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 Uptalk, like and vocal fry: Young women adopt annoying speech patterns. (Updated from the original Blogfinger post of Nov. 3, 2013)

Posted in Blogfinger Presents, Feature article, tagged , , , on November 2, 2023| 10 Comments »

A high definition recording of speech showing vocal fry at the end.

A high definition recording of speech showing vocal fry at the end.

 

By Paul Goldfinger, MD,  Editor Blogfinger.net. 2/5/21.  (Original post 2013; update 2023)

 

Did you ever notice the bizarre manner of speech adopted by young women and girls lately?   It actually is a speech pattern that has evolved from what used to be called “valley girl speech” in the 1980’s. That pattern mostly consisted of “uptalk” where the voice rises at the end of a sentence, making a statement into a sort of question.

In 2013, this phenomenon has evolved to consist of several components, but the most annoying is “vocal fry” where the pitch drops and growls, mostly at the end of sentences.  The other variations include the use of “like” punctuating every few words, but guys do that too.  Here is a video that discusses vocal fry on the Today show.

www.today.com/video/new-speech-pattern-of-young-women-vocal-fry-44540995528

Some say that only “old guys” find this sort of speech to be ridiculous, but there are women who dislike it as well. I began to notice it a couple of years ago and, for some reason, found it obnoxious and irritating. At first it seemed like a way of talking used only by dopey teenage girls, but recently I have noticed it being paraded on TV and radio by otherwise intelligent and accomplished women.

At first I thought, “She needs to see a speech coach, because it is so distracting.”

And then I would wonder, “Is she going to talk like this for the rest of her life?    Did she actually go on a job interview speaking like that?”

But then I thought, “I’m just too sensitive as to how people speak—-get over it.”

However it turns out that many people have noticed this trend in female vocalizing, and some experts have written about it and some have found redeeming value to this style of speech.

Most observers have a negative view, while some talk about how anyone’s speech can be changed, for example by moving to the south and then saying, “Y’all.”  So girls hear their friends talking this way, or hear  Brittney Spears sing this way, or hear women on TV such as the Kardashians  (whoever they are.)

By the way, starting sentences with the word “so” is also getting to be a common speech technique to give the impression that the speaker is merely continuing a conversation that has already begun or introducing a new topic.  So I do it myself and find it to be a useful communication method, but now I have to stop it because it is becoming omnipresent and sloppily used.

A related manner of speech is to start a sentence with “and.”   Below is a  song by Barry Manilow (“When October Goes”)   It starts with “…and when October goes..”   The lyrics are by Johnny Mercer, one of the best lyricists ever.   And, you know, starting that song with “and” really does work—I like it that way.   OK OK, saying “you know” is also obnoxious…ya know what I’m saying?  And so is “like” as in “this article is like getting boring already.”

So I guess it’s good that language changes, otherwise we all would be speaking like Willie Shakespeare.  (What? You don’t think they had nicknames in the 16th century?   Getouttahere.!)

Here are some related links:

2011 Journal of Voice:

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0892199711000701

2012 NY Times article on female speech

Vocal fry in the NY Times 2012

2015  NPR  on female speech patterns:

www.npr.org/2015/07/23/425608745/from-upspeak-to-vocal-fry-are-we-policing-young-womens-voices

 

2017 update:   Yesterday, October 9,  the  Wall Street Journal ran a piece on this subject, but this time a female linguist had a somewhat different take.  She finds that women who talk like this are victimized at work because of their speech pattern. She says that men also speak that way, so the idea that such speech is specific to women is a form of oppression.

I think this “linguist” has an agenda that is political and is not really about the speech patterns that we reported on in 2013.  She says that the pattern was only first observed in 2015, but our article shows otherwise.  In addition she only mentions vocal fry and not the other components mentioned in our article above.

Her interview is fake news because women are in fact the ones that use such speech predominantly. Men may sometimes have a sort of vocal fry, but it is indiginous to their maleness and not a form of speech meme acquired by women almost exclusively.

And, by the way, Blogfinger struck a nerve in 2013 with our post (above). It has become the most viewed article of ours compared to our roughly 7,000 posts in our archive. It shows that few experts are reporting on this topic and also that lots of people are interested and find us through Google searches and links sent from BF.

 

2019.  WSJ talks about  “creaky voice” in women and in men.

www.wsj.com/video/the-vocal-habit-that-women-are-being-criticized-for-at-work/E97C7B5B-8C51-4472-955A-AA1A26468C31.html

 

MUSICAL ADD-ONS:

So, here is a Johnny Mercer song which begins with the word “And”

“When October Goes”  by Barry Manilow (music) and Johnny Mercer  (lyrics)

And here is Harry Nilsson who knows something about people talking at him. So you may recall that this music is from Midnight Cowboy, which is on the Blogfinger Unforgettable Movie list.

 

2021 update:   We heard Dana Perino  (former White House Press Sec.) being interviewed on radio by Brian Kilmeade regarding her new book Everything Will Be OK, and they were discussing uptalking young women.  Dana was complaining about how young women say “like” all the time and speak with “uptalk.”

But she forgot to mention vocal fry, and, honestly, I could hear her uptalking also, but only mildly.  She said that such speech patterns will reduce the chances of a young woman to get ahead in our society.

Another journalist referred to “uptalking millennials.”

So clearly, the problem persists and thus we get hits of this piece on Blogfinger.net  nearly everyday.

2023:  We found this, “Unfortunately for those who’ve adopted the accent, a new study has found that women who speak with it are seen as less intelligent and attractive.”

Inhersight:   “Research shows that uptalk is generally perceived in a negative way. One study showed that young adult women voices containing a vocal fry are perceived as less competent, less educated, less trustworthy, less attractive, and less hirable.

Our review shows little new lately regarding this topic.  But there is continued interest as we get referrals almost daily.

 

LITTLE WILLIE JOHN with “Talk to Me.”

“Talk to me, talk to me
Um-mm, I love the things you say
Talk to me, talk to me
In your own sweet gentle way”

 

 

Ladies:  Would you talk to a guy named “Little Willie?”

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What Do I Remember of WWII? Reposted in honor of Veterans Day. By Kennedy Buckley of Ocean Grove.

Posted in Blogfinger News, Feature article, tagged , on October 14, 2023| 6 Comments »

Crew-members: Doolittle raid on Japanese islands, April 18, 1942. 16 B-25B bombers took off from the deck of the USS Hornet.

By Kennedy Buckley of Ocean Grove, New Jersey   (Re-posted from 2012; 2019  on Blogfinger.) Ken was a former writer for Blogfinger. net.

“I was 9, visiting Ireland, when the war started in 1939. To get home we embarked from Scotland, and Mom bought me some toy soldiers and a tank for the sea voyage home.

“The bombing of Pearl Harbor was what changed life in the US; now we were in the war instead of watching. Lots of small banners with a blue star in the center started appearing in front windows, meaning a family member was in the service. My two older cousins from Philly went in, and  one would become an officer in the paratroopers (more about him later). Dad’s younger brother with no children was drafted — my dad not. Soon there were multiple flags in many windows.

“Nobody was allowed to go up on the roof of my uncle’s tall apartment building in Brooklyn because a spy could see all the ships in New York harbor awaiting convoy. All  windows had to have heavy  drapes to prevent light shining out. If light could be seen, an Air Raid Warden blew a whistle until you fixed it. Rationing books were needed to buy food and things. Tin cans and tin foil were saved and collected for the “war effort.”

“There was little car driving (gas and tires were rationed) so Esso (now Exxon) printed war maps instead of road maps on which you could follow the battle front as the Allies went through Europe and the Pacific. War news was really bad, defeat after defeat; however, our spirits were raised with very welcome GOOD news about a daring air raid on Tokyo by B-25 bombers flying off aircraft carriers. (The 70th anniversary of that raid just passed–in 2012.)

This family had 3 members serving. The service flag hung in many windows.

“As the war went on, many of the BLUE stars in the windows started changing to GOLD, signifying the death of that serviceman.

“Many of our neighbors in the tenements were Italian. Each family had a small storage room in the cellars. Italian families made wine there and stored it in big bottles. When V-E Day came, the celebrating started in the afternoon by bringing the wine to the street for huge block parties that went on into the wee hours. EVERYBODY drank. I was 14 and my buddies and I got falling drunk for the first time, rolling around in the street — nobody cared.

*Newsreels of color war footage of the island by island battles in the Pacific were shown in the movie theaters. The Japanese troops  were so gruesome that when the atomic bombs were dropped, nobody complained — soon after came V-J Day.  It was the end ….of that war.”

 

4  brothers from the Demby family of Bayonne, NJ (Paul’s family) returned home after serving in WWII. Three were in the Pacific, and one (Marty) was in the convoys that plowed through the North Atlantic with supplies for Russia and England.     PG family photo. 1945.  Front l to r.  Ben (Bronze star valor), “Duke” (subs), rear: Al on left (Sea Bees) and Marty  (Coast Guard). Eileen’s Dad Bernie Harkavy served in Europe.

 

Postscript by Ken:

“The soldiers came back home in droves to try to begin a normal life. My cousin Jimmy, the paratrooper, was already back recuperating  in an Army Hospital. He had jumped twice in Europe, D-Day in France and later in Belgium. He lost most of his men in the 2nd jump and was badly wounded. He never really resumed a normal life. He married (I was in the wedding party) a wonderful, beautiful woman,  an ex-Rockette. He was in and out of Veterans hospitals until he died in his early 30’s.

