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Showing results: From 13523 to 13533



 

Jazz at Smoke: Saxophonist Billy Harper Celebrates John Coltrane

by Jay Sweet
published 2023-01-02

Billy Harper is a saxophonist and composer of incredible talent who came to notoriety around the time John Coltrane's life and career abruptly ended. While influenced by saxophonists like Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, Harper is in no way an imitator. His often lengthy improvisations and compositions showcase an interpersonal style and a heightened sense of experimentalism that is enhanced by his signature tone and extreme creativity. From January 5-8, Harper will showcase his talent during a celebration of his 80th Birthday at New York’s Smoke Jazz & Supper Club as part of its annual John Coltrane Festival. His group will include Josh Evans on trumpet, Benito Gonzalez on piano, Lonnie Plaxico on bass, and Billy Hart on drums. In a recent conversation, Harper explained that, “the show will be a real presentation of my compositions."  



New Jersey Stage: Daily Edition 01-02-23

Here is the morning update from New Jersey's arts newswire. We regularly publish between 8-15 new articles and news reports each day. Nobody covers the Arts throughout the Garden State like New Jersey Stage!





Top 15 Most Read Stories at New Jersey Stage from December 25-31, 2022

Here's a look at the top 15 most read articles published at New Jersey Stage from December 25-31, 2022. 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 7 counties in New Jersey (Atlantic, Cumberland, Essex, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Passaic).



Spring 2023 New Jersey Film Festival Preview

(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The 41st Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival will take place on select Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays between January 27-February 19, 2023. The Festival will be a hybrid one as they will be presenting it online as well as doing in-person screenings at Rutgers University. All the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. From documentaries to shorts to narrative and experimental films, the festival has something for everyone. Here is a preview of the festival.








2022 Year End Review: NJ Stage Breaks Records For Unique Visitors & Number Of Stories

2022 was a very good year for New Jersey Stage.  We finished the year with 700,000 unique visitors; a new high for us as we move towards the million mark. That number is important because we are a regional website covering the arts. There are many websites covering the arts on a national and international level, but only a few for New Jersey.  We put a spotlight on the Garden State with arguably the best audience in the area.



Princeton Makes and Ragged Sky Press To Hold Second Sunday Poetry Reading on January 8th

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Princeton Makes, a Princeton-based artist cooperative, and Ragged Sky Press, a local publisher focused on poetry, will host a Second Sunday Poetry Reading on Sunday, January 8 at 4:00pm.  The readings will take place at the Princeton Makes store in the Princeton Shopping Center. The January reading will feature Barbara Elovic and Michael T. Young. Their readings will be followed by an open mic available to up to 10 audience members who would like to read their original poetry.



Giant Blueberry Drop On NYE In Blueberry Capital Of The World

(HAMMONTON, NJ) -- The sixth annual Hammonton New Year’s Eve Bash, Giant Blueberry Drop & Fireworks will be held on Saturday night, December 31st from 10:00pm to 12:30am in Downtown Hammonton. The free outdoor event will be held in the “Blueberry Capital of the World” - in front of Hammonton Town Hall, located at 100 Central Avenue. (Regardless of weather, the event will be held.)



Catching Up With Ronnie Brandt

by Gary Wien
published 2022-12-30

Ronnie Brandt is an Americana artist from the Jersey Shore who founded Childrens Educational Assemblies, an organization that lets him perform music and teach children about musical greats like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie. He's famous for wearing a cowboy hat, but his roots in the Asbury Park scene go back further than most people realize. In this interview, we catch up with the Jersey Shore cowboy.



​​​​​​​Makin Waves Top 10 Jersey Independent Songs of 2022

by Bob Makin
published 2022-12-30

Here’s a look at what I thought were the 10 best songs released in 2022 by independent New Jersey artists, plus an Apple Music playlist of the 25 songs that were considered for the list. The songs are 2022 singles and previously unreleased album tracks. 







 

EVENT PREVIEWS

MPAC

MPAC Announces Free Summer Concert Lineup for 2026

(MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- Mayo Performing Arts Center's Arts in the Community free summer concert schedule for 2026 has been announced. MPAC will present six free concerts between June and August. The lineup includes the return of three of their most popular events – Bollywood Dance Party, Country Line Dancing and Salsa at Sunset, as well as singer-songwriters, and more.



Classic

Classic American Tales' presents Tales at the Dormer House every Thursday

(CAPE MAY, NJ) -- From June 4 through October 15, 2026 (except for July 2), Classic American Tales (CAT) once more presents Tales at the Dormer House in which guests are treated to lemonade and tasty treats while listening to stories written by noteworthy authors, read by a variety of performers. The schedule is 4:00pm every Thursday at the historic Dormer House Bed and Breakfast (800 Columbia Avenue) in Cape May, NJ. Performances are on the front porch, weather permitting.



Princeton

Princeton Summer Theater presents "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"

(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Princeton Summer Theater's 2026 Children's Show is You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, which runs weekends from June 20 to August 1, 2026. A beloved musical since its premiere in 1967, Clark Gesner brings Charles M. Schulz's "PEANUTS" characters to the stage. The musical ventures through the highs and lows of young life, from baseball and homework to young love and friendship. With an empathetic and whimsical eye, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown reminds us of the importance of connection and joy.



2026-27

2026-27 Season Preview: Split Level Concerts at Jersey Shore Arts Center

(OCEAN GROVE, NJ) -- Split Level Concerts at the Jersey Shore Arts Center (JSAC) in Ocean Grove has announced the full concert lineup for its third season. All shows will take place beginning at 8:00pm in JSAC's Palaia Theater. The season lineup includes Willie Nile, John Gorka, Dan Bern, Catie Curtis and Band, Stephen Kellogg, Abbie Gardner, Heather Maloney and Band, and Kim Richey. As they have done in prior years, artists from the Asbury Park music scene will open many of the shows.



MPAC's

MPAC's Summer 2026 Preview

(MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- From the versatility of Tony winner Darren Criss, the comedy of Abbott Elementary's Janelle James and the nostalgic hits of the Grateful Dead, ABBA and more, Mayo Performing Arts Center's summer lineup features a diverse set of performances and events.












LATEST COLUMNS


Makin Waves Song of the Week: "Spiral Will" by Solace

The Makin Waves Song of the Week is "Spiral Will," a single and video from "Fading Failing Ruin," the latest album from doomy Jersey Shore dirt metal greats Solace.




Rock On! This Week's Sound Bites... 07/23/2026

"Correct! I actually performed on The Totally Tubular Festival two years ago. I was playing solo that night and they asked me to come back, so I thought I'd do something a bit different and so I decided to reform my backing band from 1988, The Lost Toy People. The last show we played together was with Depeche Mode and OMD at the Rose Bowl for the legendary 101 Concert and the other night in Phoenix was our first show in 38 years; how about that?"




Wesley Pierre: "Catharsis"

Even those who don't know very much about visual art are familiar with the Cubist approach to the human body. Pablo Picasso liked to present a person from many angles at once, and compress three-dimensional form into a two-dimensional frame. No matter what step she's on, that nude descending a staircase comes at us all at once. We know we're looking at an individual person, even if it's never clear which of those fields of color represent the present moment and which are afterimages, projections, and vapor trails. Representing human beings like this guarantees that there’ll be distortions: facial features in strange places, unexpected angles, duplicates and odd subtractions, clashes between heads, necks, and torsos, the shuffling of expressions, and the surprise and disquiet that comes when an obviously human figure doesn't look much like a human at all.








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