Thursday, October 25, 2012
Pequannock has their two game winning streak snapped
By Steve Janoski
PEQUANNOCK — If the past two weeks' wins against Boonton and Whippany Park were big steps forward for the Pequannock Panthers, Friday night's 35-12 loss to the Kinnelon Colts was a full step back as the team fell behind early and was never able to recover its momentum.
Most of the points came from the Colts' brutal duo of quarterback Sean Robbins and receiver Connor Villante, who hooked up five times for 205 yards and three first-quarter touchdowns of 40, 50, and 71 yards.
Robbins also managed to hit receiver Joe Presti mid-way through the second for a 19-yard touchdown that extended the lead to 29-0.
"It's so hard to simulate what it is that they do in practice, the speed and the physical play that they presented to us," head coach Ed Kopp said after the game. "We kinda challenged our guys to go 'mano y mano' with their wide receivers, make (Robbins) throw the ball…but Robbins is a hell of a player and you gotta' tip your hat to his performance."
The game was not without its highlights for the 2-6 Panthers, however — as always, senior quarterback Luke Foukas led the way, and his hard running would lead him to the endzone twice — once in the second quarter, and again in the culmination of a six-minute drive late in the fourth that saw him turn three fourth-down conversions before scoring on a 23-yard dash.
He would finish with 25 carries for 193 yards, but Kopp said the strain of playing both ways is taking a physical toll on the keystone player. However, with Pequannock receivers dropping a number of balls throughout the game, the coach's options sometimes appear limited.
"Ultimately, we need to be able to throw the football…it's hard on a kid to tackle on defense, then run as hard as he is …and then sit back in the pocket and throw the ball," he said. "(Foukas) has been a solid performer all year-long, we just need to get a little bit more out of everybody else."
There were other bright spots as well: the Panthers defense, so porous in the first half during the midst of Kinnelon's fireworks show, strengthened in the second half as well — twice, they stifled the Colts' red-zone drives, and forced them to go for field goals of 26 and 32 yards (both of which kicker Evan Argiriou made.)
However, there were no moral victories for the Panthers, said Kopp.
http://www.northjersey.com/sports/175184761_Pequannock_has_their_two_game_winning_streak_snapped.html
Friday, October 19, 2012
Vernon poet S. Thomas Summers to read at the Ringwood Public Library on Oct. 20
By Steve Janoski
RINGWOOD — Of the thousands upon thousands of books written about the Civil War, there are but a few that, instead of relying on battle maps, lists of dates, and casualty rolls to tell a black-and-white history, seek to illustrate the conflict’s sanguine horrors by peering through the eyes of those who fought — and fewer still that abandon flowery prose and adapt the terse, sheer style of poetry in order to do it.
The book, published by Anaphora Literary Press and written from the perspective of a southern everyman named Hercules McGraw, uses poetry to follow this "uneducated, rural, pig-farmer kinda guy" through America’s greatest tragedy as he fights for the South only to learn that "the cause" was not quite what he thought it to be.
Summers, 43, teaches English literature at Wayne Hills High School and at Passaic County Community College, and said that his character’s motivation stems from a hope to one day have enough money to purchase a slave (which he considers the ultimate status symbol) in order to impress his girl, Martha Lane. Should slavery be abolished, he reasons, that will never happen.
But as so often happens, the horrors of war bring out both the best and worst in men — and although McGraw is himself an active participant in creating some of those horrors, he also witnesses the bravery of the former slaves who have put on the blue uniform to fight against their oppressors.
In the end, said Summers, he realizes that they are no different than he.
"He gains a huge respect for them because of what they’ve been through as a persecuted race, and he sees that they’ve fought as hard he has," he said.
The epiphany leads McGraw to lose interest in both Lane and the southern cause, and his metamorphosis is completed when, upon returning home, he helps a slave escape on the underground railroad. Although Summers acknowledges that at first glance, he appears to have little in common with his simple farmer, writing through McGraw’s eyes gave him a deep understanding of what the man might have gone through, especially as he explores the parts of history that "fall into the cracks, that the historians can’t see."
"As I wrote, I kind of became my character… in the back of my head I was bleeding, I was scared, I was crying, I was doing everything that he was," he said. "It’s why at readings, when I read certain poems I sometimes tear up because it’s become so personal to me."
There’s also the larger narrative, Summers said, in which McGraw could be any man, in any war, that gazes into the Medusa-like eye of combat and suffers the consequences of witnessing that which is "not for humans to see" — even the juxtaposition of "Hercules" and "McGraw," with its demigod lead followed by a routine Irish surname, reflects the God-like power of giving and taking life the common man possesses during battle.
"The things that these guys see and experience… it messes (soldiers) up, because they’re not supposed to see this, they’re not supposed to decide who lives and who dies," he said. "I thought that was meant for the gods."
But, Summers said, much of the writing process was not so dark, and he enjoyed experimenting with the unfamiliar southern dialect to create phrases that his character might actually have uttered.
"I liked the way they talked, I liked the metaphors they used, it was fun for me as someone who has grown up in the North, who doesn’t talk like that, to make that voice authentic was the fun part," he said.
He’s now in the process of writing a sister book, which will speak on the Civil War from the point of view of an educated northern English teacher who, although he is a pacifist, enlists due to a feeling of being obligated to protect his students, many of whom had signed up to fight. But that story may not have such an upbeat ending, the writer said, as the former pacifist discovers a darkness within him that he never knew existed and finds out that he is indeed quite good at killing.
The projects are certainly keeping Summers, who has been writing poetry since college, busy; although his first works weren’t quite up to par, he joked, he has honed his craft over the past 20 years, and has since had works published in The Atlantic, Loch Raven Review, and Literary Bohemian. His interest in the Civil War has been more recent, however, and stems from his first reading of the famous novel-turned-movie "Cold Mountain." Initially, he said, he picked it up because its construction mirrors the Greek epic "The Odyssey," which he often teaches to high school students, but he was soon enveloped in the drama.
