Tony Bennett. Saturday, August 13, 2011. Photos by Tracey James, Blogfinger staff photographer
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor. Blogfinger.net. Great Auditorium. Ocean Grove, NJ.
I’m speechless!
The empty space here is for the indescribable wonder of Tony Bennett’s performance Saturday night in the Great Auditorium. Mr. Bennett’s voice is as wonderful as ever, complete with a full range of emotions, volumes, textures, rhythms and key changes.
He wore an off white sport jacket, a white shirt and tie, and black pants. He was animated and he even sang and waved to the folks in the cheap seats on the lawn. Nearly 4,000 tickets were sold, but it seemed like the place was packed. Tony Bennett did not let the crowd down; he performed many of his hits and he received a few standing ovations. He seemed genuinely happy to be in this venue. As expected, he arrived with four first rate musicians: piano, stand-up base, guitar and drums.
Mr. Bennett, as gracious as always, complimented Ronald Naldi on his performance of the Star Spangled Banner and he told the audience that the Great Auditorium was a treasure, unlike any other theatre in the world. He said that we should protect and support this unique building.
Recalling a prior performance in the GA over twenty years ago, he sang “The Shadow of Your Smile” without any amplification.
For those who witnessed the performance, it will be something unforgettable. It was musical perfection by a star unlike any other.
Here is a song that Tony Bennett performed on Saturday that captures the feeling of something magical that happens and then eventually vanishes.
John Legend and Cynthia Erivo perform a spare Beach Boys tune. Internet photo. 2/12/17
Brian Wilson and Tony Asher wrote “God Only Knows” in 1966. This version was performed at the 59th Grammy Awards to honor artists who died in the past year.
Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor Blogfinger.net Click once to enlarge.
2021 re-post (The original question posited in the headline is still valid.)
There are multiple factions in the small town of Ocean Grove (pop 3,700,) and these organized groups are largely isolated from each other. Woven into the fabric are homeowners and renters who live here but do not belong to any organizations, thus becoming, by default, a faction of their own.
According to social scientist Steve Valk, whose family has lived here for several generations, it would be important for these factions to find ways to appreciate and cooperate with each other. For example he cites the religious groups and the secular groups which ought to find common ground for the benefit of the town. One example of such cooperation is the recent interaction, since Sandy, between Ocean Grove United (OGU) and the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (CMA); however we have recently seen how tenuous that relationship is when we recall the recent clash about Sunday sermons.
The CMA ran the town from 1869 to 1980 as a tax paying part of Neptune Twp.—-111 years.
Neptune Township treated OG as a sort of gated community. The CMA made the rules and imposed blue laws until the N.J. Supreme Court put a stop to that in 1980 when Neptune took over active governance in the Grove (although the Neptuners were technically the governing body almost since the town’s founding.) Since 1980, the CMA has continued its mission and it has largely kept out of the way of Neptune Township.
But we now see the CMA and the Township working together on the North End Redevelopment Project, but suspicious elements have been revealed, and that project does not seem to be designed primarily with the town’s best interest at heart. By 2021, the CMA, OGNED, and the Neptunites seem to be on the verge of going ahead with the NERP.
As for the Neptune Township governance, you have seen the results of our recent poll which shows that 80% of respondents mistrust the Neptune Township Committee. Interestingly, over the years, there were times when the citizens rose up against Neptune control resulting in law suits and even a failed referendum to allow the Grove to become a separate town which it did for one year in 1925.
The other organizations here also tend to have their own agendas and to be run like private clubs. Such groups include the Homeowners Association, the Historical Society, Ocean Grove United, and the Chamber of Commerce.
They don’t work together very much for the good of the town. They are busy with their own agendas. For example, the Chamber of Commerce runs big events to try and drum up business for the merchants. But what do they do for the benefit of those who live here? We asked them to take over sponsorship of the Town-wide Yard Sale, but they refused.
When we introduced a new idea for the town—the Blogfinger Film Festival—a benefit for the boardwalk—-only a few of the members would be sponsors for the program, and hardly any attended the event.
When we think of factions in town, we can see the visible ones, but how about the invisible ones such as families that have lived here for generations and are part of networks that act in concert with each other, with the CMA, and with the Township governance, especially where land use, zoning, and parking are concerned. Let’s call that “the OG network of special interests.”
For them the town of Ocean Grove seems like a gift that keeps on giving. This network never speaks publicly, shows its face, or identifies itself, but what it does and has done will impact all of us and will determine what the town will be in the future. Take a look at all the Grovers who are involved with OGNED and will gain financially from that North End project; to the detriment of those of us who live here and pay taxes.
