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Archive for the ‘Ocean Grove events’ Category

Ocean Grove Fall Flea Market. Sept. 10, 2016. All photos by Paul Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net ©

Ocean Grove Fall Flea Market. Sept. 10, 2016. All photos by Paul Goldfinger. Blogfinger.net ©. Click once to enlarge the fleas.

 

By Paul Goldfinger,  Editor@Blogfinger.net.   All photos by Paul Goldfinger

September 10. 2016.   Re-post.    Ocean Pathway, Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

The ad said “rain or shine,” but today at the OG Giant Fall Flea Market, there was a bit too much shine. It was hot—nearly 90 degrees, but nevertheless, a large crowd showed up, and there were sea breezes.

The Boardwalk Pavilion was crowded as a group had assembled to enjoy the simple pleasures of the shade along with cool air from the ocean.

I like the ambience of flea and farmers markets, while Eileen is more of a shopper. I, on the other hand, could visit every one of the 385 vendors here today and I would find absolutely nothing that I would want. But the photo ops—that’s another story.

If you are a photographer you can sympathize with me.

At noon, with the light changing at every step and with my automatic meter being unreliable, I had to figure out exposures from moment to moment, and it was annoying to manually keep changing the settings.

Noon is the worst time of day to get good photos due to the harsh high-contrast light. I much prefer to shoot in the shade whenever possible. And then there are the flea market throngs, with a giant person stepping in the way just as a Jennifer Lawrence look-alike enters my field of vision.

Some people ask me why I photograph women.   The answer is quite obvious—what is more beautiful?  Even women enjoy looking at pictures of women, especially those unique types whose dress and manner are so graceful, interesting, and enticing.

And especially at the famous flea market on Ocean Pathway in the Grove, by-the-sea, where a photographer cannot deny girls in their summer clothes.

Flea Market  Gallery: First turn on the music.  Then  click on one then follow the large arrows.   To return to this page, click on the small X on the left.

 

WILLIE NELSON AND LEON RUSSELL  From the album One For the Road

 

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Main Ave at Pilgrim Pathway, Ocean Grove. Paul Goldfinger photo. 9/28/19.  Click to enlarge.

 

CAROLE KING describes true love in this wonderful song:

 

 

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Embury Avenue block party. Blogfinger photo

Embury Avenue block party. Paul Goldfinger. photo. 2013. Ocean Grove, NJ

 

Saturday, September 15, 2013.

This year, the Embury Avenue block party once again featured a series of big bands and ensembles performing in driveways and porches while the neighbors chowed down in the street.

This is an impressive event, with high quality jazz, dixieland and big band music.  It’s a shame that this could not have been shared with the whole town somehow.  Anyhow, it was a wonderful happening in the Grove: unique and marvelous.  Congratulations  to the organizers.  —-Paul Goldfinger,  Editor Blogfinger.net

 

BELOW IS WALT TORIE’S DIXIELAND BAND playing on Gail Shaffer’s porch.  Video by Eileen Goldfinger

 

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10:50 am, and the crowd has already assembled on the Ocean Grove pier. December 7, 2015. Paul Goldfinger photographs. ©

10:50 am, and the crowd has already assembled on the Ocean Grove pier. December 7, 2015. Paul Goldfinger photographs. ©  Click to enlarge.

 

By Paul Goldfinger, MD.  Blogfinger.net    While we are on the subject of Pearl Harbor Day.

Every December 7, at 11:00 am, a group of service club members and citizens meet at the fishing pier to remember the atrocity which was Pearl Harbor. We lost 2,400 Americans on that day in 1941 “which shall live in infamy”  (FDR.)

The Ocean Grove event is quite unusual as most towns in USA do not have such ceremonies.  Each year the ritual is unchanged:  The Neptune High School color guard is present; military organizations are there; taps are played, a prayer is recited, and “God Bless America”  is sung.  A few words are spoken to remember the soldiers and sailors who died that day, and mention was made of those who made the supreme sacrifice for America in other conflicts.    A floral wreath is tossed into the ocean.

Taps sound and echo over the water. Blogfinger.net ©

Taps sound and echo over the water. Blogfinger.net ©

 

As the crowd began to disburse, a female member of the Neptune VFW  heads back and then enters the beach,  walking slowly to the waters edge, as if to offer her personal tribute.  Then she walks back onto the boards where Blogfinger gets to speak to her for a few minutes  (see below).

Neptune High School honor guard. Blogfinger .net ©

Neptune High School honor guard. Blogfinger .net ©

 

Neptune VFW. Blogfinger.net ©

Neptune VFW. Blogfinger.net ©

 

The color guard must be shown in color. Blogfinger.net ©

The color guard must be shown in color. Blogfinger.net ©

 

RUBY BRAFF AND DICK HYMAN  “America the Beautiful”

 

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The Great Auditorium. Ocean Grove, New Jersey. 2012. By Paul Goldfinger ©

The Great Auditorium. Ocean Grove, New Jersey. 2012. By Paul Goldfinger ©

ART GARFUNKEL:

 

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No ugly ducklings here. Paul Goldfinger photo ©

No ugly ducklings here. Paul Goldfinger photo ©. July 4, 2012

 

BAND OF HM ROYAL MARINES:   “Colonel Bogey”  Bridge Over the River Kwai

 

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Luna Kaufman with Jason Tramm at Stokes Lecture.  2012. Paul Goldfinger photo

 

By Paul Goldfinger, Editor Blogfinger.net.     Re-post on January 27, 2024.  International Holocaust Remembrance Day.  Ms Kaufman is now 97 years old.    (note: 1926-2025)

July 24, 2012.  Ocean Grove, New Jersey:   Luna Kaufman was 12 years old when the Nazis stormed into Cracow, Poland where she and her family lived in 1939. She spent the next four years in a ghetto, followed by three different concentration camps. She and her mother survived, but her father and her sister died in the Holocaust.

