Jazz live at the Top of the Trop in AC every Thursday evening through May 10.
UPDATE: The Chicken Bone Beach Jazz Festival Continues at Dante Hall with Sonny Fortune!
On Thursday, April 5, Henrietta Shelton and the Chicken Bone Beach Foundation opened their spring jazz series at Top of the Trop in the Tropicana Casino. With a room full of supporters, Mayor Lorenzo Langford was on deck to present Henrietta with a proclamation from the City of Atlantic City for service to the community by way of preserving family values, developing community engagement and promoting an appreciation of America’s classical music — jazz.
The Mayor also confirmed A.C.’s Multicultural Heritage Festival for the weekend of June 1-3, which includes The Tom Joyner Morning Show at Surf Stadium, a parade, R&B music tribute, beach party and more.
For more than two hours, we listened to jazz standards like Watermelon Man, The Shadow of Your Smile and others played by Dwain Davis and Friends, including Tony Day on drums, who has his own ensemble.
People ordered drinks and light fare while enjoying the camaraderie of those who can hardly wait for what Henrietta has in store for us this summer. Many of them had reserved rooms in the Tropicana for the night, rooms the Trop is offering for only $39.95 on Thursdays for the duration of the spring jazz series. There is a $10 cover charge, which helps with the children’s summer jazz camp.
Local Muslim Elders Recognized
Masjid Muhammad of Atlantic City, the oldest Muslim congregation in South Jersey, saluted its supporters for 30, 40, 50 and even a few 60 years of service on Saturday, March 31st. With so many Muslim elders now in their 80s, Imam Amin Muhammad and President Kaleem Shabazz felt an urgency to recognize the efforts of these pioneering people who began gathering in a house on Madison Avenue in the late 50s.
Certificates of Appreciation were distributed, along with proclamations from Mayor Langford and County Executive Dennis Levinson. Imam Amin reminded the audience, “Anyone who does not respect his/her elders and who does not show love and compassion to his/her young is destined for destruction.”
Today, Atlantic City has at least five mosques representing the world’s diverse Muslim populations. Though African-Americans make up the largest percentage of Muslims in the U.S., here in Atlantic City, we have an unusually high number of Muslim immigrants because of business and employment opportunities in the tourist industry.
Egyptian, Bangladeshi and Indian residents teach traditional languages, arts and cultural history, in addition to Islamic religious teachings, to insure that the next generation is aware of its heritage. March 31 was a true evening of unity with a delicious meal provided by B&B Soul Seafood of South Carolina Avenue in A.C.
On Saturday, May 12, Atlantic City’s First Lady Nynell Langford will be the guest speaker for Masjid Muhammad’s annual Mother’s Day brunch.
Wash’s Celebrates 75 Years
Wash’s Inn in Pleasantville is celebrating 75 years of being in business during the entire month of April.
Last Friday, the month-long celebration kicked off with owner Jim Griffin’s 70th birthday bar party, a DJ and free food in the Grand Hall.
Regular patrons said they refer to Wash’s as The Black Cheers, where everybody knows your name. The regulars, along with numerous family and friends, dropped by to share the night with Jim and to toast the struggling establishment for being around for so long.
Though Atlantic City’s first lady tried to save the best for last, it was difficult — at 7’1” — to keep the “Shaquo-Claus,” as she referred to Shaquille O'Neal, a secret while the children enjoyed their afternoon.
What feels good to me this year is all the music that’s happening for our children and community.
This year’s Multi-Cultural Heritage Festival weekend gave us an early start to what Mayor Langford anticipates as a great summer season.
Well, MJ is gone and Diana can’t make it to Atlantic-Cape Community College, but there will be some phenomenal local talent performing on June 8 and 9 at the Mays Landing campus in the Walter E. Edge Hall.
Generally, shoppers said they were satisfied, but in a way that reminded me of Santorum’s endorsement of Romney: Could be better yet definitely better than no supermarket at all.
If the mayor does run again, she will play a major role in campaigning, because she enjoys urging people to get-out-the-vote, making them feel a part of something special and taking ownership.
We didn’t use the term “food desert,” but we knew exactly what consumer advocates meant when they declared our city one. Food deserts are communities where residents have little to no access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Sometimes fresh meats and dairy products are also included.
In its first three years, the SPJS Benefit and Silent Auction has raised between $4,000 and $5,000 annually based on a $20-per-person donation, and the silent-auction sale of items donated by the community. This year’s donations include several jazz-oriented pieces of artwork.
Atlantic City, like many other U.S. cities, once had segregated beaches, but they didn't start out that way. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Blacks and whites lived side-by-side, worked side-by-side and played side-by-side.
Mesterhazy had just played with his renowned trio at Sandi Pointe in Somers Point the night before, Wednesday night, April 11.
"I hope my daughter will be introduced to a different type of music. She usually plays rock and R&B. I've always tried to keep my daughters busy with something constructive during the summer, no sitting around on your butt watching TV for months."
Soon one of the hottest spots in Atlantic City will get even hotter. The newly opened, retro-styled Chelsea hotel will become the home of a new weekly jazz series in town, which, as it would appear, is the perfect match with the series' open-minded slate of performances
Since 2000, Atlantic City native Henrietta Wallace Shelton has been keeping the spirit of Chicken Bone Beach alive with annual free jazz series, workshops and special concerts. The term "Chicken Bone...
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