The Irvington Party at Paddy’s Place was a wonderful success. Huge thank you to Joe Torre and for everyone who attended. It was fantastic to see everybody together.

Phenomenal Irvington guitarist, Tony Nardo, Class of 70, doing Cream’s Crossroads.


Former Irvington High School varsity baseball teammates, centerfielder Paul Madeo, Class of 70, shortstop Joey Vargas, Class of 72 and 3rd baseman Mike Malgeri, Class of 70.


Two gorgeous Irvington gals, Diane Zaleski, Class of 74 and Hortensia Zapico, Class of 71.


Jeff Joy, Yvonne Russomanno, Craig Schreiner, Noreen Colemen. All Class of 71.



Patty Cataldo, Class of 71, looking radiant and dancing to her own beat.


Billy Prisco, Class of 69, dancing up a storm with his beautiful wife ...aka Paula Abdul..


Mike Malgeri, 70, John Messina, 72, Billy Prisco, 69 and Paul Madeo, 70. All were exceptional Irvington athletes.


Merle Bogner, Class of 71. Still as cute as can be.


John Messina, Class of 72. A classic pose. John was a winning, crafty pitcher all throughout his playing days in Irvington. He is also a fine musician and a treasured friend.


Youthful-looking Larry Weidner, Class of 72. Larry was a starting member of the 1967 National Champion Colts.


Patty Cataldo, Noreen Coleman, Craig Schreiner and Larry Weidner.


Ernesto Reina, Class of 72.


Beautiful Diane Zaleski, Class of 74


Analise Meyers, Class of 73. Hasn’t aged a day in 35 years.


Diane Zaleski and Joey Vargas


Sue Brummell, Class of 72 .... never one to be camera-shy.. lol


“And she’s buying the Stairway to Heaven”, Danny Diaz


Hortensia Zapico and Lenny Misuraca. Both Class of 71.


Steve Covino, Class of 72


The Big E, Eddie Kirchgessner, Class of 72.


Guitar great, Tony Nardo, Class of 70


Yvonne Russomanno and Hortensia Zapico. Both Class of 71.


Noreen Coleman, Joey Vargas, Pete Bronzino, Patty Cataldo.


The legendary “Cos”, Class of 72, and Big Bad Frank Marini, Class of 76.


High school sweethearts, Eddie Kirchgessner and Joanne Carello.


Hortensia Zapico, Class of 71



Nicky Nardo pounding the skins.


Scott Gross, younger brother of Warren Gross.


Keith Gross


Great friends, Chatty Patty and Jeannie Bondzel


John Messina and beautiful wife, Rosanne enjoying a slow dance.


Jeannie Bondzel


Mr. and Mrs. Danny Diaz


Diane Zaleski and Analise Myers


Mike Passero, Class of 70


Danny Diaz singing Stairway to Heaven just like he did 35 years ago at school canteens.


Diane Zaleski and Joey Vargas


Yvonne Russomanno, Class of 71, an excellent musician herself, cheering on the band.


Merle Bogner and Patty Cataldo


Jeannie Bondzel, dancin’ hot.


Foxy Joanne Carello, and Rosanne and John Messina




Lenny Misuraca with the stunning Meyers sisters, Maggie and Analise.




Noreen, Merle and Patty


Yoga Master Yvonne Russomanno, Class of 71, still has her high school shape.






Joe Torre, Class of 70.


Yvonne Russomanno ...looking wonderful.


Joanne Carello, Class of 73


Big Bad Frank Marini dancing with Danny Diaz’s wife. That’s Danny yelling “how dare you cut in on my wife ... let’s take this outside mister”


Tommy Quinn and Carol Misuraca


Anita Giameo, Class of 72


Senor Guapo... Ernesto Reina


Bob Foley, Class of 72


Patty Prignano


Maggie Meyers and Lenny Misuraca


Analise Meyers...“Hey, no yawning, young lady”


Danny Diaz playing a mean Tony Nardo “Air Guitar” solo.


Ellen Armm mugging it up for the camera.


Pete Bronzino, Class of 70


The delicious Jeannie Bondzel


Tommy “Ski” and Bob Foley, both Class of 72


Chatty Patty Thompson, Class of 71. “Listen while she plays, her Green Tambourine”. Sadly the very next morning Patty lost her mom. If you know Patty, please reach out to her in her time of sorrow.


Double Troublettes Catty Patty and Chatty Patty with Joey.


Chatty Patty “Doing Da Butt”


Chatty Patty & Catty Patty... playing what else? .... PATTY CAKE, PATTY CAKE !!!


Special appearance by Paul Coleman, former manager of Razen, back in the day.


Carol Misuraca, Class of 73


Joe Torre, Nicky Nardo and Tony Nardo




Diane Zaleski


The lovely wife of Billy Prisco.