“I fear for the returning veterans from our recent and current wars. Will they get enough care? I really worry.”

(Note:  Ken Buckley died 2019 in Ocean Grove.)

 

 

* Maxwell Air University: Regarding how to finish off Japan:     “A policy of imposed starvation—of food, as well as materiel—would have weakened Japanese capabilities without reducing their resolve. Lewis estimates that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the extent that it induced Japanese surrender, saved the lives of roughly 30 million people.”

 

Blogfinger:   Today , 10/14/23, as we watch Israel respond in their war with  Hamas Islamic terrorists, the same standard should be acceptable.     Perhaps 1 million American soldiers could have died if we had invaded Japan.   PG

 

MUSIC from that era:  A lot of the music was sentimental and often catered to the imaginations of homesick GI’s who literally spent years away from home and loved ones.

Here is Peggy Lee with the Benny Goodman orchestra with a song that undoubtedly reminded many GI’s of their girls back home.  —PG

 

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Lost in the Stars — A Reverie

Posted in Blogfinger News, Charles Layton, Feature article, tagged on September 30, 2023| 2 Comments »

The Milky Way. Photo from the Internet

 

Re-post from 2012.  Charles Layton was a member of the Blogfinger staff when he wrote this marvelous piece. Charles now lives in Philadelphia.  He is a professional editor from the Philadelphia Inquirer, now retired.

 

By Charles Layton

A few years ago we lived for three weeks in Nicaragua, in a house at the edge of a small, very remote fishing village called Casares. It was a spectacular place. Instead of shooshing and murmuring, as they mostly do in Ocean Grove, the waves on that shore towered and crashed and sucked and splattered and spat. They were never subdued.

From our porch, looking out on the Pacific Ocean, we watched pelicans dive bombing for fish. Each afternoon huge flocks – a hundred or more at a time – would fly right past us, headed for their nesting grounds.

But even better was the sky at night. After all the meager lights in that little town went dark, the sky became a light show of blazing stars and star clusters, plunging meteors, wandering planets. Sometimes, very late, when the call of nature roused me from bed, I would walk out on the patio alone and stare and stare at the universe, and especially at the Milky Way, wheeling above me. Stars by the thousands, unbelievably distinct and clear.

In Ocean Grove, on most nights, you can actually count the number of visible stars. Often it’s no more than a dozen. Sometimes it’s none. Living under a permanent scrim of light pollution, we forget how many stars are out there. Many of us have never actually seen the night sky in its true state – as I saw it on the coast of Nicaragua, and as our ancestors knew it.

In a couple of weeks we’ll hear jokes about the Mayan calendar coming to an end, and how that will be the destruction of the earth and all mankind. No need to do your Christmas shopping or pay your taxes now, our doom is written in the stars, har har. What idiots, those Mayans.

But really, the Mayans and all ancient peoples lived their lives in constant communion with the teeming, moving lights in the natural sky. The ancient peoples had no idea what those lights were. They noted that the lights moved in strange ways. Sometimes one could be seen to streak and fall out of the sky. Sometimes a comet would appear, ominously hovering. (What did that portent? Something important, right?) The night sky was those people’s television, fraught with drama and bad news.

The constellation Orion. The three middle stars are his belt

Religions arose to explain all those moving lights. Stories were told. People saw pictures in the sky – a lion, a crab, a hunter named Orion holding a bow in one hand and a club in the other. Because the planets moved independently of the rest of the turning firmament, the ancients associated those special lights with gods – Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.

But because the sky was so brilliant, prominent, ever-present and mysterious, ancient people studied it methodically. They built observatories and took and recorded measurements. They found that the heavenly bodies displayed repeating patterns which, when plotted, yielded information useful to hunters, farmers, nomads and sailors. Astrologers tried to discern when “the stars were right” for planting or marrying or doing business or giving birth.

The Bible says the “wise men” (men who understood signs in the sky) were guided to Bethlehem by a star. If such a beckoning star rose in the sky now, I doubt we’d even see it — unless JCP&L suffered a major blackout.

Hurricane Sandy taught us the value of electricity, and I’m happy to have the power back on; I would never want to do without it. Still, it’s not a trivial thing, our loss of that ancient awareness of the richness of the sky.

 

 

BILLIE HOLIDAY  (this song added on 4/23/21):

 

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Just Landed From Mars

Posted in Feature article, Music from the movies, Photographic Gallery, Color, tagged on August 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

By Paul Goldfinger. 2013. Copyright.

Twistee Treat.   By Paul Goldfinger. 2013. Copyright.

What if you just landed from Mars and you saw this landscape? You would wonder if there were life on earth and if there were, what would they do with the funny house?  And the poles and the  strange buildings and the thing with wheels?

