Tag Archives: Tom Dwyer

IN MEMORY OF A FRIEND AND CO-WORKER TOM DWYER

By Joe Calamito

This past September 20th, marked 23 years the River View Observer has been in business, and in the early years we were fortunate to have a lead writer named Tom Dwyer writing our cover stories. He alone was instrumental in keeping our readers interested in all things Hudson County.

Always ready to tackle a new story idea, and creating ideas that made us worthy of our readers attention.

I was heartbroken to find out recently that on April 6th, 2021 the world lost a talented writer and musician when Tom lost his battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

It is hard for me to fathom such a brilliant talent as Tom no longer doing what he loved best, spending time with his beloved wife Susan, traveling, writing and creating beautiful music.

Tom was my friend, and although we hadn’t worked together in years, on occasion he would contact me and offer a travel story he had written and excitedly, I would jump at the chance to have the name Tom Dwyer, grace the pages of our publication one more time.

He would offer advice that I knew would make us a better publication, and in one of our last conversations a few years back, we talked of him writing a regular feature on Travel. Here at the River View we were excited at the idea.

Tom was a talented songwriter and in that last conversation we had, he was proud to let me hear some songs he had written and sold and I was happy he did.

There is no way I can sum up our friendship and working relationship other than to let his work speak for itself, by posting a few of Tom’s stories for you to read. Tom’s earlier stories unfortunately were written before we had the River View Observer website and are only in print , however, I did manage to find some from 2008 and 2009 for you to read.

Tom Thank you for all you did for us-and for inspiring us to push on, you made me a better person and publisher for have knowing you.

I hope you enjoy reading some of Tom’s stories…

Happy Birthday Liberty State Park by Tom Dwyer

Travel Sanibel -Captiva Islands Beauty and Sophistication Fun by Tom Dwyer

The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor

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How to Publish the Great American eNovel

Writers Forge a New Frontier with eBooks

February 10th cover by Anthony Piscitelli
February 10th cover by Anthony Piscitelli

River View Observer cover story

 by Sally Deering

 During the 2010 holiday season, Amazon.com sold 2 million Kindles and Barnes & Noble selling 1.5 million Nooks, stats that are a wake-up call to big name book publishers and a “Yahoo!” to writers everywhere who can now self-publish their Great American Novels their way. Ebook publishing is the new frontier for writers to boldly sell their fiction and non-fiction – and find their niche – and a possible income – utilizing 21st Century technology and the social media network that connects us all.

 Electronic Readers have transformed the way we’re reading biographies, textbooks, cook books, you name it.  Books of every genre are now available via download and ebook publishers like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Google (and more) are giving writers the chance to see their books in electronic print not only on Kindles and Nooks, but IPads, IPhones, Droids and other techno gadgets.  Of course, the Big Kahunas of book publishing like Random House, Harper Collins, and Simon & Schuster are still doing big business in hardcovers and paperback, but the stats indicate more and more people would rather click a button on their handy electronic reader than turn the page of a dog-eared book. Continue reading How to Publish the Great American eNovel

TRAVEL- World’s Weirdest Hotels – Budget Travel

crazy_exteriorRiver View Observer’s “Site Seeing” Bringing you interesting posts from arount the internet

Budget Travel has put together an impressive list of Weird Hotels from around the world.

Pictured above Hang Nga Guest House and Art Gallery, a complex that more than earns its local nickname, the Crazy House. (Courtesy upyernoz/Flickr)

To view all of the photo’s World’s Weirdest Hotels, Part Deux

More Travel Stories         Cruise Ship Ratings and Reviews

August Travel- Bonaire

bonaire turtle …It’s not just about diving anymore

     Tom Dwyer

 For decades, the island of Bonaire, located in the Dutch West Indies, (Lesser Antilles) has been known as a diver’s paradise. Year after year, divers return to the protected waters around this island of 14,000 residents, never tiring of the beauty below the water. But over the past few years, more and more visitors are coming to this 24-mile long Caribbean paradise to take in the beauty above the water as well, and all of the activities it offers.
Location and Climate
 Bonaire is located 30 miles from Curacao, 50 miles north of Venezuela and 86 miles east of Aruba.  Its yearly average temperature is 82 F and its water temperature is 80F, with an arid, desert-like terrain.

Continue reading August Travel- Bonaire

Royal Caribbean Cruises & Bayonne – 4th Year and Going Strong!

