Princeton Professor Joyce Carol Oates will discuss her new book, Double Trouble, in The Guild Room within First Congregational Church in Montclair on May 2 at 1:45 p.m. as part of the Montclair Literary Festival going on from May 2 to May 11.

The NJ HOF has announced its 60 nominees for the public to vote on in the following six categories:  Arts & Letters, Education, Research, Engineering & Science, Enterprise, Performing Arts & Entertainment, Public Service and Sports.

Dana Owens was born in Newark 56 years ago. Now, as Queen Latifah, she will be inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame in the “Musical Influence” category. Her career has been epic. She’s a producer, record label president, author, singer, rapper, actor, poet, drummer, guitarist and the recipient of more awards (including Grammys and Golden Globes) than she can possibly display on her walls.

Guitarist-Composer Stephane Wrembel is readying his “Django a Go Go” Music Festival and Guitar Camp for May 12-16 with two New Jersey shows and two New York City shows in celebration of his Django New Orleans II: Hors Serie vinyl release and the United States debut of Gypsy Guitars II, the follow-up, 26 years later, of 1989’s Gypsy Guitars, by The Gypsy Guitar Trio (Angelo DeBarre, Serge Camps, Frank Anastasio).

Hoboken diva Lisa Fischer always steals the show. She’s been the go-to back-up singer on tours by Sting, Luther Vandross, Tina Turner, Nine Inch Nails and the Rolling Stones. (She stayed with the Stones from 1989 to 2015.) Now she steals it right out from under the sax man Javon Jackson on his new Jackson Plays Dylan album when she sings “Gotta Serve Somebody” like nobody has ever sung it before (hint:  she’s got a little Mavis Staples in her for this one!)

1776 premiered on Broadway in 1969, won three Tony Awards, and was made into a 1972 movie. It’s currently enjoying a renaissance in Millburn.

“The Golden Door,” by Jim Metzner, came out last week. It’s a heartbreakingly profound tale of immigration and the promise America holds for the “your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”

Monmouth University’s Pollak Theatre in West Long Branch will be the site when the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music presents “America 250: A Jersey Shore Celebration of the Nation’s Music Heritage” with Williams Honor, original E Streeter Vini Lopez, Pat Roddy, Jackson Pines, Pat Guadagno, Richie Blackwell and others on May 29. It is the first of a series of events leading up to the June 7 Grand Opening of the Center’s new building.

Jim Fusilli’s A Song For Katy Shayne novel came out last year. The author, born in Hoboken 72 years ago, wrote about a music critic who gets involved in the possible murder of a singer. Now Kirk Pasich’s Blue Elan Records has released The Lost Songs Of Katy Shayne by Suzanna Spring & The Black Canyon City Band, as produced by Pasich and Colin Devlin.

Singer-Songwriter Helen O’Shea’s tribute to Sinead O’Connor [1966-2023] and Dolores O’Riodan [1971-2018] of The Cranberries, Songs In The Key Of O, comes out May 1.

The Morris Museum in Morristown will, for the seventh year in a row, present its popular outdoor “Back Deck” concert series. Bring lawn chairs, have a picnic, enjoy the sunset! If it rains, the concert will be moved indoors. Tickets go on sale April 21. Shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

International Jazz Day isn’t until April 30 but within the New Jersey Performing Arts Center downtown Newark—at the intimate Victoria Theater—a free April 26 Sunday afternoon jazz concert at 4:00 p.m. will feature over 100 young musicians from the NJPAC TD Jazz for Teens Moody Jazz Orchestra, George Wein’s Scholars Ensemble, Montclair’s Jazz House Kids, Riverdale Country School (Bronx, NY) and Pennsylvania’s Valley Jazz Orchestra.

When Montclair singer-songwriter Jason Didner saw Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, he was fascinated enough by Bruce’s composite love interest in the film Faye Romano to write “Dear Faye,” a song about “love and regret,” according to Didner, who goes on to say, “Bruce is known for songs written to imaginary women who represent periods in his life.”

Montclair’s Lily Vakili, on the heels of her Oceans Of Kansas album, will release the six-track Live Wire EP on May 8. The first single, “Anybody Knows,” is out now.

America’s largest goth-industrial convention—Dark Force—will return to the Parsippany Sheraton May 1, 2 and 3.  Night #1 stars Combichrist, the Atlanta band led by Norwegian vocalist Andy LaPlegua for the last 23 years.

Singer-Songwriter-Bassist Gregory McLouhlin used to perform on the streets of his Hoboken hometown. Then he recorded an album. His “Thank God It’s Monday” livestream recently reached 300 episodes. Now he’s the subject of a documentary, directed by Josh Presuto, that tells the tales behind such songs as “Businessman and “Photograph.”

Look at all those bands! The 17^th annual Elephant Talk Music Fest will take place with 70+ bands  for all ages at the Tennessee Avenue Beer Hall in Atlantic City on April 17, 18 & 19.

“We are bringing hope over fear, democracy over authoritarianism, the rule of law over lawlessness, ethics over unbridled corruption, unity over division, and peace over war.” – Bruce Springsteen

A year ago March, Middlesex County band Good Damage was “Better Off Alone.” Nine months later, they were “Just Alive.” Now they’re hitting the road with shows in Clifton at Dingbatz on April 25, The Water Tower in Oaks Pennsylvania on May 16 and at Crossroads in Garwood on May 20.

North Bergen singer-songwriter-guitarist Alejandro Meola’s self-described mission-in-music is to “support cultural diversity through the arts.” Thus, the Argentine-American will be debuting his new single “Sed De Nacer” April 11 in Boston at The Jungle, April 15 in New York City at Berlin in the East Village, April 27 in Charlotte, North Carolina, at The Evening Muse, April 30 in Miami at Luna Star Cafe and May 2 in Atlanta at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack.