Alliance of Neighbors (Red Bank, October 19, 2001)

Alliance of Neighbors of Monmouth Country Concert 2

On Friday morning, I took my 4 year old son to a playground by a nursery school. For the first time, he noticed that the building was a school. "A school!," he shouted out. So I explained to him that I went to nursery school there when I was even younger than him, and had played on the same playground. We walked through the neighborhood, over the dam in the park, up Main Street to the Carvel Ice Cream that still doesn't have any seats after all these years. Past the same old houses, many now adorned with door stickers or flags, some with 48-star flags. This is our home. We lost people last month; we're only 15 miles out, after all. But we're still standing.

In Red Bank last night, we saw part 2 of the Alliance of Neighbors of Monmouth County, telling the country again that we are still standing. The show mostly followed the same script as Thursday night's edition, though this time it was aired bt the local Comcast cable system as part of the overall fundraising efforts.

There were some changes from Thursday night's show. Some acts shortened their performances. John Eddie replaced local metal/rap act Borealis on the bill, and his rendition of "I Want You Back" was a standout in the set. His presence also helped solve, at least a little bit, some of the jarring flow problems that marked the first show. We still had to endure 3 songs from Heny Gross, including "Shannon" (which was not saved by having the choir singing backup), but there were also several fixes from the first show. There was no Phoebe Snow yelling at her pianist; they got it right this time. "Light of Day" was still fun, but this time they nailed the entrance to the final verse. And, mercifully, "Stand By Me" was organized, with the first verse intact.

Bruce's set was the same as Thursday, but despite the fact that he seemed to be losing his voice, the performance was improved. "Bobby Jean," having seemed overplayed the first night, was pulled back a bit. "My City of Ruins" was simply spectacular. And "Land of Hope and Dreams" returned to a slower moving train.

Overall, a proud night for the county, for New Jersey, for the survivors.