Showing posts with label New Jersey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Jersey. Show all posts

Friday, May 24, 2019

Countdown To Crawfish

Aaron Neville
New Orleans Returns to New Jersey as the Best of the Big Easy’s Music and Food Arrives for Milestone Weekend Celebration at Sussex Fairgrounds in Augusta

 Tickets on Sale NOW!


 A New Jersey tradition will be marking its milestone 30th anniversary celebrating two of New Orleans’ greatest traditions – music and food – with Big Easy backyard authenticity, when the likes of Aaron Neville, the Marcus King Band and over 20 other great Crescent City acts go “head to tail” with 10,000 pounds of specially imported crawfish and more at MICHAEL ARNONE’S 30TH ANNUAL CRAWFISH FEST, May 31-June 2 here at the Sussex County Fairgrounds.

Tickets are on sale NOW for the three-day festival, which annually draws close to 20,000 people for a unique weekend experience featuring the best music and food that New Orleans and all of Louisiana has to offer. The music spans Bayou-based Cajun, Zydeco, Delta Blues, New Orleans R&B, Brass, Gospel and Jazz across three stages, while the food highlights assorted other south Louisiana delicacies such as fresh Boiled Louisiana Crawfish trucked in alive, with Jambalaya, Crawfish Etouffee, Alligator Sausage, Po-boys (oyster, shrimp and catfish), Char Grilled Oysters, Southern Fried Chicken, along with the Louisiana chefs who prepare it all. 
Marcus King Band
Also scheduled to appear are Neville Jacobs, Rebirth Brass Band, Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience, Cowboy Mouth, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Roadmasters, Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, Bishop Gunn, Cory Henry and the Treme Funktet, John Papa Gros Band, Jonathon Long, Flow Tribe, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas, Darcy Malone and the Tangle, Amanda Fish, The Iceman Special, Jesse Lege and Bayou Brew, Tony Smith and the You Know How We Do Crew, and Big Mamou.

Festival goers can purchase 2019 Crawfish Fest Single Day, 2 Day Combo, Group, onsite 4 day/3 nights Camping/ Admission, and King Crawfish Krewe Tickets (main stage pit passes). Advance tickets start at $35 for adults (free for children under 14 with parent), and are available through the official website, www.crawfishfest.com.

“The great thing about this festival is its incredible authenticity,” says festival creator-producer and Louisiana import Michael Arnone. “It’s so real that for everybody who’s moved up North from Louisiana, everyone who’s homesick, this is like going home for a few days. The Louisiana atmosphere, the crawfish, the jambalaya, it’s all there. I tell people the music brings them, but the food keeps them.”  

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

You've Got To Have Friends

Friendship
Luann de Lesseps & Lance Bass
After the tumultuous past couple of years - a quickie marriage/divorce, getting arrested for a DUI, assaulting a Police officer, entering rehab, relapsing and re-entering rehab and to top it all off being sued by her ex-husband and children, Luann de Lesseps of The Real Housewives of New York City has had quite the bumpy ride.

Lucky for her she's got friends, and lots of them as she takes to the stage in her cabaret show #CountessAndFriends - Look who dropped by while she was performing at The Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Why it's none other than NSYNC singer Lance Bass!

Honestly I kind of like Luann, mainly because she owns her mistakes. She does not blame everyone else for her problems. While her reactions to them may be less than ideal, we've all been there and done that. 

It's nice to see her having a good time and taking her act on the road. She, like all of us, deserves to have something on our lives that makes our soul happy.

Most importantly she has a great support system of, well, friends.

C'est la vie!

Luann on IG -

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Be Like Gooch

Gooch Nelson
QUADRIPLEGIC CANCER SURVIVOR GOOCH NELSON TEAMS
WITH 9-TIME GRAMMY-WINNING PRODUCER JOE NICOLO
FOR ‘TRANSCENDANT’ GENRE-BLENDING, BLUES-BASED COLLECTION


Critical Acclaim and National TV Attention Arrive
with Gooch and The Motion’s Comin’ Home CD
— First Artist on New Blacbird/Universal Label

“It’s a bit startling to hear Nelson’s deep growl expose his demons given his intensely positive outlook. … But for Nelson, there is no better way to handle pain and hardships than through song.” – ASSOCIATED PRESS

“Transcendent. … a message of hope instead of hopelessness.” – NO DEPRESSION

Need some inspiration? Look no further than The Gooch! 

The release of COMIN’ HOME, the debut album by New Jersey’s GOOCH AND THE MOTION — the first on the newly minted Blacbird/Universal label — doesn’t just set the bar ridiculously high for blues-rock in 2016. It also is an aural testament to the indomitably of the human spirit, and the healing powers of music.

