Dancing With The Stars comes to New Jersey!

Gala Chairman, Edward S. Walsh announced that The Interfaith Food Pantry will honor Mary Jo Buchanan, Morris County Director of Human Services, and the law firm Graham Curtin, P.A. at it’s 12th annual Spring Gala, “Fighting Hunger One Step at a Time”. The event will take place on Friday, March 25, 2011 at The Crystal Plaza, 305 West Northfield Ave., in Livingston, NJ. In addition to dinner, dancing, silent and live auctions the special feature this year will be live performances by Dancing with the Stars’ Edyta Sliwinska and Alec Mazo.

Mary Jo Buchanan will be given the 2011 Pantry Partner Award. She has had a long relationship with the Interfaith Food Pantry (IFP) through her position as Executive Director of Family Services for Morris County, working with local families in need. Her work continued when she took the position of Director of Human Services for the County. “Because she had recent experience with the Family Services capital campaign, we looked to her for advice and she generously offered to share her expertise and assist us in our efforts” said Rosemary Gilmartin, Executive Director of IFP. “She has served as our liaison with the Freeholders and helped form the public/private partnership to build a new warehouse and distribution center. The new center will help us serve all County residents in need of assistance”, she said.

Graham Curtin will be receiving the 2011 Outstanding Service Award. They began their involvement with IFP three years ago through the volunteer efforts of one of its associates. The volunteer work expanded to numerous members of the firm, and they have built on their relationship by serving on IFP committees and the Board of Trustees, volunteering during the annual Thanksgiving Program and hosting food drives. When the Capital Campaign was announced they generously offered to provide all the legal services involved pro-bono and have assisted us throughout the entire process. “Since we have launched the campaign, Graham Curtin has been with us every step of the way through negotiations, leases and contracts. We could not have done this without them.” Gilmartin said.

The Pantry is currently located in the basement of the original Morris View Nursing Home. In the past 10 years, the number of households served annually has grown by 673%, and their current space is being used beyond capacity. Three years ago, the pantry’s Board of Directors launched a $2.7 million dollar capital campaign to build a new warehouse and distribution center on land donated by the County of Morris in the former Greystone complex in Parsippany. To date, more than $1.9 million has been raised, and all proceeds from the Spring Gala will be used toward to project.

Tickets to the Gala are $250. VIP tickets are available for $500 and include a private cocktail hour and a meet and greet with Dancing with the Stars’ Sliwinska and Mazo. Corporate sponsorships are available, as well as advertising opportunities in the Gala program. Contributions to the auctions are also welcome. For information on how to purchase tickets, sponsorships, or ad space, please contact Carolyn Lake at 973-538-8049, ext. 11.

Send out February with a song…at Morristown’s Dark Horse at 7 p.m.

Our thanks to News12 for featuring our video on its Spotlight program last Friday night!

February has been a nasty month, weather-wise. If you want to celebrate its passing, check out the new Monday night jam session series that kicks off tonight, Feb. 28, at 7 o’clock. Admission is free.

From Fab to Pre-Fab: The Monkees are coming to Morristown

Are real Monkees better than fake Beatles?

Morristown will find out on June 9, when the Monkees come to the Community Theatre.

It’s not quite the Pre-Fab Four.  Three-fourths of this made-for-TV group are playing: Mickey Dolenz, Davy Jones and Peter Tork.

How about a Twitter campaign to get Mike Nesmith back on board:

Michael: It’s time.  None of us are getting any younger.

Maybe Mark Ehrenkranz, impresario of the New York Film Critics series in Morristown, can spearhead this drive.  He worked for Michael Nesmith way back when on a TV show called Television Parts. Work those connections, Marky Mark!

A Beatles tribute band packed the Community Theatre last week. It will be interesting to see how Messrs. Dolenz, Jones and Tork do.

I caught their act in Vegas some time ago. They were entertaining.

For all the jokes about the Monkees, they sold a ton of catchy pop tunes: I’m a Believer, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Last Train to Clarksville, Daydream Believer, (I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone, Love is Only Sleeping, and on and on.

And they had some pretty cool lunch boxes, too.

Tickets are $57-$97 and go on sale March 4.

Another Fab show in Morristown with four lads from…where?

Okay, it was a little strange seeing fans clamoring for autographs of guys pretending to be someone else.

