deliriouslove1970. The life & times of Gary and Denise Flanders. (Free and worth every penny. If you would like to compliment the editor, send to garytheflan@deliriouslove1970.com. If you would like to complain, call your mother.)

The State flag of New Jersey. The mid-Atlantic state that was one of the original 13 colonies to rebel against the crown. So much of the Revolutionary War was fought in New Jersey it became known as ‘The Cross Roads of The Revolution’. The Host Nation people who lived there were the Lenape before they were colonized by the Dutch.

The flag, officially adopted in 1896, is radically (sic) different from other state flags that are a blue bedsheet with the state seal slapped on the middle. New Jersey is a…well…yellow bedsheet with the state seal slapped on the middle. The state seal, or coat of arms, was originally designed in 1777.

The reason I have a NJ Flag is one of those strangely twisted logic degree of separation things, that have nothing to do with Kevin bacon.

Back in my ‘big time rock-n-roll’ days, circa 1976, I got a call from my boss. He said, “Gary, clean up the store and go change the marquee out front, Bruce wants to come in to buy some records.” My response was, ‘Dude, it is cold outside and who the heck is Bruce?’

When Columbia first signed Springsteen to a record deal they pushed him as the new savior of rock. He did his first concert tour and Milwaukee was close to the first venue. Columbia would book a hall then try to sell tickets. People hadn’t heard of him so no one was buying tickets. CBS (Columbia Records) would start giving away tickets and yell: Bruce sells out another show!! It didn’t set well with me so I vowed to not like Springsteen.

It took me decades to get over that dumb decision. So, I went back and started listening to Bruce. Old stuff, new stuff, all stuff. I realized ‘dang, he is a hard working, straight ahead rock-n-roll, honest to goodness good musician. I read his book, I saw his Broadway show, and now I jump up and down every time I hear ‘Jungleland’.

Back to the New Jersey state flag. I do have a proposal for a redesign of the flag.