Bob Bowné. Winter Ocean Grove. 2015. ©
SCULPTURE
By Charles Pierre
In winter, my tongue
and teeth chinker
through cracked lips,
each poem a carving
of white breath
without marble’s heft—-
the chiseled lines
dying to silence,
shrouded in mist.
HOLLY CONLAN “Winter”
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Paul Goldfinger © January, 2020. Click on image to enlarge.
LANA DEL REY “Blue Velvet.” This song is from 1950, and Tony Bennett was the first to have a hit with it. Lana Del Rey is a currently active recording star who made this version first in 2012, and it was well received.
David Lynch, who made the movie of the same name, liked it very much. Del Rey is a glamorous star who has been likened to Brigitte Bardot. The version below is from her album Born to Die–the Paradise Edition (2018)
Her latest album was nominated but did not win at the 2020 Grammys.
Lana Del Rey
Posted in Florida connection on Blogfinger, Photograph by Paul Goldfinger, Photography from Florida, Photography Ft. Myers, Photography: Black and White gallery | Tagged Florida beach photo, Photo: Bunch Beach | Leave a Comment »
Eggcetera breakfast and coffee shop. 8:30 am Monday morning. Ft. Myers, Fla.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor@Blogfinger.net
Scene: I decided to try this breakfast place—“Eggcetera.” I like the name, and the front entrance looks inviting. So I suspect that they are a good place. I walk in at 8 am. It’s a cavernous breakfast and coffee restaurant; but no customers are there. A waitress appears, and I jokingly say to her “Do you have a table for me?”
No smile and no customers, so I am concerned.
She takes me to a remote table far to the left, off the photo. I ask if they have bagels. She says, “Yes.” So I say, “What kind?” And she says, “Plain.” OK.. I ordered plain, toasted twice; –the empty ceramic green coffee cup on the table was 6 ounces.
Here are some more of our conversations:
Me: Do you have Wi-Fi?
She: Pancakes
Me: (louder suspecting a hearing disability) Do you have Wi-Fi?
She: Pancakes
Me: Uh OH! That’s the password!
Me: Can you please pour my coffee into my travel coffee mug? (Mine has three insulating layers and stays hot for a week.)
She: No
Me: (hesitating) I guess I can pour it myself…. (as she fills my 6 oz cup, I know that I will not succeed and will spill coffee all over the place)
Me: Can you please get me a cardboard cup so I can safely fill my travel mug?
She: No. You can ask the cashier. I get a Styrofoam cup from the cashier. I fill my mug, but still spill some on the table; So I steal another napkin from the next table, keeping one eye out for the waitress (Do you recall the waitress in “Five Easy Pieces?”)
She: —brings the bagel. It looks pale and unappetizing . It comes with one small prepackaged cup of cream cheese, good only for half the bagel.
Me: Can you please get me another cream cheese? (She brings it , but I find a $.75 extra charge on my check)
The bagel was the worst; the coffee was mediocre. By all indications, Eggcetera should have been an excellent place. After all, it has a winning name and it looks great. But it turns out to be a losing proposition.
The bill was $7.19. Out of guilt I gave a $1.00 tip. At Wegman’s I pay $2.70 for a superior coffee and bagel, and with no tipping.
Moral of the story: Don’t judge a book by its cover, and as Shakespeare said, “What’s in a name?”
CAMILLE: “Le Festin” (tr. the feast) from the soundtrack to the Disney film Ratatouille.
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Pitman Avenue, Ocean Grove, NJ. Paul Goldfinger photo © October 2013.
The song, “Everything I Have is Yours” was written in 1933 by Harold Admonson (lyrics) and Burton Lane (music) for the movie “Dancing Lady.”
Julie London also recorded it for her album “Nice Girls Don’t Stay for Breakfast.” (Say it isn’t so Julie.)
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Check the flier at Stoke’s feet. He evidently supports resident permit parking in the Grove. Blogfinger action photo. Click to read the flier. © 7/13/17
In my mind I see this lady with a colorful umbrella and a New Orleans jazz band marching behind her as she goes round and round around Stokes’ statue. The band would play “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In” over and over, with a wide variety of lyrics.
Sometimes “hot ” lyrics would be substituted in New Orleans such as:
“I used to have a playmate
“Who would walk and talk with me
“But since she got religion
“She’s scared the c*** outta me.”
