Eight-Stone Press

Eight-Stone Press Publisher of place-based creative non-fiction. Inclusive and LGBTQIA+ friendly.

Welcome to Eight-Stone Press (ESP), publisher of BEACH BADGE, a warts-and-all homage to the magic, mayhem, and mystery of the New Jersey Shore, as told by those who have lived it. Now accepting submissions for Issue No. 2 (creative non-fiction, 250-2,000 words, deadline July 4, 2022).

07/29/2026

This Saturday, August 1, THE BEACH IS FREE (at the 8th Avenue beach entrance) thanks to 🤩

07/29/2026

Sad to wake up to the news of singer-songwriter Glen Hansard's death after a motorcycle crash near Dublin, Ireland.

Just three months ago Hansard stood on the stage of The Stone Pony, that weathered little altar of Jersey Shore music, and seemed entirely at home.

Though he came from Dublin, Hansard carried the same working-class, underdog voltage that has long defined Asbury Park’s great musical mythology: the belief that a song can lift a life, that a voice can turn hardship into witness, and that an ordinary person with enough feeling can stand beneath the lights and pronounce his place in the world.

Hansard began as a Dublin busker, rose through The Frames and Once, and won an Academy Award for “Falling Slowly,” but he never lost the grain of the street in his voice, the ache, the crack, the insistence that music should be earned, not merely performed.

His April 11, 2026 Stone Pony show now feels like a poignant near-final crossing between two kindred musical geographies: Dublin and Asbury Park, both places of salt air, sorrow, laughter, bars, believers, and broken-hearted singers who who turn their brokenness into triumphant.

07/28/2026

August 9 in Baltimore!

07/27/2026

Danny DeVito on the Asbury Park Boardwalk.

Long before Hollywood knew him as Louie De Palma on "Taxi", the Penguin, Matilda’s father, or one of American comedy’s most enduring presences, Danny DeVito was a kid from Asbury Park, a shore-town boy who grew up among movie houses, boardwalk crowds, Catholic school discipline, family businesses and the seasonal melancholy of a resort town after summer had gone.

Before acting, he worked in his sister’s beauty salon, where he was known as “Mr. Dan,” styling hair for local women. Known for his skill at crafting the perfect and most durable beehive hairdos.

After his early life in the salon, DeVito followed an inherent ability and interest in performance to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York.

In this photograph, DeVito stands before the great Convention Hall and Paramount Theatre complex, the monumental 1930 boardwalk landmark that still frames Asbury’s dream life. It's a homecoming photo: the established star returned to the boardwalk of his youth.

07/26/2026

Update: Restoration project day 2731. The magic of the BG has very little to do with pizza & everything to do with values. In 2019, we made a promise to all of you that we would spare NO expense in restoring Tony’s back to its most authentic version. Over the years, We’ve heard countless stories about how people used to queue up outside bc Tony’s was so busy. We also had this insane idea that if we rolled the clock back far enough, that it might just bring back the line. We knew how unrealistic it was. When Tony’s used to have a line, uber & door dash didn’t exist. Casinos didn’t exist. There were so many less places to eat pizza. We always thought it was out of reach. Can you imagine the feeling of walking around the parking lot on July 25th, 2026 at 6:58pm and seeing a line of people all the way down Atlantic Ave, waiting to eat at the Baltimore Grille. like it was 1965. Three generations of families sitting together inside. breaking the same exact bread at the same exact table eating the same exact food After waiting in the same exact line that their grandparents used to. If that’s not worth protecting, then nothing is. We owe all this to our customers for trusting us with their hard earned money so that we could use it to honor the most precious memories of their childhood. So they can share it with their families. Every single night, our clients pass by so many other restaurants, and come to ours. We have always believed that this is a worthy endeavor & as long as we have air in our lungs, we will FIERCELY & RELENTLESSLY do everything in our power to ensure that the BG is around for another 100 years. Wait till you see what we do next. Thank you all SFM ❤️ the joint.

07/26/2026

The original Fresnel lens!
Not a reproduction, not AI, but the real deal! This is the original five-ton, 1027-glass prism lens made for the Barnegat Lighthouse in France and first lit on January 1, 1859!
Turned by a clockwork mechanism, the lens rotated once every four minutes. The masterful design of the Fresnel lens projected a kerosene flame for 20 nautical miles.
You can see it for yourself at the Barnegat Light Museum, 5th St. and Central Ave. in Barnegat Light, N.J.

My Jersey shore is all but gone. Within the time I've published BEACH BADGE alone I've seen places that long withstood t...
07/26/2026

My Jersey shore is all but gone. Within the time I've published BEACH BADGE alone I've seen places that long withstood time and tide washed away like so much flotsam by Salt Life, private equity, and the indifference of not simply a new generation but a completely different mindset. The pavilion at the public dock in Barnegat. AC's Irish Pub. Even Wonderland. Which makes me cherish the remaining handful that much more. Places like the Pony (inside, not Summer Stage). Seven Bridges Road. The bar at Kubel's. Tony's Baltimore Grill. The back room at Smitty's. Bridge to Nowhere. What are your Jersey shore touchstones?

Soundtrack by The Mermen: https://youtu.be/t9SNSkUgCH4

07/25/2026

Long Branch Pier Fire, June 8, 1987.

Coast Guard and emergency crews direct streams of water toward the burning Pier Pub as flames and heavy smoke consume the oceanfront pier in Long Branch, New Jersey.

The fire effectively ended the pier’s century-long history; reconstruction plans were abandoned, and its remaining structure was demolished in the late 1990s. The surrounding oceanfront was later redeveloped as Pier Village.

Photograph by Michael Rafferty.

07/25/2026

7/24/88 On this date n 1988 Circle Jerks and 7 Seconds played City Gardens in Trenton, NJ.

Address

Cape May, NJ
08204

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Eight-Stone Press posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category