I thought it was odd of me to somehow agree with all of you (non-anonymous) contributors to this thread. All different points of view, but living here and with a passion for Asbury Park. But then got another promo email for Nicle Atkins' CD, "Neptune City." And it reminded me of all you've been saying: The shores of New Jersey are littered with small towns whose better days are far in the past. They’re towns that have been written about, and sung over; towns that have been mythologized and idealized; and they are the towns that 28-year-old musician Nicole Atkins–a native of Neptune City, located a stones throw from fabled Asbury Park was born and raised. They can be places steeped in their own history, buried under the sense of their own pasts. Places of hey-days and what-once-was. [N.B.especially]And it’s that sense of something lost and of what perhaps should have been, and what might be, that permeates Atkins’s debut, Neptune City. The characters in her tunes seem to live in an idealized past. “This record is the history of my town; it’s the history of my family and friend in this town,” she explains. “From the time I was a kid I started collecting these sad little tragically beautiful personal stories from the people in my life, and my own as well. That sense of history really appeals to me as an artist.” Even the track titles resonate: The Way it is, War Torn, Cool Enough, Love Surreal; except for the last one, "Party's Over." And from Customer reviews at Amazon: "Maybe Tonight" encapsulates the restless hope that permeates the entire record. By the time the chorus hits, you are forced into the corner that demands you be either crushed by the broken promises or lifted up despite them. And: And sure enough, after trying on other cities and countries for size, she's ended up right back in Asbury Park, just next door to the place which, as she said in "Neptune City," she wasn't sure if she could go home to again. =================== Criticism coming from a tough love for Asbury Park is good. And so is an insistence to Celebrate Asbury Park now and the various passions of those who live here. For the next few days I'll be distracted celebrating the Inauguration. Happy America!
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