I love being from New Jersey.  It like no other place in the world. 

So I am passing my time searching for Agnostic Front videos on Youtube.  And I came across a very early "appearance" they made lipsyching to a cassette on the Uncle Floyd show (does anyone else remember that show).  I always remembered it as a kids show but The Misfits, The Ramones, The Dead Boys and many, many others all appeared on the show. 

So Uncle Floyd mentions that the Agnostic Front has played at the City Gardens in Trenton.  So I did some research and here's what I found:

You can find more of these at:

http://www.randynow.com/punkcards.html

Each "Punk Card" is an amazing line-up of the fantastic bands that played there.

There was also a huge racist skinhead problem in the late 80s in Trenton too so that's behing the Doc Martin/Suspenders ban seen on the card above (in the new dress code section).

Anyway the punk rock wealth associated with this venue is really breath taking.  There is an amazing Nirvana concert available on Youtube filmed there.

So what I wanted to post was a recording of a Venom "concert" with Black Flag.  Apparently Cronos was expecting more from an American Tour than ending up on Calhoun street in Trenton.

Here's a write -up:

"One of the funniest things ever put to tape. Great band, but....just listen. (As heard on the Beastie Boys' "Mark On The Bus") "In 1986, Black Metal legends Venom played what some thought of as an unlikely bill with Rollins-era Black Flag at famed punk dump City Gardens, in scenic Trenton, New Jersey. The club was a magnet for all types of unsavory social elements -- skinheads, criminals, bikers, leather-studded punks, people who liked Meat Beat Manifeto, and so forth. Anyway, the punkers, metalheads, and general thugs who turned out for the show not only got to witness two of the more badass bands of the era sharing a stage, but were also treated to some of the most (unintentionally?) hilarious between-song stage banter ever, courtesy of Venom's knuckle-dragging vocalist Cronos."

If the recording above doesn't work you can hear it here:

http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2005/08/youre_fuckin_pr.html

So after hearing all of this I decided (after finding out it was actually right where I pass by on my bike ride to work to pass by the building where once skinheads lurked and the Circles Jerked.

Here's a picture I took this morning. I'm trying to hold my breath in the picture because the building really stinks (I'm fasting for Ramadan so that just makes it worse on an empty stomach), there must be a hole in the roof because all the doors have a green mold creeping out (or maybe that was always there??). 

In case you are taking notes, here's some quotes:

"You know what this is??! This comes from where Venom come from, it's called Newcastle Brown Ale! IT KNOCKS YOU ON YOUR FUCKIN' BACK, LET ME TELL YOU!!"

"You know, you've heard some rumors out here that Venom have packed in, yes? That Venom are supposed to have finished? WELL WE'RE RECORDING A FUCKING NEW ALBUM NOW!!!"

"You wanna hear something really heavy? ....YOU WANNA HEAR SOMETHING THAT'S GONNA KICK YOUR BALLS OFF???!!!"

Here's a memory write-up by Derrick Bostrom of The Meat Puppets about playing at the City Gardens.

http://meatpuppets.com/puppets/?p=67