"I thought it would be interesting to read the book…but that reflection stirred my passion; it was no longer just dates and battles, it was people and blood and heartache and victory," he said. After a few visits the fields where the violent fights took place, there’s been no turning back.
"It’s been pretty much all I’ve written about since," he said.
Summers will be reading at 1 p.m. at the library, which is located at 30 Cannici Drive, along with poet David Vincenti, who will offer a "view of the life of astronomer Galileo Galilei." Vincenti’s poems have appeared in the Paterson Literary Review, the Edison Literary Review, and The Journal of New Jersey Poets, and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. For more information, call the library at 973-962-6256.
Email: janoski@northjersey.com
Monday, October 15, 2012
One soldier's last full measure
By Steve Janoski
For those of us born in the shadow of the new millennium, the very idea of knowing anything about the daily life of a man born in the 1830s might seem slightly crazy.
But for some, like 25-year-old Antietam park ranger Dan Vermilya, who routinely walks the fields where his great-great-great-grandfather Elwood Rodebaugh was killed 150 years ago, not only knowing that story, but retelling it, has become a way to show people that, as Faulkner said, "The past isn't dead. It's not even past."
Rodebaugh's figure has always loomed over the native Ohioan's life in one way or another — as a child, his grandfather used to tell him the story about the young man who went off to war back in 1861, and the tale sparked a lifelong passion for learning about the conflict. Eventually, it led him to choose a profession that carried him back to these same acres that once soaked up the blood of that man, whose narrative he has filled out through his own research.
Rodebaugh, he said, was a 30-year-old Pennsylvania shoemaker when the Civil War erupted in 1861. He and his wife Josephine (just 25 at the time) had two young children: a 4-year-old daughter named Heloise and a 3-year-old boy named Charles.
Had this family man chosen to stay home and ignore the bloodletting, he would have hardly been the only one (especially in the North), but whatever convictions compelled him to enlist in the 106th Pennsylvania in the summer of that year must have been deeply-held, because they sustained him through heavy fighting in Virginia during the spring of 1862 and into the fall.
And on Sept. 17, Rodebaugh's unit was at Antietam, charged with the unenviable task of storming a section of rebel line that sat in what's now known as the West Woods. It's here that words frustratingly fail the writer, because there is no way to adequately describe what must have been a scene of chaotic violence; though many of us have undoubtedly felt similar sensations — the tunnel vision, machine-gun heart rate, the shaking hands — at least once in our lives when we've felt threatened, how can we who have never seen true combat understand that kind of terror?
It was a vicious fight, to be sure, one that went on too long and took too many lives. Vermilya has read numerous accounts, and said that it appears that Rodebaugh was last seen along a fence-line, desperately trying to make a stand against the rebels who had fallen with crushing weight on the Union flank. At some point after that — it's not known how or when — he became one of the 23,000 to fall upon that field.
And when Rodebaugh received his fatal wound, be it by bullet or artillery shell, we will never know where his final thoughts wandered as he lay dying on the soft Maryland grass — this again, we can only imagine. Unfortunately, Vermilya said, Rodebaugh had shaved his beard just before the battle, which made him unrecognizable to the burial parties. As such, no grave or monument marks where he fell.
Perhaps the saddest part of all, however, is that this is but one of thousands upon thousands of stories from that war just like it; in the end, that's why Vermilya tells it.
So as the tall, lean ranger approaches the same age his distant relative was when he died, one man's tragedy has become a way to illuminate the fact that history was not fought in the ivory pages of history books, but in the fields, and that every dot of ink in that blue line on the battlefield map was a man (or, more likely, a boy of 18 or 20) who had a mother he loved, a father he respected, a girlfriend or wife he missed uncontrollably, a son or daughter who was everything to him.
Working at Antietam has made the story more important, and more emotional, than ever before.
"In general, working as a park ranger carries the responsibility of knowing how important this battle was, but to know that I had a direct bloodline to it…. it's (become) more than just a professional obligation. It's a personal obligation," said Vermilya. "It reminds us that these battles are fought not by lines on a map, not by numbers in a book, but real people with real families making sacrifices for the things that they believe in. 150 years ago, tremendous sacrifices were made (at Antietam), and they were selfless sacrifices."
The ranger has a blog entitled "Our Country's Fiery Ordeal," where he goes into great detail about his thoughts on that most brutal of wars. In one passage, he quotes historian Dr. Joseph Harsh, who wrote that we should honor the soldiers' legacy, "For we are the future for whom they fought."
For Vermilya, that is quite literally true, and he must never let us forget that.
Dan Vermilya's blog on the Civil War and Antietam can be found at fieryordeal.blogspot.com.
Email: janoski@northjersey.com
http://www.northjersey.com/community/history/more_history_news/173633741_One_soldier_s_last_full_measure.html?page=all
Monday, October 8, 2012
Butler council mulls new proposal for Argonne Woods development
Mounir Badaan, CEO of property owner Badanco Holding LLC, appeared before the Borough Council with his son, Brandon, on Oct. 2 to present the revised plan, which Borough Attorney Bob Oostdyk said would likely require a zoning overlay before it could move forward due to apartments not being approved for the R-7 zone Argonne Woods sits in.
Much has changed since the company first got the approvals for the condo development back in 2005-06, Badaan told the councilmen, and the pool of potential buyers for the 2,800-square-foot, $400,000 townhomes has shrunk due to the economy.
Only 18 of the planned-for 69 units have been finished, and just 10 have been sold in the year and a half since their completion. Some of those have been sold for $50,000 under cost, he said.
"We are losing a fortune," he said. "It hasn’t been benefitting us and it hasn’t been benefitting the town… we’re just getting to be in a very bad situation."
Badaan asked the council for permission to finish out the second construction phase — bringing the total number of condos to 38 — but then change course and finish the project out with one- and two-bedroom, 800- to 1,000-square-foot rental units that would go for about $1,000 a month.
