Post-Sandy comedy night fundraiser at the Brightside
On Friday, Nov. 30 at 8 p.m. the Brightside Tavern will host a post-Sandy fundraiser comedy night to benefit the American Red Cross. Tickets are $10 and all proceeds will benefit the Red Cross. The comics who will perform include Jess Wood, of Def Comedy Jam, Chrissie Mayr, Ken Schultz, and Boris Khaykin. Jersey City actor and comedian Joshua Sankey, who has appeared on “Saturday Night Live” and “The Onion News Network,” will serve as the evening’s host.
Tom Parisi’s Brightside Tavern, at 141 Bright St., was among Jersey City’s hardest hit businesses, although the restaurant was recently able to re-open. His other Jersey City-based business, Tommy Two Scoops, remains closed and might not reopen until next spring, according to Parisi.
Reservations to the comedy night fundraiser are recommended and can be made by calling (201) 205-7936.
By a vote of 57-10, Maffei hangs on to Republican Committee chairmanship in Jersey City
Allegations of a botched election to select leadership for the Jersey City Republican Committee may have been much ado about nothing.
On Nov. 19, longtime committee chairman Russell Maffei was reelected to a new term by a vote of 57 to 10. An earlier reorganization election, held in June, was voided by a Hudson County Superior Court judge on Sept. 6 after some Republican committee members alleged that Maffei purposely excluded them from participating in the election for committee officers. The judge ordered Maffei, who has been chairman of the Jersey City Republican Committee for 10 years, to hold a new reorganization meeting “as soon as practicable.”
The new reorganization meeting took place last Monday. Maffei survived the second election, despite speculation that a small cadre of Ron Paul supporters who are new to the Jersey City Republican Committee might try to stage a takeover.
Two days after the election the Hudson County Republican Club (HCRC) sent out an e-mail that read, in part: “[This] vote was the result of a victorious lawsuit filed by [attorney and former Hudson County Republican Committee chairman] Sean Connelly and supported by the Hudson County Republican Club. It was a moment where Jersey City’s elected committeemen and women finally had a chance to make their voices heard. While there remain some very serious questions concerning the propriety and validity of Monday night’s meeting – from the incorrect address on the official notices, to the failure to check attendees’ credentials – the court-ordered election finally took place. And while the outcome was disappointing, this was merely the opening salvo of a war that we, the HCRC, have declared to reclaim our party and shake up Hudson County.”
World AIDS Day fundraiser
On Saturday, Dec. 1 in recognition of World AIDS Day, the Jersey City Royal Court will hold a fundraising dinner to support college-bound LGBT youth.
The annual dinner, known as AIDS is a Drag, will begin at 5 p.m. in the youth center of St. John’s Lutheran Church, 155 North St. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. Tables of 10 seats can also be purchased for $75.
The evening will be co-hosted by Aurelia Monet, Miss Gay Jersey City, and Cyannie Famouz, Miss Gay New Jersey.
For more information, call (201) 798-0540.
Local nonprofits get $36K from Jersey City Fashion Week
Organizers of Jersey City Fashion Week last week presented checks to four Jersey City-based organizations that benefited from the inaugural event, which took place at venues throughout the city from Sept. 21 through 28.
Last week in a ceremony at City Hall, Jersey City Fashion Week founder Desha Jackson presented checks to Dress for Success Hudson County, the Boys and Girls Club of Hudson County, the York Street Project, and Art House Productions. According to Jackson, each organization received a donation of $900.
“Because of all the support Jersey City Fashion Week received we are able to give back…to four charities that help children and women in the city,” Jackson said in a statement last week.
Newport tree lighting
The Newport community will hold its 11th annual holiday tree lighting ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 28 from 4:30 to 8 p.m.
WPIX 11 personality Tamsen Fadal will help light the 30-foot tree in the Newport Town Square as Santa and his elves visit with local kids. (Free presents will be given to all kids who have behaved themselves in 2012.) Skylark on the Hudson will provide hot cocoa, cider, brownies, cookies, and pasties, and Newport Skates will also open its rink from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The event will also include a light show, live music, a juggler, and a clown.