Volume 16, No. 5
May 8th - May 28th 2012 FREE PUBLICATION
riverviewobserver.net
201-349-4336
Pg. 2 On the Cover
I
Pg. 4
Everything Jersey City
Pg. 5
Hudson Then . . . Again
Pg. 15
Restaurant Views
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Pg. 17 At the Movies
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Jon D’Amore, Who Grew Up In Secaucus, Pens Page-Turner On Jersey Wiseguys and The Casino Caper
f you grew up in New Jersey it’s likely you knew somebody who had a friend whose second cousin had a brother-in-law whose uncle was connected to “the Mob.” Born in Jersey City and raised in Union City and then Secaucus, Jon D’Amore had family members who were “connected”. An accomplished musician and songwriter, D’Amore kept mental notes of a Las Vegas casino caper that went down back in the day and tells the fascinating and sometimes nail-biting story in his new book, “The Boss Always Sits in the Back.” Here’s an excerpt: “This is my story, based on actual events, of living on the fringe of what some people call ‘the Mafia.’ You see, several members of my immediate family were connected. Connected simply means that through blood, honor or business...you have a direct connection to the Cosa Nostra, the Mafia, Our Thing, La Famiglia, the Mob. And those members of my family made a very comfortable living for many, many years through this affiliation. I thought about becoming more involved when I was in my early 20s, but at the time it was the mid-1970s. I was a professional musician and having too much fun living the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. I was living every dream of most of my high school and college buddies (and at the time... that mattered!), so why would I want to cut my hair, wear dark suits and ties...and take the chance of getting whacked? Instead, I decided to watch da guys from the sidelines.” con’t pg. 2
See Page 2
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on the cover . Funny, irreverent and a natural storyteller, D’Amore has made Los Angeles his home since the mid-1990s, but he has remained connected to his Jersey roots. He returns to Hudson this month for special appearances at the Secaucus, Jersey City and North Bergen libraries where he will read excerpts and sign copies of “The Boss Always Sits in the Back,” On a recent afternoon, D’Amore took time out of his busy schedule to talk with Riverview Observer about his controversial new book.
RO: Can you tell our readers what “The Boss Always Sits in the Back” is about? JD: The book is about some guys I knew from Hudson County who pulled off one of the greatest scams to hit Las Vegas and after it was exposed it changed gambling laws across the country forever so that a scam like this could never happen again. It tells
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By Sally Deering
a story of the human side of these people and at the same time it describes the demise of what can be considered ‘the Mob,’ because it certainly isn’t what we knew it to be from the 1940s through the late 1970s. RO: Why did you decide to write a book about the Mob? JD: The things that happened in this book started in 1975 when I was a musician. When I had heard about what these guys were doing in Vegas, I thought it would make a fantastic story. One thing I always believe to be true is that these guys are part of our history. Like it or not, there isn’t a culture that hasn’t come to this country that didn’t have to do what they needed to do to survive as a family and as a culture. It’s part of our society. These things I heard about I knew it needed to be written about and that these people needed to be immortalized,
because of what they were doing. These guys, and I say ‘these guys’ with love and respect, did amazing things when you think that none of them had a college degree, or even prior to 1970, a large number of them didn’t have a high school diploma and some of the things they did were worth writing about. I knew I always wanted to write this story but the timing wasn’t right. I needed to wait. There were loose ends that needed to resolved – people needed to be incarcerated or released. RO: Weren’t you a bit nervous about naming names? JD: I changed the names of everyone except my family. Everybody who is still alive and who I am still in contact with, I told them that I wrote this story and they all ask the same question: ‘Who’s going to play me in the movie?’ RO: Have there been any movie offers?
