3-23 TD

GoinG with the Flow

Musicians, filmmakers, activists, and artists keep Trenton on the move — including artist John Gummere, whose ‘Assunpink Creek’ is pictured.

Halsey Foundation encourages young filmmakers, page 4; James Stewart plays the Candlelight, 8.

ART HAPPENINGS: Free for All

Trenton Free Public Library presents “Art from Art News Writers and Photojournalists,” on view through March 25. The exhibit organized by the Trenton Artist Workshops Association features work by artists who also are arts writers or photo journalists: Ricardo Barros, Icon Magazine; Aubrey J. Kauffman, U.S. 1 and State of the Arts; Ilene Dube, State of the Arts and Princeton Magazine; John Gummere, Trenton Journal; Thomas Kelly, Community News Service; and Janet Purcell, Times of Trenton. 120 Academy Street. 609-392-7188

Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion opens the month with “Trustees Collecting,” celebrating 50 years of the Trenton Museum Society with an exhibition featuring works in the collections of TMS trustees, present and past. Opening reception on Sunday, March 5, 3 to 5 p.m., and on view through April 15. Cadwalader Park. 609-989-3632 or www.ellarslie.org.

Artworks Trenton’s new exhibition include works by the Women’s Caucus for Art in the main gallery, Amy Louise Lee, and Sweet Savages. March 14 through April 15. 19 Everett Alley and South Stockton Street. www.artworkstrenton.org.

New Jersey State Museum’s “Beyond the Tangible” is the recently opened exhibition of 26 non-objective abstract works by 22 American artists who began creating in the late 1930s. The work represents artists in the NJSM’s permanent collection. On view through August 2. 205 West State Street, Trenton. 609-292-6464 or www.nj.gov/state/ museum.

NEWS FROM CITY HALL: Homicide rate drops 45 percent, city says

According to Trenton Police Department (TPD) preliminary statistics, the City of Trenton achieved a 45 percent reduction in the number of homicides during the 2022 calendar year. While major cities in the United States experienced a 5 percent decrease in homicides, these cities also saw a 20 percent increase in thefts and robberies. Consistent with national trends, the City of Trenton experienced a 20 percent increase in robberies during 2022. However, the Capital City achieved a 27 percent reduction in burglaries in the same

year. The growing prevalence of video doorbells have aided local law enforcement, including TPD, in improving their burglary clearance rates.

The City of Trenton recovered 354 firearms in 2022, which marks a 9 percent increase compared with 2021. Additionally, while aggravated assaults increased by 7 percent last year, there was a 23 percent decrease in the sexual assault rate.

In Mayor W. Reed Gusciora’s first term, he opened the Trenton Real-Time Crime Center with the New Jersey State Police to prevent violent crime; launched the Trenton Community Street Teams, where civilian leaders mediate neighborhood conflicts before they become violent; hired more than 200 city youth during summers to provide alternatives to employment in the shadow economy; funded the city’s Summer Youth Camp to support the positive development of city children; and hired mental health counselors and dozens of new police officers.

This past year, the City of Trenton opened Trenton RISE, a communitybased youth center, to provide at-risk youth a safe space to study and play before or after school. Additionally, the mayor’s office facilitated the hiring of dozens of formerly incarcerated city resi-

dents through its Office on Returning Citizens, ended the seven-year ban on hiring formerly incarcerated residents, and created the largest civilian public safety panel in the state: the 11-member CHANGE Committee.

Mayor Gusciora remarked, “In 2022, we worked hard to achieve urban violent crime reduction. We are innovating to establish a new public safety standard and partnering with state and area-wide stakeholders for the sake of our citizens. In this, we’re doing it together.”

City urges animal adoption

The City of Trenton is requesting the public’s assistance in adopting dogs and cats located at the Trenton Animal Shelter, 72 Escher Street, Trenton.

The shelter currently houses more than 70 dogs, which is triple its normal capacity. The City of Trenton’s Department of Health and Human Services is currently collaborating with Trenton Animals Rock to overcome this situation. For information on how to adopt/ foster an animal or to volunteer at the Trenton Animal Shelter, please contact Officer Munoz at jmunoz@trentonnj,org. For additional information on fostering opportunities, donation information, and more ways to help, you can contact TAR at info@TARNJ.org.

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You’re only 45. You still need a colon cancer screening.

Along with eating healthy and regular exercise, your best bet for good colon health is to get a colon cancer screening. Individuals at average risk for colorectal cancer should begin screening at age 45. Individuals at higher risk should speak to their doctor about getting screened sooner. Regular screening can detect and prevent colorectal cancer in its earliest stages, which is when the cancer is most treatable. Should your screening indicate the need for treatment, we offer the latest options, from complex surgical procedures and radiation therapy to clinical trials and precision medicine. The best screening is the one that gets completed, so schedule yours now at rwjbh.org/colonscreening

Let’s beat cancer together. Let’s beat cancer together.

Film foundation gala gives young filmmakers the red carpet treatment

By SuSan Van Dongen

These kids today. They’re actually quite brilliant.

So many youths (teens, preteens, and even younger kids) are social media savvy, with the ability and desire to create mini-films and videos presenting a little bit of everything — dancing, singing, rap, drama, visual art, fashion, hair and makeup, poetry and creative writing, even tarot and astrology.

They’re ready to launch themselves into a media career — almost. First, they need more encouragement and education, polish and presentation, and maybe most of all, access to professional equipment.

For five years, the Trenton-based James R. Halsey Foundation of the Arts has assisted in just this kind of mentoring.

The JRHF, in partnership with the community, aims to “enrich the quality of life for Mercer County’s youths by providing a safe and educational environment where participants are inspired and encouraged toward a better future,” according to its website.

Founded in 2018 by producer/director/actor/musician Joseph A. Halsey, a Trenton native, this plan is accomplished by stoking an interest in the creative process, particularly while guiding participants in filmmaking, and that means all aspects of the art form. The organization also hopes to provide life-skills training that promotes success in business as well as arts.

The non-profit 501 (c)3 JRHF — named after Halsey’s late father — will accept any youth in Mercer County ages 10 through 18, and there are no auditions, entrance exams, or waiting lists. The programs are free to participants.

Classes include the Let’s Film and Let’s Film Jr. programs, where youths learn how to create short films, from preto post-production.

The Generation Change program involves interviews with adjudicated and at-risk inner city youth, focusing on how they would solve current problems in their community, such as building positive relationships with law enforcement and local government.

In addition, the young people at the JRHF can create short feature films and have recently completed “Vanessa,” written and acted entirely by the students, and directed by Olivia Ames and Noelle Correa. “Vanessa” is a story of how bullying can easily escalate into a situation of gun violence.

Halsey (the chief operating officer) is assisted by a host of volunteers and a small staff including Kim Cody, chief operating officer, and producer/technical

director Stephen Tilghman.

To celebrate its fifth anniversary, the JRHF will throw its first ever annual event, a red-carpet gala on Thursday, March 9, at the Trenton Country Club, which will include stand-up comedy, as well as an appearance by the Nottingham High School Step Team, and music from the LOTUS Project choir.

In addition, there will be fun performances by local and regional “celebs” doing bits from iconic movies, such as the climactic courtroom scene in “A Few Good Men,” where Jack Nicholson growls, “You can’t handle the truth!”

The idea to launch the organization came to Halsey after his documentary “If I was Mayor” was filmed in Trenton.

The young people involved “wanted to be part of media,” says Halsey, speaking from his home in Hamilton. “They already do all kinds of things on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, etc. So, the thinking was, ‘let’s teach them a more professional way to do this,’ which we do through the Let’s Film classes.”

One big advantage is that, through the class, they’ll be able to use state-of-theart professional-level equipment, which most people, even adults, don’t have access to, since it’s quite an investment.

Halsey admits that the Let’s Film classes are intense, and professional documentary craft is a painstaking process, but the young people are enthusiastic, determined, and focused. They’ve helped create hard-hitting works about life in Trenton, especially about how people their age are affected by violence.

