Modeled after National Public Radio’s Selected Shorts at Symphony Space, Jersey Shorts will feature prominent local figures for readings of funny and inspiring short stories, along with local musical acts for a night of story and song.

Jersey Shorts will take place Friday, February 10th, 8 – 10 pm at 252 9th Street, just off Hamilton Park.

Morelli (whose first name is pronounced YAH-jah), has hosted parties and small, informal concerts in her home on Belmont Avenue near Lincoln Park since she bought it in 2001. She has also rented out the ground floor of the three-floor row house. Now, with the help of friends and the use of the entire space, Morelli plans to host occasional public art shows and live music events.

The home’s first event as the Morelli Gallery was a New Year’s Eve party on Saturday that drew dozens of friends and revelers who had access to all three floors, including the top floor, where a door opened onto a bedroom where a black and white cat lay stretched out on a bed. Art from Morelli’s personal collection was hung on the walls. Neva Wartell, aka “DJ Neva,” Morelli’s friend and next-door neighbor, spun a truly diverse mix of songs — jazz, funk, world music, reggae, hip hop and techno. The band Village Drums of Freedom filled the space with infectious, danceable beats and the harp-like sound of a kora, a West African stringed instrument resembling a rustic oversized banjo. The kora player was a college friend of Morelli’s from Guinea via the Bronx.

“It was always sort of a dream to have our own space, because you really can’t do things the way you want to when you have to rely on other people’s space,” says Wartell, who is also an ethnomusicologist and associate curator of music and cultural programming for the nonprofit Uptown Crew. She plans to assist Morelli with the gallery. “That’s where the whole thing started.”

“There are a lot of art galleries [in Jersey City], but there are very few event spaces,” she adds, “and there are very few spaces that have the ambiance of a house party.”

Ed Ramirez, the owner of Ed’s Salvage Co., a vintage/consignment shop with two locations in nearby McGinley Square, also helped Morelli promote and prep for the New Year’s Eve party. Ramirez hosts occasional art events and rattled off what he described as a growing number of venues supporting the arts in the neighborhood. Donations made at Morelli’s party benefited his store’s fundraising arm, Ed’s Salvage Co. Gives.

Morelli, for her part, says buying her home a decade ago was a personal accomplishment for her as a single woman. From the very beginning, she wanted to “share [the space] with everyone.” A week after she got the keys, she threw a huge party featuring Haitian drumming.

While she is not a visual artist or musician herself — she works in accounting — she enjoys providing space for people to view art and listen to music, especially world music, which she loves.

She has gotten “a lot of positive feedback” from Saturday’s party, and says she hopes to host small art shows and living room concerts for mostly Jersey City artists moving forward.

“A small crowd, a few couches,” she says, “and some live music just to also expose talented people from our area.”

Photos by K. Robert

The meeting was meant to allay concerns and explain provisions for those most affected by the change because of problems with proposals in the past. The meeting comes ahead of the law’s introduction to the City Council at Wednesday, December 14th’s council meeting.

Calling the current state of the Entertainment Ordinance a “quagmire,” Director of the Department of Housing, Economic Development and Commerce Carl Czaplicki, who led the meeting, explained the city was trying to address the outdated law that restricted any musical performance — be it as quiet as an acoustic guitar — in an establishment that is not zoned to be a “nightclub.” As the name suggests, zoning for a nightclub is meant to discourage loud establishments that operate late into the night, and in fact the only area specifically zoned for nightclubs is the Highway Commercial District located by Route 440 and Tonnelle Avenue. Any restaurant seeking to have live music currently needs to seek a special zoning variance to be declared a nightclub, an onerous and costly process that essentially banned musical performances in Downtown Jersey City restaurants. The failed logic of the law has been documented by JCI in the past, most recently with issues facing Made With Love.