And it arrives with strong critical acclaim and national TV attention to an inspiring story with the musical goods to back it up.

Under the aegis of nine-time-Grammy-winning studio whiz Joe “The Butcher” Nicolo (Billy Joel, Cypress Hill, Boyz II Men), singer-songwriter Ryan “Gooch” Nelson has conjured a rip-snorting, foot-stomping collection of songs despite a personal backstory that seems right out of Hollywood. The Associated Press dispatched a profile of GOOCH AND THE MOTION that has since been picked up by the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune, among many others. Fox News Channel is preparing a feature package on Gooch, andNJTV’s award-winning One on One with Steve Adubato will be premiering a session with Gooch in March, the same month Philadelphia public radio station WHYY-FM is scheduled to air a special interview session.

In 2004, Gooch was in a terrible car accident that left him a quadriplegic. Five years later, he was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia. Through it all — including the still-daily chemotherapy treatments that have kept the cancer in remission — music has been Gooch’s balm and salvation.

Not that it has been easy for the 30-year-old southern New Jersey native, who re-learned to play guitar by placing it on his lap and using a specially-fitted bottleneck.

When I lost the ability to use my hands it was devastating to me — much more than losing my legs,” he says. “It really depressed me. It took me down.”

Two years after the accident, Gooch’s grandfather bought him an electric guitar. That, and the mix tapes provided by friends, enabled the healing process to begin in earnest. Throughout, he was writing lyrics, many of which dealt with his situation.

The paralysis was just the first of a bad-luck double whammy. But even the cancer diagnosis couldn’t defeat him — and music was again the antidote.

“It was nice to be able to go and play gigs,” says Gooch. “Playing really took my mind off the cancer and for the spinal injury, it was also paramount.”
Troubadour 
 Musically, everything begins with the blues for the inspirational singer-songwriter, whose vocal style is a classic swampy moan somewhere between the vocals of Dr. John and Tom Waits. Specific influences include Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All-Stars and the late blues man R.L. Burnside.

But, Gooch notes, “I really try to draw from everything. And being from rural South Jersey, my music kind of comes out of a bluesy, Southern-rock-type sound. But I think you can hear elements of funk, hip-hop, a little country and jazz.”

That’s Gooch’s recipe for an album that No Depression raves is “transcendent” and “a message of hope instead of hopelessness.” THAT Music Mag says “Gooch and the Motion has seemingly bridged the gap between fantasy and reality by turning tragedy into a surge of success,” while Beehive Candy hails COMIN’ HOME as “quite stunning.”

Among the collection’s signature tracks are “Diamonds on My Windshield,” on which Gooch puts the iconic descending bass riff of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walking” in the service of a deep-groove blues gumbo; the heartfelt cover of “Sitting On Top of the World” by 1930s blues avatars The Mississippi Sheiks and “Devil Don’t,” the only song on the disc in which Gooch addresses his physical and mental states in the wake of his health battles.

COMIN’ HOME is not only about Gooch Nelson’s lyrical and musical prowess, but a wholly collaborative effort showcasing both the work of The Motion – a rotating eight-piece collective featuring several background vocalists – and a glittering collection of guests artists including Kenny Aaronson (Bob Dylan, Billy Idol,  Joan Jett) on bass; Luke Carlos O’Reilly (Curtis Fuller, Dave Valentin, Fred Wesley, Steve Turre) on piano and organ; and Andy Kravitz (Billy Joel, Cypress Hill, Joan Osborne) and David Uosikkinen (The Hooters, Cyndi Lauper, Rod Stewart, Patty Smythe) on drums.

Gooch’s health issues are obviously an important part of who and what he is as an artist. But for Nicolo, they were pretty much irrelevant when he decided to produce COMIN’ HOME.

“When I first met Gooch I listened to him perform with my eyes closed,” recalls Nicolo. “I didn't want his condition to affect my opinion of his music. He totally sold me. He's so unique. There's nothing out there really like him. It's one of the finest compliments I can give an artist.”


Tuesday, July 28, 2015

"Hip & Accessible" Far In The Maples

Far in the Maples
Regina Conroy & Reshy P.
Turning the celebrated, swingin’ sound of the Jersey Shore inside out, “poetic pop” duo Far In The Maples is poised to cast a new seaside musical legacy built upon the nuances of internal emotion with unexpected soundscapes, unforgettable melodies and the sweetly understated vocals. 

They recently released their album Skywork that showcases song-oriented music that’s both honest and contemporary with a classic timelessness, from an infectious new band driven by songbird Regina Conroy and multi-instrumentalist Reshy P.

