete again reminded me he was the only drinking member of Holme.  I corrected him – he & Joel are the only drinking members of Holme.   Pete also questioned my quoting the Bible on this Blog.   I didn’t know I had until Donna & Marian confirmed it.  For those wondering:  I Corinthians 13:4.

Special Note to FJS: I hope you get it - you’re rich in the one thing money can’t buy you.  

Love, M.    

 

Who Says You Can't Go Holme? - 7/17/06

I could not be bought with food.  It took the big guns – Bobby & Puggy plus nudging from my sister & Camille being on vacation down the shore to quickly end my boycotting of Holme.  It was very crowded. It seemed the entire fan base was there.  I wasn’t sure Puggy would really show & when I arrived at D’Jais Marisa told me he had just been there with his daughter & had left.  I have very mixed feelings about Puggy & am very guarded around him but I still felt a little let down.

Kip introduced Bobby by telling the crowd he was an original member of Holme & is now a member of Bon Jovi & would be playing Giants Stadium the next night.  Bobby then said “but it won’t be anything like this”.  Everyone laughed.  Kip said they had learned a new song & had practiced all day.  The band then went into Neil Young’s “Like A Hurricane”.   It’s my favorite song that Bobby does & Holme played it excellently!  I wish they could continue to play it.  Like I said Marisa was there & she had a new fabuuuulous hairdo.  Joe & Sarah Lepis came.  Then Puggy appeared.  We kissed, we chatted, we went to the side of the stage.  I told him he had to do Brass in Pocket.  It had been one of his signature songs when he was in the band (another being Pretty Woman).  He said he couldn’t because he didn’t know the words.  Unthinkable!  I offered to write the words down for him but he was not interested.  I encouraged him to tongue Bobby like he used to in the old days & when he went on stage he tried to but Bobby wasn’t having it.  Puggy sang 2 songs – Brown Eyed Girl & Satisfaction.  Like Puggy we’re from Jersey City so we loved it when he changed the words in B.E.G. from “behind the stadium with you” to “behind Roosevelt Stadium with you”.  I didn’t notice but Sharon said Puggy forgot the words to Satisfaction & that Kip had tried to help him but it was futile.  When he left the stage he came by & told me he was working on a CD of Neil Diamond songs - again Unthinkable! – and to email him.  Later Joe Lepis said to me that Puggy should have done Brass in Pocket.  This night Bobby didn't mingle with masses.  Oh and I almost forgot, Kevin Cavanaugh played with the band.  Chard seemed to be digging Kathy K.  She told him how we saw his twin last week at the Columns & he said “poor guy”.  We went outside for food during a break.  Take note – don’t order the pretzels.  More often than not they’re as hard as rocks.  Kip came through the snack bar & asked for Camille (who was in the ladies room at the time).  He said he wanted to tease her about how she used to like Richard Gere.  I informed him she still does.  Camille returned. She was very tan.  Frank came by touched her arm & said she was burned.  Frank has forever been very anti sun & he started to tell Camille how bad taking the sun is when I reminded him that cigarettes & drinking were also bad for you.  He said he’d quit smoking around Christmas & told us a story of why he quit.  If you know Frank you know that I am being grammatically correct when I say “a” story.  Anyhoo, it had to do with Belmar’s Mayor Pringle explaining addiction to him.  Kip called Frank back into the bar to play & we were all left perplexed by Frank’s story.  None of us really got it.  Needless to say I was extremely happy that Frank quit smoking.

Love, M.

 

Wait - One last thing - Frank & Kip bought D’Jais with Holme money.  My friends and I sometimes went to see Holme 4 nights a week to places as far away as Ship Bottom (Joe Pop’s) and Randolph (Final Exam) and we paid to see them.  After Holme disbanded we went to D’Jais 3-4 times a week.  Lots of their fans did the same thing.   The Holme fan base was their bread & butter back then & had it not been for their fans Frank & Kip could well have ended up on welfare.

Holme Away From Holme - 7/9/06

For once the band began on time.  There were some fresh songs like Pour Some Sugar on Me, Livin' on a Prayer and Me & Julio Down by the School Yard.  Of course they played their regular songs like Runaway & American Girl.  We were told the band would take requests but only if they were written on a napkin.  The breaks were long as they sometimes are.  It was Kathy, Sharon & me.  The crowd was composed of mostly couples.  I swore I saw Chard in the crowd but was later proved wrong.  Glen the Fireman who had a shore house on 14th next to ours in the early 80’s walked in.  He’s 54, single & just retired.  He remembered all of our names & said we had the same hairdos we did in the 80’s.  He’s right.

We were hungry & decided to grab some fries @ D’Jais snack bar.  We were waiting for our food when Patty Conner stopped to chat with us.  She told me she has read my Blog. Kip had shown it to her.  I tried to explain to her that I had always been critical of the band but she assured me that the band respected my opinion.  She told us there were photos of us on Angelo’s PhotoShow.  At that point Kip came by & Patty asked him about Angelo’s photos.  I told Kip I was still mad at him over July 3rd & not to talk to me.  Patty informed us they were going to have a nice buffet the next Monday to make up for the band not playing the 3rd.  A peace offering?  Evidence that all of your emails did rock Kip’s world.  I had emailed Kip almost daily with my tirades over the 3rd and my thoughts on how the band should have handled the situation.  I truly thought the band to be unfair to their fans.  I was told last year that D’Jais makes more money on Holme’s Monday nights than they do on Sundays.  My theory on this is the Sunday crowd is drugging and the Monday crowd is drinking.  What Holme should have done was played at another venue for happy hour let’s say 4 – 7:00.  They could have found a drummer to sit in for Frank for the afternoon leaving him to tend to D’Jais.  Kip could have been back at D’Jais by 7:30.  It would have been a win-win situation.  In addition, the band would have been paid by the other venue putting money in Kip’s pocket. Hey the band could have even continued to play after Kip left.  Another way they could have gone was to charge everyone $10 to get in voiding all VIP cards for the holiday.  Lastly they could have had a guest player to draw a larger crowd (like when Bobby plays with them). The 20 yr olds had Z100 Friday, Saturday & Sunday.  Trust me, they were not going to abandon D’Jais & frequent other clubs in the future if Holme had played that Monday.