The new Makin Waves Scene Report will look each week at 10 of the brightest happenings shining upon the New Jersey music, arts and entertainment scenes. This week feature “Song of the Summer of Love” to benefit NJArts.net, Makin Waves Rock Circus, New Jersey acts at Punk Rock Island, Art All Night, and Sourland Music Fest, The Porchistas’ Resist – Backyard Music Festival, Accidental Seabirds’ tasty new residency at Dark City Brewing Co., Hidden Cabins’ new single and tour, Secret Sound’s tribute to The Allman Brothers Band, and Jean Pool’s “Album Release Extravaganza.”
On June 16, you can celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, perhaps the greatest year for rock and pop music ever, including what may be the best and certainly most influential album, The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Join Dead Dog’s Eye and Miguel Rodriguez as they embark upon a journey in a musical time machine to 1967 during “Songs of the Summer of Love,” a concert in support of NJArts.net produced by The 100th Monkey Foundation. Proceeds from the $10 tickets to the 9:30 p.m. show at Tierney’s Tavern in Montclair also will go to 100th Monkey, a nonprofit dedicated to making the world a better place one song at a time …
I would so be at NJArts’ benefit show on June 16 if I didn’t have a show of my own that night. Yup, Makin Waves Rock Circushas crept back into Roxy & Dukes with the rock of Will Wood & the Tapeworms, Experiment 34, Ser Xerri and Pixel Face, and the circus of the aerial acrobatics troupe Vertical Fixation. Tickets are $10 online or $15 at the door …
If you didn’t get enough punk at Punk Rock Bowling in Asbury Park last weekend, good news! Punk Island is this weekend and also features a slew of great Jersey bands. Representing the Garden State on June 18 on New York City’s Randall Island are Backyard Superheroes, Disposable, Shut Up, Ruby Bones, Sick Shit, The Hannas, The Silverhounds, and more ...
Another great place to see Jersey music acts this weekend is Art All Night at the historic Roebling Wire Works in Trenton. The 11th annual 24-hour art show featuring hundreds of professional and hobbyist visual artists from Jersey will be accompanied by a live soundtrack featuring Cook Thugless (see latest video above), Experiment 34, Molly Rhythm, KC Slater, Switch Mob,Meeko Brando, Trenton Children’s Chorus, Alpha Rabbit, Wade Wilson, Puppy Grease, Colleen Ryan, School Drugs, The Dirty Merlins and many more. Highlights also will include live graffiti muralists, glassblowing, a disco with dozens of DJs, a 24-hour film festival, art classes, kids’ activities and two food courts with more than 20 vendors and food trucks …
Then there’s Sourland Music Festival on June 17 at Hillsborough Golf & Country Club. Grammy-winner John Ginty will headline a lineup that also will feature Lisa Bouchelle, Karl Dietel Five and more. The event, which aims to protect the Sourlands Mountains, also will feature a variety of Jersey food, wine and beer, plus games, extreme sports, kids activities and wildlife attractions …
As if all the festivals going on this weekend weren’t enough, Montclair-based roots, rock, reggae and roasting outfit The Porchistas decided to throw their own on June 16 and 17 at their home studio at 148 Forest St. The lineup of Resist – Backyard Music Festival will feature Accidental Seabirds, Adam and the Plants, Bone and Marrow, Bern & the Brights, Brother Valiant, The Defending Champions, RocknRoll HiFives, Liv Lombardi, ManDancing, and, of course, The Porchistas. Tickets are $10 …
Speaking of Accidental Seabirds, the Asbury Park-based alt-roots combo will kick off a new promotion with Dark City Brewing Co. on June 15 called Street Series: Summer Sessions. The Seabirds will play Thursday residency through Aug. 31, and in a very tasty gig swap, The Porchistas, will share the first 6 p.m. bill. I’m sure they and their friends also may share Dark City’s Black IPA, Hoppy Rye Saison or Farmhouse Funk 4, the kegs to which are tapped at 5 ...
The rootsy North Jersey two-piece Hidden Cabins have a new single, “The Calming,” out on Combover Records’ “The Damp New Jersey Basement Compilation, Vol. 2.” Upcoming Hidden Cabins gigs include June 16, Scarlet Pub, New Brunswick, with Monitor, When Particles Collide, and Motor Heart Man; June 24, Milford Dairy Bar, Milford, Pa., with Sad Lips, Levy & The Oaks, Brian Rothenbeck & the Adventuring Party, The Afraid Brigade, Pioneer The Eel, Joe Straq, and Ken Fox; June 30 and July 1, The Haven, Jamaica Plain, Mass., with Mick Hargan and Brian Rothenbeck, and July 28, The Anchor’s Bend, Asbury Park …
While I still am incredibly saddened by the passing of one of my boyhood heroes, Gregg Allman, who was my first and most frequent national act interview, I am happy to report that the awesome Secret Sound will pay tribute to The Allman Brothers Band on June 20 at Crossroads in Garwood. The salute is part of the band’s weekly Phat Tuesday Jam Throwdown with friends from various bands, but this time out will be an open jam with an Allmans theme. As always, the phat evening includes a half-price bar menu and $4 craft beers …
The North Jersey-based band Jean Pool, who twist psychedelic blues with punk rock, will host their “Album Release Extravaganza” for their “Save the Elephants” debut at 7 p.m. June 17 at the American Legion on Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair. Sharing in the celebration will be music acts ManDancing, Use Big Words, Electric Sensei, Tula Vera, and Will Wood and visual artists Giovanna Rusin, Corinne Dodenhoff, Bridget Bakie, Mare Scang, Desiree Feliciano, Kat Ratzka, Bobby Kirner, and Victoria Galindo.
Bob Makin is the reporter for www.MyCentralJersey.com/entertainment and a former managing editor of and still a contributor to The Aquarian Weekly, which launched this column in 1988. Contact him at [email protected]
Join us for McCarter at the Museum - renowned performing artists in one-night only events at the Princeton University Art Museum.
Jason Robert Brown is a four-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon In Vegas and The Connector, has performed as a soloist or with his band in venues around the world, including sold-out shows at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. His albums as a singer-songwriter include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes and How We React and How We Recover on Ghostlight, and Coming From Inside the House and Live In Concert with Stephen Sondheim on Concord.
With Special Guest Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe. Tony Award-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe is currently starring as Audrey in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, following her recent Broadway run as Madeline Ashton in the hit musical Death Becomes Her. She previously originated the title role in Joy, the new musical inspired by inventor Joy Mangano, and earned a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her celebrated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Other Broadway credits include starring as Jenna in Waitress, Cordelia in the acclaimed revival of Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, and 110 in the Shade, as well as her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus and has appeared as a guest artist with more than 65 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Her screen credits include First One In, Estella Scrooge, CBS’s Instinct, and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Wolfe is also the co-founder of BroadwayEvolved, the acclaimed musical theatre training program she launched in 2018 to train and mentor the next generation of theatre artists.
A limited number of early access tickets for McCarter Director’s Circle members and members of the Museum’s Partner Circle are available, on sale Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM. General public on sale begins Friday, September 18, 2026 at 12:00 PM.
Please be aware there is no public drop-off or parking at the Museum. For visitors with mobility needs, please contact the Museum at least three business days in advance of your visit to request special access to the Museum via Elm Drive. Call 609-258-3788 and select option 1 to speak to a visitor services staff member, or email Louise Barrett at [email protected].