"Renting today is doing unbelievable… that’s what everybody’s looking for right now, and that’s where the shortage is today…nobody has $300,000 - $400,000 to buy homes," he said.
This would leave Argonne with a total of 90 apartments, which would raise the number of overall units to 128 but remain within the same physical footprint due to the smaller size of the floor plans.
Badaan’s son Brandon said that the three-story building would reach a height of 55 feet, 20 feet higher than the borough allows, and would require a variance. However, before spending an estimated $250,000 on new site plans, he said, they wanted to get a feeling from the council as to whether it would perform the zone overlay.
After a brief conversation, Councilman Bob Fox, the governing body’s liaison to the Land Use/Planning Board, suggested that he be allowed to bring the idea to that body and discuss it before the council made any decision.
The rest of the council agreed, and Oostdyk noted that with the increased density and zoning change, getting the board’s approval before borough officials put the effort into reviewing plans would be appropriate.
The Badaans concurred, with Mounir stressing the importance of being allowed to move forward with the new proposal.
"That’s the only way we’re going to be able to survive," he said, "because the way it is right now, it’s just bleeding and bleeding."
Email: janoski@northjersey.com
http://www.northjersey.com/news/173065901_Butler_council_mulls_new_proposal_for_Argonne_Woods_development.html?page=all
Football: Fake field goal sparks Pequannock
By Steve Janoski
PEQUANNOCK — It may have taken four weeks of struggle, but things finally fell together for the Pequannock Panthers on Friday night as a powerful running game combined with a suffocating defense to lead the team to a 21 – 7 victory over the Boonton Bombers.
That running game, which was led by back AJ Adamcyzk (15 carries, 89 yards and a touchdown) and quarterback Luke Foukas (10 carries, 145 yards and a touchdown), was a result of the Pequannock offensive line finding its stride, Adamcyzk later said.
"The line blocked amazing tonight, the holes were there… it was an all around good effort," he said.
After a slow start, the Panthers fell into a rhythm late in the first quarter as five straight runs by Foukas and Adamcyzk took Pequannock from the Boonton 41 down to the 11. From there, they set up to attempt a 28 yard-field goal — or so everyone thought, until holder Anthony Rosano tucked the ball and dashed for the endzone in a well-masked fake.
After the game, Rosano said that he and head coach Ed Kopp had spoken about the play beforehand and agreed to give it a shot.
"(We) were talking about that before the game and we said that if we got inside the 10 or 20, we'd definitely run our fake field-goal," he said. "We executed it, and it worked out well."
The play put the Panthers up by seven, a lead which they added to late in the second quarter on a long drive that was kept alive by Foukas, who, on a second and two from the Pequannock 28, turned a broken pass play into a 55-yard gain when he took off down the center of the field. He was stopped from scoring only by a shoestring tackle by Boonton safety Isaac Spann.
Two plays later, Adamcyzk saw a huge hole open for him on a second and eight from the Boonton 15, and after what he called "a few arm tackles" that barely slowed him down, he broke through for Pequannock's second score of the night. Going into halftime, the Panthers held a surprising 14-0 advantage.
"(The line) blocked, the hole was there, and I saw the endzone and I went for it," Adamcyzk said. "If I see that thing (the endzone) I'm going for it."
Boonton struck back quickly, however, with Spann taking the opening kickoff of the second half 63 yards for a touchdown. In the past, this is where Pequannock might have faltered, but instead, they rallied on the following drive to take the ball 69 yards over six plays and score, this time on a 17-yard Foukas touchdown run.
It was that drive, Kopp said, that might prove to be the turning point in the season.
"This was the first time our team actually responded, and we drove the ball down the field and punched it in… that takes an awful lot of belief and confidence in each other," he said.
Pequannock's defense then took over, forcing Boonton to punt on the ensuing drive and stopping them on fourth down twice in the following two.
The win means everything not only to the Panther seniors, the coach said, but also to the younger players, of whom there are many on the inexperienced squad.
"This is huge in terms of building the (winning) habits and making it through the grind of the season," he said. "Every little thing that goes right gives you a little more confidence to do it well the next time…and we finally came out on top."
Email: janoski@northjersey.com
Butler Quick Chek controversey not a closed book
By Steve Janoski
BUTLER - When the borough’s Land Use/Planning Board decided to approve a proposal to build a Quick Chek convenience store/gas station complex on a sliver of land between Bartholdi and Boonton avenues back in June, it appeared that the final chapter of the 17-month saga of proceedings had been closed.
A new lawsuit appealing the decision has added another facet, however, and might give hope to the handful of residents who opposed the 12-pump, 24-hour station/store on Route 23 from the start.
The suit, which was filed in the Morris County Superior Court on Sept. 10, is being brought by Lafayette Avenue resident Janice Harper-Young, whose back property borders the site.
Harper-Young had testified during the proceedings that she believed her 19-year-old son, Ryan, who is multiply disabled and wheelchair-bound, would be adversely affected by the construction of the station/store, which would require 19 variances to build, and might force her to move from the house.
According to the court documents, Harper-Young is being represented by the Pequannock-based attorney Dave Dixon, who also represented Kinnelon resident Craig Brinster throughout the initial hearings. Brinster owns the 7-Eleven across Boonton Avenue from the Quick Chek site.
The suit names the Land Use board, the Borough of Butler, and Quick Chek as defendants, and alleges that Quick Chek "failed to present the required evidence to support the board’s grant of Preliminary & Final Major Site Plan, Conditional Use Variance, Use Variance, Bulk Variance, and/or Site Plan Waiver approvals."
Therefore, it said the actions of the board in granting site plan approval were "in all regards unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious, and unsupported by the evidence."
The suit also alleges that Quick Chek failed to apply for or give "sufficient, adequate, or specific notice" of either its variances or the "substantial changes" made to the application during the process, and it charges the Borough Council with changing the local zoning ordinance without giving the correct notice to the affected neighbors.