After the war Ms. Kaufman and her mother escaped to Israel and then finally to the United States in 1952, where she has devoted her life to educating others about the Holocaust. Her main themes are those of forgiveness and reconciliation. In particular, she has worked to promote good will between Jews and Christians, especially Roman Catholics.

She has had a long association with Seton Hall University, where she had taught. In 2009, they presented her with an honorary doctorate. Ms. Kaufman has written a book about her life (“Luna’s Life”), and in 2011 she went back to Poland to receive a medal from the President of Poland. Now, at the age of 85, (2012)  she came to Ocean Grove to deliver a Stokes Lecture at the Bishop Janes Tabernacle.

Dr. Jason Tramm moderated the session where Ms. Kaufman related key events in her life and then took questions from the audience. One event stands out. It took place at a concentration camp where a Nazi officer put a gun to the back of her head.  She heard a click — the gun jammed.

When asked how she survived, she said, “I was just lucky.” While in “the camps” she said that people didn’t care about losing all their possessions  — “Only life was precious.” As for the lingering pain of what occurred, she said, “We can’t expect to fully repair the damage, but every bit of reconciliation is a building block to a better future.” She also said, “Being bitter is non-productive.”

 

“TO LIFE”  Zero Mostel  from the original Broadway cast of Fiddler on the Roof.

 

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By Paul Goldfinger © Ocean Grove, NJ c. 2005

Gospel service.  Boardwalk Pavilion.  Photograph  by Paul Goldfinger.    Ocean Grove, NJ c. 2005.   Blogfinger.net

 

CAT POWER AND THE DIRTY DELTA BLUES BAND

 

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The show’s ensemble singing was top notch, and very moving. Photo by Mary Walton

By Charles Layton   2012.  Editor, Blogfinger.net

The crowd at the Jersey Shore Arts Center on Saturday gave a warmly emotional reception to “Labor of Love,” JoAnn Robertozzi’s theatrical tribute to the 146 victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Quite a few people were wiping away tears during the musical finale, sung by actors playing some of the victims who, caught on the roof of the flaming building in lower Manhattan, were forced to jump to their deaths.

When one of the characters said, “I saw bodies flying from the building, like angels,” it was impossible not to be reminded of some of the most graphic photos of 9/11.

The bare-bones staging was helped a lot by photo images of the 1911 tragedy, projected on a screen. And even though the Arts Center’s acoustics are problematic, the singing was thrilling.

In the Q&A that followed the performance, the author, Robertozzi, told the audience she hoped to further develop “Labor of Love” into a fully staged play, to be entered in New York’s Fringe Festival. We wish her all good luck with that.

 

Because so many of the fire’s victims were Italian immigrant girls, a couple of the play’s songs were Italian standards from the period. Here is one of those songs, sung by Mario Lanza:

 

 

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From Stan Goldstein:   “Last week Patti Scialfa, Bruce Springsteen’s wife, posted this photo of her, Bruce and Rita Wilson (Tom Hanks wife) on Instagram.

Patti says “Asbury Park,”  but if you look closely, that’s right in front of Nagle’s facing east (Bruce, Patti and Rita facing west)… Pretty cool!  I think it was taken last Thursday (May 14, 2015).”

“Here they were right in downtown Ocean Grove!”

 

Rita Watson (L), Patty Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen. Submitted by Stan Goldstein

Rita Wilson (L), Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen.  Corner of Main Ave.and Central Ave.   Submitted by Stan Goldstein.  Summer, 2015.

 

Maybe the Boss was in the Grove waitin’ on a sunny day.  Looks like he found one.

 

“I’m waitin’, waitin’ on a sunny day

Gonna chase the clouds away

Waitin’ on a sunny day”

 

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An OG artist decorated this Main Avenue home for a wedding later that day. The image was obtained shortly after sunrise. Paul Goldfinger photo ©

An OG artist decorated this #10 Main Avenue home with metallic strips  for a wedding later that day. Blogfinger collaborated with the artist to obtain this photo.   This  image was captured shortly after sunrise near the beach to catch the light and the breezes. Paul Goldfinger photo  2014.

 

GLEE CAST:

 

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Ocean Grove July 4 parade. 2014. Paul Goldfinger photo. Bl;ogfinger.net ©

Ocean Grove July 4 parade. 2014.   Paul Goldfinger photo. Blogfinger.net     Click once to enlarge

THE TURTLES:

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Kazoo you too. Days Kazoo band, 2012 edition. Paul Goldfinger @Blogfinger photo ©
Kazoo you too. Days Kazoo band, 2014 edition.  Paul Goldfinger photo.  Click once to enlarge.

 

2014. Heather McLaughlin  says,  

“Driving Jersey”, a PBS series will soon feature the Ocean Grove parade and the Kazoo Band!    Click below:

 

 

And here is a link to the 2015 version of the parade.   Blogfinger.net

 

Click me for a return to 2015 patriotism

 

2025;   The Independence Day parade will be on July 5 instead of July4 this year.

Over the years,  we could  count on the amazing Days Kazoo Band  to be featured in the parade,  and everyone loves these hummers who wear their Kazoo Band T shirts,  and they love to perform  patriotic music.

But it was absent last year and will  be AWOL this year.  It seems that the person who usually organizes this unique kazoo musical event is unavailable, and there is no Plan B.

You would think that the CMA could have found a volunteer to organize  the kazooers.  And it could have been pretty easy for some Grover organization such as the OG Community  Association or the Chamber of Commercials to organize the Kazooers .  But no such luck.

Sousa:  “The Thunderer”.  US Marine Band

 

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