Chilltown Blues

Chilltown Blues

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Chilltown rapper Constant Flow explores "The Price of Paradise" with new album
“Paradise.” What does it take to be there, and what does it take from you?
Dec 9
On who/what informed the junk on our holiday wishlists
Reagan's deregulating opened up the floodgates for that too
Dec 1
Who wins in JC mayoral runoff?
Mamdani’s policies and charm offensive are meant in some part to chip away at the very things that have given people like Mamdani himself a leg up in a…
Nov 24
Most Popular
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Dual exhibits at NJCU Visual Arts Gallery reflect on 80 years since atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Sep 27
On crowdfunding "Dreams on a Pillow": Award-winning Palestinian game developer of "Liyla ..." talks motivations, challenges, and influences
Dec 17, 2024
The problem with being "one of the good ones"
Jul 22
JC intuitive consultant on where empathy can run deepest
Oct 23, 2024
Norwegian game developer offers new spin on pawn vs. queen in “RPG Chess”
May 11
Comedian and NYC-native Mario Benitez on the overlooked common struggle of poverty
Jan 16

Recent posts

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Photographer Rita Aida explores healing dynamic of nature in "Tree Therapy" show
Gallery show on Nov. 21 in Asbury Park
Nov 16
Subscribe or be subscribed for chance at book giveaway
Two copies of "Magic Flask"
Nov 15
What horror series speaks most to being vulnerable to decaying infrastructure?
It's also entertaining
Nov 8
Where you can find local food pantries
Chilltown and otherwise
Nov 4
"Chino's Book": Chilltown rapper Constant Flow's latest is ode to hip hop's Puerto Rican Superhero
Toed line between Jersey and NYC
Oct 30
Election season post: progressive ride looking rough
On local election and why inequality's so persistent broadly
Oct 21
Chilltown Blues
Chilltown Blues
On culture with one foot in Chilltown, a nickname for Jersey City ... where that nickname's peculiar roots are increasingly appropriated/romanticized. Other foot's wherever else people also try to live right next to purported centers of the world.

books

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The "Super-" writer whose Icon a SCOTUS justice may have quoted -- sans context
On Dwayne McDuffie
Oct 10
Three poems by Hakim Hasan: "The Fires Before Climate Change," "In Memory of The Sycamore Tree Outside My Window" and "Apocalypse For Hal…
The Fires Before Climate Change: He died/last winter/in an arson-fire/(an amenity/at his apartment building)/carrying loneliness ...
Apr 12
Three poems by RAW: "War," "Love," and "All is Nothing"
"War": I sing the folk song “Cherni Voron”/I sing it for the dead/For no one thinks of the dead/As they die/For the entertainment/Of the well fed.
Mar 26
Excerpt from novel MAGIC FLASK, published from Ciudad de Jersey
Just in time for your book buying haul for the holidays, an excerpt from MAGIC FLASK by Fennel Steuert: “Hurray,” said Brendan. “Yes, ex-f----g-cactly…
Nov 29, 2024
Decade-plus of Blaxpoitation cinema: Author of book exploring it on how use of n-word changed
Author, JC native Odie Henderson talks changing Black use of the term
Oct 31, 2024

music

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Chilltown rapper Constant Flow explores "The Price of Paradise" with new album
“Paradise.” What does it take to be there, and what does it take from you?
Dec 9
"Chino's Book": Chilltown rapper Constant Flow's latest is ode to hip hop's Puerto Rican Superhero
Toed line between Jersey and NYC
Oct 30
Virtuoso guitarist Vumbi Dekula leads Dekula Band on "Slavery is Crime" EP
Gives translation of title Congolese rumba track
Sep 10
On People Under the Stairs' "The Effects of Climate Change on Densely Populated Areas"
The hip-hop duo People Under the Stairs is comprised of the late Michael “Double K” Turner and Christopher “Thes One” Portugal, whom capped off a…
Sep 3
Jackie Simons reflects on her self-titled debut
And song "Jersey City" on previous album
Aug 27

film

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What horror series speaks most to being vulnerable to decaying infrastructure?
It's also entertaining
Nov 8
On superheroes and meaning -- inspiration or distraction -- with YouTubers Hayley and Kayli
Wokeness intrinsic to genre?
Jul 12
Context makes for the most singular mural in Chilltown
And why this is just a glimpse
May 4
As spring reveals seemingly perma-litter of Chilltown, what's a not so obvious cause?
And what does the original "Toxic Avenger" film have to do with anything?
Mar 22
YouTubers Hayley and Kayli on the horror!
Genre, that is, but also IRL
Mar 12

health

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Hudson Pride Center, Partners in Prevention launch first harm reduction kiosk in Union City
Initiative to prevent opioid overdose deaths
Sep 18
ARREN hopes new single "Broken" makes that state feel a lot less solitary than it should
"We'll be singing 'la's," he sings
May 1
Noise roundup: Singer curbs fireworks for dog; noise "makes for angry birds, stunts their growth, masks crime"
Whenever there’s this much anxiety in the air for even the upper middle class, things that affect the most vulnerable people in American society seem…
Apr 1
MaskBlocJC founder on masking as COVID remains firmly with us, thoughts on bird flu
“We lived through the beginning of 2020, and we had the information. Nothing changed. The only difference is, we got tired of masking, and collectively…
Feb 4
A Chilltown Blues comic: "Rea's Remix"
Or that time Reagan's administration showed love for noise
Jan 30

quality of life

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Who wins in JC mayoral runoff?
Mamdani’s policies and charm offensive are meant in some part to chip away at the very things that have given people like Mamdani himself a leg up in a…
Nov 24
What horror series speaks most to being vulnerable to decaying infrastructure?
It's also entertaining
Nov 8
Election season post: progressive ride looking rough
On local election and why inequality's so persistent broadly
Oct 21
A Chilltown Blues comic: On change being inevitable, via JC
—
Oct 5
Extrapolation: What can we learn from ... ?
A bayfront of the past and future; and Cagonjok
Sep 18

canvas

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Photographer Rita Aida explores healing dynamic of nature in "Tree Therapy" show
Gallery show on Nov. 21 in Asbury Park
Nov 16
A ghost story and more via Newark's Index Art Center
Group art show, open by appointment, runs to Nov. 15
Oct 14
Dual exhibits at NJCU Visual Arts Gallery reflect on 80 years since atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On "Take it home, for (__) shall not repeat the error" and "Atomic Cowboy: The Daze After"
Sep 27
Throwback to a front page ...
This was the calling card image for a comic ...
Jun 26
Hector Martinez's art emotes at Curate NJ Gallery's "Say Less" group show
Show opens March 1
Mar 1

smorgasbord

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On who/what informed the junk on our holiday wishlists
Reagan's deregulating opened up the floodgates for that too
Dec 1
"Superhero League of Hoboken" may be definitive videogame featuring NJ-NYC metropolitan area
Game centers NJ in worldwide dystopia
May 18
Norwegian game developer offers new spin on pawn vs. queen in “RPG Chess”
An angle Norwegian game developer Oskar Aleksander Melbye takes in the annoucement trailer for “RPG Chess,” his game coming via Steam, is as striking as…
May 11
The capital in unnecessary capitalization
By itself, you almost never need to capitalize president.
Jan 7
"Sign" of the times: "A Jersey City Where Success Is a Requirement"?
If you’ve been traveling by PATH train into Manhattan lately, you may have seen the above ad for the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation ...
Oct 17, 2024
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