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“Hoboken Talks”: John O’Toole reminisces about Maxwell’s & Hoboken’s indie music scene
August 23, 2021 @ 12:00 am
The Hoboken Museum is now offering a weekly live-streamed program, “Hoboken Talks,” featuring interesting personalities, on Thursdays at 7 pm. Viewers are encouraged to chime in with comments on YouTube and Facebook.
On August 26, “Hoboken Talks” welcomes John O’Toole, who worked at Maxwell’s, a popular club in the indie music scene, during its heyday. O’Toole was drawn to Hoboken from Lodi, NJ, because his love of music. He and the Museum’s own Rand Hoppe will reminisce about those days, and of course, what’s been happening since then. They may even play a little of “The Washington Street Game” to celebrate our new exhibit, “The Avenue.”
Use the buttons below to join in via your preferred channel, or look us up by our handle “HobokenMuseum.”
Past episodes may be replayed any time on YouTube. Recent guests have included super-nanny and Storytime host, Cassia Fidelis; artist and owner of Luna Rosa Home, Diane Stiglich; Steve Zane, chair of the Hoboken Historical Commission; popular children’s entertainer, Ron “Polka Dot” Albanese; landscape business owner and former Museum Board President Valerie Hufnagel; Father Vinny Fortunato of St. Ann’s Church; artist, teacher and community activist Liz Cohen Ndoye; artist Lou Carbone; actor Douglas Taurel; restaurateur Dave Carney; NJ poets Joel Lewis and Danny Shot; Bob Drasheff, who served the City of Hoboken in various roles over 25 years under five separate administrations; Todd Abramson, music DJ, talent booker and former co-owner of the legendary Maxwell’s nightclub at 11th and Washington; Bill “Mr. Ocean Liner” Miller, who shared his love of Hoboken, teaching at Hoboken High School, and his vast knowledge of the glory days of ocean liner travel; former Trustee, historic preservation activist and gardening enthusiast Terry Pranses; poet Roxanne Hoffman, who runs the literary press “Poets Wear Prada”; former Hoboken Museum educator Maria Lara; Lisa Rigoux-Hoppe, who just celebrated 20 years of working in the development office at Stevens Institute of Technology; and entrepreneur and fourth generation Hoboken businessman, Greg Dell’Aquila, owner of the Mission 50 coworking space.
Our first guest was Mark Singleton, realtor and active volunteer in local nonprofits such as the Hoboken Shelter, interviewed by Museum Collections Manager Rand Hoppe, who also serves on the Shelter’s board. Other guests have included 1970s Hoboken photographer John Conn; poet Danny Shot, who organizes cultural events across multiple art forms; often with another guest, artist and gallerist Issa Sow; photographer Chris Lopez, who spoke with Bob Foster about a project to document the arson waves that shook Hoboken in the 1980s; and Stevens Institute archivist Leah Loscutoff, who spoke about Hoboken’s founding family, the Stevens.
The variety of guests’ experience is a testament to Hoboken’s diversity: The Little Grocery owner, Neamet Elsayed, came to the U.S. from Egypt as a professional soccer player and became a sought-after chef and restaurateur; journalist and social media maven Victoria Moyeno is a fourth-generation Hobokenite who spoke about her vivid memories of growing up in a large family in Hoboken. Contemporary local rock ‘n’ roller Karyn Kuhl was interviewed by writer, bon vivant and volunteer extraordinaire, Jack Silbert; and Rand Hoppe interviewed Lois Dilivio about their experience producing literary art zines about Hoboken’s thriving art scene in the 1980s-90s.