Horse Show at Chubb Park in Chester Township, New Jersey. Chester is not far from where the US Equestrian team trains. By Paul Goldfinger. Click image for full view. Reposted.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor, Blogfinger.net. 10/3/23.
This photograph shows the gentle and elegant sport of horses and all the rituals, postures, clothing and casual styles of these aficionados blended with the formality of it all.
When we lived in Chester, we often saw “horse people” (usually women) shopping or walking around town in their special clothes. I like the black coats and hats on these riders.
That’s why I chose Gato Barbieri’s “Girl in Black” (Para mi Negra) — a tango by the jazz saxophonist (b. 1934 in Argentina) who wrote the incredible score for film The Last Tango in Paris with Marlon Brando.
This song seems to fit for this photo. Argentina is horse country, and the tango is very sexy.
Do you see any of that in this photo? How do those riders get out of those pants anyhow?
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on Asbury Avenue. December 7, 2014. By Paul Goldfinger.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD. Editor Blogfinger,net
I have passed this church so many times, but this day it really caught my eye as the sun, low in the sky at about 4:30 pm, illuminated it and made it glow.
It reminded me of the colors of Tuscany in Italy.
Congratulations to Jersey Jane who was the first of several to guess this location. —PG
RENATA SCOTTO with LEONARD BERNSTEIN. From West Side Story
2018: The much heavily hyped opening of the latest version of A Star is Born has opened, and the soundtrack album has been released. It not only has 19 songs from the film, but also short dialogue recordings which are fun to hear.
This song is “Music to My Eyes” performed by both stars. The lyrics are amazing. Most of the songs are performed by Lady Gaga. Cooper had to learn how to sing “country” for the movie.
Scene from a Blogfinger editorial meeting. Photo by Steve Schapiro from The Godfather part I.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net. 2013 Repost:
Recently a Blogfinger reader became very upset by something that was said by a commenter. I pointed out to the reader that we get many visits to this blog, on average about 1,500-2,000 per day. But only a relatively small number make any comments.—estimated by me to be less than 1% of readers. So, no need to get upset by what one person says, especially one who is anonymous.
I think there is a tendency to believe that just because something is said in print (blog comments are technically “in print” and are referred to as being “published.”) doesn’t mean that such opinions are any more valuable than those inside our readers’ heads.
I have no problem with anonymous opinions, but, to be honest, an anonymous opinion has less standing than one by a person who would give their real name. Some of you do give your real name, and I especially value those statements. But our readers will be the judges of how seriously to take the comments on Blogfinger.
We actually don’t let comments appear by “Anonymous.” Everyone who signs in as “Anonymous” gets assigned a nickname (a task I really enjoy), but mostly so the back and forth gets aimed at the right unknown person.
I don’t know why more readers don’t join our conversations. I guess it is a form of stage fright even though you can wear a mask, like the actors in an ancient Greek play. Or maybe most people see no point in commenting publicly. They prefer to be observers rather than participants.
It’s fine that so few of you say anything, but I know for sure that reading comments on Blogfinger is an activity that many of you enjoy. Some of you tell me in person that that you like the interactions, so simply by reading the comments, our readers (“the bloogers”) are, in a way, part of the discussions.
We screen all comments that come in so that we can maintain a civil tone and a presentable style. We post 95% of comments that we receive and we edit a few more.
It’s like the photo above. The editor hears you before you get to speak on Blogfinger. But it’s not personal—it’s business.
NINO ROTA. “The Love Theme from the Godfather.” From the original soundtrack
Miller’s Crossing is a gangster film released in 1990 by the Coen Brothers. It was not a big hit, but it has done well in DVD sales and rentals. It was selected by Time as one of the 100 best films and also as one of the ten best gangster movies. It features Irish thugs and politicians.
Frank Patterson was one of the most famous Irish tenors. He sang “Danny Boy” for this movie. —PG
Image courtesy of Ted Bell’s book “Images of America–Ocean Grove.” This 1878 view is of the OG side of Wesley Lake. Two ferry boats carried people to and fro.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger Re-post now from April, 2013.
We have reported on a recent north-south clash where the Asbury Park Council would not initially support the Ocean Grove bid for a FEMA appeal to help pay for the Grove’s oceanfront renewal following the Sandy destruction . Later the Council changed its mind, but some lingering bitterness exists on both sides of the Casino, especially after a councilman called Ocean Grovers “riff raff.”
