Come join the Tony Day Ensemble (left) at the Noyes Museum of Art in Oceanville on Saturday, Feb. 6, from 2:30-4:30pm for an afternoon of jazz, blues and poetry in celebration of African American History Month.  The group’s creative approach will entertain, encourage dancing and provide an overall fun time.
This year’s ensemble features eight locally and nationally recognized musicians including guitarist Teddy Royal, organist Kyle Kohler, tenor saxophonist Larry Unthank, vocalists Angela Burton, Harvey Drew Dawson and Tim Norman, and poet Joann Peoples. The bandleader, Day, will show his skill on drums and percussion. He has toured extensively throughout the world as a working professional musician, and his performances range in genre from jazz, country, rock, blues, Top 40, R&B and Latin. He has performed headliner acts in Las Vegas and Atlantic City showrooms, at the Cape May and Somers Point Jazz festivals and the NCL Cruise Ship lines. He enjoys great musical diversity by playing with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra, the Platters, and the South Jersey Area Wind Ensemble. He is also the bandleader for the Across the Globe Jazz Group, and is the drummer for the Denise Black Big Band. The cost for Noyes Museum members is $7 and $10 for non-members, which includes refreshments and desserts by caterer Harvey Dawson. Reservations are strongly suggested.
—    Kelley Anne Essinger

"Jamestown Island, Virginia," 1996 Silver gelatin print by William E. Williams

An exhibit entitled “Unsung Heroes: African American Soldiers in the Civil War,” featuring
the photography of William Earle Williams, will be on display at Richard Stockton College in Pomona through Feb. 19.

The exhibit is described as a “comprehensive pictorial record of prominent sites where black troops Presented by the Visual Arts Faculty, School of Arts and Humanities, the exhibit will feature a contributed to the final Union victory with distinction and valor.”

According to Williams, the Audrey A. and John L. Dusseau Professor in the Humanities and Curator of Photography at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, “These sites dispel the myth that blacks were given their citizenship and rights after the Civil War without having fought for and earned them.”

The free exhibit will be in the Stockton Art Gallery (room H113). On Wednesday, Feb. 3, at 2:30pm, (in AS102), Williams will be giving a slide lecture entitled  “The African American Civil War Experience: Photographs Celebrating Unsung Heroes and Places.” Following the lecture, from 4-5pm, Williams will be available in the art gallery for conversation (and refreshments).

There will also be a catalog available (limited quantities) for $10.

The gallery hours are: (Monday-Friday) 11:30am-4pm with late night hours on Tuesdays until 8pm; (Saturday) noon-4pm or by appointment by emailing denise.mcgarvey@stockton.edu.

William J. Marino, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey (HFNJ), announced on Tuesday, Dec. 29, that more than $1.9 million in grants was awarded to 96 organizations in 2009, including 38 organizations in the fourth quarter.
Among those receiving fourth-quarter grants from the HFNJ were the South Jersey AIDS Alliance in Atlantic City, which received $15,000 to support its Healthy Relationships Plus Program, and the South Jersey Cultural Alliance in Pleasantville, which received $7,500 to support its Arts for Students Project. The Healthy Relationships Plus Program uses intervention in a small group environment to help build the skills needed to disclose HIV status to family, friends and partners, and also teaches safe sexual behaviors. The Arts for Students Project provides disadvantaged students in Southern New Jersey with quality arts experiences, enabling students in grades K-12 to attend symphony concerts, theatre, dance performances, arts and cultural exhibitions.
“I am proud to announce that since the Foundation’s inception in 2004, it has awarded nearly 500 grants totaling over $18 million to charitable organizations across the state,” says Marino in a release to the media.

The Atlantic City Ballet

On Tuesday, Dec. 1, at Sofia’s Restaurant in Margate will host a wine-tasting event that will be donating proceeds to the Atlantic City Ballet.

The event is part of a monthly series that takes place the first Tuesday of every month, from 5:30-7:30pm, and will pair an exquisite selection of wines with special hors d’ouevers for $25 per person.

