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THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES – Performance Artists Antonia Wright (L) and Ruben Millares (R) of Miami, Florida, recently came to the Jersey City Free Public Library in search of books for the latest incarnation of their art installation – a wall of books. With 14 boxes of weeded books to spare at the Main Library shown packed into their vehicle, Antonia and Ruben built a small wall, checking out a couple of titles. Notice Ruben is reading Ray Bradburyâ€s seminal work, Fahrenheit 451, a book after his own heart, for this wall is an homage to books!

JERSEY CITY, NJ   April 4, 2012 – Performance artists Ruben Millares and Antonia Wright recently came to the Main Library in Jersey City to abscond with 14 boxes of books that were weeded from the library branches†collections. The use for the books can raise an educated eyebrow…

            They came in search of books for their art installation at the Fountain Art Fair, which was held in mid-March in New York City. From Miami, both artists have been doing this installation of books as a “homage to the book, a celebration” and a commentary on how reading in libraries has gone digital.

            The actual installation is a wall of books, which create a chance for people to view the titles, pick up the books – even walk away with a book – while demonstrating an appreciation of The Book.

            Once done, what do they do with the books? “We either use them for another performance,” said Antonia Wright. “Store, sell them, or re-create the installation, as they are cite-specific,” added Ruben Millares.

            The two links below illustrate the installation. The first is the artists†statement, submitted on Antonia Wrightâ€s website. The second is a video of the performance.

http://antoniawright.com/projects/3/23.mfw

http://rubenmillares.com/video.php

For the latest on programs, events, and special announcements please follow the Library on Facebook or Twitter at Jersey City Free Public Library. Visit us on the web at www.jclibrary.org. As of April 3, 2012, the Jersey City Free Public Library has 211,641 valid card members.

 

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By Evelyn Bonilla

 

“Open your eyes and you will see the beauty from within”, these are the words that come to mind, as I explain the photographs of Jonathan Singer. Described as a “force of nature” Singer brings to life “rare exotic flowers and plants” using photography and his extraordinary vision; the compilation of the two brings to fruition photographs which bring to mind the works of Rembrandt.

 On January 28^th the public will have the opportunity to view the one of a kind photographs by Jonathan Singer. The exhibit “Botanica Magnifica” will be presented in two parts. “Part One” is on view January 28 through April 15, and “Part Two” will be on view April 21 through August 26 at the New Jersey State Museum.

 The museum exhibit is organized by guest curator Dr. Karen Reeds well-known for her work with science and history. The exhibition will unite two of the State Museumâ€s subject areas, “Natural History and Fine Art”, and will look at Jonathan Singerâ€s extraordinary photographs from both perspectives.

 Singerâ€s photography is unique in that it defies conventional views and opens to all who behold it; a world of photography like no other. Through his camera lens he captures the soul of the object he is photographing.

  His photographs can be seen in the “Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Libraries in Washington, DC, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA), Stockholm, Sweden, the Huntington Museum and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California, the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

 In 2009, he was awarded the Carl Linnaeus Silver Medal for merging art and science, from the Swedish Royal Academy of Science. He was also awarded the international Hasselblad Prize Laureate award; granted to photographers in recognition of their major achievements”. Most recently he was acknowledged by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and received an award, “in recognition and appreciation for his work of the botanical world”.  Singer is one of the first photographers to receive such a prestigious award. Singer also has two photography books to his credit “Botanica Magnifica: Portraits of the World’s Most Beautiful and Rare Flowers and Plants” and “Bonsai, Art and Nature”.

 To view “Botanica Magnifica:  Photographs by Jonathan Singer,” visit the New Jersey State Museum, located at 205 West State Street in Trenton. It is open on Tuesday through Saturday, from 9:00 am to 4:45 pm, and Sunday from 12:00 to 5:00 pm. The Museum is closed on Mondays and all state holidays. General admission to the Museum is free.  For more information, please visit the Museumâ€s website at www.newjerseystatemuseum.org or call the recorded information line at (609) 292-6464.  On weekends, free parking is available in lots adjacent to and behind the Museum.

