Monmouth University Center for the Arts is proud to present the premiere of a Virtual Living Room Concert Series – Stay Safe, Stay at Home featuring some of your favorite singers, songwriters and musicians from the Jersey Shore and beyond! The concert will premiere on the Center for the Arts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/n2m9mKRFiqk on May 8, 2020 at 8 PM with a live chat from some of the artists and will be available to stream on the channel anytime afterward.
This living room concert features: Steve Forbert, Pat Guadagno, Jessie Wagner, Marc Ribler, Harry Filkin, Carl Gentry, Bobby Bandiera, Lowell “Banana” Levinger, Sara Devine, Eddie “Kingfish” Manion, Franke Previte & Lisa Sherman.
The concert is directed by Monmouth University Alumnus Tom Parr ’85 and sponsored in part by Riptide records.
This semester, Blue Hawk Records will be hosting their first ever virtual release show on the Blue Hawk Records Instagram page for their new album Sweet 16 on May 6 at 8pm.
Over the past few weeks, student life at Monmouth University, and everywhere, has changed dramatically, due to COVID – 19. Like all other schools and universities across the country, Monmouth has moved to online instruction for the remainder of the spring semester. However, despite the chaotic and tumultuous situation students found themselves, Blue Hawk Records carried on with its plans to release its 16th studio album. They innovated and found a way to remotely produce, promote and release the spring 2020 compilation EP, “Sweet 16”. A first for the student-run record label, as well as most major record labels.
Artists on “Sweet 16” include Monmouth students, Shadiyah, featuring Gabriel Garza, Nicole Totland, Bruce Davis, featuring Janae, Mikey Sanchez, Drew Fournier, and Monmouth alumni, Anya Schildge Angeloni ‘12M, along with an ensemble of accompanying student musicians and producers.
Sweet 16 will be available for streaming on all digital platforms on May 8.
You can find and follow Blue Hawk Records at @bluehawkrecordsofficial
Join us for Tuesday Night Book Club! Hosted by Monmouth University’s Ken Womack and Michael Thomas, each month we’ll explore a different novel. All you have to do is Zoom in and join the discussion!
This month’s novel is Joan Didion’s PLAY IT AS IT LAYS. A ruthless dissection of American life in the late 1960s, Joan Didion’s Play It as It Lays captures the mood of an entire generation, the ennui of contemporary society reflected in spare prose that blisters and haunts the reader. Set in a place beyond good and evil—literally in Hollywood, Las Vegas, and the barren wastes of the Mojave Desert, but figuratively in the landscape of an arid soul—it remains more than three decades after its original publication a profoundly disturbing novel, riveting in its exploration of a woman and a society in crisis and stunning in the still-startling intensity of its prose.
When you register you will be provided the meeting link to join the conversation. CLICK HERE for more information on how to use zoom
Help us mark the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. Readers will present stories that have been posted to “9 Feet High,” part of the Just Beachy/After Sandy installation now on view in Rechnitz Hall’s DiMattio Gallery.
We invite you to participate by reading your own story, or listen as you hear your own story being read. Join us as your Sandy experience is acknowledged through the spoken word. Your story deserves to be heard!
The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University will present An Evening with Tone, featuring David Sancious, Ernest “Boom” Carter, and Gerald Carboy, hosted by Bob Santelli, Founding Executive Director of the Grammy Museum, on Sunday, October 6, at 7 p.m. in the Pollak Theater on the university campus.
The event is free and open to the public.
In 1974 E Street Band keyboards player Sancious and drummer Carter left the group and teamed with Carboy, a Jersey Shore bass player, to form the jazz-fusion band Tone. Acclaimed by critics, Tone’s music expanded the parameters of fusion and featured the extraordinary keyboard work of Sancious. The group’s album, Transformation: The Speed of Love, is an acknowledged fusion classic.
“Tone was one of the great jazz bands from the Jersey Shore,” said Santelli, author of Greetings from E Street: The Story of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. “Critics loved the band, but during the mid-1970’s hype surrounding the release of Born to Run, Tone didn’t get the attention it deserved from Springsteen fans.”
Santelli will interview the musicians about Tone, their years in the Jersey Shore music scene, and the role Sancious and Carter played in the early days of the E Street Band. The night will conclude with a rare performance by the trio.
Additionally, authors Barry Schneier and Chris Phillips will be on site to sign their book, Bruce Springsteen: Rock and Roll Future, published earlier this year. The book features Schneier’s photographs from the legendary performance of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Harvard Square Theatre in 1974. It was that show that was reviewed by future manager Jon Landau, who wrote, “I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” The band line-up for that Boston show included Sancious and Carter.
