Rocker Tommy Stinson, below, is the special guest performer for Sunday events at Brookdale Radio (above) and Jack’s Music.
Veteran listeners of 1980s-’90s college and alternative playlists know him as the spiky-haired, plaid-suited, juvenile delinquent bassist and sometime vocalist of Twin Cities punk pioneers the Replacements. His road since then has seen him play a stint with elusive superstar act Guns ‘N Roses (including the recording of unreleased sessions with both of his former bands), establish an on-again/off-again with ’90s alterna-rockers Soul Asylum, and emerge every now and then with a solo project under the name Bash & Pop.
This Sunday afternoon, Tommy Stinson is a man about town on the Greater Red Bank Green, when the upstate New York resident plays a pair of free intimate sets during two special events — the first at Brookdale Community College radio station 90.5 The Night, and the other at downtown Red Bank landmark Jack’s Music Shoppe.
Community members of all ages are invited to a day of music, food, prizes and family-friendly games and activities during the first ever 90.5 The Night Food Truck Festival, held Saturday, Oct. 15 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Lincroft campus of Brookdale Community College.
The free event, hosted by Brookdale Public Radio, will feature more than 12 area food trucks, including Empanada Guy, Mary Queen of Pork, Surf and Turf Truck, House of Cupcakes and the Tasty Trolley.
Live music acts include Sharif, Waiting for Henry and Anthony D’Amato.
The alternative/ Americana musical marriage known as The Mastersons inaugurates a new summer slate of free Songwriters in the Park concerts, Friday night at Riverside Gardens.
The dog-day nights of July and August are that time of year when the waterfront walkways and terraces of Riverside Gardens take center stage in local life with this Thursday seeing the return of the long-running Jazz in the Park concerts, and the weeks to come offering a packed schedule of free family-friendly movies, free evening Zumba sessions, even a free Comedy in the Park event on August 1.
All welcome diversions for a midsummer’s night, to be sure. But tonight, Friday the 13th, marks the long-awaited return of a series that you’ll find nowhere else but Red Bank Songwriters in the Park, a slate of top-shelf artist showcases presented for a seventh season by Brookdale Community College listener-supported radio station 90.5 The Night.
While there have always been such things as songwriters busking for beer money in city parks, this songwriters series is an altogether different animal than most beach-towel-and-lawnchair community events a format that pairs a genuinely buzzworthy, national-profile act with likeminded local/regional artists. Previous outings have spotlighted such well-known performers as Dramarama, Steve Forbert, Jeffrey Gaines, John Wesley Harding, Bongos frontman Richard Barone and the Smithereens Pat DiNizio.
In other words, this is a free concert series that music snobs can really sink their teeth into. And when all the stars in the Sirius sky align superior sound, great sight lines from anywhere in the park, a gentle breeze off the river and those complimentary Navesink sunsets it’s as listener-friendly an experience as any you’ll encounter up and down the Jersey Shore. Even the sounds of a busy downtown Friday night (including the occasional ambulance) add to the unique character of the concerts, making for a welcome alternative to the chirp of suburban crickets.
Singer, songwriter and Brookdale Community College alumna Laura Crisci performs with her formidable “Whoever Shows Up Band” at a special Beat the Winter Blues event Saturday evening at BCC’s Lincroft campus. (Photo by Debra L. Rothenberg)
On her latest self-released album All Is Well, Laura Crisci joins a bevy of veteran Shore area musicians for a set of songs about desire, regret, redemption and trust, maintaining an Americana vibe that’s punctuated every so often by a twanging rocker or even the odd sea chantey.
Saturday night, this “Prodigal Daughter” who reconnected to her Monmouth County roots after a successful few years in Nashville returns to the greater Red Bank green as the homecoming headliner of a special “Beat the Winter Blues: Meet, Mingle & Music” event on the Lincroft campus of Brookdale Community College.
Rocker Tommy Stinson, below, is the special guest performer for Sunday events at Brookdale Radio (above) and Jack’s Music.
Veteran listeners of 1980s-’90s college and alternative playlists know him as the spiky-haired, plaid-suited, juvenile delinquent bassist and sometime vocalist of Twin Cities punk pioneers the Replacements. His road since then has seen him play a stint with elusive superstar act Guns ‘N Roses (including the recording of unreleased sessions with both of his former bands), establish an on-again/off-again with ’90s alterna-rockers Soul Asylum, and emerge every now and then with a solo project under the name Bash & Pop.
