Here's a look at the top 15 most read articles published at New Jersey Stage from January 15-21, 2023. Each week we publish about 70 articles, including several original columns and features, along with news releases for events happening throughout the state and nearby areas like Philadelphia and New York City. This week's top 15 includes articles from 10 counties in New Jersey (Atlantic, Burlington, Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Sussex, and Union). Our top story of the week was an interview of Jerry Blavat from 2022. Jerry passed away at 82 on January 20.
1) An Interview with ‘The Geator with the Heater,’ Jerry Blavat - Jerry Blavat — aka ‘The Geator with the Heater’ and ‘The Boss with the Hot Sauce’ — is a disc jockey, actor, and entertainer who’s had a major influence on the music industry. Born in Philadelphia, Blavat gained fame as a teen when he appeared as a regular on WFIL-TV’s Bandstand. After hosting live dances in the Philly/South Jersey area, he started his own radio show, created the Lost Nite and Crimson record labels, and appeared in films and on television. In 1998, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His 2011 memoir is entitled You Only Rock Once.
2) The Happy Together Tour 2023 Comes to Ocean Casino Resort on July 28th - (ATLANTIC CITY, NJ) -- C'mon and Get Happy! Join the fun when The Happy Together Tour 2023 comes to Ocean Casino Resort's Ovation Hall on Friday, July 28 with The Turtles, Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, The Association, The Buckinghams, The Vogues and The Cowsills. The event begins at 9:00pm.
3) Poetic Film Exposed to Each Other screens at the 2023 New Jersey Film Festival on Saturday, January 28! - Exposed to Each Other is a film by Mersolis Schone and comes to us from Vienna, Austria. This short film is based on a poetic text collage by Marion Steinfellner that brings together a multicultural and multilingual collection of Indian, Japanese, German and Austrian texts by Yuko Kaseki, Savita Rani, Mersolis Schone and Marion Steinfellner. Presented as a kind of film poem, the common thread of these texts is touch and touching which are presented as journeys and how interpersonal, intercultural encounters connect us to each other across the world. This is the fundamental question at the heart of Exposed to Each Other - How are we connected to each other? - and each scene propels us further on a multi-faceted journey exploring this idea.
4) New Jersey Community Capital Donates $10K to City of Trenton - (TRENTON, NJ) -- New Jersey Community Capital (NJCC), the state of New Jersey’s largest community development financial institution (CDFI), announced they donated $10,000 to the city of Trenton. Funding will be distributed to the city’s Department of Recreation and Youth Programs, as well as Howard’s Healthy Choices. The donation is part of NJCC’s commitment to this year’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday celebration theme – “It starts with me: cultivating a beloved community mindset to transform unjust systems.”
5) "The Best Man: The Final Chapters," Filmed In Jersey, Premiered on Peacock on December 22 - (NEWARK, NJ) -- The latest installment of the popular and successful The Best Man franchise returned to New Jersey for the filming of its conclusion. The Best Man: The Final Chapters will bring viewers up-to-date on the lives of its endearing characters Lance (Morris Chestnut), Shelby (Melissa De Sousa), Harper (Taye Diggs), Candy (Regina Hall), Quentin (Terrence Howard), Robyn (Sanaa Lathan), Jordan (Nia Long), and Julian (Harold Perrineau). Relationships evolve and past grievances resurface in the unpredictable stages of midlife crisis meets midlife renaissance.
6) McDonald's Gospelfest returns to Prudential Center on May 13th - (NEWARK, NJ) -- The Annual McDonald's Gospelfest returns to Prudential Center on Mother's Day Weekend Saturday, May 13, 2023, for the biggest and best gospel event of the year. This year's event will celebrate the 40th Year Anniversary of McDonald's Gospelfest. Live performances to help celebrate the anniversary are Hezekiah Walker and Love Fellowship Choir, the Legendary Clark Sisters and so many more!
7) M. Night Shyamalan Returned to South Jersey to Film "Knock at the Cabin" - (BURLINGTON COUNTY, NJ) -- M. Night Shyamalan returned to South Jersey to film his upcoming apocalyptic horror film Knock at the Cabin, which just wrapped. The film marks the 15th feature film produced and directed by Shyamalan, with Jarin Blaschke as cinematographer. Produced by Binding Edge Pictures and Universal Pictures, Knock at the Cabin will be released by Universal on February 3, 2023. The principal photography was done in Burlington County.
