River View ObserverJanuary 1-January 15,2023

River View Staff Writer

“I’m just not ready to quit”, says Raul (DjRv ) Vicente Jr. Vicente, aka DjRv as he likes to be called these days, has put out three cd’s. Two salsa songs; one with English lead vocals and one with Spanish lead vocals. You can find them for sale on iTunes and other platforms says Vicente but to his chagrin little if any sales have been generated .

And his third, attempt as recent as last year, was a Spanish remake of Mariah Careys hit song “My All”. It’s called “Yo Daria Todo”.

“I bought the rights to Mariah’s music and my dear friend and producer/songwriter Peter Diaz, with a tiny bit of help from me,

rewrote the lyrics in Spanish and published it on his label, Pyramid Records,” said Vicente. Again Vicente says sales were dismal.

Vicente started singing when he was 12 years old, as he was growing up in the East River Projects in New York City’s famous “El Barrio” section of

The City.

His influences were Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, Smokey Robinson and later Joe Bataan, Cheo Felciano, Jimmy Sabater and The Joe Cuba Sextet, who also rerecorded one of his father’s songs.

Vicente’s father was a song writer in the 50’s. “Over two hundred artists have remade my dad’s songs. He was a great song writer”, said Vicente proudly when talking about his dad.

Vicente grew up singing r& b and doo wop and eventually after a time with a couple of groups he settled in with a Jersey City based group Cont’d on page 5

Hudson County’s Bi-Weekly-Cultural, Lifestyle and Entertainment Publication

-Some Singers won’t Some Singers won’t take no for an take no for an answer even if there answer even if there there doesn’t seem to be doesn’t seem to be be anything on anything on the horizon horizon horizon--

DjRv

HUDSON HAPPENINGS

Tech Thursdays with Bill January 2023:

The Bayonne Public Library Announces January Tech Classes with Adult Services

Librarian, Bill

Fischer

Want to learn how to use the computer, but never knew whom to ask? Need assistance navigating the internet? Want to learn how to set up and use a Gmail account? Had a burning tech question, but the Bayonne Public Library hasn’t covered the issue in one of its tech classes yet? The Bayonne Public Library can help!

Each Thursday in January from 2:30-3:30 p.m. in the Board Room, the library will be offering a Tech Thursday class with adult services

Librarian, Bill Fischer. The following classes will be offered in January: January 5 - Basic Computer Class; January 12 - Basic Internet; January 19 - Basic Gmail; January 26 - Ask Me Anything. Feel free to attend one - or all! - of the library’s Tech Thursdays classes. During the Ask Me Anything class, you can ask any miscellaneous tech-related questions that you might have.

Advanced registration is preferred, but walk-ins will be accommodated, if possible.

Register for the classes by going to the library’s calendar (https://bayonnelibrary.libcal.com/ calendar/BPL), clicking on the class(es) that are of interest to you, and clicking “Begin Registration.”

Pet Painting Workshop Jersey City Art School

Session that will teach beginners a technical process of making a beautiful portrait of their pet, whatever that animal might be. Painting with the watercolor will be a stepby-step process that will ensure that no one will be lost. We will also explore some advanced painting techniques with liner brushes.

IMPORTANT - you are required to send jcartschool@gmail.com quality (high resolution, good lighting) digital photo of your pet before the class starts.

If You Go: Saturday - January 14 11-4pm $190 All materials

Instructor - Thomas John Carlson

location: 313 3rd streetDowntown Jersey City *by enrolling you accept Jersey City Art School’s Education Policy 2022 Arts & Culture

Happenings in Jersey City

According to a recent email sent out by Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop Some transformational projects moved forward in 2022 with funding and are on target for completion. Provided for further reading click the links included here.

Liberty Science Center expansion, bringing the largest collection of modern art in Europe to Jersey City with The Centre Pompidou x Jersey City partnership, the 3000 seat Loews Theater Renovation, a

2nd new large 500 seat black box theater at Provost Square, the new Museum of Jersey City History and more.

Mayor Fulop noted “These sort of projects help drive economic growth with new construction, new restaurants, new investment, and new employers choosing to be here.”

