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Thursday 5th September - Union & Clifton NJ
Union, NJ
By the time we got to Adi’s place we were all pretty knackered. It was late afternoon local time, which meant we’d actually been awake for 17 hours. A couple of beers later and we were not really the life and soul of any party that you could imagine. Nevertheless, we were going out to a bar in Clifton, NJ called Connections to see the New York Rel-X and the UK Subs.
The journey there was an experience in itself, travelling in Adi’s Jeep. For a start, I don’t think that any car in the US has less than a 5-litre V8 engine. Manual gearboxes are unheard of. In the UK we have it drilled into us that when you pull in to the petrol, if you don’t turn off your mobile phone, you will blow up the petrol station. Not only did Adi not switch off her mobile phone, she made a call and left the engine running while a little guy came out and filled the tank. I saw people smoking cigarettes whilst their cars were being filled. UK garage owners would go catatonic! Besides, I haven’t seen anyone serve customers in a petrol station for, well, I can’t actually remember a time when I haven’t filled my own car with petrol. Wait a minute, when I went to Ireland in the early 90s… they still had attendants out in the wilds, probably because the pumps were so old, no-one would be able to use them.
By the time we got to Adi’s place we were all pretty knackered. It was late afternoon local time, which meant we’d actually been awake for 17 hours. A couple of beers later and we were not really the life and soul of any party that you could imagine. Nevertheless, we were going out to a bar in Clifton, NJ called Connections to see the New York Rel-X and the UK Subs.
The journey there was an experience in itself, travelling in Adi’s Jeep. For a start, I don’t think that any car in the US has less than a 5-litre V8 engine. Manual gearboxes are unheard of. In the UK we have it drilled into us that when you pull in to the petrol, if you don’t turn off your mobile phone, you will blow up the petrol station. Not only did Adi not switch off her mobile phone, she made a call and left the engine running while a little guy came out and filled the tank. I saw people smoking cigarettes whilst their cars were being filled. UK garage owners would go catatonic! Besides, I haven’t seen anyone serve customers in a petrol station for, well, I can’t actually remember a time when I haven’t filled my own car with petrol. Wait a minute, when I went to Ireland in the early 90s… they still had attendants out in the wilds, probably because the pumps were so old, no-one would be able to use them.
OK. We’re there, let’s go at it…Petrol, or Gas, if you’d prefer, is currently around $1.37 a gallon. At current exchange rates, that is about 90p per gallon. Now I know that an American gallon is less than a UK gallon by a pint or twain, but even so, less than a quid a gallon? What is it currently in the UK? 74.9p per litre, or in old money, £3.40 per gallon! Hang on, I haven’t finished yet… now take off the tax that is levied by our utterly corrupt, thieving, money-grabbing, lying-bastard government, some 85% of the cost per gallon and you have should be the real cost of our petrol. Even with reasonable tax on petrol, we should be paying no more than our American cousins.
There you have it, in a nutshell. In the UK it is a crime to drive a car and we are persecuted, harassed and hounded mercilessly because we do just that. Hell, in most towns it is even a crime to park a car! Have you seen London lately? Traffic jams are being artificially created so that Congestion Charges can be levied. Authorities are actually manipulating traffic lights and roadworks to ensure that roads are snarled and gridlocked so that they can blame the motorist and make them pay. Then they make all the congestion go away and justify their actions. Someone please explain to me how that can be legal. Doesn’t that come under extortion in the dictionary? It’s bloody criminal, I know that much.
