The stationhouse hasn’t been updated since its conversion from a schoolhouse in 1983. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven’s police station is in for a once-in-a generation makeover in coming months.
One of three bars at Donovan’s Reef is a thatched roof tiki bar. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Flip-flop wearing beachgoers can now drink their beverage of choice at any of three separate bars within the confines of the newly re-built Donovan’s Reef in Sea Bright. PieHole recently paid its first visit to the sprawling party palace since its resurrection from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.
And is this the Jersey Shore? Swaying palm trees and ocean views could easily have your thinking you’re on a tropical vacation.
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Red Bank’s Shrewsbury Avenue continued its recent makeover trend with the opening of a new pharmacy this week.
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Work to repair an overnight sewer line break forced the closure of Shrewsbury Avenue between West Front and Oakland streets in Red Bank early Friday morning. There was no immediate estimate on when the busy stretch of road might reopen. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
“The World of the Organ Pipe Wasp” and other works by Donna Payton are among the pieces in the group show ‘Animal Architects’ at the Monmouth Museum.
The paintings, sketches, sculptures, collages and mixed-material constructions now on display at the Monmouth Museum in Lincroft are the work of 11 members of the species homo sapiens. But the inspirations range from the spiral pattern of a spider’s web and the sturdy intricacy of a robin’s nest to the habitats, traps, nurseries, storage facilities and flashy courtship displays built by various insects, arthropods, birds, mammals and fellow aesthetes of the animal kingdom.
Curated and featuring contributions by Donna Payton, the group show ‘Animal Architects: Influences on Human Creativity’ serve as the conversation starter for a summer-long series of events for adults and children. Read More
The summertime edition of the annual Skimbash tournament returns to the waters just off Sea Bright, this Saturday and Sunday. (File photo by Peter Lindner)
Although at first glance the array of aerial leaps, spins, and acrobatics have more in common with skateboarding than with surfboarding — and the sometimes slapstick finishes to the maneuvers have the spills running neck-and-neck with the thrills — there’s little doubt that the event known as SkimBash is sufficiently serious to attract polished competitors from many hundreds of miles away.
There’s serious prize money at stake, too, when the nationally sanctioned summer edition of Skimbash returns to “the pristine beach and consistently good wave conditions” of the Sea Bright shoreline, for a two-day stay this Saturday and Sunday, June 24 and 25.
Middletown Arts Center is the setting for a weekend-long serving of the musical dramedy ‘They Call It Gravy, We Call It Sauce!’
Is it “gravy” or “sauce?” Why do Neapolitans cut off the vowels at the end of words? And just what the heck is “bru-shetta?”
These and other long-simmering issues are placed on the front burner with They Call It Gravy, We Call It Sauce!, a traveling “musical dramedy” that camps out at Middletown Arts Center for a weekend-long engagement that begins Friday night.
Todd Thompson, seated at center, discussing bridge options with other attendees at the Rumson session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
What should be done about the crumbling Oceanic Bridge between Rumson and Middletown?
Area residents were offered dozens of options Tuesday as Monmouth County officials hit the reset button on an earlier process derailed by a change in federal regulations.
Teal Wicks (right) stars as the title character — with bride and groom Jane Bruce and Eric William Morris as frontier friends — as “The Ballad of Little Jo” enters its final week of performances at Two River Theater. (photo by T. Charles Erickson)
It’s always a pleasure to see the physical space and human resources of Two River Theater Company employed to their full potential, and with the current mainstage musical The Ballad of Little Jo, TRTC artistic director John Dias and company have crowned their 2016-2017 season with a polished production that packs something of a homegrown pedigree; that doesn’t skimp on the quality or quantity of assembled talent — and that speaks to the American soul in all of its conflicted, enterprising, ambitious, messy and often melancholy glory.
Co-written by, developed and directed here by Dias — and adapted from a 1993 film of the same name — the show that made its formal debut some 17 years ago at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre has traced a journey to the Red Bank stage almost as long as that of the real-life 19th century woman whose story (very loosely) inspired it. It’s a journey that enters its final stretch for the time being, as the production wraps its limited engagement with eight more performances, today through Sunday, June 25.
By JOHN T. WARD
A former Red Bank man who did time for a double shooting in 2007 was in court again Tuesday, this time accused of the 2014 shooting of a man as he sat in a parked car on Willow Street.
But witnesses in the Freehold trial of Anthony Sims have been instructed not to say anything in front of jurors about a second set of charges, in which the victim in this case, Perry Veney Jr., is alleged to have later participated in the murder of Sims’ brother, the Asbury Park Press reported Tuesday.
No, that was not a space-age bumper-car ride being assembled outside Red Bank’s West Side Lofts Tuesday. Rather, it was vat-delivery day at Triumph Brewing Company, the long-brewing restaurant and brew pub.
Arrest reports, unedited, as provided by the Shrewsbury Police Department for the period of June 3 to June 16, 2017. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
Arrests
Asa G. Robinson, female age 24 of South Orange was arrested on 6/5/17 for Contempt of Court in the area of Sycamore Avenue by Ptl. Daniel DeCristofaro.
Katherine R. Stroby, female age 27 of Long Branch was arrested on 6/3/17 for Possession of Controlled Dangerous Substance in the area of Broad Street by Ptl. Ryan Cullinane.
The crime and arrest reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for the period of June 1 to June 15, 2017. This information is unedited. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
CRIMES
Theft: On 06-05-17 in the area of Monmouth St it was reported an unknown black male took a tip jar from the business. The jar is described as clear with a red lid and contained approximately $100.00. Ptl. Jhonathan Quispe.