Halsey’s own production company,

seven13 Films, produces and directs the works, but the student participants in the JRHF’s Let’s Film program are hands-on through the complex procedure, even earning a production credit on their resume.

“Here’s where it goes full circle,” Halsey says. “The students work as production assistants, they work on all aspects, and they get their first credits, including an IMDB credit. It’s their first professional set, and they’re working with pros we bring in all the time.”

“I’ve Been Shot” is a short film that goes deep into the lives of five young adults who have experienced gun violence first hand. They speak from their perspective on fears of living daily in urban neighborhoods, coping with trauma and murder, and losing friends and family to violence.

The one young man and four young women who have survived that harrowing experience were fearless enough to go on camera and be interviewed, perhaps in hopes that viewers might better understand what it is like to live amid a culture of such chaos.

“Some of the young women were just hanging out with people they’ve known since childhood, and now those people are targets,” Halsey says. “So they’re caught in the crossfire: They wound up getting shot and watching someone they

grew up with die. One of the girls was shot when she was only seven years old.”

The JRHF’s 2021 documentary “Common Ground” brought police and juvenile offenders together to sit down in conversation.

“It was intense, but it wasn’t as controversial as you would think,” Halsey says. “The two groups of people were really listening to each other. So many people don’t know what the cops’ roles are, why they do things the way they do, and (absorbing those issues) was very helpful.”

On the other hand, the police discovered why young people might push back at them.

“It was fascinating to see how both sides learned about each other,” Halsey says.

One part of the Generation Change documentary asked its young subjects “what would you do if you were mayor?” Halsey says they all had the same answer: create more places for youths to go after school, because there are certainly not enough.

“That became one of the Halsey Foundation’s main (emphases),” he says.

He goes on to wonder if some of these youths might someday go into politics, and make better policy than past and current generations.

“We can’t create legislation without empathy and sympathy,” Halsey says. “I don’t think we can legislate things for youths living in a situation like this — it’s a war zone. You have to know what it’s like, otherwise you can’t create policy. Without really talking to (the young people), we always think we know what’s

The participants in the JRHF programs have run the gamut from collegebound youths to young men serving time in juvenile detention.

Producer, director, actor, and musician Joseph A. Halsey, left, is the founder of the James R. Halsey Foundation of the Arts, named for his late father. Above, Trenton police officers interact with city youth as part of a 2021 documentary, ‘Common Ground,’ which brought police and juvenile offenders together in conversation.

At right are three images of students participating in the Foundation’s Let’s Film class. At the computer in the middle photo is Stephen Tilghman, the producer and technical director for the foundation.

better for them. They should have a seat at the table.”

Halsey gives a big shout out to all the staff at the JRH Foundation, especially to Kim Cody, “who is ‘mom’ to all these young people. We’re partners, and she’s been in this every step of the way,” he says. “I named the foundation after my dad, but it’s really a joint venture.”

“There are also a ton of folks who come in and teach, a lot of Rider alums for example, including one who comes in to volunteer as a writing instructor,” Halsey says. “Steve (Tilghman) is in charge of teaching the technical aspects. I work closely with the actors. There’s always a hands-on approach, and it’s a lot of effort, but everything that happens is because of the group. The rest of the credit goes to the young people.”

Halsey and his family helped out in his uncle’s bar in Chambersburg, but then circumstances took him and his father to Melbourne, Florida. Young Joe was playing in a rock band there, just being a teen in general, and got knocked off the track a little. He credits his involvement in theater with giving him more focus.

“I wasn’t paying attention, just goofing off, so my dad and my English/drama teacher Linda Rapp got together and said, ‘Let’s see if Joe wants to get up there and perform,’” he says. “I kind of had a natural ability, whether I was doing music or theater or film, and I got excited about performing, from my very first role.”

“It got me to a point where I wanted to go to college (to study theater),” he says. “All of sudden, my path started going in a proper way, and I said, ‘let’s do this.’”

His first role was the lead in “Bye Bye Birdie,” playing the Elvis-esque Conrad Birdie.

From high school, Halsey went to the Florida School of the Arts in Palatka, then moved back to Trenton, commuting to New York for more specialized training at the Acting Studio and Breakthrough Studios.

While anticipating his big break, Halsey was playing music, performing off-Broadway, tending bar, and was also waiting tables in New York City. One night he waited on the casting director for NBC’s “Cosby” show, who felt Halsey would be perfect in a role as the family’s pizza delivery guy.

“That was exciting, especially since there wasn’t much of a TV presence in New York at the time, everything was made out in Los Angeles,” he says. “Not even ‘Law and Order’ was being made there yet.”

Indeed, Halsey got onboard with “Law and Order,” then its offshoot “Special Victims Unit,” playing a cop in both shows. He also acted in several daytime dramas and on “America’s Most Wanted,” but he left television for various independent film roles. Indie titles included “Junkie Heaven,” “Stand Up Guy,” “Leaving,” and the feature film “Stuff.”

“I pursued the indie film route, and then got into directing and I’ve never looked back,” he says.

The participants in the JRHF programs have run the gamut from college-bound youths to young men serving time in juvenile detention centers. Halsey feels all the students deserve the same amount of kindness, attention, and education, and in fact, “we should all be kind, especially after what we’ve been through these last few years,” he says. “Watching the news cycle, it’s horrifying. We really do need to be a little kinder.”

“That’s why I hang out with the students, they’re not as mean as adults, they’re less jaded, less judgmental, and their creativity is less inhibited,” Halsey says. “Their enthusiasm is what keeps us going.”

The James R. Halsey Foundation of the Arts, 535 East Franklin Street, Trenton, 609-938-3673. The JRHF’s Red Carpet Gala is Thursday, March 9, 6 to 9 p.m. at the Trenton Country Club, 201 Sullivan Way, West Trenton. VIP tickets cost $100. www.jrhfoundation.org.

For more information on Joseph A. Halsey, go to www.josephhalsey.com

By Harry JackenDoff

We live in an economy that sells us addictions. Focused on the joys of shopping, gambling, eating, excitement, drinking, and love — our society unfortunately raises us to be sick.

The 12-Steps & More book store opened its doors in the front of St. Michael’s church in Trenton in 2022 with a grant from the Episcopal Diocese.

There are less than a half-dozen brickand-mortar locations to browse 12-step recovery programs anywhere in the country.

Trenton’s 12 Steps & More bookstore was modeled after the Choices Recovery Bookshop in Manhattan, which has a large selection of books on mental health, spiritual health, meditation, and good eating habits.

When Episcopal Community Services offered St. Michael’s church a grant during COVID to develop a downtown Trenton outreach to the homeless, it seemed a natural fit.

My wife, Kay, and I went up to 78th Street to see the Manhattan recovery bookshop. I wanted to check out the number of shelves we’d need since we didn’t have much space at the church to work with.

As it turned out, Choices had only 40 percent of their space devoted to books with the rest filled with gift items to pay the rent. And of the books, 70 percent were on mental health, Zen meditation, and self-help. The 12-step library for Alcoholic Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA), Gamblers Anonymous (GA), Debtors Anonymous (DA), Food Addicts Anonymous (FA), Sex & Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA), and others were all jammed into a corner — so I knew we had enough space; but I was surprised they weren’t carrying any program pamphlets. Giving out pamphlets is how newcomers learn about a program, and that’s how our type of store

Steps & More Book Store

could be unique.

The big question was if the store could create a sustainable flow of free used books and volunteers to keep it afloat without continual cash infusions from philanthropies.

I was arguing to the diocese that by investing in this purely as an experiment, we might prove any large region could support a store of this sort.

As it turns out, Friends of the Library organizations exist in every town to recycle good books. Ewing, Lawrence, and Hamilton all collect hundreds of books monthly, many of which are for mental health and spiritual self-development.

