There are a few spots left for tonight’s “An Evening on Broadway” at the Shore Casino
You have to love Kathleen Sweeney. The long-time owner of the Shore Casino in the Harbor at Atlantic Highlands has pretty well served, entertained, hosted and fed dozens of headliners from Presidents and professional boxers to movie stars and opera singers. Now she’s branching out once again and trying something new, different and exciting for the Shore Casino, a restaurant most known for being the celebratory place for generations of families for engagement parties, weddings, baptisms, proms and every other occasion special to a family…is going Broadway!
Now, in honor of her late son Jay Strebb, who also managed the Shore Casino after the death of Kathleen’s husband, Bernie, Kathleen is offering for the first time a casual night of outstanding music and an opportunity for friends and neighbors to simply sit, enjoy a few snacks, order a glass or wine or cocktail or two, and relax.
“Jay always wanted to have an evening like this,” the remarkably busy restaurateur said with her charming Irish brogue. “So on Friday, tonight, February 16, from 7 to 10 p.m. we’re going to do it.”
But Kathleen is going one step forward and getting one of the outstanding entertainers in the music world to be the focal point for the evening.
George Markey will bring An Evening on Broadway to the Shore Casino. His talent and personality will both be evident as he treats the crowd to a variety of music that might include anything from the Phantom of the Opera to the Sound of Music or any other tune that made its way to Broadway. George is so talented on the keyboard but it’s the range of his voice and the perfection of his tone that make him a standout anyplace he performs. He also teaches music at Asbury Park High School as well as privately so tonight’s crowd looks like it will span generations and be treated to the best of all worlds.
Mayor and Council unanimously approved an amendment to the Rent Control Ordinance which received strong support from residents at 10 Ocean Blvd.
Yet the governing body still failed to name five members to the Rent Control Board which is required under their ordinance. The position has never been filled and no reason given for the vacancy. However Mayor Lori Hohenleitner said a fifth member will be appointed soon.
Under terms of the rent control ordinance, no house, apartment or condominium owner can increase the rent after the first year only to a percentage based on the Consumer Price Index. Residents of 10 Ocean noted they have experienced huge increases in the past far exceeding that percentage and are grateful to the governing body for creating the limit. Residents said they have received “exorbitant raises, ““there’s no end to it,” and the increases have forced people to move from the building and from the borough. That is not good for the town, one resident said, since “people don’t want to live here.”
For some residents, the ordinance will not be effective until next year. Signatures by residents who had to agree to their rent prior to paying their March 1 rent renewal would not be nullified by the code being adopted at this meeting.
In response to resident Mark Fisher pointing out that Air B&Bs appear to be exempt from the code, Hohenleitner said it was “a good question” and deferred to attorney Marguerite Schaffer to respond., The attorney said controlling those rentals would not be appropriate in this ordinance, however, the governing body could create another ordinance to regular B&Bs.
Concerning naming a fifth member to the board, Hohenleitner said council is looking for a resident who is neither a landlord nor tenant to fill the vacancy, as required by the code.
In other business, Council appointed Ronald Ziolkowski to the Public Works Department, authorized an application to New Jersey Transit to permit a bus shelter on First Avenue, appointed Benjamin Schmoll as an alternate on the Shade tree Commission and approved an agreement with St. Agnes Church for use of the Hesse Parish Center for a number of municipal activities through the year, in additional to approving a partnership with Monmouth County Parks to jointly make an offer to the Diocese of Trenton to purchase that property together with St. Agnes School.
The Mayor and Council honored Salon 68, the beauty salon on First Avenue, as the Business of the Month at last week’s meeting of the Mayor and Council.
In presenting the certificate to the owner of Salon 68, Cindy Fligor, Mayor Lori Hohenleitner said she is pleased to present her friend with the honor recognizing the company’s 12 years in business at 68 First Avenue.
But callers to the family-owned business recognize the friendliness and understand the broad range of friends this mother daughters team has simply by calling the phone number at 732-872-0857. Whichever staff member answers, the fun guarantees a friendly greeting that is cheery and welcoming.
