Category Archives: Cover Story

Cover Story

STAR TREK SEX Will Stape of Bayonne Goes Where No Writer Has Gone Before

By Sally Deering

will stape with book cover
Author Will Stape with his ebook Star Trek Sex

Writer Will Stape watched the original STAR TREK series on a black & white TV back when he was a kid and the experience left a colorful imprint in his psyche that later inspired him to write two STAR TREK episodes, the STAR TREK ESSAYS eBook and his new eBook STAR TREK SEX.

“I can remember being 3 or 4 watching STAR TREK and my little 3 year-old brain is thinking, what is this?” Stape says. “That was a little fate. It was imprinted on my brain and it was speaking to me. I always wanted to explore. I never wanted to be a pirate, I was into comic books. I’m a total Geek.”

Years after writing two scripts for STAR TREK that were turned into episodes, Stape was listening to a sexy STAR TREK bit on THE HOWARD STERN SHOW on Sirius XM Radio and it hit him that sexually-charged situations like inter-species sex; bondage, and S&M ran rampant through the plot lines and sometimes between the lines. So he did his research and in just two months, Stape wrote his second eBook STAR TREK SEX, where he highlights, analyzes and sometime chuckles at alien couplings and other Sci-Fi sex play. Continue reading STAR TREK SEX Will Stape of Bayonne Goes Where No Writer Has Gone Before →

Cover Story

PIANOMAN- Master Piano Tuner Aart Markenstein Keeps Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Tony Bennett and other Music Legends On Key

By Sally Deering

In Hoboken, on the 4th floor of the Neumann building on Observer Highway, Aart Markenstein tunes some of the most beautiful and unique pianos ever made. During his career as a professional piano tuner, Markenstein has kept the pianos of some of the world’s greatest music legends in tune. Taught by a master tuner – like Luke Skywalker learning from Yoda how to become a Jedi – Markenstein’s tunings have been considered “perfection” by music professionals.

Markenstein has worked with music legends including Beyonce, U2, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Tony Bennett, Cher, The Eagles, K.D. Lang, Cyndi Lauper, the Black Crowes, Aerosmith, James Taylor, Ringo Starr, Chuck Berry – and so many more. He tuned the keyboards for Aretha Franklin’s performance at the 53rd Inaugural Ball and when Bob Dylan played in Hoboken last year, Markenstein tuned his piano, too.

Markenstein owns his own business Aart in America Piano Company in Hoboken and his office is a large space filled with an array of pianos from a Steinway Grand to a small upright brought to Markenstein for repairs by a member of John Mellencamp’s band. Aart in America is a full-service piano company where Markenstein repairs and rents out pianos and if you’re a lucky visitor, he might even play a tune because not only is Markenstein an accomplished tuner, he’s a stellar musician.

Helping Markenstein with Aart in America Piano Company is his wife of 32 years, Eileen, who were childhood sweethearts growing up in the Marion section of Jersey City (right behind Journal Square). Continue reading PIANOMAN- Master Piano Tuner Aart Markenstein Keeps Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Tony Bennett and other Music Legends On Key →

Celebrity Interview, Celebrity Interviews, Cover Story

Worth Repeating Article…LIFE AFTER SOPRANOS Actor Vincent Curatola Picks up where Johnny Sack Left Off

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By Sally Deering 

On the HBO award-winning TV series THE SOPRANOS (1999-2007), it was easy to like Vincent Curatola character Johnny Sack Sacramoni, a mobster who worshipped his heavyset wife. Sure, Curatola’s character was a cold-blooded killer, and he was scary to watch, but there was always a touch of humor, especially when he had to endure wisecracks about his wife’s weight. Curatola was so convincing that when Johnny Sack winced at a fat joke, the viewers did, too.

 A Jersey guy, Curatola grew up in Englewood, a residential community just north of the George Washington Bridge. According to his website, VincentCuratola.com  he always had the acting bug, and his wife, Maureen, encouraged him to take classes soon after Curatola brought Johnny Sack to life.

