originally published: 04/07/2025
(PARAMUS, NJ) -- Bergen Community College music professor and songwriter/performer Dan Sheehan brings a special presentation of his project The Seas Are Rising: Stories of a Climate in Crisis to Bergen's Paramus campus on Monday, April 21, 2025 as part of the college’s Earth Week celebrations.
The Seas Are Rising is a concept album and live music experience emphasizing the immediate urgency of the climate crisis. With songs ranging from melancholy tales of caution to vigorous calls to action, Sheehan entertains while calling on audiences to do their part to combat climate change through voting, holding politicians accountable, limiting their personal carbon footprints, and inspiring others to advocate and act.
Through songs rooted in rock, folk, soul, funk, and hip-hop, The Seas Are Rising tells the stories of people around the world already dealing with intense, climate-induced consequences. Audiences hear the stories of people from New Orleans to Puerto Ricans facing deadly, ravaging hurricanes; Pacific Islanders seeing their islands disappearing due to rising sea levels; rivers and reservoirs drying up in Europe, and other alarming and under-reported world events caused by climate change. Projected lyrics and visuals make The Seas Are Rising a multimedia experience.
At this special presentation, Sheehan will perform live guitar and vocals to tracks from the forthcoming album. Sheehan’s previous concept album, Tales from Earth Incorporated tackled corporate and political greed and earned Sheehan “Songwriter of the Year” honors at the New Jersey based Elephant Talk Indie Music Awards as well as “Best Political Subject Album” from the music director awards at WHFR-FM in Detroit. Sheehan has previously won awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). He has performed or recorded with members of bands including the Doors, Pearl Jam, Morrissey and Yes.
The show takes place at the West Hall Recital Hall at Bergen Community College (400 Paramus Road) in Paramus at 12:30pm on March 21st. Admission is free. Additional Earth Week events will occur prior and after and can be found on the college’s online events calendar.
"This bold political and social statement is one rocker’s attempt to raise awareness and social consciousness about issues like climate change, sweat shop labor, drug cartels, for-profit prisons and the like… a great and dynamic musician." -- Rich Lynch, New Jersey Stage (USA)
"Carefully structured to raise the social consciousness of these issues and bring about a much needed change in the current greed-driven direction of the world"-- Alan Ovington, Tameside Radio (UK)
"The lyrics are surreal, painting a picture of our capitalist society trying to profit off of a dangerous situation." -- Nandini Likki, The Miscellany News, Vassar College (USA)
COLUMNS
Rock On! This Week's Sound Bites...12/18/25
"Lord have mercy; the short of it is, I originally come from Wichita, Kansas of all places," laughed Glenn Alexander. "I've been back here in the New York City/New Jersey area for a long time. I have a lot of albums out from my early life, then I took some years off and now I'm back at it; I've spent the last 17 years of my life touring with Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes and prior to that, just playing with a long list of folks who are all listed on my website and then, I have this band. They are the horn players from the Asbury Jukes, we've been together nine or ten years. Wow, I've thought about that, we've been together nine or ten years and in '26 I think it will be 10 years because our first album came out in 2016 or somewhere around there. So, yeah, I love that band, it's a great band and those horn players are world class, they've toured and worked with everybody. I'm just excited as heck because JB and I are good friends and I love what he does and his album is killin'. I love that he and I got our heads together on this, it's gonna be a fantastic night of music, I can tell you that."
