the rix mix

About ten years ago, when Jersey's economy was better, my friend Joe invited me to accompany him to the Annual New Jersey League of Municipalities Conference for a day & evening. I asked why I should be interested in this huge Atlantic City convention event. He said he couldn't describe it, I'd have to see for myself, promised it'd be worth the trip, & would hardly cost a dime if I avoided the slots.

Joe did a lot of graphic art, newsletter, & brochure work for towns & public agencies, & the convention was a great place for him to informally network. I don't know the Italian word for schmooze, but whatever it is, Joe is very good at it.

It was an experience. For nearly 12 hours we wandered around, eating & drinking our way through a variety of open bars, hospitality suites, & corporate-sponsored buffets. Joe's out-of-pocket expenses for the trip, beyond gas, tolls, & parking, were the cost of a shared cab ride with some tipsy municipal employees, & the $20 it took him half an hour to lose at a $5 roulette wheel.

When we arrived in A.C., Joe found a way to get into the exhibitor & vendor hall at the convention center. Everyone else had convention passes dangling from their necks. We left there carrying several large bags of free office supplies, plus free baseball caps, teeshirts, & a variety of oddball items. Joe collected, studied, & critiqued brochures like paintings in an art museum. We took a free jitney back to Caesar's & deposited these in Joe's SUV. Joe asked around regarding later activities, organized a flexible schedule in his head, & we went out for a boardwalk stroll & admired the ocean for awhile. It was a fine November afternoon on the Jersey Shore.

After that it was pretty much all party. Joe met a guy headed for an Irish pub about a mile from the casino. The entire pub had been booked by a utility company. We hitched a ride. I never saw a bar so crowded, even on St. Patrick's Day. We could barely squeeze in. Somehow we managed to obtain a pitcher of beer, declining the bottom row scotch, & made our way to the back room. During this slow journey I encountered two writer acquaintances from Union County being propped up by the surrounding crowd, like a rush hour subway car. They said they were having an excellent time at the convention. Miraculously, we found two empty chairs in the back room, where a table contained a stack of corned beef sandwiches & condiments. One chewy bite told me I shouldn't take a second, I skipped it. We left when the crowd thinned enough to reach the door directly. A taxi pulled up, & Joe quickly asked the people who'd called it if they were headed for Caesar's & wanted to split the cost. They said yes & yes, & off we went.

Back at the casino, Joe played the wheel & we listened to a slick show band. Then we easily crashed a banquet hall buffet sponsored by a large bank by arriving just after it opened, with Joe chatting up a credentialed attendee as we passed a security man at the door too bored to check invitations - as Joe had predicted. It was not an open house event. There was a live jazz combo on a stage, carving stations for turkey, ham, & roast beef, a variety of tasty hot & cold finger food - I recall the baby asparagus on the veggie table. We wrapped & pocketed some pastries for snacking on the ride home.

We headed upstairs to the hospitality suites, stopping briefly in a few dull ones before hitting the affair hosted by Linden Mayor John Gregorio, in a corner suite with an outdoor balcony & lovely view. Gregorio was a familiar face & a gracious host in his tailored suit, personally greeting everyone coming through the door; his attitude was that if you knew where he was located, you were welcome. Gregorio had been mayor since the Sixties, excepting a period out of office while incarcerated. We met some people we knew, & a number of attractive women I recalled worked at Linden City Hall when I had lived in that town. The hors d'oeuvres were first rate, unfortunately, we weren't very hungry at that point. I had a top row martini mixed by somebody there who had mixed plenty of them.

We thanked the Mayor, moved on, & spent the rest of the evening in the Union County Democratic suite, where we again encountered the Irish pub writers, & assorted freeholders, & future gay Gov. Jim McGreevey, who was staying close to State Senator Ray Lesniak, who occupied the room's only comfortable chair & looked exhausted & hungover, eyes closed, rubbing his forehead, he probably felt like saying, "Oh, shut up, Jimmy & find me some aspirin." Joe & I had such a pleasant time there we lost track of the time & it was midnight when we headed back north.

Joe, I realized, had imbibed almost no alcoholic beverages, drinking wasn't his thing, or mine. We were more interested in the food & people-watching. He was sober. I was mildly buzzed from a few cocktails. But he could barely stay awake north of the Asbury Park exit on the Parkway, it became truly frightening after awhile. I offered to drive him the rest of the way home when we reached my place. He declined. The next day he said he might have pulled over & napped for awhile, he couldn't remember. He had gotten home intact. I hadn't seriously doubted he would, but I worried because I liked his wife & kids.

I've heard the Conference is no longer the big party loaded with freebies it was, when thousands of Jersey's city & municipal employees - the paper pushers & keyboard tappers - shared hotel rooms for a night, partisan divisions put aside for some generally harmless fun amongst one's own kind while attending seminars & panel discussions like "Emerging Technology and Its Effects on Local Telecommunication Tax Revenues." Too bad in a way. Take away their titles & they're mostly just office workers & managers with modest salaries, & most stay only one night & hang out with co-workers expecting no more than free drinks & fried shrimp & an evening playing the slots or catching a lounge show in Atlantic City, which is there for having a good time.

Labels: Atlantic City, jersey shore, New Jersey politics