You would say, “Let’s leave this odd and boring  place and get back home where the ice cream has a high butterfat content and there are dancing girls.”   Or perhaps you’ll say to the driver, “Let’s try the moon next.”

 

SOUNDTRACK.  By “Daves True Story” from the movie  Jack Goes Boating:

—PG

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Exclusive on Blogfinger: Monmouth County Prosecutors Office concludes Manchester Inn fire investigation.

Posted in By Paul Goldfinger, Feature article, Ocean Grove events, tagged on July 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Modern Ocean Grove history:  Manchester fire 2010.

 

March 13, 2010. Photo by Ed Wyzykowski of Ocean Grove

 

By Paul Goldfinger

SUNDAY:  We had the opportunity this morning to speak to a knowlegable  source in the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office regarding the Manchester Inn fire (March 13, 2010)  investigation. After an exhaustive assessment, they have concluded that there was no foul play.  Although no specific cause was found, they have excluded arson. In addition, although a new boiler had been recently installed, there was no evidence that it was a factor in the fire.

The insurance companies have hired a private investigation team to evaluate the work done by Monmouth County officials.

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FEMA’s “Waffle House Index” for disaster assessment.

Posted in Feature article, Music, tagged on May 4, 2023| 5 Comments »

waffle-house

Photos and text by Paul Goldfinger.  Editor Blogfinger.net.    (Re-post 2013)

FEMA has named four corporations as the top companies in the U.S. for disaster preparation. They are Home Depot, Loews, Wal-Mart and the Waffle House chain of fast food restaurants. FEMA has been so impressed by the Waffle House company that they have created the “Waffle House Index” which is a metric that they use to informally guage the severity of a disaster.

Inside a Georgia Waffle House along Route 95.

Inside a Georgia Waffle House along Route 95.

Waffle House is a privately held company based in Georgia. They have 1,700 outlets in 20 states across the south and along the Atlantic corridor from the Carolinas down to Florida. Their restaurants stay open 24/7 and they are known for fresh, fast home cooked food. Waffle House restaurants do not advertise and they have achieved some cult status, being mentioned in movies ( a scene in“The Tin Cup”,) country songs, web sites and comedy routines. Traveling musicians, athletes and police love to stop there, and down south they call it a “cultural icon.” Each unit has a juke box and they strive to use diner lingo such as “scattered” hash browns, meaning spread out on the grill.

Much of their notoriety is because they try to never close during disasters such as hurricanes. They have manuals to guide their employees towards that goal. All the units have generators and other special equipment and they are prepared and supplied to continue cooking and making ice no matter what.

The WH Index was developed by FEMA in 2011 after several catastrophic Class 5 tornados struck in Joplin, Missouri, and 5 of the WH stores managed to stay open when everything else closed.

After a disaster, FEMA checks how the Waffle Houses are doing and they use a color code depending on whether the restaurants are serving a full menu, a limited menu or if they are code red (ie closed.) The commitment of the Waffle House company is so strong that FEMA knows that things are bad if Waffle House can’t function. We spoke to some of their employees who verified that pride and commitment.

Eileen and I stopped at a few of their units in the Carolinas and Georgia. They are small places with lively and pleasant staffs. A couple of times we went in at sunrise, and it was like an oasis with the lights on and the personnel ready.

The shops are spotless, and all the workers wear clean starched uniforms. The cooking is done in the open. The cook faces the stainless steel grill and has a basket of eggs in front. She cooks the eggs in small fry pans reminiscent of what you have at home, and great care is given to prepare your food just the way you want it. She flips the eggs into the air and catches them without any breakage—I think it makes them taste better.

The waitresses discuss your order with the cook, while you watch the action. It seems so comforting to be in one of these restaurants, especially if it is dark out and you’re on a journey.

ANNIE BATTLE.  “Waffle House.”

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Seeing is Believing: The Paul Gary Quartet

Posted in Feature article, tagged on March 2, 2023| 5 Comments »

Lavalette, New Jersey c.1962. Charlie Francisconi on left (bass player) and Paul Goldfinger (ie Gary) on right. the Red Rail Restaurant.

Lavallette, New Jersey c.1962. Charlie Francesconi on left (bass player) and Paul Goldfinger (ie Gary) on right in front of the Red Rail Restaurant. Re-post.

 

 

Bunny, me Charlie and Frank warming up in Frank's basement in Rutherford.

Bunny, I,  Charlie (bass) and Frank (drums) warming up in Frank’s basement in Rutherford.  We were college kids. Bunny and I were from FDU while Frank went to Seton Hall.  Charlie was a precocious high school senior whose girlfriend was our groupie.    Bunny rarely sang, but when she did, it was “Willow Weep for Me.”  (We weeped for her singing.)  Bunny was so slim that she could play between the white keys.    Wallpaper compliments of Frank’s Mom. There are no recordings of our group.