By Tom Dwyer

River View Observer Royal CaribbeanAnthony Caputo, the port director for Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, could not be more proud of the success of the partnership of the city of Bayonne and Royal Caribbean Cruises.  In just three short years, Cape Liberty Cruise Port has become one of the busiest cruise ports in the country. The port is ranked second among Northeast and mid-Atlantic coast ports in passenger volume. In 2006 it hosted 71 cruise ship calls, with 321,000 passengers during the 2006 season which ran from May to November. The port was also recognized as one of the top three-rated ports, worldwide, for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, which merged in 1997.  “When you take into consideration that we only have one berth and we are home-porting passengers which means that the passengers sail from here and return here unlike port–of-calls, our growth is really incredible,” Caputo said. The 2007 season, which begins in May, will commence year-round trips to its destinations.

Cruise passengers are arriving by trains, planes and automobiles to get to Cape Liberty Cruise Port. Even Caputo is surprised by the distances guests are traveling to set sail from Bayonne. “They are coming as far away as Texas, and as far north as Canada, and as far south as Florida. If you just look at the license plates that come here it’s incredible. We have many guests who drive here and we have international guests who fly into Kennedy and Newark airports. And we have many domestic flights where we try to target Newark as our primary airport,” Caputo explained.

Continue reading Royal Caribbean Cruises & Bayonne – 4th Year and Going Strong!

NEA Honors Jersey City resident — Dan Morgenstern

Dan Morgenstern Receives Prestigious Jazz Masters Fellowship Award 

Dan MorgensternI first met Dan Morgenstern more than five years ago when I picked him up one Saturday morning outside his Journal Square apartment in Jersey City. Our destination was the Catskill Mountains home of the late George Handy, a genius experimental jazz composer/arranger from the 1940s’ and 50s’ with whom I had studied piano after getting out of the Army in 1970. Dan and I had never met until Handy’s widow, Elaine, asked us to drive up together that day to discuss archiving his scores, albums, and memorabilia with the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in Newark. Dan Morgenstern is the director of the Institute, where he oversees the world’s largest collection of jazz-related material. Our two-hour drive to the mountains, that included a few wrong turns, was like my own personal history of jazz, in fast time. During the duration of our trip, as I asked Dan about some of the jazz greats and not-so-well-known players he had met over the years, he recalled stories and memories about the many musicians he was “lucky enough to meet.” We returned home to Jersey City that night; Dan had secured George Handy’s collection for the Institute, preserving his legacy for future generations of music lovers. And it was a ride that opened my eyes to a man whose life is jazz; and who loves every moment of it.

Continue reading NEA Honors Jersey City resident — Dan Morgenstern

Rebuilding Together Jersey City

Last April, Bill and Nancy Barry of Jersey City, welcomed three dozen volunteer workers into their home. The workers were there to do much needed repairs on the Barry’s home as part of a program called Rebuilding Together Jersey City. Bill Barry is retired and his wife Nancy is disabled. By the time the day was over the volunteer workers had built a small bathroom for Nancy, painted, installed new windows and cabinets and accomplished a dozen other repairs. “When we first applied for the program they asked us what our wish list would be when it came to work on our house. They surpassed our wildest dreams when it came to the amount of work they did for us,” Mr. Barry said. Both Nancy and Bill Barry are deeply grateful for the work done on their home and think that Rebuilding Together Jersey City is a wonderful program. “They were just so friendly and courteous to us and they never treated us like we were a charity case or anything like that, we even tried to give them a donation but they wouldn’t hear of it,” Mr. Barry explained. “These are really wonderful people, which make it a wonderful program.” A few weeks after the work was completed on their home the Barry’s sent a letter thanking Rebuilding Together Jersey City and said, “You made our golden years platinum.”
Continue reading Rebuilding Together Jersey City

Happy Birthday Liberty State Park!

“The People’s Park” Turns 30

By Tom Dwyer

Liberty State ParkLiberty State Park will celebrate its 30th birthday on June 10th, and considering that last year alone 5 million people visited the park — this could turn out to be one heck of a birthday party. If you’re one of the lucky people who have already discovered Liberty State Park, then you might want to take a moment to honor Morris Pesin, the driving force behind turning a once-desolate Jersey City dumpsite into one of the greatest parks in America. Mr. Pesin, who passed away in 1992, was honored by President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1985 with a Volunteer Action Award for creating Liberty State Park, the Gateway to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Continue reading Happy Birthday Liberty State Park!