MARC PAGANI PHOTOGRAPHY
Galactic will co-headline the July 9-10 Maplewoodstock festival.
Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around the state, through July 13.
MUSIC
• Maplewoodstock will return for the first time since the start of the pandemic, July 9-10, with the same co-headliners (Galactic, Funk Yeah! and the Allman Brothers Band tribute band Friends of the Brothers) that had been scheduled to perform at the postponed October 2021 event. The free, annual fest will take place in its usual location, Maplewood’s Memorial Park, with the music beginning at noon each day.
Funk Yeah! will perform on July 9, with other performers including Alexander Kariotis, Autumn Jones, Sandra Small, The Deadful Greats, Thingama Jigs, Maplewolf, Sye, Big Mamou, Los Traficantes del Amor, Al Gold & the Rhythm Kings and The Mike Montrey Band.
Galactic and Friends of the Brothers are scheduled for July 10, along with Control the Sound, Forget the Whale, Enrose, Jeremy Black & the Heavy Duty Horns, Sananga, The Q-Tip Bandits, Queen Ella and Debra Devi.
BRIAN BOWEN SMITH
BRIAN WILSON
• One of this summer’s leading classic-rock double bills — Chicago and Brian Wilson — comes to the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, July 11 at 7 p.m.; and the Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, July 13 at 7 p.m.
Chicago, formed 55 years ago, still features three original members: keyboardist-singer Robert Lamm, trumpeter Lee Loughnane and trombonist James Pankow. Wilson’s large band will include two of his former Beach Boys bandmates, singer-guitarists Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin.
• Remember Jones’ “Summer Slay!” mini-festival, taking place at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park on July 9, will celebrate both his birthday and the release of his new album, Haha, Bitch! Joining Remember Jones and his band at the show will be Quincy Mumford’s Lifted Laboratory, Tor Miller, Zoe Sparks and Levy Okun, all with their full bands. Also, drag queens Jolina Jasmine, Tastie, and Morrigan von Haunt will co-host and perform. Giveaways and drag makeovers are promised.
• The Stone Pony will also host a New Jersey Devils Draft Party — to coincide with the first round of the 2022 NHL entry draft — July 7 at 6 p.m., with live music by Brian Kirk & the Jirks. Proceeds will be donated to the Devils Youth Foundation and the Asbury Park Music Foundation.
• Bob Burger, best known as a member of The Weeklings, has released his first album, The Domino Effect, on the Jersey-based Jem label, and will play it in its entirety, as well as other songs — and film footage for a video for the album’s single, “Pain in the Ass” — July 12 at 7 p.m. at The Saint in Asbury Park. There will be no admission charge. Backing singer-guitarist Burger at the show will be singer Lisa Sherman, guitarist Jimmy Leahey, drummer Jerry Gaskill and bassist Mitch Burger.
• The Boudinot-Southard-Ross Estate in Basking Ridge, more informally known as Ross Farm, presents a series of outdoor shows each summer, featuring local and, in some cases, nationally known singer-songwriters. This year’s series began June 25 with Doc Robinson and Hollis Brown and continues, July 10, with the critically acclaimed, Idaho-based Eilen Jewell — who has been compared to artists such as Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch — plus an opening set by Steve Fulton at 6 p.m.
“Beyond Van Gogh” opens in Atlantic City, July 8.
VISUAL ARTS
• The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City will present a huge, multimedia Van Gogh exhibition, “Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience,” from July 8 to Aug. 28. The exhibition promises projections of more than 300 of Van Gogh’s artworks in a space of more than 30,000 square feet. According to a press release, “Freed from their frames, Van Gogh’s spectacular paintings appear on projection-swathed walls inviting guests to fully immerse themselves into the incredible detail of his work and be enveloped in his ever-shifting, swirling and colorful flowers, cafes and stunning landscapes. And, hearing the artist’s own dreams, thoughts and words set to a symphonic score drives an unmatched narrative experience.”
FAMILY
• “Georgia Mae Unplugs America” — a new family-oriented play by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder that is being presented at the Growing Stage in Netcong, July 9-10, 16-17 and 23-24 — has an intriguing and timely premise: A girl, frustrated by her siblings’ absorption in their electronic devices, shuts down the power grid, with all kinds of complications, and opportunities for growing and learning, ensuing.
FILM
• A Film Festival of Joy — five days of joy-filled shorts, features and documentaries with guest appearances by filmmakers, and live music — will be presented at the McDonnell Theater at ArtYard in Frenchtown, July 13-17. Each day will have a theme: Romantic Joy, Joy of Laughter, Joie du Cinema, Real Joy, Animated Joy, and Joyful Noise.
ROBERT PINSKY
OTHER
• As part of the Monmouth University Summer Music and Arts Festival, a show billed as “An Evening of Poetry, Jazz and ‘Harp’Beats” will be presented at the West Long Branch university’s Pollak Theatre, July 9 at 7. Former U.S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky will perform with his PoemJazz project, mixing poetry with jazz. Kuf Knotz and Christine Elise will perform “hip-hop poetry,” merging rapping, singing, bluesy beats and Elise’s harp playing. The Digba Ogunbiyi Quartet will play original compositions reflecting Ogunbiyi’s Nigerian roots, and poet Gregory Schwartz will present an opening set.
REVIEWS
“The Pin-Up Girls: A Musical Love Letter” at New Jersey Repertory, Long Branch. (Through July 10)
“Ecstatic Decrepitude,” works by Peter Schumann at ArtYard, Frenchtown. (Through July 31)
“Maxwell Mustardo: Dish-Oriented” at Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. (Through Sept. 4)
“For the Culture, by the Culture: Thirty Years of Black Art, Activism, and Achievement” at Morris Museum, Morris Township. (Through Sept. 25)
We need your help!
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