 If interested in learning more about Jonathan Singer sign on to his website at www.jonathan-singer-photography.com  and enter into the magnificent botanical world of photographer Jonathan Singer.

  

 

 

 

 

 

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By Sally Deering

Acappella groups – four or five guys singing harmonies with no back-up band – bridged the gap between 1950s Doo-Wop and 1960s rock and roll, but until now, little has been written about that time in music history when teenagers harmonized on street corners, inside subways and underneath train trestles searching for the echo that gave them their sound.

Abraham Santiago grew up in Jersey City and remembers the days he sang tenor in The Concepts, a street corner acappella group of fellow students from Ferris High School in Jersey City. Santiago, who now resides in Chicago, took his memories of those days and collaborated on a book and documentary about the acappella era with Steve Dunham, an acappella enthusiast and music producer in Las Vegas with a mammoth acappella record collection and a passion for singing street harmonies.

 “Acappella Street Corner Vocal Groups:  A Brief History and Discography of 1960s Singing Groups,” (Mellow Sound Press, Chicago,167 pgs;) chronicles every street corner acappella group ever recorded from that time like  Joanne and the Heartaches, the Royal Counts and the Persuasions; and the record companies that produced their songs, like Snowflake, Relic and Catamount. The documentary, “Street Corner Harmony: The Missing Link in Rock and Roll History,” narrated by record producer Wayne Stierle delves deeper into the singers’ lives and the genre of acappella music. Both the book and the documentary are touchstones to a bygone era, the time between the 1950s and 1960s, when musical tastes shifted to British rockers like The Beatles and short-haired teens singing acappella became as old-hat as the Hi-Fi record players that spun their songs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 “In 2004 I began thinking about why no one ever wrote about the acappella era or the Golden Age of Acappella as some call it,” Santiago says. “I starting writing it, but I’m not a good writer so I asked around and I found Steven Dunham. We hit it off really well considering I didn’t know him and he didn’t me. We started working together and in 2006 the book was published under Mellow Sound Press. In that same year a native Jersey City music critic Jim De Rogatis who lives in Chicago reviewed our book for the Chicago Sun Times. The following year the book was reviewed by Soul Patrol.com and we won an award.”

 Originally from Brooklyn, Dunham resides in Law Vegas where he owns the record company Street Corner Entertainment and sings with two acappella groups, The Chaperones and the Emerald Dreams, whose songs are part of the documentary’s soundtrack. Dunham says he collaborated with Santiago because he believed the history of acappella recordings of that time needed to be preserved and so far, no one else had done the job.

 “We wanted to preserve the traditional street corner singing in the northeast in that time period,” Dunham says. “We felt it was an important piece of rock and roll and American history to preserve this genre before it was completely forgotten about and the memories passed away.”  

The Way it Wa-a-as  

Back in the early 1960s, when Santiago sang with The Concepts, he and his buddies, lead singer Amed Valentine, baritone Ed Rivera and first tenor Juan Perez were always on the lookout for the right backdrop for their acoustic sound. When they weren’t harmonizing on Jersey City street corners, they sang under train trestles and in subways, too.

 “We were always looking for the echo, the hallmark of that elusive dream to make it big,” Santiago says.  

The Concepts sang R&B/Soul songs they imitated from African-American singing groups of the 1950s. That was the standard for how they wanted to sound, but what they really wanted was the opportunity to record their songs, have them played on the radio and sold in record stores.  

“Today anyone can make a recording at home, press out a CD and sell it,” Santiago says. “In the 1960s you couldn’t do that. A record company had to hire and record you and you became part of that record company’s label.”  

The Concepts recorded for Catamount and Cat Time labels and their songs were produced by Stan Krause who owns a record shop in Journal Square in Jersey City. Krause recorded many groups including the Persuasions, one of the best known acappella groups in history, Santiago says. 

“Independent record labels recorded various groups from Jersey City and other surrounding urban cities like New York,” Santiago says. “Those recordings were played on the radio and immediately, the birth of acappella came into existence. Before long acappella shows were attracting large audiences at the State Theatre in Journal Square and the Palace on Newark Ave in Jersey City and in Hackensack and New York. It just exploded and a new pop genre was created. It was a small niche within the music industry.”  

