Meg Chambers Steedle and John Wernke are young newlyweds at large in the MAD MEN-era big city, as Neil Simon’s BAREFOOT IN THE PARK begins its Red Bank revival run this week. (Photo by Danny Sanchez)

By TOM CHESEK

To coin a phrase, they’re what you might call an Odd Couple.

On the one hand, Neil “Doc” Simon — the most successful, most commercial writer of popular comedies in Broadway history; the prolific creator of The Sunshine Boys and The Goodbye Girl and Plaza Suite and California Suite and dozens of other heavy-rotation favorites upon which the dinner-theater sun never sets.

And in this corner, Dr. Robert M. Rechnitz — professor of literature, writer of scholarly essays, and founding father of Red Bank’s own Two River Theater Company. As a director and executive producer at TRTC, the retired educator has made it a mission to bring quality revivals of works by such titans of the stage as Arthur Miller, Anton Chekhov and Henrik Ibsen to Monmouth County audiences who were starved for something a little meatier than, say, Neil Simon.

His last time in the director’s chair at Two River, Rechnitz chatted with us about his acclaimed 2008 production of The Glass Menagerie; as excited about staging this seminal work by Tennessee Williams as he was over the prospect of bringing Shakespeare to the brand new Bridge Avenue auditorium named for himself and his wife Joan. As we wrote in a profile that ran on our mothership site redbankgreen, “Rechnitz in person comes across not as an egomaniacal living monument but an avuncular chap who speaks in the patient, measured tones of the college professor that he was for much of his career. He’s someone who seeks not so much to ’sell’ his projects with a showman’s zazz, but to foster an understanding and appreciation of the plays he’s chosen to direct.” 

As we near Valentine’s Day and its extended season of candy kisses, cardboard Cupids and clinking cocktail glasses, we find Two River Theater preparing to open a major new professional production of Barefoot in the Park, Simon’s 1964 study of comical conflict among a pair of young newlyweds living in a fifth-floor Manhattan walkup (a play that starred a hot new talent named Robert Redford) — with none other than Bob Rechnitz manning the megaphone for the comedy that begins previews tomorrow night, and continues through the cold but cuddly month of February.

So what happened? Has TRTC done an about-face and become the Burt Reynolds Dinner Theatre? Or does the Rechnitz stamp suggest that Doc Simon should now be considered in the same egghead rank as O’Neill, Beckett, Moliere?

“I’ve been Simonized!” is how the director sums up his falling in love with this early and energetic work by Simon; a fun frolic (with an undercurrent of the sea-changes in gender roles and sexual attitudes that crashed ashore in the 1960s) starring John Wernke and Meg Chambers Steedle (previously seen in TRTC’s Frog & Toad) as conservative young lawyer Paul Bratter and his “free spirited” spouse Corie. Also featured are Dori Legg as meddlesome mom Ethel, Christopher Coucill as eccentric neighbor Victor, Demetrios Bonaros as the Telephone Man, with Paul Nixon and Gary Powell platooning in the part of the Delivery Man. 

Red Bank oRBit spoke to the good Doctor about his personal history with this show, about the lasting legacy of gagmeister Simon, and about the Valentine’s voodoo via which a good romantic comedy brings out the youthful blush in all concerned. Read on.

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Whether by EVOLUTION or intelligent design, the Long Island-based Cirque Le Masque troupe is a thing to behold in their yearly visit to the boards and airspace of the Count Basie.

You heard right; Thank God It’s February — ’cause when it comes to things to do around these parts (and the sheer force of will to do them), they don’t come any lamer than January in all its holiday-hangover tarnished glory. The new month, on the other hand, is a comparative Febreeze of activity; the groundhogs poking up from their holes in an effort to make the days beyond Super Weekend a chaotic catch-up of culture and commerce. Earlier this week, we hepped you to a whole bevy of art-oriented events taking place this weekend — cool new exhibits at Parlor Gallery, SWAG and In Spirit Living; special receptions at Oyster Point Hotel, the Middletown Library and lots more. Take it here for our wine-’n-cheese whirlwind — then start the rest of the weekend tour, weather gods willing, right here. 