Now the city is amending the ordinance to “expand and grow businesses already here as well attract new businesses,” according to Carl Czaplicki. The amendment was described by officials as the next step in a series of efforts by the city to bolster the city’s growing Downtown bar and restaurant area, including the so-called Restaurant Row which was recently expanded. The city also readdressed their “sidewalk cafe” rule to allow more outdoor seating in the warmer months.

The new ordinance would create two divisions within the entertainment ordinance that differentiates between true “nightclubs,” which would be kept in tact as is, and a more-restrictive designation for restaurants that want live music. The only establishments eligible for the restaurant-level license are those in commercial areas of residential districts (Newark Avenue’s Restaurant Row, for example). Any other establishment not located in these commercial areas would be required to first obtain a non-conforming use variance before applying for the entertainment license. The city also sees this as a potential revenue boost, with new fees for licenses set higher than in the current law.

The amendment will set Class 1 Nightclub Licenses, which are establishments with greater than 100 people, at $1,200 per year, while those with fewer than 100 people would need Class 2 Nightclub Licenses costing $1,000 per year. Class 1 Restaurant Licenses would be $800 for the year and Class 2 Restaurant Licenses would be set at $600 per year. As presently constructed, licenses cost either $300 or $600, depending on the size of the establishment. There would also be a provision for non-license holding establishments to apply for a one-day permit; these would be available only 12 times a year.

Along with the new entertainment license the city has also acquired $5,000 worth of decibel reading equipment and training to better monitor businesses and keep noise-level under control. This would be a step up from the city’s previous method of noise control — simply listening to the noise and making a subject judgment that would not hold up in court — and was a problem previously acknowledged by the city as frustrating noise restriction enforcement.

To address concerns, the city stressed that the license would be a “privilege,” and that renewing a license would not be a given. Multiple noise violations would require a public hearing to determine if the establishment would be allowed to continue to have live music.

Still, a number of concerns were voiced by those in attendance, including how the notification system for these public hearings would be disseminated. The city expects to use the Jersey Journal‘s public notification section, but as was pointed by a neighborhood association representative, there aren’t enough in the city to go around. Instead it was proposed that this information be included on the city’s website.

Perhaps more seriously, retired police officer and former city council candidate Rich Boggiano said he was unconvinced the city would be capable of handling noise complaints, a problem he says already exists for many residents along Newark Avenue. In fact, the city expects to only need three noise inspectors at night, and the decibel reading takes 45 minutes, leaving enforcement methods at a lag.

“Where has the Division of Commerce been for the past five years?” Boggiano asked, before criticizing the officials for the “hundreds of police calls” about noisy bars that failed to address the problem. “Nothing has been done so far. Do you expect me to believe someone is going to come out at 3 am?”

But it was precisely because the city lacked the decibel readers that Czaplicki said enforcement has been so difficult. Now they would have evidence that would stand up in court.

He added that establishments who want to get ahead of any complaints can call the Division of Commerce to schedule a noise-level reading to find out just how loud their establishment is at night. If the level is above the noise ceiling the city will suggest the use of noise dampening equipment.

Harsimus Cove Association president Stephen Musgrave said that while he’s in support of the entertainment ordinance overall, some neighborhood associations share some of Boggiano’s concerns.

“In the end, the resounding final statement I hear out of everybody’s mouth is, “We don’t want to be Hoboken.” The growth of Restaurant Row in the last year has hastened and we need laws on the books to make allowances for the cultural city we all want to live in — with the disallowances for those who are taking it too far,” Musgrave wrote in an email to JCI.

Photo of Jorge & Aliah at Lucky 7′s courtesy of Zac Clark. Photo of Uta Brauser at an earlier Council meeting about noise complaints, courtesy of Uta Brauser.

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TODAY

Last week we caught up with Paul Sorvino, who tonight marks a return to the opera stage with a solo concert at the Loew’s ($75-$125, 7:30 pm).

There are two big openings today in Jersey City: Night Drawing at 58 Gallery features new work by Sean 9 Lugo and LNY (starts at 7:30 pm); and Dead Zone, a new installation and photography show about the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus by _gaia artists Christine DaCruz and Doris Caçoilo, opens today (starts at 6 pm).