 

The Paul Gary Quartet performed at college parties, bar mitzvahs, dances, bars and even a boat ride.  I played alto sax in the FDU jazz band, but it was tenor in the photo above.

Frank Cancellieri and I, from Rutherford, have been friends since 4th grade. Bunny Celmer was from Passaic, while Charlie was from Paterson.

We have stories from our one summer working in Lavallette. The Red Rail no longer exists. It is now condominiums.    We were the only band at the Shore that summer which could play a cha-cha or a fox trot and which did not feature rock and roll.     Since it was a restaurant, we played a lot of dinner music in addition to dance music. (The had a dance floor behind the band.). In front of us was the bar which was more entertaining than we were.

The three guys shared an apartment above a garage in Seaside Heights. As you can imagine, that was something!

Our music was mostly jazz-tinged standards.   Our theme song was “Almost Like Being in Love” from Brigadoon  by Lerner and Loewe.  The Johnny Hartman version (below)  is about the same tempo that we used, although ours was a bit faster—more suitable for the jitterbug.

At the start of the evening we would play a chorus, and then I would speak into the mic while the music got softer, and I would say, “Good evening ladies and gentlemen.  (or “ladies and germs.”) You are listening to the Paul Gary Quartet.  We hope you have a wonderful time tonight, so step onto the dance floor and join the fun.”

Then the volume would increase, and I would play the melody on my Selmer tenor sax into the microphone. I loved to play into a mic–the sound would just float all over the place.

We were too young to drink, so we all got “cabaret licenses.”  Customers at the bar wanted to buy us drinks, but if they were  female, we were able to make some other arrangements.

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SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW TOWN SLOGAN. From Blogfinger in 2012. See the comments. You can add your own now in 2022..

Posted in Blogfinger News, Feature article on December 17, 2022| 13 Comments »

What say we fly over to Clancy’s for a brewski.

By Charles Layton.  2012.

Ocean Grove has a time-honored town slogan: God’s Square Mile. It is memorable and succinct. However, as we know, OG is really only about half a square mile – less when it’s flooded — and surrounding its Methodist core there has arisen a large and vital secular community. We think that community needs a slogan of its own. Therefore, here are our “top ten suggestions for a new town slogan.”

 10. Ocean Grove: Not responsible for lost or stolen items.

 9. Ocean Grove: A National Historic Site – but you can get a variance.

 8. Ocean Grove: Gayer than thou.

 7. Ocean Grove: Absolutely no mosquitos. Honest.

 6. Ocean Grove: No parking at any time.

 5. Ocean Grove: Property of Jack Green.

 4. Ocean Grove: Where’s my bike?

 3. Ocean Grove: Home of Blogfinger. (Well, why not?)

 2. Ocean Grove: It only floods when it rains.

          And the Number One suggestion for a new town slogan:

 1. Ocean Grove: What do you have to do to get a drink around here?

 

Here’s a 2022  musical suggestion with  Peter Allen:  “Everything Old is New Again.”

 

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Modern OG history: With New Pipes, a Great Organ Becomes Even Greater. 2012 Blogfinger. By Mary Walton.

Posted in Blogfinger News, Feature article, Ocean Grove feature article, Ocean Grove news, tagged , , on September 8, 2022| 3 Comments »

Organ curator, John Shaw preparing the new harmonic flute pipes for installation at the Great Auditorium. Photo by Mary Walton

 

By Mary Walton, Blogfinger staff.  2012.

     Back in the 1960s, in what organist Gordon Turk deplores as “an unfortunate attempt to modernize” the magnificent organ in the Great Auditorium, 44 large open wood pipes were removed, cut up and used for wind ducts.
     Their absence robbed the organ of its heft and rich, deep-throated tone. The person responsible “claimed to be an organ specialist but really should have been a plumber,” said Ocean Grove’s organ curator, John Shaw.
     But when Turk puts the pedal to the metal for the opening concert of the 2012 summer season at noon Saturday, the Auditorium will once again fill with the sound that organ designer and builder Robert Hope-Jones intended listeners to hear.
     Earlier this month replacement pipes made of poplar, constructed by A.R. Schopp’s Sons of Ohio and ranging in size from four to sixteen feet, were shoehorned into the tight quarters behind the choir loft by a team of Philadelphia riggers. To gain access, a wall to the building superintendent’s office had to be removed and then replaced.
     There’s more. For some years Turk had longed for a set of harmonic flute pipes such as those found in the organs of certain French cathedrals. The Ocean Grove organ has many flute pipes, but harmonic flute pipes are distinguished by a small hole which reinforces certain overtones, giving them a clear “ringing” quality.
     Until recently Turk believed they would render superlative sound only if  housed in stone cathedrals. That is, until he played the organs at halls in Zurich and Vienna with acoustics similar to the wood-lined Great Auditorium. Could such pipes be installed here?
     Turk consulted, among others, Jean-Louis Coignet, the organ curator of the City of Paris, who had once visited Ocean Grove and pronounced the auditorium’s organ “magnifique.” Over the winter they worked via e-mail to establish specifications for 306 harmonic flute pipes ranging in size from one and three-fifths to eight feet, divided into five “ranks” played from the organ’s five keyboards. John Shaw installed them just this week.
     The two installations bring the organ’s total pipe count to 11,558.
     The cost of the additional pipes is $65,000, made possible by gifts from two donors, James G. Howes of Clearwater, Florida, a transportation consultant, and Dr. Liselotte Schmidt, a retired music professor who lives in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

