New Jersey Stage logo
New Jersey Stage Menu


?>

 

INSIDE MUSIC: Music & Miracles


By Rosemary Conte

originally published: 12/22/2016


I notice that miracles get more press around Christmas and Hanukkah. After all, both these events celebrate biblical miracles. And you can find old and new holiday movies in theaters and on TV that depict miraculous transformation in people’s lives.

I experienced a gift and a miracle this month. The gift, my birthday; the privilege of beginning another journey around the sun. The miracle is on wheels.

For context: Though I’m physically challenged by multiple sclerosis, I still sing well and I can play gigs. Finding a handicapped parking place close to the venue entrance is a problem. Walking while carrying gear is no longer an option. I intend to remain a working musician, teacher, and social activist until my proverbial last breath. However, a wrinkle in my plan for the future has been the uncertainty of how I would acquire one of those insanely expensive handicapped-equipped mini-vans when I must transition from walker to wheelchair.

My Christmas miracle is the 2004 “like new,” candy-apple red, low mileage, fully handicapped equipped-loaded-with-extras mini-van that is sitting in my driveway!

I received this gift from the family of a woman with MS whose children bought her the van. After she died, her kids couldn’t find a buyer for the van, not even at a conversion van dealership. They tried to donate it to a local non-profit organization that works with the disabled, but the org refused the van because it would cost too much to insure for commercial use.




Follow New Jersey Stage on social media
Facebook, Threads, Instagram, Twitter, Bluesky



It’s funny, that something about me on Facebook stuck in the mind of a person who works at the non-profit org. I got a phone call from the office asking if I would like to have a van they can’t accept as a donation. I was put in touch with the deceased woman’s daughter, who had been told I have MS. She wanted me to have her mother’s van.

The spirit of love and good works is still alive in our cockamamie culture, manifesting in candy-apple red miracles among those of other colors, and forms, and coexisting with a dysfunctional government and a confused society.

After a mind-numbing-spirit-bruising political campaign, we’ve come upon a season when kindness, generosity and love are trending. And right under our noses we find humble gifts of joy, as in live and recorded music in churches; in retail establishments; and in the hearts of carolers who walk in the cold to warm the hearts of their neighbors.

If you’d like to bring the gift of music to underserved people, go charitable. Gather seven or so people who like to sing, and take your music to nursing homes, and rehab centers, or to an elderly person you know is living alone. I guarantee your heart will be filled with gratitude and joy.

If you’ve never tried caroling at Christmas and if you missed Go Caroling Day, Dec. 20, remember; there are 12 days of Christmas, and your group will still be appreciated after Christmas Day.  Besides traditional carols, there are plenty of well-known winter pop songs to sing ‘til April. A Google search for “winter songs” will find lists of them. Also, there are dozens of sites on the web that offer advice and tips for organizing a caroling group. Here is one.

I leave you with silliness from my joy-filled heart. Here is parody of a few lines of “The Christmas Song” by Mel Torme; the one that leads off with chestnuts roasting. Anyone who can speak can sing, so go ahead. Wherever you are---on your phone, on the subway, sharing a cab, in a restroom. Sing out and draw someone in.

I wish you a joyous holiday. If you don’t celebrate the common ones, then Happy Festivus! 



Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

Make your smoke detectors scream

Be kind to your lungs, to your eyes and each ear

Nuke your chestnuts this year







Follow New Jersey Stage on social media
Facebook, Threads, Instagram, Twitter, Bluesky



FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


Jax

Jax Hollow

Saturday, July 19, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Lizzie Rose Music Room
217 E. Main Street, Tuckerton, NJ 08087
category: music


 

A

A Night of Worship with Bishop William Murphy - Live in Concert!

Saturday, July 19, 2025 @ 7:00pm
New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC)
11 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
category: music


 

Joanna

Joanna Connor

Tuesday, July 22, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Lizzie Rose Music Room
217 E. Main Street, Tuckerton, NJ 08087
category: music


 

Lynette

Lynette Sheard - ​​​​​​​Gatsby Reimagined

Thursday, July 24, 2025 @ 7:30pm
The Morris Museum Back Deck
6 Normandy Heights Road, Morristown, NJ 07960
category: music


 

Back

Back to the Eighties Show with Jessie’s Girl

Thursday, July 24, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC)
100 South Street, Morristown, NJ 07960
category: music


 


 

EVENT PREVIEWS

Bergen

Bergen County Parks Department presents Music At The Barn

(PARK RIDGE, NJ) -- Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco and the Board of Commissioners invite the public to attend a free music concert featuring The Matt Chertkoff Trio and Houston Person on Sunday, July 27 from 4:00pm – 6:30pm at the Wortendyke Barn Museum, a County Historic Site (13 Pascack Rd, Park Ridge). This is the first concert in the 2025 music series.



71st

71st Annual Choir Festival: The Light of Life to Take Place on Saturday

(OCEAN GROVE, NJ) -- Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association joyfully presents the 71st Annual Choir Festival: The Light of Life on Saturday, July 19, 2025 at 7:00pm. Set within the soaring arches of the historic Great Auditorium—an awe-inspiring 6,500-seat space revered as a sacred ground for worship and music—this beloved summer tradition gathers hundreds of singers for a night of profound praise.



Lizzie

Lizzie Rose Music Room presents Jax Hollow on Saturday

(TUCKERTON, NJ) -- The Lizzie Rose Music Room presents Jax Hollow on Saturday, July 19, 2025 at 7:30pm. In a city teeming with some of the world's most talented entertainers, Nashville's Jax Hollow has emerged as a rare triple threat—a nuanced and hard-hitting songwriter, a powerhouse vocalist, and a world-class guitarist. She's a true embodiment of the Music City Trifecta.



Human

Human Wheels (Mellencamp Tribute Band) to Perform at Drew University

(MADISON, NJ) -- Human Wheels, the premier John Mellencamp tribute band, will perform at the Concert Hall at Drew University on Saturday, September 13, 2025 at 8:00pm.



Lyceum

Lyceum Hall Center for the Arts presents Aria Nouveau

(BURLINGTON, NJ) -- On Saturday, August 2, 2025, the City of Burlington, Mayor Barry Conaway, and Lyceum Hall Center for the Arts' co-artistic directors, Barbara Fisher and Patty Howard will welcome Aria Nouveau. This is a classical crossover performance featuring vocalists Laura Auer (soprano) and John Riesen (tenor). Showtime is 11:30am.