TOMORROW:

The Laugh Tour hits ArtHouse and promises to be a real kneeslapper with headliner Yannis Pappas, recently known better as the Lower East Side’s man-crazy Maurica Rodriguez ($15-$20, 8 pm).

Former Neutral Milk Hotel frontman Jeff Mangum plays an added date at the Loew’s after Sunday’s show sold out ($35, 8 pm).

SUNDAY:

Author, columnist and genealogist Maureen Wlodarczyk talks about her two books about Jersey City and her adventures in genealogy that helped her discover her family’s roots in 19th-century Chilltown at “Tea & Tales of Olde Jersey City” (2 pm).

For full listings, check out the Cultural Calendar.

Want your event listed on our calendar? You can submit it yourself — just click here and follow the simple instructions.

TODAY

The big Halloween party kicking off the weekend is the 2nd Annual Zombie Pub Crawl. Meet at Grove Street PATH station to get your makeup done (6 pm), or come already in your undead best and set off for the pub crawl a bit later on (8 pm). If you’re more of a stay-in-one-place kind of person, you can check out Shocktoberfest at Zeppelin Hall (starts at 5 pm), the Slaughterhouse Halloween Party at Boca Grande (starts at 10 pm), or the Dress to Kill party at Sushi Tango ($25-$35, starts at 10 pm).

When the kids get home from school, head over to Liberty Science Center’s Halloween Spooktacular, which features activities for children young and old as well as adults ($13-$15, 6 to 10 pm).

B-horror fans will have a difficult choice to make this evening, with two unique film events on offer. ArtHouse Productions will be screening the classic silent film Nosferatu with live musical accompaniment by Felz Kenny, Rudy Stamp and guests. This will be followed by a showing of Night of the Living Dead ($5, starts at 8 pm). Just up in Journal Square, also at 8 pm, the Loew’s will be showing The House on Haunted Hill with EMERGO!, a campy movie promotion gimmick that got a lot of attention back in the 1950s when this film was released ($5-$7).

If you’re happy to wait until later in the weekend to get your Halloween hijinks going, check out the Statue of Liberty Birthday Cruise celebrating the 125th anniversary of Lady Liberty showing Jersey City her backside. The cruise departs from Liberty State Park and includes a lavish buffet dinner plus front-row seats for tonight’s Macy’s fireworks show ($84, 6 pm). Some spaces are left, but they’re going fast.

TOMORROW

One of the most highly anticipated events of the year, this year’s Ghost of Uncle Joe’s party is moving indoors to get out of the snow and rain. For all the info about the bands and the scene, check out JCI‘s story. Proceeds benefit the Historic Jersey City & Harsimus Cemetery ($10 suggested, starts at 5 pm). And put the after-party on your list as well, featuring even more live bands at the Lamp Post (starts at 10:30 pm).

Several other groups are hosting fundraisers around town tonight, so you can’t go wrong. Ed’s Salvage Co.’s Masquerade Ball will benefit local arts and community organizations ($5 suggested, starts at 7:30 pm); Madame Claude Wine will host a Masquerade Wine Tasting Fundraiser for Creative Grove ($20, 6 to 8 pm); and the annual Hudson Pride Masquerade doubles as a farewell party for the outgoing executive director Nancy Caamaño ($20 suggested, 7 to 11 pm).

Also on tap tonight are a few Downtown costume parties. The three-night Iron Monkey Halloween Weekend kicks off tonight and features a $1,000 prize for the best costume (starts at 8 pm); LITM’s Annual Halloween Celebration promises the usual fun (starts at 5 pm); and newcomer Brightside Tavern is throwing its first Halloween party, too (starts at 8 pm).

The Loew’s never skimps on classic horror, least of all during Halloween weekend. Today’s program features Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, for fans of classic comedy and classic horror ($5-$7, 6 pm), as well as the ur-classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, with organ accompaniment, of course ($7-$9, 8:15 pm).