In the seven years since the show ended, Curatola has made a few movies, appeared on several TV shows, and taught acting in New York. He recently taped five episodes as an exasperated judge on the CBS hit show THE GOOD WIFE starring Julianna Margolis. Has it been difficult for Curatola to reinvent himself after eight years in a hit series? Do all roles pale in comparison to Johnny Sack?

On a recent afternoon, Mr. Curatola took time from his busy schedule to speak to River View Observer about what it’s like to continue his career after THE SOPRANOS.

RVO: Mr. Curatola, can you tell us a little about your background; where you grew up?

VC: I was born and raised in Englewood and I had a unique paper route on the block I lived on. My customers were Tony Bennett, Jerry Vale, Wilson Pickett, Lesley Gore, Dizzy Gillespie, and Sarah Vaughn. I used to deliver The Record. My father had a masonry business, and I started one on my own in the mid-1970s, but I had fantasies (about acting). So I went to study with Michael Moriarty.

 RVO: Did you do much acting before being cast in THE SOPRANOS?

VC: Michael got me on LAW & ORDER, and I wrote a one-act play about a funeral guy called DEARLY BELOVED. I also did the show EXILED.

Continue reading Worth Repeating Article…LIFE AFTER SOPRANOS Actor Vincent Curatola Picks up where Johnny Sack Left Off →

Cover Story

Jersey City’s New Mayor Steven M. Fulop Envisions the City’s Cultural Future

  BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY-

By Sally Deering

Photo By Steve A. Mack

Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop at a recent interview with the River View Observer  Relatively unknown before he took office as the Mayor of Jersey City on July 1, 2013, Steven M. Fulop now has his own page on Wikipedia. Gaining in popularity, a local paper put him 4th on a list of Hudson’s 50 most influential people.

 Mayor Fulop, 36, seems to have a vision for Jersey City’s cultural scene with plans to bring the city to greater heights that reflect its stature as the second largest city in New Jersey. By raising the standards of the arts scene, Fulop envisions Jersey City as an arts mecca similar to New York City that will attract visitors in huge numbers and big name acts to its performance venues while providing public spaces for resident artists, filmmakers, dancers, actors and musicians.

 Moving forward, in the short time he’s been in office, Mayor Fulop has already been in meetings with Cordish Companies of Baltimore, the prospective developers of the Powerhouse building in downtown Jersey City. He has supported legislation to reinstate the tax credits to filmmakers who want to shoot on location in Jersey City; and, he has approved projects by mural artists to paint designated buildings in Jersey City. Mayor Fulop also has plans to turn the old movie palace, the Loew’s Jersey City in Journal Square into a performing arts center like NJPAC.

 On a recent November morning, Mayor Fulop took time out of his busy schedule to speak with Riverview Observer about some of his plans and projects for Jersey City’s cultural scene.

 Mayor Fulop of J.C.,N.J.-ARVO: Mayor Fulop do you have any personal association with the arts – did you play the trumpet in high school, that sort of thing?

MSF: I have a great appreciation for music and I have friends in the arts community, thus I’ve been engaged in it. I took piano lessons during my childhood and up until last year. I play classical music and I started studying Jazz. Classical is straight-forward, you’re reading notes and I could do that very well, but I couldn’t improvise. It’s a totally different skillset. My piano teacher moved, though, and now I’m looking for a new one, so if you know anybody,..

 RVO: Do you have any interest in a specific area of the arts in Jersey City?

MSF: I’ve realized in order to make Jersey City really shine it needs a thriving arts community. That’s what attracts people here. Transportation won’t just do it, you need culture and art.  We’re working with Senator (Steve) Lesniak to reinstate the film tax credit; legislation will be introduced next week. We’re looking to see how to put more money into the Loew’s and bring in professional management. You’ll see that on the Council agenda coming forward. That’s a big step. From a city standpoint, I can’t put $10-$15 million dollars into something that has the “potential” for success. The Loew’s is the size of NJPAC and across from the Journal Square PATH. You could get big names, and people coming from all over for art, music, restaurants.  The Loew’s is really a key component of what we’re trying to do.

