River View Observer March 15-March31,2024

HUDSON HAPPENINGS

Jersey City Theater Center

Presents Theater, Film and International Music this March

Film Screening:

Talks with Myself

Date: March 20, 2024

Time: 8:00 PM

Global Music Series: É.T.É from Quebec

Date: March 24, 2024

Time: 6:30 PM

The Last Hour of Njegos from Montenegro

Date: March 29, 2024

Time: 7:30 PM

My Heart’s in the Highlands, a play by William Saroyan

Date: March 30, 2024

Time: 4:00 PM

All events will take place

Jersey City Theater Center, 165 Newark Ave, Jersey City, NJ 07302 (Entrance from Barrow Street)

Mayor Steven M. Fulop to Deliver 11th annual State of the City Address

Innovative & Progressive Leadership Proven Successful in Strengthening Jersey City’s Diverse Community with Transformative Achievements

March 21 at 6 p.m. in City Hall Council Chambers

Mayor Steven M. Fulop will deliver his eleventh annual State of the City Address to highlight his administration’s innovative efforts and transformative achievements over the past 11 years and future goals to bring further progress to Jersey City. To foster community engagement, the entire event will be live-streamed here. 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 21, 2024

City Hall Council Chambers 280 Grove Street Jersey City, NJ

Comedian Mike Marino Comes Back to Jersey This Spring &Summer with Performances

Outside Hudson

Former Hudson County resident Mike Marino, will appear in the New Jersey area this Spring and Summer.

March 22nd

Andiamo Celebrity Showroom

Warren NJ

March 23rd

Roxbury Arts Alliance Succasunna NJ

April 3rd

Red Bank, NJ

The Vogel at Count Basie Center for the aArts

April 6

Brooks Art Cennter Bound Brook NJ

June 20th

Broadway Theater Pittman NJ

August 25th

Surflight Theater

Long Beach Island NJ

The Art House Gallery presents “Proud Scenes of Dusty Hills and Family Homesteads” by Greg Brickey Art House Productions (Executive Artistic Director Meredith Burns, Gallery Director Andrea McKenna) is excited to present “Proud Scenes of Dusty Hill and Family Homesteads” by Greg Brickey curated by Andrea McKenna. Gallery hours are every Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. For those who prefer a personalized experience, appointments can be requested by reaching out to gallery@ arthouseproductions.org.

“A creator of handmade gestures, Greg Brickey presents a captivating universe through his installation of small, individually painted pieces. With a nod to his grandmother’s wallpaper, Brickey’s use of

colors and patterns transports viewers to a realm of nostalgia, evoking shared memories of bygone places and experiences,” says Art House Gallery Director, Andrea McKenna.

All exhibited works will be available for purchase at the Art House Gallery located at The Hendrix, 345 Marin Boulevard, Jersey City, NJ 07302. Art House Gallery exhibitions are always free and open to the public. Large print versions of all literature related to our exhibitions and tactile, descriptive tours are available upon request. For more information, email Andrea McKenna at gallery@arthouseproductions. org.

Nimbus Dance

Presents:

IGNITE

Jersey City

Spring Season:

Now -March 24

Roger C. Jeffrey

Choreographs All-Star Collaboration: “Insight/ Incite” - Tap Dancers

Jason Samuels Smith & Maurice Chestnut, & Jazz Percussionist Winard Harper join Nimbus Dancers in multi-genre World Premiere!

Dawn Marie

Bazemore’s acclaimed multi-media work The New Tide returnsdrawing on the music of Sam Cooke and photography of Gordon Parks (courtesy of the Gordon Parks Foundation).

If You Go

Fri, Mar 22nd, at 8:00 pm Sat, Mar 23rd, at 8:00 pm

Sun, Mar 24th, at 3:00 pm

Nimbus Arts Center 329 Warren Street, Jersey City, NJ

Tickets

$28-$37.00

Guest Performers: Jason Samuels Smith 3/22-24

YOU LOOKED HERE...Why not Advertise here 201-349-4336

Hoboken Historical Museum

Upper Gallery

“Lugares de Mi Pueblito, Hoboken: Ayer Y Hoy/Places in My Little Town, Hoboken: Then and Now”

Paintings by Julio C.Santiago

If You Go

Now to April 21st, 2024

Hoboken Historical Museum

Upper Gallery

1301 Hudson St. Hoboken NJ.

Phone: 201.656.2240

info@hobokenmuseum.org

Bayonne’s 3rd Annual One Block St. Patrick’s Day Parade

On Friday, March 15th, Bayonne’s 3rd Annual St. Patrick’s Day One Block Parade

One Block St. Patrick Day Parade Bayonne

held presented by The Davis Family and Hendrickson’s Corner Restaurant.