Such is the appeal of the Beatles, all these years later, that even reasonable facsimiles create excitement.

Friday’s Fab Four show at the Community Theatre–the tribute band’s sixth visit to Morristown–produced another packed house and sent everyone home smiling and humming songs that are seared into our collective consciousness.

Beatlemaniacs will quibble over the relative merits of tribute groups. There are plenty of good ones. Liverpool comes to mind; Pat DiNizio of the Smithereens, Glen Burtnik, formerly of Styx, and Marshal Crenshaw have done some nice stuff. The late, great Brad Delp of Boston fame fronted a rocking cover band, Beatlejuice.

The Fab Four–Ardy Sarraf (Paul), Ron McNeil (John), Gavin Pring (an actual Liverpudlian, playing George) and Rolo Sandoval (channeling the Rutles’ Barry Wom as Ringo)–are terrific musically, and from a distance they bear a close enough resemblance to the real thing to create a fun illusion.

Which is what the evening–and the Beatles at their best–were all about.

Actor Jerry Hoban (Pulp Fiction) kept things light with his wonderfully loopy impersonation of Ed Sullivan.

This was a show, not a museum piece, designed to suspend disbelief for a couple of hours of winter escapism. Spectators were invited to ask: What if?

What if the Beatles had been able to forget the girlfriends and petty rivalries, trade lawsuits for Sgt. Pepper suits, and come together for a musical celebration?

Fantasies don’t get much better than that.

Morristown weekend: I went to the Hyatt and a hockey game broke out

Imagine the stateroom scene in A Night at the Opera–if the Marx Brothers and their guests were armed with foam clubs.

That pretty much describes this weekend’s giddy chaos in a conference room at the Hyatt Morristown, where an unwary visitor would swear she had stumbled into a hockey game.

The combatants were playing Night Realms, Mystic Realms, a “boffer LARP” that was part of the Dreamation 2011 gamers convention.

LARP stands for Live Action Role Playing. A boffer is a soft bludgeon.

To soak up more LARPing ambience, check out our photos and webcast replay.

READ MORE ABOUT DREAMATION

Black History Month in Morristown: Jets star Jerricho Cotchery on the importance of mentors

If you can help just one underprivileged child, the ripple effects can be enormous.

That’s the philosophy of New York Jets wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery. Mentoring kids is a priority for the NFL player and his charitable foundation.

He explains why in this video, recorded last week at a Black History Month celebration hosted in Morristown by Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi and the National Organization of Black Law Enforcements Executives.

READ MORE ON BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Black History Month in Morristown: David Walker remembers a teacher who changed his life

David Walker is a successful guy, a lawyer who serves as executive director of the Morristown Neighborhood House.

He gives much of the credit to a sixth-grade teacher who changed his life.

The story David tells in this video should resonate with anyone who has had a special teacher along the way. David was honored last week by Morris Prosecutor Robert Bianchi at a Black History Month event in Morristown.

READ MORE ABOUT BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Black History Month in Morristown: Linda Murphy on the role of faith

African Americans have overcome discrimination thanks in large measure to strong faith, Morristown High School Principal Linda Murphy said last week at a Black History Month event hosted by Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi.

“It’s because of God being on our side that we got to be where we are now,” Linda said.

In this video she also thanks the prosecutor’s office and Morristown police for their handling of death threats at the high school last year.

READ MORE ABOUT BLACK HISTORY MONTH

‘Dependent’ definition determines IRS status

According to the IRS, the term "dependent" means a "qualifying child’’ or a "qualifying relative.’’ There are five tests that have to be met for a child to be your qualifying child.

LARPing returns to Morristown–and not a moment too soon

No, it’s not election season. It’s just Dreamation, the LARP and gaming convention that invades the Hyatt Morristown every winter.

LARP is short for Live Action Role Playing, and for reasons we can’t fully explain, we just can’t get enough of it. (The pictures and webcast speak for themselves.)

There are board games, too, and video games, and lots of nutritious potato chips and brownies.  The four-day festival winds down on Feb. 27.

Here’s our webcast from Saturday night. Our thanks to Mike Overland for manning the camera, and to Avie, Vinny, Rebecca and Geoffrey from Dreamation, and to the Hyatt Morristown.

You also can watch the webcast here.

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