By TOM CHESEK (Click here for Tom’s weekly round-up of area Arts & Entertainment events.) In a seven-day Asbury interlude that boasts no less than Bruce Springsteen among its headlining musical attractions, why opt to spend Saturday night hovering over a jukebox stocked with very-well-played 1960s and 70s hits? Why? Because the hit-dispensing device in question […]
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The Coaster’s Arts and Entertainment reporter
IT’S WHAT’S UP FOR WEEK OF MAY 31 – JUNE 6
SOUNDS: Trashcan Sinatras at The Saint The Scottish band that’s marking its 33rd year of existence with a North American tour returns to Asbury Park’s boxcar berthplace of rock and roll (where they appeared as recently as last September) in an acoustic three-piece format TONIGHT, May 31, with a “One Night, Two Albums” program that […]
Continue readingAsbury Park’s got Pride of Place this weekend
If it’s the first weekend in June — and it most certainly is, ready or not — then it’s time once again for the Jersey Pride Festival, the largest LGBTQ+ community celebration in the Garden State, and an all-welcome Asbury Park tradition that marks its frankly amazing 27th annual edition this Sunday, June 3. Centered […]
Continue readingWhat’s UP! this week
By TOM CHESEK SOUNDS: Kiefer Sutherland at the Stone Pony Local audiences have become accustomed to the spectacle of musically curious actors passing this way with projects that have seemed alternately heartfelt (Bacon Brothers, Jeff Daniels) and hardly-so (Russell Crowe, Keanu Reeves). But when Kiefer Sutherland returns to the Stone Pony stage for a Memorial Weekend Friday encore, he’ll roll […]
Continue readingAsbury’s Summer of Tunes Starts NOW!
By TOM CHESEK From the days of Arthur Pryor’s long-running seaside serenades, to the syncopated incubations of the legendary Springwood Avenue nightspots…and from those amplified guitarslingers who plugged into the Circuit during its 1960s-70s heyday, to the new generations of dreamers who seek their fortunes on our boardwalk, boulevards, barrooms and bowling alleys…Asbury Park […]
Continue readingIT’S WHAT’S UP FOR WEEK OF MAY 17-23
A smorgasbord of savvy speakers get PASSIONate at the Paramount…the sound of Asbury Park gets seriously POLKA-fied at everyone’s favorite Festhalle…a former flavor-du-jour from the major label exurbs finds his INDEPENDENT voice, in a House call to the Cookman corridor…while a PROJECTIONIST pays tribute to a childhood icon, AND a lakeside Asbury landmark. It’s WHAT’S […]
Continue readingNobody’s Beatlemania Act
To dispense with the walrus in the room, right from the get-go: The Weeklings are nobody’s “Beatlemania” act. Their brand has nothing to do with brushing/ pressing/ shining their wigs and suits and boots — and everything to do with channeling the musically adventurous spirit of the original Fab Four. Their sonic signature isn’t so much a […]
Continue readingIT’S WHAT’S UP FOR MAY 10-16
The Sainted Zappa’s legacy REVISITated…fast-food culture RECYCLE-arted…punk-rock pappies RESURGENTized…the Stoney’s SummerStage REOPEN-ized…the Golden Gays girls re-BRUNCHIFIED…The Music Man re-YOUTHIFIED…and Asbury VIPs re-ENERGIZED for another spin on the Carousel…it’s WHAT’S UP in and around Asbury town for the week beginning Thursday, May 10, and we’ve got the highlights right HERE, with the FULL layout of […]
Continue readingA NEW STAGE FOR A STAND-UP GUY
By TOM CHESEK Published in The Coaster, Asbury Park NJ, on May 10 2018 “My phone rings a lot” says Bobby Collins, speaking from Rome, Italy in what must be an epic understatement of this maybe too-connected age. The constantly working comic — who averages more than 200 shows each year, in locales that range from […]
Continue readingWhat’s UP!
SOUNDS: The Gangster Squad at the Wonder Bar It doesn’t get much more classically old-school than this sonic side-gig project from Vincent Pastore, known for all eternity as “Big Pussy” from the landmark HBO series The Sopranos. While Pastore has regularly rolled in to Asbury Park for such events as the annual Light of Day concerts […]
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