NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME/GELLMAN IMAGES
Eddie Brigati at the New Jersey Hall of Fame induction ceremony at Dream Live at American Dream in East Rutherford, Sept. 24.
At this year’s New Jersey Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which took place Sept. 24 at Dream Live at American Dream in East Rutherford, Stevie Van Zandt remembered seeing The Rascals at The Matawan-Keyport Roller Drome in the ’60s, when he was a teenager.
“They were the most exciting band anyone had ever seen,” said Van Zandt, who also praised Dino Danelli as “the greatest drummer, literally, in rock ‘n’ roll, and rhapsodized over Eddie Brigati’s voice.
“It was a different kind of voice,” he said. “It was beautiful. It was sensual, but tough. It was sexy, with an attitude. In other words, what it was, was New Jersey.”
Van Zandt was inducting Brigati, who was going into the Hall with his late brother David (who worked with The Rascals, Joey Dee & the Starliters and other groups) and the late Danelli. Eddie Brigati then spoke, after which he lived up to Van Zandt’s description by singing a sweetly yearning version of the Rascals ballad “How Can I Be Sure?” and then leading many of the evening’s participants — including Van Zandt and Tommy James — through the Rascals’ classic garage-rocker, “Good Lovin’.” Many of the ceremony’s other honorees and participants, including ex-New York Giants Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson (who inducted Taylor), inductee Christine Todd Whitman, and emcee Danny DeVito, joined them onstage as well. (watch video of both “How Can I Be Sure?” and “Good Lovin’,” below)
There was a lot of music in this show. Guitarist and singer Marc Riber of Van Zandt’s Disciples of Soul band led his own group, The Asbury All-Stars (including musicians such as saxophonist Mark Rivera and singer Jessie Wagner), as the evening house band. James (inducted into the Hall in 2017) sang his Shondells hit “Mony Mony” with Van Zandt joining in on guitar and backing vocals (watch video below).
Rivera, a longtime Billy Joel backing musician, sang Joel’s “You May Be Right.” Wagner, the Disciples of Soul member and solo artist, sang Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade,” and Ribler kicked off the show by singing Bruce Springsteen’s “No Surrender.”
NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME/GELLMAN IMAGES
DANNY DeVITO
In a touching surprise, DeVito spoke warmly about the Asbury Park-based doo-wop singer Nicky Addeo (not one of the evening’s inductees), who died in June, and introduced a short video about him. DeVito called Addeo a “dear, dear, dear friend of mine. I went to grade school with him. We’ve been friends forever.”
Addeo was “a sweet, sweet man and, for me, the soul of the Jersey Sound,” DeVito said.
SZA was inducted — by her parents, who raised her in Maplewood — and though she didn’t perform any music, she did give a nice, heartfelt acceptance speech. “I just want to say I love Jersey — every corner of Jersey,” she said, going on to share thoughts about everything from the Portuguese ribs she has eaten in the Ironbound section of Newark to her alma mater, Columbia High School, whose previous graduates, she mentioned, include Lauryn Hill.
Later, she posted on Instagram: “Got inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame … MORE IMPORTANTLY I MET DANNY DEVITO.”
Making a pointedly political point, Whitman, who was New Jersey’s governor from 1994 to 2001, spent much of her speech talking about one of the things about her tenure that she is most proud about: A Supreme Court case that determined that most of Ellis Island is in New Jersey. “Whether it’s in Swedesboro, in South Jersey, or the Ironbound, in Newark, (immigrants) gave us their talent, they gave us their dedication, they gave us their culture, that made this state such a wonderful state,” she said. “They gave us a diversity that has … prompted them, and still continues with me, that we are many faces, but one family. And we should, as New Jerseyans, be proud that Ellis Island is here in New Jersey. We should own it and be proud about it.”
NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME/GELLMAN IMAGES
From left, Lawrence Taylor, Tommy James and Stevie Van Zandt during the song “Good Lovin’.”
In addition to the speech by Carson, Taylor was honored with videos by former Giants head coach Bill Parcells, former Giants assistant coach Bill Belichick, and Giants owner John Mara. Belichick had the funniest line, joking “it was a privilege for me to coach you — when you were at the meetings. And on time. And awake.”
DeVito also got some laughs when he was talking about how the Hall planned to keep the speeches from going too long, this year. “Cory Booker’s still talking,” he said, referring to one of the presenters at last year’s ceremony.
This was the first New Jersey Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the 3,000-seat Dream Live theater, which opened this summer. The hall’s Entertainment and Learning Center opened at American Dream in 2024.
Dream Live worked significantly better than last year’s location: American Dream’s hockey rink, which was transformed into a ballroom-like venue for the occasion, with its ice covered. Sound was a major problem in the rink, which was not build for acoustics; there was no such problems this time around.
For a complete list of inductees, visit njhalloffame.org/annual-induction-ceremony.
Click HERE for a new interview with Eddie Brigati, published earlier this week.
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