“Whenever we bestow upon anyone the authority to wield the power of the state over free citizens, we make them swear to protect not the people, not the nation, not the flag, but the Constitution of the United States. A piece of paper. Of course, it stands for the pillars of the American experiment itself: the ideas, the structures, the philosophy that define a limited government with enumerated powers, whose mission is to preserve liberty and individual rights.”
*The Point of It All is Krauthammer’s book published posthumously in 2018. The subtitle is “A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors.”
The Neptune Committee meeting of November 26 contained a resolution about the North End. It was buried inside the “consent agenda,” making sure that it will be approved quickly, and that is what happened by a vote of 5-0.
There was a heavy rainstorm with flooding last night, and only about 6 Grovers showed up including Reporter Jack Bredin and Kevin Chambers.
The OG residents all went to the microphone to express their concerns with the sheer size of the condo project and the traffic congestion it will create on the Grove’s historic narrow streets, in a town zoned for single family homes.
Of course the usual group of Committee cheerleaders from the Home Groaners Assoc. was at the meeting, but they have supported…
This post is to remind Jim Carrano of his old neighborhood in Ocean Grove, NJ, where he lived until he moved to the Philly area last year. But he will never lose those Brooklyn roots.–PG
Tom gets away each winter to his estate on the Caloosahatchie River in Ft. Myers, Fla, but he can’t sit still. He has a full lab on the premises. This is at his (and the Mrs.) gardens, near a raucous banyan tree. Paul Goldfinger photograph.
ANITA O’DAY “Stella by Starlight.” (recorded in Tokyo).. Thomas Edison lit up the starlit sky.
Paris 1937 by Lucien Aigner. Currently at the Gallery Kayafas, Boston.
By Paul Goldfinger, photography editor @Blogfinger.net
The photojournalist Lucien Aigner was born in Hungary. He moved to Paris where he worked with some of the pioneer Leica-toting photographers such as Robert Capa. When WWII happened, he escaped to America where he continued his work. He spend his last days organizing over 100,000 of his negatives.
I have been a Leica photographer most of my life, including now when I work with a Leica digital, the M-9. But I still spend time scanning negatives for digital files to create prints and to post on Blogfinger.
Josephine Baker was an American singer who moved to France where she was a sensation. She liked to perform in abbreviated costumes including one where she wore a very short skirt made of bananas. She was famous in Europe, but less so in the US.
In a long summary of the HOA’s January 26 meeting, the Coastericans of Asbury Park present an unsigned report filled with hot air, gibberish and somnolence.
Did anyone really believe that inviting the new CMA Executive Director, James “Jaimie” Jackson, would result in anything but the chance to practice alliteration and to evade insights into matters that really count in the Grove. Let’s consider some of what he had to say:
A hope for the future: “I hope people will experience God’s love before they realize they are experiencing God’s love.”
The CMA will “commemorate” the 150th anniversary of the founding of Ocean Grove. And the first thing he mentions is a “capital campaign that will be launched for the purpose of raising funds to improve the community.” Was there raucous applause for that revelation? Would he like to define “community” for us? The CMA has a history of messing around with the meaning of that word.
And then, up pops the P word as he says that “he wants to rebuild the fishing pier” and he wants to use the money raised for the pier among “other items.” This is from the same group that refused to accept funds to rebuild the pier as offered by the historic OG Fishing Club. That would have cost the “community” nothing
When asked about an “update” regarding the North End “development project,” he said that “the project is a long time coming, and the area is in need of development. ” He then passed the buck to Neptune Township for further clarification. Evidently he doesn’t know much about this subject.
As for not knowing much, the HOA President is quoted as saying, regarding parking at the North End, “I thought the The North End project would not require off-street parking.” Say it isn’t so Barbara. Were you misquoted?
But Joyce Klein, the leader of the HOA Parking Committee said, “The project’s parking must be in compliance with RSIS (New Jersey Resident Site Improvement Standards.”) But doesn’t Joyce know that the original NERP from 2008 already promises that.
And do these two HOA officials really want to press the CMA on this when the CMA has totally given up planning and would prefer to be anywhere else but at the HOA to trying to wrestle with these questions.
And there is more to report, but enough is enough. It’s Howdy Doody Time in the Grove.
JESSICA MOLASKEY. From her album Pentimento. This song was written in 1921 for an African-American review with music by Eubie Blake called Shuffle Along. Jessica is great; but I love the clarinet solo of Ken Peplowski.
A review of this song from All About Jazz.com, by Craig Hurst, said:
Molaskey performs the Eubie Blake/Noble Sissle classic “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” as a ballad rather than in its more familiar up-tempo version. As a ballad, a new tenderness of the lyric and the heartfelt emotion of this song come through like the beauty of aged wood grain hidden under stripped away old varnish.