Before you dress up and head out, though, stop by the Urban Mission Church in the Hilltop for House Your Body, a free health show (2 to 5 pm).

SUNDAY

Today’s events are all about fun for kids and pets. Don’t miss Halloween in Paulus Hook, which features costume contests for the little ones as well as our furry friends (12 to 4 pm). And make sure to check out the Halloween Parade & Celebration hosted by the Hamilton Park Neighborhood Association; please bring a non-perishable food item for the Festival Food Bank (10:15 am to 12 pm). Up in the Heights, the Riverview Neighborhood Association hosts a Halloween Dog Parade at Riverview-Fisk Park (11 am).

If you’re looking for a new best friend, head over to Grace Church Van Vorst for the Black Kitten Adoption Event to rescue black cats, which are killed in shelters more often than other cats (12:30 to 4:30 pm).

Other spots to check out for family-friendly Halloween festivities are Angel Ramos Park (1 to 3 pm) and 4th Street between Jersey Avenue and Coles Street (3 to 6 pm).

MONDAY

On the actual day of Halloween, there are two big events for kids: Newport Centre Mall is throwing a Happy Halloween Haunting Party, complete with trick-or-treating in the mall, a coloring activity station and the opportunity to capture the moment with a photo (12 to 6 pm); later in the afternoon, the Historic Downtown SID is hosting a free Halloween Bash for Kiddos, featuring face painting, pictures and of course, candy (5 to 7 pm).

And for the kid in all of us, LITM and DJ Meghan McKee will be putting on a special Halloween edition of its monthly Detention! ’80s party (starts at 6 pm). The party features cocktail specials and discounts for those in costume.

The Iron Monkey Halloween Weekend closes out tonight with a Best Tattoo Contest (starts at 8 pm).

Want your event listed on our calendar? You can submit it yourself — just click here and follow the simple instructions.

TODAY

After more than a year off, Jersey City band Jack Parsons Moonchild reunites for a show at ArtHouse tonight. We caught up with the group earlier this week ($5, 8 pm). Later in the evening, another local act shows off some new material at the Crosstown Country Allstars CD release party at O’Connell’s (10 pm).

In honor of National Pit Bull Awareness Day, the Liberty Humane Society is holding a “Pitty Party” at Captain Al’s in Paulus Hook to raise money for new dog cages (starts at 7 pm).

TOMORROW

If you’re looking for a fun alternative to your Saturday morning jog, check out the Live Fit event presented by Ed’s Salvage Co., Super Impact Fitness and Three Coffee Beans. Personal trainers will be on hand for “day of outdoor, high-endurance, elevated energy, and super fitness” (1-6 pm).

The embattled Community Awareness Series of the Miller Branch Library celebrates its 34th anniversary tomorrow with special appearances to include Amiri Baraka (8 pm).

The Museum of Russian Art opens a unique watercolor exhibition by Anna Sidorina tomorrow (starts at 5 pm), and the newly opened WOOLPUNKstudios has Here and Now, a new group exhibition from local collective _gaia (starts at 2 pm), followed by a Q&A with At-Large Council candidate Dan Levin (5 pm).

If fashion is what you’re after, don’t miss DEEN’s fall trunk show, which is all about accessories (6-10 pm). The first 30 guests will receive gift bags.

SUNDAY

The temperature is dropping, and this weekend may be your last opportunity before spring to take a leisurely bike ride. So why not take advantage of the Jersey City Community Garden Bike Tour (starts at 11 am), which will hit up seven of the city’s community gardens and give riders a chance to talk about urban gardening practices.

Start your Halloween celebrations early and stop by the Historic Jersey City & Harsimus Cemetery for “Ghosts of Ole Jersey City,” a journey into Chilltown’s past with local storyteller Bob Leach. He’ll be recounting one of his most famous tales, the Parade of the Shanty Town Dead (2 pm).

