ac or bust.

Everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back,
Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty and
Meet me tonight in Atlantic City.
- Bruce Springsteen, "Atlantic City"

Having visited there now twice, sometimes I wonder if Springsteen was actually talking about Atlantic City when he wrote and sang the lyrics, "Everything dies baby, that's a fact."



The first time I went, I blamed my negative opinion of the city on the cold weather, shoddy accommodations and the 12 hour mini-van trip it took to get there. But when I returned last month to see Phish play three nights at Bader Field, I couldn't help but notice that even in the warm temperatures and from the windows of a boutique hotel where I had my own comfy bed, it still looks as though parts of Atlantic City have indeed died - streets full of litter, vacated businesses, boarded up storefronts.

One morning, my friends and I walked for hours through town just trying to find a restaurant where we could sit down and order something to eat (OK, maybe we could blame some of that walk on the fact that all had wet brain and couldn't make a decision).

Most everyone I was with could agree, the town could use some work.

But still, it was the beach with casinos and Phish, so even at the Jersey Shore it was still pretty great. Maybe Springsteen was right - and if indeed everything that dies someday comes back, I was more than willing to bring my spirit and energy to help the cause.



I only wore makeup some of the time (sorry, Mom) and my hair wasn't always - or ever - very pretty, but things sure felt lively at the beachside bar.



And on the Boardwalk.




And especially at Bader Field.




Maybe I underestimated this place.