By Danny Coleman
originally published: 11/19/2020
Casey Abrams keeps himself busy; this former top ten "American Idol" finalist is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, recording artist and activist of sorts who currently has released a new single on which he duets with 80's music icon Cyndi Lauper.
A native Texan, music has flowed through his veins seemingly from birth but it wasn't until his family moved to California where Casey's talents began to truly develop. Artistically encouraged by both parents, he began his journey in earnest at an arts academy where his father taught film production.
"I really got into jazz when I went to Idyllwild Art; Idyllwild is a town that's two hours east of L.A. that has this amazing art school,"he started with enthusiasm."The academics are from seven in the morning until noon and the rest of the day from one o'clock on you'd have art. So, my Mondays were science, math, geometry, have lunch and then film scoring, jazz combo and jazz theory. I mean this was high school, at 15 I started playing upright bass and joined the jazz class. Then from there I learned all of the bass lines and a little piano because there were three other bass players and no piano players. So, it was kind of a blessing that I learned all of these instruments; I'd sneak into the room and play the drum set too just for fun. It was fun, it was really fun times and I learned from a really cool guy named Marshall Hawkin who was Miles Davis's friend and he would tour with him and a lot of other cool people too as well."
Abrams parlayed these talents into a stint on"American Idol,"a successful solo career and involvement with other projects; once again built off of his time at Idyllwild.
"It was season ten of "American Idol" in 2011," he said proudly. "It's very cool because coming up is our tenth anniversary and I actually have something fun planned; a nice little reunion kind of thing that I've been working on that will come out next year for the tenth anniversary of "American Idol" for me and all of my contestant friends who were on it and in the top eleven."
The other"Project?" He is a regular performer/player with Postmodern Jukebox.
"Oddly enough, it was one of the people that I went to school with, the saxophone player Jacob Scesney and he was playing a show with them in L.A. and just said, "Hey, you should come by, just jam and meet this guy named Scott; they do jazzy versions of modern-day hits," he said as he relayed the details of how he became involved with the contemporary troupe, "So, I called Scott and he said, "Yeah, just come by" and as I was driving to the venue talking with him, I said; what song shall we do tonight? He said, "Just name any hit song you hear on the radio" and I remember saying, Sam Smith is doing pretty well and he said, "OK then let's do a Sam Smith song;" so we did a Sam Smith song "I'm Not the Only One" in a jazz fashion. We practiced maybe once before the show, then the show happened and then we did a video about two weeks after that and then I did more and more and I'd go to their weekly things. Then even when they stopped doing shows in L.A. which were kind of like these speakeasy things, I went on tour with them. I remember my first tour; we went to Europe. We went to places that I'd never been before; Germany, Ireland, England, Amsterdam, a lot of really cool places. I'm still with these guys and still see Scott once and a while; I really miss touring with them."
Not touring has not deterred Abrams, as a matter of fact; he's busier than ever. His latest effort sees him teaming up Cyndi Lauper on a cover song called, "Eve of Destruction;" something he feels needed to be done given our current world climate.
"Eve of Destruction" I heard when I was a little kid because my mom loved the song and would play the protest songs; she would play Bob Dylan and basically all of Woodstock. Then me and my record label dude, we were just talking and I just brought it up; it's kind of the eve of destruction right now; it was right when COVID was hitting. I had just stopped my tour because things were shutting down in New York because COVID hit, so we got together and recorded it back in March. Then we were like; ya' know what? Let's put new lyrics on, so we changed a couple of lyrics on it. We changed the ocean in it to Rio Grande, "All of the senators are passing legislation," we changed to "None of the senators are passing legislation," we changed a couple of words here and there. We even put the pandemic in there and kind of updated some of the lyrics but the whole thing is about; we're in the eve of destruction and you'd be crazy if you didn't see that. We were trying to make it important for people to vote because we want them to say how they feel because we felt it was the best way to communicate with our government. So, we started to get together every month and then we were like, well, maybe we can hit up Cyndi Lauper and my label guy said, "Maybe; I think I know some of her people" and then we were about to release it and he hit me up and sent me this thing titled, "Casey Abrams featuring Cyndi Lauper" and I thought; oh my God did she sing on it? Then I heard her voice on it and thought, that's perfect. My childhood Casey would be going crazy right now and so was adult Casey (laughs). We both basically have kind of unique voices and sometimes, for lack of a better term, we're not smooth singers. We're very rough and nitty gritty and we get down to the bluesy-ness. I don't think I've ever been compared to her but I've always wanted to duet; I would duet with myself to "Time After Time" and think, well me and Cyndi would sound good but it was literally almost like a freak accident. They said, "How would you feel if Cyndi was on it?" and I said, do it, just do it; how do we make this possible? I'm supposed to get on a call with her soon; I've not talked to her yet, that's the nature of the business but we are setting up a call real soon."
