Thursday, January 24, 2013
Local rockers aim to hold regular concerts to support food banks at South Orange and Maplewood Churches.
In Harlem in the '20s, cash-strapped tenants turned their apartments into makeshift night clubs and charged friends, neighbors and all other interested parties for admission (click here for background). Now, local musicians are adopting the spirit of those parties to aid area food pantries. On Feb. 15, local musicians will converge at the Springfield Elks Lodge for a Rent Party concert to benefit Springfield's Lily's Pantry. The idea for the rent parties started in 2009 when Bob Fanneron of the Elks approached Dickson about organizing something to assist two Essex County food pantries. Dickson, a Maplewood resident, has a wealth of experience with local charitable concerts after putting on the Battle of the Basement Bands concerts and the …
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Sound Station owner Bob Larsen will be selling merchandise that was recovered from the six-alarm fire that gutted his business.
Sound Station owner Bob Larsen is planning on spending the day doing one of the things he loves most: listening to live music. For the first time since his South Avenue West music mecca was destroyed by a six-alarm fire in late January, Larsen has organized a full day of live music. From 2 to 9 p.m. today bands, including Mothguts, Ballroom, Backpack Superheros, Infernal Overdive, Vasudeva and The Ilk Collective, will jam at the Knights of Columbus in Garwood to support Larsen in his effort to rebuild. The afternoon will also included catered food and home-brewed beer. Since the fire occurred, more than $16,000, three times the initial goal, has been raised for Larsen and his wife Liz Walsh via an Internet fundraising site in the hope …
Sunday, July 3, 2011
The band plays Meisel field on Monday.
In the 1960s, the 1910 Fruitgum Company had more top ten hits than Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix combined. But, as song titles like "1-2-3 Redlight" and "Simon Says" illustrate, the group were aimed at a different market than the famed psychedelic '60s idols. The Fruitgum Company, who play Springfield's Fourth of July festival, were at the forefront of the late '60s musical genre of bubblegum rock. Along with likeminded groups like the Lemon Pipers, the Ohio Express and the Association, the Fruitgum Company rocketed to the top of Billboard's top 40 charts with simple, brightly produced pop tunes. With songs about candy, crushes and games, the Fruitgum Company and their cohorts courted mostly female fans in their early to mid teens. It wasn…
Friday, October 8, 2010
The Springfield ensemble mixes bagpipes with classic rock.
The Shots are like a 100-proof snort of Scottish and/or Australian instrumentation, with a classic-rock chaser. The band has been playing since the '90s, but had a critical reinvention in 2001. After a dramatic turnover of band members, multi-instrumentalist Lenny Reinhardt decided to keep the band alive by channeling disparate and exotic sounds from the corners of the globe. "By adding instruments like the bagpipes and didgeridoo we started playing covers and originals with our own unique sound, primal funk," Reinhardt said. Today, the lineup will include Lenny Reinhardt on vocals, sax, flute, harmonica, bagpipes, didgeridoo, tin whistle and vest frottoir (washboard); Mike Nowicki heard on vocals, guitar, slide guitar and mandolin; Mark…
Thursday, September 9, 2010
There's something for everyone this year.
Are you a fan of '80s avant folk music? '90s alterno-rock? Psychedelic classic rock? Like an over-stocked iPod set to shuffle, Union County is offering you a feast of disparate musical attractions. This upcoming weekend marks the 13th annual Union County Music Fest, with two days of rock-and-roll at Union County's Oak Ridge Park in Clark featuring indie-rock-darlings Spoon and the massively popular Train. Also featured: Suzanne Vega ("Tom's Diner," AKA: "I am sitting at the counter at the diner on the corner..."), Soul Asylum ("Runaway Train") and the Zombies ("Time of the Season"). Also, avid internet users can enjoy YouTube treadmill sensation OK Go. While there is no shortage of fan favorites, Union County spokesperson Sebastian D'…
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
The free festival will take place in Oak Ridge Park in Clark.
