AUG. 8 - 10 : Babyfaces and Old-School Spaces
Babies with the Bathwater: Tom Hamilton, not the Aerosmith guy, relaxes at home between gigs as he and his band American Babies prepare to play a free show tonight in Red Bank.
Media people: They Walk Among Us. Somedays they’re all you encounter in downtown Red Bank; whether folder-bearing sales associates for “upscale lifestyle” glossies, PR flacks doing their best impression of Tony Curtis in Sweet Smell of Success or TriCity elder statesman Dan Jacobson pecking his paper to bed as he holds court at his usual Zebu perch. Include self-appointed moguls like us and you’ve got a situation that fits somewhere between trend and tragedy; a situation not helped by the fact that so many local media types have lost their full-time jobs and, like ice-cart drivers and gas-lamp lighters, are simply doing the only thing they know how to do.
So it makes some twisted kind of sense that the already saturated Red Bank marketplace can seemingly support even more excitement than the one local daily, four weeklies, seven (or more) glossy magazines, four websites, a college radio station and various other giveaway ephemera that currently cause local merchants to flip the “Gone Fishin” sign when they see ‘em coming up the walk. Just the other day we talked to ex-MAR Magazine publisher and public relations principessa Michele Lanfrank about her very new, very upmarket online venture, and not five minutes later our e-mail tubes clogged with news of The Red Bank Monitor, a new bi-weekly publication (founded by Vin Gopal and Keith Rella, both veterans of the Dennis Kucinich For President campaign) that’s scheduled to debut on August 15 with a mix of “feature news, commentary, calendar of events — All Local, All Red Bank.”
As one of the old guys on the block — oRBit debuted a week ago today — we welcome our neighbors to the field. In the meantime, here are just some of the pulse-pounding events you can sample while we count down the days until Coffee News is the last man standing. And away we go…
Little TNA: The superstars of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling take the squared circle at Asbury’s Convention Hall tonight for a wake-the-kids, call-the-neighbors display of grappling acumen.
FRIDAY
Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when the top names in professional wrestling stomped the squared circle at Asbury Park’s Convention Hall. We’re talking characters like Chief Jay Strongbow and Dick “The Bulldog” Brower, then nearing the end of their long runs in the days before the WWF’s explosion into into the Hulkster era. While Mr. McMahon and company would take a pass on a Jersey Shore whistle-stop here in 2008, the hungry up-and-comers at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) are more than happy to throw down in Tillietown, just two nights before a major pay-per-view event in Trenton. Kurt Angle and AJ Styles top the ticket in this, ahem, “countdown to Hard Justice in Trenton” that promises nonetheless to be a slick presentation, complete with TNA Knockouts Tag Team Action. First bout slated for 7pm; take it here for your in.
The producers of the Comcast-sponsored Songwriters in the Park series over at Riverside Gardens Park seem to have taken a timely tip or two from the pro-wrestling template, loading this season’s Friday night main events with regional and even national draws, bolstered on the ticket by some of the best of the hometown talent. Fresh off a recent Stone Pony appearance with Gov’t Mule, American Babies bring a large-band approach to a set of quiet, countrified settings marked by coed harmonies and, we’re assuming here, a vibraphone player. Floppy-hatted frontguy Tom Hamilton (not the longtime member of Aerosmith) leads the band on a bill that further features frequent Shore flyer (and ex-Semibeing) Keith Monacchio. The free show starts at 7pm and includes complimentary Navesink sunset.
Over in Atlantic Highlands, the long-established First Avenue Playhouse has made a habit of hosting the world premieres of comedies from the pen of local playwright Joe Simonelli, a frantic folio full of titles like Romance Dot Com and Stocks and Blondes. For the month of August the company revisits Men Are Dogs, a favorite from a few seasons back in which a psychologist (Samantha Ambler of Long Branch) and her discussion group of divorced and single women are thrown into disarray with the appearance of “the perfect man.” Red Bank’s Kirsten Johnson appears with Middletownies Rachel Chibnick, Roberta Davis and Grace Emley in a cast under the direction of Simonelli himself. If you’ve never been to this downtown “dessert theatre,” you might get a kick out of its old-school nightclub style seating and its offering of coffee and cake prior to the performance (show starts at 8:30pm Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays). There are also some dinner/show deals going on at nearby places like Julia’s, Gianna’s and Memphis Pig-Out. Pop in here for what you need.
The Paperboy’s Outside, and He Wants His Money: Eli “Paperboy” Reed and the True Loves are the special houseguests for another in photographer Mark Costanzo’s Concerts in the Studio series.
