Video: Morristown’s Got Talent 2012 preview

Here is a sneak preview of some of the acts that will vie for the $1,000 top prize at Morristown’s Got Talent!, which celebrates its fifth anniversary on Feb. 29.

Ninety-seven acts wanted in, but only 16 made the final cut.

Tickets are $20-$75, with proceeds benefiting programs of the Morris School District. Call the Mayo Performing Arts Center at 973-539-8008 or visit the show website for tickets.

READ MORE ABOUT MORRISTOWN’S GOT TALENT 2012

COVERAGE OF MORRISTOWN’S GOT TALENT 2011

 

Video: Webisode 2 of ‘Elliot Baxter,’ from Morristown High’s Zaji Zabalerio

Back in December, Zaji Zabalerio introduced us to the trials and tribulations of Elliot Baxter, a “smart but socially awkward student” played by Morristown High School junior Rob Carroll.

Elliot is back in webisode 2, which features guest appearances by Vice Principal Mike Bruchac and English teacher George LaVigne.

And once again, you can vote on where the action leads next.

Keep ‘em coming, Zaji!

MORE ON MHS FILMMAKER ZAJI ZABALERIO

Video: Bedside Manner 101, doctors break bad news in Morristown

Nobody likes receiving bad news. It’s no fun delivering it, either, especially when the news involves ailing children.

Yet it’s part of the job if you’re a doctor in the field of pediatrics. Goryeb Children’s Hospital at the Morristown Medical Center has started an innovative program to help young doctors improve their bedside manner.

Breaking Bad News is a role-playing exercise involving actors from the Chatham Players. They portray parents receiving grim diagnoses about their children from doctors at the hospital.

The scenarios feel painfully real, as you can see in this video.

Sessions are videotaped and doctors’ performances are critiqued by a team led by Dr. Anthony Orsini, a neonatologist. Doctors Colin O’Reilly and Sunitha Sara John assisted him at recent sessions.

“It’s important to come across as someone who is knowledgeable about the problem, someone who knows how to help with the problem, and someone who cares,” explained Dr. Orsini.

There is no textbook approach; every situation is unique, added Dr. O’Reilly. “It’s an art form,” he said.

We watched a second-year resident, Dr. Christine Seminara, deliver stark news to parents played by actors Leslie Reagoso and Kevin Bohl.  The session was coordinated by Bleu Moon, an advertising agency from Butler.

The actors gave intense performances that made everyone in the room quickly forget that this was make-believe. Dr. Seminara held herself together better than we would have done, though she acknowledged it was not easy.

“I have to say that when I left the room, I started tearing as well,” she said. “I think it’s important for patients to have a doctor that’s in control of the situation and is empathetic, but is not fully taken away by emotions. But I can’t say that I don’t feel it just like they do.”

 

Podcast: Remembering a Tuskegee Airman from Morristown

A plaque on the Morristown High School Wall of Fame honors the late Roland Brown Sr. for valor.

In World War II, he focused on two foes: Hitler and Uncle Sam.

Talk about guts.

Roland Brown Sr. was a member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, African American aviators whose distinguished service is celebrated in the new George Lucas film Red Tails.

Nearly 70 years after World War II, it’s not hard to envision black pilots scoring aerial combat victories for the United States against Nazi Germany. What’s difficult to fathom is why they would want to.

As second-class citizens in the segregated Army, they risked their lives flying fighter planes for a nation that would not even let them share a drink with the white bomber crews they were protecting.

Why would anyone do that?

In this podcast, we ask Brown’s son, Dr. Roland Brown Jr., a retired Army captain who is a Morristown dentist.

At a screening of Red Tails hosted last week by the local alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Roland Jr. and other black veterans spoke eloquently about the benefits of military careers for minorities.

Their viewpoints surprised me, on a night of surprises.

Aside from the spectacular special effects one would expect from the creator of Star Wars, Red Tails is a surprisingly old-fashioned, conventional, cornball war movie, a buddy picture no better or worse than countless other Hollywood versions of World War II stretching back to John Wayne.

Except that nearly all of those films depict white guys doing heroic things.  In this one, nearly all the good guys are black, and virtually all the bad guys are white.