Regina Conroy is here to tell us all about it, take it away Regina!

MS: Hey Regina nice to meet you, your musical style is so sophisticated. How did coming from the Jersey Shore influence it?

RC: Living at the Jersey Shore? I grew up around music all the time with my family. my Dad was a musician and so was my older brother. So when I was younger my Dad and my brother would play shows, or we would go to concerts, there was always stuff happening on the boardwalk, all these local shows that I would get to go to. I've loved to sing since I was five years old, anything that was playing in our kitchen when my Dad would turn on the radio...of course growing up on the Jersey Shore people are like: "Ohhhhh, you know Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi?" It's like, yes of course I've seen them both at stores and places like that. Maybe their music influenced me subconsciously, but I'm not a die hard fan because they live twenty minutes away from me. (laughs)

MS: To me your music, lyrically has a Bob Dylan vibe.

RC: My Mom is obsessed with Bob Dylan we always had his CD's in the car, I love him. Writing poetry is a passion of mine, I took a poetry class as an after school type thing. My poetry instructor told my Mom at the time: "Wow, she's really good for her age." 

MS: How old were you?

RC: I was eight when I started writing poetry. As I got older I used my poetry as a means to write lyrics. When I was fifteen I got my first guitar so I started teaching myself and molding all of the scales together and started writing music. 

MS: You really started from a young age.

RC: Definitely, I really did a lot of self teaching. I listened to all different types of music, would read the lyric books that came with all of the CD's. My influence was anything I could get my hands on. Some people go to school to learn to perform music or how to play it...for me it was just having it all around me all those years and picking up on all of the different influences. 

MS: You and your band mate Reshy P. really know how to blend them well.

RC: It interesting, we both have different musical influences but we are able to find that balance of a little bit of mine, a little bit of his and make it into our own. 

MS: The fact that you guys do pop music, yet are still artistic is great, a lot of people have lost a sense of that.

RC: I know, I know, it's hard to put a name on it, boil it down when people ask us: "Who do you think you guys sound like?" I don't know.There's lots of pop on the radio, but most of it is repetitive and one line. It's very dance kind of stuff, ours is a little more poetic. It's still pop, but there is a lot to be said and thought about in it.
Regina & Reshy

MS: So do you always write the lyrics and Reshy always writes it to music?

RC: For the most part. We started writing together in November of 2013. Basically the first time that we met I brought everything I had as far as things that I was working on lyrically and musically, and some were just lyrics. So we kind of worked from some of my little pieces that I had worked on before meeting Reshy and brought them to music. Basically I bring the lyrics and we work on them together but mostly it's ninety percent my words.

MS: What inspires your poetry?

RC: To inspire myself I put myself in a different place. Go somewhere, tap into how I feel in the moment. Most of it has been putting myself outside my comfort zone for inspiration. Much of what I write about is relationships. But I think the focus of that is writing about the journey of finding yourself. It's very reflective and very personal. 

MS: You guys took the band name Far in the Maples from a Robert Frost poem. What is it you like about his work?

RC: I really haven't read a ton of poetry myself. I just kind of read stuff here and there, or people will show me something, and I'll say: "Hey I really like this!" Reshy actually showed me that poem and it stuck with us. The visualization of far in the maples...it's a beautiful poem. I'm not particularly a Robert Frost fan, but I'm not, not a fan either. (laughs) 

Go "Far in the Maples" at:
https://www.facebook.com/farinthemaples
https://instagram.com/farinthemaples/
https://twitter.com/farinthemaples

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Jazz Baby Jessi Teich Is #1!

All That Jazz: Jessi Teich

JESSI TEICH HITS #1 IN PHILLY ON WRTI-FM ‘JAZZ HOT 11 COUNTDOWN’:
‘Real Jazz That’s Fresh and New’ 

 I wanted to send a shout out to one of my favorite artist Jessi Teich. She went number one recently on 420 -  Check out our full length interview below, congratulations Jessi!!! 


10-time international songwriting award-winner JESSI TEICH  hit a major milestone this week in her hometown of Philadelphia when “Sunday Morning,” from the New Jersey native’s stylish new Paris-recorded album, TWISTED SOUL (Madame Freak), landed at No. 1 this week (April 20) on tastemaker jazz station WRTI-FM’s (90.1) listener-voted“Jazz Hot 11 Countdown.”

“I’m really glad that someone’s doing something that’s real jazz, that’s fresh and new,” says WRTI program director Maureen Malloy. It’s things like these that are going to get young people interested in the jazz genre.

Celebrate with Jessi at: