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People sitting on tables, in the lobby, on bookcarts, on the floor…Standing room only was at its best for the Johnny Cash Tribute event atthe Upper Shores Branch on Nov. 10th. The band Basement Musicians (Tony Pileggi, Rick Hohowski and Tom Rutt) mesmerized our largest audience ever when more than 275 people crammed into the little library in Lavallette to celebrate the amazing repertoire of beloved American, the legendary “Man in Black”, Johnny Cash.
Oktoberfest was quite the celebration at the Upper Shores Branch when over 200 people crowded in to enjoy the wonderful sounds of the Lakewood Maennerchor Mixed Chorus.
Homemade German Food from D.A.. Barsch, hot mulled cider, and traditional German cakes topped off the evening in a Diversity Month event sponsored by the most generous Friends of Upper Shores! Thank you Friends!
The 3rd annual Hispanic Heritage 
Month celebration @ Upper Shores was wildly successful with salsa lessons from Daniel’s Ballroom, live music by Swing Sabroso, and delicious food from El Familiar Thanks to the Borough of Seaside Heights, our community partner, for providing free round trip transportation for area residents! Graduate students from Georgian Court College attended with professor and area school principal, Dr. Gemma MacCarrick, to broaden their awareness of 
cultural literacy. Ocean County Library rocks!
On August 18th, the Upper Shores branch hosted a silent film screening with live piano accompaniment. The talented John Caliendo, local high school student, provided live piano accompaniment to some of the Silent Film era’s favorite comedy flicks, featuring Fatty Arbuckle, Buster Keaton, Molly Malone, and more. Popcorn was served, the crowds were laughing as they stepped back in time, and the night ended with a loud round of applause!
Gabrielle Drorscakova, CPT/Nutritionist/Owner of Lavallette Personal Fitness lead area residents in a gentle workout comprised of pilates and core strengthening exercises. The program held at the Upper Shores Branch, A New Year, A New You, made area residents happy to get 2009 off to a good start by centering on health & wellness!
The Upper Shores branch held a brand new bake-off on November 14 to crown their first ever Culinary Queen. Participants brought in deserts to share with patrons and staff.
Laura Meeker-Korch she ran away with the crown in a very close contest with her Icebox Cake! Sixty-nine patrons participated as the Upper Shores very willing judges. In second place and just nudged out was a, “Walnut Fudge Brownie Cake” by Carol Koolidge. We had “Aunt Janis’s Party Cake” a close third, baked by last year’s “Cheesecake Queen”, Virginia Berkman, “Sweet Potato Cake with Roasted Pecan Cream Cheese Frosting” by June Schneider, “Blackberry Citrus Tea Cake” by Patricia Gates and last but not least a “Carrot Cake” by Dorothy Sinko.
While the voting was underway, the talented sisters Juliet and Jacqueline Taylor played the piano.
Special thanks to Alma Perez-Neary for sharing this!
by June Schneider
Libraries are known to many as a safe haven and friendly place. Lalo Porto, Mobility Ambassador, walked through the doors of Upper Shores seeking a patch of grass on which to pitch his tent. That sounds like an easy task, but after a number of calls to local parks and such, the fact was that a warm welcome was hard to find. Not knowing what else to do and with the sun dipping lower on the horizon, I offered my home as respite. I couldn’t imagine not offering shelter to someone on a round-trip bicycle journey from Toronto to Brazil!
Just as the pebble in the pond, the ripple effect raised community awareness of the library and its staff as a trustworthy community resource. Customers overhearing the conversation have since commended the warm welcome provided to sole adventurer, Lalo, and have seen our library as a place that provides help to all who walk through our doors—Connections indeed!
This photo was taken of Lalo @ morning departure. Read more about his incredible journey on his blog!
www.infinitycycle.blogspot.com
He is also associated with the organization, Bikes Without Borders. www.bikeswithoutborders.org
Upper Shores launched our first lap sit. Mother Goose was on the loose! We welcomed our newest library members to their first story time. Our very young crowd of eager readers joined Laura in song and finger play.
Bienvenidos! Community members from all over the county experienced a warm welcome at the Hot, Hot, Hot Hispanic Heritage Month celebration held at Upper Shores on Thursday night, Oct. 2nd. The after-hours event brought down the house with over 100 people in attendance! The crowd took in Salsa dance lessons, Latino fare (bocaditos y refrescos) and the live salsa dura sound of 7-piece band, Ray Rodriguez y Swing Sabroso. This most popular annual event also included the partnership of Seaside Heights’ Borough with free round-trip transportation provided for area residents.
Saturday’s second annual Teen Battle of the Bands in Lavallette had all the makings for a great Jersey Shore party. Clear skies. Three hundred visitors. Seven bands. And it was all free.
The competition started shortly after noon in the parking lot of the Upper Shores branch of the Ocean County Library and was open to all area teen-aged bands. Each band had a fifteen-minute set to perform their best music, said branch manager June Schneider.
The Irie Sound, a trio of freshmen high school students from Point Pleasant, won the competition. They were awarded prizes that included a four-hour recording session at Metro Music Recording Studio in Bayville and two dozen original-design band T-shirts.
The T-shirts were provided by the Lavallette Municipal Alliance, PNC Bank and The Friends of the Upper Shores Library.
Metro Music also presented each of the other bands a greatly reduced-price coupon for recording time at their studio.
Judges of the Battle included Lavallette Councilwoman Anita Zalmon, Metro Music’s studio coordinator Ali Gleason, and Ricky Gettis, a student at The Musicians Institute, Los Angeles.
“As far as I’m concerned, there are no losers here today,” said Zalmon, who told the crowd she played Fender bass guitar in a rock band to pay her way through college. “Everyone here is a winner and I am proud to be a judge.”
“This was one of our first big gigs,” said bass player Mitchell Romano of the group Fake Identity. “We were a little anxious the first couple of songs but then settled down and had fun.”
“This gives us great exposure and hopefully a bunch of people who haven’t heard us will like our music and go to our Web site (MySpace.com/TheBandFakeIdentity),” said the group’s drummer Sean Van Winkle.
“I really think this was great,” said Kait DiBenedetto, lead singer and guitarist in the group Just Kait as she closed out the group’s set. “Thanks to June (Schneider) and everyone at the library for all they have done for us.”
The Academy of Drums and Guitar, Toms River donated the use of a Premier drum set for all the bands to perform on. The Ocean County Freeholders donated the use of the county’s portable bandshell. Michael Visco set up the sound system.
The bands that performed Saturday included Fake Identity; Just Kait; Lost Intentions; Mystical Fudge; Note to Self; Suns at the Beach; and The Irie Sound.
Special asides:
The borough police did double duty during the contest. Not only did they block off traffic on Jersey City Avenue but they also helped people return their books. It seems that a couple of people wanted to drive up to the library and drop off their books but couldn’t get there easily. One of the officers, Class 1 Police Officer Tom Weigel, brought the books into the building for them. Now that’s community service!
Carol Nierstedt, whose son Cody performed with Note to Self, invited her neighbor Tomasina to the musical event. During the competition Tomasina went up to June Schneider and said, “I’ve lived in Lavallette 49 years and I never once visited the library. I like all that you do here and now I’m going to sign up for a library card.”