In the same vein, 12-Step fellowships promote volunteer work as a strategy to break addiction, so in theory, there should be ample workers. The only income required would be to support a store manager to coordinate volunteer schedules and keep the 12-Step inventory up to date, as well as pay for incidentals like website hosting and bank fees. 12-Steps & More opened its doors on April 1, 2022, recycling novels, cookbooks, and history on the sidewalk “Free Books” table to announce its presence.

In the fall, Pastor Eric Tuttle and I decided to hold a brainstorming luncheon to advertise the shop. We invited representatives of several key government and non-governmental organizations devoted to mental health efforts in our community. The café we held in October brainstormed ways to bridge the gap between self-supporting fellowships and that vast umbrella of social services.

The premise behind the brainstorming was that while 12-step fellowships are all based on the traditions of AA to be selfsupporting, the overall mental health of society is an extreme drain on public resources, from tax dollars to corporate and private philanthropies and church charities.

When it comes right down to it, there are hundreds of thousands of sober and supportive ex-addicts to support a strong

new movement for social health, but the tradition of anonymity hides that important truth, and the professional sector has no way to access their help — if, indeed it was wanted. But our real goal is emotional balance across the entire society — not necessarily to just improve the mental health industry. If the fellowships could improve the overall results, it could actually improve the payback for the public sector and the industry! Was it possible that a bookstore could serve as an intermediary?

The cafe brainstorm established several things. We needed a traditional poster that could be placed in lobbies of social services, with take-away flyers. Therapists and workers would have no problem simply pointing it out, without suggesting anything more than a bookshop with plenty of possible answers to be found on the shelves. Nothing needed to be said about the fellowships, leaving that to the volunteer in the store. Obviously, we needed to be open throughout the week. Also, because of its innerurban location, the store would be an ideal location for a corporate philanthropy to supply needed giveaway items such as first-aid kits, hygiene kits (soap & toothbrush), sewing kits, plastic parkas, and high-tech blanket pouches. Books on emotional health & self-help topics could be solicited from sororities and fraternities on a regular basis, while a local high school team could be engaged to maintain a social media presence directed at the big fellowships like AA and NA for volunteers.

A bigger question remained, however. Why hadn’t a partnership between selfhelp fellowships and the public sector mental health industry taken place up to

now?

One theory is that the fellowships are designed to be both independent and anonymous, resisting any attempts to market themselves or develop organizational associations. Simply bringing together literature from all the 12-step fellowships is antithetical to the fierce independence of the groups.

At the same time, the 12-step movement has a very strong faith component. While they make every effort to make room for the atheist and agnostic, the step-work is decidedly a spiritual process. In a technological culture that makes religion into taboo, the 12-step fellowships are inimical to an industry touting mental health and emotional balance as well as to government services, given the separation of church and state.

A bookstore easily straddles all worlds. Books on neuroscience can share a bookcase with grief or anger management, meditation and specialized medical diets on another. Food Addicts Anonymous, Debtors Anonymous, and Sex & Love Addicts Anonymous would hardly seem out of place.

But best of all, no one can object to our selling Korans, Siddurs, or giving away Bibles.

The 12 Steps & More Bookshop is located in the North Tower of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 140 North Warren Street, Trenton. Find us on Facebook at 12 Steps & More Trenton or by calling the church at 609-392-8086.

Harry Jackendoff is the manager of 12-Steps & More.

Harry Jackendoff is the manager of 12-Steps & More at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Trenton.

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On the Cover

Marching to the Arts

BY REBEKAH SCHROEDER AND DAN AUBREY

The month of March is the ideal time for arts enthusiasts to catch the first crop of events as they “spring” to life in music, dance, opera, and theater, so mark your calendars, Mercer County, and become a true connoisseur of the state’s creative prowess.

Editor’s Note: A number of these events ran in the winter arts preview of Community News Service’s Princeton metro area paper, U.S. 1, as “Winter Culture Calendar Forecast: Time for Shows” on January 18. The list has been edited for currency and clarity.

muSic Princeton Sound Kitchen

Princeton University’s Music Department showcases cutting-edge works by emerging composers and internationally renowned performers, which include the following acts:

~Nois is a music saxophone ensemble founded in 2016 with quartet members Hunter Bockes, János Csontos, Jordan

Lulloff, and Julian Velasco

According to the group’s website, ~Nois merges “contemporary chamber music and improvisation to connect with audiences in unique concert experiences,” such as this upcoming selection of pieces by Princeton University composers.

Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall, Princeton University. Tuesday, March 7, 8 p.m. Free.

Alarm Will Sound, a Brooklyn-based 20-piece chamber orchestra focused on contemporary music performances and recordings, will play new works by Princeton University graduate student composers

Gulli Björnsson, Dai Wei, Liam Elliot, Hope Littwin, Soo Yeon Lyuh, Christian Quiñones, Elijah Daniel Smith, Max Vinetz, and Justin Wright, with Alan Pierson as conductor.

Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University Tuesday, March 21, 7:30 p.m. Free.

Interdisciplinary tap dance artist Michael J. Love is set to join Princeton University graduate student and faculty composers Gulli Björnsson, Rudresh Mahanthappa, James Moore, Hope Littwin, Dan Trueman, and Jason Treuting to round out a program of new compositions.

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Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall, Princeton University Tuesday, March 28, 8

Candlelight Lounge

Performers appear on these Saturday afternoons from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. at this Trenton bar for the area’s real-deal jazz

James Stewart, Trenton saxophonist; March 11, Dan Kostelnik, jazz organist; March 18, Aaron Graves, Philadelphia pianist; March 25, Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin singer in the Princeton University depart ment of music; April 1, and April 8, Philadelphia saxophonist

A budget-friendly carpet that combines softness with breakthrough stain prevention

24 Passaic Street, Trenton songwriter,

a show featuring a change in tune for the group. Rather than continue their tradition of classic rock covers, which the Reock & Roll Revue has been doing together for 15 years, the members are performing their own original music.

Founded by Hamilton-based keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical maestro Tom Reock, the Reock & Roll Revue fuses “great music and historical content” in their renditions of late 1960s and early ‘70s hits, according to the band’s Facebook page.

The lineup for “Songwriters” is as fol-

Musical group ~Nois will perform at the Princeton Sound Kitchen on March 7.

Sameer Patel, above right, will conduct the Princeton Symphony Orchestra with Dibyarka Chatterjee, above left, on tabla, in the world premiere of William Harvey’s “Seven Decisions of Gandhi” on March 11 and 12. The Québec City dance troupe Cirque FLIP Fabrique soars in “Muse,” at right and below, at the New Jersey State Theater on March 22.

ARTS, continued from Page 3

Ragamala Dance Company, according to the organization’s website, features choreography “rooted in the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam.”

Founded by co-artistic directors Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy, as well as their mother Ashwini, the Minneapolis-based group presents a personal journey of spirituality and movement with “Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim.”

After the death of the Ramaswamy family’s father and grandfather “away from his homeland of India four years ago,” the show was conceptualized as a tribute to the enduring strength of familial bonds from a Hindu perspective of life and death.

Per the McCarter description, his request was for his ashes to be scattered in the city of Varanasi’s Ganges River, a sacred site.

“Through images that reflect the cosmic trinity of Varanasi, India — sacred pilgrimage routes, the Ganges River, and the patron deity Shiva, heightened by the chants of Vedic priests — the choreographers imagine a metaphorical crossing place where one may leave the mundane and enter into the world of immortality,” the website continues.

“In this theatrical reimagining, we expand upon the birth-death-rebirth continuum in Hindu thought to honor immigrant experiences of life and death in the diaspora.

The 10 performers in this full-length work dance to “an original, recorded score” on a stage enhanced by Willy Cessa, a French scenic and lighting designer.

Wednesday, March 15, 7:30 p.m. $35 to

$55.

More: 609-258-2787 or www.mccarter. org

State Theatre New Jersey

15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick

The Dublin Irish Dance’s new, original production, “Wings: A Celtic Dance Celebration,” is a taste of Irish heritage in musical motion.

