Free concerts have been going on at the PNC Bank Arts Center right off the Garden State Parkway in Holmdel for a few years. The Garden State Arts Foundation has now announced its fall free shows.

A free all-day fest in Jersey City with bands and beer takes place this Sunday, August 24, starting at 1:00. The Eartheart Festival is dedicated to the proposition that a well-balanced symbiosis between brain and body makes all the difference in the world.

The deadline to register for the 14^th Annual Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition (known as The Sassy Awards) is September 2. The finals of the competition will be held November 23 in Newark as part of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) James Moody Festival.

There’s a rest stop in Forked River (Ocean County) on the Garden State Parkway in honor of New Jersey Hall of Famer Celia Cruz. When “The Queen Of Salsa” escaped Castro in 1961, she ultimately—after brief stops in New York City and Miami—wound up in Fort Lee (Bergen County) where she lived out the rest of her life. Now her Tremendo Trio (Craft Recordings Latino), with percussionist Ray Barretto and vocalist Adalberto Santiago, long out-of-print, returns to glorious life as Craft will re-release it on vinyl October 3 in honor of the centennial of the birth of Celia Cruz.

For four hours on Friday, September 19, starting at 5:00 p.m. and eight hours on Saturday, September 20, starting at 1:00 p.m., Freedom Park on Union Street in Medford (Burlington County) will ring long and strong FOR FREE with three stages of live music featuring Remember Jones, Williams Honor, Nik Greeley & the Operators and the champions of the Philadelphia Mummers Parade, the Quaker City String Band. 

Indie-Rockers Forever King Clark, out of Asbury Park, will release its Five Dollar Yacht Club EP next week. Band leader Bobby Kallok says, “after years wading through the Asbury Park music community, we really wanted to create a release centered around the idea of belonging in the scene and beyond. That’s why we decided to combine the concept of the exclusive yacht club with the low barrier of the five-dollar entry.”

One of the 14 tracks off Buckle Up, the far-reaching follow-up to 2021’s surprising Let’s Rattle, by DD Verni & The Cadillac Band, is “Let’s Go Crazy” (featuring a sax solo by Johnny Reno from Stevie Ray Vaughan’s band). One would never think that this is the same dude who started Overkill with Bobby Blitz 45 years ago after graduating New Providence High School in Union County.

The Into The Pines Music, Arts and Culture Festival takes over the New Jersey Pine Barrons in Hammonton (Atlantic County) on Paradise Drive for three days next week August 21, 22 & 23. South Jersey fest promoter John Facchinei has been running fests for over two decades. Dude has a great ear for talent before they explode. The pet-friendly event—with kids under 14 free—has discounts for military and seniors.

Ciconte’s Restaurant Group will present The Glassboro Craft Beer Festival in Gloucester County on September 27 from 1:00 to 5:00 at the Glassboro Town Square, 1 West High Street. GoodMan Fiske will provide the live Pop, Rock, Dance, Hip-Hop, R’n’B. Country and Oldies covers. Fifty+ breweries will serve almost 100 unique craft beers amid the food trucks, local craft vendors, non-alcoholic mocktails and regional wines.

Last year, on May 28, we asked if you heard of Monte yet? She goes by the name of Monte Maybe these days. The enigmatic Red Bank songstress, at the time, was dreaming about “Cowboys,” then bemoaning her age at “23.” Now, as part of her full-length Jersey Devil debut album, she’s a “Catalyst,” a fascinating music-maker who only has nice things to say about her producer, Deana Fielding.

In that odd netherworld of pre-Beatle rock history, when the original spark of rock’n’roll seemed dead, a vacuum was created. In the early ‘60s, Little Richard had joined the ministry. Chuck Berry was in jail. Elvis was in the Army. Buddy Holly was dead. The Everly Brothers went country. Jerry Lee Lewis was ostracized for marrying his 13-year old cousin. Up stepped some freshly scrubbed teen idols with paltry bubble-gum white-bread pop songs to fill the void. Fast-Forward 60+ years: The Modbeats.

There’s a sign inside The Stanhope House in Sussex County that reads “Since the beginning of man, the hours between dusk and dawn have belonged to the tellers of tales and the makers of music,” Stanhope House c. 1790. It had been a private home, a stagecoach stop, a general store, post office, tavern, rooming house and hotel but it took until the 1970s for it to become “The Last American Roadhouse,” as they billed themselves.

In 1974, Bruce Springsteen and David Bowie had a meeting in Philadelphia where Bowie was recording his ninth album, Young Americans. Bowie wound up covering two Bruce songs in the studio—“It’s Hard To Be A Saint In The City” and “Growin’ Up”—but both were given up on. Now it’s time for New Jersey to cover some Bowie.

They’re called Joker’s Republic. Their single, “Panic Panic Panic,” is but one of 12 tracks due this fall on their Punkerton Records debut, The Hand You’ve Been Dealt, produced by Roger Lima of Less Than Jake.

After performing on New Jersey stages since 1994, The Sensational Soul Cruisers have released their debut original single, “Deeper and Deeper,” on R’n’B label Banner Records out of Union County.

Twelve miles away from the legendary Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs where many of the greatest albums in jazz history were recorded including those by Monk, Miles, ‘Trane and Diz, sits Trading 8s in Paramus. It’s where the new Circles In A Yellow Room (VOF Recordings), by the Mike Freeman ZonaVibe, was created.

Woody At Home Volume #1 & #2, by the greatest folksinger of them all, Woody Guthrie, will be released August 14 by his estate. It contains 22 tracks (20 songs and two poems). Thirteen of the songs, up to now, have only been studied via his written lyrics. Now, historians and fans can hear, for the first time, Woody recording them at his Brooklyn apartment in 1951 and 1952.

The town of West Orange in Essex County will honor one of its Native Sons, David Cassidy, today and tomorrow. Cassidy died of liver failure in 2017 at the age of 67.

The date was October 30, 1970. Black Sabbath toured the states for the first time and the first gig was in New Jersey at Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) in Gloucester County.

Drummer-Guitarist-Producer-Singer-Songwriter-Rock Star Wild Man Buddy Miles [1947-2008] pioneered the concept of a rock’n’roll band with horns in Electric Flag before Chicago and before Blood Sweat & Tears. Drummer-Singer-Songwriter-Producer Biscuit Rouse, raised in Newark, a veteran of the bands of Lauryn Hill (East Orange) and Vernon Reid, had his debut album released just last year (Biscuit & Buddy). It will be released on vinyl this year.