Friday, March 12, 2010
A look at what there is to do around town this weekend.
If you're a music lover, there are plenty of events for you this weekend. To kick your weekend off with a swing, the Hilton Short Hills will host Big Band Night, a fund-raiser for the Millburn-Short Hills Chamber of Commerce, on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The night will feature John Nobile's Summer Swing Orchestra, a 17-piece big band. Along with the music, guests will enjoy dancing lessons, wine tastings, a buffet dinner and auctions. Cost of attendance is $79 per person or $700 for a table of 10 people. For information or to reserve seats, call 973-379-1198. For those who'd prefer a play, Maplewood's Strollers will present "Indian Blood" by A.R. Gurney. Performances are on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Burgdorff …
40.723315
-74.307009
63 Main St, Millburn, NJ
Rock'n Joe
/articles/the-weekender-community-theater-and-art-appraisals
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A school-wide project teaches students to work with clay and recognize hunger in our community.
The bowls were empty, but the cafetorium was full. On Thursday night, Marshall School hosted its first Empty Bowls Project, the brainchild of art teacher Jessica Fong. For the past two months, Fong explains, every child at Marshall, from pre-kindergarten through second grade, crafted a pottery bowl. "When I saw that kiln," says Fong, who was new to the school last year, "I knew we had to do this project." Inspired by a charitable effort in Michigan, Fong taught the students not only to work with clay and to see a project through the firing process, but to become more aware of hunger. While the original project had the bowls for sale, Fong recognized that, for younger children, their artwork is "too precious to sell." Instead, families …
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-74.248153
Marshall School
262 Grove Rd
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6284
/locations/306169
The family was advised not to remain in the house overnight and went to stay with relatives in Maplewood.
POLICE & FIRE|9 hours ago
The South Orange Fire Department responded to a fire at 69 Ward Place on Thursday evening shortly after 8:30. Five occupants were home at the time of the fire, but all of them escaped through the back door, according to Fire Chief Jeffrey Markey. There were no reported injuries. The fire started on the front porch and extended up the front of the house, and backup was requested from Maplewood and Orange. The origin and cause of the fire is being investigated by the South Orange Fire Department, Essex County Arson Investigative Unit and the South Orange Police Department Detective Squad and other partners. The family was advised not to remain overnight at 69 Ward Place and is staying with relatives in Maplewood.
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-74.2504
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Thursday, March 11, 2010
Ortiz pleaded guilty to killing his girlfriend's 4-year-old son at her parents' Vose Avenue apartment in April 2008.
On Tuesday in a packed Newark courtroom, Jonathan Ortiz was sentenced to seven years in prison for killing his girlfriend's son, 4-year-old Jayden Hayes, while babysitting at her parents' Vose Avenue apartment on April 2, 2008. The medical examiner's office cited blunt force trauma to the abdomen as the cause of death. According to Mark Ali, director of the Essex County Prosecutor's Office's Child Abuse Unit and the assistant prosecutor assigned to the case, the plea offer was for a manslaughter charge with a prison term not to exceed seven years. Ortiz and his lawyer spoke on Tuesday to request that the sentence not exceed five years, but Superior Court Judge Peter Vasquez sentenced him to seven. The 200-person capacity courtroom was …
The latest Dreamcatcher production runs for two more weekends at The Baird.
I never saw the first edition of "Parallel Lives: The Kathy and Mo Show" when it became a big off-Broadway hit some 20 years ago; I spent my weekends back then buying suits and having my power pumps re-heeled. So I don't really know what's been updated in this version of the script, which was revised by the now-famous writing and performing duo Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy in 2006. All I know is that the way Dreamcatcher Repertory presents the material at The Baird this month keeps things thoughtful, funny and fresh for most of its 90 minutes. I didn't detect a single asking-for-directions joke all night. Originally written as a two-woman play—or series of sketches, really—skewering men, women and the people who make them, Dreamcatcher's …
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-74.257661
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6772
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The Seth Boyden Junior Girl Scouts delivered cookies and nonperishable food items to the Our Lady of Sorrows food pantry last Sunday.
