Top 12 NJ Arts Events of Week: MMR*B*Q, Montclair Jazz Festival, Bela Fleck, more

by JAY LUSTIG
mmrbq 2021

WMMR’s annual MMR*B*Q concert will feature Jane’s Addiction, The Offspring and others, Sept. 25.

Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around the state, through Sept. 26:

MUSIC

Philadelphia radio station WMMR (93.3 FM) presents its annual MMR*B*Q concert, Sept. 25 from 1 to 9 p.m., with 10 hours of music with the following schedule:

1 p.m.: Foxtrot & the Get Down
2 p.m.: Ayron Jones
2:55 p.m.: Dorothy
4 p.m.: Mammoth WVH, featuring Wolfgang Van Halen
5 p.m.: Dirty Honey
6:30 p.m.: Cheap Trick
8 p.m.: The Offspring
9:30 p.m.: Jane’s Addiction.

The final event of this year’s Montclair Jazz Festival will be a “Downtown Jamboree,” with four stages offering music from 1 to 9 p.m., Sept. 25. Montclair’s main drag, Bloomfield Avenue, will be closed to car traffic from Grove Street to Midland Avenue, for the occasion. The festival, which is produced by the Montclair-based Jazz House Kids educational organization, will have two main stages and two other stages. Bassist and Jazz House Kids artistic director Christian McBride will headline one main stage with his Christian McBride All Stars group, featuring guitarist Mike Stern and saxophonist Chris Potter. The other stage will be headlined by the Baylor Project, featuring the husband-and-wife team of Jean Baylor (formerly of the R&B duo Zhané) and Marcus Baylor (formerly of jazz fusion group The Yellowjackets).

Arts and food vendors will also be on hand. Lawn chairs are recommended. The event is free, though there is a suggested donation of $10.

ALAN MESSER

BELA FLECK

The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton will return to indoor concerts, Sept. 24 at 8 p.m., with a show by banjo master Béla Fleck, who released a bluegrass album, My Bluegrass Heart, on Sept. 10, and will be joined by some of the album’s contributors: Michael Cleveland, Sierra Hull, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz and Bryan Sutton.

Arturo O’Farrill will perform his father Chico O’Farrill’s landmark “Afro Cuban Jazz Suite,” famously recorded by Charlie Parker in the 1950s, as part of the “Salsa Meets Jazz” concert at Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark, Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. The concert also features pianist Eddie Palmieri and his Salsa Orchestra, and Puerto Rican son and salsa singer Tito Nieves.

In honor of Rush drummer and songwriter Neil Peart, who died last year, Primus will perform the band’s 1977 album A Farewell to Kings in its entirety at the Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park, Sept. 25 at 5 p.m., with The Sword opening. The Pony will also offers sets, on its indoor stage, by Legion of Prog, at 4:30 p.m.; Dear Dahlia, at 5:15 p.m.; and the Chris Gullace Band, at 10 p.m.

In a show rescheduled from August — and the last show of the 2021 season of free, socially distanced concerts, outdoors at Woodbridge High School Deadgrass will present a bluegrass tribute to the music of the Grateful Dead and the Dead’s many side projects, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m.

DAVID MCCLISTER

John Hiatt, left, and Jerry Douglas.

Singer-songwriter John Hiatt and dobro master Jerry Douglas teamed up for an album, Leftover Feelings, that was released in May, and will perform at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. The show will include material from the album as well as songs from each of their individual careers.

DANCE

The Liberty Hall Dance Festival takes place on the grounds of Liberty Hall at Kean University in Union, Sept. 25 from 1 to 4 p.m. In keeping with the location — Liberty Hall is a historic building that displays a collection of historical artifacts – the dances will all be inspired by history in some way. Participating companies will include Ariel Rivka Dance, BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance, Buggé Ballet, Callie Hatchett Dance, Cranford High School Dancers, International Chungang Dance Culture Research Institute, Mandy Stallings and Packer Collegiate Institute, Maxine Steinman, ReFrame Dance Theatre and Roxey Ballet.

FAMILY

The Rhino Theatre in Pompton Lakes will present “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical” at its Rhino Studio 237, Sept. 24-25 and Oct. 1-2 at 8 p.m. and Sept. 26 and Oct. 3 at 3 p.m. The musical, based on Rick Riordan’s popular 2005 novel about a teenager who discovers he is a demigod, debuted off-Broadway in 2014 and has, since then, run on Broadway and on national tours.

FILM

The Maplewood Film Society will screen the documentary “Fauci,” Sept. 25.

The newly formed Maplewood Film Society will present “Fauci,” a new National Geography documentary about infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci (see trailer below), Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. at The Woodland in Maplewood. A panel discussion will follow with Jane Aronson, founder of Worldwide Orphans, Maplewood health officer and education Candice Davenport, and Maplewood public health nurse Anna Markarova.

“Frida Kahlo,” a documentary about the artist, will follow on Oct. 10, with a post-screening discussion led by Mary Birmingham, curator of the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. More Maplewood Film Society screenings will follow.

OTHER

“Street Corner Talking,” taking place at the Hoboken Historical Museum, Sept. 26 at 4 p.m., will feature six poets — Buttered Roll, Cyndi Dawson, Nancy Bevilaqua, Roxanne Hoffman, Joel Lewis, Danny Shot — reading works about Hoboken and other material. The event is presented in conjunction with the museum’s exhibition, “The Avenue: A History of Washington Street,” and will be streamed live by the museum on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Mile Square Theatre, with support from the Hoboken Business Alliance, will present “En Plein Air,” a festival of storytelling, music and dance, at 7th and Jackson Plaza in Hoboken, Sept. 25-26. Dancers of the Met, featuring dancers from the Metropolitan Opera, will present a program of original dances, Sept. 16 at 11 a.m. and 1 and 3:30 p.m. On the Waterfront Storytellers will tell stories Sept. 25 at 2 p.m. and Sept. 26 at 2:30 p.m. The MST Dance Academy Performance Group will present a program reflecting the experiences of teenagers over the past 18 months, Sept. 25 at 1 and 3:30 p.m. And James and Jerome will perform “Piano Tales,” combing elements of music, storytelling and theater, Sept. 25 at 5 p.m. and Sept. 26 at 5 p.m.

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