In the States, cars are a way of life and it is not seen as a luxury, but a necessity, therefore, running costs are low. Yeah, there are tolls for using roads, but with the costs of gas so low, it is still half the price of a similar journey in the UK and their lusty engines’ petrol consumption is twice that of our frugal 4 cylinder hairdryers. Rant over…
There you have it, in a nutshell. In the UK it is a crime to drive a car and we are persecuted, harassed and hounded mercilessly because we do just that. Hell, in most towns it is even a crime to park a car! Have you seen London lately? Traffic jams are being artificially created so that Congestion Charges can be levied. Authorities are actually manipulating traffic lights and roadworks to ensure that roads are snarled and gridlocked so that they can blame the motorist and make them pay. Then they make all the congestion go away and justify their actions. Someone please explain to me how that can be legal. Doesn’t that come under extortion in the dictionary? It’s bloody criminal, I know that much.
In the States, cars are a way of life and it is not seen as a luxury, but a necessity, therefore, running costs are low. Yeah, there are tolls for using roads, but with the costs of gas so low, it is still half the price of a similar journey in the UK and their lusty engines’ petrol consumption is twice that of our frugal 4 cylinder hairdryers. Rant over…
Connections, is just a typical American bar, straight out of any movie you care to think of, as far as we Brits were concerned. The barkeeps wear tight jeans, white vests, all muscles and Italian machismo.
What I didn’t know when we went out was, that this was a Thursday night, the first night of the new football season, and on the TV in this bar, in less than half an hour from the time we arrived, was the opening game of the Giants season, live from Jimmy Hoffa’s grave. For a few seconds, I was convinced I had died and gone to Heaven!
I was happily knocking back a pint of Budweiser watching the pre-game show when Fish came and sat down next to me and ordered a Jack Daniels. We both sat and gazed in amazement as the barkeep proceeded to pour what we considered to be something in the region of a quadruple JD into a glass for the sum of $4. Cheap at half the price! So, I ordered some of the same and chased it with another pint of Anheuser-Busch’s finest.
For an English [American] Football fan, watching opening night from Giant’s Stadium, in a New Jersey bar, surrounded by rabid Giants fans was a great way to start my American experience. Shame that the Giants lost, but it was a close match and the atmosphere was fantastic. Probably the weirdest part about it all was that about half way through the game, Charlie Harper of the UK Subs came and sat down and started talking to Fish. Then he stayed and watched a good chunk of the game with us.
What I didn’t know when we went out was, that this was a Thursday night, the first night of the new football season, and on the TV in this bar, in less than half an hour from the time we arrived, was the opening game of the Giants season, live from Jimmy Hoffa’s grave. For a few seconds, I was convinced I had died and gone to Heaven!
I was happily knocking back a pint of Budweiser watching the pre-game show when Fish came and sat down next to me and ordered a Jack Daniels. We both sat and gazed in amazement as the barkeep proceeded to pour what we considered to be something in the region of a quadruple JD into a glass for the sum of $4. Cheap at half the price! So, I ordered some of the same and chased it with another pint of Anheuser-Busch’s finest.
For an English [American] Football fan, watching opening night from Giant’s Stadium, in a New Jersey bar, surrounded by rabid Giants fans was a great way to start my American experience. Shame that the Giants lost, but it was a close match and the atmosphere was fantastic. Probably the weirdest part about it all was that about half way through the game, Charlie Harper of the UK Subs came and sat down and started talking to Fish. Then he stayed and watched a good chunk of the game with us.
At half time, I went to watch Adi’s band The New York Rel-X play. This was my first experience of New York punk, live and in the flesh. The Rel-X is a good band and play well. They have been influenced by many different types of music, not just the indigenous punk scene. For instance, the song that made me really sit up and take notice was when they covered the Girlschool song, 999 Emergency! Next time I see the Girls, I’ll have to tell them about that.
At one point, there was a possibility of The Skeptix playing a short set sometime during the night but the boys in the band all got far too pissed, far too quickly for that to be either possible, or desirable. In fact one of the boys, made quite an exhibition of himself with some troll he found in the spittoon. But, he shall remain nameless to spare his blushes. He knows who he is!
