A friend of mine bought a house in North Carolina a few years back, and when she first moved in, she slept with a hammer, a garage-door opener, Lysol spray, and her cell phone under her pillow. (The plan, apparently, was to distract an intruder by opening the garage door while spraying Lysol in his face, calling 911, and threatening him with a hammer). As an easily scared whimp, I figured I'd probably do the same thing someday.

Before I write anything about Gary Vaynerchuk, I need to send you to winelibrarytv.com. There's nothing I can put here that would capture him the way any of his daily ten-minute web videos do. In each one, he uses a gonzo-journalism approach to convey his latest feelings about wine—doing tasting showdowns and going off on tangents about everything from his beloved Jets to the WWF battles of his youth. It's as fun as you could imagine an intellectual wine discussion can be. And now that energy is focused in print, in the pages of Vaynerchuk's new book, 101 Wines to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World.

There may have been empty seats in South Orange Performing Arts Center on Wednesday night. But the ticketholders who belonged in them weren't far away—they were likely dancing in the aisles or up on stage with Grammy award-winning singer Angelique Kidjo, whose performance electrified the room and got everybody on their feet. 

We at New Jersey Monthly don’t often venture across the Hudson when showcasing the best of the Garden State, but for New York’s Art Expo this year, we decided to make an exception. Not just because Art Expo is celebrating its 30th year as the world’s biggest fine and popular art fair—which is exciting in itself—but because so many New Jersey-based artists are being celebrated at the Javits Convention Center event, which starts on February 28 and is open to the public from March 1 to 3. 

Early in Marc Cohn's performance at South Orange Performing Arts Center last night, the soulful singer-songwriter referenced his newest album, Join The Parade. When someone in the sold-out crowd yelled "keep 'em coming," Cohn smiled demurely.  Back when he was cruising in "Walking In Memphis" glory, he said he made a decision not to become overexposed.  Laughing with the audience, he stated, "mission accomplished."

But the 1991 Grammy winner is back on the scene.  And not only is his music just as powerful as ever, but the guy is hilarious--and incredibly humble--on stage.  In recent years, Cohn weathered a divorce, was shot in the head after a random carjacking attempt, and watched Hurricane Katrina's destruction as he recuperated from his injury.  He says those experiences, though tragic, turned a switch in his brain that got his creative juices flowing again.  Those in SOPAC's 415-seat theater on Valentines night got to take it all in, in an atmosphere startlingly intimate for the likes of a 1991 Grammy-winning Best New Artist.

It was a little premature to call last Friday evening a night out with my Valentine—we had three full weeks before the big fat day of love. But after watching a performance of Almost, Maine in the Bickford Theatre at the Morris Museum, I was easily swept into the season of cupid. 

As I watched—and celebrated—the Giants' victory last night, I felt a tingling in my veins that I haven't had since the Knicks' miracle run to the NBA Finals in 1999. In a North Jersey bar where scores of Giants fans were spraying beer, hugging, screaming, jumping, dancing, and crying, it felt good to be a sports fan in the New York City area again.