However, this clash has provided a small opportunity to consider the relationship between the two towns and it provoked some debate by Blogfinger commenters. The basics are that the two towns are geographically neighbors, but are not “sister cities” in the true sense of the word. Instead, the two towns are as opposite as you can get. Maybe “complimentary” would be a good adjective, but there is much at stake in this relationship, which we will cover later.
Ocean Grove, founded in 1869 by Methodist ministers from the Holiness movement, developed as a summer religious community. Asbury Park, founded in 1871, by James A Bradley, named their town after a Methodist bishop, but went on to become a very secular place with a gay community going back to 1950 and a popular summer boardwalk and music scene going back to the turn of the 20th century.
In 1888, James Bradley, recognizing the growing population in AP, entered into an agreement with the OG Camp Meeting Association to provide a way for large numbers of summer visitors to cross Wesley Lake and get to the campgrounds. Up to that point, there were ferries and boats which would carry people back and forth for one cent per ride.
The two towns agreed that two iron bridges would be constructed. One at the foot of New Jersey Avenue and the other at the foot of Pilgrim Pathway. Little toll houses at the OG side would collect the one cent toll, and a policeman would be stationed there. AP borrowed $10,000 from the CMA to help build the bridges, and the two communities shared the income. Interestingly, both sides agreed to post signs that said, “This bridge is private property and is not dedicated to the public.” The reason for that proviso is unclear. Maybe it is to justify the toll.
Two iron bridges were built in 1888. This is the view from the AP side. Click left for larger view. Courtesy Ted Bell.
In 1899, a group of Ocean Grove residents and business owners petitioned the CMA to construct a “drive bridge” across Wesley Lake and Fletcher Lake as a way to help the commercial interests in town drive their wagons back and forth. The goal was to have these bridges near the ocean. In retrospect, the CMA saved the day when they would not allow those bridges to be built—for religious reasons.
In 1932, the iron foot bridges were replaced by the two concrete structures that we see today. The bridges across Wesely Lake have provided a way to get across the water from one town to the other and have benefitted both sides for nearly 125 years. Asbury Park has especially enjoyed these bridges because their boardwalk scene has been hugely popular for years. In the late 1800’s, about 600,000 people visited AP each summer. Of course it went into decline for many years and is now making an impressive comeback.
About 15 years ago, a decision was made to lock those bridges on the OG side at midnight each evening as a crime-fighting measure. That is done at midnight by the Neptune Twp. Police Department. It was a big success in that regard, but some controversy has now surfaced regarding the continued locking practices. In Part II we will talk amongst ourselves about this issue. Stay tuned.
March, 2013. view of Wesley Lake from the OG side. By Moe Demby, Blogfinger.net. Click for larger view
SOUNDTRACK “THE BRIDGES OF MONMOUTH COUNTY.” Oh, sorry, The Bridges of Madison County. It’s Johnny Hartman whose voice is deeper than the water in Wesley Lake.
Clint Eastwood did a fabulous job with the jazz soundtrack for that movie which starred Clint and Meryl.
By the way, Clint and Meryl will be at the Blogfinger Film Festival, so get your tickets. Here is Johnny with “It Was Almost Like a Song.” (Is this about Springsteen?)
CREDITS:
WAYNE T. BELL (“TED”) gave us permission to publish the two top images from his book , one of the Images of America series, Ocean Grove. This is a wonderful history of the Grove which everyone who lives here should own. It is full of terrific photographs, magazine images, postcards, and documents. Ted’s book is still in print and can be purchased on line or at the Historical Society of Ocean Grove for $19.99. Ted also wrote a similar book with vintage postcards of the Grove—also available at the HSOG.
GIBBONS : History of Ocean Grove 1869-1939
MICHAEL GOLDFINGER, photographer: Lives in Tampa, but he used to live in the Grove and he visits here often. (He looks in on his parents in case he has to drive us to the home.) Michael is a former staff photographer at the Asbury Park Press. We have occasionally published his photos on BF (the family business.)
Etruscan Horse by Jo Ubogy. 113 Mt. Hermon Way, Ocean Grove. Blogfinger photo. Re-posted from 2015. On exhibit at Eileen’s garden; Walk on by.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger
The Etruscans were one of the first groups to populate the western Mediterranean. They arrived around 500 BC and settled north of Rome in the area now known as Tuscany. They are a bit mysterious, but some of their tombs and artwork from ancient times have been found. They were known to the Greeks and the Romans.