According to the State Theater, the show promises a combination of “Ireland’s finest musical and vocal virtuosos” alongside champion dancers in this cultural spectacular of family fun. Tuesday, March 7, 7:30 p.m. $29 to $59.

Cirque FLIP Fabrique’s “Muse,” a night of “breathtaking artistry and athleticism” conveyed through the “playful storytelling” of the Québec City troupe, is another opportunity to see gravity-defying dance numbers.

The acrobats, donning everything from high heels to shoulder pads, become “bodies in flight” against an original score by beatmaker Millimetric and onstage vocals by singer Flavia Nascimento Wednesday, March 22, 7:30 p.m. $29 to $59

More: www.stnj.org.

Opera Boheme Opera

“Madama Butterfly” is Giacomo Puccini’s 1904 tragic opera about a loyal young geisha whose betrayal by her American naval officer husband leads to her shame

and destruction.

Part of the company’s 34th anniversary, the performance will be directed by co-founder Joseph Pucciatti and feature the Boheme Opera chorus and orchestra, as well as original sets and costumes by Giorgio Lalov, the Maryland-based artistic director of Teatro Lirico d’Europa in Bulgaria and artistic advisor for Opera New Hampshire.

The production will be sung in Italian with English supertitles.

Kendall Theater, The College of New Jersey, Ewing. Friday, March 24, 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 26, 3 p.m. $15 to $75.

More: www.bohemeopera.org. ***

SymphOnic muSic Princeton Symphony Orchestra

The next concert of PSO’s season passes the baton to Sameer Patel, who conducts the world premiere of William Harvey’s “Seven Decisions of Gandhi.”

Harvey is not only the piece’s composer but also its violin soloist, and he will be joined by Dibyarka Chatterjee on the tabla, a traditional “Indian subcontinent” percussion instrument with two drums of contrasting size and pitch.

Also on the program are Alexander Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dances,” from the opera “Prince Igor,” and Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony.

Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University. Saturday, March 11, 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 12, 4 p.m. $30 to $112. Youth (ages 5 to 17) pay half-price.

Princeton University Concerts

Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University

The Richardson Chamber Players present “March of the Women” at the Richardson Auditorium. The afternoon program of mixed chamber works, inspired by Ethel Smyth’s 1911 composition of the same name, will feature members of the Princeton University Glee Club.

Other performances for the faculty, guest artists, and student musicians are to follow. Sunday, March 5, 3 p.m. $20

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee and pianist Kevin J. Miller share their talents onstage in “Rise,” a program of “new settings of Harlem Renaissance texts by contemporary Black composers.” Wednesday,

March 8, 7:30 p.m. $25 to $40

The Performances Up Close series, in which small audiences are invited to sit on the Richardson stage, continues with a visit from the Chiaroscuro String Quartet, who are set to perform “a program rooted in love” with the sounds of violins and cellos.

The concert features Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 95 “Serioso,” and Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 13. Sunday, March 26, 3 and 6 p.m. $40.

The Jupiter Ensemble presents an all-Vivaldi program starring artistic direc-

Cultural performances bring on the vibrant colors with the Ragamala Dance Company’s “Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim,” left, and Dublin Irish Dance’s “Wings: A Celtic Dance Celebration,” right.

tor Thomas Dunford on lute and Lea Desandre, a mezzo-soprano, joined by fellow musicians to help make hearing Vivaldi all the more vivid. Thursday, March 30, 7:30 p.m. $25 to $40

Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey

Award-winning Italian violinist Lorenzo Mazzamuto and the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey serenade audiences into

spring in a rendition of Vivaldi’s “The Seasons” at the Trenton War Memorial’s Patriots Theater.

After being chosen out of the 15 local pianists who auditioned for CPNJ’s inaugural “Youth Concerto Competition” in January, winner Angela Zhang will perform Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 3” in C minor with the orchestra that night.

Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, 1 Memorial Drive, Trenton. Saturday, March 18, 7:30 p.m. $10 to $50.

More: www.capitalphilharmonic.org

TheaTer Passage Theatre

Mill Hill Playhouse, 205 East Front Street, Trenton

“Clean Slate,” a new musical about “radical empathy,” introduces the audience to “a group of disaffected high school students” in “a rehabilitation camp that may, or may not, also be haunted by the souls of former” missing campers.

The work by “Alien 8” creators—with a book by New Jersey playwright David Lee

White and lyrics and music by Kate Brennan—is a co-production with Passage Theatre and Rider University. Passage artistic director C. Ryanne Domingues directs, while Louis Danowsky oversees the musical direction. March 10 through 12. $33.

“

Rendition: A Night of PlayLab Readings” centers on two new works by area playwrights with a community discussion

about the development process. Saturday, April 22. $15 to $25.

More: 609-392-0766 or www.passagetheatre.org

McCarter Theatre

“Wuthering Heights” is a freewheeling and irreverent theatrical interpretation

of British novelist Emily Brontë’s famed 1847 novel of passion, love, and revenge in the wilds of Yorkshire.

Presented in association with the Berkeley Repertory Theater in California, the work featuring original music and movement was written and directed by Britain-based Emma Rice, performed by her company, Wise Child, and co-produced with the National Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, and York Theatre Royal. Matthews Theater, 91 University Place, Princeton February 23 through March 12. $25 to $60.

Pegasus Theater

Old City Hall, 13 Crosswicks St., Bordentown

“Bordentown’s Dramatic Future” is an evening with David Lee White, Bordentown’s nationally produced playwright, whose new musical, “Clean Slate,” is currently having its world premiere at Trenton’s Passage Theater, and Peter Alexander, the founder and artistic director of Bordentown’s nonprofit professional Pegasus Theater Company. Dan Aubrey, U.S. 1 Newspaper editor and past theater producer, will host. Saturday, March 4, 4 p.m. Free

The Pegasus Theater then presents “Every Brilliant Thing,” directed by Bordentown theater artist Jonathan Martin and starring Peter Alexander. March 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, and 26. Tickets $30 to $35.

Bordentown’s theater scene brings together “Clean Slate” playwright David Lee White, above left , with Pegasus Theater Company’s founder and artistic director, Peter Alexander, left , on March 4, for an event titled “Bordentown’s Dramatic Future.”

The musical “Clean Slate,” above right, is a co-production of Rider University and Passage Theater and will be performed at Trenton’s Mill Hill Playhouse from March 10 to 12.

Original Artwork by Alia Bensliman.

Boys & Girls Clubs

The Most Affordable Summer Camp in Mercer County

Boys & Girls Clubs (BGC) has the most affordable Summer Camp in Mercer County! BGC provides quality curriculum, great themes and exciting trips for youth ages 5-14. Register for just one, or all ten weeks of Summer Camp. Early bird rates are available until April 29th and scholarships are available to those who qualify.

Campers age 5-10 go on one trip per week and Tween Travel campers, ages 11-14, participate in three weekly trips. Campers of all ages enjoy a new theme each week, and participate in swimming, STEM, sports, art, reading, outdoor education and other fun activities onsite while combatting summer learning loss.

Two convenient locations:

212 Centre Street, Trenton

1040 Spruce Street, Lawrence

For more information or to

Summer campS 2023

Sylvan Learning

Make the Most of Summer

We get that all kids (and families!) need a break from the school year. But taking a complete break from academics this summer won’t help the fall go any better. A summer learning program can help!

Here are three reasons why adding supplemental learning to your summer schedule will make all the difference in the fall!

1. Fill In Skill Gaps While Moving at Your Child’s Pace. During the school year, teachers need to move quickly, whether your child fully understands a topic or not. Your child is constantly chasing a moving target.

strong foundation for the next grade level — or better yet, get ahead!

2. Head into Big Transition Years

With Confidence. Throughout your child’s academic journey, there are certain grade transitions that represent BIG jumps in responsibility and independence.