The River View Observer Serving Hudson Since 1998

The Sacred Comedy Show

This is the first show of its kind! Laughter truly heals with high frequency standup comedians making light of the dark. Part comedy show and part meditation circle, your self care just got a whole lot funnier

If You Go:

Sip Studios , 140 Sip Ave Jersey City, NJ Saturday, Jan 7 at 6:30 PM – 9:30 PM EST

Hudson Restaurant Week returns January 23February 3, 2023

After 19 years, many recessions, pandemics and more...

Hudson Restaurant Week persist and promotes the restaurants in Hudson County we lean on for comfort and celebration. Participating list will be revealed in the new year.

If you own a restaurant and would like to participate please contact then @ https://hudsonrw.com/ contact-us/ Want your favorite restaurant to participate - forward or tag them on our social media. See page 9

Sinatra Bust by Sculptor Chris Dahlberg to be permanetly displayed at Hoboken Historical Museum

On January 22nd, 2023, the Hoboken Historical Museum will reopen for the season. The Sinatra Bust which was recently unveiled at an exhibition on December 11th “The Making of the Sinatra Bust by Sculptor Chris Dahlberg” will find a permanent home within the Sinatra Lounge located in the

museum.

The bust was made possible by an anonymous gift from a Museum supporter

If You Go”

Hoboken Historical Museum

January 22, 2023 1301 Hudson St. PO Box 3296 Hoboken, NJ 07030 Phone: 201.656.2240 info@hobokenmuseum. org

Hudson County Community College Advances to2023 National Bellwether Awards Finals

The Bellwether College Consortium has named Hudson County Community College (HCCC) a Top Ten Finalist in all three program categories for the nationally recognized 2023 Bellwether

SFW’s Python Sneakers

Awards: Instructional Programs and Services; Workforce Development; and Planning, Governance, and Finance. HCCC is one of only two colleges in the United States to be invited to compete in all three categories.

Established in 1995, the Bellwether Awards recognize community colleges that have cuttingedge programs worthy of replication.

“The significance of the Bellwether Award is that the winning programs are replicable, scalable, equity-focused, and demonstrate evidence-based success,” said Dr. Rose Martinez, director of the Bellwether College Consortium.

The competition will be held February 26-28, 2023, in San Antonio, Texas.

To read the entire story riverviewobserver.net

DjRv

Cont’d from Cover originally from the 1960’s called the Heartaches, which he said was the best vocal group in their era. According to Vicente his tenure with the Heartaches was nothing short of spectacular. They were regulars on the Brosche circuit in the Catskills, on demand for weddings and local night clubs, and they were the opening act for the Righteous Brothers, Imus, Johnny Maestro & the Brooklyn Bridge, Frankie Limon’s Teenagers (Lymon had already passed years earlier), Shalimar, The Drifters and they played at Madison Square Garden as part of Richard Nader’s famous doo wop series in the mid 1980’s

“ I know that technically I kind of already had my moment but I’m still not ready to quit singing or trying to get a hit record”, said Vicente who also kept reminding me to call him DjRv.

Today, Vicente’s monika actually has a reason

to be. He currently hires out as a Karaoke host and music deejay and has been at it now for about 13 years. He can be found, if you like to sing, at Abbeys Pub on Monmouth Street, Downtown Jersey City. By the way I forgot to mention that he has spent the better part of his adult life in Jersey City. He and his family moved to Jersey City in 1965. But I digress; he’s at Abbey’s Pub every Thursday where he and his many friends sing from 8pm to closing.

Abbey’s is his latest venue but over the years Vicente, I mean DjRv, has been the karaoke host at a number of places around Northern New Jersey. “I have a decent following because I have lots of songs, I play dance music in between the singers and I have studio quality sound”, said DjRv.

So I had to ask, when do you find time to work on your songs? Quick to answer, Vicente says he never stops working on trying to put together

that possible hit record.

“I have a rehearsal studio in my apartment so I’m in there every day”, said DjRv. According to Vicente he’s working with beats he is planning to buy from beat writers on “the Net” and will then look for someone who can write poetry to help him with lyrics. “This one won’t

be in Spanish. This time I’m going pop or r&b in English, said DjRv.

Even though he knows it’s even harder to break in and get that hit when you’re older. Vicente said he doesn’t care about that; “I’m a Marine and Marines don’t quit,” said Vicente.