1. Cirque Le Masque at Count Basie Theatre. In addition to reclaiming the traditions of the circus from what we’ve described as “the sad old elephant-poop of the classic big top,” the game-changing success of Cirque du Soleil has spawned a slew of nimble, agile touring companies that give new and thrilling meaning to “human resources” — and grand old auditoriums like the Count Basie Theatre are the perfect (indoor) venue for something like Cirque Le Masque. A sellout at the Basie in previous yearly stops, the acrobatic “European style” performance troupe returns to Red Bank with a new show (Evolution) that features original music, colorful costumes and state of the art stagecraft. The Long Island-based company brings its blend of aerial arts, clowning and envelope-pushing dance to the Basie boards in a Friday night show for which tix are available here.  Friday, 7:30pm/ $19.50 - $39.50

2. Rock Wilk at The Showroom. Singer, poet, producer, spoken word artist and compelling performer — Brooklyn-based Rock Wilk returns to the Shore once more at The ShowRoom, the storefront screening space that made a superior setting for his autobiographical performance piece Broke Wide Open last year. This is reportedly the final appearance of the one-man show that will be evolving into a fully staged play in months to come; we’ve got an exclusive interview with Wilk right here. Friday, 8pm/ $10 advance; $15 door

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The old Carousel place is on the quiet side this time of year, but come balmier nights the roundhouse will ring with music and laughter once more, as ReVision Theatre Company returns for another go-round of summer musicals. (photo by Mike Black)

Whether you’re a voracious consumer of live theater or one of the scenery-consumers who brings it to us, you know that the weeks immediately following the holiday hubbub are by and large the darkest, deadest days and nights of the calendar year — but with the groundhog having spoken, February’s short sharp shocks are jolting us back into gear for a new extended season of dramarama on local stages. We’ve got some news to peruse, followed just around the bend by a set of coming attractions for the weeks that will be.

Last we left off with ReVision Theatre Company, Asbury Park’s resident professional stage troupe was on the verge of a belated announcement regarding their upcoming 2010 slate of productions — and since then, ReVisionary partners Thomas Morrissey, David Leidholdt and new addition Alecia Brooks have made it official, with not just one but two summer-season musicals at the historic Carousel house — along with a fall production which, if the stars line up, will be the inaugural presentation at their very own homestage in downtown Asbury.

While they’re not quite ready to make a formal confirmation of the new ReVision space just yet, the triad of Producing Artistic Directors has gone public with a schedule of “fun, edgy, and quintessential rock & roll” musical theater that commandeers the Carousel beginning with The Who’s Tommy, the Broadway stage adaptation of the 1969 rock opera — and a staging that brings the epic of the Pinball Wizard to a venue that’s the next best thing to an actual arcade. Opening on July 9 (with a preview on July 8), Tommy’s Holiday Camp continues for three weeks, after which ReVision presents the world premiere of new “jukebox” musical — The Bikinis, a show about a 1960s girl group (with book by Ray Roderick and James Hindman) that begins on the Jersey Shore and ends in the present tense inside a Florida retirement community. Running from August 13 through August 22, the show comes equipped with a pre-sold score of favorite oldies like “These Boots Are Made for Walkin” and “Mambo Italiano.” 

Extending the season into the zombie-walk time of Halloween, ReVision presents a revival of Richard “Riff Raff” O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show, the perennial crowdpleaser that’s been rocking the Jersey Shore since those long-ago midnights at the old Belmar Cinema. Previewing on October 21 and continuing right on through the Eve of All Hallows, the show encourages audience members to attend in costume for the entire run. Stay tuned for confirmation of venue for this one — which could conceivably be announced as early as February 21, when ReVision hosts a season’s preview and launch party for their subscribers at Trinity and the Pope, the all new, N’awlins-style downtown restaurant (at the former location of Mattison Park) established by culinary catalyst Marilyn Schlossbach.

In the meantime, check the ReVision website for details on season memberships for both individuals and couples, VIP discounts plus other benefits and privileges. And don’t forget the Readings from Asbury Park series, continuing at The Showroom screening space on February 15 with The Interpreter by Joe Vitale, an exploration (directed by ReVision board president Bob Angelini) of the fictional relationship between Hitler’s right-hand man Hermann Goering and the young Jewish-American private who serves as his interpreter during the Nuremberg trials. It’s followed on March 8 with The Cuban and the Redhead, a musical (by Robert Bartley and Danny Whitman) based on TV power couple Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

Plenty more where that came from, so Continue Reading for what’s going up this month under the ol’ proscenium.