Representatives of the fine wines will be on hand to answer questions. To make reservations, call 822-9111.

Last Thursday night’s inaugural Trump Entertainment Resorts Employee Talent Show was surprising on several fronts.
Before delving into them all, I’ll admit that I agreed to be one of the contest’s five judges more out of guilt than for any other reason. Trump public relations manager Mary Moyer invited me to judge a Nathan’s hot-dog eating contest last summer and I declined, so I thought I owed her one when she asked me to judge again. Besides that, all the proceeds from the talent show’s $10 admission fee ($3 for kids) went to benefit the United Way of Atlantic County. (more…)

Join artist Donna Elias (left) at the Absecon Lighthouse, 31 South Rhode Island Avenue in Atlantic City, for the closing date of her 20th anniversary Great American Lighthouses Celebration Tour. The show is free and will take place this Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 17-18, in light rain or shine from 10am to 5pm.
One of the top lighthouse artists in the country, Donna will present a spectacular assortment of her beach art and Great American Lighthouses Collections. This show is one of the many special events that are part of the 10th Anniversary NJ Lighthouse Challenge — the most popular statewide lighthouse festival in America. Some of her work will only be on display, and some will be for sale. Contact Les Kammerman at348-5826 for more.

Jerry Garcia

The late Grateful Dead leader Jerry Garcia would have been 67 this Saturday, Aug. 1. In honor of the music icon’s birthday, there are two special celebrations going on in the Atlantic City area this weekend. And one, which starts tonight, is free!

Beginning at 7pm on Saturday, Aug. 1, at McCullough’s Emerald Links in EHT, the Tony Mart’s Rock ‘N’ Roots Jamfest will include headlining act (and long-time Grateful Dead vocalist) Donna Jean Godchaux and her band doing Dead tunes and more.

The Ryders

Also on the bill is The Ryders, a group that plays original music typically, but for this occasion will perform a tribute to Bob Dylan and the Band — and the Dead.

For the most part, the Ryders will play Dylan tunes that the Dead or Jerry covered at some point.

Meanwhile, beginning tonight (July 31) and running through Saturday, Aug. 1, with a late viewing from 9pm-midnight, Resorts in Atlantic City will host the exhibit “Jerry Garcia: A Visual Journey.” On display will be  Jerry Garcia’s artwork, featuring “one of the largest collections of original drawings, watercolors, etchings, hand-signed lithographs, and early print proofs never publicly displayed before.”

Also on display at this free, nationally touring exhibition will be several of Garcia’s personal items, including a black T-shirt he wore onstage, his used guitar pick, his Fender-made attaché’ case, his business cards & more.

“Everything on display will be for sale,” says Resorts spokesperson Brian Cahill.

Garcia died in 1995 and a large collection of his artwork was purchased by Image Makers Art Inc.

Here are the dates and times for the exhibit. which will be held next to Boogie Nights at Resorts.

Friday, July 31: 6pm-midnight (open to the public)
Saturday, Aug. 1; 3–6pm & 9pm-midnight (open to the public)
Saturday, Aug. 1; 6-9pm (private showing – by invitation only)

For more information, call 610-999-5880 or visit imagemakersart.com

The paintings of Atlantic City-born artist Michael Waters will be on display at the Art Gallery at Atlantic Cape Community College in Mays Landing through April 24. The school’s gallery is located on ACCC’s Mays Landing campus in the C-Building (room C-125).

Use parking lot #3. For gallery hours call: 343-5040.

Waters studied illustration at New York City’s Parsons School of Design, then became a fashion illustrator in Manhattan. He has lived all over the world, including Spain, Key West and New Orleans. He now resides in Ventnor.

Shown is one of the paintings in the “A View From the Edge” exhibit at ACCC, entitled “Howling Peacock”- a 2009 piece done with acrylic on canvas and 36″ x 48″ in dimension.

See more examples of Waters’ work at the ACCC gallery site.