That set up the evening’s other surprise: How it felt as one of the few white people in an audience of nearly 300 African Americans, groaning along with them at white misdeeds and cheering with them for each black victory onscreen.

For a couple of hours, in the comfort of a theater, this was a chance to see the world from a minority perspective.

Which helped me appreciate the real-life experiences of men like Roland Brown Sr.

The war in Europe ended before his Tuskegee bomber group could see combat. His war was fought at segregated bases on the home front, where he came perilously close to meeting his maker courtesy of a white guard in Jim Crow country. Racism grew so intolerable that Roland Sr. took part in a mutiny.

Talk about guts.

Find out how it turned out for Roland Brown Sr., in this conversation with a proud son. The podcast runs about 40 minutes and includes anecdotes about a reunion flight on a Mitchell B-25 bomber, and about Gen. Benjamin O. Davis, who staked his career on the Tuskegee Airmen. Special thanks to Carolyn Lamb and Roberta Moseley of Delta Sigma Theta.

Video: ‘Go Big Blue!’ from Morris Plains singer and Giants fan Bill Griese

 

Think you were sweating bullets during the Giants overtime playoff thriller on Sunday?

Pity poor Bill Griese of Morris Plains.

The singer-songwriter and his producer, Steve Babula, had many hours of studio effort riding on Lawrence Tynes’ magic foot.

Fortunately for all, Tynes’ field goal attempt was good, sending the Giants to the Super Bowl and justifying Bill’s musical tribute, Go Big Blue!, and the video he spent 24 hours slapping together for it.

“I had been hoping this would happen,” Bill said of the Super Sunday showdown with the New England Patriots on Feb. 5.

“I’m a Giants fan,” declared the singer, who released his second album, Too Long Coming, last year.  In 2010, his song Zoom  aired in national TV commercials for Fujifilm.

“What a win… I’m excited as a Giants fan, and to share all the work I’ve put in with everybody.”

Like the man says: Go, Big Blue!

MORE BILL GRIESE STORIES, VIDEOS

Video: Morristown avenges early loss with 4-2 hockey win against Mendham

Morristown High School avenged an opening night loss to Mendham by defeating its arch-rival 4-2 on Wednesday, improving its record to 12-3.

“Any time we beat them, it’s a good feeling,” said Colonials coach Bobby Jones, whose team is ranked third among public schools statewide and seventh over all.

Mendham edged Morristown 2-1 in the season opener last month, and took a 1-0 lead into the Mennen Arena locker room after two periods on Wednesday.

Photos by Scott Schlosser. Please click icon below for captions.

Coach Jones was not happy with the Colonials’ performance or their attitude, and he let them know during the brief intermission.

The players were down on each other, he said, and that had to change.

They  responded with four goals in the third period, starting with Cam Szary. Morristown co-captain Zach Mourad put the Colonials ahead.

A penalty to Luke Freeland for unsportsmanlike conduct gave Mendham a chance to even the score. Instead, Brian Begley popped in a shorthanded goal to extend Morristown’s lead to 3-1.

Brian Reed kept things interesting, whipping home a one-timer for Mendham to close the gap with about five minutes to go. Zach Mourad answered for the Colonials with his second score of the afternoon.

Mendham yanked goaltender Conor Lam for an extra attacker, and the team crashed the Morristown net but could not beat goalie Shane Brown, who stopped 24 shots during the game. His counterpart made 23 saves. Mendham’s record now stands at 7-6-1.

Two strong opponents–Morristown Beard and Ridge–await the Colonials in the coming week. Coach Jones likes his boys’ chances. He said they probably are the best bunch he’s had during his four years behind the bench.

“We’re feeling really good about this year,” he said.

 

Video: Morristown student Katherine Robertson ‘rises above’ for MLK Day

Three-day weekends are great for sleeping in. Sometimes it’s tempting to do just that on Martin Luther King Day.

Yet every year we resist the impulse, and are mighty glad. Because invariably, Morristown’s celebrations leave us inspired and upbeat.

Without fail, young people take to the podium and make us smile. At the Morris Interfaith Breakfast, 13-year-old Alicia Jamison  spoke from the heart.

And at Calvary Baptist Church, the 42nd annual Service of Celebration featured two Morristown High School seniors who did themselves proud.