Please join artist Julia Dzikiewicz for a virtual exhibition of her powerful and engaging artwork. Each week Julia will release a new video of a featured piece in the exhibit. Check back each week for a new piece!
“Women’s March 2017″, 60″x96,” encaustic with crystals and lights, 2017
“Wendy and Hillary”, 60”x60”, encaustic with crystals
Malala and Maria”, 60″ x 60″ encaustic (with crystals and vintage glass beads)
Election 2016, 60”x60”,Encaustic with Swarovski crystals, encaustic printed paper, and electric lights, 2017
Me Too, 60”x60”, Mixed media encaustic with lights, 2018
Overtly political, deeply emotional, and subtly humorous, Julia Dzikiewicz weaves feminist parables into immense encaustic wax paintings. Monumental like an altarpiece, they inflame the spirit; illuminated like a tapestry, they give shape to immortal stories. Yet, Dzikiewicz’s work refuses a singular order. Using ancient wax techniques to explore present-day topics, Dzikiewicz is unflinching. She strikes hot, skewering the heart of the difficult issues she addresses, including themes of violence, racism, and misogyny. As a resident of the Workhouse Arts Center, the grief and triumph of the once imprisoned Suffragists serve as the inspiration for her contemporary tales of women who fight for change or the issues that inspire modern activists.
Cherish The Ladies are a Grammy Award nominated Irish-American super group that formed in 1985 to celebrate the rise of extraordinary women in what had been a male-dominated Celtic music scene. They’ve brought their signature blend of virtuosic instrumental talents, beautiful vocals, and stunning step dancing to the White House, the Olympics, and to PBS with their television special, An Irish Homecoming, which recently received an Emmy Award.
Now in their 35th year as a band, their new album, Heart of the Home, embraces the gift of music passed down from generations. As their reputation and admiration from both fans and critics alike continues to grow, Cherish The Ladies blazes forward into another decade of music making.
Presenting the 25th Anniversary concerts of On A Winter’s Night from veteran singer-songwriters Christine Lavin, John Gorka, Patty Larkin, Cheryl Wheeler and Cliff Eberhardt. These are among the brightest stars of the singer/songwriter movement for the past three decades.
In 1994 Christine Lavin gathered them together, along with folk and Americana artists to showcase music of the Winter Season on the now classic On A Winter’s Night CD, followed by several years of touring collaborations. These artists have released dozens of recordings and toured steadily through the decades, with fond memories of their touring days together. Now in 2019-2020, the winter season is again celebrated by these unique and popular performers, back together by popular demand.
The legendary group, The 5th Dimension continues to awe sold out audiences with their amazing harmonies, immaculate showmanship, and exciting energy. With over 20 million records sold worldwide, 22 TOP 40 Hits, five No.1 hits and six Grammy’s, they’re truly accomplished. Their classic songs include: Up, Up, and Away, One Less Bell to Answer, Last Night I Didn’t Get to Sleep At All, Wedding Bell Blues, Stoned Soul Picnic, and the iconic Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In.
The 5th Dimension has performed on some of the world’s most prestigious stages, including the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Hollywood Bowl, the Greek Theatre, Radio City Music Hall, and multiple casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Canada. The group also boasts many television appearances over the past decades, including the Ed Sullivan Show, PBS performances, Good Morning America, The Grammy Awards show, and the Frank Sinatra Special.
In 2015, original member and lead vocalist, Florence LaRue celebrated 50 years with the group. With Willie Williams, Leonard Tucker, Patrice Morris and Floyd Smith, the show includes more vocal range than ever and material that is fresh and varied. Much to the audience’s delight, LaRue works hard to remain true to the sound of The 5th Dimension’s original recordings, and performs their hits in their entirety.
An Evening with Melanie is an unforgettable night of songs and stories from the incredible career of the artist who became known as “The Female Bob Dylan.” Accompanied by her son, Beau-Jarred, the show is a musical journey that starts with that momentous day in the summer of 1969, when Melanie first attracted national attention with her Woodstock performance.
Melanie’s singles Brand New Key (Roller Skate Song), Lay Down (Candles in the Rain), Peace Will Come, Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma and Ruby Tuesday have all achieved chart success, with Brand New Key reaching No. 1 and remaining in the charts for 18 weeks in 1971. In the U.S., Melanie has had 13 Top 40 hits, including three No. 1 hits.
A new generation was exposed to Melanie with the release of Miley Cyrus’ cover of Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma. A year later, Miley Cyrus invited Melanie to be part of her Backyard Sessions, and together they recorded a live version of Look What They Done To My Song Ma and Peace Will Come.
