"Electrifying!" Bobby Wilson LIVE! at the PNC Bank Arts Center

by Spotlight Central - published 2023-05-19
A crowd of over 5,000 music lovers files into the PNC Bank Arts Center this Tuesday, May 9, 2023 afternoon for a free Garden State Arts Foundation concert featuring Bobby Wilson and his tribute to Motown and his father, Jackie Wilson. Also on today's bill is Tommy C with his tribute to Bobby Rydell along with The Chiclettes' tribute to female artists of the '60s, all accompanied by The Coda Band.

An Interview with Shon on "Meet Cute", How Animated Films Are Created, Teaching in China, and Time Lapse Photography

by Gary Wien - published 2023-05-19
Inspired by the silent films of the 1920s, the animated short "Meet Cute" tells the story of a fateful day between two people waiting for the bus. This is truly a short film - just 2-3 minutes long - but it tells a clear story and features beautiful animation. The story, characters, animation, simulations, compositing and titling was all created by Shon (Shawn Patrick Tilling) to capture the feeling and charm of the silent film era. Sound design was created by Siddarth Sadashiv. The film will be screened at the New Jersey International Film Festival on Sunday, June 11, 2023 at 7:00pm along with the feature-length film Stargazer. Both will have an in-person screening on the Rutgers University campus and available on demand for 24 hours starting at midnight.

Makin Waves Song of the Week: "Never Give Up on Us" by Jonathan Tea

by Bob Makin - published 2023-05-19
It's been a while since Asbury Park singer-songwriter Jonathan Tea's 2020 single, "Chased by Drones." That's because he's been busy as keyboardist-vocalist in the hot alt-country act Hooper, winner of the 2022 Makin Waves Best New Artist Award.

New Jersey Stage: Daily Edition 05-19-23

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!

Rock On! This Week's Sound Bites...5/18/23

by Danny Coleman - published 2023-05-18
"I'm not doing anything important at the moment, I'm just stuck here; I was practicing," laughed a well-rested Roger Earl as he discussed Foghat's forthcoming release, drums, Blues music, condoms and more ahead of the band's May 20 appearance at The Bergen PAC in Englewood, NJ. "I'm leaving to go on the road, we have a new album coming out soon. The album has 10 tracks on there; six or seven originals and three songs that were actually written; did you know that Kim Simmonds passed away recently? Kim and I reconnected back in 1976 and we'd been playing out here and there, we hung out for a while and it was over the last 10 years, seven or eight years or so that we were with the same agency. They managed to pick up Savoy Brown and we've done a number of shows together and when we were making this last studio album, Kim said, "Hey, I'd like to write some songs for you" and I said, that will be great! I said, so long as you're playing on them too! Unfortunately, Kim got ill and he couldn't really get his fingers working, so he sent us the lyrics and a basic outline and we put the music down for the tracks and they turned out better than I could have ever hoped. I miss him already, I was kind of looking forward to spending our late years playing music together but never mind." 

An Interview with D. Mitry about "Hedgehog"

by Gary Wien - published 2023-05-18
One of my favorite films being screened at the 2023 New Jersey International Film Festival is Hedgehog, a powerful short film by D. Mitry about a family uprooted as war breaks out in Ukraine. The film is available on demand for 24 hours on Sunday, June 11th and will have an in-person screening in the movie theater on the Rutgers University campus at 5:00pm that night along with the full-length documentary Reading is LOVE: Fathers for Early Childhood Literacy.

Pioneer Productions to present "Songs for a New World" in Morristown

(MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- Pioneer Productions brings Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown's (The Last Five Years, Bridges of Madison County) powerful musical, Songs for a New World, to the stage at Fellowship Hall in the Morristown Methodist Church in downtown Morristown, NJ. The show will have six performances in June, June 9, 10, 16, and 17 at 8:00pm and June 11 and 18 at 3:00pm. Pioneer co-founder, Daniel Peter Vissers of Sparta, directs this musical that examines life, love and the choices we make.

State Theatre New Jersey presents Fête at the Farm featuring a performance by The Bacon Brothers

(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- State Theatre New Jersey will host its second annual Fête at the Farm, a gala event celebrating live performance, community, and history on Saturday, June 3, 2023. The State Theatre Benefit Gala will be hosted at historic Suydam Farms in Somerset, NJ. The event includes dinner, dancing, and an intimate performance by The Bacon Brothers.

The 43rd Annual New Jersey Governor's Awards in Arts Education To Honor Over 100 NJ Students and Educators

by Carolyn M. Brown, JerseyArts.com - published 2023-05-18
Over 100 students and arts educators will receive the state’s most prestigious award in arts education at the 43rd Annual New Jersey Governor's Awards in Arts Education celebration during Arts Ed NJ Day. The event will take place June 2 at 5 p.m. at the College of New Jersey and will honor those who have demonstrated excellence in and dedication to arts education. Over the past four decades, the Governor's Awards has highlighted New Jersey's most talented youth. Students of artistic disciplines as varied as dance, music, poetry, visual arts, speech, debate and theater have walked across the awards stage to receive their medal.