These big transitions include going from:

-2nd grade into 3rd grade

-Elementary to middle school

-Middle school to high school

-High school to college/university

register go to www.bgcmercer.org/ summercamp or call a membership office 609-695-6060 or 609-392-3191, and select option “0”.

See ad, page 11.

Mini

For pre-schoolers through rst grade. Features themes like Disney Princesses, Mermaids, TikTok Dances. Dancing, arts and crafts and fun! Technique

For the dancers looking to keep their skills up in ballet, jazz and contemporary.

Special Sessions With Master, Ballet & Contemporpary Teachers

Over the summer, though, your child can move at his or her own pace. There’s no chasing other students. You don’t have to worry about the class getting way ahead.

This summer your child can spend the time needed to fill in gaps in learning from the school year and build a

Why 2nd to 3rd grade, you wonder? Third grade is the year that the training wheels come off. Your child will go from learning to read, to starting to read to learn. If your child isn’t ready for that transition, he or she will have trouble making that jump with the rest of the class.

We’ve seen that virtual or hybrid school hit young students the hardest, so getting your kindergartner, 1st or 2nd grader ready for the new challenges and harder concepts will be critical.

For older kids, the transition to high school and college/university academics can be a shock, particularly the rigors of advanced-level reading and writing assignments.

With a tutor, your son or daughter will be well prepared and eliminate the risk of stumbling.

3. Raise SAT® or ACT® Scores

With Summer Help. Summer is the most popular time to get a tutor for SAT or ACT preparation!

Over the summer, your teen can focus on test-taking strategies and finetuning skills without all the stresses and distractions of school.

If you have a soon-to-be senior, your teen has likely taken the exam already. Your tutor will be able to look at the results and know exactly where focus to help your teen improve results on the next exam.

One of the subjects that we see teens struggle with on the ACT and SAT is algebra. Why? Their skills get rusty. (Use it or lose it, right?) Your tutor can make sure your teen gets an awesome refresher before the big test in the late summer or early fall.

Get

Your Child’s Confidence Up

This Summer at Sylvan. Not sure where your child really stands after this school year? We can help.

Our Sylvan Insight™ assessment will give you deep insights into your child’s strengths and skill gaps. Then, our team of experts will create a personalized plan that for your child’s exact needs.

If your child is on pace with school, he or she will get awesome skill practice to make sure skills stay sharp over the summer.

If your child is ahead, he or she will get enrichment activities, so he or she can move further and faster in the upcoming grade level.

If your child is behind, your child will get the instruction and practice to get up-to-speed.

And it’s even easier to schedule learning over the summer. We will work around your plans!

And it’s even easier to schedule our tutors over the summer (many of them are teachers who are off from school), so you can easily work around your summer plans.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if your child headed back to school with the same enthusiasm he or she had for the start of summer?

Sylvan Learning, 3635 Quakerbridge Road, Hamilton. 609-5889037. www.sylvanlearning.com. See ad, page 13

glen roc dance shoppe

Princess and Pirate Camp

July 24th - 28th

9:30am - 11:30am

Ages: 3-7

Each day your child will enter a world of imagination where story time becomes an adventure with music, art, crafting and dance.

Cost: $185.00

Pre-registration required. Last day to register: July 17th

Performance: July 28th

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CALL

(609) 883-8083 189

EARLY REGISTRATION

$370/wk for full-day & $230/wk for half-day

Deadline: May 1st, 2023

REGULAR RATE $385/wk

• Boys & girls, ages 7-14

• Monday-Friday camp

• Full-day ($385/wk) and half-day ($240/wk)

• Early drop-off & late pick-up options (at an additional cost)

• Technical, tactical, physical, & psychological soccer game components, in addition to fun activities & games

• Positive learning environment

CAMP DATES

Camps begin the week of July 10th and run weekly through the week of August 14th.

Registration and Information at www.wwpsa.org

Summer campS 2023

Hamilton Area YMCA

At Sawmill Summer Day Camp we have 50 acres of outdoor space, the largest pool in Mercer County, fun activities ranging from sports to crafts and STEM, special events, fun themes and new initiatives! 5 fun-filled days for campers to find their spark, find their sense of wonder, find their friends and FIND THEIR ADVENTURE!

• Find Their Spark. Y camp is a place where kids can develop skills, confidence and new friendships. While camp is a summer rite of passage for kids to play outdoors and learn to swim, they are unknowingly rewarded with personal development skills by participating in their favorite activities and by trying activities they have never tried before. In general, they will leave camp with a stronger sense of identity and a better idea of what they love, which may help them in the classroom, in their relationships and to choose a career path in the future.

• Find Their Sense of Wonder. Kids get to discover all the wonders of the outdoors while making friends and forming memories that will last a lifetime. A recent article from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia stated:

“Scheduling time to actively play outdoors sets a natural limit on the amount of time your child can spend with a device (such as TV, smartphone or video game). “It promotes active engagement with their peers and the natural environment, and helps them develop respect for the

world and consideration for others around them.” Camp provides kids the perfect opportunity to discover the outdoors and get their bodies and imaginations more active.

• Find Their Adventure. Summer is a time for kids to explore new things and expand the limits of their imagination. At Y summer day camp, every day is a new adventure! Creativity can’t be stifled at camp because campers don’t have to worry about getting a failing grade. By limiting this kind of restriction, kids can let their

creativity flow.

• Find Their Friends and Fun. At Y day camp, your kids will make new friends and have tons of fun as they explore new adventures each day. Camp is a social center away from home and school where kids learn to work with each other and adult mentors, build relationships and manage conflict.

Children look at camp as a fun way to spend the summer in the sun and splashing in the pool, but parents understand that camp allows kids to reap many life benefits that will follow them through their lives long after the sun has set on their summer camp days.

We have worked hard to plan an exciting summer full of theme weeks, special events and new experiences! Campers will be immersed in arts and crafts, music, science, dance, sports, swimming and so much more! Our counselors are second to none, having had extensive training to welcome your children for the summer. For more information, visit hamiltonymca. org/camp. See ad, page 12

Camp Mercyville

Camp Mercyville

Where Kids Meet Jesus

Where Kids Meet Jesus

June 26 - August 11 • M-F•8:30am-5pm

Register by March 31st with code EARLY to save 10%

(Early & After care available, 3 or 5 day options)

Open House DatesMarch 25 12-2pm | April 24 6-8pm | May 22 6-8pm

Push The Rock - July 24-28 8:30am-3pm

Basketball Camp for Boys & Girls, - July 24-28 Ages 9-16

Vacation Bible School - August 14-18 9 am - 12 pm

For children ages 4 yrs thru 4th grade

More details at www.gracewaybc.org/camps

1934 Klockner Road Hamilton, NJ 08619 609.586.0223

www.gracewaybc.orgoffice@gracewaybc.org

YMCA Camp Mason

Welcoming Campers to a Caring, Inclusive Community

For more than 120 years, YMCA Camp Mason has welcomed campers to be a part of our caring, inclusive community. We strive for excellence and innovation and believe that every child deserves the opportunity to discover who they are and what they can achieve. Our proven programs and trained counselors engage and encourage young people and deliver meaningful and memorable experiences.

We offer archery, swimming, boating, arts and crafts, drama, music, a climbing tower, zipline, dance, digital photography and movie making, basketball and court sports, a skateboard park, mountain biking, hiking and countless other activities. Campers can even sign up for FREE off-site trips to explore our fantastic natural surroundings. There is something for everyone!

If you are ready for your child to thrive, develop a positive sense of self and have THE BEST SUMMER EVER, go to our website at www. campmason.org, call 908-362-8217 or email information@campmason.org to register today. See ad, page 8.

Lawrence Hamnett Soccer Association

Spring Registration Is Open

Lawrence Hamnett Soccer Association (LHSA) has opened up their Rec Soccer registration for the upcoming Spring season. LHSA provides a soccer environment that stresses a relaxed, fun-oriented approach to the game where we focus on basic soccer skills and provide a fun competitive approach to games with a high standard for good

sportsmanship and fair play.