 

Howes, the grandson of  Methodist minister G.E. Lowman, a noted Baltimore radio evangelist, contributed $45,000 for the construction and installation of the open wood pipes in memory of his grandfather.  “I thought this would be a wonderful way to memorialize my grandfather and make a contribution to Ocean Grove that everyone could enjoy,” he said in an interview.

     Howes learned to play the organ in his grandfather’s church, the Baltimore Gospel Tabernacle, now an historic landmark. “I’m just good enough,” he said, “to know how much more I need to know.” He has also played and sung in the choir of the interdenominational Riverside Church in New York City.
     Howes’ grandparents were frequent visitors to Ocean Grove, as was his mother. Howes himself has been coming here since childhood and never misses a Choir Festival. A pilot who forged a career in airport management, Howes is also the president of Atlas Communications, which offers a weekly radio program, Sacred Classics, and produces CDs and concerts.
One CD recorded in 2001 features Gordon Turk. Titled “Sacred Classics at Ocean Grove,” it has sold more than 3,000 copies, which Howes says is “very good for an organ record.”
     He will be in the audience Saturday when Gordon Turk will debut the organ’s new additions.
     Turk will also offer a July 4 recital (“Storms &Thunder, Stripes & Pipes”) and will play at a July 5 Summer Stars performance with the Philos Polished Brass Ensemble. And featuring, of course, the Auditorium organ.

One of the new 16-foot open wood pipes under construction earlier this year in Ohio


Editor’s note.   September, 07, 2022.   Below is a comment from OG historian David Fox dated today.

 

The Auditorium organ was purchased at a supposed discount in return for having, “Hope-Jones Organ Co. Elmira, N. Y.” emblazoned in gold on the base of the central display pipes. This ceased to appear on postcards in the 1920s.

While the company went out of business in 1910 and the present instrument is mostly not Hope-Jones, I feel it would be a nice historical touch if the name were restored.

It also had some now vanished “U”-shaped wooden ornaments running along the slanting tops of the pipe screens.

 

CANTILENE.      This is a Gordon Turk recording on the Ocean Grove organ.

 

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“Aaand Action!” NYU Film Crew Shoots Movie in the Grove. (Best of: 2012 re-post)

Posted in Feature article, tagged on July 18, 2022| 6 Comments »

Members of the NYU team (L to R): Marlee Roberts (producer), Nora Unkel (assistant director), Craig Clayton (writer) , and Ben Nelson (director) on the porch at 124 Main Avenue. Paul Goldfinger photo.

 

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor and film critic @Blogfinger.  Re-post from November, 2012:

 

Did you ever hear of Spike Lee, Joel Coen, Ang Lee, and Oliver Stone? Well those film makers are all alumni of the NYU Film School, a division of the Tisch School of the Arts. It is one of the finest film schools in the country, and we had a team of their students in town this weekend, making a short movie called “Still.”

Tisch School of the Arts. Greenwich Village. From the NYU web site.

Marlee Roberts, the producer of the film “Still,” spoke to us in the living room at 124 Main Avenue on a cold Ocean Grove Sunday morning. She and her production team had been looking for a house that seemed like it was from the 1950’s. When they found the “cozy” cottage on Main, they were “very excited.”

“We were searching for a special town for our film”, she said , “And this was perfect.”

The quaint little Ocean Grove cottage was buzzing with activity. Members of the team were all over the house when we stopped by. On Saturday they had recreated a party in the living room. They also had shot some footage in the old-fashioned kitchen and now they were upstairs in the bedroom. “Our film is rated PG-13,” Marlee said, “and it is totally student run—no faculty involved.”

Filming in the bedroom. Photo by NYU crew

It is evident that this is serious filmmaking. The actors are not only college students, but they are professionals, and the standards are quite high. When it was time to say, “Aaand action,” I could hear a voice call out from upstairs, “Nobody move, or talk…don’t even breathe.” Then everyone who had been moving, talking and breathing froze. It looked like a wax museum for a few minutes.

Lighting the set and adjusting the sound. Photo by the NYU crew.

Marlee told us that “Still” would be a short film—about 18 minutes— and the goal would be to distribute it to film festivals. It’s about a young couple who have found the fountain of youth, so their love story goes on for awhile.