On Sunday, March 7, the Seth Boyden Junior Girl Scout Troop (#20489) delivered 63 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, donated through the 'Gift of Caring' program, as well as nonperishable food items collected within the troop, to the food pantry at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in South Orange. They OLS food pantry serves 100 to 120 families per week and is fully staffed by volunteers. Said Jenny Winters, Seth Boyden PTA member and Girl Scout mom, "They serve anyone who comes to their doors." One bag per family is distributed weekly on Saturdays from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Food and/or money donations are accepted, and food can be dropped off in front of the doors of the pantry—the side doors of Our Lady of Sorrows located on Third Street. Meanwhile, …
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-74.25842
Our Lady of Sorrows
217 Prospect St
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4914
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David W. Jacobsen will play at Rock'n Joe in Millburn on Friday.
Years after leaving the area, singer/songwriter David W. Jacobsen has been returning to his suburban Essex County roots, participating in local Song Swaps and appearing at venues such as Rockn' Joe in Millburn. "I've always tried to write real music, I've been composing since I was 13," he said. "I went through a phase of studying music that was more involved than what you hear on the radio. It gave me understanding and perspective. I really love the music that made me love music. That's what I've made my way back to." The South Orange native and Columbia High School graduate will be playing Rockn' Joe Friday night. He calls his musical influences diverse, including folk singer Phil Ochs, Dead Kennedys and The Smiths. "Phil Ochs had a …
40.723315
-74.307009
63 Main St, Millburn, NJ
Rock'n Joe
/articles/singersongwriter-with-so-roots-performs-at-local-venues
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Cultural leaders testify at the Assembly Tourism and Arts Committee meeting at Paper Mill about the importance of the arts to the state's economy.
While arts and tourism leaders emphasized how their industry makes significant cultural and economic contributions to the state, Assembly Tourism and Arts Committee members told them to be prepared for state aid cuts. The newly formed committee held its first meeting at the Paper Mill Playhouse on Wednesday afternoon, calling witnesses from several arts and tourism organizations. Among them was Paper Mill Executive Director Mark W. Jones. Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Cryan, D-20, said often people lose perspective on how important the arts are to New Jersey. State officials focus on return on investment, and one of the strongest returns on investment is in the arts. The restaurants in downtown Millburn thrive when the Paper Mill is busy…
40.727125
-74.309152
22 Brookside Dr, Millburn, NJ
Paper Mill Playhouse
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Rosamond Halsey Carr married, moved to Africa in 1949 and established an orphanage in Rwanda in the wake of the genocide.
The Halsey estate faced Montrose Avenue, near what we now know as Halsey Place. It was the home of William Gurden Halsey, a Wall Street bond trader, and Rosamond Howard Halsey, an aristocratic Southerner, whose three children were born and raised in South Orange. The Halsey family had a long history and deep roots in the community; they owned the Halsey lumberyard on 3rd Street, whose sign still remains below the overpass, next to the South Orange Rescue Squad. Yet the eldest of the Halsey children, Rosamond, would make her home and reputation continents away in Rwanda. "Miss Halsey Betrothed" reads a headline in the Oct. 9, 1941 New York Times. Rosamond Halsey, born in 1912, was then a graduate of Miss Beard's School (now Morristown-Beard…
Assemblyman John McKeon of the 27th District expects budget cuts to be "deep and profound at all levels."
Officials across the state are waiting with bated breath for Gov. Chris Christie's March 16 budget announcement, when the scope of cuts will be clearer. Based on a recent conversation with the governor, Assemblyman John McKeon says he's anticipating a "doomsday budget." "I would imagine the cuts are going to be deep and profound on all levels," he said. The South Orange-Maplewood school district lost $2.2 million in current-year state aid when the governor froze $475 million in funding to districts based on their surplus to help close a $2.2 billion budget gap. McKeon noted that forcing districts to drawn down their surplus will be injurious to their bond rating and ultimately impact taxpayers. McKeon also believes that existing funding …
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-74.259902
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