The air-conditioned Expo Center in Edison is the site of the “Summer Sizzla” edition of the New Jersey Punk Rock Flea Market. Get a tattoo! Groove to the live DJs. Check out the stuffed animals under glass in the taxidermy terrarium. Thrill to the sideshow performances. It all goes down from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Punk Rockers under 13 are free.

Theatrical indie-folk trio Bandits On The Run are on a short tour supporting The Shakespeare Tapes that has songs inspired by British poet William Shakespeare [1564-1616]. A uniquely positioned act with emphasis on interplay between cello, guitar and accordion, complete with light percussion from all three amid exquisite three-part vocal harmonies, Shepherd, Enscoe and Strayhorn used to busk in the New York City subways before they went pro.

Jersey Shore girl Francesca Fuentes will be playing songs from her Can’t Hide EP at Pino’s in Highland Park July 23. Chess, as she’s called, has been described as “organic pop-rock.” She’s been writing songs since she was 12, and continued her musical education at Monmouth University in Long Branch. Her “Rock With Me” video won a prize at the 2019 Jersey City Lovesick Film Festival. After having her heart broken in 2020, she’s poured out her soul in songs like “I Just Want To Be Your Lover Again” and “Pink Drink.” 

Staten Island’s Sparni Plath plays vibes with pianist Javier Jbara, bassist Emek Demir and drummer Matt Vera-Corcoran. He learned a lot from legendary Cuban trumpeter/pianist Arturo Sandoval. His multi-genre jams—including hi-hop, jazz-rock fusion, funk and post-bop—have attracted sophisticated ears across the tri-state region.  His quartet will be at Brvsh Cul7ur3 in Teaneck on Cedar Lane Just 23.  No telling where he might go musically.

The 2025 version of the annual “Summer Of Loud” tour stops in Camden on the waterfront July 23 with Beartooth, I Prevail, Killswitch Engage, Parkway Drive, The Devil Wears Prada, Amityville Affliction, Alpha Wolf and Dark Divine. The tour is donating $1 from every ticket sold to the Living The Dream Foundation (https://ltdfoundation.org/). The show will repeat itself the very next night in Holmdel at the PNC Bank Arts Center.

Brooklyn band Laveda will hit Flemington DIY with co-headliners Nightosphere. Sonically speaking, their neo-grunge noise-rock “has grown slightly angular and much more experimental,” according to singer Ali Genevish. “I think everyone individually has grown a lot as artists. For me, moving to New York naturally opened my mind to cultivate something new.” Laveda records for the Hoboken-based Bar/None Records and Ali says, “we’re excited to be working with a label that has a really incredible history of releases. It’s an honor to be part of it.” The new album, Love, Darla, will be out September 12.

Styx will be supporting the July 18 release of its 18^th studio album, Circling From Above, with the “Brotherhood Of Rock” tour. Complete with the solo bands of REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin Eagle Don Felder, it stops in Holmdel at the GSA Center July 20. Styx now boasts guitarists James Young/Will Evankovish/Tommy Shaw, bassists Chuck Panozzo/Terry Gowan, drummer Todd Sucherman and keyboardist Lawrence Gowan.   

Iron Maiden, in 1990, had a song called “Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter.” You’ll be able to do exactly that as Hatebreed headlines “Summer Slaughter 2025” with Fugitive, Malevolence, Gridiron, Escuela Grind and Incite. Of course, by the time Hatebreed crawls onstage, your ears may be permanently damaged.

A former mainstay in the band of Kenny Garrett, including recording Garrett’s Pushing The World Away with the sax hero, he also played in the band of trumpeter Sean Jones. Since then, he’s been one of the elite go-to drummers for a host of major names in the jazz world. He will be leading his own trio with pianist Victor Gould and bassist Tamir Shmerling on July 12 in Teaneck at Brvsh Cul7ur3.

What’s the top horn section in the world going to do now that Southside Johnny is laying low? Here’s the answer:  They’re going to raise the roof off Wonder Bar this Saturday on Fifth & Ocean in Asbury with Glenn Alexander & Shadowland.

Saxophonist-Educator Julius Tolentino has been blowing on NYC bandstands for two decades. He was with the Louis Hayes Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band as well as in the bands of Natalie Cole, Connie Francis, Gloria Gaynor, Christian McBride, and the ghost bands of Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

The Concert Hall at Drew University in Madison, Morris County, will present “60 Years of The Beatles in America” on June 29. With privately-owned concert footage, author Charles F. Rosenay and archivist Erik Taros will share their stories, insights and answer questions.

She’s only 23 but she sings with an old soul. This pretty Texan straddles bebop, blues, the Great American Songbook, Broadway and pop to achieve a stunning vocalese synthesis. She’s already performed at Newport, SXSW, Dizzy’s, The Blue Note, Birdland and Lincoln Center. Cyrille Aimee, Sheila Jordan and Wynton Marsalis love her tone. So will you.

Manhattan guitarist Allan Bezama crosses the Hudson to play Teaneck at the art gallery and performance space known as the Puffin Cultural Forum. He’ll have tenor saxophonist Skyler Nolan, bassist Ilya Osachuk and drummer Kai Craig with him. They do some Ellingtonia and then get way out there with Ornette Coleman’s “Turnaround.” They also do Coltrane, Marsalis and more. Call it post-bop. A Jersey City University grad, he’s performed alongside Jeff “Tain” Watts, Mark Whitfield, Steve Wilson and other bright lights of jazz.

Equipment and Summer Bruise will share this triple-bill with Kerosene Heights at Pino’s Fruit Basket on North Fourth in Highland Park June 27. They’ll do it all over again the next night in Merchantville at The Old Post. These North Carolinians will have their Blame It On The Weather album released August 15 on Side One Dummy Records. The first single will be “New Tattoo.” Their emotional, confessional songs fall just to the left of shoe-gaze emo.