Jersey City’s The One and Nines is set to release a 45 rpm single this Saturday, October 22nd, at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. The eight-piece band has posted songs from the single online on the band’s Sound Cloud page.

Alongside The One and Nines Saturday night will be Old Wives and Bryan Beninghove’s Hangmen, also local to Jersey City. The show starts at 10pm and costs $8.

Photo: Zac Clark

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It’s been over a year since the original members of the Jersey City band Jack Parsons Moonchild have rehearsed together, but it seems like not a day has passed. Jack Parsons, whose members act more like a family than a band, are practicing for their first live show since May 2010. They’ll be performing their debut album in its entirety at Art House Productions this Friday, Oct. 21.

At any one time Jack Parsons Moonchild may have between four to eight band members, but the nucleus of the group consists of three musicians: lyricist Cris Nyne, guitarist Colin Comstock and singer Sarah Comstock. The band came to be in 2009 after Nyne had an extended stay with Colin Comstock.

“I’d known Cris through the Jersey City arts scene for a few years and was a huge fan of his work,” Colin says. “He was traveling for a bit and when he got back he ended up crashing at my place for a little while. One day I picked up my guitar, started playing a groove and he started putting words to it effortlessly.”

After a few weeks of nonstop writing, the pair asked fellow musician Sarah Comstock to join their collaboration.

It’s hard to exactly peg the sound of Jack Parsons Moonchild. Nyne, with his background in poetry, wrote and MC’d the hip-hop-tinged lyrics. Colin Comstock, who has a solid background in rock and soul, laid down the basic guitar grooves. And Sarah Comstock added her haunting and beautiful vocal harmonies to the mix. It took only a few months before they started frequenting Jersey City open mics and live music venues, building up a small, but dedicated fan base in the process.

“After about three shows, the feedback that we had and the following that we built up gave us the confidence to know that we were on the right path,” says Nyne.

Colin Comstock agrees. “The Jersey City arts scene is an incredibly vibrant and unique place, filled to the brim with characters,” he says. “We couldn’t have chosen a better city to be from. There has been a very mutual relationship with love and support between us and the folks in Jersey City.”

Encouraged to grow by the positive response to their Jersey City shows, Jack Parsons added a drummer and a bassist to the mix. Now they had all the trappings of a traditional rock ‘n roll group.

In early 2010, about a year after the first initial musical meeting between Colin Comstock and Nyne, Jack Parsons Moonchild released their self-titled debut album. The 11 tracks on the album were cut from about 30 songs the pair had written together. The debut included even more sonic layers beyond guitar, bass, and drums with instrumentation that included the saxophone, flute, and cello.

“It was unlike anything I’ve ever heard before,” says Sarah Comstock, the lead vocalist. “We have several other super talented band members now who have brought all kinds of other things. It makes for a very fun, experiential sound.”

Although Jack Parsons Moonchild was a relatively young band then, the amount of works created and general buzz surrounding their live shows was substantial. After only a handful of shows in Jersey City they were approached to open for some up-and-coming bands in New York City.

But some differences within the core of the band kept Jack Parsons’ rocket from going up any further, and the band played their last show in May 2010. During their break, the band reached an almost cult status within the Jersey City arts scene and many of their fans wondered if they would ever play together again. It seemed as though the short, prolific life of Jack Parsons Moonchild had ended.

But after Nyne took time off to travel and Colin and Sarah started a family, the pull of their once beloved music collective got the better of them. Nyne says there was a need for a break. “I feel like it’s only human for the transition. There just needed to be time for us to re-evaluate what we all wanted,” he explains. “Within a few months, we still felt strong about our music and we didn’t want that to die. ”

Art House Productions will host the band’s first live show since the break. Art House’s artistic director, Jack Halpin, is a longtime friend of the band and will be helping them set up the show.