At Salon 68, Cindy, who has been a licensed cosmetologist for 30 years, is joined by her daughters, Jenn Demonte, also a licensed cosmetologist who has held her license for five years, and Kallie Di Vilio, who is receptionist, secretary, and graphic designer for the salon’s website and other advertising needs. Jenn specializes at the salon as the head nail technician.
The friendliness on the telephone is carried indoors with the staff offering hot or cold beverages while customers use salon services that range from hair and facial care to nail care.
The trio have a motto to ensure that they work hard so that the customer feels at home. And carry through on their goal on a daily basis.
Both the Monmouth County Parks System and the borough of Atlantic Highlands are now waiting and hoping that the Catholic diocese of Trenton accepts their joint offer to purchase the closed Mother Teresa School and property.
Only time will tell if this coming together of the county and the borough to improve the area and provide recreational space for young and old alike will result in an agreement from the diocese and a move forward.
But it has already shown that all factions of the borough’s official body can and do come together with one voice and put politics aside for at least a little while. Seems like Mother Teresa can perform miracles.
Borough residents should be appreciative and thankful for that.
The borough has been negotiating with the diocese for four years now about the Mother Theresa property. Perhaps elections and the larger regionalization issue have helped put the acquisition on a back burner, so it is refreshing to see it active and apparently most viable now.
Mother Teresa School which was originally the very popular and great educational system of St. Agnes School, became a regional school when Our Lady of Perpetual Help, another great school system in Highlands, closed in 2006. Ten years later, declining enrollment due to higher tuition forced by higher costs, closed the Mother Teresa School. It has remained dormant since then, other than use by many of the church ministries, the Knights of Columbus and other units who have occasionally rented the building for their own purposes.
The diocese has tried a number of different means to keep Mother Teresa school open and active, either as a larger regional school or a consolidation of other schools. But times and the economy have closed so many Catholic schools recently…look at Mater Dei where so much was done in recent years to keep it open. Yet it still had to close. At the elementary school level, both Holy Family in Union Beach and St. Ann’s in Keansburg have also closed, in addition to OLPH.
While all this is happening, the Mother Teresa school building remains in need of repairs and renovations, improvements the diocese finds difficult to maintain or create because of the economy. Several experts in the building field have said it is too costly at this point to repair.
Whether that is true, or whether anything can happen to the school, depends on whether this joint offer by town and county to purchase the property is accepted. County officials indicate if purchased, the Mother Teresa school would not be demolished immediately. But the property and the adjacent Charles Hesse building could become active and alive.
There is no doubt the Hesse building, constructed 16 years ago, is already a vibrant part of the property because of both church activity and the church’s cooperation with the borough. It is used regularly as a polling place for borough wide election polling sites, for blood drives, and numerous fund raising activities. Basketball leagues and summer recreation programs are held there. Even the police department has used the building as well as the school itself for practices for emergency events or actions. The gym is often the site for dances, concerts, special informational meetings. It is indeed a heart of the community.
If the borough and county acquire the property, surely the Hesse building could still be used for church activities under a lease program with agreement by all. It could also be used for emergency situations where triage locations are necessary, a stable location given its distance from the bay and decreased possibility of flood damage. It seems a natural for both the borough and the county to stage recreational programs of all types in the building, another boon for local residents.
Monmouth County Parks has been working, it seems, with borough officials for several years to help all of this come about. Praise to the current and past council for listening and apparently working with them to come to an agreement of their own. Both Mayor Lori Hohenleitner and Councilman James Murphy have put aside their political differences to work together and enthusiastically approve the offer the council and county are making to the diocese. Councilman Jon Crowley has been working for a long time to have this accomplished and has built up considerable support for the borough/county union. He deserves praise as well for sticking with the issue even when it was placed on a back burner.
Everyone knows the excellence of the County Parks Department and its dedication to preserving open space and providing recreational and cultural activities for residents.