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JD: There’s been a lot of interest. I wrote the screenplay and I have people contacting me wanting to talk business. We’re just waiting for the right person to get a $25 million movie made. That’s the budget of this project. RO: How did you go from being a musician to a writer? JD: Because I had been taking guitar lessons since I was seven, by the time I was 14, I could read any kind of music chart put in front of me and that gave me impetus to write songs. I’m not saying any were blockbusters or hits, but I learned how to write lyrics that were good. In the Jersey club bands I played in, the songs I wrote were good for the time we were doing them. I always wrote to a degree, just not books or anything that was publishable until 1976. At the Herald News an editor found out I was a traveling musician and gave me the opportunity to write a weekly column called
“Jon D’Amore on the Road.” When I was touring, I got to tell about being a musician on the road. I got to review albums, concerts. I got out of the music business in 1985 and I made it into the corporate world and by the 90s, I was traveling all over the country as a corporate executive doing presentations for large groups. I was in the insurance business but I never sold a life insurance policy in my life. After a decade in the corporate world, I was unhappy with what I was doing. I loved the people who were benefiting from what I did, but I’m not really a corporate guy. RO: What made you decide to become a Californian? Did you have ties there? JD: My father had two cousins who had established themselves in the restaurant business in Los Angeles from the 1930s to the 1970s, so when I was a kid, we came out con’t pg. 3
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here to visit. I don’t remember this, but I was told that when I was just an infant the actor James Dean, who was a frequent customer of my cousin’s restaurant, picked me up and held me in his arms. Six weeks later he would be killed. I always had a connection out here and I always knew I would live here. RO: You have several book signings scheduled including May 16th at the Secaucus Library. How does it feel to come back to your hometown a published author? JD: In all honesty, it’s a wonderful feeling to be able to go back. From first grade to eighth grade, I attended school in Union City and from ninth grade to high school graduation I went to Weehawken High School. (Back when I was living in Secaucus, there wasn’t a local high school and we went to Weehawken.) At the book signings, there will be people I haven’t seen since then. I was the guy who played all the high school dances. And you know whose footsteps I’m following? You know who else was famous from Secaucus who came before me? The Tidy Bowl Man, the guy who did all those Tidy Bowl commercials. That’s the guy I’m following.
If you go: Jon D’Amore will read excerpts and sign copies of his new book “The Boss Always Sits in the Back” on the following dates in Hudson: Wednesday, May 16, 7 pm Secaucus Public Library and Business Resource Center 1379 Paterson Plank Road Secaucus (201) 330-2083 www.secaucus.bccls.org Thursday, May 17, 6 pm North Bergen Free Public Library 8411 Bergenline Avenue North Bergen (201) 869-4715 www.njpl.org Monday, May 21, 6 pm Jersey City Free Public Library Five Corners Branch 678 Newark Ave. Jersey City, NJ 07306 (201) 547-4543 www.jclibrary.org/ branches/five-corners For more information, or to purchase the hardcover or paperback of “The Boss Always Sits in the Back,” visit www.thebossalways sitsintheback.com. (hardcover $22; paperback $13) Kindle and Nook readers can download the book for $7.99 at www.Amazon.com and www.B&N.com.
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Dance Takes Center Stage at the Fifth Annual Everything Jersey City Festival Jersey City, NJ – The Central Avenue S.I.D. Management Corporation is pleased to announce that this year a number of dance and cultural performances will take center stage to add an exciting new dynamic to the 5th Annual Everything Jersey City Festival on Saturday, May 19th, 2012. Performing at the festival will be the Haesun Jung Korean Traditional Dance Academy, Emerald Fire Dance, The Hope Center for the Performing Arts, 407 Moves from County Prep High School,
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live theater performed by the Jersey City Children’s Theater, belly dancing, a mariachi band and even two fashion shows! The event is rain or shine and will run from 11 AM to 6 PM. Hosted by Central Avenue’s 220-plus businesses, The Everything Jersey City Festival is both a “thank you” and “welcome” to the thousands of neighbors and resi dents who decide to shop local everyday. The event showcases the wide variety of goods and services availabel right around
the corner on Central Avenue’s classic main street business district, and with dozens of One-Day Sales offering between 10-50% off on select merchandise, Sidewalk Sales and special promotions, Central Avenue’s business owners encourage their
neighbors to discover some of the approximately 80 new businesses that have opened since 2007 and revisit some of their favorite restaurants, stores, and other Cont’d on page 14
Hudson Then...Again By Maureen Wlodarczyk
M
other’s Day is here again, the day when we remember and honor the singular selflessness of the women who nurtured and loved us in our earliest days and formative years, whether they were our birth mothers, adoptive mothers or others like grandmothers or aunts who filled that role. The idea for an annual Mother’s Day celebration originated with Philadelphian Anna Jarvis who lost her own mother in 1905 and resolved to campaign for the establishment of a national day honoring the sacrifices and contributions of mothers. Her passion and tireless promotion of that idea gave rise to national and international interest and Mother’s Day was born soon after. In those early days, it was local churches like
Anna Jarvis campaigned for Mother’s Day Hudson County that embraced the new Mother’s Day celebration and gave it a welcome home. At the time, Hudson County newspapers listed all the local Mother’s Day services along with essays, poems, quotations and new “traditions” accompanying the commemoration including the wearing of a white carnation to show maternal devotion. What was sensitively, sensibly and eloquently written then remains just as timely a century later
Mother’s Day and Its Time - Honored Traditions
“The white carnation is the official flower of Mother’s Day. It’s whiteness Cont’d on page 6
and is worth revisiting as we once again honor motherhood: “Mother’s Day is to be observed in sermon and song and the pastors will take for their topics the influence of motherhood. All who attend any of the services are asked to wear a white carnation to show their interest and devotion. Later in the day a committee will take some of these flowers to a number of the sick and aged mothers that they too may have part in the observances of the day.
