Today’s edition of Red Bank oRBit takes it to the river, even halfway around the world, to introduce you to a couple of guys — one an old familiar face, the other a creative young upstart — who are delivering some intriguing words and music within borough borders this weekend.
While most folks know veteran singer-songwriter (and part-time Monmouth County resident) Steve Forbert for his smash 1979 hit “Romeo’s Tune,” the Grammy-nominated folk-rock master has been a favorite of area audiences for decades now. So it makes sense that Brookdale Community College’s listener-supported radio station 90.5 The Night turned to him to kick off their summer series of free Songwriters in the Park concerts in Riverside Gardens. Dorothy Creamer interviewed Forbert in advance of Friday night’s show — an exclusive chat in which we find out, among other things, why he’s taken to writing songs on leaves.
This weekend also marks the inaugural event in the Frank Talk Reading Series — a monthly offering organized by Middletown poet/ Merchant Marine John Petrolino and presented at Gilda Rogers‘ pleasing literary salon on Shrewsbury Avenue. We talk to the veteran ship’s engineer about life on a vessel parked off the western coast of Africa — and why he likens himself to a Death Star contractor.
The quirkiest characters in town are stopping by our table to talk — and you can join us, all week long, in Red Bank oRBit .