HOLY SHIT! OF THE WEEK:
Somehow, without my knowledge, we have crept up to 18 paid subscribers. 18! 18 people showing how much they value local content creation. 18 people supporting a local creator. 18 people signaling their wholelsome virtue. 18 people setting $5 on fire… (but seriously, thank you. It’s probably due to my recent status upgrade to “Movie Star” that has drawn the extra eyes…)
SUBSCRIBER ALERT OF THE WEEK:
PETE MANZETTI! THIS PARAGRAPH IS FOR YOU! As much as I like taking your money (and seeing you and Kath brave the thunderstorm and country music-fueled mayhem at Jersey Girl), I believe you may be paying for 2 subscriptions. This is way too few. Everyone should be paying for 10-12 subscriptions if I’m gonna make any money off this fucking thing…
GIGS! GIGS! GIGS!
It was a wild & crazy weekend in Wildwood, driven by the Barefoot Country Music Festival, which seems to have grown exponentially since its humble beginnings as a Kenny Chesney concert in 2014 into a real deal, A-list music event. You could really feel the vibe as 1000s of folks in cowboy boots and 10-gallon hats shuffled down the boardwalk.
Jerry Kolber and I were in the midst of a busier-than-usual-but-relatively-sane gig at Jersey Girl when word came down the beach was being evacuated and to brace ourselves for a crush of humanity and they were not wrong. As the skies opened up in spectacular fashion the Jersey Girl got stuffed to the gills. We played all our country songs plus Chappel Roan plus a couple of new Taylor Swift and everyone seemed to be well-behaved. Eventually the skies cleared and the concert restarted but for a couple of hours there we felt like real live rock stars.
Afterwards I made my way to Founders (formerly Jumbo’s) where my son Henry works to have some Curley’s Fries and wait for his shift to end and got to catch most of Megan Moroney’s set. Megan entered my orbit a few years back when I went on a Country Music Only jag while working at the hospital. She writes good country songs and is a beautiful girl. Or, as I joked to another woman watching from Founders, “Talented and good-looking, what a tough way to go through life. I’ve never had either of those problems.” The woman replied, “Don’t say that, you’re very talented…” in one of the sickest burns anybody has ever dropped on me.
Friday we made our 2025 debut at Joe’s Fish Co. on Surfside Pier. We played there once last summer for Curley’s Fries 50th birthday party (where I, some might say, brilliantly improvised a song about potatoes to the tune of Sweet Caroline, but I digress) but this was our first time playing a GIG-gig there and it is, a little surprisingly, quite the vibe. The downstairs area is the kid of rush-rush get ‘em in-get ‘em out boardwalk restaurant you might expect (do not misconstrue, Morey’s Piers food, overseen by executive chef Wally Jurusz, is universally excellent), but the upstairs is like stepping into a totally different restaurant, a club with a circular bar at its center surrounded by ocean view tables.
Considering there was a giant country music festival going on 6 blocks away, there was a pretty good crowd. Most amazingly, however, we had a perfect view for the incredible festival drone show. I can’t even really describe it. A series of red and blue lines rose from the beach which then turned into virtual fireworks, a bald Eagle shooting sparks from his claws to an American flag to just my goodness it was amazing. Being Terry & Jerry, we busted out a rousing rendition of God Bless the USA followed by Comfortably Numb to accompany the mesmerizing light show. All in all, a successful debut and what I think will turn into a sneaky cool hang for the summer. And our tip jar was full! Finally! And the Sosiks weren’t even there! (I aplogize for contantly ragging on Alex & Lynn, plenty of other people egregiously over-tip the band, like the Redelicos, the Manniks and the Manzettis, I just like to pick on the Sosiks to get Alex fired up…)
UPDATE: Mere seconds after typing the above paragraph tweaking the Sosiks, Lynn texted me they’re giving me their lawnmower to replace my beloved Kobalt electric mower, which has apparently given up the ghost. I’ll be performing surgery on it after the weekend to see what I can see, but if any machine gets to the point that I am opening its innards, the chances of survuval are not high. Anyway, such a nice thing to do after I picked on them. I just wish there was some way to erase the previous paragraph, some kind of DELETE or BACKSPACE button that could just get rid of it. Oh well…
Anyway, same deal on Friday; I headed down to Founders to pick up Henry and got to watch a good bit of Lainey Wilson’s set, who absolutely tore it up. She’s come a long way from her first appearence as Hot Singer on Yellowstone to one of the biggest country music stars in the world.
That settles it; I’m writing an amazing country song and getting on that fucking stage in 2026. Book it.
We were off on Saturday (today, which is how I’m able to write to you this week; a serendipitous day off) as they booked country musicians at PigDog for the day, which is a bummer but, as this will probably be my last full day off until… October?… I’ll take it.
UPDATE: Hahahahaha! Just received a call from Morey’s to play PigDog tonight but, alas, Jerry is out of town and Dave Hughes is booked elsewhere and MAN do I hate turning down gigs, especially from our friends at Morey’s, but here we are. You know, if they would just teach me guitar I wouldn’t need any of these assholes…
The Schedule;
THURSDAY: Terry & Jerry @ Jersey Girl Kitchen, 530-930.
FRIDAY: Terry & Jerry @ Joe’s Fish Co., 6-10.
SATURDAY: Terry & Jerry @ PigDog, 1130-330.
SUNDAY: Terry & Dave @ Rusty Nail, 5pm-9pm. SING-ALONG W/ TERRY & DAVE! ACOUSTIC + KARAOKE!
KILLING MARY SUE STUFF!!!:
Last Thurday I attended the S. Jersey premiere of Killing Mary Sue, the movie I’ve been spamming you all about for the last several weeks. Some takeaways;
It’s a legit, real deal, no-foolin’ movie. It looks like a movie, it sounds like a movie, it smells like a movie. Low budget, yes. But 100% a movie and not some cheap TV-looking knock-off. Incredible production value. Every penny is on screen.
It’s good! I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’ve watched enough low budget films over the years that go south pretty quickly, but this one is very entertaining from beginning to end. Yes! It is ridiculously over the top, but that’s kind of the point.
It’s funny! And not just me! (Honestly, I’m not in it enough to have any impact whatsoever on the tone, but I’m definitely in it!) Sierra McCormick and Dermot Mulroney are very, very funny, and Martin Kove delivers the single biggest laugh of the movie. But the entire tone, despite the gratuitous violence (it’s a big assassins-on-assassins action flick), is fairly light-hearted.
Maddie Hogan in leather! To say any more would be a spoiler…
My semi-nude scene is mercifully brief.
Producer John Sachar went all out for the premiere, making everyone involved in the film feel like a big deal. I haven’t gotten that a lot in my life as an actor, so it felt pretty fucking good. And the screening was a hoot. Lots of yelling at the screen and cat-calling when certain people made their entrances. All kinds of fun. And I got to go see a movie I was in with my wife and 2 of 3 sons (Owen was working).
BONUS POINTS: Walking into the theater, Henry says, “Dad, you’re on the poster.” “Bullshit,” I say. But there I was, on the poster (as posted above). AND my name was listed above the title! Johnny had special movie posters made to promote those of us from S. Jersey who contributed and honestly it was pretty fucking cool. Of course, now that I’ve had a taste of being on the big screen in a bit part, I need to be the lead in the lext one…
PSYCHOLOGICAL COME-DOWN OF THE WEEK:
Last Thursday I was the subject of red carpet photos at the premiere of the movie I’m in. Last Friday I was asking Old Navy customers if they had their Super Cash.
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