The following is an excerpt from the book "No Slam Dancing, No Stage Diving, No Spikes: An Oral History of the Legendary City Gardens" by Amy Yates Wuelfing and Steven DiLodovico. Photos by Ken Salerno.

All - July 30th, 1988

Dave Smalley (ALL vocalist): I have a personal love affair with New Jersey, and I attribute that mostly to City Gardens. I always felt so welcome there by the kids, no matter what band I was in at the time. I met some really cool bands there and made some lasting friendships because of that place. I have roots in a lot of cities, but of the [places] that I haven’t lived in, I’d have to say New Jersey is really special to me. A lot of that is due to City Gardens and the environment that it nurtured. I’ve played other clubs where they’ve treated us well, but when I see things like other clubs’ security… [They were] some pretty tough cats. The guys at City Gardens were like my brothers. They understood ALL, and Randy made it clear that this whole thing is a joy—a movement and a special moment. It all trickled down from Randy. I would hang backstage and talk with him. What’s funny about City Gardens is that I met and saw plenty of parents at those shows. They weren’t ostracized, and they weren’t hiding. They might have been hanging out in the back like I would be if I took my kids to a show now. We were always happy to talk to them, and they were totally cool. We would have a nice little chat, and they would feel relieved about [having their kids at] the show.