8) Newton Theatre presents The Last Waltz Celebration - (NEWTON, NJ) -- The Newton Theatre presents The Last Waltz Celebration featuring The THE BAND Band with the TTBB Horns & special guests on Saturday, April 1, 2023. Doors are at 7:00pm, the concert begins at 8:00pm.
9) Public Art Initiative "Windows of Understanding" Returns with a Focus on Community Wellness - (NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The New Brunswick Community Arts Council, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, Highland Park Arts Commission, and the Metuchen Arts Council announce the sixth annual “Windows of Understanding” season, running January 16 through April 1, 2023, in various communities throughout Middlesex County. The urgency of Community Wellness is the center of this year’s initiative that unites local artists, organizations, and businesses to promote awareness and engagement around social justice issues impacting local communities. All events are free and open to the public.
10) Giorgio Litt's Powerful Documentary Vagrant screens at the Spring 2023 New Jersey Film Festival -Vagante (Vagrant), a short film directed by Giorgio Litt, opens the eyes of viewers to the harsh realities of the state of stray dogs in Italy. Following the story of one man named Stefano as he attempts to save as many dogs as possible, this short film dives into the true horrors of abandonment and abuse that these animals experience in rural Sicily.
11) Ocean County Library Announces Concert Series With classical vocalists Dakota & Elle - (TOMS RIVER, NJ) -- The Ocean County Library has announced a concert series by Ocean County classical vocalists Dakota & Elle. The tenor-soprano duo will perform in six branches, through early February.
12) Northern Liberties Restaurant Week Moves To Winter With New Restaurants, New Dates, New Prices - (PHILADELPHIA, PA) -- Northern Liberties Business Improvement District announces the return of Northern Liberties Restaurant Week from Friday, January 27 to Sunday, February 5, 2023. The city's hottest NEW restaurant week to hit the food scene is back with new dates, more restaurants, new restaurants, updated price points, indoor and outdoor options, take-out and delivery, and tons of the city's best eats! Moved to winter to support restaurants during the colder months, Northern Liberties Restaurant Week is back with nearly two dozen of the neighborhood's biggest names that will offer two course or more lunches for $10 or $15, and three or more course dinners for $15, $25 and $40.
13) Makin Waves Album of the Month: "Live in Asbury Park" by Sean Tobin - Asbury Park-based singer-songwriter Sean Tobin is the 2022 Makin Waves Male Artist of the Year and one of my Dirty Jersey Dozen independent acts who made the most waves, whose preceding LP, “Ghost of the Arcade,” was a Top 3 album that spawned two Top 10 songs on my year-end lists. And that’s just a small portion of the success he had in 2022, so what he does next has a lot to live up to. But the three-song EP “Live in Asbury Park” due on Jan. 20 is more like a souvenir from an 11-state tour that proved Sean and his band, the Boardwalk Fire, have the goods to be Asbury’s next national act.
14) "Just Epic!" Daniil Trifonov and the NJSO LIVE! at MPAC - It’s a brisk Sunday, January 8, 2023 afternoon as music lovers make their way inside Morristown, NJ’s MPAC for a concert by classical piano virtuoso Daniil Trifonov and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor Xian Zhang.
15) New Jersey Youth Chorus Presents Winter Concert on Sunday - (NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ) - The New Jersey Youth Chorus (NJYC) presents its Winter Concert at Ridge Performing Arts Center located at 268 South Finley Avenue in Basking Ridge on Sunday, January 22 at 4:00pm. As part of its 30th Anniversary celebration, the five ensembles of NJYC will perform several pieces from years past, including works by Stephen Leek, Stephen Hatfield, Z. Randall Stroope, Jim Papoulis, Leonard Bernstein, Rollo Dilworth, and Tom Shelton. The family friendly performance will also celebrate the Lunar New Year, with pieces sung in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
Event previews are always one of the most popular areas of the website. Event previews get noticed when we first publish them and then get noticed again when they are brought back to the main area of the site the week the event takes place - sometimes even several months later. Make sure your events get previewed by sending press releases to us at info@newjerseystage.com - for even more promotion, check out our ad rates which run $50-$100 for an entire month of targeted advertising which includes events listed in our online calendar. Or you have your events listed in the calendar for $10 per event.