Bayonne’s Official city wide St.Patrick’s Day parade kicks-off on Sunday, March 17th at 5th Street and Broadway.

Walking at this year’s

March

March

Mayor Davis and wife Jamie plus, members of the Bayonne Municipal Council, Bayonne Officials and Bayonne residents.

The one block parade route ran from Avenue C down 31st street to Broadway ending at the side of Hendrickson’s Corner Restaurant

“ALMOST FAMOUS” Lou Gomez’s Memoir of a Life in Music Spanning 65 Years

By Tris McCall

The time is 1968. The sound on the charts is bubblegum pop: snappy choruses, bright, chiming guitar, voices in harmony, and lyrics about candy and crushes. The Ohio Express, one of the foremost bubblegum bands, is touring behind Top Ten hits “Yummy Yummy Yummy” and “Chewy Chewy.” And the man driving the irresistible beat? That’s Lou Gomez, drummer and singer from Bayonne, New Jersey.

Fast forward to 1975. Styles have changed, and the bubblegum era has given way to the sophistication of funk and disco. A band called Hudson County has gotten the party started in North Jersey with an underground hit called “Bim Sala Bim.”

Though the song is a dancefloor burner, it’s got a serious message, the inspiration behind it is serious: the resilience, optimism, and wisdom of a homeless person in New York City. Once again, the guy laying down the groove — and the writer of the song, too — is Lou Gomez.

He’d continue to demonstrate his adaptability in rock bands, jazz bands, doo-wop and pure pop acts. The percussionist, composer, and vocalist would vary his approach, but his enthusiasm for making music with friends and family would never

fade. “Almost Famous,” a recently-published memoir of sixty-five years in show business, chronicles his artistic and professional journey in frank, forthright, and funny language. Gomez has plenty to say about the Hall of Famers and lesser lights he shared stages with: Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, The Who, Mike Love, many others. (The Boss comes off beautifully; Gomez becomes the latest reporter to suggest that Love is something of a cad.) But at its heart, “Almost Famous” is the story of a lifelong love affair with popular music, expressed in colorful language by a drummer who prides himself on never missing a beat.

“So many people heard my stories and asked for a book,” says Gomez, who was born in Bayonne in 1947. “Friends, family members, people in my office. Something would happen and a story would come back to me. We just lost Eric Carmen — he’s in the book.”

“Writing it was lots of fun. Then it became a job. And then it became melancholy, because I’m old now.”

Father time hasn’t laid a glove on Gomez’s memory. His reflections on the bubblegum era are sharp and rendered with clarity and candor. In “Almost Famous,” he captures the excitement

Records, which sometimes felt more like a confectioner’s factory than a record company. Gomez recalls cutting records, singing high harmonies, touring Europe, and doing it all in an electric blur as the musicians and producers raced against the coming obsolescence that was built in to bubblegum pop.

But he’s at his warmest when he’s writing about the time before he first tasted success: his upbringing in Bayonne in a musical family with a singing mom and a drumming dad, his first experiments with vocal harmony on the street corners of Hudson County, and a talented brother who’d join the competing pop outfit The 1910 Fruitgum Company. Richie Gomez would go on to play George Harrison in “Beatlemania,” but not before he joined forces with Lou in Hudson County. The two refugees from the bubblegum pack were thrilled to be making music that reflected their tastes, their proclivities, and their heritage, like the relentlessly groovy “Everybody’s Funky,” another Lou Gomez composition.

“My brother truly was a talent. He was Prince before Prince.”

Richie Gomez has relocated to Arizona, but he’s still close with his sibling, who remains in New Jersey and performs with The Jalapeño Trio, a group that chases a hybrid of classic pop-rock and Latin music. Gomez continues to make music for the delight of harmonizing with friends, connecting with audiences, and enjoying every step of an unpredictable journey. After completing his memoir, Lou Gomez made sure that his brother and past bandmate was the first to read it.

“He loved it,” says Gomez. “Then he told me, ‘maybe *I* should write a book’.”

“I told him I’d already written half of it for him.”

If you would like to see Lou Gomez with Ohio Express performing Mercy, Mercy visithttps:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=B1FaIb42OJQ

of the fast-paced, fluid, and freewheeling scene that surrounded Super K Productions and Buddha

“It was much more what we were about,” says Gomez of Hudson County. “We’re of Spanish descent, and me and my brother always had that funkability. And we always loved to play.”

