Visual Sound: January 2026

Written By Mike Greenblatt
Joey Dee
“Don’t Come Barking Up My Tree”
Joey Dee wrote the song and is on sax when he appeared on TV for the first time on Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour in 1956 as part of a local Jersey rock’n’roll band from Garfield that became Joey Dee & The Starliters. Five years later his “Peppermint Twist” was the #1 song in America. We had to call Joey, now 85 and living in Florida, to get the name of this song.
Patriarchs In Black
“I’m Coming Home”
Originally recorded for its fourth album, Home, on Metalville Records, Paramus lead guitarist-composer Dan Lorenzo tells us, “we had to cut it out of the 17 Home songs as we already had a bluesy track.” Lorenzo and drummer Johnny Kelly are joined by singer Frankie Diaz, bassist Sal Iuvara and blues-harp man Dave Seubert. “Just slightly north of Jersey is West Nyack, New York,” adds Lorenzo, “where every Wednesday Frankie Diaz holds an open mic night at Olive’s. Frankie is soul music. Period. So honored he sang my only 12-bar blues song!”
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Annabelle Chairlegs
“Heavy Sleeper”
The most recent single of Annabelle Chairlegs of Austin, Texas—who used to be Lindsey Mackin of Kearny in Hudson County—was produced and recorded by Ty Segall in Topanga, California, with drummer Nick Cornetti and bassist Derek Strahan. It’s off her third album, Waking Up.
Jason Didner
“Let Them”
Jason Didner gets heavy. Humorous alt-folksinger Didner out of Montclair in Essex County wrote this rocker with Amy Didner as an arena-rock anthem inspired by themes of protecting your peace, releasing control and choosing inner freedom, as espoused in Mel Robbins’ The Let Them Theory. That’s Jason on vocals, guitar, bass and drums—he also mixed the track and produced the video.
TV Toy
“Monopole”
This may only be a demo version, but long-lost band TV Toy from Dover in Morris County was a main attraction in the 1970s and 1980s. They toured England with Bill Nelson’s Red Noise, and at one point Bongos drummer Frank Giannini played with them.
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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Visual Sound: December 2025