The New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band:
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Click to enlarge this photo. It’s a black and white sunset, and someone once asked me how I could photograph a colored flower in black and white. The answer is that the color may be pretty, but the soul of a photograph is in the light—the luminance. And there may be other intangibles also besides color causing someone to appreciate a black and white photo. Paul Goldfinger ©. Bunche Beach, Florida.
BEATLES. “Something” was written by George Harrison, the Beatles’ lead guitarist for the 1961 album Abbey Road. This is from the One (1) album.
“Something in the way she moves
Attracts me like no other lover
Something in the way she woos me
I don’t want to leave her now
You know I believe and how..”
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Bunche Beach. Ft. Myers, Fla. Jan 25, 2020. Paul Goldfinger photo © Click to enlarge.
MARGOT BINGHAM WITH VINCE GIORDANO AND THE NIGHTHAWKS. (From HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.) George Gershwin wrote the music in 1924.
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Illumination Night. Ocean Grove. July 22, 2017. Paul Goldfinger, Blogfinger.net © Click to enlarge
Illumination Night. Ocean Grove 2016. Paul Goldfinger photo ©
I attended the re-dedication of the FitzGerald Fountain in Founder’s Park on Victorian Day July 27, 2019. I was only one of at least two hundred people. The choir sang fitting hymns, and preachers and politicians alike spoke eloquently about this gem of a hamlet called Ocean Grove on its 150th anniversary celebration.
The preacher referred to God’s living waters and on cue a grandson and great-grandson of Ted Bell, one of the primary instigators for the restoration of the fountain, threw the switch…..and nothing happened. Cameras and phones were raised to get shots of the first dribble from the four tiered Victorian structure. But no water was to be seen. All perhaps wondered whether or not some glitch in the system would ruin the dedication! Some people stared at the heavens questioning what had happened.
Within a few minutes, which seemed like hours, the fountain came alive. The assembled crowd cheered. Pictures were snapped. A group portrait was taken just like the original in 1907.
Once again God had not forsaken Ocean Grove. Founded shortly after the Civil War and enduring the fortunes of a growing country, Elwood Stokes the first president of the Camp Meeting Association once declared that Ocean Grove was “a religion as well as a town.”
Needless to say times have changed. At one time the all-powerful Camp Meeting Association controlled most everything. Time and the courts have changed a great deal of that, but the essence of the Grove remains. It is in fact a community, maybe not as utopian as the religious founders had in mind, but a community nonetheless.
They could not have possibly imagined the rise of Asbury Park and the entertainments it provides. But they did most likely envision that Ocean Grove would become a Mecca of sorts for tourists and pilgrims from all over the country, if not the world. It has been a special place in these last 150 years. Nothing at all like its neighbors in New Jersey.
People who do come here whether it’s for the day, a week, a month, a season or a lifetime most often say that it is in fact special, different, curious, interesting and a place to which they will always return. Whether it be for religious or spiritual purposes or simply for a stroll on Main Avenue or a dip in the ocean, the one thing people all share is that they want to be happy.
Whether the Grove will survive another 150 years remains to be seen, but the fact that people want to be happy will never change. I believe that Ocean Grove will do its best to provide that happiness…..just like the Founders planned.
Ted David is the author of “Forgotten Ocean Grove “and “The Other Side of Ocean Grove.” His next book, soon to arrive, is “Encore Ocean Groved.”
SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK: “This Little Light of Mine.”
Posted in author, Blogfinger Presents, Ocean Grove 150th Anniversary, Ocean Grove historian | Tagged Ocean Grove 150th birthday, Ted David author, Ted David OG birthday essay | 1 Comment »
Thornley Chapel. Ocean Grove, New Jersey. © By Paul Goldfinger. 2012.
SOUNDTRACK: The London Philharmonic and Choir
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Captiva Island, Florida. Paul Goldfinger photo . February, 2015.© Click to enlarge. ©
LEE WILEY “Oh Look at Me Now” was written in 1941 and was first recorded by Frank Sinatra.
Posted in Florida connection on Blogfinger, Florida photography, Photograph by Paul Goldfinger, Photographs Sanibel and Captiva Islands Florida | Tagged Captiva Island Florida | Leave a Comment »
