If you find yourself on or around the Asbury Circuit between now and the new year, make it a point to check out the lobby of the historic-but-always-happening Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel (1401 Ocean Avenue), where a newly expanded “pop-up” exhibit on the musical history of Asbury Park continues on display 24/7, and FREE of charge.
Brought to you by the nonprofit Asbury Park Museum organization (with funding assistance from Monmouth University), the installation entitled "One Voice Is Not Enough" is built around the core research of award winning music scholars/ collectors/ promoters Charlie and Pam Horner. The authors of the Indispensable book "Springwood Avenue Harmony Volume 1" (and its forthcoming sequel) have traced a tuneful timeline through the “little but loud” seaside city’s first hundred years (1871-1970), with a set of giant banner posters, a display of essential artifacts, and a pair of must-see slideshows that remain on continuous view.
Bringing the story up to date are six recently installed supersized posters, each of them researched, written and designed by veteran arts/ entertainment correspondent Tom Chesek. You’ll take a whirlwind tour of the scores of past and present "PLACES TO PLAY" that nurtured and harbored a city’s sonic legacy...confirm that "ASBURY PARK IS A FESTIVAL" through the many multi-artist mega-events (from the old WNEW-FM beach concerts right up to the Sea.Hear.Now) that planted themselves on Asbury's soil and sand...and you’ll spark some fantastic memories of the generations of touring legends who graced the city's clubs and concert stages, at the "CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD."
The unique story of a world-shaking individual and his adopted hometown is examined in "SPRINGSTEEN + ASBURY PARK: PERFECT TOGETHER," while "BRUCE JUICE & SPRINGSCENES" honors the numerous contemporaries, compadres and collaborators of The Boss (along with the Honorary Shorecats, and the 21st century Keepers of the Flame) who carried the signature Sound of Asbury Park into the 70s, 80s, aughties, and beyond.
Last but not least, there’s "NEW VOICES, NEW VENUES, NEW VISIONS"…a snapshot of the performers who are most audible/ visible (and poised to write a new chapter of AP's history) on the hypercurrent homefront, in addition to the organizations and entities who are connecting all aspects of that rich music history with the people, native and newcomer alike.
The One Voice exhibit holds down the fort at the Berkeley Hotel lobby through the end of 2022, after which it travels to the West Long Branch campus of Monmouth University. If you’ve ever made a memory soundtracked by this place where MUSIC is the calling card, the cash crop, the principal import/export to the world, you’re sure to find something that resonates...AND you’ll surely learn something new and amazing!
Also from The Asbury Park Museum team: a forthcoming 2023 pop-up installation at the Berkeley, on the glory-days era of Asbury's legendary hotels…and an exhibit on the "Trailblazing Women of Asbury Park," on display NOW at the city's historic Public Library (500 First Avenue at Grand Avenue).