Theft: On 06-11-17 in the area of Shrewsbury Ave it was reported a bald black male described as early 40’s, approximately 6 feet, clean shaven wearing a white t-shirt and tan shorts was seen leaving a store without paying for an item. Ptl. Jhonathan Quispe.
The Oceanic Bridge between Rumson and Middletown is in “critical” condition, according to the Monmouth County Engineer’s office, and officials plan to unveil “conceptual alternatives” for its replacement or repair at meetings slated in each town today.
The former Fameabilia store space will be divided in two to house a craft brewery and a take-out restaurant. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[SEE CORRECTIONS BELOW]
By JOHN T. WARD
Nine years after its last tenant departed, and four years after it was approved for restaurant use, a large retail space in downtown Red Bank is slated to get two new tenants, redbankgreen has learned.
Hailey Blum shows off a fidget spinner, joined by Milana Strulowitz and Shane Sullivan. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
It’s a rare business that gets to take the summer off. But a startup run by Fair Haven fifth-and sixth-graders has earned some slack time after landing and delivering on a legit $1,000 manufacturing contract this past school year with San Francisco-based Slack.
And it all revolved around a faddish chill-out device called a fidget spinner.
A 15-foot-long T-Rex puppet from Field Station: Dinosaurs, seen here in 2012, returns to the Red Bank Public Library Tuesday. (Photo by Stacie Fanelli. Click to enlarge.)
He’s scaly, maybe a bit scary, some 15 feet long, and usually spotted in the company of a singing paleontologist known as the Dinosaur Troubador. He’s the traveling T-Rex from Bergen County attraction Field Station: Dinosaurs, and he’s returning to libraries in Red Bank and Middletown this week.
Twilight on the back patio of Jamian’s Food and Drink finds bartender Rick Norman juicing oranges and pouring drinks. (Photo by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
Just down Monmouth Street in Red Bank from the Count Basie Theatre, Jamian’s Food and Drink is packed before a show. Ticketholders dash in for a quick bite and something from the bar, and waitresses here know how to hustle, ensuring everyone gets in and out quickly.
Known for its varied live music scene, wall of locally produced artwork and surfer roots, it can be a little noisy and crowded inside. But out back, on Jamian’s patio, the vibe changes. Twinkling lights and background rock and roll make it easier to hold a conversation. This is where you’ll find a more relaxed scene. It’s also a good place to watch a game projected onto a big white wall.
The Fab Faux take the Basie stage Saturday for a full-on recreation of the revolutionary Beatles album ‘Revolver.’ (Photo by Michael Weintraub)
In a season that’s justifiably obsessed with the golden anniversary of a little phonograph record by the name of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, it might be easy to overlook the album that truly made the Pepper platter possible: Revolver, the 1966 Beatles release that kicked off the Fab Four’s focus on studio projects in earnest — and an idea-packed long-player that more than a few observers consider to be the greatest rock album of all time.
For the 16th edition of what’s become a dependable signifier of summer in Red Bank, the super-sessionman Beatle-reboot known as the Fab Faux takes the stage of Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre Saturday night for a performance of Revolver in its entirety, plus a mixed set of classic hits.
It’s Climb Time in Lincroft again as the Monmouth County Park System moves that portable mountain to the grounds of Thompson Park for another free instructional session.
A chance to take a “drop in” kayak tour of a scenic waterway… a hands-on, close up look at local marine life… and an opportunity to climb a mountain face in Monmouth County.
They’re all on tap in the coming week around those public places that make life on the Greater Red Bank Green a recreational pleasure — and brought to you by the people of the Monmouth County Park System.
It could happen, just like that, by the picnic tables near the playground equipment. On the shaded lawn across from the Visitors Center. Maybe somewhere around the barn, along the lakeside trails, or down by the old gazebo. According to the folks at the Bluegrass & Oldtime Music Association of New Jersey (BOTMA), the phenomenon known as Pickin’ in the Park could occur with the suddenness of a kinder-gentler summer storm — and “you just never know who will show up to spend the day pickin’.”
Regular readers of redbankgreen have been clued in to the BOTMA organization’s monthly Sunday jams at Little Silver’s Embury United Methodist Church — a “best kept secret” that runs from September to May each year. But as to the question of where the music goes in summer, look no further than the many public nooks and crannies of Lincroft’s Thompson Park.
[See update below]
A Monmouth Couunty road crew member was struck by a car while doing road-striping work in Fair Haven Thursday, police Chief Joe McGovern tells redbankgreen.
Emergency responders working to remove the victims, who were trapped inside their vehicle. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
[This post has been updated since originally posted.]
By JOHN T. WARD
Two people were injured after the vehicle in which they were traveling plowed into a Red Bank office building Thursday morning.
A standing-room crowd stuck around after the hourlong council meeting for nearly two hours of parking presentations. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
At an event with no equal in recent memory, and possibly in the 109-year history of the borough, five would-be developers trotted out plans to remake a large swath of downtown Red Bank Wednesday night.
Mixing elements of beauty pageant and planning board meeting, the special session of the borough parking committee drew a standing-room crowd to hear would-be builders tout their visions for massive parking and housing projects, some with retail thrown in as well.
The event was notable also for who was not there.
Yellow Brook principal Roger Mumford with a rendering of a building on the site of Atlantic Glass at the northwest corner of White Street and Maple Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Of the five proposed plans for White Street presented to the Red Bank parking committee Wednesday night, only one had what Roger Mumford’s had: a lock on two adjoining properties.
Mumford also arrived at the meeting with a singular certainty that without those sites, the project isn’t worth doing.
“We don’t have five different concepts,” Mumford told the committee and a standing-room crowd at borough hall, in a veiled reference to one of his competitors. “We’ve got one, because we really like it.”