RED BANK: BOSS SHOWS UP FOR WORK
Bruce Springsteen arriving at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank Friday.
Bruce Springsteen arriving at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank Friday.
After three years of review and changes, a proposal for 45 new apartments on Monmouth Street in Red Bank is on the zoning board agenda yet again Thursday night.
A proposed development calling for 45 apartments Monmouth Street in Red Bank would have an “unnoticeable effect” on traffic, a consultant told the zoning board Thursday night.
After three years of review and changes, a proposal for 45 new apartments on Monmouth Street in Red Bank may get an up-or-down vote by the zoning board Thursday night.
The house at the northwest corner of Oakland and Pearl Streets would be refurbished for rental as an affordable unit, if approved. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The developer of a proposed 45-apartment project in Red Bank would satisfy part of his affordable housing obligation by restoring a house previously targeted for demolition, representatives told the zoning board Thursday night.
It’s the latest change to a plan that’s been inching its way through the review process for nearly three years.
An elevation showing the Monmouth Street side of Michael Salerno’s proposed mixed-used project, looking west. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank development first proposed in late 2019 is scheduled to return to the zoning board Thursday night.
Also on the agenda: an appeal by the Dublin House Pub. More →
An elevation showing the Monmouth Street side of the proposed mixed-used project, looking eastward. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Stalled for more than two years, hearings on a proposal for four stories of new apartments and shops on Monmouth Street resumed in Red Bank Thursday night.
Among early subjects of concern were plans to raze two homes for parking, and the impacts on adjoining properties.
An elevation showing the Monmouth Street side of the proposed mixed-used project. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
More than two years after the developer hit the pause button, the Red Bank zoning board’s review of a plan for apartments on Monmouth Street is slated to resume next week.
The proposal is listed at the end of a packed agenda that includes a clinic expansion, a new medical office and requests for commercial signage.
Bruce Springsteen outside the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank in 2014. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Could Bruce Springsteen be in need of a presidential pardon soon?
The rock star was arrested for DWI and other charges at Sandy Hook in November, federal officials confirmed Wednesday.
An elevation showing the Monmouth Street side of the proposed Salerno project. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[UPDATE: The February 20 hearing for this project has been rescheduled at applicant’s request. No new date yet.]
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed 59-unit apartment project should be allowed to exceed Red Bank’s height and density limits based on the objectives of the borough’s master plan, its architect testified Thursday night.
A rendering of the Monmouth Street side of the project proposed for the Monmouth Street site, below. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
On the Red Bank zoning board’s agenda Thursday night: a 59-unit apartment project proposed for the onetime site of Clarence Clemons‘ Big Man’s West rock venue.
Also up for review: a restaurant instead of a laundromat on Shrewsbury Avenue.
The onetime home of Big Man’s West would be razed accommodate a proposed apartment building. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Plans for a proposed 62-unit apartment project in Red Bank call for razing a building that holds a place in rock ‘n roll history: the former Big Man’s West, a concert venue owned by late saxophonist Clarence Clemons.
A rendering of the Monmouth Street side of the project proposed by Michael Salerno. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Sixty-nine new apartments would be built on the edge of downtown Red Bank if two projects pending before the planning and zoning boards win approval.
One would replace a building that holds a place in rock ‘n roll history as the home of Big Man’s West, a club owned by late saxophonist Clarence Clemons.
Shore music legend Stormin’ Norman Seldin returns to the scene of a legendary months-long stand when he observes his 70th birthday Saturday night in Fair Haven.
With all due props to Count Basie, he’s the “other” Kid from Red Bank, even if he’s long since earned a senior discount at IHOP.
To aficionados of the Shore music scene, Stormin’ Norman Seldin is still the same ginger-haired, piano-pounding prodigy (at age 13, the youngest person to become a member of the American Federation of Musicians) who’d staked out a career as a singer, bandleader, promoter and record label owner by his teens — and who, through his old combo the Joyful Noyze, introduced audiences to a bigger-than-life talent by the name of Clarence Clemons.
The carriage house at the Ridge Road entrance to Bruce Springsteen’s Rumson estate. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Rock star Bruce Springsteen is selling his little-used mansion on the hill in Rumson, redbankgreen has learned.
A notice of contract filed with the Monmouth County Clerk identifies the prospective buyers as Peter and Meghann Marturano, who other records show own a home just two doors away.
Steven Van Zandt and Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno on stage at the Basie Monday. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A four-night campaign of classic rock shows curated by E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt in coming months will help drive a $20 million expansion Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre, officials said Monday.
But the names of the acts to be spotlighted in the series remained under wraps at a press conference held on the stage of the Vaudeville-era venue.
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Shore music legends Paul Whistler and Vini Lopez team up as Dawg Whistle, while fellow famed musicmakers Glen Burtnik and Bob Burger (below) suit up for the Weeklings, when the 41st annual Clearwater Festival returns to the Brookdale campus this weekend.
It’s all about the message, when you get right down to it, one of care and respect and vision for this coastal place where we make our home. But when the Clearwater Festival returns to Lincroft for a frankly amazing 41st annual edition this weekend, attendees might be forgiven for thinking that it’s equally about the music — an attraction that’s drawn the participation of some pretty awesome figures over the years.