Dunham says many of the acappella groups weren’t taken seriously in the music industry and yet they have influenced groups of the past forty-five years as well as the collegiate acappella circuit. Even shows like NBC’s “Sing Off” where acappella groups of all ages and backgrounds compete for a recording contract owe their success to the guys singing on street corners back in the day.

 “If it wasn’t for the 60s acappella groups, this type of singing would never happen,” Dunham says. 

 Too young to have experienced the first wave of acappella singing, Dunham, now in his 40s, was just 11 years-old when he became interested in acappella singing. It was the late 1970s and he and his buddies would harmonize on his Brooklyn stoop, singing classics like “In the Still of the Night,” and songs by the Stylistics.

 “Street corner singing is a neighborhood thing,” Dunham says. “It’s not just about the music; it’s about the culture of the northeast. It was a way of expression similar to how rap and hip-hop started.”

 Both Santiago and Dunham are pleased with the reception to the book and are discussing a sequel with new information they’ve discovered since publishing it. Santiago would also like to have the documentary shown in Jersey City, the place where acappella music began for The Concepts and other acappella groups that came and went over the years.

 “For teenagers in Jersey City and along the corridor that stretches from Boston to Philadelphia, singing was their favorite past-time,” Santiago says. “Guys didn’t play soccer or basketball as we do now, they would get together and sing. It was a way of connecting with each other and to potentially connect with a person of the opposite sex. If you could sing and you were in a vocal group you were cool.”

 To purchase “Acappella Street Corner Vocal Groups,” and or the DVD call QP Distribution at 888-281-5170 – or send an email to qpdistribution@skyerock.net (The book is $10; the DVD is $14.95, plus shipping and handling.)

to read more about these 1960s Premiere Acappella groups of the 1960s visit www.beaudaddy.com

 

 

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 Film Producer PJ Leonard Rolls out Red Carpet for Little Curly Top at NYC Premier of “The Fallen Faithful”

 By Sally Deering

 Film producer PJ Leonard grew up in Jersey City at a time when mothers taught sons to do the right thing with a smack in the back of the head. He’s one of those tough-talking types with the heart of a marshmallow, like when Bogart says bye-bye to Bergman in “Casablanca.”  Bogey, too, had to do the right thing and maybe his mama cracked him good because he ended up sacrificing his only crack at freedom for the woman he loved.

 “The Fallen Faithful” is Leonard’s second crack at filmmaking as Executive Producer doing what producers do best – making a movie from script-reading to film screening. As Executive Producer of Other Side of the River Productions Leonard raises money, puts creative teams together, hires actors, negotiates contracts and scouts locations – the bim, bam, boom of movie-making. It’s also his job to get his new film seen, which is exactly what Leonard put in place for Monday, October 25th at the Director’s Guild Theater in New York City where “The Fallen Faithful” makes it’s NYC premiere. It promises to be a glitzy night with the film’s stars Sonny Marinelli and Obba Babatunde attending and one special name on the guest list that isn’t in the credits. 

 Meghan “Maggie” Elizabeth Russo, a curly-topped two year-old from Staten Island was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, a rare form of cancer that forms in the eye. Currently in treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, little Meghan has a tough road ahead as she prepares for a bone-marrow transplant and a series of chemo. Her dad, Mike is a NYC Firefighter and mom, Mary Beth, left her full-time job to care for Maggie, her older brother Michael and baby sister Mary Kate. Keeping the family healthy and happy are Mike and Mary Beth’s number one priority, and according to Leonard, “they look like the happiest people in the world, always doing things together,” but they can use a helping hand paying for necessities like Pampers and babysitters. That’s where Leonard plays a part.

 

 A friend of the family through his niece Jacqueline Lux, Leonard feels for the Russo family. Jacqueline has lived with Cystic Fibrosis most of her life and Leonard knows firsthand what his brother had to go through doing right by his little girl. That’s why, at “The Fallen Faithful” premier Leonard will donate the screening’s net proceeds ($75 ticket price) to help the family pay those much-needed expenses as they do right by little Meghan.

