City gardens
Encyclopedia
City Gardens was a nightclub
located at 1701 Calhoun Street in Trenton, New Jersey
.
The Nalbone family of Trenton and Lawrence, New Jersey
, owned the building several years before it became the legendary rock club known as City Gardens. The "City Gardens" moniker was first used strictly as a blues club in early 1979. Before its life as a blues club, it was an after-hours club called Chocolate City. The dates for Chocolate City are probably 1976 to 1978, and the club name stems from a 1975 song
by Parliament-Funkadelic
of the same name. (Ironically, that same band would perform at City Gardens with P-Funk leader George Clinton
nearly two decades later.) Kurtis Blow
had performed at Chocolate City before his release "The Breaks
", which is recognized as the first rap
song to be certified as a gold record. The building has also been written up in local newspaper accounts as a Bible warehouse, and also known for many years in the 60's as a car dealership called US 1 Motors. As of 2011, the Nalbones still own the building and the building and property has been listed as for sale in local newspapers and Craig's list for a number of years. There was an amazing large neon sign on top of the building that read US 1 MOTORS that when lit in its hey day could be seen for miles. The sign had to be dismantled due to decay and pieces of the structure falling on patrons as they entered through the original door of City Gardens, which was the back door of the small room.
, alternative, industrial
and cutting-edge dance music
for the time period. At the height of its popularity, in the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, the 90-cent dance party regularly had over 600 to 700 people and often broke over 1000 on the door count. Frank Nalbone has stated to this author that Thursday night dance night, with DJ Carlos, made it possible for the club to keep its doors open and feature many of the live acts, which often were not economically successful or just broke even.
, Thompson Twins
and Sinéad O'Connor
all made their American debuts at City Gardens. Danzig
performed their first show ever at the venue.
The Beastie Boys, on an off night from their Madonna
tour as her opening band along with Murphy's Law, performed at City Gardens in what would be the shortest set of any headlining band. With Rick Rubin
as their stage DJ and armed with turntable
s that skipped due to the three other Beasties jumping across the stage like wild maniacs, the show lasted twenty minutes, also due to the fact they were out drinking at some other bar nearby and had decided to show up and go on around 1:30 am. Normal headliner start times were 12 midnight, and final live music always ended around 1:45 am back then.
Jon Stewart
of Comedy Central's The Daily Show
and also MTV fame was a bartender for several years at City Gardens before his stand up comedy career and later television career took off. Jon never performed at City Gardens, and there is only one known photo that exists of Jon Stewart inside the club.
James Murphy, leader of LCD Soundsystem
, was a bouncer for City Gardens during the hardcore Sunday matinee shows for an unknown number of months.
Ween
calls City Gardens their home base. Their first "club" show was opening for the Butthole Surfers
as young teenagers. They had two cassette-only releases before the City Gardens live LP release The Live Brain Wedgie which sells on EBay generally for $200 or more and was recorded live at City Gardens in one of their first live shows.
The Ramones
performed at City Gardens 25 times, including one of only two performances of the Ramones that featured drummer Elvis Ramone on drums (Elvis was actually Clem Burke
of Blondie
).
R.E.M.'s Peter Buck was quoted in the book "Remarks" by Tony Fletcher that sitting in the band's van outside of City Gardens watching children play football was part of the feeling that inspired their song "Perfect Circle".
The Members
, from England, entire City Gardens performance was televised nationally on the old USA network.
Sparks
performed at City Gardens three days after their Saturday Night Live
appearance.
Radio personality and WPST program director Tom Cunningham, in conjunction with WPST, had Bon Jovi
convinced to perform a free concert at City Gardens to feature their then soon-to-be-released LP New Jersey
. The idea was turned down due to Bon Jovi asking for a Thursday night, and both the club owner Frank Nalbone and club promoter Randy Now rejected the performance for two distinctly different reasons. Nalbone was afraid it would break the consistency of the legendary Thursday Night 90 Cent Dance Party and had offered any other day of the week except for any Thursday to hold the free pre-LP release event, and promoter Now said no because he felt that Bon Jovi's music, even with a free show and probably one of the top bands in the entire world by that point, did not fit the mold and the style of the City Gardens live music format.
