Blogfinger

The Great Auditorium of Ocean Grove c. 2013. Saturday night crowd begins to assemble. By Paul Goldfinger ©

Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net 2013

When the Great Auditorium was built in 1894  (completed in 90 days by a crew of shipbuilders,)  there were 10,000 seats.  Some years later the seating chart was rearranged, and now the big room seats about 7,000 people.  It is rare to fill the place, upstairs and down, but I can recall a Choir Festival when there was a full house. The audience was silent as 1,000 voices and a full orchestra filled the hall.

It is a unique experience to attend an event there because the physical presence of the space is awesome.  Its history is remarkable, and you can read about it in the classical book on the subject by Grovers Bell, Bell and Dufresne. (The Great Auditorium. Ocean Grove’s Architectural Treasure)

In the past, the CMA could fill that space with massive crowds who attended Methodist services   The building is world famous.  From a musical point of view we have the amazing Hope-Jones organ  (11,561 pipes,) with its awe inspiring sound—-front and rear registers.

Now that the Saturday night programming will be changing,  I hope that any performances there will be done with little or no amplification, as it was early in the 20th century.  Whenever modern pop groups have shown up lately, they would bring their own sound equipment and personnel. They flood that magnificent wooden building with distorted, ear splitting noise, so severe that the words are drowned out and the timber of the instruments is  blurred into mush. Thank goodness Wolfgang himself is no longer around, because he would despair and even wind up deafened like his pal Beethoven.

I was in the audience when Ocean Grover and Metropolitan Opera star Ronald Naldi came out to sing the Star Spangled Banner prior to a Saturday night appearance by Tony Bennett.  Naldi’s magnificent unamplified tenor voice was effortlessly projected to  the far reaches of the hall. It was breathtaking. Ronald Naldi told us later that he could achieve that because of his years of special training which pop and jazz vocalists almost never receive.

Musicians say that playing in the GA is like making  music inside a giant cello—the acoustics are legendary, and I have heard musicians on that stage express how amazed they felt to be performing there.

Tony Bennett came out shaking his head. He was in awe of Naldi’s performance. He said that he too wanted to try performing unamplified, but he couldn’t do it.  So sometimes a performer needs a little help from his friends, but no one should be allowed to play the big room without sound technicians who are respectful of a place where first rate musicians come just to experience the acoustics and have been doing so since 1894.

How often does one get to hear live music inside a historic structure?  We should emulate, whenever possible, the practice of using unamplified sound as at the Vienna Opera House and La Scala.   The most they use is a form of subtle “acoustic enhancement.”  Is that possible inside the Great Auditorium? Now seems like a good time to take a look at that idea, although classical performers have already been respecting the natural approach (eg the Canadian and the Salvation Army Brass, Phil Smith, opera singers,  and symphonic orchestras.)   The GA could once again become a Mecca for music lovers.

Here is a performance from 1897 in the GA–unamplified.   Don’t they sound great?

GREATER NEW YORK QUARTETTE:   “Rocked in the Cradle of the Deep”  (How about that bass note at the end!!)  Recorded on wax cylinder in the GA in 1897.

American troops and tanks enter Germany after crossing the Rhine. 1945. Paul Goldfinger still image from documentary Netflix. Click once to enlarge.

VERA LYNN:

People often walk by the empty Nagles and bemoan the closure. This is the corner of Main and Central Avenue in Ocean Grove.  Photo by  Paul Goldfinger. August 26, 2025. Blogfinger.net. Click once to see the parade before it passes by.

By Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor Blogfinger.net.

Nagle’s is supposed to reopen soon.   They are now hiring servers and greeters.

Of all the journalists reporting on Nagle’s, we have the most photos and understanding of the past.  We heard the music and the laughter of the nights when those summer delights lit downtown Ocean Grove.   And we still recall the brilliant transformation of a historic apothecary by Len Steen.   I used to enjoy chatting with him.

But the new owner did not respond  to the Blogfinger  request for an interview.  We will wait to see if the magic will still be there.

CARLY SIMON.    “Jamaica Farewell”

Nagle’s Ocean Grove. 2014.   Jean Bredin photo for Blogfinger.net

Internet image

Nagle’s will be re-opening around Memorial Day.