The recreational soccer program is open to any child from any town ages 3 and up. The program offers Friday Night training sessions led by trainers from the New York Red Bulls along with games on the weekend. Each session is roughly 1 hour long where kids will have fun learning the game, competing in games and meeting new friends.

To register or find more information on the program or times for specific age groups, visit us at lawrencehamnett.com.

See ad, page 10

Summer campS 2023

Liberty Lake

Summer Camp is Hotter than Ever!

We’re all experiencing the effects of these difficult, post-pandemic times. Especially young people. They are navigating post-lockdown life with the intense pressures of screen-based friendships, self-esteem in the volatile hands of social media, academic demands, and more.

Many have found a great way to unplug and decompress — at Summer Camp! This year has seen unprecedented numbers of campers enrolling in Summer Camp, as parents are recognizing the need to pry their kids off their screens and regain their social skills. Many high school and college students have found a similar reprieve from the weight of worldly cares by WORKING at Summer Camp too.

In my new favorite book “The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting up a Generation for Failure,” authors/researchers Greg Lukanoff and Jonathan Haidt bring to light the unintended consequences of how raising children has evolved in the past decade.

• Fragility: What doesn’t kill you makes you… weaker? Wasn’t it “What doesn’t kill you makes you STRONGER?” Young people have been taught

and encouraged of late to be risk-averse. Attending or working at Summer Camp can be super-fun and super-challenging. Research spearheaded by the American Camp Association is showing that young people attending or working at Camp come out stronger and more resilient!

• Emotional Reasoning: Always trust your feelings? We’ve all experienced negative, and even overwhelming emotions at times. To be emotionally healthy though, we need to learn how to manage these feelings — not let them rule our lives and logic. At Summer Camp, any given day can be an emotional rollercoaster. There will be winning and losing, disagreements with friends, fear of failure, and disappointments! It’s REAL LIFE in a structured setting, preparing young people for the inevitable challenges that lie ahead of them.

• Us vs. Them: That life is a battle between good and evil people. Cancel culture has become normalized by what has transpired in the news, colleges, and the workplace — causing negativity and polarization. Meanwhile, there are huge commonalities of shared beliefs between all of us. While accepting differences in others can be difficult, good Summer Camps create a training ground to practice diversity, equity, and inclusion.

It’s been a rough past few years, but a “covid silver lining” is the that families are now recognizing the significant effects on their children of increased screen time/social media, isolation, anxiety, depression, prescription drugs, and over the top parental “safetyism.” Parents are actively seeking solutions, and they have found one in Summer Camp.

Camps are filling up quicker than ever, so do your research and reserve your spot now! It’s the ultimate learning environment for young people to develop and practice the social skills essential for success in the 21st century.

Andy Pritikin is the owner/director or Liberty Lake Day Camp, and a partner at Everwood Day Camp and Camp Southwoods. He’s the Past President of the American Camp Association, NY/NJ, and the host of the Day Camp Podcast.

Liberty Lake Day Camp, 195 Florence-Columbus Road, Bordentown. 609-499-7820 www.libertylakedaycamp.com. See ad, page 11

West WindsorPlainbsoro Soccer Association

A chance for kids to develop soccer skills

Parents of soccer enthusiasts aged 7 to 14 need to mark their calendars now for the West Windsor-Plainsboro Soccer Association (WWPSA) weeklong summer soccer camps available throughout the summer beginning July 10, 2023. Experienced soccer coaches will drill boys and girls in the skills necessary to improve their soccer play. This is a chance to have skilled trainers work with you on soccer.

Our goal in the club to develop soccer skills for players at all skill levels. We have a great coaching staff for our summer camps who provide instruction with a goal of increasing skills through a variety of teaching techniques. It is an opportunity for camp participants to improve their skills — their technical and tactical soccer skills — through a variety of exercises,” said Brent Nielsen, who oversees the program for WWPSA.

Full day camps run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a break mid-day for lunch and an option to swim at the community pool. Half-day camps

run from 9 a.m. to noon. “All of our activities and games are structured for learning and fun,” Nielsen said. “Campers will play a game at the end of each day to solidify skills learned and engage in friendly competition.”

Campers learn and reinforce fundamental soccer skills of dribbling and mastery of the soccer ball with emphasis on agility, passing, receiving, and turning. Later in the week more advanced skills of attacking play, scoring, defensive moves, and preventing scoring are emphasized. The importance of teamwork is emphasized along with core exercises and personal fitness.

WWSPA’s goal is to provide youth and adults the opportunity to play instructional and competitive soccer at the highest level commensurate with their ability, potential, and interest.

In that light, WWPSA offers spring and fall soccer programs for pre-K through 12th grade students. Information about spring and fall programs can be found on the WWPSA website, adding additional opportunities for local youth.

West Windsor Plainsboro Soccer Association, West Windsor Community Park, Bernt Midland Boulevard, West Windsor. www. wwpsa.org. See ad, page 9

GraceWay Bible Church

Camp Mercyville Is a Community Favorite

If you are looking for a place for your family to thrive in their relationships with Jesus and each other, GraceWay is the church for you! With over 40 ministries, there is something for everyone! The best way to see if GraceWay is the church home for you is to visit us for Sunday Services at 9 or 10:45 a.m. Childcare and Sunday School is available. Visit our website (www.gracewaybc.org) for more information.

Summer is an especially busy time for children’s ministries. Our sevenweek summer day camp, Camp Mercyville (www.campmercyville. org), has been providing quality childcare for over a decade. Our full-day Vacation Bible School/ Adventure Camp is a community favorite! Push the Rock basketball camp helps children become better athletes, teammates, and grow in their relationship with Christ. Summer Family Nights includes familyfun, worship, and small groups for the whole family on Wednesday evenings. Visit our website (www. gracewaybc.org) or contact our office (609-586-0223) to find out more. See ad, page 10

To book a classified ad in this section, please email your text and any other information to mdurelli@communitynews.org. Classifieds run at 75 cents per word with a $20 minimum per month. For more information, call 609-396-1511, ext. 105.

SERVICES

LEGAL SERVICES Wills, Power of Attorney, Real Estate, Federal and NJ Taxes, House calls available. Bruce Cooke, Esq. 609799-4674, 609-721-4358.

Senior Concierge. Let me be your helper. In the home or on the road. Part-time/Day or evening. Very good references. Call Mary anne, 609-298-4456.

F,D,Mason Contractor, Over 30 years of experience.

Brick, Block, Stone, Concrete. No job too large or small. Fully Insured and Licensed. Free Estimates 908-385-5701 Lic#13VH05475900.

Are you single? Try us first! We are an enjoyable alternative to online dating. Sweet Beginnings Matchmaker, 215-539-2894, www. sweetbeginnings.info.

WANTED TO BUY

Wanted: Baseball, football, basketball, hockey. Cards, autographs, photos, memorabilia. Highest cash prices paid! Licensed corporation, will travel. 4thelovofcards, 908-596-0976. allstar115@verizon.net.

HappyHeroes used books looking to buy old Mysteries, Science Fiction, Children’s Illustrated, kids series books (old Hardy boys-Nancy Drew-Judy Bolton- Dana girls, WITH DUSTJACKETS in good shape), Dell Mapbacks - Good Girl Art PULPS - non-sports cards, good conditioned pre 1975 paperbacks old COLLIER’S. Call 609-619-3480 or email happyheroes@gmail.com

Cash paid for World War II military items.Helmets, swords, medals, etc. Call 609-581-8290 or email mymilitarytoys@optonline.net

Cash paid for SELMER SAXOPHONES and other vintage models. 609-581-8290 or email mymilitarytoys@ optonline.net

WANTED- QUALITY CAMERAS AND PHOTO EQUIPMENT,

FOUNTAIN PENS AND OLDER WATCHES FAIR PRICES PAID CALL JAY-609-689-9651.