As a result, Dixon said in a phone conversation, he feels the notices were "defective and didn’t properly apprise the public to the nature of the application."
The attorney admitted that these were mostly procedural issues, but said that "if the court follows the law," it will be enough to send the case back to the Land Use/Planning Board for a re-hearing.
"I honestly believe that there were insufficient proofs to grant the variances, and there were procedural and jurisdictional issues that were raised that call into question the validity of the decision," he said, adding that he believes there to be a "very high likelihood" that the ruling will be overturned.
Quick Chek can begin building if it wishes to, but Dixon said to do so would be "at their peril" because if the ruling goes against Quick Chek, it would be forced to tear down whatever had been built.
Fred Azrak, whose Pequannock-based Azrak & Associates is representing Quick Chek, dismissed the validity of the lawsuit and said that he thought the case would be settled quickly and end in a ruling allowing construction of the store to move forward.
Attorney Peter McArthur, the lawyer from Azrak’s firm who presented Quick Chek’s case before the Planning Board, concurred. He said that Quick Chek would "vigorously defend the allegations in the lawsuit" and that he is "confident that at the end of the day, we’ll prevail."
Email: janoski@northjersey.com
http://www.northjersey.com/news/172593941_Butler_Quick_Chek_controversey_not_a_closed_book_ruling_to_be_appealed_.html?page=all
BUTLER - When the borough’s Land Use/Planning Board decided to approve a proposal to build a Quick Chek convenience store/gas station complex on a sliver of land between Bartholdi and Boonton avenues back in June, it appeared that the final chapter of the 17-month saga of proceedings had been closed.
A new lawsuit appealing the decision has added another facet, however, and might give hope to the handful of residents who opposed the 12-pump, 24-hour station/store on Route 23 from the start.
The suit, which was filed in the Morris County Superior Court on Sept. 10, is being brought by Lafayette Avenue resident Janice Harper-Young, whose back property borders the site.
Harper-Young had testified during the proceedings that she believed her 19-year-old son, Ryan, who is multiply disabled and wheelchair-bound, would be adversely affected by the construction of the station/store, which would require 19 variances to build, and might force her to move from the house.
According to the court documents, Harper-Young is being represented by the Pequannock-based attorney Dave Dixon, who also represented Kinnelon resident Craig Brinster throughout the initial hearings. Brinster owns the 7-Eleven across Boonton Avenue from the Quick Chek site.
The suit names the Land Use board, the Borough of Butler, and Quick Chek as defendants, and alleges that Quick Chek "failed to present the required evidence to support the board’s grant of Preliminary & Final Major Site Plan, Conditional Use Variance, Use Variance, Bulk Variance, and/or Site Plan Waiver approvals."
Therefore, it said the actions of the board in granting site plan approval were "in all regards unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious, and unsupported by the evidence."
The suit also alleges that Quick Chek failed to apply for or give "sufficient, adequate, or specific notice" of either its variances or the "substantial changes" made to the application during the process, and it charges the Borough Council with changing the local zoning ordinance without giving the correct notice to the affected neighbors.
As a result, Dixon said in a phone conversation, he feels the notices were "defective and didn’t properly apprise the public to the nature of the application."
The attorney admitted that these were mostly procedural issues, but said that "if the court follows the law," it will be enough to send the case back to the Land Use/Planning Board for a re-hearing.
"I honestly believe that there were insufficient proofs to grant the variances, and there were procedural and jurisdictional issues that were raised that call into question the validity of the decision," he said, adding that he believes there to be a "very high likelihood" that the ruling will be overturned.
Quick Chek can begin building if it wishes to, but Dixon said to do so would be "at their peril" because if the ruling goes against Quick Chek, it would be forced to tear down whatever had been built.
Fred Azrak, whose Pequannock-based Azrak & Associates is representing Quick Chek, dismissed the validity of the lawsuit and said that he thought the case would be settled quickly and end in a ruling allowing construction of the store to move forward.
Attorney Peter McArthur, the lawyer from Azrak’s firm who presented Quick Chek’s case before the Planning Board, concurred. He said that Quick Chek would "vigorously defend the allegations in the lawsuit" and that he is "confident that at the end of the day, we’ll prevail."
Email: janoski@northjersey.com
http://www.northjersey.com/news/172593941_Butler_Quick_Chek_controversey_not_a_closed_book_ruling_to_be_appealed_.html?page=all
Band of Brothers to play West Milford's Autumn Lights Festival
By Steve Janoski
WEST MILFORD — For West Milford's Brian Fitzpatrick, playing at the township's Autumn Lights Festival on Oct. 13 is a chance to do what he and his band-mates do best: lift people's moods through their music.
"We try to get people to have a good time with us, and we try to be the conduit for that good time…big or small, bar or festival, we want to uplift the spirit," he said. "That's what music is all about."
And that's what the 40-year-old guitarist/songwriter has been doing for his entire career, the last five years of which have been spent performing with the seven other musicians who form his "Band of Brothers."
Their sound is unique, he said, and it takes but one listen to any of their songs to realize that the eclectic mixture of roots rock, old-school country, and traditional Celtic-styled music does indeed create something that is hardly similar to anything played on the radio today.
"I can't say if it's different or better than the sound that anybody else creates, but it's ours and I like it," he said.
And if the "Irish" end comes through a bit heavy due to the addition of new mandolin and fiddle player Steve Jacobus, Fitzpatrick said that it isn't his fault.
Well. Maybe it is.
"I just think that it's ingrained in you somewhere in your DNA, it's a part of who you are, and you can try to deny or avoid it, but if you're an artist, it's going to manifest sometime… I was always drawn to that sound," he said.
But most times, it's not something he does intentionally — it just ends up that way. And when Fitzpatrick comes up with a tune or melody in his head, if he hears an accordion, or a mandolin, or a tin whistle filling out the background, that's what's going to be there.