A few years later, Tom Cunningham, credited with signing Green Day
to their mega-million dollar Geffen Records
contract, saw Green Day perform at City Gardens. Oddly, Green Day had performed at City Gardens nearly one year earlier by Randy Now. In live recordings from Green Day's first show ever at City Gardens, Billie Joe Armstrong
can be heard exclaiming, "This is the biggest crowd that we have ever played in front of" and "We've never had monitors before," and after the first Green Day concert at City Gardens, drummer Tre Cool
kisses promoter Randy Now on the cheek due to them making literally quadruple their original guarantee and their total merchandise sales at that one venue topping four figures for the first time in their career. They left City Gardens by trashing the dressing room as a "right of rock and roll passage" or a "badge-of-honor and victory", thinking they were The Who
. Another interesting trivia fact with Green Day and City Gardens is after Green Day's first appearance at the club, and having traveled cross country from California
, legendary punk rock agent Andy Somers got wind of this career-changing concert performance in Jersey from this band out of California, and phoned from his Hollywood agency office City Gardens promoter Randy Now, asking him, "Hey, Randy. Andy here. What's this Green Day band all about?" and gave Somers the phone contact information which he used to pursue Green Day to become one of his clients, which they did. This started a relationship that would lead Green Day to be one of the headlining acts at the twenty-fifth anniversary of Woodstock entitled "Woodstock '94
" (or Mudstock due to Green Day starting a mud fight with the audience that spiraled out of control).
40.2374825°N 74.7607505°W
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
located at 1701 Calhoun Street in Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
.
The Nalbone family of Trenton and Lawrence, New Jersey
Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey
Area residents often refer to all of Lawrence Township as Lawrenceville. Lawrenceville is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located within Lawrence Township...
, owned the building several years before it became the legendary rock club known as City Gardens. The "City Gardens" moniker was first used strictly as a blues club in early 1979. Before its life as a blues club, it was an after-hours club called Chocolate City. The dates for Chocolate City are probably 1976 to 1978, and the club name stems from a 1975 song
Chocolate City (song)
"Chocolate City" is a song by the funk band Parliament, the lead track of their 1975 album of the same name. It was also released as a two-part single, the first from the album....
by Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic
Parliament-Funkadelic is a funk, soul and rock music collective headed by George Clinton. Their style has been dubbed P-Funk. Collectively the group has existed under various names since the 1960s and has been known for top-notch musicianship, politically charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums...
of the same name. (Ironically, that same band would perform at City Gardens with P-Funk leader George Clinton
George Clinton (musician)
George Clinton is an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, and music producer and the principal architect of P-Funk. He was the mastermind of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic during the 1970s and early 1980s, and launched a solo career in 1981. He has been cited as one of the foremost...
nearly two decades later.) Kurtis Blow
Kurtis Blow
Kurt Walker , better known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the first commercially successful rappers and the first to sign with a major record label...
had performed at Chocolate City before his release "The Breaks
The Breaks
The Breaks is an American 1999 comedy film written by and starring Mitch Mullany and directed by Eric Meza. The plot involves a day in the life of Derrick King, an Irish kid raised by a black family in Los Angeles, as he is kicked out of his house and suffers various other mishaps before eventually...
", which is recognized as the first rap
Rap
Rap may refer to:*Rapping, performance in which rhyming lyrics are used, with or without musical accompaniment ; while an MC performs spoken verses in time to a beat/ melody**Hip hop subculture**Hip hop music...
song to be certified as a gold record. The building has also been written up in local newspaper accounts as a Bible warehouse, and also known for many years in the 60's as a car dealership called US 1 Motors. As of 2011, the Nalbones still own the building and the building and property has been listed as for sale in local newspapers and Craig's list for a number of years. There was an amazing large neon sign on top of the building that read US 1 MOTORS that when lit in its hey day could be seen for miles. The sign had to be dismantled due to decay and pieces of the structure falling on patrons as they entered through the original door of City Gardens, which was the back door of the small room.