I returned to my barstool in the other room after The Rel-X went off, to resume my viewing of the Giants/49ers game. I felt a bit like Norm from Cheers because as I regained my seat, they all welcomed me back as if I was part of the regular crew. The barkeep poured me a free beer and I stayed and watched the rest of the game with them. I soon figured out that in American bars, if you get talking to the bartender and he likes you, you get a free beer for roughly every two you buy. At least that’s how it seemed to work out. Perhaps they just like my accent.
At one point, there was a possibility of The Skeptix playing a short set sometime during the night but the boys in the band all got far too pissed, far too quickly for that to be either possible, or desirable. In fact one of the boys, made quite an exhibition of himself with some troll he found in the spittoon. But, he shall remain nameless to spare his blushes. He knows who he is!
I returned to my barstool in the other room after The Rel-X went off, to resume my viewing of the Giants/49ers game. I felt a bit like Norm from Cheers because as I regained my seat, they all welcomed me back as if I was part of the regular crew. The barkeep poured me a free beer and I stayed and watched the rest of the game with them. I soon figured out that in American bars, if you get talking to the bartender and he likes you, you get a free beer for roughly every two you buy. At least that’s how it seemed to work out. Perhaps they just like my accent.
After the game was over, we watched the UK Subs. I took the pictures because I was literally falling asleep on my feet and I needed to do something to stop me collapsing. Man, we were so totally cabbaged, through lack of sleep, beer and Jack Daniels that Fish even went back to the van to sleep. But then again, he is a girly faggot with his head up his arse!
The UK Subs are great. I love them to bits. A lot of people say, “Harper’s an old fool, jumping around on stage, doing that shit at his age”. Another good one that people spout is that “It’s not really the UK Subs, it’s just Harper and some guys he picked up”. To all of these people, I say, “Shut the Hell up, you whining maggots!”
I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Charlie Harper. Whilst a lot of others have been doing nothing, he has been out there gigging constantly for the past 23 years. That deserves respect. What’s more he sounds the same as he did 25 years ago and he puts on a bloody good show. Yeah, he’s getting on a bit, but then again who isn’t? Since when was it a crime to get old? Should he start playing Barry Manilow tunes because he’s over a certain age? No, of course not. Punk is a state of mind. It is what you feel inside, not what you look like. Some people fail to realise that.
I hope Charlie keeps going as long as he wants to and good luck to him!
We eventually got back to Adi’s about 4AM and even though we were all shattered, we couldn’t get to sleep. Then ensued an extremely puerile half-hour of giggling, farting and being childish! The main offender was Chig, who seemed to be hiding a duck in his bed. We all drifted off to sleep at some point, although it was difficult because it only took one to start giggling and it set the rest of us off. God! I mean, if your kids behaved like that on a sleepover you would give them such shouting at!
Click here for the next bit
The UK Subs are great. I love them to bits. A lot of people say, “Harper’s an old fool, jumping around on stage, doing that shit at his age”. Another good one that people spout is that “It’s not really the UK Subs, it’s just Harper and some guys he picked up”. To all of these people, I say, “Shut the Hell up, you whining maggots!”
I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Charlie Harper. Whilst a lot of others have been doing nothing, he has been out there gigging constantly for the past 23 years. That deserves respect. What’s more he sounds the same as he did 25 years ago and he puts on a bloody good show. Yeah, he’s getting on a bit, but then again who isn’t? Since when was it a crime to get old? Should he start playing Barry Manilow tunes because he’s over a certain age? No, of course not. Punk is a state of mind. It is what you feel inside, not what you look like. Some people fail to realise that.
I hope Charlie keeps going as long as he wants to and good luck to him!
We eventually got back to Adi’s about 4AM and even though we were all shattered, we couldn’t get to sleep. Then ensued an extremely puerile half-hour of giggling, farting and being childish! The main offender was Chig, who seemed to be hiding a duck in his bed. We all drifted off to sleep at some point, although it was difficult because it only took one to start giggling and it set the rest of us off. God! I mean, if your kids behaved like that on a sleepover you would give them such shouting at!
Click here for the next bit