"I'm a slave to the song, and a lot is dictated by what I write and what I hear in my head, and I thought (those instruments) served the songs best," he said.
And when the group takes the stage on Oct. 13, it will be keyboardist Ed Fritz, bassist Fred Machetto, drummer Scott Minafri, drummer Johnny Powers and new lead guitarist Joe Brensinger that make the tunes in Fitzpatrick's head come to life.
They'll be playing many of the tracks from their most recent release, 2012's "The Northern Lights EP," which, though it features just five songs, was described by the singer as "solid."
It wasn't supposed to be like that — even the album title was supposed to be longer — but it wasn't until after completing the recording process that the band sat down, listened to the finished product, and realized that they weren't as blown away as they should have been.
And, even in the age of the iTunes single, Fitzpatrick wasn't content with putting out an album that was only halfway there.
"We felt half was really solid, and the other half, for a variety of reasons, we weren't overwhelmed with it," he said. "(So) it felt better to put out an EP and love all five songs than put out an LP and hate half of them."
As he's gotten older, he said, his writing process has changed, and this album shows that the lyrics and music are coming from a different place than they did years ago.
"When you're younger and you're writing, it's more emotional, whereas now, the emotion is tempered by the logic that comes with age," he said. "The process is still relatively the same, but I think I'm more open and aware of (that process) now."
And then there's the band itself, which continues to evolve and change. The simple fact that there's always so many people on stage at once, any one of which could take the lead at any time, complicates things, he said, and makes the band play better as a whole.
"You have to communicate more between one another, and I think that inevitably makes you tighter as a band," he said. "You have to pass the ball around, so to speak."
http://www.northjersey.com/community/172594111_Band_of_Brothers_to_play.html?page=all
WEST MILFORD — For West Milford's Brian Fitzpatrick, playing at the township's Autumn Lights Festival on Oct. 13 is a chance to do what he and his band-mates do best: lift people's moods through their music.
"We try to get people to have a good time with us, and we try to be the conduit for that good time…big or small, bar or festival, we want to uplift the spirit," he said. "That's what music is all about."
And that's what the 40-year-old guitarist/songwriter has been doing for his entire career, the last five years of which have been spent performing with the seven other musicians who form his "Band of Brothers."
Their sound is unique, he said, and it takes but one listen to any of their songs to realize that the eclectic mixture of roots rock, old-school country, and traditional Celtic-styled music does indeed create something that is hardly similar to anything played on the radio today.
"I can't say if it's different or better than the sound that anybody else creates, but it's ours and I like it," he said.
And if the "Irish" end comes through a bit heavy due to the addition of new mandolin and fiddle player Steve Jacobus, Fitzpatrick said that it isn't his fault.
Well. Maybe it is.
"I just think that it's ingrained in you somewhere in your DNA, it's a part of who you are, and you can try to deny or avoid it, but if you're an artist, it's going to manifest sometime… I was always drawn to that sound," he said.
But most times, it's not something he does intentionally — it just ends up that way. And when Fitzpatrick comes up with a tune or melody in his head, if he hears an accordion, or a mandolin, or a tin whistle filling out the background, that's what's going to be there.
"I'm a slave to the song, and a lot is dictated by what I write and what I hear in my head, and I thought (those instruments) served the songs best," he said.
And when the group takes the stage on Oct. 13, it will be keyboardist Ed Fritz, bassist Fred Machetto, drummer Scott Minafri, drummer Johnny Powers and new lead guitarist Joe Brensinger that make the tunes in Fitzpatrick's head come to life.
They'll be playing many of the tracks from their most recent release, 2012's "The Northern Lights EP," which, though it features just five songs, was described by the singer as "solid."
It wasn't supposed to be like that — even the album title was supposed to be longer — but it wasn't until after completing the recording process that the band sat down, listened to the finished product, and realized that they weren't as blown away as they should have been.
And, even in the age of the iTunes single, Fitzpatrick wasn't content with putting out an album that was only halfway there.
"We felt half was really solid, and the other half, for a variety of reasons, we weren't overwhelmed with it," he said. "(So) it felt better to put out an EP and love all five songs than put out an LP and hate half of them."
As he's gotten older, he said, his writing process has changed, and this album shows that the lyrics and music are coming from a different place than they did years ago.
"When you're younger and you're writing, it's more emotional, whereas now, the emotion is tempered by the logic that comes with age," he said. "The process is still relatively the same, but I think I'm more open and aware of (that process) now."
And then there's the band itself, which continues to evolve and change. The simple fact that there's always so many people on stage at once, any one of which could take the lead at any time, complicates things, he said, and makes the band play better as a whole.
"You have to communicate more between one another, and I think that inevitably makes you tighter as a band," he said. "You have to pass the ball around, so to speak."
http://www.northjersey.com/community/172594111_Band_of_Brothers_to_play.html?page=all
Football: Kinnelon has their rally knocked down
KINNELON — Few imagined it would come down to this: the Kinnelon Colts, facing a fourth and 15 from their own 24 yard line, attempting to complete a remarkable 19-point comeback in under seven minutes against their cross-highway rivals, the undefeated Butler Bulldogs as time ticked down in the fourth quarter.
Quarterback Sean Robbins took the snap, dropped back to pass, and scanned his receivers, looking for Connor Villante streaking across the middle of the field three yards past the first-down marker.
But he wasn’t the only one who noticed Villante, and just as the ball reached the receiver’s fingertips, Butler safety Ryan Minogue hit him, jerking him away from the football and sending the Butler sideline into celebration.
It was the perfect play, executed flawlessly on the Colts’ part, said Kinnelon coach Kevin White after game, but it was also a perfect play by Minogue.
"We figured that with the double post (patterns) that you’re gonna’ stretch the safety and have a little bit of a window…but (Minogue) made a hell of a break on the ball, and he made a great, great play," said White. "The quarterback threw to the right place, the receiver got to the right place, and the kid just made a great, violent collision."