   Continue reading Jersey City’s New Mayor Steven M. Fulop Envisions the City’s Cultural Future →

Cover Story, Sports Limited

COVER STORY-Gentlemen’s Baseball: Hoboken Nine Vintage Baseball Team Plays by the (Old) Rules

By Sally Deering

Vintage baseball team Hoboken Nine play by gentlemen rules
Hoboken Nine

Hoboken gave birth to baseball? That’s right. Just take a stroll over to 11th and Washington Streets and you’ll be standing where Elysian Field used to be and where first, second, third and home bases were designated on June 19, 1846. That’s the day the first game was ever played and its cemented in Hoboken’s history and as well as those street corners – just read the plaques in the sidewalk.

Some folks disagree with baseball’s Hoboken origins, especially those affiliated with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York, which throws its own  curveball claiming the first game was played in Cooperstown in 1839. To most Hudsonites, though, Hoboken is the birthplace of baseball. The city even has its own vintage baseball team.

They call themselves the Hoboken Nine Vintage Base Ball Club and they play baseball the way it was originally played – by 19th century rules. They wear uniforms designed like the ones worn in 1846 and their balls and bats are replicated from that period, too. The Hoboken Nine competes against other vintage teams to promote the history of baseball and for the sheer pleasure of playing baseball as a gentleman’s sport.

Continue reading COVER STORY-Gentlemen’s Baseball: Hoboken Nine Vintage Baseball Team Plays by the (Old) Rules →

Cover Story, General

HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME! Fun Things to Do in Hudson and Other Jersey Hot Spots

River View Observer’s  Best Bets for a Great Time this Summer 

Bob Dylan will appear at Pier A in Hoboken on July 26th
Bob Dylan will appear at Pier A in Hoboken on July 26th

 

 

 

By Sally Deering

 Its official – summer has arrived! And that means it’s time to check out fun happenings here in Hudson and beyond the county line. This jaunty little list of things to do is just a drop in the ice bucket, a sampling of sorts to get you thinking outside the box you call your apartment.

Get out, get wet, have fun!

SHAKE, PADDLE AND ROLL

Liberty State Park, Jersey City

Kayak Eco Tours invites Liberty State Park visitors to explore the natural beauty of the Hudson River Estuary by kayak. Tours embark from the canoe/kayak launch located at the south side of Liberty State Park near the park office and highlight the local wildlife and habitats of Caven Point. Trips run approximately two hours and include safety and paddle instruction. No prior paddling experience is required, but participants should be comfortable navigating in relatively deep water. Life Jackets (PFDs) are provided and required. This program is appropriate for adults and children 16 years and older; kids 16-18 need to be accompanied by an adult. For registration and payment information, or any other questions, contact Liberty State Park at (201) 915-3402. Program fee: $15/person. Space is limited and pre-registration is required. Thurs-Sun through Aug. 30. For more info: www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/liberty.html. Continue reading HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME! Fun Things to Do in Hudson and Other Jersey Hot Spots →

Cover Story

Grassroots Community Space in Jersey City – A Small Business Incubator for Local Artists

Cover Story -Where Stars are Born

LogoGrassrootsCommunitySpace

   By Sally Deering

Drum Circle at Grassroots Community Space in JerseyCity
Drum Circle at Grassroots Community Space in JerseyCity

 

 

Chelo Mercado of Grassroots Community Space with his wife Sirena Mari Mercado
Chelo Mercado of Grassroots Community Space with his wife Sirena Mari Mercado

 Tucked inside the downtown Jersey City community on Coles Street is a rather plain looking storefront that when you step inside makes you feel like Dorothy landing in Munchkinland in “The Wizard of Oz.”  

 Welcome to the Grassroots Community Space, an intimate one-room studio rental where dancers, actors, drummers and other artists teach classes and put on performances. Warm and welcoming, the Grassroots Community Space has a vibe that seems to say “let’s have fun and create something” and it serve an even greater purpose as a small business incubator for local artists to try their hand at teaching their craft. Some groups, who have rented the Grassroots Community Space to teach classes have gone on to start their own business in their own space.

