An enthusiastic and happy crowd greeted  the Jersey City Puerto Rican day parade as it may its way down Montgomery Street in Jersey City. Our photog was there and took these shots of the days festivities.
Jersey City to Celebrate the 52nd Annual Puerto Rican Heritage
Festival and Parade as part of the City’s ‘Tapestry of Nations’ Ethnic Festival Series
– Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, the Municipal Council and the Division of Cultural Affairs proudly announce that the annual Puerto Rican Heritage Parade and Festival, being held as part of the City’s ‘Tapestry of Nations’ Ethnic Festival Series will take place on Sunday, August 5, 2012.
The Puerto Rican Parade kicks off at 10:30 a.m. from Lincoln Park at Kennedy Boulevard and Belmont Avenue. It winds its way along Kennedy Boulevard to Montgomery Street, and then along Montgomery Street to the reviewing stand at City Hall.
The Puerto Rican Heritage Festival will be held at Exchange Place from 12:00p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Each year, the Puerto Rican Heritage Parade and Festival showcases and celebrates the rich heritage of the people of Jersey City that represent Puerto Rico. This exciting and fun event for all families and ages to join in on as the Puerto Rican community is honored for the greatness that they instill on this city. Continue reading Jersey City to Celebrate the 52nd Annual Puerto Rican Heritage
Mob Wife’s Counter Punch Drita D’Avanzo of Reality TV’s “Mob Wives†Debuts New Cosmetics Line
 By Sally Deering      Photos by Sally Deering
 
Reality TV star Drita D’Avanzo of Mob Wives VH1 sometimes talks like a thug on camera but when it comes to cosmetics she’s a a girlie-girl.
 On Thursday, August 2nd,  D’Avanzo greeted fans and took to the stage at the Staten Island Mall to unveil her new line of make-up, “Just Me.†A former fashion model, D’Avanzo isn’t just lending her celebrity to sell lipstick to the masses. She actually went to school to study skincare and make-up and starting her own cosmetics line has been a dream ever since she was a tomboy growing up in the Projects. For those of you unfamiliar with Mob Wives (VH1, Sunday nights at 8) the show’s title tells all. D’Avanzo and her co-stars married men who aren’t 9-to-5ers, but rather, wiseguys with connections to crime families. For D’Avanzo, she was still a newlywed when police arrested her husband, Lee, and sent him to prison for five years. Like other women who have had to pick up the pieces after a life-changing event, D’Avanzo went to school to study cosmetology. When a friend suggested the idea for a Reality TV show, D’Avanzo signed on.  Â
At the Staten Island Mall, customers lined up to buy lipsticks and lip plumpers and with just an hour to go before premiering her products, D’Avanzo took a few minutes to talk with the Riverview Observer about her new life as a Reality TV star and cosmetics designer.
 RVO: Hi Drita, can you share with our readers how “Just Me†came about?
DD: I used to model and watch how the make-up artists did my makeup and I was amazed at how they made me look. When Lee went to jail, I took a job in a high-end department store. I worked all the counters. I loved selling and dealing with everyone’s makeup. I knew I wanted to make high-end products affordable.
 RVO: What makes your cosmetics different or better?
DD: I am big on scent and I hate sticky. What makes it different? A lot of cosmetics are created by professional make-up artists. Nobody was behind the counter like I was. For seven years, I listened to a lot of women and what they wanted. All these things give me a lot of leverage.
 RVO: Will you be working your new cosmetics into the show?
DD: Yes. The makeup artist for the show uses my lipsticks. Big Ang (another Mob Wife on the show) loves my lipsticks and Carla (also a Mob Wife on the show) loves my lip plumper. My main goal is to have a beautiful, cool store with a DJ, and a place for girls to get their make-up done and hair styled.
Jersey City to Celebrate Bolivia’s 187 Years of Independence with 12th Annual Bolivian Parade
 Parade Showcases the Rich Heritage of the Bolivian People
JERSEY CITY – Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, the Municipal Council and the Division of Cultural Affairs proudly announce that the annual Bolivian Parade and Celebration will be held at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 4th to mark 187 Years of Independence. The parade will kick off at 12 p.m. in Hamilton Park, located on Pavonia and Jersey Avenues, and will proceed to City Hall, 280 Grove Street for the festival which is scheduled to last until 6 p.m.
Inside Bayonne -Happenings in Bayonne -Music, Theater
| The Muppets to Play at the Bayonne Public LibraryRelease Date: 07/31/2012
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| On Wednesday, August 1, at 1:00 p.m., the Bayonne Public Library will present The Muppets in its Movies at the Library series. The Muppets is a 2011 musical comedy. In the film, the Muppet characters reunite. With the help of three fans, the Muppets plan to raise $10 million to save their old theater from destruction by a greedy oil tycoon. The film won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The film is rated PG, and has a running time of 103 minutes. The Movies at the Library films are presented in the O’Connor Gallery, which is located on the second floor of the library. The building is located at 31st Street and Avenue C. |
| Summer Sounds by the Bay Concerts to Feature Cliff Perkins & Soul Generation, and JazziqueRelease Date: 07/31/2012
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| Mayor Mark A. Smith announced that the City of Bayonne’s Summer Sounds by the Bay concert series will continue on Wednesday, August 1, weather permitting. On August 1, sit back and enjoy the smooth, sultry sounds of Cliff Perkins & Soul Generation, then get up and move to hot 70’s dance hits performed by Jazzique. The concert site is the amphitheater on the lower level of DiDomenico-16th Street Park. The concert will start at 7:00 p.m. Audience members are asked to bring their own chairs. In the event of rain, the City of Bayonne will attempt to reschedule concerts for later dates that will be announced. On concert days, in the event of inclement weather, please call 201-471-7590 after 4:00 p.m., or visit www.bayonnerec.com, to check on the status of that night’s concert. The City of Bayonne would like to thank BCB Community Bank, Inserra Shop Rite, and Kenrich Chemicals for sponsoring the concert series. The City would welcome additional sponsors for Summer Sounds 2012 and future special events. Concerts are scheduled every Wednesday through August 22. |
Hudson Then Again…Hudson County Liquor Businesses in Early Days of the 20th Century
by Maureen Wlodarczyk
 
Over the years, I’ve heard any number of men including my husband describe the benefits and healthful effects of drinking beer. Just this past week, my husband shared a printout of “The Buffalo Theory†with me. That piece of wisdom, attributed to the TV show “Cheers†and a conversation between bar regulars Cliff and Norm, equates survival of the fittest in buffalo herds to a similar process whereby beer drinking results in the death of one’s weakest brain cells, thus leaving the drinker with a more fit mind as a happy side effect of imbibing.
