On Saturday, April 13, on the Princeton University campus within Alexander Hall’s Richardson Auditorium, for nine straight hours starting at 1:00 p.m. (the first five hours are FREE), the Princeton University Music Department will present its “Jazz At Princeton” festival. The event will be live-streamed.

Erik Gronwell is out and Lizzy Hale is in within Skid Row. Gronwell added punch to their sound, singing on ‘The Gang’s All Here’ album and fronting the band since early 2022. Unfortunately, he’s been battling leukemia. His disease had been in remission enough to rock out but now a decision was reached amicably for him to concentrate on his health.

Mark Knopfler’s charity single “Going Home (Theme From Local Hero)” features 60 rock stars in support of Teen Cancer America and England’s Teenage Cancer Trust. It is one of the most overpowering lineups of major stars ever assembled for one cause with members of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dire Straits, The Who, Pink Floyd, Queen, Black Sabbath, Rush, Guns N’Roses, Eagles and many more.

On the precipice of another international tour, Bruce Springsteen went on SiriusXM’s E Street Radio and had the following to say with host Jim Rotolo…

Anticipation for the new Bon Jovi album, ‘Forever,’ and the Hulu debut of a four-part Bon Jovi mini-series documentary premiering April 26, is high. A hint as to the personal blockbuster nature of the doc came last week when Jon Bon admitted to Martin Kielty at ‘Ultimate Classic Rock’ that he wanted to keep bassist Hugh McDonald “a secret.”

Asbury Park continues to be a seething cauldron for hungry talent, the latest of which are the dt’s, originally from Union County. David Cacciatore and Tom Losito are power-packed with riffs, melody, harmony and a special kind of bounce that’s as catchy as anything on the radio. Talk about ear candy! Their debut EP, ‘You With Me,’ landed in 2022. The new single is “All In My Head.”

The Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band tour started up again at the Footprint Center in Phoenix Arizona on March 19. It was the first show since last September when the announcement came of his ulcer. The band will be in San Francisco tonight and Sunday before Inglewood California April 4 & 7, Connecticut April 12, Albany April 15, Syracuse April 18 and Columbus Ohio April 21 before heading abroad.

Prior to wrestler-rocker Chris Jericho appearing in the upcoming documentary The Jersey Sound, he has taken a break from Fozzy to be part of Kuarantine with guitarists Joe McGinness/Charlie Parra del Riego, Trixter bassist PJ Farley (from Paramus) and drummer Kent Slucher on the power-packed “Good Girl Gone Bad” (Madison Records via The Orchard).

Little City Books will host its fourth annual “Literary Weekend” April 5, 6 & 7 on Bloomfield Street in Hoboken with numerous authors, among them Tia Williams, James Frankie Thomas, Kim Coleman Foote and the legendary Joyce Carol Oates, 85.

Montclair’s Conall Gorman will compete with Clifton’s Haley Mia to earn a spot in The Top 24 of American Idol. The good-looking Dylanesque singer-songwriter, 19, with fluid lead guitar chops like Paul Simon, performed an original, “Backseat.” Gorman graduated Seton Hall Prep in West Orange before moving to Tennessee to attend Belmont College.

Emanating out of Mozart Studio in Little Falls, Passaic County, comes an absolutely delicious platter of sweets buoyed by drummer Jason Marsalis, he of the First Family of New Orleans Jazz. It’s bassist-composer Christian Fabian’s date yet it’s keyboardist Matt King who gives this party its heft. Highlighted by some discreet picks to interpret, ‘Hip To The Skip’ is as rhythmic and funky as its title (say it five times fast).

They came out of Portland Oregon in 1994 and eleven albums later, the alt-rock darlings of The Dandy Warhols got one of their heroes—New Jersey’s own Debbie Harry of Blondie—to sing on “I Will Never Stop Loving You.”

Posters for the Trenton Punk Rock Flea Market’s “Spring Fling” at the Cure Insurance Arena—81 Hamilton Avenue—April 6 and 7 says “Calling all friends! Families! Punks! Goths! Geeks! Freaks! Emos! Nerds!” Promising hundreds of vendors, artists from across the country, dozens of fresh-food trucks, live disc jockeys, celebrity guests (including Richie Stotts of The Plasmatics), sideshow performances, live tattooing, author signings and scavenger hunts, the event rambles on for seven hours each day from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Express Newark is hosting a multi-media exhibition in honor of Poet-Educator-Activist-Producer-Actor-Orator Amiri Baraka [1934-2014] downtown Newark at 54 Halsey Street through July 19. The event keys in on Baraka’s groundbreaking 1963 book ‘Blues People: Negro Music in White America,’ written when he was still known by his “slave name,” as he used to say, LeRoi Jones.

Drummer/Composer Lenny White, who in the 1970s set the standard for prog-rock jazz in the pioneering Return To Forever, a longtime resident of Teaneck in Bergen County, can be heard on ‘Live At Dizzy’s Club: The Music of Elvin & McCoy’ (Woodneck Records) by bassist Gerald Cannon.

“Thank You Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story” is a four-part warts-and-all docu-series with balls debuting on Hulu April 26. Cameras follow the band on its 2022 tour with Jon sharing never-before-seen photos and letting the viewer in on his most vulnerable fears and apprehensions.

They’re billing it as “The Festival Only New Jersey Can Handle.” June is going to be crazy when the second annual North To Shore Festival comes back to over 100 venues in three cities—Asbury Park, Atlantic City and Newark—with over 300 acts including Gary Clark, Jr., Band Of Horses, Lake Street Drive, Bleachers, Steve Forbert and many others in Asbury Park (June 10-16), Atlantic City (June 17-23), and Newark (June 24-30).

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen and singer/ songwriter/ healing arts practitioner Lauren Monroe started the Raven Drum Foundation 21 years ago to benefit First Responders, Firefighters and Veterans. Tomorrow night, March 14, they will co-host an all-star benefit concert at The Cutting Room in New York City with Friends of Firefighters.

Sea Hear Now, New Jersey’s largest homegrown rock festival, is set for September 14 and 15 with shows in Asbury Park and Bradley Beach. Over 25 bands will strut their stuff like last year when Foo Fighters, The Killers, Weezer, The Beach Boys and Sheryl Crow performed. This year Noah Kahan headlines Saturday and some rock group called Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band headlines Sunday.

They called it “Celebration of the Suds” back in 2006 when this annual event started with 29 breweries hosting almost 3,000 adults with no music, just beer. In 2012, music was added. In 2024, 101 breweries with 400 flavors of beer will fill the Atlantic City Convention Center on April 12 and 13 for the estimated 18,000 21+ adults with no babies, animals or kids allowed.