April 2026

Written By Mike Greenblatt

Our “Up Close” section has a new look for April. Usually, it’s our interview section. This month, though, in response to more and more New Jersey artists reaching out for coverage, we decided to put nine of them in one multi-genre grab-bag box. Thus, the Random Hubiak Band from Asbury Park, Palmyra Delran (born in Princeton), the Antoine Poncelet Band (from five different Jersey locales), the captivating Francesca Fuentes (originally from West Long Branch), Torn Open and Saints In Exile from Middlesex County, Todd Bailey from Burlington County, Mega OKs from New Brunswick and The Mark Stinger Band from Camden County all get their due.

You might not want to readButcherby Princeton Professor Joyce Carol Oates. But since she’s our favorite living author, we had to. It’s horrifying, made even more so with the realization that what she writes about was actually done to indigent women of Trenton in the name of science. “Jersey Bookshelf” this month is not for the squeamish.

Our video section, “Visual Sound,” looks at Paramus-based metal band Patriarchs In Black, Hoboken’s Cucumbers, New Brunswick poet David Aaron Greenberg, Texas troubadour Annabelle Chairlegs (originally from Hudson County) and Bergen County band Silence Equals Death.

You’ll meet Jersey metal band Disenfutured.

And in “Jersey History,” you’ll thrill to Newark’s Bobby Lewis who “couldn’t sleep at all last night” so he sang “Tossin’ & Turnin’,” one of the greatest rock’n’roll songs of all-time.

Our Hot 100 this month is filled with protest. Like the great protest singers in counter-culture history like Dylan, Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Janis Ian, Neil Young (remember “Ohio”?), and Woody Guthrie, you can add Bruce, Nils Lofgren, Tammy Faye Starlite and Bette Midler. Of course, we just had to add the song called “Springsteen” by country singer Eric Church and a twang-filled cover of Bruce’s “Atlantic City” by Hank Williams III.

Hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it together. Big thanks to the ultra-talented artist Jason Brickhill for making it all look so good. 

Mike Greenblatt

MIKE GREENBLATT has been writing for Goldmine magazine and New Jersey's Aquarian Weekly for more than 35 years. His writing subjects fill the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He's interviewed Joe Cocker, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Carlos Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He was 18 when he attended Woodstock in 1969.

In addition to writing about music, Greenblatt has worked on publicity campaigns for The Animals, Pat Benatar, Johnny Winter, Tommy James and Richard Branson, among others. He is currently the editor of The Jersey Sound.

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March 2026