 Jersey City is home to many professional artists, actors, singers, dancers, writers and poets from all over the world, but performance space is limited – and pricey. In 2008, with a couple of partners, Chelo Mercado of Jersey City saw the need for a community space where local artists could teach and perform. The trio decided to fill the gap and open Grassroots Community Space for artists to share their artistry. Continue reading Grassroots Community Space in Jersey City – A Small Business Incubator for Local Artists →

Cover Story, Education

HUDSON COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACTS UP!

 

 hccc-logo300dpi Playwright and Professor Joseph Gallo Initiates New Theater Arts Program at Hudson County Community College

 

By Sally Deering

 originalsizeJosephGall,HCCCsnewTheaterArtsCoordinatorIn September 2012, Hudson got a little more artsy when professional playwright Joe Gallo brought Hudson County Community College to a new stage – or rather, brought the stage to HCCC.

 Gallo, whose plays have been performed in Hoboken, New York and other cities throughout the country, is a theater arts professor at HCCC who helped institute a new theater arts degree program. The new curriculum – which began in the 2012-2013 school year – is designed to provide students with a broad-based liberal arts education with core curriculum classes in theater that include Acting, Playwriting and Drama. Students who successfully complete the two-year program earn an Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Arts – Theater, that prepares them to transfer to four-year colleges and universities where they can earn Bachelor of Arts degrees in theater and related programs.

 A theater professional – he’s a producer and Associate Artist at Mile Square Theater in Hoboken – Gallo earned an MFA in playwriting from Ohio University and his plays have been produced Off-Broadway, at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and at other theaters throughout the country. Gallo has taught Playwriting, Acting and other theater-related courses at the School of Visual Arts, Drew University and Kean University.

 Recently, Gallo spoke with Riverview Observer about how he initiated the new Theater Arts program and what prospective students can look forward to if they decide to enroll.

 RVO: Joe, can you share with our readers how the new theater arts program began?

JG: In 2007 HCCC hired to teach creative writing and because I have an MFA in playwriting, I was asked to revamp its Introduction to Acting class. I did that for the college and when I asked why the college doesn’t offer more theater classes, I was told, ‘because we don’t have a theater.’

  Continue reading HUDSON COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACTS UP! →

Cover Story, Live On Stage

Curtain Up! STAGEfest 2013 in Jersey City

Mar20thCoverRVO ONE TO USE      The Play’s the Thing at STAGEfest 2013, the Loew’s Jersey Theatre’s First Play Festival

By Sally Deering

In her prime, she was a real looker. Decked out in red velvet and adorned in crystal and gold, the Loew’s Jersey Theatre was a glamorous show palace when it opened in 1929. Today, the Loew’s is a New Jersey Registered Historic Site owned by Jersey City and after many years of restoration by the volunteer group Friends of the Loew’s, the movie palace has ‘come back to life’. Like an aging Ziegfeld showgirl with gorgeous gams. the Loew’s is a grandly vintage venue for film festivals, film retrospectives – even weddings – and for the first time this month, the Loew’s will host its first every performing arts festival, STAGEfest 2013.  

Loew's Theatre, Jersey City hosting STAGEfest 2013 River View Observer
The beautiful lobby of
Loew’s Jersey Theatre
Jersey City, New Jersey

Starting Fri, Mar. 22 and running through Sun, Mar. 24, STAGEfest 2013 raises the curtain on a weekend of theatrical, dance and musical performances highlighting Hudson’s arts and artists.  The festival will feature three days of shows by local playwrights, musicians, dancers and solo-artists who will perform their works not just on the theater’s main stage, but also in its lobbies, salons, promenades and hallways. The weekend event also features a costume exhibit by Leading Lady Costumes and refreshments by local vendors in the Grand Lobby Café.

“This marks the return to live theatre – in addition to classic film and concerts,” says Colin Egan, Executive Director of Loew’s Jersey Theatre.  “We always said we wanted theatre to be part of the Loew’s, but with all the work of renovating it and running the other shows here, we kept putting it off. So STAGEfest is the first of an annual (and maybe more frequent) theatre festival the Loew’s will host.”