We have seen the results of favoritism for those special interests in the Greek Temple and Mary’s Place. The North End Redevelopment Project is a good example to keep an eye on. Who will be the winners, and who will be the losers?
Because of indifference by the public, organizations, and special interests, Ocean Grove may become an at-risk town which could end up a failed historic place without focus and character, such as is seen in other shore towns—unless the public pays attention and the organizations here begin to work together for the overall benefit of the town and not just on their narrow pet projects, like the Homeowners Association which is currently circulating a simple-minded parking survey while ignoring the improprieties and illegalities around town regarding land use issues. The HOA has teamed up with the Neptune Committee ever since 2008 when it supported 165 residential units, mostly condos, at the North End.
In 2002, a professor* at Monmouth University published an academic paper about OG history, emphasizing the powerful way that the activist HOA of 25-30 years ago fought for the town and saved its life. Below is a quote** from that research about that era.
Contrast the conclusion below with the current HOA which now is failing Ocean Grove through impotence, inaction, and lack of focus towards the issues which currently threaten our town the most.
The Home Groaners need to step up and save the town once again, but this version appears to so far be hopeless in that regard.
** 2002: “The HOA has maintained or reconstructed the carefully planned infrastructure of the founders, and even as Ocean Grove is being reborn as a contemporary tourist site, the HOA has worked with the CMA to preserve its sacred foundations. Just like the CMA, the HOA has been outstanding in its ability to secure what it wants and what it believes the community needs. Property values have risen, the community is again a safe place, tourism has been revived, an enormous amount of social capital has been generated, and the Victorian charm of the town has been restored.”
By Karen Schmelzkopf* in the Journal of Historical Geography, 2002
Vic’s. Paul Goldfinger photo. Bradley Beach. Most say that Vics has the best pizza in the area. Click once to magnify the buzz. Blogfinger.net. Ocean Grove, NJ, USA.
By Paul Goldfinger MD. Blogfinger.net
Vic’s is now run by the 4th generation of the Giunco family who originally came to Bradley Beach from Genoa, Italy in 1933. They started with a “Tap Room.” In 1947 they opened their Italian restaurant in the current location. Vic’s was crowded on a Sunday evening. Yet we were seated within 10 minutes, and our waiter appeared soon after.
Their thin crusted pizza was truly excellent, served in a place which appeared like it was still 1947.
They have a bar, so no BYOB. They don’t deliver, but they are ready to have you pick up and be on your way quickly. And their menu is full of Italian specialties. We will be back to try something other than pizza.
EDITH PIAF. From her album “The White Cliffs of Dover.”
Warsaw Ghetto. May, 1943. Paul Goldfinger still image from Israel.
5/16/43. Armed resistance collapses at the Warsaw Ghetto. Nazis kill or remove over 56,000 Jews. Nazi forces burn the ghetto. This freedom fighter crawls out of a basement to be greeted by massive numbers of Nazi attackers. All resistance fighters are murdered. A small number manage to escape and bear witness.
Jews hide inside while Nazis set the Ghetto ablaze with artillery and flame throwers. Hidden photographers. During the 26 day resistance, writers chronicled the events and buried their observations. These items were dug up after the war to prove what occurred. PG. Blogfinger.net
Confederate cannon on Seminary Ridge. Gettysburg National Military Park. Paul Goldfinger photograph. Tri-X collection. Re-post. 2020.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net.
Reading Lincoln’s statement about “a new birth of freedom,” I was thinking about the divisions in our society today.
At the battle of Gettysburg, there were nearly 200 cannon lined up along Seminary Ridge from where 15,000 Confederate troops under Gen. James Longstreet planned to launch an attack on the Union army—–Pickett’s Charge.
The battle lasted from July 1-July 3 in 1863. The North was victorious, but there were heavy losses on both sides.
This cannon was on Seminary Ridge, Confederate lines, where I photographed it during our tour of the Battlefield.
Gettysburg was one of the most bloody battles of the Civil War, and being at Gettysburg is a very emotional experience. You must visit if you never have.
I look at this cannon, sitting in that position and try to imagine the role, the relatively small role, that it played amidst the smoke, the fire, the heat and the storm of shells and bullets that day resulting in carnage on both sides. This cannon must have killed or wounded men that day, but now it is silenced and stands as an icon to tell a story.
There are so many monuments in the Park representing all the states that participated in the battle and all the men who fought there. Should the gray side be torn down now? Looking at this canon provides the answer for me. I am drawn to it and cannot stop staring at it. I had to photograph it.
Lincoln concluded his brief address with: “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Lincoln included nothing in his speech referencing specifically the North or the South. It seems that “a new birth of freedom” was his main priority looking into the future. He was standing astride a time and place in our history which marked a significant turning point as he visualized a new beginning of bringing the entire nation together again under the guidance of our Declaration of Independence.*
I suspect Lincoln would be horrified at the idea that we should today be destroying symbols of our history. Gettysburg National Military Park and other such monumental places must be preserved even if the memory is painful for some.
Cemetary at Andersonville , Georgia for Union soldiers who died in prison. From Ken Burns: The Civil War. Paul Goldfinger photo off the streaming video. 11/2019.
And, by the way, that is why Auschwitz still stands and was not torn apart nail by nail by the Jewish people. In fact huge numbers of Jews go to Europe to visit such places, and it would have been tragic if that evil death camp had been vaporized .
——*From the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
ASHOKAN FAREWELL. From the soundtrack of Ken Burn’s Civil War.
The New Yorker. Does this ring true as a topic in Ocean Grove?
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor ( Blogfinger.net 12 years old in June. Over 4 million hits.)
The OG Home Groaners have a history of choosing irrelevant topics for their meetings.
Instead of important matters such as whether OG residents would support their disgraceful position on the North End, the OGHOA has had meetings about anti-semitism in the Grove (doesn’t exist) and a recent meeting as to what their survey said about their being more popular. Do you think that green energy was what the citizens requested from their HOA?
Recently they invited the OGNED (North End) developers to a meeting where provocative questions from the audience were banned. Censorship is what that meeting delivered.
They never offer programs on the lack of transparency by the Neptune Comedy as the Neptuners continually dump on the Grove and the HOA is only now waking up to the idea that renters might be interested in the town.
Topics they always ignore include explaining land use laws, threats to Lake Ave, uninhibited condo conversions, Wesley Lake pollution, excess tourism, coping with the impending North End disaster, zoning distortions, ground water clarity, Air B&B growth, deluge of rentals and renters escaping the pandemic, Asbury impact on the Grove, and how about a committee that looks after the interests of people who actually live here and pay taxes.
By comparison, here is a snapshot of the OGHOA in the past—- totally different from the gibberish-laden slush being dished out to Grovers by the OGHOA.
From the Blogfinger OG Timeline:
“By the 1980’s, the town is characterized by an overall “decrepitude,” including deterioration of buildings, declining tourism, crime, and a growing poor elderly population. Deinstitutionalized mental patients are housed in empty old hotels and rooming houses in Ocean Grove. The town becomes a “psychiatric ghetto” (NY Times, October 1988,) and by the 1980’s, 10% of the town’s population are mental cases who are not receiving appropriate services and are sometimes abused by landlords. The prognosis for Ocean Grove is dire.
“During this period, the Ocean Grove Homeowner’s Association (OGHOA) develops as a political and activist force that successfully begins the process of converting the town from decay to renaissance.”
That generation of OGHOA saved the town.
This current (2021). generation is politically correct and impotent.
Now we learn that the next meeting will be “TALKING GREEN!!” The Groaners want to know if “our Historic District status can be compatible with a Green future.”
This is a contrived and fake news topic as it pertains to our town.
They say that this program is “inspired by the creation of the OGHOA’s Renewable Energy Committee” Do we really want such a committee?
To this end the Groaners have invited two representatives of political groups who’s purpose in life is to promote “green energy.”
The Renewable Energy Committee’s motto is “Change your energy, change the world.” They seek money to “empower consumers.” They don’t produce anything in our society but propaganda. Their real goal is to change our country and our communities.
The Electric Vehicle Association promotes—electric vehicles. Why do we need to hear about that? Surely there are more important topics to confront.
If you want to be brainwashed by the Groaners, go to this meeting —it is totally political and unnecessary.
A rainy May day in Ocean Grove. Photograph of parrot tulips by Eileen Goldfinger 5/5/17 Blogfinger.net Click for the “Jack and the Beanstalk” effect. Title lyric quote* from “April Showers.”
“Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers
If you want the things you love
You must have showers
So when you hear it thunder
Don’t run under a tree
There’ll be pennies from heaven
For you and me”
BILLIE HOLIDAY From the album: Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia. “Pennies from Heaven” is from the 1936 movie of the same name. Music by Arthur Johnston; words by Johnny Burke. First performed in the film by Bing Crosby.
“Though April showers may come your way
They bring the flowers that bloom in May
So if it’s raining have no regrets
Because it isn’t raining rain you know, it’s raining violets.
