RED BANK: JAZZMAN VISITS FORTUNE CENTER
Gilda Rogers, right, led saxophonist Branford Marsalis on a tour of the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center in Red Bank Wednesday afternoon.
RED BANK: FORTUNE SETS ‘BASIE 2020’ SKED
Images of William ‘Count’ Basie on display at the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center last week. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center, built to honor a pioneering African-American journalist with Red Bank ties, plans to spotlight the borough-born musical giant William ‘Count’ Basie through 2020.
The occasion is the 85th anniversary of the formation of the Count Basie Orchestra, which is still touring 36 years after its founder’s death.
RED BANK: OILY MESS NEAR EASTSIDE PARK
A two-truck accident Tuesday afternoon left an oily mess alongside Eastside Park in Red Bank, where new restrooms are being installed.
RED BANK: STALLS READY TO BE INSTALLED
Plumbing-equipped prefab building modules and a crane were onsite at Eastside Park in Red Bank Tuesday morning.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: PARK AWAITS PREFAB BUILDING
Picnic tables and pathways have been installed, but for the second time since it began in the spring, construction work at Eastside Park in Red Bank appeared to halt last month.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: WAIT FOR RESTROOMS NEARS END
Construction work that began in the spring at Eastside Park in Red Bank appeared to stall last month.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: ROAD AND PARK WORK UPDATED
Work underway on East Bergen Place last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A messy road project in Red Bank will cost more and take longer to complete than originally anticipated, officials said last week.
Also, the borough plans to seek $250,000 in Monmouth County funding to cover half the cost of a series of improvements to borough parks.
RED BANK: WORDS AND JAZZ ON MONMOUTH
Jazz chanteuse Champian Fulton (above) is among the guest speakers — while Ella Fitzgerald and “Kid from Red Bank” Count Basie are among the topics — when the annual Talkin’ Jazz series returns Monday.
“If you can play — if you can show me something, whoever you are — I’m listening,” said Red Bank-based jazz maven Joe “Mooche” Muccioli in these paperless pages several years back. It was a statement that underscored the democratic attributes of jazz music — and at the same time, it served to drive home the point that a true jazz player has got to go beyond talking that talk, and walk that walk.
During the National Jazz Appreciation Month of April, however, it’s also about talking the talk — particularly when the spoken word serves to illuminate the music that’s been called America’s one truly homegrown art form.
RED BANK: WESLEYAN HONORS BLACK HISTORY
Press release from United Methodist Communities
Dressed in the tradition of her native Liberia, executive director Gertrude Kehleay (left in photo) greeted an intergenerational, multicultural group of about 100 people, gathered at United Methodist Communities at The Wesleyan for their annual Black History Celebration. All American citizens, they came together on the last day of February to celebrate the history and contributions of African Americans, as well as their ancestry representing nearly every continent around the globe.
Keynote speaker Rev. Darlene Wilson (right in photo) of the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Red Bank, recounted, “Although we dig down deep in February to discover Black History, it is every month…Black History is history.”
RED BANK: EFFU KEEPS CHARITY DRIVE ALIVE
For the fifth consecutive year, Red Bank’s Eastside Flag Football Union (EFFU) is headed to the annual New York Football Giants Snow Bowl tournament to benefit the New Jersey Special Olympics at Metlife Stadium next month.
RED BANK: COUNCIL OKS SIGNS, SEWER FIX
A properly displayed sandwich board sign on Broad Street. Too many others, however, impede pedestrians, a downtown building owner said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank borough council took action on a number of matters involving borough parks, sidewalks and sewers at its semimonthly meeting Wednesday night.
Here’s a bullet-point rundown.
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RUMSON STAR’S CONCERT TO STREAM VIA APP
Local fans of 24-year-old Rumson-bred pop star Charlie Puth who can’t make it to his sold-out show tonight in New York or Friday night’s sold concert at Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre might want to listen in via an app called go90, which will be streaming tonight’s show live. The app, availble through the App Store and Google Apps, is free, and the show begins at 9 p.m. (Click to enlarge)
RED BANK: COUNCIL OKS STEP ON PARKING
The planning board was directed to evaluate the borough-owned White Street lot for its “suitability” for a parking garage. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After months of silence on the issue, a possible parking garage in downtown Red Bank finally got its wheels on what could be a long up-ramp to reality Wednesday night.
Despite misgivings voiced by Councilwoman Cindy Burnham that doing so might attract “an overload of engineers,” the borough council unanimously agreed to have the the planning board determine whether the municipal lot on White Street “satisfies the criteria for designation as a noncondemnation redevelopment area.”
RED BANK: BASIE UNVEILS NEW ARTS SPACE
Guests mingled in the new Count Basie Theatre Performing Arts Academy Monday. Below, Yvonne Lamb Scudiery and Mayor Pasquale Menna spoke at the unveiling. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Old-timers will recall its days as a WaWa, but its future is as a laboratory for the arts.
So say officials at Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre Performing Arts Academy about the onetime convenience store that is now the academy’s home.
RED BANK: RIVERCENTER GOES IN ON PARKING
Officials say they need to find out what’s underneath the asphalt of the White Street lot before deciding on how to use the property. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
In the first step toward a possible construction of a new parking facility on White Street, Red Bank RiverCenter has agreed to share in the costs of soil testing, redbankgreen has learned.
The borough government and the autonomous downtown promotion agency are close to a formal agreement under which the two would split the estimated $80,000 cost of the work, RiverCenter executive director Jim Scavone said Friday.