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One of THE classic show business couples visits Red Bank just in time for Valentine’s Day, when Joe Bologna and Renee Taylor come to the Count Basie Theatre with their “celebration of comedy and marriage” called IF YOU EVER LEAVE ME…I’M GOING WITH YOU!

By TOM CHESEK

Renée Taylor — Joseph Bologna — we need you here right away. Please get here as soon as humanly possible.

We need you to remind everyone that, despite your instantly familiar presences as stage and screen actors — Renee most famously as Fran Drescher’s mom Sylvia on The Nanny TV series; Joe with major feature film roles in My Favorite Year, Blame It On Rio and Big Daddy — it’s as the writers of some of the best and most-performed modern comedies that you’ve truly made your mark.

We need you to show them all how it’s done; all the brave players who’ve taken on those great plays on your collective résumé — the multilayered wedding-day ensemble piece Lovers and Other Strangers; the daffy duet (and holiday hostage scenario) It Had to Be You; the Vegas goldengirl gagfest Bermuda Avenue Triangle. You can start by inviting them all to see your show If You Ever Leave…I’m Going With You!, an intensely personal, yet universally funny, examination of your successful 44-year marriage (a Jewish-Italian union that was the stuff of the most sublime comedy, and that began on national television with your 1965 wedding on the old Merv Griffin talk show) — and your equally successful professional collaboration.

Most of all, with Valentine’s Day bearing down on us we need you to spill the secret, once and for all — namely, what is the key to a long-running marriage? A productive partnership? Even a relationship that outlasts Conan’s Tonight Show? When you hit the boards of the Count Basie Theatre on Thursday, February 11, you’ll be performing an intimate spectacle that juxtaposes scenes from your plays with stories of the real-life incidents that inspired them. We need you to bring your Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning stuff out in full force; steering Cupid’s arrows true and reinforcing the wisdom that nobody does it better. 

Red Bank oRBit spoke to this most classic of showbiz couples in advance of their visit to Red Bank. What follows is a merry mash-up of two separate interviews, so Continue Reading for the best reason to get married on TV — and that promised Secret to a long and loving relationship!

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What does this man have in common with America Ferrera, RuPaul and Val Emmich? That’s right, they all played roles in UGLY BETTY. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Not Martha Stewart, Gene Simmons, Regis Philbin or any other high-profile guests could rescue ABC’s once-popular, now soon-to-be defunct show Ugly Betty from the ratings dungeon, and soon enough America Ferrera’s braced face will be a recent memory.

But before the cult hit rides off into the sunset, it will, more than likely, offer us a Jersey Shore memory from a lesser-known guest that will undoubtedly sit better than a season finale of Jagerbombs and blow outs.

If the show’s producers don’t get too edit-happy, you’ll get to see Middletown native Everett Brothers on the show, doing what he does best: dancing. The effervescent, 25-year-old hip-hop dance instructor spent some time in December on set as an extra for Wednesday night’s episode. Nobody but the powers that be know whether his role as a dancer on the show will actually make it to television.

“It was a really cool experience,” Brothers said. “If I just get a clip of myself in freeze frame I’ll be happy.”

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Profile of the artist: He’s not posing for his face on a silver dollar just yet, but when Rock Wilk returns to The Showroom this Friday night, he’ll be commemorating the end of one chapter — and the beginning of an exciting new phase — in the evolution of his performance piece BROKE WIDE OPEN. 

By TOM CHESEK

Maybe you caught a glimpse of a GOT WILK? sticker on a street sign and wondered vaguely what that was all about. Maybe you found yourself riding the G line of the NYC subway one night and didn’t know what to make of that intense character sitting across from you; taking down notes and talk-singing to himself not from insanity but inspiration. Or maybe you were just put in position to encounter him in guerrilla performance mode — be it on the streets of Asbury Park, at a coffeehouse in Long Branch, even the Borders bookstore in Eatontown.

If you’ve ever so much as dipped occasionally into our oRBit, you’ve probably encountered some mention of Rock Wilk, the Brooklyn-based “singer, scribe and spoken-word sensei” who’s likely racking up some new categories even as we write this. For the past couple of years, this seriously driven artist has staked out a second base of operations “down the Shore” in and around Asbury town, where the veteran studio musician — credits include recordings by such pop eminences as Nile Rodgers and Patti Labelle — went to hone and define the live performance piece that came to be known as Broke Wide Open. Taking its name from Wilk’s self-released 2008 CD — a sober set of songs rooted in anger, personal pain and a broader social anguish —  the work has transcended its source material; morphing into a fully fleshed theatrical presentation that centers around its creator’s real-life search for his biological parents, and his consequent struggle with his own sense of self.