Joe Torre and Danny Diaz


Hortensia Zapico and Patty Cataldo


Al Joy graced us with his presence.


Patti Machiaverna-Joy, Rich Farrell, Class of 69.


Jeff Kaufman, Patty Prignano-Gross, Patti Machiaverna-Joy, Cindy Rekeda-Mondino, Rich Farrell. All are from the Class of 69. And all of them are a part of the 1969 reunion committee. The Class of 1969 will be having a formal reunion in October of 2009. So make sure to contact them if you wish to attend. I will post all the information on this web site and a link to their website as well. Help make their reunion a big success !!!



“I went down to the Crossroads” ... Tony Nardo doing a blistering Eric Clapton solo.


Larry Weidner ...”Yeah, thats right, I’m bad”


Mike Passero, Class of 70


Tommy Quinn, Class of 73


Billy Prisco, Yvonne Russomanno, Craig Schreiner, Noreen Coleman.


Diane Zaleski, “Que Bonita”


Jeanni Bondzel


Al Joy and Chatty Patty


Patty Cataldo and Paul Madeo


Paul Madeo


Danny Diaz and Nicky Nardo


Drummer Nicky Nardo, always the crowd-pleaser, showing some skin for Da Gurls !!!



Joe Torre, a lifetime performer, belting out a rocker.


Dinner with Diane Zaleski in Cranford.


Irvington Party at Paddy’s Place in Union
Saturday, November 29th
featuring a band lead by Irvington’s Joe Torre, Class of 70.


Hey everybody !!!
In spite of the challenges that I have been experiencing, like millions of other Americans in today’s economic climate, I am very fortunate to have been afforded a chance to spend the entire Thanksgiving holiday in New Jersey this year. And I wanted to announce that there is going to be a beautiful gathering of Irvington folk in Union, NJ on Saturday, November 29th at a place called Paddy’s Place.

Come out and join us. There will be a lot of old Irvingtonians that you can reconnect with. Paddy’s Place does not have a cover charge. You only need to bring yourself and enjoy old friends and make new friends.

That night Paddy’s Place will feature the music of a band called Revival, which is made up of fellow Irvingtonian’s Joe Torre, from Class of 70, on Vocals & Keyboards, Tony Nardo, from Class of 72, on Lead Guitar,  Nicky Nardo on Drums and Pete Myer on Bass.

Look at the incredible picture below. It shows the Irvington Band called The Razen in 1969.

So many of you will remember that The Razen played all those Canteen Dances and Block Parties back in the late 60s / early 70s. That band was made up of:

Left to right: Stan Pavalinic on Keyboards, Glen Post on Drums, Joe Torre on Vocals, Johnny Nardo on Bass Guitar, Tony Nardo on Lead Guitar and they were managed by Paul Coleman. All were excellent young musicians.

I enjoyed many of the Irvington Bands like The Riddlers, Chelsea Wearhouse, Purple People, Saturday Night Bath etc. but The Razen hold a special place because of the amount of times I went to see them and the people I was with and the places that they played. And they were tight as can be for being young guys.  I can remember being at a dance at IHS and going to the bathroom and somebody yelling inside. “Hurry up, Tony Nardo’s doing Stairway To Heaven”. Which was a reference to Tony’s outstanding lead guitar talent. And of course, what can you say about Glen Post and Johnny Nardo. Them boys were bad-ass players.

So here’s a good excuse to get out of the house on a Saturday night, during a holiday weekend, to see a bunch of Irvington people you haven’t seen in a while. And also to enjoy the music of some guys who were a big part of our past when we went to all those canteens and Civic Square block parties together. I love the nostalgia of that.

Hope to see you all there !!!
The Revival Band plays from 9:30pm till 1:30am. Joe Torre is suggesting to arrive between 8:00 to 8:30pm for best seating.

Paddy's Place
999 Rosemont Ave.
Union, NJ 07083
(908) 686-8935
 
Right off of Styvesant Ave. (one block from Morris Ave.)
Across from where the old Jahns Ice Cream place used to be.
 
Mapquest link
Map for Paddy’s Place


Left to right: Joe Torre, Pete Myer, Nicky Nardo, Tony Nardo



Vintage “SHADOWS OF LUV” picture

Irvington Band “THE SHADOWS OF LUV” on February 13, 1967 on The Zachery Show,  Channel 47  Disc-O-Teen  in Newark.

The Shadows of Luv were:
Keyboards: Stan Pavalinic, Class of 1969
Bass Guitar: Al Byrnes Class of 1968
Lead Guitar: Greg Freisen Class of 1969
Lead Singer: Lonnie Tripodi Class of 1968
Drummer, Joe Torre Class of 1970

Some of the people dancing in the photo above are: Billy Prisco, Laura Gubernat, Joann Leahy, Susan Muller, Kathy Evans. All of them are from Irvington  


Many thanks to Joe Torre for these fantastic pictures.