GO FOURTH AND MULTIPLY
Have you seen the green? Our mothership site redbankgreen continues to outdo all other major (and mynah) media for coverage of Red Bank’s landmark 50th anniversary edition of KaBoom Fireworks on the Navesink, from some gull’s-eye views of the arriving barges, to the anticipated album of images from this year’s Third of July spectacular, still to set it off as we post this.
Of course, in Red Bank the Fourth is a relatively mellow affair; a collective “KaBoom-heit” if you will. But it’s our understanding that many of the surrounding communities curiously observe Independence Day on July 4. Over in Sea Bright, summer Santa Tim McLoone and the Shirleys retake the beach for a pre-pyrotechnics concert that starts at 7pm (with a Fifth of July raindate). West Long Branch has the era-spanning Party Dolls sparking the fireworks over at Franklin Lake, while Colts Neck has bands on the ground and bangs in the air at Bucks Mill Park.
Over at Ocean Grove’s Great Auditorium, there’s the long-traditional patriotic concert by America’s oldest band — no, not the Jukes; it’s Sousa march specialists The Allentown Band, who we believe knew Sgt. Pepper back in the day. In Asbury Park the revels start early with the annual parade commencing from the area of Cookman and Grand Avenues at 1pm, and the Atlantic Highlands Fireman’s Fair continues Friday and Saturday, with fireworks, food and other fair fare in the always-appreciated setting of the municipal harbor — where on July 4 the winner of the annual boat decorating contest will be revealed.
But if any town around here could be said to have put an own on the Fourth of July, it’s the city of Long Branch, where for the 19th consecutive year the day-long Oceanfest celebration takes full advantage of the city’s long stretch of public beaches and boards to present a carnival/fair atmosphere unlike any other — one that does away with the usual sprawling layout in favor of a stroll that follows the shoreline Promenade, from the Ocean Place Resort & Spa and the assembled shops and eateries of Pier Village, onto the famous Moss Mile, where you can follow your own bliss to some of our favorite West End attractions, and get a healthful walk in the process. Although you’re gonna be running a tempting gauntlet of sausage sandwiches, cheese fries, funnelcakes and plenty of other deep-fried (and deeply felt) delights.
Credit goes out to the Greater LB Chamber of Commerce for pulling this thing together against all odds in this, our year of the corporate-donor fiscal fizzle. If any corners were cut, they’re not showing on the posted Entertainment Schedule, with kid-themed productions and fave dance bands (Ray Rodriguez y Swing Sabroso, The Jazz Lobsters) working the stage of the Great Lawn near the northern end of the Fest. At the Garfield Memorial Site (the plaza honoring the “Seven Presidents” of Long Branch, out back of Ocean Place) you’ll find demonstrations of martial arts, gymnastics and magic, plus a rare performance by Basha Alperin Alade’s organization ZEYBRAH — the one of a kind local exponent of Afro-Caribbean culture that brings some amazing sights and sounds to the promenade each year with the Oceans of Rhythm Festival.
Perhaps most exciting of all — in its own slow and quiet way — is the annual Sand Sculpture Competition, a tourney that attracts some of the genuine masters of this ephemeral art form. While it might not pack the same kind of thrill as watching professional beach volleyball, we recommend taking time to watch these castle kings at work, decreeing into existence some truly awe-inspiring palaces, as well as locally iconic items like the Monmouth University Hawks mascot and, once, a model of Red Bank’s K. Hovnanian building made of sand.
The whole thing climaxes with a top-notch fireworks display that claims to be “the largest along the Jersey coast.” We’ll leave Long Branch and Red Bank to parse sparks over this one. All music fans should follow us now to the next page, where we’ve laid out a few hot tips on the weekend’s races; the rest of you have a safe and a sane, and we’ll see you back here on Monday for the start of another revved up week.
Lady and Germs: Perhaps the first band to go viral in the ancient days of the Xeroxed ‘zine, The Germs return, with actor Shane West replacing their late lead singer Darby Crash.
FRIDAY: The Germs at Asbury Lanes. Any of you aging punk rockers out there remember that strange interlude several years ago when the Dead Kennedys reunited, with the grown-up child star of TV’s The Courtship of Eddie’s Father as lead singer? Well, here’s an unexpected local appearance of what’s generally regarded as the first true LA punk outfit, who recorded just one legendary album before frontman Darby Crash crashed and burned in legend-fixing fashion. Years later, when ER actor Shane West was cast as Crash in the bio-pic What We Do Is Secret, the surviving Germs (Don Bolles, Lorna Doom and Pat Smear, later of the Foo Fighters) jammed with him at a production party, and liked the results so much that they reconstituted as a legit band who’ve done several tours together. Tonight there’s a lot of them going round, as they come to the Asbury Lanes topside a bill with Austin’s Krum Bums and the new insta-faves Psyched To Die. Doors flop open at 8pm; showtime’s at 8, with a $16 cover and Lori Hatred’s patented $10 All-U-Can-Bowl deal in full effect.