Etruscans did have horses and they viewed them as creatures of strength and power. Ancient artists depicted Etruscan horses as proud creatures. Jo Ubogy is a 75 year old artist from Connecticut who, back in the 1980’s, was working as a metal sculptor. I never met her, but I spoke to her by phone. She is still showing her art work, but she has stopped her large metal sculpting.
We were fascinated by her—a woman working with large heavy pieces of steel, welding them together in her studio and making them for outdoors showing. She reminded me of Rosie the riveter from WWII days when women worked in shipyards and airplane factories. There are many photographs of those women in overalls, climbing up on the wings of bombers or riveting in the hulls of destroyers, with their hair held back by colorful cloth kerchiefs.
We saw Jo Ubogy’s Etruscan Horse , 6 feet tall, at a small charming indoor-outdoor gallery on Long Beach Island, in Loveladies, NJ back around 1985. The artist didn’t explain her inspiration, but clearly she knew something about Etruscans, and this sculpture was the result—-a red horse with its roots in antiquity but with a contemporary flair.
For years the horse lived in our backyard in Chester surrounded by fields and woods. It was outdoors in snow and rain, but it always stood tall providing a place to land for migrating birds. Eventually, when we moved to Ocean Grove, we didn’t think we could use the horse in our tiny rear garden. So, we had it refurbished by craftsmen in the Grove and then repainted with an automobile quality paint job, and we tried to match the color precisely.
After that, for about 10 years, it was on display at the Jersey Shore Arts Center in Ocean Grove. So it was indoors all that time, not exactly the environment that it was meant for. But now we decided that it could work in our backyard, so the Etruscan Horse is home again where it can be admired by all. It will be on display all year.
BLOSSOM DEARIE with a horsey tune from Oklahoma.
SEAL: “Walk on By” and see the horse in our backyard.
“Something Wonderful” is from The King and I. Carly Simon has a YouTube video where she addresses the women in the audience and asks them to think of these lyrics when they are upset with their man. Carly says this song is one of the most beautiful ever written. It was composed by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II.
The version here is performed by Peggy Lee. It was probably recorded in the 1950’s. She was a popular singer who was not particularly known for this song. Listen for the strong bass parts towards the end which add drama and are probably by the trombone section . Also there is a soft oriental gong at the very end–a tip of the hat to The King and I.
A 2 CD collection of Peggy’s music, 40 songs, called “Something Wonderful: Peggy Lee sings the Great American Songbook” was published in 2021 to coincide with a documentary about her.
Peggy Lee also was a lyricist for many hit songs, and, as a doctor, I always enjoyed her rendition of “Fever.” And as a man, I always enjoyed her rendition of “Fever.”
Blogfinger 101: The comments…
Posted in Blogfinger 101, Music from the movies, tagged Comments on Blogfinger on September 10, 2023|
Scene from a Blogfinger editorial meeting.
Photo by Steve Schapiro from The Godfather part I.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net. 2013 Repost:
Recently a Blogfinger reader became very upset by something that was said by a commenter. I pointed out to the reader that we get many visits to this blog, on average about 1,500-2,000 per day. But only a relatively small number make any comments.—estimated by me to be less than 1% of readers. So, no need to get upset by what one person says, especially one who is anonymous.
I think there is a tendency to believe that just because something is said in print (blog comments are technically “in print” and are referred to as being “published.”) doesn’t mean that such opinions are any more valuable than those inside our readers’ heads.
I have no problem with anonymous opinions, but, to be honest, an anonymous opinion has less standing than one by a person who would give their real name. Some of you do give your real name, and I especially value those statements. But our readers will be the judges of how seriously to take the comments on Blogfinger.
We actually don’t let comments appear by “Anonymous.” Everyone who signs in as “Anonymous” gets assigned a nickname (a task I really enjoy), but mostly so the back and forth gets aimed at the right unknown person.
I don’t know why more readers don’t join our conversations. I guess it is a form of stage fright even though you can wear a mask, like the actors in an ancient Greek play. Or maybe most people see no point in commenting publicly. They prefer to be observers rather than participants.
It’s fine that so few of you say anything, but I know for sure that reading comments on Blogfinger is an activity that many of you enjoy. Some of you tell me in person that that you like the interactions, so simply by reading the comments, our readers (“the bloogers”) are, in a way, part of the discussions.
We screen all comments that come in so that we can maintain a civil tone and a presentable style. We post 95% of comments that we receive and we edit a few more.
It’s like the photo above. The editor hears you before you get to speak on Blogfinger. But it’s not personal—it’s business.
NINO ROTA. “The Love Theme from the Godfather.” From the original soundtrack
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