GOOD BYE OLD FRIEND

    Last night, at the end of the Maroon 5 show at the Izod Center, many saw their last concert at what was the famed New Jersey arena. This might age me, but I don't care. I remember my first show there when it was the Brendan Byrne Arena named after the 47th governor of the Garden State. 

     It was 1987 and my parents finally allowed me to see my favorite band, Motley Crue, in concert at the Brendan Byrne Arena in the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, NJ. This would be the first of a very long love affair seeing this band in concert. That night would be my first of 53 shows as a Motley Crue fan. I remember my friend Brian and I were huge Crueheads and his uncle agreed to take us to the show. I remember it like it was yesterday. We walked in while Whitesnake was playing "Children of the Night" off of their hit self-titled CD. The smell of marijuana hit my nostrils for the first time, a smell I would also fall in love with. After a brief intermission, my heroes hit the stage with "All In the Name Of...." from their brand new Girls, Girls, Girls album. They sounded amazing! I was in heaven as they ran through a set list of their classic songs as well as new ones leading into an amazing drum solo by drummer Tommy Lee. I've never seen anything like this in my life. My life was changed forever and I knew what I wanted to do with my life. Unfortunately, it didn't go as planned as I sit here in my office writing stories for your entertainment. 

     My point in telling you about my first show at the Brendan Byrne Arena was to give you an example of what that arena means to me. That was the first of many Motley Crue concerts near home for me, as well as many concerts in general. I remember, my friend Brian and I went to another show in 1989 at "The Arena" to see Bon Jovi on his New Jersey tour, but it was the opening act that really impressed both of us. It was the first time, we experienced the most charismatic front man I've ever seen in a rock band and his name was Sebastian Bach. The band was Skid Row and that night, me and Brian became the "Youth Gone Wild". Next to Motley Crue, Skid Row became our new favorite band! Then in 1991, I remembered going to see another show in the parking lot of "The Arena", where Skid Row was headlining in support of their Slave to the Grind record and their opening act blew me away! It was a band called Pantera and they had just released a record called Cowboys from Hell and this is where my love affair began with Phil Anselmo, Rex Brown and The Abbott brothers, Vinnie and Dime. Basically, Brendan Byrne Arena was where I discovered my music! 

      The Arena wasn't only a concert venue back then. I've been to many Devils games and Nets games at the arena, as well. I mostly went to Nets games because as a huge Knicks fan, it was easier to get tickets here in Jersey than the Garden at the time and it was closer to home. Plus, how many Chinese dudes did you really see at hockey games? We loved our basketball, though! In 1996, the Brendan Byrne Arena would become the Continental Airlines Arena. It didn't matter. I still continued going to sporting events and concerts at this newly named arena. Another life changing event for me at the Continental Airlines Arena in 2001 happened right after I had been laid off from the famed Z100. I ran into Morning Show competitor from WKTU, Goumba Johnny at a Nets game, which happened to be one of my last parting gifts from Z100. I went up to Goumba to say hi because I remembered Elvis (Duran) telling us one morning that one night our whole morning show went to some comedy show in NYC and KTU was there and apparently Goumba was upset that no one said hi to him while we were at this comedy show. So, this time I made it a point to say hi and introduce myself. Johnny, who was talking to fans at the time, stopped and said, "Yeah, I know who you are!" We spoke for a few minutes and he gave me his email address and told me they were looking for a producer. Within 2 weeks, I became the new producer of "Baltazar and Goumba Johnny in the Morning" for the next 5 years. Yes, this all happened at the Continental Airlines Arena!

     Some of my most memorable moments at "The Arena"; topping the list has to be when I was part of the Z-Morning Zoo during their famed Jingle Ball and Zootopia events and being introduced on stage as part of the Morning Show. I was up on a stage where I've seen many of my favorite bands perform while people cheered when Elvis introduced me as "The Chinese Guy from the Back! That was an amazing moment! Besides the list of shows that I went to my other memorable moment was going to WWE events at "The Arena". I remember sitting second row ringside at King of the Ring and being on TV a bunch of times while friends kept calling me and asking me if I was at this pay-per-view. That was a lot of fun too! 

     I can't say that I've ever been in "The Arena" when they became the Izod Center, but when the Devils moved over to the Prudential Center in Newark and the Nets moving to Brooklyn's Barclay's Center, there really wasn't any reason to go to my old friend anymore. Concerts booked there became a minimum and in January, they decided to close the doors of "The Arena" for good due to a projected loss of revenue for this year. Last night, marked the end of another piece of my youth, but the memories will always be there. The memories of parking on side streets and walking in the cold to get to "The Arena" so we didn't have to pay for parking. I will miss this venue, but like I said, we'll always have the memories. With that, I say, "Good-bye, Brendan Byrne, Continental, Izon Arena."