The filming began in Secaucus, but the Ocean Grove setting was the main location. After 1 1/2 days in town, the crew would be going to Spring Lake and then Manhattan. After that the post-production work begins.

Marlee, an actress, singer and filmmaker, is an animated and lovely young woman from North Arlington, New Jersey, who promised to send us one of her songs for the Blogfinger Juke Box. We suggested that she let us show her finished film in town when it is ready. She liked that idea.

I can see it now: “The Blogfinger Film Festival presents ‘Still’.” Let’s do it!  (PS –does anyone have a red carpet we can borrow?). As for this article, it’s a wrap.

Editor’s Note: It was a delight to watch these young filmmakers work with such passion in creating an original film in our town. Thank you to Flo Meier, the owner of that “perfect” Ocean Grove cottage, who alerted us to this special event.

And to the crew of “Still” here’s a musical gift. Sidney Bechet, the great French jazz saxophonist, plays “Si Tu Vois Ma Mère” which is the opening music for Woody Allen’s new hit film “Midnight in Paris.” I suspect no NYU film student can possibly graduate without knowing Woody’s work.    —PG

 

 

 

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D-Day: 24 Hours That Saved the World. Doctors go in with the troops at Normandy. 78th Anniversary.

Posted in Blogfinger feature article, Feature article, Music from the movies, tagged on June 6, 2022| 2 Comments »

 

Robert Capa, Life Magazine photographer went into Omaha Beach with the American troops. Robert Capa, Life Magazine photographer landed  at  Omaha Beach with the American troops. They went in at Easy Red/Fox Green sector. June 6, 1944 .He took this photo and won a Pulitzer Prize. *   (see below)

 

By Paul Goldfinger, MD    Editor @Blogfinger

Robert Capa landed with the troops and shot quickly with his Leica 35 mm camera.  He handed over his film to an aide who got the film out  to a boat and then on to England for processing.  Unfortunately, an overzealous lab tech ruined most of the exposures except for a few. The image above is one of them, and the Capa D-Day collection is among the best examples of American photojournalism.

There were 12 surgical teams that went in on D-Day, but only 8 made it to shore.  Medics quickly organized the wounded. Medical stations and field hospitals were quickly established on shore.  Of the wounded who made it to a medical station, less than 1% died.

During the month prior to D-Day,  American factories manufactured 100 million doses of the wonder drug Penicillin. There were 4,644 U.S. Army nurses who were stationed on the European front in 1944. They landed on the beaches on June 10 and walked 5 miles or more to field hospitals.

 

Normandy, a few days after D-Day, aircraft bring in containers of blood for transfusion. * Normandy, a few days after D-Day.  Aircraft bring in containers of blood for transfusion. *

 

June 6, 2022.  Still photographs by Paul Goldfinger obtained from the movie Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielberg.

Troops dropped off in the bloody water move in to Omaha Beach, Dog Sector.  Paul Goldfinger still.  High mortality in the first wave.

 

Tom Hanks as Capt. John Miller regains his composure after barely making it ashore. There is mayhem and death all around.    Paul Goldfinger still.

 

Medics try to save lives on the beach, but deadly fire inhibits  effectiveness. Paul Goldfinger still.

 

Nazi pill boxes take a high toll on the beach. Eventually Capt. Miller and his men break through to open the log jam. Paul Goldfinger still.

 

 

* Reference:  Time Magazine D-Day 70th Anniversary Tribute  (re-issue of the 2004 Time Classic)

 

MARTHA WAINWRIGHT.  From the soundtrack of the film  The Aviator

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Modern OG history : takes us back 10 years to Memorial Day 2012. Atlantic Wind Ensemble and the Festival Choir Present a Memorial Day Concert in the GA

Posted in Feature article, Music, tagged , on May 23, 2022| 5 Comments »

A large crowd assembles for the Saturday night concert in the Great Auditorium of Ocean Grove, New Jersey, USA. Photo by Paul Goldfinger

 

By Paul Goldfinger,  Editor,  Blogfinger.net    Memorial Day 2012.  Ocean Grove

Leave it to Harry Eichhorn to come up with a concert that celebrates America while covering the gamut of music, from Dvorak to Irving Berlin and, of course, Ocean Grove’s sentimental favorite, John Phillip Sousa.

Perhaps you are wondering what a wind ensemble is, and how it is different from a band.  Well, there’s not much difference, but “wind ensemble” tells you what to expect, while a band could be anything  from the Foo Fighters to the Neptune High School Marching Scarlet Fliers.

I guess a wind ensemble contains musicians who blow into their instruments. This definition , or course, doesn’t hold up for the percussionists.  After all, did you ever try to blow into a snare drum?  But Harry Eichhorn’s group of about 45 musicians and 35 choristers turned on the charm for an audience of mostly senior citizens, some of whom might have actually heard Sousa perform live when he conducted the Marine Band here back in the day.