Of course since he said Marine, I had to ask. As it turns out Vicente joined the Marine Corps in 1965. After two years in different deployments around the world, he ended up in Vietnam; 1967 to 1968. While there he spent his time in what he called “Raider/Grunt Battalions” and in his 10th month during a search and destroy operation he was shot twice by a sniper and spent the next 10 months in an Army hospital in Okinawa. His final deployment after getting “fixed” as he put it, was home; the USA. In 1969 he got honorably discharged. And of course that led to another conversation. Now, according to DjRv he is trying to also parley his disabled veterans status to get one

of the newly allocated Cannabis Dispensary licenses being offered by Jersey City. So how close are you, I asked.

“I’m close. I’m almost ready to submit my application. Disabled veteran status is one of, if not, the highest criteria taken into consideration by the evaluators, the state and the municipality you choose. Because of my DAV status I have as good a chance as anyone to get one of these very special licenses,” said Vicente.

New Jersey last year approved the sale of cannabis at local dispensaries and Vicente says he plans on getting one. But getting one won’t be so easy. He says that what’s holding him and others locals up is funding. “We local folks, who were not financially prepared for this very fast “breakout cannabis law” can’t get funds. “I can pay for the license but it takes big bucks to set it up and get open”, he said.

In the meantime he says he’ll keep hosting Karaoke and keep trying to record that first hit record. “I’m not ready to quit,” Vicente, I mean, DjRv insisted.

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MAKING MUSIC FAVORITE ALBUMS

FROM 2022

By Alan Sculley

These days, so much music gets released each year, that it’s impossible for one writer to listen to all of the albums that deserve consideration for a year-end best album list. Still, I checked out a ton of albums in 2022 – 2,200 on Spotify alone. So I’m calling this a favorite albums list, and here are the 2022 albums I felt stood above the crowd.

Tedeschi Trucks Band: “I Am The Moon” – The Tedeschi Trucks Band made 2022’s most ambitious project -- four thematically linked albums all joined under the title “I Am The Moon.” It’s a rich and varied musical banquet encompassing Southern-tinged rock, pop, country, soul and blues, with very few lulls along the way.

This is my pick for album of the year.

Midnight Oil: “Resist”

– This dynamic Australian band played their farewell tour this year, and if “Resist” is the final album, the band went out with a bang. Mixing stirring rockers (“The Barka-Darling River,” “At the Time of Writing”) with tense, quieter (“We Resist,” “We Are Not Afraid”) and a good bit of social commentary, “Resist” is one of the Oil’s best albums.

Lannie Flowers: Flowers delivers another first-rate outing, with 14 relentlessly melodic, mostly energetic songs in the tradition of the Beatles and Big Star.

Fantastic Negrito: “White Jesus Black Problems” -- Fantastic Negrito’s sixth album is a lively tour through rock, soul, funk, gospel and other styles with some sharp social

commentary.

The Well Wishers: “Blue Sky Sun” – This veteran group’s latest album is filled with crisp, guitar-centered tunes with sturdy vocal melodies.

Honorable Mention –Here are 30 more albums that make up the next tier of my favorites – and there’s not much separating them from the five above.

Spoon: “Lucifer On The Sofa” (rock); Jeremy Ivey: “Invisible Pictures” (Americana/pop); The Beths: “Expert in a Dying

Field” (pop/rock); Angel Olsen: “Big Time” (Americana/pop); Rosalie Cunningham: “Two Piece Puzzle (eclectic pop); Eddie Vedder: “Earthling” (rock); Sarah Borges: “Together Alone” (roots rock); Elvis Costello: “A Boy Named If” (rock); Maggie Rogers: “Surrender” (alt-pop); Bird Streets: “Lagoon” (power pop); Ruthie Foster: “Healing Time” (soul, blues, rock); Beachheads: “Beachheads II” (rocking pop); Wet Leg: “Wet Leg” (poprock); Alvvays: “Blue Rev” (pop-rock); Amoeba Teen: “Amoeba Teen” (power pop); Mitski: “Laurel Hell” (synth-pop); Dan Andriano and the Bygones:“Dear Darkness” (power pop); Sophie and the Broken Things: “Delusions of Grandeur” (alt-country); Carla Geneve: “Learn To Like