THE PRODUCERS

Coordinating the event with Egan and the Friends of the Loew’s volunteers are Christine Goodman, Founder of Art House Productions in Jersey City, and David Zimmerman, Executive Director of the DeBaun Center for Performing Arts at Steven’s Institute of Technology in Hoboken.  Zimmerman knows his way around play festivals; DeBaun formerly hosted the Hudson County One Act Play Festival. Continue reading Curtain Up! STAGEfest 2013 in Jersey City →

Cover Story, General

COVER STORY -JERSEY CITY TO SUNDANCE- Local Filmmaker Sells First Feature Film at Sundance Film Fest

 

By Sally Deering  

Writer and Producer of Concussion
Stacie Passon and Anthony Cupo

Anthony Cupo grew up in Jersey City a few blocks from Journal Square and thousands of miles from the Sundance Resort in Park City, Utah, a small ski village that Robert Redford turned into a famous film festival location back in 1978. The 2013 Sundance Film Festival was in full-swing the week of Jan. 17 and Cupo, who is the Executive Producer and Editor of his first feature film “Concussion” saw his dream come true when he received a seven-figure offer from RADIUS-TWC to distribute “Concussion” in the fall. Of course, Cupo said yes.

 The Sundance Film Festival attracts thousands of producers, directors, writers, actors, critics and studio ‘heads’ who turn the small ski village into a Hollywood event where films are screened in theaters and other venues and prizes are given out to the top contenders. Cupo’s film, “Concussion,” written and directed by his friend Stacie Passon tells the story of what happens when a suburban wife and mother gets a concussion that fractures her perspective on her marriage and more importantly, her life. Critics like Jim Dobson, President of Indie PR in Studio City, California, who attended a screening, gave “Concussion” 3-1/2 stars.  

 

Screen Shot 2012-01-25 at 11.53.36 AM | Jan 25Robin Weigert stars in Concussion

“There is a real concussion at the beginning of the antiseptically beautiful “Concussion,” but it’s also a metaphor that’s no less jarring. When Abby (Robin Weigert), a suburban lesbian married to Kay (Julie Fain Lawrence), gets hit by a baseball thrown by one of their children, it sets off a need for change in her routine existence. She works on renovating a downtown loft with a contractor, Justin (Jonathan Tchaikovsky), who also pimps on the side — and Abby decides to take female clients as a high-end hooker, using the professional name Eleanor. Writer-director Stacie Passion’s sexually charged premise becomes a vehicle for an emotional exploration of a stagnant relationship and the struggle between desire and stability. Weigert (best known for her work on “Deadwood”) gives a performance that’s revelatory in more ways than one, as Abby sheds inhibitions and clothes. The slick look (by production designer Lisa Myers and art director Kevin P. O’Donnell) highlights the split between Abby’s suburban oppression and her urban freedom.”

 

Terrific reviews like that keep pouring in for “Concussion” and Cupo, 42, is thrilled about his Sundance experience. An alumnus of the School of Visual Arts in New York, Cupo has been involved in film since he was a kid playing hooky to catch the movies playing in the Journal Square movie theaters close to home. He has worked on commercials and videos with all the major networks and in 2006 Cupo partnered with friend and colleague R. Jamie Mamalis to open The Rust Company in Manhattan, a lab, of sorts, that offers the latest cutting-edge technology for filmmakers to edit film and video and perform other creative tasks to see their films and videos realized.

 At Sundance, Cupo took a break before his film’s screening on Thursday to share with Riverview Observer what it’s like showing his film at the Sundance Film Festival and making a deal that may change the course of his life and career.

 scene from concussion

 

 

 

RVO:  Congratulations on the success of “Concussion” at Sundance.

AC:  Thank you. People here are digging it. It all goes to Stacie Passon, the writer and director.

Continue reading COVER STORY -JERSEY CITY TO SUNDANCE- Local Filmmaker Sells First Feature Film at Sundance Film Fest →