So it's not going to be all cover tunes for Union County after all. Alternative rock groups Spoon and The Bravery will headline the 13th annual Union County MusicFest this fall, the county's Board of Chosen Freeholders announced in a press release last week. The free weekend festival will take place at Oak Ridge Park in Clark. The two bands will be joined by singer/songwriters Jesse Malin with his band The St. Marks Social and Willie Nile, and by New Jersey native Robert Randolph and the Family Band. The Nils Lofgren Acoustic Duo will also perform. More confirmed artists will also be announced in the coming weeks. MusicFest starts Wednesday, Sept. 8 with a county fair-style carnival. The concerts take place Saturday, Sept. 11 and Sunday, …
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Double Team member Horse MC's band plays this weekend in the 2010 Bamboozle Music Festival.
In December, we introduced you to Springfield hip hop duo Double Team. Since then, Double Team member Horse MC (AKA Sean Apicella) has gone from performing at local joints to competing for the main stage at the 2010 Bamboozle Music Festival. On the bill with names like Ke$ha, Drake, Paramore, Weezer, MGMT and New Jersey's own Steel Train, Horse MC's band Let It Go is very excited about the opportunity to perform at one of the biggest festivals of the year. Let It Go survived four rounds of this competition and is pumped for what the future brings. "We've put a lot of hard work into this," Horse said. "This is the reward we've been waiting for." They are finally getting the attention they deserve. Throughout this competition, they've gained…
Friday, April 2, 2010
Brother John Brown plays tonight.
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Friday, April 2, 2010
Let’s start with the hard facts: Brother John Brown is a cover band. There, we said it. Please keep reading. The fact is, there can be a bit of shame for musicians in cover bands. For one, there are a lot of them out there, and people sometimes look askance when they ask a cover band if they play their own music, only to hear “No, we only do covers.” “It’s really true—when people ask you if you do any originals, you’re always a little embarrassed when you say no. It’s like they’re saying well, ‘I guess you don’t have any ambition.’ But I have my own ideas,” said Chris Brown, guitarist and vocalist for local '60s cover band Brother John Brown. To be sure, the difficulty of being in a cover band is that it it’s not easy for a band to play …
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McLynn's
250 Morris Ave, Springfield, NJ
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Friday, March 12, 2010
The versatile group's post parade set will feature Irish and rock favorites.
Clancy's Ghost, who are playing at Mclynn's today after the Union County St. Pat's parade, bill themselves as "Irish Country Bluegrass Pop Rock." It's a lot of ingredients, but the final result blends them together nicely for crowd-pleasing melodic tunes played with traditional instruments. "It's got a rock feel even though we're doing traditional music," Clancy's Ghost singer Andrew Ogilvie said. Ogilvie, who also handles guitar, harmonica and tin whistle duty for the group, is a veteran of New Jersey Celtic rock band the Barleycorns. He touted Clancy's Ghost's ability to jump genres, and illustrated how useful that skill can be around St. Pat's. "We'll play an Irish song, then switch around and play 'I Want You to Want Me' by Cheap …
Friday, November 27, 2009
Local Celtic rockers pay a visit to Springfield's Irish pub.
Clancy’s Ghost, who are playing at McLynn's tonight, bill themselves as “Irish Country Bluegrass Pop Rock.” It’s a lot of ingredients, but the result is a smooth blend of crowd-pleasing melodic tunes played with traditional instruments. “It’s got a rock feel even though we’re doing traditional music,” Clancy’s Ghost singer Andrew Ogilvie said. Ogilvie, who also handles guitar, harmonica and tin whistle duty for the group, earned his Irish rock bones with New Jersey-based Celtic rock band the Barleycorns. He touted Clancy’s Ghost's ability to jump genres. “We’ll play an Irish song, then switch around and play ‘I Want You to Want Me’ by Cheap Trick,” he said. Clancy’s Ghost regularly haunt area venues; their bass player Rick Wagner is a …
40.711224
-74.312016
McLynn's
250 Morris Ave, Springfield, NJ
/articles/clancys-ghost-haunt-mclynns
49197
/locations/109894