Visit us on the web @ www.riverviewobserver.net Page 5 River View Observer
Hudson Then...Again
Every day should be Mother’s Day (and Father’s Day too) and every thrill of love that we feel as we bend over the cribs where our Cont’d from page 5-Mother’s Day own little ones are sleeping should find an answering “Every day should be Mother’s Day. It is a big and note of understanding of beautiful thought, the setting the love and patience which guarded our own youthful aside of one day in the year years.” when the mother shall hold court in her home or the tender memories of those who have died shall spring fresh into the minds and hearts of the sons and daughters left without her representing purity; its form, tender care. But, after all, beauty; its fragrance, love; that is only one day – how its wide field of growth, about the other 364? We are Arlene Reich Montanaro charity. very prone, all of us, to and May Reich “You are asked to forget the little courtesies remember with flowers and and confidences that mean Happy Mother’s Day to comforts and a letter of so much to the older folk. all, and most especially to cheer the shut-ins in homes, We are often intolerant of my mother, Arlene Reich hospitals and prisons. Such what we call their Montanaro, and my aunt, remembrance may set the ‘old-fashioned’ ideas and May Reich, both Jersey City blood to tingling in the veins it is not until the whole girls. of those you may think have world sends ringing towards Maureen Wlodarczyk is no heart and who may think heaven its song of praise a fourth-generation-born you have none. of all mothers that we stop Jersey City girl and the au“As to ways of observing and remember and add our thor of three books about the day outside of religious voices to that vast chorus. exercises, we are urged to honor our mothers by doing some distinct act of kindness and living on that day as our mother would have us do. “Millions of Americans will wear a white carnation in honor of one of the greatest forces for good that ever came into this sordid world – mother love. No pen can do justice to what mother love has meant to man through all the ages. Were the world tomorrow to go to chaos and despair, mother love would bring it back patiently to sanity and repentance. No sacrifice is too great for mother love to make freely and without complaint. For mother love is the one thing that time cannot change or wither. It is eternal.” Page 6 River View Observer
life in Jersey City in the 1800s and early 1900s: PastForward: A Three-Decade and Three-Thousand-Mile Journey Home, Young & Wicked: The Death of a Wayward Girl and Canary in a Cage: The Smith-Bennett Murder Case. For info: www.past-forward.com.
Did You Know ?
•State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska •Percentage of American women who say they’d marry the same man if they had it to do all over again: 50% •Cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400 •Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously
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(NAPS)—When it comes to decorating, color experts are predicting that homeowners will be seeking out stronger colors in their search for intensity. Seeking Sensation The bold choice to turn to vibrant, optimistic colors is two-fold: a search for euphoria for some and, for others, a sense of oneself. According to PPG Pittsburgh Paints color expert Dee Schlotter, for many people, intensity is a survival strategy in times of crisis. “For some, it means seeking out extremes of sensation, rebelling against the bland existence that comes with cynicism and disenchantment. For others, it means ‘unplugging’ in order to reconnect with a life they feel is fleeting,” added Schlotter. Sensation seekers will go for colors that stir the senses and set them in motion, amping up the chromatic density of their lives. Expect their spaces to be full of strong contrasts—heavy
Tips for Decorating with Stronger Color and weightless, shadow and light, hot and cold. On the other hand, some individuals will use strong color as a way to turn inward and unplug. Expect them to opt for quiet, understated palettes accented by deep, rich colors in order to create the space they need to take time to relax. If you are thinking of taking the leap to strong, deep color, here are some tips: •If you appreciate deep, rich colors outside your home—whether in the clothes you wear or when you see these colors in restaurants or other people’s homes—then you will probably also like them in your own home. Consider an accent wall. This is a great way to get a smaller taste of strong color
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while still adding interest to the room. •Test first. Use a large test sheet and a “time test”— view your color in all light: morning, noon and night. Live with it for a few days to make sure you love it. To learn more about the latest color trends for decorating, visit the PPG Pittsburgh Paints website at www.voiceofcolor.com
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Governor Christie visits the Brownstone Diner & Pancake Factory, and poses for a picture with owners Pantelis and Bobby Bournias. Governor Christie was in Jersey City on May 3rd for the dedication ceremony of Newport Green Park in downtown Jersey City.