RED BANK: LADIES SING THE JAZZ
Eryn Shewell, above, leads the Whiskey Devils to the water at Riverside Gardens Thursday night. Charenee Wade, below, channels the late great “Lady Day” Billie Holiday Friday and Saturday at Two River Theater’s Summer Jazz Cafe.
With a spot-on tribute to an iconic diva of Jazz’s golden age, and a look at one of the Shore area’s most versatile vocal stylists, it’s all about the chanteuse this week in Red Bank.
Beginning Thursday night, a three-night interlude of cool jazz sounds wafts into Riverside Gardens Park and the Two River Theater, programmed by borough-based Jazz Arts Project and its co-founding father/artistic director Joe “Mooche” Muccioli.
RED BANK: MENNA TOUTS PARKING “SOLUTION”
The borough-owned White Street lot, which may offer relief to downtown parking woes. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Taking heat from a restaurateur, Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna said Wednesday night that the long-awaited “next step” toward a possible parking garage downtown is coming within the next two weeks.
Menna’s pledge also came as the town council, on a 4-2 vote, agreed to extend by six months a moratorium on fees imposed almost exclusively on new restaurants that need parking variances to open.
RED BANK: LOT FIXES, BUT NO GARAGE… YET
The White Street lot, home to this weekend’s International Flavor Festival, has long been eyed as a solution to the downtown’s parking woes. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials plan to spend $300,000 in coming months on parking improvements at borough hall and two downtown lots.
But merchants and visitors who’ve been waiting for the movement toward a possible parking garage on White Street will have to wait a bit more.
RED BANK: EFFU DRIVING TOWARD NEW GOAL
Red Bank’s Eastside Flag Football Union (EFFU), the defending state champions in fundraising for the annual Snow Bowl tournament to benefit the New Jersey Special Olympics, is in the final stretch of its 2015 campaign. As of Thursday morning, EFFU had raised $16,000 toward its goal of $25,000, with three days left. Last year’s tourney-topping net was $19,765. Want to help put the team over the goal line? Take it here. (Photo by Tom Labetti. Click photo to enlarge)
RED BANK: BASIE (AND JOHNNY), 365
“Pied Piper of Jazz” Keith Marks keynoted a new slate of free outdoor jazz concerts on August 22 — a Count Basie 365 Cultural Series that continues Friday evening with vocalist Valarie Adams and showband.
Like a lot of institutions in the town that birthed the great “Count” Basie, it honors the “Kid from Red Bank” who became one of the pivotal bandleaders of jazz’s golden age — a living link that’s rooted in a place where the likes of Al Wright and Joe Muccioli continue to uphold the tradition.
Continuing for the next three Fridays at West Side Park (aka “the pocket park”) on the corner of Drs. James Parker Boulevard and Shrewsbury Avenue (aka DJ2 ‘n Shrew), the third annual Count Basie 365 Cultural Series also pays tribute to a real unsung hero of the art form — Ralph Gatta, longtime proprietor of Johnny’s Jazz Market, and an aficionado whose exuberant passion and expertise on all things jazz were second to no one’s.
A project of the mayor-appointed Red Bank Borough’s Vision Committee, the series kicked off on August 22 with a concert by a frequent summer-season guest performer — jazz flautist Keith Marks. The music resumes on September 5 with the return of another staple of summer concert stages, Valarie Adams and the Dimensions, with the dynamic showband bringing their encyclopedic setlist of soul/ Motown/ funk favorites beneath the stars at 6:45 pm.
RED BANK: EFFU BASKS IN GIANT SPOTLIGHT
Red Bank’s Eastside Flag Football Union (EFFU) made a return trip to the Meadowlands on Saturday to reap its reward as the top fundraising team – out of 135 – in the Snow Bowl tournament to benefit the New Jersey Special Olympics back in March. The squad spent the day tailgating, watching the Giants and Steelers warm up for a preseason game, and got to see their team name in lights for raising $19,765. More pix here. (Photos by Tom Labetti. Click photo to enlarge)
RED BANK: ‘APPETITE’ SATISFIES HUNDREDS
At this weekend’s three-day ‘Appetite‘ extravaganza at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, hundreds of visitors feasted on food, wine, beer and culinary wisdom.
Susan Ericson’s food blog, Flavor Chronicles/Chefs in Motion has additional coverage. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Mouse-over to pause.)
RED BANK: MORE ON THE MENU AT ‘APPETITE’
They came for the wine with local restaurateur Vic Rallo and stayed for the food trucks, beer and make-your-own bloody Mary’s Saturday at Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre, hosting its second annual ‘Appetite‘ food festival.
The action continues Sunday under the theme of ‘Blues and Brews,’ spotlighting craft beers, artisanal cheeses, butcher Stew Goldstein – offering a demo on preparing a pork loin Marco roast – and more. According to the National Weather Service, it’s not going to be a beach day, so why not come out? More details here. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge) 
RED BANK: BIG NIGHT FOR BON JOVIALS
Pop music hearththrob Jon Bon Jovi brings his side project, Kings of Suburbia, to the stage of the Count Basie Theatre in a benefit performance for the Parker Family Health Center Center on Shrewsbury Avenue Wednesday night. Even the LiveStream proceeds will be donated. Here’s a promo video posted on his Facebook page earlier this week. Will you be there? Watch it from home? (Click to enlarge)
RED BANK: BON JOVI TO PLAY BASIE
Jon Bon Jovi and “his local side band,” the Kings of Suburbia, will perform at Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre in a fundraiser for the Parker Family Health Center on July 30, the theater announced Monday. Bon Jovi, a Middletown resident, is a long-time supporter of the clinic, based on Shrewsbury Avenue. Tickets, priced $50 to $500, go on sale at noon Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)