We first caught a very early version of this work in the historic parlor of the Crane House in Asbury, under the name Ma’Plej’ (the odd name roughly translates as “my pledge” and is composed of letters corresponding to the names of Wilk’s extended family members). The artist subsequently would show up at venues ranging from Asbury Park High School to SICA in Long Branch, to that aforementioned suburban bookstore — and along the line, the melodic vocals of the original album gave way to a new, more raw (but no less rhythmic) spoken-word-with-music attack that Wilk would mark with a second word-based CD (Valentine’s Day) and a second MySpace page dedicated to this developing aspect of his art and craft.

Wilk would continue to workshop his ever-evolving work at performance venues in NYC — but it was at The Showroom, that savvy storefront screening space in downtown Asbury Park, where Broke Wide Open took a quantum leap forward toward a new life as a real-deal stage play last year. This Friday night, the Wilkman returneth to Mike and Nancy’s place on Cookman Avenue for an occasion that marks the end of one chapter — it will be the last time he’ll be performing the one-man “staged reading” version of BWO — and the first step toward the project’s next logical phase; that being a fully staged New York production.

Red Bank oRBit rang up the Rock at this exciting career crossroads — Continue Reading for best results. 

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Jay Alders painted this image of Big Groovy Friend Donavon Frankenreiter for the surfer-slash-singer’s summer tour. Paintings by the A-list surf artist are among the artworks on view for the month of February at Jamian’s Food and Drink, beginning with a reception this Thursday evening.

If you’re an art gallery reception rat like us — surviving these days pretty much on a diet of wine and cheese —  you keep abreast of the potential effect that so much vino-and-velveeta can have upon one’s system. So when the Brits went public with a study suggesting that, contrary to old wives’ wisdom, cheese actually promotes healthy sleep and positive dreams, we did a spit-take into our plastic tumbler of merlot. Given what we already knew about the tranquilizing qualities of wine, this could potentially spell trouble for purveyors of boring art shows, who have a hard enough time already keeping their patrons from fading face-first into the hummus. Fortunately, from what we’ve been seeing lately in the galleries (and restaurants, and hotels, and yoga studios, and libraries, and bowling alleys) of the greater Red Bank orbit, the work that’s being put out there for public perusal is a genuine 28 Day Energy Shot for winter-whipped artwalkers. We’ve got ten eye-opening events happening this week (and five more already up and running), starting here and now.

• Thomas Schneider at Monmouth University. The modernist painter and sketch artist visits Wilson Auditorium at Monmouth University this Thursday for a lecture (4:30pm) and a reception (5:30pm) keyed into a solo show of his work (at the 800 Gallery on the West Long Branch campus) that remains on display through March 12. Thursday, February 4.

• Jay Alders, Christine Scarano and Matt Jastrzemski at Jamian’s. Along with the local-organic music, Jamian LaViola has augmented the cool cuisine at his eponymous Monmouth Street bistro with a featured artshow (curated by the Hopperesque Red Bank painter Travis Radcliffe) that changes monthly. Beginning with a reception this Thursday evening, the slinky fisheye visions of painter, photographer and custom board artist Jay Alders are on the walls and above the booths, joined by  the photos of Christine Scarano and the paintings of Matt Jastrzemski in an exhibit built around the theme of “Finding Warmth in Winter;” an exhibit that continues through the short (but not always so nasty and brutish) month of February.  Thursday, February 4, 6-9pm

• Artists’ Workshop at Red Bank Library. The Red Bank Public Library hosts an informal monthly gathering, via which artists can “find inspiration and motivation” in a space for creative people to draw and paint with others. No registration necessary; bring acrylics, pastels, watercolors, charcoal or pencils (no oils, please). Thursday, February 4, 7pm - 8:30pm/ FREE