“I think they’re smart, original and daring,” says Halpin. “We’re excited and grateful that Jack Parsons Moonchild will be playing at Art House.” Not only is this the band’s first show in more than a year, it will also serve to raise funds for Art House’s largest fundraising event of the year, the Snow Ball.

So what will come of the band after the show? No one knows for sure, but if a recent rehearsal, full of influential musicians and artists, can serve as an indication of the band’s longevity, it seems like Jack Parsons Moonchild will have many more moon-children to come.

“That rehearsal blew my mind, how cohesive it was. It was so reassuring,” Nyne says with a look of amazement of his face. “This show is going to be magic.”

Photos: Mark Finne

Jack Parsons Moonchild performs at Art House Productions this Friday, Oct. 21 at 8 pm. Tickets are $5; all proceeds benefit Art House Productions’ 2011 Snow Ball gala. Art House is located 1 McWilliams Place, Jersey City.

Want your event listed on our calendar? You can submit it yourself — just click here and follow the simple instructions.

TODAY

58 Gallery hosts an opening reception for its annual group exhibition tonight; the show features work by a few handfuls of talented artists: Beau Stanton, Dylan Egon, Fefe Talavera, Isaac Fortoul, Joe Russo, John Besante, Kai Margarida-Ramirez de Arellano, Lenny ‘lny’ Correa, Melissa Cody, Nyugen Smith, Scott Albrecht and Sean’ 9′ Lugo (7 pm).

J CITY Theater kicks off its New Jersey premier of David Mamet’s Race this weekend (8 pm tonight and Saturday), while Hudson Pride Connections Center hosts A Night at the Paradise Burlesque as it gears up for Sunday’s Pride Festival (8:30 pm tonight; 8 pm and 10:30 pm Saturday).

And speaking of Pride, there are a few other worthy Pride-related events tonight. Chillfest hosts a free screening of the documentary Outrage at City Hall (7 pm), while Gayborhood Jersey City and Pint team up for an Oktoberfest event at the latter (9 pm).

SATURDAY

Boxing fans and history buffs will want to check out the free afternoon talk at the New Jersey Room by Jim Waltzer, the author of The Battle of the Century: Dempsey, Carpentier, and the Birth of Modern Promotion (2 pm). Later on, the Pershing Field Babe Ruth League hosts a tricky tray auction and dinner fundraiser for the little baseballers (6 pm). And the Lamp Post hosts a great bill of intense rock, with No Pasaran!, They Had Faces Then and Polyabuse (10 pm).

SUNDAY

Forget resting, Sunday is jam-packed with stuff to do around Jersey City.

First up, there’s the massive 2011 Hudson Pride Festival & Parade. Forced to move from its original August date to October due to Hurricane Irene, the festival features tons of live music, vendors, food and more at Exchange Place (11 am to 7 pm). Once that’s done, there’s also the Official After-Pride Block Party at and outside of Hard Grove Cafe (7 pm).

On a related front, Chillfest presents a screening at LITM today of We Were Here, the acclaimed documentary that explores how San Francisco’s gay and lesbian community came together with compassion and determination in response to the AIDS epidemic (4 pm).

Elsewhere, there is the annual Columbus Day Parade, ending at City Hall; a “From Broadway to Hollywood” organ concert at the Loew’s (3 pm); and the one-year anniversary party for Madame Claude Wine (7 pm).

The first Mangum show at the Loew’s — Sunday, November 6 — sold out quickly when it was announced late this winter.

Tickets for the new show go on sale Friday, October 7 at noon via Ticketfly. There is a four-ticket limit per household, customer, credit card number and email address.

The Mangum shows are rarities both for the singer, who largely disappeared from the indie rock scene after the success of Neutral Milk Hotel’s 1998 album In the Aeroplane over the Sea (this weekend’s shows in Asbury Park were just his fifth and sixth public performances in more than a decade), and for the Loew’s, which hasn’t hosted a major rock show in a few years after having played host to the likes of Beck, the Magnetic Fields, Yo La Tengo and the Decemberists.