Shore music evergreens Pat Guadagno, Dave McCarthy and Pam McCoy team up for the first show in a free August concert series in Little Silver. Taylor Tote, below, takes the outdoor stage on August 23.
Who says August is “the Sunday of months?” Many of the season’s signature delights are still in full force — and even still getting underway, as witness a Sunday evening slate of free concerts that take place at Little Silver’s Borough Field.
Sponsored by Little Silver Recreation and held behind the municipal building at 480 Prospect Avenue, the monthlong series keynotes this Sunday with a one-time appearance by a “saloon singer” supergroup of sorts, each of whose three headline attractions have been fan-favorite fixtures around the watering holes of the Shore music scene for a generation and then-some.
Featured in the all-ages, 7 p.m. outdoor gig is Pat Guadagno, the master song interpreter (and founding father of the annual Bobfest bash) who’s earned the title of “Mr. Monday Night” for his longtime local stand at Jamian’s and other downtown Red Bank haunts.
He’s joined by Pam McCoy, a familiar face and fabulous voice from her frontwoman gig with the band Familiar Faces and longstanding association with Tim McLoone’s Holiday Express). Also on board is the self-deprecating but sublimely skilled Dave McCarthy, the multi-instrumentalist and music educator who “has been inflicting his peculiar form of ‘entertainment’ on unsuspecting patrons at various and sundry watering holes, bistros and up-and-not-so upscale establishments in the greater Monmouth County area for the better part of four decades,” as his press kit puts it.
The series continues Sunday, August 16, with a rare old-school slice of Americana pie that features the 20-piece John Luckenbill Pops Band. The organization, under the baton of conductor and music teacher Luckenbill, will play a program of Broadway showtunes, patriotic marches, jazz, Dixieland, classical and a special Sinatra-centennial medley in the manner of their regular Belmar concerts and countless performances on the Asbury Park boardwalk.
From a time-machine trip into the past, the series makes a quantum leap into the future on August 23 when Taylor Tote totes her band to the stand for a 7 p.m. set. The young, singer-songwriter who recently filmed her first video at a Two River Theater showcase concert (and who will be on view during the Red Bank Street Life sessions of August 22 and 29), will spotlight both originals (“All You Left Behind,” “Superman”) and surprise covers.
The series wraps on August 30 with a set of classic-rock covers by Timepiece, the quartet of bar-band pros (Mike Scialfa, Terry Wildeman, Fred DeFeo, John Oeser) who have been a dependable draw at such Asbury Park circuit landmarks as the Stone Pony and the Wonder Bar — where a recent shindig made headlines, by drawing the participation of Mike’s sister Patti and brother-in-law Bruce.
In the event of rain, the 7 p.m. concerts will relocate indoors to the nearby Little Silver Women’s Club at 11 Church Street. Bring your picnic goodies, beach blankets and lawn chairs — and check here for weather-related info and other updates.