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Presented by the Hoboken Historical Museum Sunday May 20th, 1 PM Sinatra Park Follow the parade along the walkway from Sinatra Park to Pier A. Trophies awarded for •Best Dressed Child •Most Creative Carriage •Best Dressed Family Open to all children up to age 5 and their adults. Registration begins at noon at Sinatra Park 5th St and Sinatra Drive. Call the HHM AT 201.656.2240
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Everything Jersey City Festival Cont’d from page 4
neighborhood fixtures. Organized by the CASID in partnership with Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy, The City of Jersey City Municipal Council, Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise and Board of Chosen Freeholders, The Everything Jersey City Festival is paid for in part by the Jersey City Urban Enterprise Program. Major sponsors include Amway, Bayonne Medical Center and Hoboken University Medical Center, and LibertyHealth. The Everything Jersey City Festival is a daylong, family-friendly street festival dedicated to celebrating all that the City of Jersey City and Central Avenue have to offer to residents, visitors and shoppers of all ages. Festival Committee Chairman Michael Yun explains, “The Festival plants good, positive memories of their hometown in our children and helps strengthen the bonds of community pride and harmony.” In another first for the Everything Festival, Field Station: Dinosaurs will roar into Jersey City for two Jurassicly cool demonstrations during the festival. These life-sized animatronic dinosaurs are some of the largest ever created and they will stoke the imaginations of children and adults alike. In all, more than forty different performances will take place between the Festival’s four stages. Headlined by Jersey City-native and Afrobeat maestro Chico Mann, and the Latin flavor will be strong with Festival favorites Rumba Con Son and Swing Sabroso both returning to spice up Central Avenue with their big band Latin sound. Famed Celtic band McLean Avenue will play their first Festival, along with up-and-coming Jersey rockers Outside the Box and Jersey City’s own The Audiobodies. Returnees include teenage pop-punk star Leah Le Grace, funksters Woodfish, and poppunkers Go Falcon!. Jersey City-based singer-songwriter Christine Santelli, and Jersey City favorite’s, a-cappella group Choice, whose fresh takes on classic R&B will dovetail with the romantic, jazzy sounds of The Manhattan Dolls, who bring the classic music of the 1940s and 1950s to life again. Also bringing their creativity to the Festival will be a dozen Creative Grove artists, including organizer Uta Braüser of Fish with Braids Gallery. An annual event unlike any other in Jersey City, the Everything Jersey City Festival features ten blocks of family-friendly shopping, music, dance and entertainment. Among the over 200 vendors are many of Jersey City’s and Hudson County’s premier artists and artisans along with festival food specialists, and numerous local small businesses and community organizations. “This is the third year that the Jersey City Parks Coalition will be participating in Everything Jersey City Festival,” explains Heights resident and 2012 Pride and Harmony Award Honoree Laura Skolar. “As a parks and open space advocacy organization the festival is a great opportunity for us to meet and connect with our neighbors from across the City.” For more information, performer schedules and a full list of the Everything Jersey City Festival sponsors, supporters and performers visit JCHeights.com.