 “What people don’t realize is there are other expenses they have to worry about like childcare,” Leonard says. “Medical insurance doesn’t cover that. They have two other children so obviously it’s hard. Their clock ticks a lot quicker.”

 The Russos, especially Meghan, will be guests of honor at “The Fallen Faithful” screening on the 25th and Leonard members of the cast who live in L.A. will also be attending the premier.

“It’s going to be a red carpet event,” Leonard says.

 Making a Film that Questions Destiny vs. Free Will

“The Fallen Faithful” follows the journey of Moran Douglas (Sonny Marinelli) a ruthless killer churning with inner turmoil as the confusion of his early childhood begin bubbling to the surface. Orphaned as a boy, Moran turned to surrogate fathers for guidance, a power-hungry psychopath Asa (Mark Margolis) and the priest Father Emanual (Obba Babatunde.) Riddled with conflict, Moran questions whether his life was molded by decisions that were made for him or by him. Was Moran destined to be a murderer because that was his fate or did he choose to be a killer of his own free will?

 Sonny Marinelli, who plays Moran has appeared in the films “Noel” and “Dot.Kill” and several TV shows, He says his role in “The Fallen Faithful” connected on a personal level – he lost his mother when he was 9 – and like most people, has gone a few rounds with some personal demons. Formerly a longshoreman, Marinelli took night classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City and his passion turned to acting. He was originally cast in a different role in “The Fallen Faithful,” but a couple days before shooting started in Tampa the lead actor dropped out and Marinelli landed the role.

“I understood the character’s story,” Marinelli says. “It wasn’t a huge stretch. The father is beating up his mom, and he kills his father and soon after his mom accidentally gets killed in the crossfire of shootout. He’s raised by two guys – a priest and a psychopath – and he chooses a life of violence. As the movie opens, I’m filled with guilt and shame over the life I’ve led and try to cross over the spiritual side.”

 Playing Father Emanual, Obba Babatunde has more than 100 film and TV credits listed on his IMDB.com page. On Broadway, he starred in the original “Dreamgirls”  and earned amn Emmy nomination for his role in HBO’s “Miss Evers’ Boys.” He starred with Halle Berry in “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge,” and appeared in the films, “That Thing You Do” and “Philadelphia.” Babatunde’s TV appearances include roles in “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Criminal Minds,” “Boston Legal” and “Cold Case.”

 Veteran character actor Mark Margolis rounds out the cast as the power-hungry psychopath (Asa) and his previous roles include Al Moody in “Californication,” Tip on “Breaking Bad,” and the films “Gone Baby Gone,” “The Wrestler” and “Defiance.”

 Elizabeth Regen penned the script to “The Fallen Faithful;” Csaba Bereczky directed and Executive Producer Leonard watched over every minute detail that comes with making a good independent film on a million-dollar budget. He landed a deal with Stuart Hall of Media 8 Entertainment to distribute the film and after the NYC premiere Leonard and Media 8 take “The Fallen Faithful” to the American Film Market in Los Angeles to get the movie to the next level. 

 Producing Movies from a Jersey Perspective

A relatively new player on the movie-making field, Leonard formed Other Side of the River Productions in 2006 with his first film, “Immaculate Misconception” that cost $175,000 to make and according to Leonard “looks like a million bucks.”

 “Right now, the production team that produced ‘Monster,’ they have it now,” Leonard says. “I was offered deals previously, but I didn’t want to give it to just anybody, so I flew to Los Angeles, met with Stewart Hall of Media 8 Entertainment,  and they’re going to rep both ‘The Immaculate Misconception’ and ‘The Fallen Faithful.’ They’re a major company. I’m not a small game no more.”

 “The Fallen Faithful” was made for $1 million, a small budget compared to blockbusters in the double-digit range. Leonard doesn’t expect to see it in movie theaters, he says. The budget’s too small for the big screen, but Leonard is convinced the film will do well in distribution and venues like cable-TV and Netflix.

