The pursuit of happiness is so important to human beings or at least to Americans, that it was written into the Declaration of Independence as one of our unalienable rights. The pursuit continues. The promise behind fame, fortune, great love, good hair, a shiny new car, the right neighborhood...whatever, is attached to the idea that happiness may follow if only. As spring returns, so to does hope and a renewed sense that happiness is more readily available on the warmer beams of sunlight upon our faces. No material thing has the power to lift spirits like the changing season, winter to spring…

In a “past” life I was the Director of the Emmy Awards. That was before the recession and before the ratings went sour for award shows. Subsequently, and because of both, I was laid off and returned my focus to my homestate of New Jersey and my hometown of Red Bank, working on various personal projects and enjoying reporting for Patch.  I don’t make it to the city much anymore or to Los Angeles at all and I don’t see familiar faces from my years of meeting and working with television producers and actors, until this week when I reported to the Count Basie to report on a couple of workshops …

In Sunday school in the month of March we always made shamrocks that represented the Christian concept of the three parts of the Trinity: God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. While we colored our shamrocks green the teacher told us the story of St. Patrick. I wasn’t so much into the tale of his slavery days or his escape and or even his return to Ireland to spread god's word. What caught my attention was the end of the story, the best for last.  St. Patrick, we were told, stood on a hill and, using his staff, he cast the snakes out into the sea, banishing them forever and always. I …

For many, Sunday has always been a traditional day of preparing, cooking and eating a feast with friends and family. The smell of grandma's sauce fills the house and children run up and down the stairs and hallways. There is much laughter and discussion. The week's and month's news is shared while leaning against a counter or in the warm orange glow of the setting sun living room.  And, in the heart of the body of our homes, the kitchen, hands are chopping and rolling and stirring. Windows fog from the warmth of steam, and dishes filled with delicious this and that are slowly paraded out to "…

Few subjects interest and entertain us like the movies. And except for the summer, when blockbusters are born, no other time of the year is more significant to the movie industry and movie goers alike, as is Oscar season. With the Academy Awards having just been announced, Steve Rogers asked Red Bankers and visitors to Red Bank about their favorite films. 

Just after the Presidential Election Season of 2008, I set out with a small team to ask folks for their point of view on the office of the president. There had been much he said/she said, many declarations made for what was best for the people and the people had passionately picked sides and loudly barked nay-says at each other, but I wondered, as they cast stones from glass-houses if they had considered the enormity of the task-at-hand, the sleeves-up work that the new president was going to have to do.  I was also curious to know, despite polls that supposedly tell us about ourselves, what …

For Valentines Day our About Town Columnist Steve Rogers asked people to recall their earliest, fumbling experiences with love. Despite some people's memory loss, selective or not, many  looked back on their young loves and remembered them as bittersweet.  This Valentines Day, take a second to recall who you were when LOVE first came calling and who it was that you called your first crush.  

On its surface, the question sounds simple enough: Where do we come from? It's an age-old question, really, one that humans have debated and tried to develop definitive answers for throughout their conscious existance. Theology and science have weighed in, but for all the theories, regardless of how likely or unlikely they may seem, the answers remain that, theories. What’s the best part of asking questions no one can answer? Everyone still has an opinion. On the heels of Charles Darwin’s 202nd birthday, Steve Rogers recently hit the streets of Red Bank and Shrewsbury to ask residents that …

It should be noted that any attempt to capture, in words, the experience that is Cirque Le Masque is futile, even eloquence is boring and shrinks to mere fact in comparison to the open-mouthed, spirit-soaring, even side-splitting range of reaction and emotion to this spectacle. This writer’s best effort to document it is fueled then, by its remarkable ability to transform the stage into a ring, the ring into Rio and the old into kids again. I sat there mesmerized, smile and eyes wide, with easy laughter falling from my head.  And I wasn’t alone.  The sold-out audience at the Count Basie …

Quincy Mumford is a local guy, a Jersey kid, who picked up a guitar when he was in third grade and hasn’t put it down yet and although he is only 19, his sound, his performance, his mojo has something of a seasoned quality about it, a rock confidence that suggests a past in his presence and a significant future ahead. Along with his band The Reason Why, Mumford plays all over his home county of Monmouth, including a monthly gig at Jamian’s in Red Bank.  They also have dates all over the U.S., including an upcoming show in St. Louis at the NCAA National Convention.  And Mumford recently shared…

I ran into poet and spoken word artist Dave Stanley in downtown Red Bank.  He was in town arranging a multi-media open mic night at Zebu Forno on Broad Street and I was lucky to catch him before he takes off on another poetry journey, this time to do the spoken word thing in Florida, after that, Texas. The 28-year-old writer has lived all over Jersey, but now calls Bradley Beach his home. These days Stanley isn’t spending much time in any one place. His energy is frenetic. Like any good writer in their youth, his thoughts seems to be madly swimming upstream. His mouth his full of words. They …

When I hear karaoke I always imagine embarrassingly bad singing over some boring music track with the crowd looking and laughing on. It’s entertaining for about five minutes or as long as your friend is humiliating himself. If you’re like me, you want to escape to some place where an actual band is playing. That’s why, when I was out in Red Bank on Thursday night looking for something to do, the suggestion of karaoke at The Downtown, didn’t initially interest me, until I heard that there was an actual band playing. Every Thursday at 10PM, the house karaoke rock band from Arlene’s Grocery – it…