SATURDAY
It’s a butterfly tasting and peach release! Wait, check that; it’s a peach tasting and butterfly release, at the annual New Jersey Peach and Butterfly Release Day, going on here in the height of Jersey Peach season at Sickles Market in Little Silver. In these days of carefully-considered car trips and “locavore” trending, the sweet, supple beauty of a picked-at-high-maturity Jersey Peach makes more sense than ever before — and the fact that OUR peaches kick THEIR peaches’ asses makes any further discussion moot.
The award-winning specialty food retailer and landmark farm will have nearly a hundred Painted Lady Butterflies on display from 9am until 4pm, when the recently metamorphosed critters (Sickles staff have been looking after them during the gestation period) will be set free to make their way in society. In between, there’ll be demos and tastings of grilled peaches, plus activities for the kids and, from 2-4pm, a chance to meet the folks from Red Bank’s own Blackwell’s Organic and sample their acclaimed gelato and sorbetto creations.
We’ve been seeing articles about how “house party” private concerts are all the rage with middle-aged bedroom-community rebels who are unable/unwilling to make it out to some skeezix nightclub, not to mention a welcome meal ticket for semi-forgotten singers (like formerly svelte Smithereen Pat DiNizio, looking anymore like he’s tarried too long at the ziti trough). For the past several years, Mark and Elaine Costanzo have been well ahead of the curve, opening up their photography studio in an “undisclosed location” that’s long since revealed to be in Freehold. Having hosted intimately tuneful kaffeeklatsches with such notable recording artists as Graham Parker, Marshall Crenshaw and Amy Rigby, the couple resume their very groovy series today with a late afternoon appearance by young soul rebel Eli “Paperboy” Reed and his combo, the True Loves. Admission charge of $20 gets you a close-up concert and potluck (BYO tuna casserole or manwich surprise) meet ‘n greet; for directions and details on this not-so-secret bit of local color (former X man John Doe comes a-calling on August 23), knock three times and tell ‘em Red Bank oRBit sentcha.
Over at the Art Alliance of Monmouth County on Monmouth Street, the local-landmark gallery space inaugurates a new installation called 11 on the Scene that runs through August 28 and brings together a bakers-dozen-minus-two of Jersey-fresh talents. The hyperkinetic watercolor landscapes of Rita Herzfeld and the bold calligraphs of Peter Arakawa are just some of what you’ll see here in this Monmouth’s 11. The show opens tonight with a public-invited reception that begins at 6pm.
Silver Screen: Joan Micklin Silver’s CROSSING DELANCEY gets an intimate screening at Asbury Park’s historic Stephen Crane House, as part of a program on the Jewish Immigrant Experience.
SUNDAY
If you’ve never been to any of the largely under-the-radar cultural events at the historic Stephen Crane House in Asbury Park, you’re certainly not alone. But if you’re interested in being part of an intimate and entirely unpretentious “salon” sort of scene where anything can happen — well, anything that’ll fit within the cozy parlor of this former residence of the famed novelist and journalist — there’s lots to love here. Owner Frank D’Alessandro and a collection of enthusiastic neighbors have presented chamber-style offerings that have ranged from short film fests and Halloween story hours to a one-woman dramatization of Jane Eyre.
Tonight, they’ll be screening Joan Micklin Silver’s 1988 film Crossing Delancey, an indie sensation starring Amy Irving and Peter Riegert as a couple of NYC eligibles whose matchup butts up against family traditions and other cultural speedbumps. Unfairly pigeonholed as a chick flick, the comedy (with a cute turn by Reizl Bozyk as Bubbie) shows at 6pm and is preceded by readings of stories and anecdotes on the Jewish immigrant experience in New York’s Lower East Side. Refreshments served; admission is free but a $5 suggested donation will be dedicated to the Asbury Park Little League.
With most of American culture sending out a not-so-subliminal message to Stay Home on Sunday Night, it can be unfortunately easy to overlook Rob Dye and his weekly helping of Open Jam at the newly double-wided Downtown. After all, as an every-Sunday staple that rivals 60 Minutes for staying power, there’s a sense that there’s always another chance to catch this weekly meeting of the musical minds. But with the dyed-in-the-wool Shoreguy musicmaker and his band playing human-jukebox hosts to anyone who wants to sign up for small-pond stardom, it’s an ever-morphing mix tape that veers pleasurably from office-party karaoke to greatest-unsigned-artist poignancy.
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August 08, 2008
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