 “It’s not like the old days,” Leonard says. “Unless you’re doing $24 million out of the gate, it’s not going to benefit people to get it into the movie theater.”

 Although his work takes him to Los Angeles and other film locations, Leonard prefers to stay on the East Coast and make Jersey City his home.

 “I’ll never be West Coast,” Leonard says. “My persona never fits out there. They look at me like I’m crazy. I’m not a phony. I speak my mind.”

 Leonard, who once considered becoming an actor, doesn’t try to be something he’s not. He doesn’t write, direct or act, and he sees himself as the person who puts all the pieces of the puzzle together and, he says, he gets great satisfaction completing the puzzle.

 Leonard is already putting the puzzle pieces together for his next film, “Three-Way Split,” written by Glenn Taranto who worked on several projects with Academy Award winning writer Paul Haggis (“Million Dollar Baby.”) Scheduled to shoot in Mississippi in 2011, Leonard is thrilled to have Taranto on the project and is already looking to sign an A-List cast on the caliber of Kathy Bates, Ed Harris and William H. Macy.

 “I’m not Spielberg,” Leonard says, “but I love the camaraderie of the people and the satisfaction of seeing something you created up on the screen.”

.For more information on “The Fallen Faithful” contact:

Other Side of the River Productions

551-655-3371

Email: PJ9462@aol.com

 If you’d like to help Meghan and her family,

go to www.maggiesfund.net

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FREE Shuttle takes hotel guests to locations within a 3 mile radius of the hotel

JERSEY CITY, NJ (August 10, 2010) – The Westin Jersey City Newport, located just 10 minutes from downtown Manhattan, has just announced a new service for its business travel guests that will help them save time and money – a complimentary shuttle service. The hotel’s new shuttle service now operates, 7 a.m. – 9.a.m. and 4:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. daily, and drives guests to meeting destinations within a three mile radius of the hotel including, Exchange Place and Harborside Financial area. The hotel’s shuttle is branded with a Westin logo making it instantly recognizable to guests.

 

 

During a time when hotel savings for business travelers has become essential, guests have responded very positively to this new service, appreciating the convenience, service and savings on taxis and rental cars to travel between the hotel and their office or meetings.
 
Situated just minutes from Newark Liberty International Airport, and just one block from the Pavonia – Newport PATH station, Newark Light Rail and NJTransit Buses, the hotel is ideal for business travelers and provides quick public transportation to and from New York City and to all points in New Jersey, the NJ Turnpike and NJ Parkway, as well as LaGuardia and JFK International airports. 
 
The shuttle service seats up to 11 passengers for each ride. For more information on The Westin Jersey City Newport and the hotel’s shuttle service, visit www.westin.com/jerseycity or call 201-626-2900.

 

About The Westin Jersey City Newport

Located in the heart of the waterfront Financial District of Jersey City, The Westin Jersey City Newport is only minutes from New York City’s major attractions and business centers. Offering panoramic views of the Manhattan skyline, the Hudson River and the Newport Marina, the hotel offers 429 guest rooms, including 14 one or two bedroom suites and one Presidential Suite.  Every room features the Heavenly^® Bed with custom-designed pillow-top mattress, crisp triple sheets, down blanket, luxurious duvet and five pillows.  The rooms’ Heavenly® Bath is equipped with a specially designed dual showerhead, signature bath amenities and a curved shower rod for additional comfort and space.

 

Other facilities include a signature contemporary restaurant called Fire & Oak American Grill, an Atrium Lobby Lounge and the WestinWORKOUT^® Gym.  The hotel also features 20,500 square feet of contemporary meeting space, with a team of culinary specialists and meeting planners to assist in every detail.  High speed Internet access is available throughout the property.

 

The hotel is minutes from Newark Liberty International Airport and one block from the Pavonia – Newport PATH station, Newark Light Rail and NJTransit Buses, providing quick public transportation to and from New York City and to all points in New Jersey – the NJ Turnpike and NJ Parkway, as well as LaGuardia and JFK International airports.  The hotel is adjacent to the Newport Centre Mall with high quality shops such as Macy’s, Coach, A|X Armani Exchange, Brookstone and Swarovski Crystal as well as an AMC Cinemas.  Steps from the Hudson waterfront, the Newport-Pavonia destination offers guests the convenience to New York City excitement and the ability to re-energize in a serene, out-of-the city location.