Five guys named moe: The jam band is the big attraction at the Stone Pony this weekend, with two high profile shows on Friday and Saturday. (Photo by Danny Clinch courtesy of moe.org)
FRIDAY & SATURDAY: moe. at The Stone Pony. We suppose we could have done worse for an upstairs neighbor, but when Wheaties moved in up there with his one or two boxes of stuff, it was more like having some sort of scalp parasite. A fortyish “dude” whose shtick was probably old by the time he turned 15, Wheaties had been booted from his home by his ex-wife, who stopped letting their daughter come for visits after he flaked out on the child support. Wheaties was an affable, simple man — the kind of guy who’d play basketball games with his much-younger friends inside the sparsely furnished (no sofa, no TV) pad; a chain-smoker and a power-drinker who tossed butts and empties (and once, inadvertently, himself) from his deck; a guy who’d set off firecrackers in the woods and hide out there when the landlord came round. He was that special breed of man who does his drinking at a liquor-store bar, and when his local hangout closed at 10pm he’d invite his old barfly buds back to his place. Even gave several of them duplicate keys for when they needed a place to crash or party.
Well, when last seen on the bench outside the store, Wheaties announced that he was making a fresh start in New Mexico (did he realize it was still part of the USA?) and that we were welcome to anything left behind up there as he was skipping out on the rent. We mention this only because we’re reminded here of his uniform of choice — a Boston Red Sox baseball cap and a t-shirt that said moe. We’re just sayin. The reigning jam/prog kings return to the The Stone Pony SummerStage for a huge July 4th weekend stand that features a different set of opening acts for each all-age, 5:30pm show, and a limited number of two-day passes still available. Take it here for details.
From American Idol to singing in the streets? Relax, it’s Red Bank Street Life, and Phoebe Holiday Ryan is in the company of friends.
SATURDAY: Bank of America presents Red Bank Street Life. The summertime series of free outdoor mini-concerts presented by Red Bank RiverCenter continues on Saturday evening — and if you’re looking to scout the nextest biggest thing in between your search of merch or some munch between the hours of 6pm-9pm, take a number. There’s William Smith at Ten Thousand Villages (69 Broad Street), Steel Rail Blues outside the Dublin House (30 Monmouth Street), Murphy’s 6 String at Haagen Dazs (90 Broad Street), Gina Blechman outside Red Ginger Home (65 Monmouth Street) — and, over on White Street, none other than Phoebe Ryan, the recent RBR grad who competed briefly on season eight of American Idol and subsequently went on to costar in Melissa Arctic at Two River Theater.
Perplexing pachyderm pitch: The name may be lifted from a vintage Looney Toons, but The Gas House Gorillas are serious about their music — well, no, they’re not entirely, which is a grand and glorious thing. Catch them in the out-of-doors this Sunday in West End.
SUNDAY: The Gas House Gorillas in West End Park. Mother Nature didn’t get the memo, but the season of free outdoor concerts is in full swing — and with this entry in Long Branch’s Sunday night series at West End Park, it do mean a thing (because, you know, it’s got that swing…). Rick Fink and the Gorillas — who, fortunately for us, also don’t seem to have gotten the memo about the death of the swing revival fad — have been genre-busting their loutishly rollicking way through high-ticket holiday parties, stodgy jazz festivals, cooler-than-thou rock clubs and, in this case, placid pocket parks, like the vintage cartoon characters and comedians from whom they draw their inspiration. The tireless party pushers are a welcome addition to the Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues Foundation’s roster of players at these beachside bluesfests, and for Sunday’s 7pm show we expect they’ll bring their ‘A’ repertoire of “Jump Blues, Gypsy Swing, early Rock & Roll, Cajun music and even the occasional funk groove” to this pitch-perfect setting — a block in from the beach, and one over from the Windmill.
Goodbye Dolly? Rumors that master tribute artist Richard Skipper was skipping out on his Carol Channing persona are greatly, even grandly, exaggerated — as witness this Sunday’s big show in Asbury Park.
SUNDAY: Carol Channing in Concert starring Richard Skipper at McLoone’s Supper Club. Think whatcha will about Asbury drag shows, but since last summer the whole meaning of the phrase has been elevated to the stratosphere, with the advent of the cabaret series at Tim McLoone’s Supper Club above the boardwalk bustle. The events booked into the space-age saucer-shaped supperclub by entertainer and impresario Bob Egan have brought award winning big-city talent (and 31 extra flavors) to the former Howard Johnson’s. No lip-synchers these — as with the previously profiled Steven Brinberg and Tommy Femia, the Carol Channing specialist Richard Skipper has honed a spot-on characterization that’s been awarded the ultimate prize — the ebullient blessings of his living-legend subject, who proclaimed him “fabulous as me!”.
Skipper, who channeled Channing as the star of last year’s benefit production of Hello Dolly! for ReVision Theatre in Asbury, recently made noises about retiring his Carol act for keeps. It was a puzzler that prompted us to ask Egan about it — particularly in light of the fact that Skipper will be returning once more to McLoone’s for the July 16 show Legendary Ladies with Femia and Brinberg (sort of a “Three Countertenors?”). A recent email from Skipper, however, clarified the issue — this will be the First Farewell Tour of the show Carol Channing in Concert! Spoken like a truly Legendary Lady!
For this special Sunday night program, Skipper’s backed by a live four-piece band (arranged by Paul Stephan with Seth Weinstein) with vocal quartet The Jon Weber Group and a set that draws from such Channing triumphs as Dolly and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Showtime’s 8pm, with dinner served before or after the show, and tickets ($20) available online or by calling (732)774-1400.
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July 03, 2009
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