“On the Jersey Shore:”

AL GREEN from the soundtrack of Pulp Fiction:

Here I am having a true conversation with two visiting witches from  the Groverican  Coven.  Paul Goldfinger Photo  Editor Blogfinger.net. 2025.

Paul Goldfinger MD.   Editor Blogfinger.net.  Ocean Grove, NJ, USA

We stated our day at Circle BMW where my car needed a routine maintenance.  I had scheduled the appointment because they called me to say that “Your car tells us that you need a service.”    I didn’t know that my German car was telling me what to do. But we brought the car this morning as ordered..

We waited among the shiny new cars on the showroom floor.   I saw a gorgeous BMW 2 door roadster, but it cost over $100,000. I stopped counting zeroes and we went to the coffee machine for a small cappuccino.  It was very good.  But Lexus gives us bagels when we go there with Eileen’s car.

As we waited, a text message from BMW  floated my way. It said,  “View this message from your technician.”  I played the video and saw my car while  my “service advisor” spoke  to me with the car up on the lift. He spoke while videoing under the car.   He reported that that everything was fine as he reviewed all the items that he checked.  But there was no opportunity to question him.  It was like going to the doctor.

I thought this instant video was  quite an advance.    When the service was over, I was taken to the counter where bills are paid.  Every time I have gone to the BMW headquarters in Eatontown, I would go to pay, and always there were 2-3 young pretty girls to take my credit card.    But this time there were 3 young African-American men to help me.

“Where are the girls?” I asked?

One said , ” I am Tyrone and I am one of our handsome cashiers.”  They were amused by my reaction.   The bill was expensive, but bills at BMW are always like that.

From there we stopped at “Hot Bagel” on Monmouth Road. We each had one:  scooped, toasted, schmeared with cream cheese and coffee. There was a substantial line on a Thursday morning.  It is a highly regarded bagelry.  (40 years experience. and Kosher). It was very good.

Then we  went to Wegmans.–Eileen needed a few items for dinner.   She went in while I stayed in the car in the drivers seat to take a nap:

Some time later I was awakened by someone pounding on my window.   I looked over and saw a man looking at me with a serious look on his face.  He seemed concerned .

He:  Are you OK?

Me. (smiling as I rolled down the window ).   Did you think I was dead?

He:  “Yes”  as his face broke into a big smile

Me and He laughing.  We did a fist bump.

Me: Fell asleep again;   Someone was tapping the window again.

He;      This was a young man wanting to talk to me.  Behind him was his van–It said, “Mobile Dent Repair”   I rolled down the window.

He: I notice you have some black marks on your BMW.  (It’s true, we have wanted to take care of those bruises near the front fender.). He found a few more defects that we had missed.

He:  My name is Rick Dametro and I am a professional car body technician. I am from Staten Island, and my family has worked in the auto body field for many years. I can fix your car right here. I have many jobs around here.

I trusted him right away.  He began the process as Wegman shoppers glanced our way.  He needed some paint, so we left in mid-repair, and he met us at our home in the Grove where he finished the job on the BMW.  .   His price was better than body shops would charge, and his work was excellent.

Rick of Mobile Dent Repair working on our car on Delaware Ave. 347 281 3630.

We:  Eileen surprised me when she agreed to this unorthodox deal.  She hates to have blemishes on her cars.

We headed home from Wegmans, and on the way she  saw a vehicle that looked liked a beefy Jeep.

She looked at the car and said:  “I want a Hummer”

Me: ” I can give you one for free.”

She: Rolled her eyes and had no reply.

Theme songs:    From the Coen Brothers movie. “The Merry Widow Waltz”

Creedence Clearwater Revival.     “The Midnight Special”

Paul Goldfinger at his and Eileen’s yard sale on Mt. Hermon Way, 6/17/23. He’s introducing his hoe to a shopper. He’s wearing his beach badge on his head.

TRUE CONVERSATION:

Setting–  A true conversation between Paul and a young woman who is shielded from the warm sun by an umbrella.

Me:  I’d like you to meet my hoe.

She: I am a hoe, too.

Me: You are quick with the jokes—a funny girl.

She: I know other hoes.

Me:  If you ever want to return to OG, get off at Exit 100.

She: No, I prefer Exit 102.

Me: So you must be an Asburian.

She:  What?

BARBRA STREISAND.  From “Funny Girl”