"We did have a video for it also but I don't think it got out in time; to be honest I'm not too sure what happened but I think the parent company did not like it; why I'm not too sure. I will definitely do a cover of it at some point especially during these election times; I'll post a little video to hype up the song and try and give a voice to what's going on right now."
So, what message is it that Casey is trying to relay to the masses with this tune and where does he go from here?
"I think that everyone should just love on each other; it's really hard to mess that up but I see it happening all the time. I think that in the past year, maybe even two; I'm passionate about getting you out to vote no matter what it is you believe in but don't get too involved to where you stress yourself out. What I like to do, I don't know if it's that controversial; is turn off the TV once in a while; ya' know? It's good to take every bit of news you hear with a grain of salt; it's a big thing these elections and I think it's almost like a football game, you get into that mentality rather than actually caring about what is actually going on in the world. You fight for your specific candidate and it's literally like going to a sports function and just rooting for something. So, take every bit of information with a grain of salt, there are multiple news sources and even if you see something that is crazy don't get too worried. I'm very lucky that I have my music and my voice to say how I feel and a lot of people don't have that but that's what voting can do. Another thing that I encourage people to do; they'll say, "Oh I'm not the best singer" or "I'm not good, I haven't studied;"I'm not the best music reader but I still sing my ass off and I have a great time doing it. Part of it is getting how you feel out; right? It makes me a happier person so that's why I love it. I just love seeing people express themselves through art or dance, I think that's why art is really important, we can say how we feel."
"I have two full albums, a couple of EPs and a whole live album as well that I did live in L.A. but for the past couple of months I've been putting out singles. I was trying to do something every week but that's down to once a month; I'll put out a music video and it's fun, it keeps up the brain muscle and shows people that I'm still working on things."
To discover more about Casey Abrams, the single, Postmodern Jukebox and more; please visit www.caseybassy.com .
That's it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week....ROCK ON!
This week's event listings
Al's Airport Inn636 Bear Tavern Road West Trenton
(609) 883-5252
Wed. 4 p.m. LGBTQ Happy Hour
Broken Goblet Brewing 2500 State Road Bensalem, PA
(267) 812-5653
Wed. 8 p.m. Open Mic w/ Cara Cartney "Thanks for the Laughs 6- Comedy Night at Broken Goblet" feat. Don Jamieson / Jim Florentine
All Shows 21+
Candlelight Lounge 24 Passaic Street Trenton
(609) 695-9612
Thurs. 6 p.m. Thursday Night Blues Jam Hosted by The Mojo Gypsies. $5 (Includes hot buffet)
Sat. 3 p.m. (TBA) $10 (cover charge/$10 Minimum includes buffet)
Championship Bar 931 Chambers street Trenton
(609) 396-5457
Tuesday 8 p.m. "Jam Night" Hosted by Nikki & Caleb
Ages 21+
Clubhouse at Mountain View (The Patio)850 Bear Tavern Road Ewing
(609) 771-0400
Thurs. 6 p.m.
Fri. 6 p.m. Ernie White (Reservations required)
COARadio.com 125 South Main Street Hightstown
(609) 241-7103
Sun. 7 p.m. "Rock On Radio" feat. DL Byron
Cooper's Riverview 50 Riverview Plaza Trenton
(609) 393-7300
Thurs. 8 p.m. Sara and The Sound
Fri. 7 p.m. The MegaTones
Sat. 7 p.m. The FredZ
Sun. 7 p.m. 80's Undercover
Mon. 7 p.m. "Sunny Monday Blues Jam"
Tues. 8 p.m. Karaoke w/ Karen and Mark
Wed. 7 p.m. Thanksgiving Eve party w/ "The Launch"
All Events Ages 21+
Dacey's Pub 215 West Philadelphia Avenue Morrisville, PA
(215) 295-4838
Fri. 6 p.m. Acoustic Music Night
Wed. 8 p.m. Quizzo
Dog & Bull Brew House 810 Bristol Pike (Rte. 13) Croydon, PA.