• SOUL REALM Group Show at In Spirit Living Studio. Speaking of energy, the sheer volume of ideas emanating these days from Christine Murphy and Ksenia Poulber of Long Branch’s In Spirit Living Yoga Studio (and the even more crucial ability to follow through and “walk the talk”) suggests that there might just be something to that healthy lifestyle thing after all — we’ll make a note to try it some time. In addition to being the chief organizers of the nascent Long Branch Arts and Business Coalition, Russian-born Ksenia and the Reverend Chris have been very intensely working on establishing a new series of monthly multimedia art happenings there in the seaside city (about which much more to come) — and in between their regular gigs as fitness professionals and business partners, they’ve been presenting a monthly group show exhibit inside their own Spiritual Art Gallery. For the Black History Month of February, the spirited space welcomes a guest curator — Freehold-based artist  Chris “Kortez” Robinson (the talented channeler of graffiti and DJ culture influences, formerly of F-Boro’s Gallery 31) for a show that spotlights work by Robinson himself, along with Vellus Campbell, Bishop Steve Green and June Teel. 

The monthlong exhibit known as Soul Realm kicks off with an art party on Friday, featuring music by DJs Armand Green and Joaquin Morales, plus readings by local poets — and, in a first for this venue, hourly screenings of director David Davidson’s documentary film A Place Out of Time: The Bordentown School — a portrait of the New Jersey-based “educational utopia” that brought a superior school experience to generations of African American children (and a place that numbered among its faculty Alex Haley’s father Simon Haley, as well as Frances Grant, the first black woman to serve on the US Circuit of Appeals). In Spirit Living is located on the second floor (suite 202) of 560 Broadway (corner of Pearl Street); free parking is available in the nearby municipal lot at Broadway and Branchport Avenue; check website for hours.  Friday, February 5, 7-11pm  Through February 28

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United colors of Al Di Meola: the man who captured cool fusion in a bottle is back with a new eclectic/exotic/acoustic sound and a look at his newest band project inside the House That Basie Built.

1. Al Di Meola’s World Sinfonia at Count Basie Theatre. When you’re (a) a guitarist with the unassailable credentials of Al Di Meola; (b) one of the founding fathers of jazz fusion via his stint in Return to Forever; (c) a go-to guy who’s played with everyone from (Jimmy) Page to (Les) Paul to (Luciano) Pavarotti, well — where do you go from there? The answer, natch is The World — or World Sinfonia to be precise; a multinational cabal of musicians from Argentina, Cuba, Israel — and the G-State, courtesy of Jersey City-born Al. The accent’s on Argentina (and acoustica) as DiMeola and company (guitarist Peo Alfonsi, percussionist Gumbi Ortiz, accordionist Fausto Beccalossi) invade the boards of the Basie for a set that’s appetized by goatee’d piano prodigy Taylor Eigsti. But if you’re one of those for whom The World Is Not Enough, repair to The Pearl lounge at the Oyster Point Hotel for an afterparty that’s free to access with your Basie concert ticket.  Friday, 8pm/ $19.50 - $49.50

2. Richie Havens at Monmouth University. In case you haven’t been duly hepped, it’s Woodstock Week at MU — and the West Long Branch campus is hosting no less than the unofficial ambassador of Woodstock Nation, as Richie Havens comes to the Pollak Theatre for a special matinee Q&A session at 3pm, and an 8pm concert featuring a special auction. Call (732)571-3512 for info on the Q&A; reserve concert tix right here — and look here for our deepdish delve into tonight’s event.  Friday, 8pm/ $30 

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The Oscar winning 1984 screen version of AMADEUS kicks off a new series of free classic films, tonight at the Count Basie Theatre.

A couple of weeks back, we made mention of the fact that Red Bank’s very own Count Basie Theatre had been named to the National Register of Historic Places — pretty much the highest honor that any self-respecting structure could hope to attain here in the United States, and a status that should help smooth the fundraising path for the 83 year old landmark’s ongoing renovation project. 

The former Carlton Theatre (the name it’s listed under in the historic register) is looking pretty fine for an 83 year old these days, with millions of dollars in improvements to the spectacular auditorium and the landmark building’s infrastructure — from a swanky new chandelier and top-to-bottom paint job, to a second bar and new street-level reception room. As such, it’s really taken its place among the grand old halls of the northeast; a proper venue for symphony orchestras, living legends of entertainment and, well, the occasional dog act.

Still, from the day the place opened its doors in 1926 with a showing of the Richard Dix silent feature The Quarterback, it’s served as a movie palace — one that boasts what we understand to be the biggest screen in Monmouth County. You could catch bargain priced, second-run features there when it was the Monmouth Arts Center in the 1970s and 80s — and for every truly special event going on there (the legendary 1977 Jukes/E Street hybrid concerts; the first Bruce-blessed Holiday Hurrah allstar shows; a personal appearance by Cary Grant in 1987) there were battered prints of Brian De Palma thrillers to keep the lights lit.