The ideas of subdividing the property or building houses or apartments were certainly not received well when presented to the public. Experts have given statistics and figures showing it would be too expensive to renovate the school for senior housing. Negotiations with the County have now resulted in a possible solution before it is too costly not only for residents but for Catholics in the Trenton Diocese.
Congratulations are certainly in order for the mayor and council who so unreservedly endorsed the offer all have agreed is equitable, fair and in their minds hopefully sufficient to have the diocese agree.
It is a giant step forward. It is a hopeful sign to see council working together. It is enticing to see Monmouth County want to invest so much in Atlantic Highlands.
The Parks system has offered a substantial cost agreement program, it appears, which will both enable both the county and the borough to make use of the building and the property for the benefit of the borough. Hopefully, this will be of benefit to the diocese and the parishioners of St. Agnes Church as well to the degree it can be moved forward.
Even those who don’t believe in prayer should hope for good fortune to fall on the diocese, the county parks system, borough council and residents.
The unified support of the entire council is a first positive step.
Highlands Resident Russell Karshmer, a cadet in the NJROTC program at MAST, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology, was honored at last week’s meeting of the Monmouth County Commissioners for his winning design for the coin for the Commissioning of the nation’s newest submarine SSN796, USS New Jersey.
In presenting a certificate of appreciation to the cadet, Commissioner Director Thomas Arnone praised his talent and ingenuity in creating a design that not only featured the submarine, but also numerous historic highlights of Monmouth County and the state.
Each of the four other Commissioners joined the Director in their praise of the cadet and his work.
Karshmer, who is a junior at MAST, explained the design which will appear on the pre-commissioning coin when the submarine is commissioned at NWS Earle in Leonardo, and spoke at the county commission meeting why he included all the aspects of the artwork. His design, selected by the Pre-Commissioning Committee, was selected from more than 300 submitted by high school students from throughout New Jersey.
Local historian Greg Caggiano will speak on Colonel Tye and the Black Loyalist Movement in Monmouth County at the Atlantic Highlands Library in Borough Hall on Thursday, February 22 at 6:30 p.m…
Tye, a man who escaped slavery in Monmouth County and sided with the Loyalists against the Yankees during the Revolution has been termed the greatest military leader you never heard of. Caggiano will speak on the role of Parliament and the politics of early emancipation in the colonies.
They call themselves the YaYa Club, based on a book they read years ago. They meet once a month, taking turns for each member to host the meeting in her home.
When it was Debbie Schweers turn to host the YaYa Club, she was not at home, still in intensive physical therapy to overcome the results of a fall at home that crushed bones in her foot and left her unable to stand or walk.
Undeterred, the sprightly and intellectual lady simply scheduled the YaYa Club meeting for where she was….the Care One at Middletown Care Center on Route 36.
This was the second time Debbie hosted the club at Care One, as she also was hostess last October shortly after her accident. This time administrator Anthony Sessa welcomed the group for their second meeting, admiring their ingenuity and the joy they gave not only Debbie, but other residents who heard of the club meeting in the main dining room.
The book under discussion was Lady Tan’s Circle of Woman, set in China and a novel about a woman physician in the 15 century. YaYa Club members, who always enjoy a meal with their discussions, brought what one would expect thinking members to do……a meal in keeping with the book. Since the book is set in China, the ladies brought wontons, cookies, and noodles. The Care Center provided tea, along with other beverages, and of course there were fortune cookies for dessert. All were served on plates along with napkins in the Oriental theme.
“Our physical therapy department does its work efficiently and thoroughly,” Sessa said, to which Debbie adds her own praise. “But it is especially rewarding when our residents treat Care One as their home and feel comfortable inviting their friends for an evening of recreation and discussion.”
The YaYa club began in 1997 when a few friends who met regularly to enjoy each other’s company liked it when one of them suggested they read books and discuss them at their get togethers. And so the friendship expanded to include not only talk but also greater activity and intellectual stimulation. Now the YaYa Club meets monthly in homes, except for July and August when the meetings are held at the Monmouth Beach and Sea Bright Beach Clubs.
