Greetings From A Place That Is Definitely Not The Biggest Music Destination In The World

“Ms. Lipson tried to get a meeting with Madison Marquette’s president, Gary Mottola, for weeks to make her pitch. She finally got it on a recent morning in a sunbaked conference room. Ms. Lipson was in a black skirt and sleeveless top and big sunglasses, Mr. Mottola in a Stone Pony T-shirt; a reporter attended. Ms. Lipson noted that while New Jersey had many regional museums, it had nothing that drew international tourism. ‘Except Madam Marie,’ Mr. Mottola interjected, referring to the stand of a former boardwalk fortuneteller made famous by Bruce Springsteen in his ‘4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).’ Ms. Lipson said the museum would be an economic catalyst in the way that Mass MoCA, a contemporary art museum that opened in 1999, has been in North Adams, Mass. ‘It was blighted; there was a high crime rate,’ she said. Mr. Mottola appeared to take umbrage. Asbury Park, he said, was ‘the biggest music destination in the world.’”
–Interesting article in the Times about Robin Parness Lipson, who is trying to start a contemporary art museum on the Asbury Park Boardwalk, and who runs into a bit of resistance from a man whose company owns the old power plant building that she envisions as a site. As much kinship as I might feel for his sense of local loyalty, and as much as I respect anyone who takes business meetings in a Stone Pony T-shirt, I think Gary should maybe lay off the Bruce Juice for a minute.