Don’t Miss The 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony In Morris County This Sunday

September 11^th, 2001.  A day that we’ll never forget.  If you were alive, you can vividly remember where you were when you heard the news of the horrible events of that morning.

For those younger folks, they’ve heard the stories and read about the tragic events and I’m sure they were blown away by what a horrific day it was for our country.

With the anniversary of that day approaching, The Morris County Board of County Commissioners invites residents of the county and beyond to join them on Sunday, September 6^th at 6 p.m. as they observe the 222^nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

The ceremony will be held at the Morris County 9/11 Memorial on West Hanover Ave in Parsippany-Troy Hills. There will be a keynote address provided by Nick Degregorio, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.  DeGregorio was just 16 years old and sitting in class while the events of 9/11 unfolded 12 miles away from his classroom in New Jersey.

The events of that day inspired him to enlist in the service after high school and he was deployed four times into combat during his nine years of service. Nearly three thousand lives were lost in the attacks of 9/11.  64 Morris County residents lost that day.

Seating at the Memorial is limited, so the public is encouraged to bring their own chairs to the outdoor observance.  You can find parking at the Morris County Department of Human Services building, 340 West Hanover Ave.

Plus, there will be shuttle buses available to transport anyone needing assistance in reaching the short distance to the memorial.

Again, the observance takes place this Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Morris County 9/11 Memorial on West Hanover Ave in Parsippany-Troy Hills.

Regardless of how sad of a day it was, it’s wonderful to come together as a community and never forget those lives lost on that terrible day.

September 11 was traumatic for the entire country, particularly if you were in the New York area. One thing that helped us to get through it was unity and solidarity, watching everyone come together to pull through a horrifying crisis. But another thing was music, whether it was songs from the era, songs recorded in response to the day, or older songs performed at various benefits and tributes that took on a new meaning, post-9/11.

I was stuck in New York City that day; I'd just started a new job at VH1. We all evacuated our building as most offices did. I lived (and still live) in New Jersey, and didn't really want to attempt the trip home. Being on a bridge or in a tunnel didn't seem safe at the time, and I think most mass transit had shut down. I had a friend downtown and she and her husband invited me to stay at their place. Walking downtown (I definitely wasn't going to take the subway) was surreal: I was walking in the opposite direction that most people were. Going towards that huge column of smoke was horrifying, obviously. I had a "Discman" in my backpack and three CDs. One was an advance of Slayer's album, God Hates Us All, which -- bizarrely -- was actually released on September 11. I couldn't listen to that one that day, or for a long time afterward. I also had an advance of Bob Dylan's "Love And Theft" which was also released that day. The album had a weird sense of foreboding, particularly on a song called "High Water," about an impending disaster.

U2's latest album, All That You Can't Leave Behind, was an album that I had been constantly listening to at the time, almost a year after its release. It worked for me on my long, strange and scary walk from midtown to downtown. "Beautiful Day," the opening track and first single, felt bizarre given the circumstances but also had a sense of optimism that I needed, and ditto for "Elevation." But some of the other more meditative songs -- like "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of," "In A Little While" and "Grace" actually helped. Some hit a little too hard: "Peace On Earth" and "New York" felt different than they did when I listened to them on September 10.  I remember listening to "Walk On" a few times. Twenty years later, we know what locations were attacked, we know who died. But that morning, we didn't know what was happening, or why, or when it would end. Somehow, Bono singing "And if the darkness is to keep us apart/And if the daylight feels like it's a long way off/And if your glass heart should crack/And for a second you turn back/Oh no, be strong" was something I needed to hear. Every year on 9/11, as I process that day and the weeks after, I always listen to that album. Here are some other songs I inevitably turn to, every September 11th.

Stevie performed this song on the "America: A Tribute To Heroes" telethon on September 21. The song was a quarter of a century old -- it was originally released on Stevie's masterpiece Songs In The Key Of Life -- but it felt different this time. "The force of evil plans/To make you its possession/And it will if we let it destroy everybody." It was an important reminder then and now.

Whether or not you were a country fan -- or had heard of Alan Jackson -- this was a relatable song for much of America.

"Safe And Sound" wasn't written about 9/11 -- the song was dedicated to Owen Wilson when it was released on her 2002 studio album C'mon C'mon -- but ten days after 9/11 it obviously took on a different meaning.

Ryan Adams was a new name to most music fans in 2001, and his second solo album, Gold, featured this classic. The song took on a new meaning after 9/11 -- and so did the video, which was shot on September 7, 2001, with the Twin Towers seen clearly in the background.

This came out a few years after 9/11 - the Beastie Boys' entire 2004 album To The Five Boroughs was a love letter to NYC and their meditation on the aftermath of of the terror attacks. On this song, they celebrated what makes New York great: "Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten/From the Battery to the top of Manhattan/Asian, Middle-Eastern and Latin/Black, White, New York you make it happen/Brownstones, water towers, trees, skyscrapers/Writers, prize fighters and Wall Street traders/We come together on the subway cars/Diversity unified, whoever you are!"