Take the name Bruce Springsteen, mix it up with some hot gossip, and you’ve got a volatile fuel, ready to propel a story around the globe in a flash.
Judy Barnaby’s been getting a ride on such a rocket. Her fifteen minutes, you might say.
Readers of redbankgreen know Judy as the Antique Center of Red Bank manager who got a hug and a scoop from Patti Scialfa a week ago. On a visit to the store with her husband of 15 years, Patti told Judy that the gossip item in the previous day’s New York Post about an imminent split in the Scialfa-Springsteen household was bunk.
“Ridiculous,” Patti told Judy.
After redbankgreen cajoled the details out of a reticent Judy and her co-workers, the story caught fire. Springsteen fan forums in the U.S., Spain, Germany, Italy and Sweden glommed onto it over the weekend. The Philadelphia Daily News and the celebrifare site TMZ.com picked it up Monday. The next day, it was in the New York Daily News, the Star-Ledger (print version), the Asbury Park Press, and the Home News Tribune.
And thanks to the Reuters wire service, hundreds of newspapers and other media around the world mentioned the off-the-cuff, five-minute concert Springsteen & Scialfa played at the antiques emporium, even as the original Post gossip was making its way into print.
Judy’s name and words were included in a lot of the coverage.
And the joyride continued into this week. On Wednesday, a radio station in California interviewed Judy live on the air.
“They asked me if I would go on, and I said, ‘You aren’t going to throw me any punches, are you?'” says the Holmdel resident.
In the last two days, her name has appeared in in media outlets in Romania and New Zealand. And if you pick up the new issue of People magazine, Judy’s in there, too. This afternoon, Judy’s colleagues at the center, where she was dealer for 20 years before becoming a manager 8 years ago, pored over the article, with its photos of the celebrity couple, and teased her about it.
“So where’s your picture, Judy?” asked one.
“They cut me out,” she said.
Now, of course, the clock is counting down on Judy’s 15 minutes. So, what’s it been like for the mother of two and grandmother of three to be part of this?
“It doesn’t feel any different,” she says with a smile.
