newjerseynewsroom.com

BY LINDA MOSS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Literally just across the river from the Big Apple, the cast of "Jerseylicious" celebrated the premiere of the reality show with a big party Sunday night in Hoboken.

"I'm so excited, I'm so thankful," said Tracy DiMarco of East Hanover, one of the main characters — and a mean one — in the new show.

There were plenty of cheers at the Lua restaurant, located on the Hudson River on Sinatra Drive, when the first episode of the Style Network series came on the screens of the TV sets in the eatery at 10 p.m. sharp.

"Jerseylicious" is about the bid by Gayle Giacomo and her daughter Christy Pereira, both of Bridgewater, to successfully relaunch the beauty salon that Giacomo's late husband Danny founded, Gatsby.

The series, which has eight hour-long episodes, has taken some drubbing in the press — including The New York Times — for being the latest in a long list of shows to allegedly mock Jersey by featuring over the top "characters," with big hair, dark tans and thick accents. The Times called "Jerseylicious" the show "witless" and the cast "vapid."

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Those shows include Bravo's "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" and MTV's "Jersey Shore." And there's another one in the chute from Oxygen, "Jersey Couture," which will be set at the upscale Diane & Co. formalwear shop on Route 9 in Freehold.

While some TV critics have blasted "Jerseylicious" for being derivative and stereotyping Jersey girls and guys, the cast is asking people to withhold judgment until they see the show. And so far, the "Jerseylicious" characters, who work at the Gatsby Salon, have no complaints about the way they are being depicted.

DiMarco said she loves "Jerseylicious." She believes it shows the cast members in a good light, even though they have their problems.

"They ("Jerseylicious" producers) really capture the heart of Jersey," DiMarco said. "I'm so happy they really took it the classy way and didn't make us or ask us to do anything stupid."

Giacomo waited until Sunday's party to watch the first "Jerseylicious" episode.

"I've been so busy I said I'll just wait and see it on TV," Giacomo said. "I just hope that everybody gives it a chance and watches it. I think if they see it, it's not what they're thinking it's going to be, because I've seen a lot of little different releases that I thought were nothing about who we are. To me, everybody has to watch it and see. "

Daughter Pereira, who manages Gatsby, had already watched the first installment, said she liked it.

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion," she said. "Close family and friends, people who know us and love us, they have been very, very supportive."

In addition to being about Giacomo's bid to relaunch the Gatsby Salon, the drama in "Jerseylicious" comes from the fighting between hairdresser DiMarco and makeup artist Sharpe, who bears more than a passing resemblance to Snooki of MTV's "Jersey Shore."

On the show DiMarco, who is dating Sharpe's ex-boyfriend, basically says she plans to make Sharpe's work life miserable at the Gatsby.

DiMarco, who boasts about her teased sky-high "helmet head" hair on the show, was laid back and friendly in person at the premiere party. Her hair was not so high, and she was wearing a short, tight strapless animal print dress.

Her family is thrilled about DiMarco's sudden fame, which has included full-page stories and photos of her in papers like the New York Post and Daily News and an appearance with the cast on "The Tyra Banks Show." DiMarco's mother and grandmother are clipping those articles.

"I come home and my mother had this book laid out — in order — of all my things that have come out," DiMarco said. "She doesn't care where she has to drive to get a magazine."

As for her feud with Sharpe, DiMarco said, "I'm only mean to people I don't like, or people who are mean to other people. I don't like Olivia. That's very obvious...I hope everyone likes me, even though I'm a little bit of a nasty bitch."

What's important to DiMarco, she said, is that viewers are seeing her talents as a hair stylist.

"I'm out there showing the world that I love to do hair and I can do it with passion," she said.

Both DiMarco and "Jerseylicious" hair stylist Gigi Liscio of East Chester, N.Y., have had the calling to do hair since they were kids.

As a toddler DiMarco wandered away from her mother in a store, and when her mom found her, she was very busy.

"I was actually braiding the fringe on a leather jacket at the age of three," DiMarco said. "So I could braid before I could talk."

Liscio recalled that as a little girl, she used to give her Barbie dolls layered haircuts.

"It was my passion," she said.

In "Jerseylicious," the story line relating to Liscio has to do with her relationship with her boyfriend Frankie, an old-school macho Italian American. He was at the premiere party, and walked over and gave Liscio a kiss during a press interview, then walked away.

The only male member of the "Jerseylicious" crew is hairdresser Anthony Lombardi of Fairfield. He worked at the Gatsby while his own shop, the Anthony Robert Salon in Verona, was undergoing a renovation.

Lombardi, sporting a jaunty white hat he'd bought Sunday morning at Bloomingdale's, said his own salon is open and he's back there.

"My bread and butter is the Anthony Robert Salon," he said.

But Lombardi added that he is spending some time at the Gatsby Salon during hair for clients he met during his stint there.

Lombardi was the only cast member who was actually lauded in The New York Times "Jerseylicious" review.

"As for the idea of ‘beauty' at this beauty salon, suffice it to say that the best-looking person among the workers or the customers is Anthony, the only male member of the staff," The Times wrote.

Lombardi was so thrilled about The Times' piece that he said he picked up seven copies of it.

His wife Patty, sitting by his side during the interview, said she convinced Lombardi to go to the Gatsby salon to interview for the position - and hence his role in the reality show.

"If you don't go, you're going to regret it," she told Lombardi.

Lombardi is happy with the way "Jerseylicious" turned out, but he admitted he has a biased opinion.

"Just watching it has been absolutely fantastic," he said.