For the 22^nd year, Maplewoodstock will provide free music—rain or shine—July 11 and 12 in Essex County at Memorial Park, Maplewood, at 580 Valley Street.

Registration for the 15^th Annual Sarah Vaughan International  Jazz Vocal Competition—otherwise known as The Sassy Awards—is now accepting entries. The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark is encouraging vocalists from around the world to submit performances.

The New Jersey Jazz Society continues “The Jazz Series” at Our Lady of Consolation Church on 1799 Hamburg Turnpike in Wayne, in partnership with the Wayne Public Library, on a Sunday afternoon, May 17, at 4:00, with The Ted Chubb Quintet—Ted Chubb, trumpet; Bruce Williams, alto sax; Oscar Perez, piano; Tom DiCarlo, bass, Jerome Jennings, drums.

Burlington County’s David Osterhout—who records as Bike Routes—drops the F-Bomb multiple times during his angry “Shadows” single from his upcoming full-length Prairie, due June 26.

40 years on in Skid Row, bassist Rachel Bolan has released his first solo video, “At War With Myself,” from his upcoming June 12 solo album, Gargoyle of the Garden State, by Bolan (as he’s calling himself these days). Produced by multi‑Grammy winner Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Skid Row, Rush, Evanescence, Alice In Chains), the album, according to Bolan, “is not a project, it is every bit of my soul. Like me, it knows when to be serious and also knows where the party is."

Bumblefoot—born Ron Thal 56 years ago—might have been only six years old when Rainbow launched in 1975 but recalls, “I heard the Rainbow Rising album as a kid and became a lifelong Rainbow fan! It’s a great honor to play on this song and to pay tribute to this historic band.” The song in question is “Long Live Rock’n’Roll,” Rainbow’s longtime battle cry (and can be heard here).

The Camden County Board of Commissioners has announced the return of free “Summer Parks Concert Series 2026” on 2,700 acres of parklands.

It’s called Jersey Town and it’s a doozy. Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist-Producer-bigtime blues man Peter Karp, born in Bergen County 66 years ago, has carved out one epic career for himself.

Just days prior to the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music moving into its new home on June 7, it will celebrate America’s 250^th birthday with an all-star assemblage of talent on one stage June 4 and 5. “Music America: The Songs that Shaped Us,” at the OceanFirst Bank Center on the Monmouth University campus, will feature Jon Bon Jovi, Jackson Browne, Rosanne Cash, Kenny Chesny, Gary Clark Jr., Dion, Dropkick Murphys, Shemekia Copeland, Valerie June, Keb Mo, Nils Lofgren, Darlene Love, David Sancious, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Trischka & Sister Sadie, Mavis Staples, Trombone Shorty and the New Breed Brass Band, Stevie Van Zandt, Public Enemy and Jimmy Vaughan with The Disciples of Soul as the House Band.

New Jersey Hall of Famer Celia Cruz (Class of 2023) will be inducted into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame Class as a 2026 “Musical Influence” this November. As it says on the Rock Hall’s website, “One of the best-selling Latin artists of all-time, Celia Cruz’s powerful music was the sound of freedom…shaping and popularizing the Afro-Cuban genre.” She directly influenced artists like Sheila E, Gloria Estefan and Jennifer Lopez.

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.