THURSDAY NIGHT NINETY CENT Dance Night
Thursday Night Dance Night, which started with DJ Randy Now (Randy Ellis) in 1980, but was taken over by DJ Carlos (Carlos Santos) in early 1983. DJ Carlos was the main Thursday night and house DJ until late 1994, playing a combination of New WaveNew Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
, alternative, industrial
Industrial rock
Industrial rock is a musical genre that fuses industrial music and specific rock subgenres. Industrial rock spawned industrial metal, with which it is often confused...
and cutting-edge dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
for the time period. At the height of its popularity, in the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, the 90-cent dance party regularly had over 600 to 700 people and often broke over 1000 on the door count. Frank Nalbone has stated to this author that Thursday night dance night, with DJ Carlos, made it possible for the club to keep its doors open and feature many of the live acts, which often were not economically successful or just broke even.
Notable bookings
A Flock of SeagullsA Flock of Seagulls
A Flock of Seagulls are an English New Wave band originally formed by brothers Michael "Mike" Score and Alister "Ali" James Score , with Frank Maudsley , Michael Kuby , H.J...
, Thompson Twins
Thompson Twins
The Thompson Twins were a British pop group that were formed in April 1977 and disbanded in May 1993. They achieved considerable popularity in the mid 1980s, scoring a string of hits in the United Kingdom, the United States and around the globe. The band was named after the two bumbling detectives...
and Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
all made their American debuts at City Gardens. Danzig
Danzig (band)
Danzig is an American heavy metal band, formed in 1987 in Lodi, New Jersey. The band serves as a musical outlet for the singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig. Danzig can be seen as the third stage in Glenn Danzig's musical career, preceded by the horror punk bands The Misfits and Samhain...
performed their first show ever at the venue.
The Beastie Boys, on an off night from their Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
tour as her opening band along with Murphy's Law, performed at City Gardens in what would be the shortest set of any headlining band. With Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...
as their stage DJ and armed with turntable
Turntable
A turntable is generally a rotating platform, and may refer to:-Music:* Turntable, a motor-driven platform that normally rotates a gramophone record at a constant rotational velocity as part of a phonograph....
s that skipped due to the three other Beasties jumping across the stage like wild maniacs, the show lasted twenty minutes, also due to the fact they were out drinking at some other bar nearby and had decided to show up and go on around 1:30 am. Normal headliner start times were 12 midnight, and final live music always ended around 1:45 am back then.
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
of Comedy Central's The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
and also MTV fame was a bartender for several years at City Gardens before his stand up comedy career and later television career took off. Jon never performed at City Gardens, and there is only one known photo that exists of Jon Stewart inside the club.
James Murphy, leader of LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem was a prominent American dance-punk band from New York City. It was fronted by American singer-songwriter and producer James Murphy, co-founder of record label DFA Records...
, was a bouncer for City Gardens during the hardcore Sunday matinee shows for an unknown number of months.
Ween
Ween
Ween is an American alternative rock group. They formed in 1984 in New Hope, Pennsylvania when central members Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo met in an eighth grade typing class. Ween has a large cult underground fanbase despite being generally unknown in American pop music...
calls City Gardens their home base. Their first "club" show was opening for the Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers
Butthole Surfers is an American alternative rock band formed by Gibby Haynes and Paul Leary in San Antonio, Texas in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has been consistent since 1983. Teresa Nervosa served as second...
as young teenagers. They had two cassette-only releases before the City Gardens live LP release The Live Brain Wedgie which sells on EBay generally for $200 or more and was recorded live at City Gardens in one of their first live shows.
The Ramones
Ramones
The Ramones were an American rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first punk rock group...
performed at City Gardens 25 times, including one of only two performances of the Ramones that featured drummer Elvis Ramone on drums (Elvis was actually Clem Burke
Clem Burke
Clem Burke is an American musician who is the drummer for the band Blondie. Recruited by Chris Stein and Debbie Harry when they were first forming Blondie, Burke remained with the band through its first stage and later returned for its late 1990s reunion and then its extensive 2009 tour.Following...
of Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
).
