There's a place called The Record Collector a stone's throw from my house in Bordentown, NJ. I went there last Friday after work to photograph (former Monkee) Peter Tork and his band Shoe Suede Blues appearing at The Record Collector's Living Room Concert Series. There couldn't be a much more intimate setting to experience live music. I only stayed for a few songs. My favorite was a totally unique version of "Last Train to Clarksville".



Thanks to Promoter Randy Now (shown collecting tickets) & Record Collector owners John & Sue Chrambanis. Also, while there, I ran into former Times colleague from waaaaaay back Randy Alexander. One of the things we chatted about was a concert we covered together for the paper at The Tower in Philadelphia by Keith Richards on a solo tour in nineteen something or other.

The first day back from (an all too brief) vacation was a day of festivals in Trenton, pointing out the changing demographic in the Chambersburg section of the city which was born of Italian immigration starting in the early twentieth century. New school and old school. First was the city's inaugural Ecuadorian Parade. It was quite large for the first time out, taking its place among Trenton's St. Patrick's Day Parade, Columbus Day Parade and Puerto Rican Day Parade. The Grupo de Danza Familia Unida, (dance group called United Family) from Brooklyn, New York, certainly added color.

Later in the afternoon was the continuation of a 102-year-old tradition, the procession of a statue of the Madonna and Child through the streets of Chambersburg. There remains a shrinking, but faithful core of Italian-Americans centered, as were the first immigrants, around Immaculate Conception Church.

I'm still on vacation from The Times and yesterday I took my spouse and mother-in-law to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden. I'd been there before for work and play when the The New Jersey State Aquarium opened sixteen years ago. If that's the last time you were there, you wouldn't recognize it. Now it's the appropriately-named Adventure Aquarium and there's so much more to see than there used to be. It was a delightful day!

The compression effect of a big telephoto lens (600mm) helps tell the story of how crowded the beach was on August 11 in Ocean City New Jersey.

Hello! Click the link to see a slideshow of the one-week long 500-mile charity bicycle ride from Rutland VT to Trenton NJ to raise funds and awareness for the Anchor House, a shelter in Trenton for runaway and abused teens. I'm too smart/lazy to pedal. I just drove along. This same content is also on my wedding website where the images are larger. www.MichaelMancuso.net

What rare and exotic animal is this? It's neither rare nor exotic. It's just an abandoned kitten temporarily housed in the Ewing Township (a suburb of Trenton) Animal Shelter, while it awaits its fate, adoption or perhaps euthanasia. Employees at the shelter have charged that a number of cats were euthanised at the shelter without proper protocol being followed.

While the writer and I were there, Gayle Hobson & her daughter Sara Hobson came along. They got help from shelter employee Amy Mostrangeli, right, in wheeling out 14 cats which they are "fostering" (keeping until homes can be found).

Here's an update on the Anchor House photos. They're now all together on my wedding website in a separate portfolio called "Anchor House". Clever, huh? Goto www.MichaelMancuso.net and navigate to Anchor House and simply click on the first photo. Have fun!