 

For further information, call 201-626-2900 or visit the Starwood website, www.starwood.com

The post Business Travel-New Complimentary Shuttle Service at The Westin Jersey City first appeared on River View Observer.

 by Sally Deering

Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe lit up the silver screen with her simmering sexuality, bootyliscious bod and a killer smile that warmed film-lovers hearts.  Playing the bubble-headed blonde roles producers cast her in, Monroe delivered sex-appeal by the D-cupful with an added twist of vulnerability, like her character Sugar Kane in “Some Like it Hot.”  When Sugar tells “girl musicians” Josephine and Daphne, (played Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon,)  “I’m tired of getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop,” the chord strikes like an arrow threw the heart and although the line belongs to writer/director Billy Wilder and his co-writer I.A.L. Diamond, the delivery is all Marilyn.

We lost Marilyn Monroe in 1962 to a pill overdose, but her memory lives on in her films and the merchandizing of her image stamped on everything from pocketbooks to postage stamps. You can’t pass a souvenir shop without seeing Monroe’s heavy-lidded eyes and ruby red pucker plastered on T-shirts, pocketbooks, pens, lighters, even coffee mugs – ah, the price of fame.

But Marilyn Monroe was more than just an icon of sexuality. Underneath her platinum-blonde persona, she was a thinker, a smart sugar cookie who took the craft of acting seriously, moving to New York to study “The Method” with Lee Strasberg and challenging herself in complicated film roles. She was intelligent and curious and according to several biographers, Monroe was an avid reader and nourished her mind with good literature.  Writer Joyce Carol Oates even penned a piece about a chance encounter with Marilyn Monroe in the Strand bookstore in New York City back in the 1950s.  In her short-story collection, “I Am No One You Know,” Oates – a college-student at NYU at the time – observed the star poring over book stacks and aware of her fear of being noticed as Marilyn Monroe, Oates’ character offers to handle Monroe’s cash transaction at the register and hands the star her book purchases outside the store.
 
Just recently, Monroe’s love of books and the merchandizing of her image have melded together for a good cause thanks to Tony Lambiase of Jersey City, who recently donated his collection of Marilyn Monroe memorabilia to the Jersey City free Public Library at a time when New Jersey libraries face budget cuts and capital improvement projects need funding.  Lambiase’s donation includes a life-sized statue of Monroe picked up in a store in Pennsylvania – a gift to him from friends; a sign discovered on a deserted building;  and a framed grouping of  Marilyn Monroe postage stamps circa 1995 issued by the U.S. Post Office. 
 
“I’ve been collecting Marilyn Monroe items since 1990,” Lambiase says. “It started when my sister-in-law bought me a cigarette lighter with Marilyn Monroe’s picture on it.”

The Jersey City Library, like libraries across the state, has been facing budget cuts in a measure to reduce New Jersey’s deficit.  Employees may be laid-off or given work furloughs – unpaid days off – and if the state does any more downsizing in its effort to slim down spending, some branches may even close.

A recent grassroots effort led by state librarians, library workers and supporters helped restore $4.2 million to the New Jersey budget for library programs. According to a post on savemynjlibrary.org, “delivery of materials between libraries will continue for this budget year.  Also, access to the EBSCO databases that many residents and students rely on will continue. In the proposed New Jersey FY 2011 Budget, state aid for municipalities is being reduced in a time when tax revenues are also decreasing.   Although municipal library funding is a small percentage of a municipality’s budget, typically less than 3%, many towns are feeling pressures with shrinking tax revenues and are looking to reduce library funding to find relief.”

With foresight and sound-decision making, Jersey City Library Director Priscilla Gardner started the Jersey City Library Foundation in 2004 as a safety-net to fund capital improvement projects for the library. The Foundation’s last fundraising campaign brought in $222,000 for a bookmobile and their latest project is the installation of security cameras in all Jersey City library branches for employee and patron safety. The money raised from the Marilyn Monroe memorabilia will help support this project.
 