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restaurant VIEWS VB3 Restaurant, Pizzeria and Bar offers Hip Dining in Downtown Jersey City This New Kid on the Block is Totally Groovy, Baby! By Sally Deering If Austin Powers was real and lived in Jersey City, VB3 Restaurant, Pizzeria and Bar would be his favorite place to eat, drink and Frug some totally groovy moves. It’s one of the coolest-looking restaurants in Hudson and the food and drinks are out of this world, baby! Entering VB3 in the Monaco building on Washington Boulevard in downtown Jersey City, a visitor is greeted by the enticing aromas of pizzas baking in hot ovens. This is the VB3 Pizzeria where office workers and neighborhood residents dash in for a slice or a pie; cold and hot subs; wraps; and seafood, meat and pasta dishes. VB3 held its Grand Opening this month and word is already
catching on – these are very serious pizza pies, well-crafted with fresh ingredients and a real chef’s touch. No waxy cheese pizza with cheap pepperoni tossed carelessly on a dough soaked in tasteless tomato sauce. VB3 pizzas are individual works of art with all fresh ingredients and you can taste the difference. On a recent visit, I tried the Wild Mushroom pizza topped with fresh wild mushrooms, mozzarella, thyme and truffle, ($3 a slice; $19 for a large 16” pie) and it was a delicious and flavorful delight. Walking through the pizzeria to V3B’s lounge and dining room and you enter a stylish and hip “I want to hang out here” atmosphere and the sexiest bar in Jersey City. That’s right.
It’s an eye-catching island of dark wood with a surface of “orange liquid lava”. Bar stools have bright-orange backs and black and white spotted seats on a dark wood frame. Tables and chairs surround the lounge’s perimeter and line the windows facing Washington Boulevard. Architect Axis and designer Reva Sloan did a spectacular job. No detail has been overlooked by owners Head Chef Michael Colletti, General Managers Giuseppi “Little Joe” Russo and Giuseppi “Big Joe” Russo; and business partners Gary Leff and Ricky Leff. This team put heart and soul into the place and it shows. Chef Colletti’s menu is Nuevo Italian with homage to his grandmother’s traditional Italian recipes.
He brings those old-world flavors to a whole new level and his dishes are created with fresh ingredients from New Jersey farmers and neighborhood markets. Antipastos include Arancini, saffron rice balls stuffed with mozzarella and peas; Crispy Baby Calamari; Valley Shepherd’s Sheep’s Milk Ricotta with fava beans, mint and pine nuts; Roasted Eggplant Meatballs; Scallops Crudo with radish, grapefruit, opal basil and crispy onions; Baby Pork Ribs; Long Island Mussels; Steamed Clams; Brick Oven Chicken Wings; and an Antipasto board
with a selection of salumeria biellese salumi, Italian cheeses and house cured olives. A selection of Pizzas include the Roasted Tomato with mozzarella di bufala, basil and extra virgin olive oil; Pizza Bianco with ricotta, mozzarella and parmiagiano-reggiano cheeses, roasted garlic, extra virgin olive oil and parsley; Crispy Boneless Chicken; and Biellese Pepperoni with Bacio mozzarella, tomato sauce and fresh oregano. Meat and Seafood dishes feature Free Range Chicken Cont’d on page 16
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restaurant VIEWS
VB3 Cont’d from page 15 with garlic, rosemary, house cured olives, lemon and potatoes; Hanger Steak with grilled asparagus, peperonata and salsa verde; Wild Salmon with ramps, morels and peas; Pan-roasted Chatham Cod with asparagus caponata and spicy prosciutto vinaigrette; and Scampi Prawns with garlic, white wine, basil and grilled lemon. A menu this fantastic can only be designed by a chef with chops and Chef Colletti has had a dynamite career and he’s still in his 20s. He attended the Culinary Education Center in Asbury Park and after graduation landed a job at Le Cirque and became Chef de Cuisine at Mai House. After five years in New York, Chef Colletti joined his friend and celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn at the Sunnyside Group and helped him open Good Stuff Eatery in Washington D.C. In 2010, Colletti and Mendelsohn appeared on TV’s Food Network in “Iron Chef” competing in “Battle Proscuitto” against world famous chef
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Michael Symon. Chef Colletti also cooked for President Barack Obama and his staff at The White House. It won’t be long before VB3 becomes one of the hottest ‘go-to’ spots in Jersey City. Once word catches on about the fabulous food and hip atmosphere, people everywhere will want to eat, drink and be seen at VB3 – and that’s totally groovy, baby! If you go: VB3 Restaurant, Pizzeria and Bar The Monaco Building 475 Washington Blvd. Jersey City (201) 4823 www.vb3restaurant.com Restaurant hours Mon-Sat: Lunch, 11 am-4 pm; Dinner 4 pm-12 am Sun: Brunch, 11 am-3 pm; Dinner 5-10:30 pm Lounge on Fri and Sat, 12 noon-3 am Happy Hour: Mon-Fri, 5-7 pm Pizzeria hours Daily, 11 am-11 pm
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