Back in 2008, the Basie teamed with corporate sponsor American Express to present a slate of free classic movies screenings called Take 9 — drawn, more or less, from each of the nine decades in which the theatre has operated — and beginning tonight, on the 28th day of what most folks regard as a new decade, the series kicks off with the Director’s Cut of an oddball Best Picture winner from the inscrutable 80s.

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Pictured in the 1998 cult sensation THE BIG LEBOWSKI, clockwise from top right: Jeff Bridges as The Dude and Julianne Moore as Maude; Sam Elliott as The Stranger; John Goodman as Walter; John Turturro as The Jesus.

You’re entering a world of pain, son. 

That rug really tied the room together. 

Hey, careful, man, there’s a beverage here!

Smokey, this is not ‘Nam. This is bowling. There are rules. 

Look, just because we’re bereaved, that doesn’t make us saps!

Say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it’s an ethos.

The Dude abides. I don’t know about you but I take comfort in that. It’s good knowin’ he’s out there. The Dude. Takin’ ‘er easy for all us sinners.

We could go on, citing the roughly 300 f-bomb conjugations in the script, but we’ll probably save it for Friday night, when one of the greatest of all quote-generator cult sensations screens at the center lanes of Asbury’s atom-age alterna-arts odditorium — and for a worthy cause, yet.

The film is The Big Lebowski, and the occasion is a fundraiser for the Arts Coalition of Asbury Park (ArtsCAP), the nonprofit organization “dedicated to the promotion and advancement of the arts through collaboration, advocacy, and education.” It’s a serious partnership of genuine go-to people who’ve made their mark on the scene, and as evidenced by events such as this one, they definitely remember how to have fun along the way to enriching community life.

It was 1998 when the filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen — then coming off their biggest success to date, Fargo — unleashed Lebowski on a cineplex crowd that just wasn’t buying it at a time when Titanic and Good Will Hunting ruled the waves. Like so many other pictures that only find their audience in the aftermarket afterlife, Lebowski was one of those rare vintages that matured in the bottle; a true millennial classic that, just like its central character, was an underachiever that managed to find something of the accidental hero inside.

Blessed with a savvy, salty script by the Coens and some vivid characters brought to life by a never-again cast of Hollywood mugs, Lebowski grafted a Raymond Chandler sort of noir thriller plot onto a mellow-paced mood piece that replaced the hardboiled gumshoe with Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), an aging former activist whose only real passions are bowling some frames with his buds (Steve Buscemi and, in the role of a lifetime, John Goodman) and sucking down White Russians.

No point detailing the ins and outs of the convoluted mystery plot, but to scan the supporting cast — from Julianne Moore and Philip Seymour Hoffman to Ben Gazzara and Flea — is to be invited to the party. Even some of the smallest roles are synapse-frying standouts — John Turturro as trashtalking psycho bowler The Jesus; Jon Polito as a seedy shamus; Tara Reid as the bimbo at the heart of the nastiness and Sam Elliott as the laconic cowboy Stranger who sets the scene.  

It wasn’t a critical darling like Barton Fink nor a breakthrough like Raising Arizona; it didn’t have the budget of O Brother, Where Art Thou or win Best Picture like No Country for Old Men; it wasn’t even our personal favorite Coen caper (that’d be Miller’s Crossing) — but in just a few short years the picture became a touchstone to countless line-quoting aficionados (including a heavy armed-services contingent). It’s also spawned an annual Lebowski Fest that’s resulted in several books, web-based communities and a happy career corollary for Jeff “The Dude” Dowd, the man whose persona inspired The Dude of the silver screen.

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Richie Havens — maybe more than anyone else the spirit of Woodstock incarnate — caps off a series of events paying tribute to the legendary 1969 festival, this week at Monmouth University.  

In an interview that appeared last summer here in oRBit, legendary New York DJ Pete Fornatale offered that “Woodstock has moved from the realm of reality to the realm of mythology. But it’s still a Rorschach test in our society — many people still feel threatened by what it represents.” 