“Along with Cynthia Harris of the New Jersey Room, we are working on determining the best way to market the material,” Gardner, who also serves as the Library Foundation’s executive director says. “In that way, the Lambiase Marilyn Monroe Collection is properly presented and his interest in helping the Jersey City Free Public Library is full executed.”

Cynthia Harris, manager of the New Jersey Room – a repository of papers and photographs documenting the history of Jersey City and all the towns in Hudson County – is curator of the Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, researching its value, which at this point is at the early stage.
 “I wouldn’t begin to guess on the value,” Harris says, “but anyone who’s a fan of Marilyn will find something to catch their heart. I’m intrigued by that life-sized statue of Marilyn in her white dress from ‘The Seven Year Itch.’ I think it’s very cool and some of the pictures are really nice. There’s enough variety that anybody who’s a fan will find something to tickle their fancy or something that will add to their collection.”
 
Lambiase’s Marilyn Monroe collection – 20 pieces in all — will be featured at the Library Foundation’s annual Fall fundraiser where guests will be able to bid on the items in a silent auction with all proceeds going to the capital improvements project.
 
And one can just imagine somewhere in the universe, where stars burn their brightest, Marilyn Monroe – the sexy, dazzling and bubbly-blonde who indeed had a brain – smiles that killer smile,  thrilled that her image will help nourish people’s minds and not just hold their coffee.

The post Saving the Stacks with a Stacked Hollywood Blonde first appeared on River View Observer.

by Sally Deering 

 In the 1920s, when Shirley Temple tapped into America’s hearts with her bouncing ringlets, ruffled crinolines and shiny black tap shoes, mothers from Canarsie to Kenosha trundled their daughters off to their local dance school dreaming of their baby girl’s name in lights. Nowadays, child stars go by first names like Britney, but the local dance school still thrives as the only training ground for kids who dream of a dancing career.

 One local dance pioneer who has kept the stage lights burning in her neighborhood dance studio for the past 34 years is Diane Dragone, Artistic Director of The Kennedy Dancers, a professional dance company and dance school that stands in the wings of New York City.  Through her school and with her years as a teacher and choreographer, Dragone has trained and enriched the lives of thousands of inner-city kids – some who became professional dancers — and she has brought modern and classical dance performances to the multi-cultural and economically-diverse Hudson community.

 On Friday and Saturday, May 7 and 8, dance-lovers will have the opportunity to see Dragone’s dynamic troupe perform when The Kennedy Dancers take the stage at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind in their beautiful theater space on Summit Avenue in Jersey City. This Spring Dance Concert will feature contemporary choreographer Sean Curran’s “Force of Circumstance,” and three Dragone choreographies:  “Caven Point” – about a Jersey City encampment during WWII; “La Dolce Vita,” Dragone’s valentine to her Italian heritage with songs by Rosemary Clooney, Dean Martin and Louis Prima; and the World Premiere of “My Obsession with Cats,” – a choreography that’s close to Dragone’s animal-activist heart.

 A successful business-and-Renaissance woman, Dragone runs a dance company and school, choreographs , raises a family, performs community outreach and rescues stray animals – all in a day’s work. And at the heart of it all, she is a dancer teaching others the “language of dance” so that they may feel the thrill she has known twirling across the stage, leaping into the air and springing into a dance partner’s arms. 

 “Dancing is ageless, I believe that,” Dragone says, sitting at her desk while a teen ballet class is in progress in her studio on Central Avenue.  “Everybody can dance; you have to break through those inhibitions.  Dancing can be a healing process. It’s excellent for your body, mind and soul.”

 FELINES AND THE REPERTOIRE

The Kennedy Dancers performances on May 7 and 8 in the theater at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind will feature the professional company and the Inner-City Youth teen company composed of students who have trained with Dragone since they were toddlers in tights and taps. One of the highlights of the program will be Dragone’s “My Obsession with Cats,” a choreography about the felines Dragone adores and rescues with the help of her husband, teacher and professional videographer Tom Horan and their children Gigi, 17, and Danny, 15.