Bruce Springsteen signs autographs outside the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank in 2009. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Bruce Springsteen is selling one of two neighboring homes in Rumson, and the buyer is a pro basketball player with New Jersey roots, redbankgreen has learned.
According to a contract filed with the Monmouth County Clerk, Springsteen has agreed to sell a Bellevue Avenue property he owns through a trust to Oklahoma City Thunder guard Randy Foye.
Maynard James Keenan (above) brings the rock theatrics \ of Puscifer’s “Money $hot” Tour to Red Bank in a Count Basie debut tonight — while Hall of Famer Dion DiMucci (below) returns for a Thursday night streetcorner serenade.
The never-ending rock show rolls on at the Count Basie Theatre, as the nights ahead see several generations of chart-toppers and Grammy winners deliver decades-spanning retrospectives, conceptual stage shows and, at least in one case, a smidgen of “bone breaking fun” to the Red Bank stage.
An architect’s rendering of the expanded Count Basie Theatre includes additions on the east and west sides of the existing structure. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Vaudeville-era Count Basie Theatre is in for a massive, $20 milion expansion that will turn it into a “creative campus” dedicated to the performing arts in coming years, officials said Monday.
Incorporating adjoining properties acquired in recent years, theater officials plan to “move toward our longtime vision of an entire city block dedicated to the performing arts,” Tom Widener, chairman of the theater’s board of trustees, said in an announcement released Monday morning.
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Middletown’s own local guy made good, musician-actor-producer-activist Steven Van Zandt, is pictured outside the Count Basie Theatre in a 2008 file photo. Van Zandt, his wife Maureen and five other area residents were named as the newest members of the Basie’s boards of trustees and directors. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Entertainers Maureen and Steven Van Zandt are among seven area residents who have been elected as the newest members of the boards of trustees and directors for the Count Basie Theatre. The couple, who were previously named recipients of the Basie’s inaugural Vanguard Awards, join a roster of new board members that also includes Kainos Capital partner Sarah Bradley, marketing professional Robert Chandler, Grunin Foundation director Jeremy Grunin, River Capital Group chairman Mario Monello, and Meadowbrook Industries owner-president Peter T. Roselle.
For Steven, it’s the latest manifestation of a long association with the historic venue, where he performed (back in its days as the Carlton Theatre) a now-legendary 1977 concert in which he subbed for an ailing Southside Johnny as frontman of the Asbury Jukes, the Stone Pony house band that he co-founded in the early days of that Shore circuit landmark.
The longtime Springsteen lieutenant, bandleader, songwriter, actor (The Sopranos, Lillyhammer), human rights activist, radio personality and producer — whose latest project is a well-received new album from Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Darlene Love — teamed with the Boss and fellow E Streeters for a 2008 benefit show at the Basie, and joined Maureen in helping coordinate a recent performance by Rockit for Kids, the Basie’s in-house “school of rock program,” in conjunction with the 2014 Vanguard Awards ceremony.
Damien Brennan’s vehicle after the September 21, 2014 crash in Red Bank. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A former Rumson cop who crashed his personal vehicle into the back of a Red Bank store while enroute to his moonlight gig guarding Bruce Springsteen’s mansion has sued for reinstatement, according to a lawsuit.
Sergeant Damien Brennan, 38, of Howell, was axed from his borough job last month, even though a DWI charge against him had been dropped, according to the suit, first reported by More Monmouth Musings.
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.
The Hardest Working Musician in Shore Business, Bobby Bandiera writes his musical “Autobiography” in a special concert at the Count Basie on Saturday.
As commanding officer of the Jersey Shore Rock ‘N Soul Revue — and as a saloon singer supreme performing over the decades in the clubs, concert halls, tiki decks, taverns and dimly lit corners of coastal New Jersey — Bobby Bandiera has pretty much paid tribute to them all: the Beatles and the Stones; the Sun rockabillies and Motown soulmen; the AM radio one-hit-wonders and the FM rotation heavies.
So in a long, strange trip that’s taken him from smoke-choked pool halls and piano bars to the sold-out arenas of his road gig with Bon Jovi, there’s really only one career that still cries out for a proper salute: his own.
On Saturday night, Bandiera returns to Red Bank to address that glaring omission, with an “Autobiography” concert that assembles a rocking Rolodex of talented friends on the stage of one of the man’s favorite places to play, the Count Basie Theatre.
A busy Tuesday night at Barnacle Bill’s, where the Tilefish Francaise swims in a pool of buttery, lemony sauce. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)
By SUSAN ERICSON
How many years does it take for a saloon in a marina to become legendary? At the dead end of First Street in Rumson, Barnacle Bill’s has been searing burgers on an open grill and filling glasses at the bar for more than 40 years.
With high-top tables, coveted window seats overlooking our beautiful Navesink River and cozy family-sized tables in the slightly more gentrified dining room, it’s no wonder that there’s a waiting list any given night. In warmer weather, groups happily wait outside, taking in views of the river, the boats in the marina and the mansions on the bluff across the way. In frigid January, though, the waiting masses crowd around the fireplace in the bar area, children and adults making small talk with neighbors.
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