My Poor Brain

When I was a youngling, my family went on quite a few trips. My Dad was the navigation guru, he had visual maps in his head and all he had to do was look at it once. I don’t believe we ever actually left New England but we still saw some stuff. We went to amusement parks and other historical places that I could care less about. I loved the rides. That was the highlight of the trips for me, not even arriving but the actual travel. As I got older that love for being on the road grew more as I got into music. I love traveling and being able to listen to two or three full albums in one shot without stopping. Nothing has changed.I just took another trip, and I haven’t taken one in a long time. This time my brothers, Dad and I went to Red Bank, NJ. What’s in Red Bank you might ask? Well in my last post I wrote a whole lot about Kevin Smith, that was intended to be an introduction to this story but I got way to into it. We were headed towards a little place called Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash.

We estimated that it would take about 4 hours to get there. I was thrilled equally for the ride and the destination, for a change. This trip was different because it was actually something for my interest and not a trip planned by my parents. I prepared for the trip the day before by getting a ton of new music to listen to. Then I headed to a local store and bought a sweet pair of headphones for $180. They were Bose brand and Bose knows that those headphones could have been sold for $100 bucks, but they also know there are people like me who are willing to pay $180 bucks anyway. I got them cheaper then the Bose website sells them for though. Good game Bose, well played.

The next morning came and my Dad said he’d be at the house to pick us up and leave at 9am, so we made sure we were ready by 10am for when he actually would show up. We left at around 10:45am and were on the road about 2 hours. I loved it. I listened to a couple albums on my awesome new Bose headphones. We hit the Cracker Barrel for breakfast…at 1pm. If you haven’t been to a Cracker Barrel I suggest you go there, they make my favorite pancakes. They also have a game that gets played with little golf tees on a wooden triangle, and it basically tells you how stupid you are.

We drove off again after breakfast and stopped at a rest stop with a McDonalds. I just have to make a point of saying that rest stop fast food employees are the most grumpy, depressed people you will ever meet in your life and I highly recommend getting an education to anyone. I understand though, you work at a 24-hour McDonalds rest stop and the only other food in walking distance for your lunch break is the McDonalds rest stop across the highway. I never appreciated my good ol’ neighborhood McDonalds so much.

After about 5 hours and about 200 miles, we arrived at the stash at 4pm. I looked at the outside and the big sign that I’ve been dying to see, and then “FUCK I didn’t bring a camera!”. One of the biggest mistakes of my life. There was a lot of cool displays in there that I could have stood next to. Such as the big sign that says “Brodie’s” that was used in Strike Back, a couple uniforms worn by Jeff Anderson and Rosario Dawson in Clerks II, and a lot of other small things from the different movies.

Fuck, I should have brought a camera.

I guess I never realized before how much the Stash is more of a comic book store than a Kevin Smith movie store. Which now that I know that, I think is really awesome. The store isn’t just a money making scheme by selling View Askew production stuff, it is a really really good comic book store. I don’t read comics, and I can tell that it is way up there as far as comics go. They had tons of action figures, statues, figurines, signs, and EVERYTHING that I would buy if I had the cash. Unfortunately, we hit this place in the dead of winter where I have very little cash to spend and I spent too much anyway, but it was so worth it. Kevin Smith personally signs so much stuff in that store, which is really cool of him.

Here’s the stuff I bought.

The Bag…It’s awesome right?

Jay and Silent Bob posters

Signed Kevin Smith Inaction Figure

Signed Book

A shirt with Brodie “Saaaaay…would you like a chocolate covered Pretzel?

Need I say more?

We were in there for about an hour, my two brothers and I loaded up and then checked out. The guy at the counter was Walt Flanagan. I recognized his voice from one of the Smodcasts but he seemed a little grumpy so I was too afraid to say anything. He was also in most of Smith’s films, mostly as the fanboy who only says “You tell ‘em Steve-Dave”. It was cool to meet someone who is pretty much good friends with Smith, but that and the store was about as close as I’d get to seeing Smith himself.

We pretty much got dinner at a Red Bank Subway and then hit the road back home. Was the trip worth it? Well, a total of 10 hours was on the road and 1 hour spent in the store. It was fuckin’ cool though. My iPod just barely made it the whole average of 10 hours. I listened to a couple Movie Blog Podcasts and a Smodcast on the way back home. Then hit the new music again.

I think if I go there again it will probably be an added destination to another place, because the 10 hour trade for 1 hour was worth it this time, but again it would be slightly inconvenient. If you ever get down in that area and are a Smith fan, or even more so a comic book fan, then you should definitely stop by the store. It’s real easy to get to off of the Garden State Parkway too.

My next goal is to go on another road trip, start small, but actually drive it. The love of the road goes along well with being a musician. What better way to travel than to be on a concert tour at the same time. That would by far be the most rewarding lifestyle for me. Travel for 8 hours listening to music or watching awesome movies, and then hitting the stage to play to about 10 or 12 people. Fuck yes.