COMMERCIAL SPACE

3,500 SF OFFICE SPACE, Ewing/Mercer County, FREE RENT, 201-488-4000 or 609883-7900

Space available in the Ewing Professional Park. Comfortable suite currently used by mental health professionals. Waiting room, kitchenette and restrooms in suite. Well-lighted parking lot. Available Jan 1st. For more details, email suppsoln27@ yahoo.com or call Supportive Solutions at 609-635-3751.

Hamilton/ Allentown

Border-Highly Traveled visible location. Commercial end unit in Globus Plaza1100sf+/- can be leased entirely or subdivided. Ideal for professional/medical offices, services, studio & retail store. Highly traveled visible location . Easy access to NJTP, Rt.130, I95. Call for info. DiDonato Realty, 609-586-2344/ Marian Conte BR 609-947-4222

Office Space For Rent: Pennington ground floor office space 32 N Main Street. Share with clinical psychologist and real estate management company. Private entrance, off street parking. 305-968-7308

Princeton Commercial

Retail Spaces for Lease: Various Locations in Town. Please Contact: Weinberg Management. WMC@ collegetown. Text 609-731-1630

VACATION RENTALS

Florida Beach Rental: Fort Myers Beach 1br vacation condo on the beach, flexible dates available. Call 609-5778244 for further information

Hilton Head South Carolina Blue Water Resort 1 week w/7 day golf package free except cart, 2 Bed & 2 Baths, Sleeps 6. $1000 Call Sam 609-586-0037

BUSINESS FOR SALE

Salon for sale- excellent opportunity. Priced to sell. Relocating out of state. Large space, great potential. Available to share. Call 609462-0188.

SEEKING FRIENDS

Meet other music-loving singles before enjoying a concert by Chiaroscuro String Quartet at Do-Re-Meet: Find My Friends. Sunday, March 26th, 4:00 PM, Princeton University Campus, Presented by Princeton University Concerts and The Singles Group Tickets & Info: puc. princeton.edu/do-re-meet 609258-2800.

DATING

Meet other music-lovers before enjoying a concert by jazz vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant at Do-Re-Meet: LGBTQ+ Single Mingle. Wednesday, April 12, 7:00 PM, Princeton University Campus, Presented by Princeton University Concerts and The Singles Group, Tickets & Info: puc.princeton.edu/do-re-meet, 609-258-2800

CEMETERY PLOTS

For sale double depth cemetery plot. Location Princeton memorial park, Gordon Road, Robbinsville. Call 609-259-7710.

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Upbeat Trenton saxophonist jazzes up the Candlelight Lounge

By ricHarD Skelly

Saxophonist, composer, and bandleader James Stewart is old enough to remember the glory days of his hometown Trenton’s jazz club scene.

And while that scene has dwindled to a handful of clubs and venues, like the Trenton City Museum, he remains optimistic about the future and the potential still there.

In fact, Stewart will showcase his talent and optimism when he and his quintet play at the Candlelight Lounge in Trenton on Saturday, March 4.

Stewart, who just turned 66, graduated from Trenton Central, which was known for a jazz program that produced many prominent graduates in 1975, including the late Cool and the Gang trombonist Clifford Adams.

It also produced future staffs and inmates at the Trenton State Prison, where Stewart taught music for 34 years.

When reminded about great blues players like Joe Zuccarello, Duke Williams, and Paul Plumeri, who graduated from high schools in surrounding towns in the mid-1970s and were part of Trenton’s once-bustling blues and blues-rock club scene, Stewart says the money to be made in this once-flourishing club scene was not a concern for him, as his focus was jazz. He went immediately on to study music education at Jersey City State College, earning his B.A. in 1980.

“When I was growing up in junior high and high school, there were lots of bands playing all over town, there was music all over the place,” Stewart says. “There was the Fantasy Lounge, Joe’s Mill Hill Saloon, tons of clubs.”

Looking at his own history, Stewart says his parents, James and Vera, came from Greenville, South Carolina, in 1955. His father worked in housing for the City of Trenton. His mother, who will turn 90 in June, worked for the New Jersey Department of Health.

He began with violin in grammar school, got interested in clarinet in middle school, and then tenor saxophone in high school, after his music teacher, noted jazz musician Tommy Grice, brought in some influential albums.

“In middle school I was more into funk and R&B kinds of things. My favorite recordings back then were from Kool & the Gang. I heard a lot of other bands, but I was very focused on them. Things changed when I got to high school because my teacher, Mr. Grice, played a recording of Stanley Turrentine. I gravitated to that. Then he really tested me by bringing in a recording by John Coltrane. That’s what really drew me in to the possibilities with tenor sax.”

With Grice -- a powerful force in jazz education in the Trenton public school district for years -- it’s no surprise that after graduating from Jersey City State College, Stewart found work at night and on weekends in jazz clubs in the early ’80s and returned to teach music in Trenton public schools. Most importantly, during his college years in Jersey City, he made connections on New York City’s thenbustling jazz scene and still the center for jazz for musicians from around the world.

Asked about early memorable gigs or career breaks in a very tough business, Stewart cited hooking up with the Sam Rivers Orchestra as an important break.

“Sam Rivers played for a year with Miles Davis. In the late 1970s he created the loft scene in lower Manhattan. I began playing his loft on 10th Avenue in 1979, and I also played the 1979 Newport Jazz Festival with the Sam Rivers Orchestra.”

“When things started to fall off in the 1980s, I began teaching in Trenton. I did that for about two years, and then a friend

of mine offered me a job to teach music at the state prison. At first I was reluctant, but then I accepted the job when I realized the teachers in the prison were making $5,000 more a year then the teachers in the public schools at that time. I did that for the next 34 years with the department of corrections.”

Asked about butterflies in the stomach on his first day on the job at Trenton State Prison, he says, “it wasn’t all that intimidating, I had a bit of an advantage because a lot of the correction officers who were there at the time I went to high school with. Ironically enough, a lot of the inmates were also people I went to high school with.”

Once he had jumped with both feet into teaching music in the prison, he continued to pursue gigs locally and in Philly and Manhattan. In Philadelphia, he began a long working relationship with trumpet player Charlie Chisholm.

Also in the 1980s, he worked with respected jazz vocalist George V. Johnson, who would spontaneously craft lyr-

ics from horn solos, following the lead of groups like Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. He also worked with Tommy Grice a lot, locally in clubs. To fill in the gaps, he led his own James Stewart Quartet.

Looking back over more than five decades in jazz, Stewart said he was thankful to have his job in the prison. Before he was able to retire in 2018, he did all kinds of other jobs in the prison after the music education program for inmates was the victim of budget cuts in 2009.

Reflecting on his experience working in the prison, Stewart says, “Some of the inmates are dead, and some of the inmates are still in there. I know a handful of prisoners got out and reformed themselves, but of course, some are still locked up and some of them are locked up unjustly, too.”

Yet there are others whom he helped and stays in touch with, one of whom is now a bass player in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Stewart, who separated from his wife some time ago and experienced some recent health problems, has a son, Jared, now 31, who tried playing jazz drums years ago in his teens, but found it too much of an all-encompassing commitment.

He agrees with the notion that playing jazz and blues, and even rock, for a living, can be a screwed up lifestyle. Fortunately, he had a very good teacher at Trenton Central with Tommy Grice, who died in 2017 at age 88.

Talking more about his career and the Trenton jazz scene, the tenor, alto, soprano, and baritone sax player and flutist cites 27 recordings. They include Grammy nominated recordings by the Sun Ra Arkestra, recordings by Danny Mixon, Spirit of Life Ensemble, Craig Harris’ Large Ensemble, Oliver Lake, Frank Foster’s Loud Minority Big Band, and the Lionel Hampton Big Band, which continues Hamp’s legacy under three different band leaders. Not surprisingly, he said one goal he wants to get to in the next few years is a debut recording, under his own name, with a quartet or quintet.

