Re: [AsburyPark] Re: Tourism and Asbury Park

[Lightgrw]

Speaking of the interest in Asbury Park's music history and the NJ Music Hall of Fame. NYC Public Radio just asked me to be part of their show on Monday to discuss the plans for the hall of fame. Unfortunately, there's not much news but there is a great first step taking place in December that I'll be talking about. It's the monument being placed on the Asbury boardwalk to recognize the artists involved in the creation of the Asbury Park Sound.

Tom, the thing that discourages me most of working with the marketing committee is that we keep having people from outside the area think the Hall of Fame is such a great idea, but we haven't seen much help at all from the city. A small group of people (Terry Reidy, Tom Gilmour) are very much in favor of it, but few if any from the Council have ever lent any signs of support.

Asbury Park has a winning idea with music tourism to work with but nobody seems to give it a chance. Who knows maybe the event in December will help get things rolling again.

And Fred, you're right that no clubs have closed (other than the one blues club in town - Crossroads) but there was a time when Convention Hall and the Paramount used to hold PLENTY of shows. That building is the most underused of its type in the state. That doesn't give me hope for the future when their own facilities aren't used for entertainment. Plus both the Wonder Bar and Asbury Lanes are in the area for redevelopment and most likely will be removed someday. If Asbury Partners believes in entertainment, why not discuss a way for these places to exist permanently? Both have shown that they can be successful businesses in Asbury, which isn't the easiest thing to do.



****************************************************************************************
Upstage Magazine - New Jersey's Premier Arts & Entertainment Magazine
PO Box 140, Spring Lake, NJ 07762 (732) 280-3305
http://www.UpstageMagazine.com