To hear Gomez with Hudson County perform “Everybody’s Funky visit https://www. youtube.com/ watch?v=uF9pcJoX9yQ

Lou Gomez, center bottom during his time with the Ohio Express

Gomez at a recent performance

Photo by Annette Rubin

Lou Gomez in the early years

Hudson Happenings Education

HOW HUDSON COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE’S HUDSON SCHOLARS PROGRAM BECAME A NATIONAL STUDENT SUCCESS MODEL

Conceived during the turmoil, disruption, and fear of the COVID-19 pandemic, the holistic Hudson Scholars program combines proactive student support, financial stipends, high-impact educational experiences, and high-touch early academic intervention. To date, more than 2,500 HCCC students are benefitting

from the program, which is regarded across the nation as a model for student retention and college completion.

The story of Hudson Scholars’ development and significant achievement rates demonstrate how seizing an opportunity to pursue a big idea with imaginative thinking made college retention and

completion a reality for far more students than previously imagined.

The Challenge

With campuses in Jersey City (the most diverse city in the United States), Union City, and Secaucus, NJ, HCCC students reflect the ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic, and linguistic diversity of New Jersey’s Hudson County. Fiftyfive percent of students are Hispanic or Latino, 13% Black or African American, 12% White, 8% Asian, and 4% Other; and 34% are returning adult learners (age 25 or older). One-third of all HCCC students were born outside of the United States.

Nationally, community college completion ranks far below rates of fouryear peer institutions due to the collective open-access missions of two-year colleges. HCCC students shoulder challenges that too often

prevent them from completing their degree work. On average, 77% of HCCC students begin their college education enrolled in developmental math or English coursework, with 23% of those students also enrolled in English as a Second Language. Additionally, a majority of HCCC students report food and housing insecurity, many students work full-time to support their families, and 80% of enrolled students receive financial aid.

“We know that empowering more students to earn a college degree is transformational for the students, their families, and the community at large,” said HCCC President Dr. Christopher Reber. “By successfully completing their college degree work, students are more likely to earn a family-sustaining wage, which in turn provides potential

revenue increases on the local, state, and national levels. Hudson Scholars addresses not only student success, but also social justice and equity. For HCCC, taking action to help all students succeed was not a choice, it was an imperative.”

New Jersey’s Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) that serves students from educationally and economically disadvantaged backgrounds with individualized advisement, academic support, and financial grants. EOF student are 47% more likely to be retained fallto-fall, and twice as likely to earn a credential in three years; and ity University of New York’s (CUNY) Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP), which includes financial incentives, small advising caseloads, and block registration.

Read entire article www.riverviewobserver.net

HUDSON HAPPENINGS

Universal Warrior Arts Team Wins Numerous First-Place Titles at the Battle of the Dragons National Championship in Atlantic City

Email aartinamerica@gmail.net

Last month on January 28, 2024, Team Wright Won Numerous First Place Titles At The Battle Of the Dragons National Championships in AC, NJ. The event sponsored competitors from NJ, NY, PA, MD, CA, and FL. Also, students came from international countries such as Russia, Trinidad, and Brazil to name a few. These are the following results:

Sempei Thomas Cushing Age 65, 2nd Dan Black Belt took 1st place in the Weapons, Forms and Sparring 65 and older Men’s division.

Abdul Haseeb Abdul Sameer Age 15,1st Dan Black Belt took 1st place in the Weapons, Forms and Sparring 14 and 15

Jesus Ortiz Age 15, Green Belt took 1st place in the Forms and 1st Place in the Sparring 14 and 15 year old Boys division.

DJ Conyers Age 31, Green Belt took 1st place in the Forms and Sparring 30 to 39 year old Men’s division.

Lee Johnson Age 58, White Belt took 1st place in the Forms and Sparring 45 to 59 Beginners White and Yellow Belt division.

Maira Chugh Age 10, Green Belt took 2nd place in the Forms 10 to 12 year old Girls division.

MAKING MUSIC

COMING

DECEMBER 24, 2024

SMOKEY

ROBINSON

RETURNS FOR AN INTIMATE EVENING

PERFORMING HIS MOTOWN HITS AT NJPAC

Smokey Robinson’s “Really Got a Hold on” NJPAC! The miraculous Motown star returns for another performance filled with hit after

soulful hit, like “Shop Around,” “Tears of a Clown,” “I Second That Emotion,” “The Way You Do the Things You Do,” “My Girl” and “Just to See Her.” With his smooth voice, natural charisma and thousands of classic songs to his name, it’s no wonder he was declared a GRAMMY® Living Legend and a Kennedy Center Honoree. So, “Get Ready,” because you’ll be singing and swaying long after the final encore.

If You Go:

Friday, December 6, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. $49.50 - $169.50

NJPAC

Prudential Hall

Betty Wold Johnson Stage

One Center Street

Newark, New Jersey 07102

www.njpac.org

Tickets available at: www.NJPAC.org or Box Office 888.

GO.NJPAC (888.466.5722)

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