Harry looked great in his trademark pressed slacks and starched shirt. If he were running for office, he would win by a landslide, even if Lawrence Welk himself were on the ballot.

The concert was predictable with the veterans rising to their feet  (those who could actually still stand) and clapping to the rhythms of their theme songs. As always, the smallest group to get up has the most unrecognizable song—the US Coast Guard.  But I think that their song is the most beautiful.  Sometimes only one or two Coast Guard vets stand. They should wear something special like a life vest.

I get to stand with the U.S. Navy as they play Anchors Aweigh, but I wasn’t a warrior—-my weapon was a stethoscope, but I did get to wear an undrawn sword for dress inspections. I actually keep that sword in my OG bedroom in case a Barbary pirate were to invade my house.   Yet I do feel proud getting up  during this ritual which is always met with enthusiasm by the crowds that come to Harry’s patriotic musical tributes.

It really doesn’t matter what Harry plays—it will delight the folks, especially when a euphonium player sitting in the back, Ted Freeman, stands to announce the program using his 1940’s era radio voice. I wish, just once , that Ted would say, “”From out of the west with the speed of light and a hearty hi-yo Silver.”

The whole experience of going to a concert like this in Ocean Grove encompasses a lot more than Harry’s merry band digging into one old-fashioned medley after another. The unique ingredients that create that “old feeling” include the Great Auditorium itself, the sea breezes, patriotism, the town’s history, people sitting on the lawn, kids playing in the park, and the polite crowd lined up outside of Day’s.

The third piece on the program was the “Liberty Bell March” by Sousa. It is not well known, but Ted told us that it was played by the Marine Band at the inauguration of the last three US Presidents. So here is the US Marine Band playing the “Liberty Bell March:”

—Paul Goldfinger

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Passover in the Grove and During the Civil War

Posted in Feature article, tagged , on April 16, 2022| 2 Comments »

Eileen’s Passover table in Ocean Grove. April, 2022. Eileen Goldfinger photo. © Click to enlarge. Make the matzah balls bigger.

 

J.A. Joel, Jewish soldier in the Union Army. 1862. Author of the Civil War seder article described below. (photo: Jewish Virtual Library)

 

During Reverend Stokes’ time, a Passover seder in the Grove would have been highly unlikely.  But these days, given the changing demographics in what used to be a one-size-fits-all religious environment, seders in the Grove do occur.

The seder is a festive celebration devoted to family, traditional foods and retelling  the story of the Exodus. A guide book called  the Hagaddah is used during the seder. It was invented about 1500 years ago and hasn’t changed much in its essentials over those generations.

Although Passover is a happy holiday, the recitation of this phase of Jewish history is a solemn obligation and a touchstone for Jewish identity. Most American Jews celebrate a seder at Passover. But seders are held all over the world, and, although the framework is the same for each seder, there are many variations of  the rituals, depending on regional and cultural differences.

It is surprising where seders have occurred in the past. We know, for example, that secret Passover celebrations were held “underground” during the Inquisition, in Spain and Portugal.

Image courtesy of the Jewish War Veterans of the USA. Two marines and a soldier attend a seder in 1944. In front of them are Australian matzohs. They are probably in the Pacific.

 

In America, there are reports of seders being held by soldiers during the  Revolutionary and Civil Wars.  There were matzoh factories in unlikely places such as Montana and the Dakotas.

In 1862, an account by  soldier, J. A. Joel of the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Regiment,  of a seder celebrated by Union soldiers in Fayette, West Virginia, was published in The Jewish Messenger.  Joel and 20 other Jewish soldiers were granted leave to observe Passover.  They received matzoh shipped from Cincinnati.

Said Joel, “We sent parties to forage for Passover food while a group stayed to build a log hut for the services. We obtained two kegs of cider (Ed. note: wine was unavailable), a lamb, several chickens and some eggs. We could not obtain horseradish or parsley, but instead we found a weed whose bitterness, I apprehend, exceeded anything our forefathers ‘enjoyed.’ “   (Ed. note: The seder table includes “bitter herbs” to recall the terrible  times as slaves.)

Joel went on to report how they used “Yankee ingenuity” to make substitutions for other traditional components of the seder. Those Jews who fought with the North felt like they had the moral high ground  (compared to Jews serving in the Confederate Army) because of the similarity between the freeing of Jewish slaves in Exodus and their participation in freeing the American black slaves. Happy Easter and Passover to those Grovers who celebrate these holidays.

Here is a link about a seder in Ocean Grove in 2011 with references to Haggadahs.

Ocean Grove seder 2011.

 

—Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger

 

ETTA JAMES: “Down by the Riverside.”

 

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