It” (rocking Americana); Matt Pearce and the Mutiny: “The Soul Food Store” (blues, soul, rock); Dan Israel: “Seriously” (brisk rock and folk ballads); Julia Jacklin: “Pre Pleasure” (pop balladry); Dave Scarbrough: “Happy Ever After” (power pop); T.G. Copperfield: “Snakes and Dust” (folkrock); Emperor Penguin: “Sunday Carvery” (power pop); MJ Lenderman: “Boat Songs” (Southern rock); Tamar Berk: “Start at the End” (pop-rock); Elf Power: “Artificial Countrysides” (folk-pop); The Bishop’s Daredevil Stunt Club: “Please Stand By” (power pop); Oceanator: “Nothing’s Ever Fine” (rock)

twist of science! On the first and third Thursday evenings of each month, Liberty Science Center presents

After Dark, a night

for guests 21 and over from 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm. You’re also invited to the Space Exploration 2023 planetarium show! Get a preview of the biggest space and astronomy stories in 2023, from the partial solar eclipse in October, to the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the

winter, to the launch of the JUICE mission which will explore the icy moons of Jupiter. Enjoy delicious drinks and mouthwatering bites, then travel back in time to 79 AD at our newest exhibition, Pompeii: The Immortal City.

If You Go: January 5, 2023 Liberty Science Center Liberty State Park 222 Jersey City Boulevard Jersey City, NJ 07305

Jersey City Mural Arts Program

The Jersey City Mural Arts Program is the largest mural program in New Jersey. It is activating and transforming the city through the power of street art. Initiated in 2013 and funded by a Clean

Communities Grant, the Jersey City Mural Arts Program is a Mayor’s Office Initiative that links established and emerging local, national, and international mural artists with property owners city-wide. This is part of an innovative beautification program that reduces graffiti, engages local residents and is transforming Jersey City into an outdoor art gallery https://www.jcmap.org/

Whatco Moves to New Home

West HudsonArts & Theater Company - WHATCo as of January 1st has moved residence to the former Holy Cross School at 15 Frank E Rodgers Boulevard S. in Harrison. NJ For more information info@whatconj.org

fiveacapelladoowop

Welcome to 2023!

Excellent corner property with 3 car parking in the heart of Jersey City Heights. Property is near all transportation such as the light rail, bus services, cab services, and city bikes. Many nearby restaurants, grocery stores, and shopping centers. Easy access to New York City. Callforpricing+moredetails

BERGEN POINT

This beautiful & fully renovated 2 family home provides luxury vinyl flooring throughout the house. 1st and 2nd floors each have 2 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and 1 full bathroom. The finished basement provides plenty of storage, extra rooms, and a full bathroom. Parking for over 5 cars is a huge bonus!

NEW LISTING! MEDICAL OFFICE FOR LEASE/ UPTOWN BAYONNE

Fully furnished, move-inready office is on the ground floor at the rear of 924 Broadway - corner of 44th Street. There are three exam rooms, 2 offices, large bathroom, front area with reception and nice sitting area. Central heating and cooling. All the utilities are included. Office is equipped with multiple computers, televisions, phones, medical equipment, weight scales, exam room tables, and furniture - all of which is included in the rent.

Asking$2,000permonth

1 BR + LOFT, 2 FULL BATHS

This very stylish lofted duplex apartment offers an open concept layout, fully equipped designer kitchen, laundry in unit, and designated GARAGE parking; all in a commuter friendly location that is also close to dining and shopping $2,300permonth

NEW

RENTAL

LISTING!

BAYONNE

BR with PARKING Enjoy this beautiful, freshly painted 2 bedroom apartment on the 1st floor. Unit has hardwood floors, high ceilings, and a spacious living room and dining room perfect for entertainment and holiday gatherings. Close to Hudson Co Park; Car Parking included! $2,295permonth

NEW RENTAL LISTING!

MIDTOWN BAYONNE 3 BR with PARKING 3 bedrooms/1 bath spacious apartment near the 34th St. light rail station is available for rent. Features include: 1 car parking, washer/dryer, hardwood floors, refrigerator, one wall a/c, wall oven, range with hood. No smoking, no pets.

INTERESTED IN OTHER AREAS?

We have access to 5 Multiple Listing Services covering Bergen, Union, Essex, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties in addition to all of Hudson County! And we can offer referrals to all of South Jersey through our affiliated EXIT Realty offices throughout the state ... Please don't hesitate to ask us about any location in New Jersey!!