Conversations on the book are lively, Debbie laughs, and stimulating, while members each discuss each other’s view of the book under discussion as well as learn more from each other’s assessments on the topic and its presentation. In the case of the recent selection, all the members loved it, Debbie reported, recalling she had read the book four years ago and had recommended it at that time. Though it wasn’t selected then, when it came up as a possibility once again this year, everyone agreed it was a great choice.
Debbie, who lives in Red Bank, broke her femur in a home accident last October and has been in therapy since. She said when doctors first examined her, “they told me my bone looked more like a bag of potato chips, it was so splintered and crushed.” Unable to put any weight on it at all for two months, Debbie said she and the therapists have made their way through putting some weight on it, then full weight gradually, to the point where now she can stand and walk with a walker for short distances. Today she is walking on parallel bars in therapy and hopeful she will be walking on her own within the next few weeks.
In the meantime, she’s avidly reading the club’s next selection, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride, a historical novel based on a 1972 incident when a skeleton was found b buried in the Chicken Hill section of Potsdam, Pa and how it resulted in showing how love on heaven and earth can bring communities together.
In addition to Debbie Schweers, the YaYa Club members are Mara Browndorf, Cynthia Wilby, Tammy Zachs, Karen Hutchinson, Jacqueline Whitelaw, Patty Sullivan, Cathy Klahre, Nancy DelPriore, Suzann Cahil and Pat Flynn.
Some of the members miss meetings because of trips to Florida during the winter, and while Care One has been a great place for a couple of meetings, the members all indicate traveling to Florida to be sure all are present isn’t always an option!
Elaine O’Brien, PD., MAPP, will be the featured speaker at the 8th annual Scholarship Luncheon sponsored by the Northern Monmouth County Branch of the AAUW on Wednesday April 17.
Dr. O’Brien, whose mission is to assist people in living a more positive and fruitful life, is a pioneer leader in physical fitness and an expert in the psychology of well-being and movement science. She is a strong believer that it is possible to live a life at any age filled with meaning, vitality and appreciation.
Dr. O’Brien received her Ph. D in Human Movement Psychology at Temple University and was one of the first 100 people in the world to earn a Master of Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) from the University of Pennsylvania. Her work is believed to advance the role of the body and positive movement in helping people achieve mental health, physical fitness and positivity.
Dr. O’Brien’s work and expertise is used in various fields, including medicine, education, coaching, fitness, performance and business in addition to health.
The AAUW luncheon celebrates the 2024 Women of Achievement, Stephanie Cartier and Patty Whyte and raises funds for the Society’s Northern Monmouth County Branch’s scholarship and special programs for women and girls.
Reservations are offered at a discount price for the April 17 event, if made before March 22, reservations for the three-course luncheon, which is being held at noon at Beacon Hill Country Club in Atlantic Highlands, are $85. Reservations made after March 22 are $95.
Reservations can be made by calling 732-275-2237 or by visiting www.aauw-nj-nmcb.org
In addition to registering for the luncheon, guests can pre-order a copy of Dr. O’Brien’s book, The Power of Play: Optimize Your Joy Potential and pay for the book the day of the event.
Mayor and Council unanimously agreed at its meeting on the 8th to join with the Monmouth County Parks System to begin negotiations for purchase of the St. Agnes school property. Mother Teresa School
Monmouth County Parks Director Andy Spiers confirmed the Monmouth County Board of County Commissioners is in discussions with Atlantic Highlands officials, working out the details of a partnership that would preserve the former Mother Teresa School and the Charles J. Hesse III Parish Center/Gymnasium.
Spiers continued that “The site has been identified as an attractive location for a municipal recreation and community center to serve residents of Atlantic Highlands and surrounding communities. Negotiations on the purchase of the property from the Diocese of Trenton are ongoing.
The brief announcement at the Atlantic Highlands Council meeting came at the end of the meeting after council went into executive session for the purpose of discussing land acquisition. Just before going into session, Mayor Lori Hohenleitner announced that action might be taken.