(215) 788-2855
Fri. 6 p.m. Roadsongs
Sat. 5 p.m. Brian Elliot
Sun. 4 p.m. Vince Schneider
German American Society 215 Uncle Pete's Road Hamilton
(609) 585-5200
Wed. 6 p.m. "Whiskey and Cigar Dinner" (An outdoor Biergarten event)
Hopewell Valley Vineyards 46 Yard Avenue Pennington
(609) 737-4465
Fri. 4 p.m. "Music & Merlot" feat. Deb & Mike
Sat. (12 p.m.) Rainbow Fresh (4 p.m.) "Music & Merlot" feat. Silent Q
Sun. 1 p.m. "Jazzy Sundays" feat. Winery Catz
Laurita Winery 85 Archertown Road New Egypt
(609) 752-0200
Fri. 7 p.m. "Vineyard Vibes October Music Series on the Lawn" feat. Yeast Comedy Night w/ Jim Florentine and David James. $25 (advance)
Sat. 11 a.m. "An Abundant Thanksgiving" feat. (11:30 a.m.) Melissa Ann (3 p.m.) The Bergers (6:30 p.m.) Tone Rangers. $15
Sun. 11:30 a.m. "An Abundant Thanksgiving" feat. (12 p.m.) Shore Bet Band (4 p.m.) Gary Philips. $15
Wed. 12 p.m. "Girls Night Out"
Lawrenceville Main Street17 Phillips Avenue Lawrenceville
(609) 219-9300
Thurs. 12 p.m. Holiday Arts Market (Weeden Park FREE admission)
New Hope Winery 6123 Lower York Road New Hope, PA
(215) 794-2331
Thurs. 8 p.m.
Fri. 8 p.m. "Into The Mystic" Van Morrison Tribute.
Sat. 8 p.m. Steve Forbert
Newtown Brewing Company103 Penns Trail Newtown, PA
(215) 944-8609
Fri. (6:30 p.m.) "Schitt'$ Creek" Trivia Night Part 1 (8 p.m.) "Schitt'$ Creek" Trivia Night Part 2
Odd Logic Brewing Co.500 Bristol Pike, Bristol, PA
Sat. 8 p.m. Kricket Comedy Presents: "Yeast Coast Comedy" feat. Rich Vos / Ryan Shaner. Doors open at 7 p.m., $20 (advance)
Palmer SquareNassau Street Princeton
Sat.12 p.m. The MegaTones
Patriots Crossing 1339 River Road Titusville
(609) 737-2780
Thurs. 8 p.m. Open Mic Night
Wed. 7 p.m. "Quizzo"
River Horse Brewing Company2 Graphics Drive Ewing
(609) 883-0890
Fri. 2 p.m./4 p.m./6 p.m. "Indoor Reservations"
Sparky World Famous Beer Garden4333 New Falls Road Levittown, PA
(215) 943-2321
Thurs. 9 p.m. Karaoke
Mon. 9 p.m. Game Night w/ Kid Dalton
Starbucks Coffee (Trenton Community Store)
102 South Warren Street Trenton
(609) 393-0261
Sat. 3 p.m. Open Mic
Temperance House 5 South State Street Newtown, PA
(215) 944-8050
Thurs. 7p.m. "Blues Night" w/ Steve Guyger
Fri. 7 p.m. Kate & Bob
Tues. 8 p.m. Trivia w/ Righteous Jolly (outdoors)
Wed. 7 p.m. Open Mic Night w/ Cara Cartney
The Beer Garden at Snipes Farm 890 West Bridge Street Morrisville, PA
Fri. 5:30 p.m. Holiday Drive In Movie Spectacular: "Elf." $40 (Per car)
Sat. 5:30 p.m. Holiday Drive In Movie Spectacular: "Christmas with the Kranks." $40 (Per car)
Sun. 5:30 p.m. Holiday Drive In Movie Spectacular: "Jingle All The Way." $40 (Per car)
The Cool Cricket 216 Burlington Street Fieldsboro
(609) 291-9110
Fri. 9 p.m. Karaoke
Sat. 6 p.m. Asylum Choir
The Cure Insurance Center 81 Hamilton Ave. Trenton
(609) 656-3200
Check website for upcoming events
Triumph Brewing Company (New Hope, Pa. Location)
400 Union Square New Hope, Pa.
(215) 862-8300
Thurs. 8 p.m. Trivia
Sun. 7 p.m. Open Stage
All shows 21+
Vault Tap Room19 West College Avenue Yardley, PA
(267) 907-8550
Fri. 7 p.m. Cara Cartney
West Windsor Arts CenterNassau Park Boulevard Princeton
Sat. 10 a.m. "Off The Wall" Holiday Market (Takes Place at 952 Alexander Road Location)
Working Dog Winery 610 Windsor Perrineville Road Hightstown
(609) 371-6000
Sat. 12 p.m. Chris Swatt
Sun. 12 p.m. Big E
WWFM 89.1 FM HD2 RadioMCCC Old Trenton Road West Windsor
Jazzon2.org
Mon. 7 p.m. "Danny Coleman's Got The Blues"
About the author:
Danny Coleman is a veteran musician and writer from central New Jersey. He hosts a weekly radio program entitled 'Rock On Radio' airing Sunday evenings at 7:00pm EST on ThePenguinRocks.com where he features indie/original bands and solo artists.