R.E.M.'s Peter Buck was quoted in the book "Remarks" by Tony Fletcher that sitting in the band's van outside of City Gardens watching children play football was part of the feeling that inspired their song "Perfect Circle".
The Members
The Members
The Members are a British punk band that originated in Camberley, England. Their best known recording is "The Sound of the Suburbs" .-Career:...
, from England, entire City Gardens performance was televised nationally on the old USA network.
Sparks
Sparks (band)
Sparks is an American rock and pop band formed in Los Angeles in 1968 by brothers Ron and Russell Mael , initially under the name Halfnelson...
performed at City Gardens three days after their Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
appearance.
Radio personality and WPST program director Tom Cunningham, in conjunction with WPST, had Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
convinced to perform a free concert at City Gardens to feature their then soon-to-be-released LP New Jersey
New Jersey (album)
New Jersey is Bon Jovi's fourth album, released on September 19, 1988. The album charted at #1 on The Billboard 200. New Jersey was particularly notable for producing five Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 singles, the most top ten hits to date for a hard rock album.-Unreleased songs:The album was...
. The idea was turned down due to Bon Jovi asking for a Thursday night, and both the club owner Frank Nalbone and club promoter Randy Now rejected the performance for two distinctly different reasons. Nalbone was afraid it would break the consistency of the legendary Thursday Night 90 Cent Dance Party and had offered any other day of the week except for any Thursday to hold the free pre-LP release event, and promoter Now said no because he felt that Bon Jovi's music, even with a free show and probably one of the top bands in the entire world by that point, did not fit the mold and the style of the City Gardens live music format.
A few years later, Tom Cunningham, credited with signing Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
to their mega-million dollar Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
contract, saw Green Day perform at City Gardens. Oddly, Green Day had performed at City Gardens nearly one year earlier by Randy Now. In live recordings from Green Day's first show ever at City Gardens, Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong is an American rock musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, main songwriter and lead guitarist for the American punk rock band Green Day...
can be heard exclaiming, "This is the biggest crowd that we have ever played in front of" and "We've never had monitors before," and after the first Green Day concert at City Gardens, drummer Tre Cool
Tre Cool
Frank Edwin Wright III, a.k.a. Tré Cool, is an American drummer, best known as the drummer for the punk rock band Green Day. He replaced the group's former drummer John Kiffmeyer in 1990...
kisses promoter Randy Now on the cheek due to them making literally quadruple their original guarantee and their total merchandise sales at that one venue topping four figures for the first time in their career. They left City Gardens by trashing the dressing room as a "right of rock and roll passage" or a "badge-of-honor and victory", thinking they were The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
. Another interesting trivia fact with Green Day and City Gardens is after Green Day's first appearance at the club, and having traveled cross country from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, legendary punk rock agent Andy Somers got wind of this career-changing concert performance in Jersey from this band out of California, and phoned from his Hollywood agency office City Gardens promoter Randy Now, asking him, "Hey, Randy. Andy here. What's this Green Day band all about?" and gave Somers the phone contact information which he used to pursue Green Day to become one of his clients, which they did. This started a relationship that would lead Green Day to be one of the headlining acts at the twenty-fifth anniversary of Woodstock entitled "Woodstock '94
Woodstock '94
Woodstock '94, often called the "commercial Woodstock" or "Mudstock", was a music festival organized to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock Festival of 1969...
" (or Mudstock due to Green Day starting a mud fight with the audience that spiraled out of control).
External links
- Riot on the Dance Floor: The Story of Randy Now and City Gardens, a film
- http://www.citygardensnj.com
- http://www.randynow.com
- http://www.wtsr.org, 91.3 FM in Central New Jersey and Bucks County, PennsylvaniaBucks County, Pennsylvania- Industry and commerce :The boroughs of Bristol and Morrisville were prominent industrial centers along the Northeast Corridor during World War II. Suburban development accelerated in Lower Bucks in the 1950s with the opening of Levittown, Pennsylvania, the second such "Levittown" designed by...
. Wednesdays 8 to 10 PM EST - Randy Now's Capital Garage Radio Show - What the World Abuses Trenton Uses, blog.wfmu.org, 12 April 2006
40.2374825°N 74.7607505°W