NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME
From left, Kevin, Nick and Joe Jonas at the New Jersey Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
It will probably never happen again. Hit-making New Jersey brother acts separated by several generations — The Isley Brothers, and The Jonas Brothers — were in the same place, at the same time, Nov. 21, when they were both inducted into The New Jersey Hall of Fame at The Rink at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford.
The Isleys were represented by Ronald Isley, 84, and Ernie Isley, 73; they still perform as The Isley Brothers, though their sibling bandmates are deceased. The Jonas Brothers, who range in age from 33 to 38, made the appearance on a day off between tour stops in Providence, Rhode Island (Nov. 20) and Cincinnati (Nov. 22).
“New Jersey prepares you for life,” joked Nick Jonas, in the group’s acceptance speech. “If you can survive the Turnpike traffic and the Shore on Labor Day weekend, you can survive anything.”
Jon Bon Jovi was also at the ceremony, to induct his Bon Jovi bandmate (and Tony-winning Broadway composer) David Bryan, and cheer on his wife Dorothea, who was being honored as the founder and program director of the JBJ Soul Kitchen community restaurants in Red Bank and other cities.
Edie Falco was there to induct CNN newswoman Dana Bash. Throughout the tumult of recent years, said Falco, Bash “has been the voice of reason, of sanity, of informed intelligence, of fairness, and of calm.”
Danny DeVito served as MC and sang along to the show-closing version of “Twist & Shout,” by the Glen Burtnik-led house band. John Rzeznik of The Goo Goo Dolls, a Buffalo native who now lives in Westfield, sang Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” as a duet with Bryan (who also played piano), and also fronted the house band on Sam Cooke’s “Having a Party” (strongly associated with New Jersey’s own Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes).
Michael E. Uslan, inducted as the producer of “Batman” films and the longtime chairman of The New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission, made the evening’s most striking fashion statement with yellow-and-black Bat Tie.
NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME
David Bryan at the New Jersey Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Bryan’s daughter — Gabby Bryan, a comedian and Internet personality — co-inducted her father with Jon Bon Jovi, and the two did a comedy routine about the inductee together, repeatedly asking, “How New Jersey is he?” and answering with lines like “He brings his own bowling bowl on tour.”
“Tonight is a celebration of opportunity,” said Bryan. “And New Jersey is THE place for opportunity. And it all starts in a mall.”
He also said, more seriously, “New Jersey gave me the drive, the hard-work ethic, to make my dream come true.”
Ken Daneyko inducted his former New Jersey Devil teammate, Martin Brodeur. The 26-year-old track-and-field star Sydney McLaughlin was inducted via video by Jackie Joyner-Kersee. (Also appearing by video was actor Mark Hamill, to induct Uslan.) Hubie Brown, the 92-year-old former basketball coach and broadcaster, was unable to attend, so DeVito accepted his award in his honor.
And then there the politicians, including incoming governor Mikie Sherrill, who introduced the “Having a Party” number; outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy, who inducted The Isley Brothers; and Sen. Cory Booker, who gave what I felt was the Speech of the Night: An eloquent, sincere appreciation of Dorothea Bongiovi, whose Soul Kitchen initiative, he said, represents “a movement for human dignity” and “a defiant act of community in a world that, unfortunately, is growing more divided.”
In her acceptance speech, Dorothea Bongiovi called it “a social program disguised as a restaurant.”
The New Jersey Hall of Fame opened its center at American Dream last year, and this induction ceremony — the institution’s 17th — was the first to take place at The Rink. The ice was covered and the space was transformed into a ballroom-like venue for the occasion, with tables up front, rows of seats behind them, and black curtains walling off the space. It looked fine, for an event such as this one. The sound, though, was a significant problem. The rink is in a multi-level mall that was not built with acoustics in mind, and so the speeches were often hard to hear.
NEW JERSEY HALL OF FAME
John Rzeznik performs, with Marc Muller (left) and Glen Burtnik, at the New Jersey Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Another disappointment: Though Jon Bon Jovi, The Jonas Brothers and The Isley Brothers were all there, none of them actually sang. Rzeznik, though, sounded good on “Wanted Dead or Alive” and “Having a Party. And Freedom Bremner (one of the house band’s trio of vocalists, along with Reagan Richards of Williams Honor, and Khadijah Islah Mohammed) sang dynamic lead vocals on The Isley Brothers’ “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You).”
Here are this year’s inductees. Asterisks (*) denote those who were inducted posthumously.
Performing Arts & Entertainment: David Bryan; The Isley Brothers; The Jonas Brothers; Michael E. Uslan
Arts & Letters: Dana S. Bash; Mary Alice Williams
Sports: Martin Brodeur; Hubie Brown; Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone
Public Service: John P. Keegan; Sheila Y. Oliver*; William Edward Simon*; David T. Wilentz*
Enterprise: Frank Bisignano; David Burke; Lawrence R. Inserra Jr.; Zygi Wil
Education, Research, Engineering & Science: Shirley Ann Jackson
Educator of the Year: Drury Thorp
Unsung Hero: Dorothea Bongiovi
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