But as in all football games, although the last play might be the most memorable, the final score — in this case, 28-22 in favor of the now 4-0 Bulldogs — was decided by a collection of big plays, misplays, penalties, and missed opportunities on the part of both teams.
For White, however, it was his offense’s inability to get into a rhythm in the first half that became the deciding factor.
"I thought the most important thing is that we’ve got to get points on the board, because that builds as much confidence as anything," he said. "Cause if you walk away from a good drive with nothing…they walk off the field sky high, and you’re dejected."
That’s what happened to the Colts (2-2) time and time again throughout the first and second quarters after a strong nine-play, 65-yard drive led to a 22-yard Evan Argiriou field goal to give Kinnelon a 3-0 lead early.
From there, however, the offense fell into a pattern: five plays, then a punt, three plays, then a punt, seven plays, then a punt.
To the Colts’ defense’s credit, though, Butler was no different, and had little success against the stalwart unit until late in the second quarter when quarterback Chris Heredia scored on a two-yard dive. A two-point conversion followed, and gave the Bulldogs an 8-3 lead.
Butler opened the second half fast, however, and scored with on a 66-yard touchdown throw from Heredia to receiver Jason DaLattiboudere that gave them a 15-3 lead.
The Colts would answer later on when, on a first-and-goal from the nine yard line, a scrambling Robbins would hit Sean Walsh in the endzone for a touchdown. The extra point failed, but left the Colts within striking distance at 15-9.
Butler took back over later in the game, however, and scored on a 27-yard-run by running back Ryan Cirillo early in the fourth. On the next drive, they converted a Robbins fumble on a failed option into a 16-yard touchdown pass from Heredia to DaLattiboudere.
It was only his team’s natural grit, White said, that held them together while down 28-9 with seven minutes left.
"No one can ever say that Kinnelon does not play hard for the entire time…there aint’ no lying down here," he said, adding that he told his guys to "just keep playing" regardless of the deficit, because "you never know what happens."
In Kinnelon’s case, the nearly impossible happened as they scored on the first play from scrimmage when Robbins, on a first and 10 from his own 31, hit Joe Presti on a slant that the senior receiver broke for 69 yards and a score.
Walsh would recover the ensuing perfectly-placed onside kick, and five plays later, Robbins would take a quarterback keeper three yards for the team’s second score, bringing the score to 28-22 and setting the stage for the dramatic ending. Robbins finished with 236 passing yards and three touchdowns.
But regardless of the fact that the Colts didn’t pull of the miracle, White was proud of his team for never laying down, and, had the ball bounced differently on a few plays, it would have been the Colts celebrating.
"We knew we were up against a hell of a football team, and with a tight game like this, it’s a play here, a play there," he said.
Never was that more true.
Email: janoski@northjersey.com
Home Goods, TJ Maxx return to Pequannock
PEQUANNOCK - In another sign that things are finally returning to "normal" after last year’s extensive flooding, TJ Maxx and Home Goods are officially reopening in the Plaza 23 shopping center this month.
According to officials from the stores’ parent company, TJX Companies, Inc., TJ Maxx is scheduled to open first at 8 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 16. Home Goods will follow on Sunday, Sept. 23.
"We are pleased to be back in Pompton Plains, delivering value and an exciting selection of fashion to serve the needs of the customers," said TJ Maxx President Richard Sherr in a press release; a Home Goods representative said that the company was "thrilled" to be back in Pequannock as well.
Both stores, which are located just off of Route 23 North at the Jackson Avenue intersection, have been closed since August 2011 due to flooding from Hurricane Irene. There was some speculation as to whether they would return, but Mayor Rich Phelan said Monday that the town is happy to hear that the stores are back in business.
"It helps that whole shopping center," said Phelan. "Those businesses have been struggling since the flood, and the extra traffic will definitely help them."
The future of the A&P supermarket, the shopping center’s anchor store, remains in doubt, however.
Phelan said that he would be surprised if the supermarket did not reopen because the location is "very profitable," but he was confident that even if it did decide to walk away, another grocery store would take its place.
"A lot of people shopped there because it was convenient for Pequannock and parts of Wayne," he said.
The Plaza 23 property is valued at about $27,700,000 and pays roughly $475,000 in taxes annually.
Email: janoski@northjersey.com
http://www.northjersey.com/news/169991376_Home_Goods__TJ_Maxx_return_to_Pequannock.html
Football: Pequannock roughed up by Wallkill Valley
By Steve Janoski
WALKILL VALLEY - It was not, by any means, the way the Pequannock Panthers wanted to open the season: a 40-0 thumping at the hands of the Walkill Valley Rangers that left few bright spots on either side of the ball for Panthers head coach Ed Kopp to ruminate on.
Simply put, his team, which has just four seniors on it, is "not playing at a varsity level" yet.
"We're still not 100 percent confident in what we're doing," he said. "We've got such a young team, and we're not playing fast yet and because of that, everything looks like it's in slow motion."
Unfortunately for Pequannock, Wallkill Valley's running back combination of Nick McLean and Mike Buvis played at a blistering pace and accounted for five of that team's six touchdowns. Four of those occurred on runs of 30 yards or longer.
The Rangers jumped out to a quick lead on a 25-yard Calvin Kassarate touchdown run, and added to it later in the quarter when McLean broke off a 36-yard scamper that also ended in the enzone.
Pequannock's next drive would end in a punt, and Walkill Valley would score seven plays later on a 2-yard dive by Buvis in front of the goal line. Buvis would add a 57-yard touchdown run before the half to put the Rangers up by four scores. The team would add two more touchdowns in the second half (but miss one extra point) to bring the final score to where it stood.
From time to time the Panthers would be able to exploit cracks in the defense, and quarterback Luke Foukas and running back AJ Adamcyzk broke several short runs that seemed to show promise. However, the Ranger's swarming defense would stifled any progress the offense made.
