Patti Smith To Perform Free Show In Central Park On Sunday

Dion is following up his critically acclaimed and commercially successful 2020 album release Blues With Friends with Stomping Ground, a new album that finds him collaborating yet again with music greats with whom he shares mutual admiration.  Set for release November 5, Stomping Ground was produced by Wayne Hood with Dion and will be released through Joe Bonamassa and Roy Weisman’s KTBA Records.  The album will be available digitally as well as on CD and as a two LP set.  

(MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) in Morristown features a robust lineup of classic pop, contemporary and rock in October as it continues its return to full capacity events. The lineup includes show by 38 Special; Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo; Christopher Cross; Engelbert Humperdinck; Kenny Loggins; Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone and The Grass Roots;Mary Chapin Carpenter, Marc Cohn, and Shawn Colvin; Brian Wilson; The Marshall Tucker Band and Outlaws; Josh Gates;Rain (Beatles tribute); Indigo Girls; ABBA the Concert; Judy Collins; Paul Anka; Collective Soul, Better Than Ezra & Tonic; and Dead On Live.

(CLEVELAND, OH) -- In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s digital education platform, Rock Hall EDU Powered by PNC has launched a new collection jam-packed with resources designed to help students understand the role Latin artists and music have had on rock & roll.

(STANHOPE, NJ) -- As sometimes happens when a career takes a turn for bigger success, it's by accident. While Robert Gordon was well established in the New York City punk scene with a band called Tuff Darts in the early 1970s, it was a chance encounter in a studio with record producer Richard Gottehrer that sent Gordon in a new direction: rockabilly. Impressed with Gordon's baritone voice and his rendition of Elvis Presley's "One Night", Gottehrer saw something in Gordon and two began collaborating on projects. And now, some 40 years later, Gordon is considered a leader in the revival of rockabilly. 

October Events at MPAC

Grammy Award-winning guitarist/singer/producer John Pizzarelli stars with Grammy-winning vocalist Catherine Russell in Billie & Blue Eyes on Sept. 26, 2021 at 7pm at Toms River, NJ’s Grunin Center for the Arts. Spotlight Central recently caught up with Pizzarelli to talk with him about his musical family, his work with such musical icons as Paul McCartney and James Taylor, in addition to his upcoming tribute to Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra, Billie & Blue Eyes, at Toms River’s Grunin Center.

(ASBURY PARK, NJ) -- Jack Antonoff’s annual New Jersey music festival, Shadow of the City, made its triumphant return this weekend at The Stone Pony Summer Stage to the delight of a roaring sold-out crowd, most of whom had been holding their tickets for nearly two and a half years. After the festival’s multiple postponements due to the pandemic, Antonoff’s band Bleachers took the stage on Saturday night and were ready to, well… “Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night”– the title of the band’s third studio album, released this past July. It’s safe to say their mission was accomplished. The only tears shed were tears of joy, as the band powered through an exuberant 25-song set.

Asbury Park singer-songwriter Taylor Tote’s steady stream of monthly singles and videos continues with her most recent release, “Strawberry.” Pulling elements from house, hip hop, electronica and R&B, the dance track is the Makin Waves Song of the Week. 

"The significance of the title is; I was in Los Angeles and it is where I was from when I first met Gary. I'm a mid-westerner just like Gary but we actually met in Los Angeles. A song that he wrote in the seventies was called "L.A. Is Mine" but he never actually finished it, I finished the song and put it out on this new 10 track album that we have now," relayed guitarist and vocalist Michael Jahnz as he discussed his relationship with REO Speedwagon’s Gary Richrath, the Richrath Project 3:13 and their recently released album.