JiVaughn Jones, a varsity football player, is more comfortable tackling opposing running backs than speeches. But he turned his apprehension into a theme, explaining that Martin Luther King Jr. assumed tough burdens for the greater good. So why shouldn’t he?

Katherine Robertson is more accustomed to the limelight. The cheerleader will star in this spring’s MHS musical production, Sweet Charity.

She spoke with fire and eloquence about rising above society’s lingering bigotry and pettiness. Determination and achievement cannot be denied, she said.

Both students are members of Union Baptist Church. The congregation has plenty to smile about this week.

MORE ABOUT MLK DAY IN MORRISTOWN

Video: Alicia Jamison, 13, tells Morristown about the enduring legacy of MLK

When your grandmother has been organizing Martin Luther King Day ceremonies for 42 years, odds are pretty good that you will be enlisted as a guest speaker sooner or later.

Alicia Jordan Jamison’s turn came on Monday.  The eighth-grader from Scottsdale, Az., traveled to Morristown to address the Morris Interfaith Breakfast.  It’s one of two yearly events that her grandmother, Felicia Jamison, has promoted as chairwoman of the Martin Luther King Observance Committee.

Alicia, 13, said she wanted to top her two brothers, who have spoken at the breakfast in recent years.  She presented herself as living proof that Dr. King’s ideals are alive and well in a new generation.

“The dream lives in me … and it’s in you, too. This day is now and ever shall be a day of freedom, a day of honor, a day of family, a day of brotherhood and a day of happiness,” Alicia told a packed ballroom in the Hyatt Morristown.

Felicia was beaming as she followed her granddaughter at the microphone, to request donations for the new MLK memorial in Washington D.C., the Children’s Defense Fund, and the Martin Luther King Scholarship Fund.

“I feel like I have accomplished something,” Felicia said proudly of Alicia, who tinkered on her speech for about a year but contemplated it for much longer.

“I knew five years ago I would do this,” Alicia said afterward, adding she felt she indeed had outdone her brothers. “They’re not good public speakers,” she said.

And who is she taking aim at next?  Try Chris Rock, Bernie Mack and Kevin Hart.

“I want to be a standup comedian,” Alicia said.

MORE ABOUT MLK DAY IN MORRISTOWN

 

 

Video: Parents can’t be kids’ pals, Rev. Freddy Clark tells MLK service in Morristown

The Rev. Dr. Freddy Clark of St. Louis took awhile to warm up his audience at Monday’s 42nd annual Service of Celebration in Morristown.

But then he shifted into high gear, and everyone inside Calvary Baptist Church joined him on an exhilarating ride.

Serving with a Servant’s Love was the theme of this year’s Martin Luther King Day ceremonies. The minister reflected on Dr. King’s leadership–and how there is no glory in being a real leader. Rather, it entails selfless service. That may require dishing out harsh medicine that will make you unpopular.

Yet that is precisely what is needed from parents, who should guide children instead of striving to be pals and “hang out” with them, the Rev. Clark said. Martin Luther King Jr. urged everyone to work together for the common good. That doesn’t mean accepting bad behavior and low-slung pants that hang out your backside to the world, the speaker said.

Dr. Clark was invited by the Rev. Leon Sims, pastor of Morristown’s Union Baptist Church, host of Monday’s service. The event was held at Calvary because it can seat more people.

MORE FROM MLK DAY IN MORRISTOWN

Video: A Star-Spangled tribute to Dr. King in Morristown

Pastor Sidney Williams Jr. of the Bethel AME Church called his talk From Nightmares to Dreams, about the life journey of Martin Luther King Jr.

But the title of the pastor’s address to the 27th annual Morris Interfaith Breakfast on Monday also was a metaphor for events in his own Second Ward.

Extending Dr. King’s message of equality to economic issues, Pastor Sidney, who holds a degree from the Wharton School of Business, pressed for affordable housing. He reiterated his hopes that an engineering study will find ways to tame the Whippany River–which flooded his church after Tropical Storm Irene–so that affordable apartments can be built in the neighborhood.

A gifted speaker, the minister also manages to weave the Eagles and Giants into the oratorical mix.

MORE COVERAGE OF MLK DAY IN MORRISTOWN

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