"They're big, they're physical, they fly to the football…and their inside linebackers are studs," Kopp said. "The game comes down to blocking and tackling. They out blocked us and we couldn't tackle."
From here, it will be Kopp's job to make sure that his young team full of sophomores and juniors does not lose hope after week one.
"The game is won on each play, one play at a time, and you can't let a half of football…or a game of football, ruin your season," he said. "We've got two months left and there's still a lot of work to be done. We have a young team, and we still have a lot of potential, and we've just got the try and realize some of that potential as fast as possible."
Some of that potential lies with Adamcyzk, who somehow managed to amass 80 yards over 17 carries.
"AJ did a really nice job tonight, he ran the ball hard," Kopp said. "But (he) needs to be able to anticipate where the openings are going to be…and that's only going to come through repetition."
Pequannock hopes to rebound next week when they face Hopatcong on their home field.
Football: Defense will be a key for Butler Bulldogs football team in 2012
By Steve Janoski
BUTLER — In Group 1 football, one great player can have an immeasurable impact on the outcome of a season. And, as Butler Bulldogs head coach Jim Matsakis is finding out, the absence of that one great player can leave quite a mark on the following years as well.
So, as the countdown to opening day continues, it does so in the shadow of the recently-graduated premier running back Mike Tenned, who scored over 30 touchdowns while leading the team to an 8-3 record and a playoff run last season.
Finding someone to replace him, Matsakis said, has been impossible; therefore, the Bulldogs aren't going to try. Instead, they're changing their entire philosophy, and moving away from the flashy barnburners of Tenned's days and towards a more blue-collar, back-to-basics approach that will stress a strong defense, low turnover numbers, and a grinding style.
"We have nobody that can replace him, that's a major void on both sides of the ball," said Matsakis. "This is a completely different team… he's gone, and they've gotta' move on and hope that these other kids can step it up and do some good."
There is a quartet of players that the coach is looking towards to provide not only leadership, but touchdowns as well: senior quarterback Chris Heredia, sophomore running back Ryan Cirillo, junior receiver Nick Ballistreri, and senior receiver Kirk Bargamento.
This foursome, Matsakis said, could come up with the 28 or 30 touchdowns the team needs, and together, provide the offensive firepower that the Bulldogs so sorely lack at the moment.
There is also some imposing size on the Butler roster, with several linemen measuring up at well over six feet tall. As Matsakis said, they're "tall and rangy and look good in shoulder pads," and the combination of the Butler colors on some large guys gives the team a psychological edge right off the bat.
Eight starters are returning on defense — a far cry from the three that came back last year — and of those eight, two are especially important: senior offensive/defensive tackle Billy White and junior center/middle linebacker Ryan Mack.
With the focus being on defense this year, as these two go, so goes the team. But with such a strong core surrounding them, Matsakis said, the Bulldogs could be in for a better year than many think.
"If they can play the way they're capable of, they're going to be very good defensively," he said. "It should be a good unit."
A new offseason conditioning program designed by Austin Wall of the Pompton Lakes-based Cannonball Gym was also instated, and Matsakis has already seen the dividends of that training.
Wall, he said, taught seniors like Heredia a thing or two about leadership, all the while putting players through grueling workouts designed to forge not only iron lungs, but an iron mind.
"Eighteen kids went there for five months…and one thing I noticed is that our conditioning and mental toughness is a lot better than we've ever been, and a lot of it is because of going to Cannonball," he said.
With the new blue-collar-Bulldogs' philosophy, that mental toughness will be of the utmost importance as his team begins to realize that Tenned "is not coming over the hill," to save the team.
"Of my ten years in Butler, this is probably the one year that the mental aspect means the most," he said. The first test will happen fairly quickly, as the Bulldogs' open the season against North Warren — a team they've never played before, and one who has "no fear" of the Butler name.
"I say to the guys sometimes that the yellow helmet is seven points right away…but they've got no history (with us)," Matsakis said. "That game, which will teach the seniors how to win without the players who have gone before, will be crucial."
Football: Pequannock Panthers counting on many new faces
By Steve Janoski
PEQUANNOCK — It's been nearly nine months since Luke Foukas' futile Hail Mary sailed over the head of Matt Jachera in the Butler Bulldog endzone, ending a rough-and-tumble Pequannock season that defied all preseason expectations and brought the team within 35 yards of advancing to the second round of the playoffs.
As this season begins, the current cast of Panthers resembles last year's squad in more ways than one as the school is stricken once again with the eternal plight of the Group 2 high school — while just four seniors return, several Pequannock residents who would undoubtedly be starters are playing for private schools like Delbarton and DePaul.
This leaves a lot of gaps, and the ranks will be filled with those who don't yet know the burning pressure of Friday night's lights. But still, with two of the most important starters in Foukas and inside linebacker Dan Mormillo (107 tackles in 2011) returning, a base has been set up around which a team can build on.
"Those two positions are vital on any team, and even though we've had huge graduation losses, it's comforting to know that we have the quarterbacks of offense and defense back to build around," said head coach Ed Kopp.
And much of the attention will be focused around that quarterback of the offense as third-year starter Foukas returns for his final year. His big-game experience and physical talent have made it clear that he will be the cornerstone of the team.
"Right now, he's the franchise…he's our Captain America," Kopp said. "When defenses play against us, their objective is to stop Luke…and make somebody else on the team beat them."
Foukas is as much a threat running as he is passing, and he'll be the focal point of an offense anchored by tackles Dan Kica and Vinny Parrotta on the line. Kica, who blew out both his ACL and MCL during the Butler playoff game, had offseason surgery on his knee and, regardless of the lingering effects of the vicious injury, will be good to go on game day.
But big questions at key positions remain, and Kopp said that the Panthers are still in the process of determining who will take over for departed playmakers like running back Anthony Rubino and receivers Matt Jachera and RJ DeGeorge.