EVENT PREVIEWS
Outpost in the Burbs presents Joan Osborne Sings the Songs of Bob Dylan
(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- Outpost in the Burbs presents Joan Osborne Sings the Songs of Bob Dylan on Friday, May 29, 2026 at the First Congregational Church of Montclair. Showtime is 8:00pm.
The Newton Theatre presents So Good! The Neil Diamond Experience starring Robert Neary
(NEWTON, NJ) -- If you watched the film Song Sung Blue and realized you like more Neil Diamond songs that you thought you did, you should check out So Good! The Neil Diamond Experience starring Robert Neary at The Newton Theatre on Friday, May 29, 2026. Showtime is 8:00pm.
Carteret PAC presents Air Supply on May 29th
(CARTERET, NJ) -- Carteret Performing Arts & Events Center presents Air Supply on Friday, May 29, 2026 at 8:00pm. The band is celebrating their 50th anniversary, promising an unforgettable evening of timeless hits and heartfelt memories.
State Theatre New Jersey presents Magical Mystery Doors on Friday
(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- State Theatre New Jersey presents Magical Mystery Doors on Friday, May 29, 2026 at 7:30pm. This is a tribute to the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and The Doors. They blend and layer the music of three legendary bands to create something new and unique for music fans everywhere. Limited tickets remain.
Borgata Event Center presents SatchVai Band featuring Joe Satriani & Steve Vai
(ATLANTIC CITY, NJ) -- The Borgata Event Center presents SatchVai Band featuring Joe Satriani & Steve Vai with special guest Animals As Leaders on Friday, May 29, 2026 at 8:00pm.
Prudential Center presents Sergio George: Festival "Ataca Sergo"
(NEWARK, NJ) -- Following the resounding success and unforgettable energy experienced at the Kaseya Center, renowned producer, musician, and visionary Sergio George raises the bar once again, taking his Festival ¡Ataca Sergio! to the next level. This time, the concept returns as a birthday celebration set for Saturday, May 30, 2026 at the iconic Prudential Center in Newark. Showtime is 8:00pm.
Michael Arnone's 2026 Crawfish Fest to Take Place May 29-31
(AUGUSTA, NJ) -- Michael Arnone's 2026 Crawfish Fest — three unforgettable days and nights of Louisiana music, food, and fun — will take place May 29-31 at Sussex County Fairgrounds. From Cajun and Zydeco to Delta Blues, New Orleans R&B, Brass, Gospel, and Jazz — the 2026 Crawfish Fest lineup features Grammy winners, Louisiana legends, and festival favorites lighting up the Main and Pavilion stages. Come for the day or stay and camp for the weekend.
New Jersey Symphony presents Star Wars: The Last Jedi in Concert
(NEWARK, NJ) -- New Jersey Symphony presents Star Wars: The Last Jedi in Concert with legendary composer John Williams' GRAMMY®-nominated score performed live to the film. Led by conductor Constantine Kitsopoulos, performances take place May 29-31 in Red Bank, Newark, and New Brunswick.
2026 Jersey City Jazz Festival to Take Place May 29-31
(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- The Jersey City Jazz Festival returns in 2026 with its biggest event yet, inviting music fans of all ages to experience jazz from across the spectrum including straight-ahead, Latin jazz and more throughout an unforgettable three-day celebration. Presented by Exchange Place Alliance, the free event runs from Friday evening, May 29 through Sunday, May 31 along the Hudson River waterfront at Exchange Place Plaza, offering sweeping views of lower Manhattan.
South Jersey Jazz Society's Concert on the Beach with the PJ Keiter Octet Set for June 5th
(SOMERS POINT, NJ) -- For the fifth year, the South Jersey Jazz Society (SJJS) will "unofficially" kick off the summer beach concerts on the William Morrow Beach in Somers Point with music by the PJ Keiter Octet on Friday, June 5, 2026.
MORE EVENTS
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