“As long as the Candlelight Lounge stays in business, I think there’s always hope for the future of Trenton’s jazz scene. I’m there in March and I’m back there on June 3. It’s a very nice venue. And it’s a really good scene there.”

James Stewart Quintet — featuring Charlie Sigler on guitar, Noriko Kamo on piano, George Gray on drums, and David Brody on bass — at the Candlelight Lounge, 24 Passaic Street, Trenton, Saturday, March 4, 3:30 to 7:30 p.m., $20 cover (includes buffet), $10 bar minimum. 609-658-1630 or www.candlelighteventsjazz.com.

FREE UPCOMING HEALTH EDUCATION EVENTS

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Register online at capitalhealth.org/events and be sure to include your email address. Zoom meeting details will be provided via email 2 – 3 days before the program date. Registration ends 24 hours before the program date.

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Preventing Colon Cancer: What You Should Know

Preventing Colon Cancer: What You Should Know

Thursday, March 16, 2023 | 6 p.m.

Maximizing Brain Health

Maximizing Brain Health

Thursday, March 30, 2023 | 6 p.m.

Location: Zoom Meeting

Thursday, March 30, 2023 | 6 p.m.

Location: Zoom Meeting

If you’re concerned that you are not as sharp as you used to be, there are steps you can take right now to reduce cognitive decline. DR. RAJIV VYAS from Capital Health – Behavioral Health Specialists will share strategies to keep your brain focused and reduce memory loss.

If you’re concerned that you are not as sharp as you used to be, there are steps you can take right now to reduce cognitive decline. DR. RAJIV VYAS from Capital Health – Behavioral Health Specialists will share strategies to keep your brain focused and reduce memory loss.

Thursday, March 16, 2023 | 6 p.m.

Location: Zoom Meeting

Location: Zoom Meeting

To help you take charge of your health, join DR. ASHLEE GODSHALK RUGGLES, a colorectal surgeon from Capital Health Surgical Group, and DR. MARK SAXENA from Capital Health – Gastroenterology Specialists. They’ll discuss the risk factors for colon cancer, options for screening, and how screening reduces the risk for colon cancer.

To help you take charge of your health, join DR. ASHLEE GODSHALK RUGGLES, a colorectal surgeon from Capital Health Surgical Group, and DR. MARK SAXENA from Capital Health – Gastroenterology Specialists. They’ll discuss the risk factors for colon cancer, options for screening, and how screening reduces the risk for colon cancer.

‘All Downhill’ for 70-Year-Old Trenton Ski Club

By george Point

After a few years of COVID-induced cocooning, have you been itching to take off for the great outdoors?

Are you eyeing that pair of Rossignols that have been gathering dust in the back of a closet for far too long? Clearly, it’s time to book a ski trip. But where? Can you really trust those 5-star reviews you read online? And wouldn’t the companionship of some like-minded ski enthusiasts help compensate for all the Zooming and FaceTiming you’ve been doing for who knows how many months?

Membership in a ski club offers an answer to your dilemma; its members can be an experienced and trusted source of information and a welcome addition to your social circle. The Trenton Ski Club has been offering just that for more than 70 years.

According to the club’s website, it was founded in 1952 for the purpose of fostering and encouraging skiing. It organizes a number of ski trips throughout ski season, both within and outside of the US. What sets the Trenton Ski Club and others like it above and apart from booking your trip online is the human connection, a bond forged by (quoting the club’s web-

site) “a love for the sport, the snow and the mountains. But we admit that we also enjoy the good food and other amenities usually found at skiing destinations. Indeed, some of us may enjoy the amenities more than the sport, since some members are former skiers, relatives of skiing members, and people who simply enjoy mountains and the travel adventures we offer.”

New Jersey in 1952 was not exactly a skiing mecca, according to Robbinsville resident Andrea Broadbent, a member since 1996 and the club’s de facto historian, who found out about the club through a friend. “Think about it,” she says. “Nobody in New Jersey skied in 1952, unless they were with the 10th Mountain Division (a mountain warfare division of the US Army) or an expert skier.

“I’m so impressed with what the club has accomplished,” she continues. “It helped launch the recreational ski industry in New Jersey; the club actually

helped build Belle Mountain ski area outside of Lambertville. They bought and installed the tow rope.”

Belle Mountain was a small, community type of ski area that operated in Mercer County and closed officially in 1998 (getoutsidenj.com/places/bellemountain).

Not that it was all cool runnings for the Trenton Ski Club in the 1950s, according to Broadbent’s charting of decadeby-decade club milestones. Getting off to an auspicious start, the club’s first trips were to Tuckerman Ravine (New Hampshire), Grey Rocks (Quebec), and Pico Peak (Vermont) in 1952-1953, presumably accompanied by club founders Dick Burton, Wilton Case, George Kuser, and Tom Moore, and by the club’s first president, Tom Sweeny. But tragedy struck soon after. The stark notations on her chart of milestones simply states “Al Schmidt dies in avalanche, 1955” and “Al Schmidt Award established, 1957.”

Art Esposito started skiing in 1982. When he learned about the club in 1992, he checked it out and became a member. He is currently serving his second oneyear term at the club’s president.

Esposito notes that the current membership numbers just over 150. “Most of our members are from the greater Trenton area, Mercer and Bucks County,” he says. “People move out of the area but still belong. Some of them have moved down the shore but still remain members. We have a couple of members in north Jersey and Vermont, and a little Florida contingent, too.” Meetings are currently held at VFW Post 3525 on Nottingham Way in Hamilton.

Esposito notes that the club’s ski trips are open to skiers of all levels, and, thanks to group discounts the club is able to negotiate rates that suit a range of budgets. Non-skiers are also welcome as well. “My husband is 91 and doesn’t ski any more,” says Andrea Broadbent. “He was skiing until he was 88, and he still goes with the club on trips, like our trip to Aspen last year.”

“Some people go just because they’re beautiful places to be,” Esposito adds. “On the European trips for example, we have a number of members go just for the sightseeing.” According to the club’s

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The club’s ski trips are open to skiers of all levels, and, thanks to group discounts the club is able to negotiate rates that suit a range of budgets.

website, individual memberships begin at $25 annually, and range upwards for couples and families.

How did COVID affect the club? “We had two trips in February 2020,” he says, the Killington drive-up, which came off without a hitch. “We heard the stories about what was happening in China. Then we went to Red Mountain (British Columbia) the last week in February.”

“And then the world closed down,” Broadbent recalls.

“The VFW where we held our meetings was locked down, so we had our meetings on Zoom for at least six months,” Esposito continues. “Even after things lightened up, it was still affecting us. Now we’re getting back to normal. Our trips are just about all sold out. They’re all domestic this year, but next year we’re looking to resume trips outside the country.” A full schedule of trips is posted on the club’s website.

He notes that he is also looking to resume the year-round activities curtailed by COVID that make the Trenton Ski Club a club for all seasons. If all goes according to plan, members will again have the opportunity to socialize in the off-season with events such as happy hours, mini golf tournaments, bike rides, picnics, tubing on the Delaware, trips to Lakewood Blue Claws baseball games, and more.

After speaking with Esposito and

Broadbent, one is left with the feeling that one of the most appealing aspects of joining an organization like the Trenton Ski Club is making the connection with its history, and the club’s history that Broadbent is putting together is clearly a labor of love.

“I just got curious,” she says. “I guess

I’m a historian at heart and I like to write. Every ski club is in danger of turning into a travel agency. Trenton Ski Club is not a travel agency. In a word, camaraderie is what we offer. You feel it in the story boards I’ve put together highlight ing major milestones in our history. The club has done so much to promote recre

ational skiing. There is such enthusiasm, I could feel it through the pages as I read the old minutes.”

Meanwhile, 70 years on, the Trenton Ski Club is remaining true to its motto, “It’s All Downhill From Here.” Trenton Ski Club, PO Box 10194, Tren-