San Francisco’s Steve Cohn started out playing blues piano in L.A. before studying flute at UCLA. After two years in Japan, he earned a degree in classical piano performance and gigged in the bands of Sonny Simmons and Eddie Henderson. Ultimately, he made his way to New York City to explore his unique Far-East modalities of pianistic excellence. In other words, you gotta hear this guy!

American Treasure Tommy James will bring his mile-long list of hits to Englewood at the Bergen PAC on June 22. Amazingly enough, he still sounds as good vocally today at 78 as he did in 1964 at 17 when he recorded a song by the legendary songwriting duo of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich called “Hanky Panky” which, ultimately, a few years later, became the first major hit in years for Roulette Records. 

This North Carolinian studied sax at Duke, then moved to New York City to be mentored by  Jimmy Heath [1926-2020] and Sir Roland Hanna [1932-2002]. He received his Masters Degree at Queens College and has recorded with Slide Hampton, The Mambo Legends Orchestra, Matchbox 20, Christian McBride, Chico O’Farrill, “Mighty” Max Weinberg and Bebo Valdez.

Bongo James Mastro will be joining alt-folk-Americana-pop singer-songwriter-guitarist-keyboardist Rachael Sage, 53, in Hoboken at the 503 Social Club June 21. Mastro records for her label MPress which she founded 30 years ago. The upcoming Canopy is her 16^th album. Opening will be Kristen Ford, the bi-racial queer artist who usually confounds with her amalgam of unplugged acoustic loveliness to screaming electricity, tape loops and beatboxing. She’s currently working on an album with Ani DiFranco, due in August.

Deep in the bowels of The Williams Center in Rutherford, Bergen County, there’s The Black Box. On June 21, its walls will tremble and shudder as Gridiron will no doubt perform selections from its new Poetry From Pain (Blue Grape Music). Singer Matthew Karll, guitarists Will Kaelin/Xavier Wilson, bassist Lennon Livesay and drummer Tyler Mullen are raring to go. Do you dare enter the pit that they will instantly create with their heady combo of mosh-inducing groove, bounce, swagger and VOLUME? They’re also on the Hatebreed tour which lands them back in Jersey at The Starland Ballroom in Sayreville July 19.

It’s been five albums and counting for Saxophonist-Composer-Educator Jordan VanHermet. This Korean from Michigan goes from swing, post-bop, hard bop and folkloric Far East motifs to the blues.

Los Angelenos Danyell Souza and Tony Nova are Dead Posey and they have no limits on their imagination. Their songs are filled with cults, monsters, nightmares, devils, sexism, oppression and religious dogma. Call ‘em goth punk synth-pop alt-rock. They’ll be performing songs off their Are You In A Cult? debut EP on a tour they call “The Damned & The Dead” with Outlier and Another Day Dawns opening.

They call him the King of Dancehall. His “Pretty Girl” single is out stretching Jamaican music to unheard of heights. He just played Miami and they went wild. Maybe because he’s been gone for almost two decades. Once he got his visa problems in order, the first thing he did was play Brooklyn. And they went wild. Before traipsing around the globe to London, Amsterdam, Cologne and Paris, he’ll rock AC on its heels at Boardwalk Hall June 14. Dude spent 13 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. As his camp says, “this isn’t a comeback, it’s a coronation.”

Yes it’s Glenn Alexander, the lead guitarist of Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, with his talented vocalist daughter Oria from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. in the intimate surroundings of Chrone’s Trattoria, the great Italian restaurant on Mountain Avenue in Mountainside, Union County.

Robin Trower, 80, is one of the great British rock guitarists of all time. He started with Procol Harum from 1967 to 1971. His Bridge Of Sighs was one of the best albums of 1974. Chrysalis Records has just re-released For Earth Below, which hit #5 in ’75, as a four-CD box with all sorts of extras. After having experienced health problems last year which forced him off the road, he’s supporting the box with a mammoth tour. Besides 6/14 at Borgata in Atlantic City, he’ll play the Count Basie Performing Arts Center in Red Bank June 17 and The Wellmont Theater in Montclair June 18.  

Dry Kill Logic’s metal bona fides have been assiduously documented since 1995 when they came out of New York. They’re on tour for the first time since 2005 (the band went on hiatus in 2007) and will be playing their first single in six years, “Now You Belong With The Dead,” at Dingbatz in Clifton June 14. They will also be celebrating the 20^th Anniversary of their monumental The Dead & Dreaming album.

It’s called their “No Rain, No Flowers Tour.” The Black Keys are back out on the road and will end their trek in Asbury Park June 14 at the Stone Pony Summerstage…and anybody who has ever been to the final gig of a major tour knows that this will be one helluva party. Opening will be The Heavy Heavy, a British duo.

The Asbury Jukes may not be in action these days but Juke lead guitarist Glenn Alexander is a man for all seasons, be it jazz-rock fusion, rock’n’roll or country-rock. His Shadowland moves like a big wheel on a Georgia cotton field. They’ll be at Triumph Brewery on Bridge Avenue in Red Bank June 13 playing two sets of Shadowland songs and Asbury Juke songs—8:30 and 11:30 p.m.—with the Juke horn section and gifted teenaged singer Oria Aspen (Glenn’s daughter). 

Those up for some groove-ready riddims can hit Crossroads in Garwood June 12 for Save Ferris, the Cali ska punks whose “Get Dancing” single will have you doing just that. Singer Monique Powell is a powerhouse and has been ever since her cheeky rendition of “Come On Eileen” in 1996. The guitars still incessantly riff, the horns still blow hard and fast, and, despite lineup changes, Save Ferris have maintained a modicum of mayhem.