 “Cats are beautiful, their movement is beautiful and their personalities are all distinct. They’re a great source of inspiration for dance because they move in many ways,” Dragone says while her two studio cats Sylvester and Silvio are busy cat-napping near her desk. “There have always been cats in my life from the time I was little.”

 Dragone has choreographed hundreds of dances and currently, The Kennedy Dancers perform about 30 dances from the repertoire in venues throughout the tri-state area. Committed to bringing dance to all members of the community, Dragone offers ballroom and exercise classes to seniors; ballet and tap to toddlers and adolescents; ballet, tap and hip-hop to teens and ‘tweens and Zumba and Yoga to adults. A certified dance teacher by the New Jersey Department of Education, Dragone has taught special education dance at Hudson County Schools of Technology and brought dance to children and adults with physical and learning disabilities at St. Joseph’s School for the Blind in Jersey City.

“They loved the dance classes,” Dragone says of the children with disabilities. “It was very emotional for our teachers because some of these children are encapsulated in their own world or they never really experienced creative movement before and you could see they loved dancing. If you can’t see very well and you’re afraid to move, this was a really freeing experience.”

 That program lost its funding. So did the program teaching dance to incarcerated teenagers at the Hudson County Juvenile Detention Center in Secaucus, which was funded by the New Jersey Council on the Arts.  Dragone hopes someone will come up with the funding to reinstate both programs. The students looked forward to it, she says.

 “I think dance gave them something beautiful and challenging,” Dragone says.

 A LOAN TO BUILD A DREAM ON

Creating beautiful and challenging dances was the most important thing to Dragone back when she first opened her studio in 1976 with money she saved and a loan from her parents Anne and Daniel. It was a tiny, bohemian studio on Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City that her dad helped her paint and where she used her training as a dancer and her certification as a teacher to teach ballet, tap and jazz to kids and teens. 

 “The dance students are the mainstay of a company,” Dragone says. “You’re developing young minds and bodies and your goal is to give them an aesthetic, enjoyment and a sense of physical accomplishment. The beauty of dance inspires children and adults to keep coming back to the dance studio.”

 And if the students can’t come to the studio, then Dragone goes into their living rooms with the cable-TV show she hosts and produces with her husband, Tom.  “Dance Vista,” features interviews and choreographies by contemporary dance artists and, after 13-years on the air, the show is now seen on cable stations throughout New Jersey and New York.

 THE STUDENTS’ SUCCESS

Many of The Kennedy Dancers’ students go on to professional dance careers and Dragone is thrilled by their successes. One former student is performing in the musical “Buddy” in London’s West End; another is currently in a show at the La Mama theater in New York.  One dancer joined the Miami Ballet, one is with the Martha Graham dance company and another is featured in the Julie Taymor film, “Across the Universe” – and those are just recent accomplishments.

 “I’m thrilled for them and proud of them,” Dragone says. “I love it.”

 Determined to bring The Kennedy Dancers to new heights, Dragone’s choreography “God Bless America,” was recently named a finalist in the NJN Hispanic Dance competition to be held at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in May. And last year, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts gave Dragone and The Kennedy Dancers an Award for Excellence for their outstanding work and Dragone’s compelling choreography.

 THE DANCER IN HER SOUL

So, how does a choreographer make dances? What comes first, the movement or the music?

 “I see people walking down the street, kids dance around, the windshield wipers move;” Dragone says, “I sit in the car listening to the radio and someone walks by to the rhythm of the music – all things can inspire your dances.”

 And that goes for cats, too.                                                                                         

 The Kennedy Dancers present their Spring Dance Performances on Fri, May 7 and Sat, May 8 at St. Joseph‘s School for the Blind 761 Summit Ave, Jersey City.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door; $18 for students and seniors with ID.

Call 201-659-2190 for tickets and class information or visit www.kennedydancers.org.

 

 

 

 

 

The post COVER STORY-Leading The Kennedy Dancers first appeared on River View Observer.