And where you see clouds upon the hills
You soon will see crowds of daffodils
So keep on looking for a blue bird
And list’ning for his song
Whenever April showers come along.”
The song was introduced for a 1921 Broadway musical Bombo.
Question and answers about OG real estate. Paul Kaplan of the OGCA presides.
This group, formerly known as the Home (Groaners) Owners Association, invited two local realtors to field questions from the audience, and the result was a mishmash of related topics. The lack of an organized program created an environment for confusion. Look at the hour’s list of topics below.
I watched on ZOOM and I have a few observations:
a. In the discussion about what wonderful qualities exist in Ocean Grove that attract home buyers, they told us what we already know such as our Victorian architecture, but the list strangely failed to mention the obvious–ie the OG Camp Meeting Association.
That came up near the end of the hour when the realtors had to explain why they ignored including the CMA and how they try to educate their clients about the CMA—totally dismissive of what the CMA actually does in our town, and why they are so important to our life styles here. The best the realtors can do in this regard is to hand potential buyers a copy of the CMA summer guide; and no mention of nearly 1000 mostly religious events and programs each summer season in the Grove. Nor did they mention the Great Auditorium, Tent Village, and the remarkable serious music program.
And when showing folks around the Grove, perhaps the realtor should tell them about the music they will hear around here: This is Susan Boyle.
And this is some other music they might hear:
They proudly mentioned. “our great diversity“—really? What diversity? Finally the ladies admitted that “It is a religious town.” They were trying to avoid that topic.
The realtors discussed our complicated real estate market by bringing up the dollars needed to buy here, but they did not mention life styles and the tensions which exist between the sizable secular side and the CMA. In discussing the CMA they ignored the ways that the CMA has changed and the failure to bring all groups together in the Grove. These are topics that impact the market . Choosing realtors to speak is to invite people with self interest.
b. Regarding life styles here, they said that “It’s fun to live here.” Another brilliant comment today by the experts. Blogfinger.net has emphasized such important lifestyle interest topics. Where were these topics today?
This is an OG block party. Shouldn’t this life-style topic be mentioned.? We do have people who live in the Grove. Blogfinger photo
c. In discussing the important issue as to why more young families tend to buy elsewhere, there was barely a mention of the bleak low scoring Neptune schools. They dismissed the concerns about Neptune schools saying that young kids who live here can just go to private schools. However they did not recall that when young families shop for a place to live, the first concern are schools and then home prices. Plenty of young families could afford to buy in the Grove, but there are other reasons that they choose to go elsewhere.
d. Regarding the Historic Preservation “Committee” they made the dumbest remark: “The HPC keeps the town quaint and pretty.” Historic preservation was glossed over.
e . Important topics left out or just barely mentioned in discussing real estate: The North End Redevelopment Plan, the “cash” cow matter regarding Neptune and its indifference to the Grove, why our parks maintenance suck, the lack of OG representatives on the Township Comedy, Neptune indifference, the lack of Township secular programming for those who live here, the failure of the Chamber of Commerce, comprehensive insurance availability, inappropriately high taxes, parking problems, history of the town, and the tourism stats and truth telling. Also mostly ignored was our important relationship to our neighbor Asbury Park.
A handout was provided, and the OGCA promised to place it on their site
Do house shoppers wonder about our dog population? It’s important, especially to those “young families..” Blogfinger.net
Asbury Park Art. OG House shoppers want to be near A. Park. Really? Paul Goldlfinger image.
f. Topics emphasized: Buyers remorse, seller disclosures, land lease concerns by CMA lenders, rising land lease costs, increasing short term rentals, fading neighborhoods due to renters, renter aspects such as air-bb, winter rentals, homes increasingly bought for rentals and investment, 2 day rentals, demographics with an average of over 60, young families who can’t afford to buy here. (but many do buy elsewhere because they want to have great public schools,) other kids, and neighborhoods, not because of money.,) irising house prices with 50% selling over asking prices, assessed values vs market values, home inspections problems, lenders who won’t finance in OG because of concern re; land leases,, low inventories now, lower prices here compared to nearby towns and, should OG secede from Neptune?
It is apparent that the OGCA needs to improve on their presentations to the public. Today: too much clutter and lack of focus. The format failed and could not keep up with the mishmash of topics, and even some of those who asked smart questions were at a loss as to how to frame their concerns and digest the answers.
Good try, but do better next time. These topics are important.
Paul Goldfinger, Blogfinger.net. Ocean Grove, NJ, USA.
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