Long before Cliff and Norm entertained us on the small screen, Hudson County liquor distributors had advertised the important health effects to be derived from beer, especially for women. In 1911, a local liquor distribution company ran an ad in a Hudson County newspaper titled “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Rules the World,†featuring the image of a young mother gazing lovingly on her infant as she rocks the baby in a wicker cradle. The caption stated the following:
“The ever increasing strength and power of our Great American Nation depends largely on the physical condition of our children. Not only the strength, but also the very life of the child depends upon its proper nourishment in infancy. Good, pure, clean beer more fully supplies just the correct nourishment – in every sense of the word – that mothers require.â€Â Continue reading Hudson Then Again…Hudson County Liquor Businesses in Early Days of the 20th Century
MUSIC VIEWS- The Better Letters-Tri-State Area Band Releases Second Album
 River View Observer “Best Pick” Emerging Artists Band
By Sally Deering
Jersey City festival-goers know Joe Palumbo’s band “The Better Letters†because the group performs at the 4th Street Art & Music Festival every year and has a huge local fan base.
The band’s first album “Mixed Feelings†was released in June 2011 and now fans of the group can look forward to the August release of a 3-song EP “Play it Straight,†which will also be free for download on the band’s website, www.thebetterletters.com and available on iTunes.
Here’s how Palumbo describes the title track:
“’Play It Straight’ has a nervously paced verse which evokes a sense of paranoia in the listener as voices whisper from every dark corner. The protagonist is a victim of his own misconceptions of how others view him and interpret his actions. The tension in the high-pitched guitar breaks echoes this uneasiness. The solution offered is “…give the people what they want … Play it straight” but they may as well be saying “be yourself”… Could this be another song about having developed ever-changing multi-stable perceptions from wading in the bottomless stimuli pool of the vast and lawless Internet?â€
Palumbo, who was born and raised in Eastern Long Island and plays guitar also writes the band’s original songs.The Better Letters is going on tour in Feb 2013 starting in Pennsylvania then heading west to Minneapolis and south to Georgia. Palumbo says: “I love playing live, especially every day.â€
The Better Letters started as a two-piece in late 2009 and three more band mates joined the following year. The band features Abraham Something on keyboards, Ben Brunnemer on guitar, Steve Goldberg on drums and Darryl Specht on bass guitar.
“It wasn’t cutting it for two people,†Palumbo says. “We had to expand quickly. I asked my friend Ben (to join the group). We had been on a job together painting somebody’s wall and we started talking about the band and I brought him along. Steve and I were working years ago in separate competing bakeries, which was kind of funny. That’s kind of our connection.†Continue reading MUSIC VIEWS- The Better Letters-Tri-State Area Band Releases Second Album
Business Insight-SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION VISITS BAYONNE IN SUPPORT OF LOCAL BUSINESSES
River View Observer Best Bet for Businesses
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Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith with Small Business Administration District Director Al Titone walked Broadway in Bayonne talking with store owners
BAYONNE, NEW JERSEY –
 Mayor Mark Smith, U.S. Small Business Administration District Director Al Titone, and a representative of Senator Lautenberg’s office toured local businesses this morning, listening to business owners’ concerns and answering questions about programs to assist them.
 â€We thank Senator Lautenberg for bringing this support to the small business community in the City of Bayonne,†stated Mayor Mark Smith. “My office is, and will continue to be, committed to growing this critical and vibrant part of our community, and we look forward to continuing to bring the resources of the U.S. Small Business Administration into our City.â€
 This walking tour was held as part of the City’s efforts to streamline and strengthen the support that is provided to businesses to help promote local shopping. Other initiatives being put forth by the Administration of Mayor Mark Smith include increasing the online presence of the City of Bayonne and its business community, initiating the City’s first ever Farmer’s Market, and providing for more direct interaction between local business and the City. Continue reading Business Insight-SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION VISITS BAYONNE IN SUPPORT OF LOCAL BUSINESSES
Some of the Best Hudson County Properties from PRUDENITAL MC GEEHAN & PINEIRO REAL ESTATE
TWO FAMILY BAYONNE –
Two family with garage parking and finished basement. Each floor has 3 bedrooms, living/dining rooms and eat –in –kitchen. Separate heat/hot water units and utilities. Hardwood floors throughout.
$349,900
 INVESTMENT/COMMERCIAL
BAYONNE
Great property for your own business and has parking. Brick building with approx. 2,500sq.ft. store and large rental unit above. Store front in process of being renovated
$425,000
To see more listings from Prudential Mc Geehan & Pineiro visitt www.mcgeehanpineiro.com
Visit them on FACEBOOK @ www.facebook.com/prumgp
FOUND SAFE ON SUNDAY JULY 22nd