The creator of radio’s Mixed Bag (now heard on listener-supported WFUV 90.7 FM out of Fordham University) was appearing at a now-defunct restaurant in Atlantic Highlands to sign copies of his oral history book Back to the Garden: The Story of Woodstock — as well as to host an edu-taining little multimedia presentation on the lore, legend and legacy of the Music and Art Festival that’s still issuing aftershocks to the greater culture, some 40 years after the last baggie was bulldozed into a fire-pit on Yasgur’s Farm. 

Fornatale, who despite his excellent document of the event actually wasn’t there (he was holding down the fort at the old WNEW-FM in NYC), packs his slideshow and returns Shoreside on Wednesday evening, for the first in a set of Woodstock Week events at  Monmouth University. And sure, the actual anniversary was last August — but then of course school wasn’t in session at the time.

In a manner not unlike your favorite “cool” teacher from high school, the DJ will screen his collection of rare audio clips, video footage, and fun trivia in the cavernous confines of the Pollak Theatre for a $10 general admission charge, with the show scheduled to start at 7pm and tickets available here.

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The smart money says: wait ’til last summer’s blockbusters become this winter’s freebie screenings at the local library — as PUBLIC ENEMIES suggests, you’ll break the bank like Dillinger!

A chance to make some noise with the pots and pans alongside one of the Shore’s favorite chefs! High profile appearances by a Nobel Prize nominee, a real live TV medium and one of the great voices of New York radio! Opportunities for artists and media types to network (or not-work)! Free and nearly free screenings of recent motion pictures! All in a week’s work here in the greater Red Bank orbit, where the dreariest days of midwinter still manage to kick the crap out of much of the map. 

1. Free Movies at the Library. With Baby Face Finster Johnny Depp as the outlaw-romantic John Dillinger, Bat-Psycho Christian Bale as super G-man Melvin Purvis (or is it Murvin Pelvis?) and Michael Mann (Manhunter! Thief! The Keep! Heat! CRIME STORY!) manning the megaphone, we expected Public Enemies to go gangbusters on other pretenders to the fedora’d throne. What we got was arguably okay — but there’s no disputing that it’s certainly worth the price of admission when it screens for free at the Monmouth County Library’s Eastern Branch in Shrewsbury, with showtimes at 2 and 6:30pm. And speaking of old-school gangsters: over at the Middletown Township Public Library, the main branch on New Monmouth Road continues a free screening series of Love Stories, European Style with a rare look at Black Cat, White Cat — Serbian writer-director-actor-musician Emir Kusturica’s romcom of lovers on the run from arranged marriages, local crime kingpins and hidebound local customs. Grab some popcorn, pull up a folding chair and let’s go to the pictures on a midwinter’s Monday. Monday, 2pm and 6:30pm (Shrewsbury); 2:30pm and 6:30pm (Middletown)/ FREE

2. Cooking Demonstration at Langosta Lounge. The question that comes to mind is, where does she find the time? As in Marilyn Schlossbach — co-owner/operator of four (soon to be five) Jersey Shore eatspots; tireless humanitarian, a founder of the Asbury Park Film Initiative, surf-culture champion and, lest we forget, a pretty savvy person around the kitchen. Tonight, Schlossbach’s Langosta Lounge, that bulwark bubble of endless summer on the Asbury boards, is the setting for the first of three monthly events that allow the epicurious public a chance to get hands-on with some of the most exciting trends in contemporary cuisine. This evening, Chef Marilyn spotlights Spanish Tapas — its history, culture and methodology — with “kitchen discourse” and an interactive wine tasting that explores how different vintages work to complement the flavors of regional cooking. To complete the experience, a full three-course meal will be served with wine pairings. The series resumes on February 22 with a session on Caribbean Cuisine, and on March 29 with a taste of how the Farm-to-Table movement has caught on with discerning chefs. There’s a discounted $190 registration for all three events, and reservations can be made at (732)455-3275. Monday, 7pm - 9pm/$70 (or $190 for three events)

3. MCAC Arts Salon in Asbury Park. An Arts Salon? What could be more romantic — creative people of all stripes and strata, hobnobbing under the subdued lighting of a sophisticated watering hole in the heart of the Shore’s legendary “Arts Block” itself? Beginning tonight and continuing on monthly Mondays, the Monmouth County Arts Council invites the artistically minded to The Harrison bar and restaurant in downtown Asbury Park to “exchange ideas, talk, vent, and laugh.” Drink and appetizer specials will be offered as well,and really, who doesn’t like to be encouraged to vent? Monday, 6- 8pm

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