One player who has been using the initial scrimmages to show off his talent has been junior AJ Adamcyzk, who may be asked to fill the void at tailback left by Rubino; Kopp said the back reminds him of last year's workhorse in both his build and style.
Also joining the mix is senior Tommy Zaher, a quick young receiver who's breaking of Pequannock's baseball hit record last year makes evident his athletic ability.
After that, Kopp said, it is a toss-up as to who will pick up the other starting spots as a number of receivers battle it out on the fringe. Showing his leadership skills, Foukas has begun taking the young ends out for private, early-morning throwing sessions long before the other team activities take place.
Although the young corps must still work on its overall physicality, the coach said that there are some naturally gifted individuals present, such as 6-foot-3, 180-pound junior Shpepjim Dauti, who's "decent moves" may land him a spot on both sides of the ball, and Ian Campbell, a 6-foot-5 sophomore tight end who will bring a conspicuous presence to the middle of the field.
"We've never had a prototypical tight end that we can use as a big target over the middle of the year; we've made a living on the outside," Kopp said.
He's not expecting the team to click right away, but he does expect them to follow the example of the last few Panther teams and be a "much, much better team at the end of the year than at the beginning of the year."
But with the first game of the year against an unfamiliar Wallkill Valley team, this may not be the time for early-season struggles; Kopp worried that the psychological effect on his young players of starting the season 0-1 might be severe.
But he's hoping that a new, more laid-back approach that the coaching staff has taken this offseason might pay dividends, and his attempt at avoiding that boiler-room atmosphere so prevalent in the most successful of high school football programs will have a calming effect on the players.
There's been more weight room time, more chalk talks, more tape review, more conditioning, and less hammering away on the field as the team readies itself under a truncated practice schedule owing to state laws that have outlawed double practices.
If it works out as planned, and the team makes a repeat trip to the playoffs, the coach said that maintaining strength both mentally and physically will be what carries them through.
Although he has turned the school's program around – from 0-10 in his inaugural season six years ago to 7-3 and a playoff berth — the ultimate goal of winning the state championship has eluded him.
But in the end, he said that's not really what counts; in a game like football, the relatively small number of contests means that each one, in its own right, is "monumental," and that the season is always more about the journey than the final scores.
As this season begins, the current cast of Panthers resembles last year's squad in more ways than one as the school is stricken once again with the eternal plight of the Group 2 high school — while just four seniors return, several Pequannock residents who would undoubtedly be starters are playing for private schools like Delbarton and DePaul.
This leaves a lot of gaps, and the ranks will be filled with those who don't yet know the burning pressure of Friday night's lights. But still, with two of the most important starters in Foukas and inside linebacker Dan Mormillo (107 tackles in 2011) returning, a base has been set up around which a team can build on.
"Those two positions are vital on any team, and even though we've had huge graduation losses, it's comforting to know that we have the quarterbacks of offense and defense back to build around," said head coach Ed Kopp.
And much of the attention will be focused around that quarterback of the offense as third-year starter Foukas returns for his final year. His big-game experience and physical talent have made it clear that he will be the cornerstone of the team.
"Right now, he's the franchise…he's our Captain America," Kopp said. "When defenses play against us, their objective is to stop Luke…and make somebody else on the team beat them."
Foukas is as much a threat running as he is passing, and he'll be the focal point of an offense anchored by tackles Dan Kica and Vinny Parrotta on the line. Kica, who blew out both his ACL and MCL during the Butler playoff game, had offseason surgery on his knee and, regardless of the lingering effects of the vicious injury, will be good to go on game day.
But big questions at key positions remain, and Kopp said that the Panthers are still in the process of determining who will take over for departed playmakers like running back Anthony Rubino and receivers Matt Jachera and RJ DeGeorge.
One player who has been using the initial scrimmages to show off his talent has been junior AJ Adamcyzk, who may be asked to fill the void at tailback left by Rubino; Kopp said the back reminds him of last year's workhorse in both his build and style.
Also joining the mix is senior Tommy Zaher, a quick young receiver who's breaking of Pequannock's baseball hit record last year makes evident his athletic ability.
After that, Kopp said, it is a toss-up as to who will pick up the other starting spots as a number of receivers battle it out on the fringe. Showing his leadership skills, Foukas has begun taking the young ends out for private, early-morning throwing sessions long before the other team activities take place.
Although the young corps must still work on its overall physicality, the coach said that there are some naturally gifted individuals present, such as 6-foot-3, 180-pound junior Shpepjim Dauti, who's "decent moves" may land him a spot on both sides of the ball, and Ian Campbell, a 6-foot-5 sophomore tight end who will bring a conspicuous presence to the middle of the field.
"We've never had a prototypical tight end that we can use as a big target over the middle of the year; we've made a living on the outside," Kopp said.
He's not expecting the team to click right away, but he does expect them to follow the example of the last few Panther teams and be a "much, much better team at the end of the year than at the beginning of the year."
But with the first game of the year against an unfamiliar Wallkill Valley team, this may not be the time for early-season struggles; Kopp worried that the psychological effect on his young players of starting the season 0-1 might be severe.
But he's hoping that a new, more laid-back approach that the coaching staff has taken this offseason might pay dividends, and his attempt at avoiding that boiler-room atmosphere so prevalent in the most successful of high school football programs will have a calming effect on the players.
There's been more weight room time, more chalk talks, more tape review, more conditioning, and less hammering away on the field as the team readies itself under a truncated practice schedule owing to state laws that have outlawed double practices.
If it works out as planned, and the team makes a repeat trip to the playoffs, the coach said that maintaining strength both mentally and physically will be what carries them through.
Although he has turned the school's program around – from 0-10 in his inaugural season six years ago to 7-3 and a playoff berth — the ultimate goal of winning the state championship has eluded him.
But in the end, he said that's not really what counts; in a game like football, the relatively small number of contests means that each one, in its own right, is "monumental," and that the season is always more about the journey than the final scores.
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