Councilman James Murphy made the motion, obviously thrilled and pleased with the borough’s action in coordination with Monmouth County. It was seconded by Councilman Jon Crowley, then unanimously approved.
The matter of future use of the large expanse which includes the school building in a residential neighborhood has been ongoing since the school closed several years ago.
Somebody once said, “Family is like music, some high notes, some low notes, but always a beautiful song.” To singer musician composer George Markey, music is family, since it is the foundation on which generations of his own family were grounded.
Markey will be appearing in a special presentation of a Night on Broadway at the Shore Casino at the Municipal Yacht Harbor in Atlantic Highlands Friday, February 16 from 7 to 10 p.m.
But knowing something about the story of this musician’s life and the family history of making music a priority makes the musical night at the Shore Casino even more groundbreaking.
George has inherited musical talent from both sides of his family, at a variety of different levels. While he never had a formal lesson in music as a young musician, it was his grandfather who first introduced him to the beauty of music. Grandfather George was a well known and loved member of the American Guild of Organists, a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and an honorary Doctor at MacPhail College. He taught at Westminster Choir College and the Peabody Conservatory and was director of the Gilman Morgan School in New York. His wife Jane Page Markey was a renowned operatic soprano and young George’s mother was also a soprano who learned from her mother and passed lessons on to her son. It was George’s Uncle Don Demmert who gave him vocal instructions as well. He and Dr. Markey had met when both were musicians in a Jewish temple an Episcopal church in north Jersey.
The present day singer George Markey recalls now how he was his grandfather’s page turner and loved music and his ability to pick up instruments under his grandfather’s tutelage and make his own music. That was the beginning of a lifelong love of music and a professional career in it that has included everything from teaching music to special education students, private lessons for students of all ages, concert and nightclub presentations, and this weekend’s Night on Broadway at the Shore Casino.
Markey has earned his own series of awards and commendations during his career, including being nominated for numerous Count Basie Awards several years ago when he led the Colts Neck High School in music and vocal director for their presentation of Godspell. His students have been named Top of the Top performers for at least five different years as well as his awards for teaching numerous students who went on to win their own local, state and national awards in both vocal and instrumental music.
Outside of the classroom and on stage in numerous different settings across the united States, Markey continues to make headlines. He’s been in a vocal group sharing the stage with Larry Chance and the Earls, Lenny Coco and the Chimes, , Johnny Maestro, the Tokens, and the Manhattan Transfer to name a few.
As a singer, Markey identifies as a tenor. But he has a broad range of vocal talent, can tick off on his fingers the 11 instruments in plays, from flute and trumpet to guitar, violin, base, cello and of courses piano and can carry on banter and history as he introduces whatever blend of music he is presenting next.
He is quick to point out that while he loves every type of music his favorite is “the one the audience want to hear at that particular time.” “People especially like to hear songs and music they do not expect to hear,” he laughs, pointing out that even Broadway music has taken on a new meaning in recent years. And while he might sing popular hits from My Fair Lady or Les Misérables next weekend, , he is just as apt to burst into song from popular artists whose names have been made in recordings or CDs.
Many have compared Marley’s voice to Andre Bocelli and his Music of the Night brings listeners to their feet after his stirring rendition from Phantom of the Opera.
Markey also writes music and is currently working on a presentation of Joan of Arc. He is undecided if he will bring a second instrument to the Shore Casino Night on Broadway February 16, but if he does, it will most likely be a trumpet.
Married and the father of three children and living in Lakewood, Martey’s wife Sandra also has musical talent, singing soprano. She is a recipient of the Governor’s Sward for Vocal Music. George holds degrees from Thomas Edison College for classes he took on line in later years to compliment his natural talent and first hand lessons he had at his grandfather’s piano.
Reservations are necessary for the February 16 performance. Tickets are $40 each and include the evening of music and light snacks as well as a cash bar. Reservations can be made by calling 732-291-4300 and leaving a phone number for a call back confirmation of the reservation.
