Bamboozle Festival Kicks Off Friday

Bon Jovi, Foo Fighters, Skrillex highlight three-day event in Asbury Park

Bamboozle Festival Returns to Asbury Park This Weekend

Bon Jovi, Foo Fighters, Skrillex highlight three-day event

The Bamboozle Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary this Friday through Sunday with a beach blast in Asbury Park, marking a proper return to the multi-faceted concert event’s original home. The festival, which began in Asbury Park in 2003, has been staged the past six years at the Meadowlands Sports Complex. This year the main stage is on the North Beach and bands will also play at Convention Hall, the Paramount Theater and on several outdoor stages along Ocean Avenue. Best-known as Bruce Springsteen’s original stomping ground – he named his first album “Greetings from Asbury Park” - the city is also home to the legendary concert venue The Stone Pony. “Asbury Park is one of America’s greatest unsung music cities,” said Christian …

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He's One Of Rock's Best Jugglers, And He's Coming To Asbury

Bret Michaels of Poison is touring and overseeing a juveniles diabetes foundation

Bret Michaels is one of rock’s great jugglers, successfully managing a solo career and touring with his band Poison while overseeing a juvenile diabetes foundation, working with the American Diabetes Association and pursuing charitable business ventures. “I definitely like to keep busy,” Michaels said. “I think it’s important to constantly challenge yourself and stretch yourself. “Music is my first love, it’s my passion,” he said. “But I’m also a businessman and I have a lot of exciting partnerships in the works. My philanthropic work is always a huge priority for me.” Michaels recently recorded his fifth solo album, “Get Your Rock On,” scheduled for release this summer. In September, he brings his Life Rocks tour to the Paramount Theatre …

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RE:IMAGE Film Festival Slated for Manasquan Sunday

Diocese of Trenton’s third annual festival at Algonquin ARTS Theatre to feature several local filmmakers

The Diocese of Trenton's Third Annual RE:IMAGE Film Festival is set to kick off Sunday, May 6, at the Algonquin ARTS Theatre on Main Street in Manasquan, according to a release.  Several local filmmakers, including 13 students from various parishes in Monmouth and Ocean Counties, will screen 20 short works and additional exhibitional pieces themed after forgiveness, the celebration of life, and overcoming adversity, a release from the diocese says.  The festival will be preceded by an 11 a.m. commencement Mass at St. Denis Church, 90 Union Avenue, in the borough. The screenings are slated to start at noon and last through 10 p.m., the release says.   The films, "inspiring stories told on film by youths, young adults and established …

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Brielle Native And Former Brick-Based "Metaler" Leads Band's Revival

Mark Tornillo, a Manasquan High School alumnus, was working as a union electrician when a friend asked him in 2009 to join a jam session with the heavy metal band Accept

The successful and surprising comeback of veteran German heavy metal band Accept ranks among the more noteworthy stories in the genre over the past three years. Even more unlikely is the critical role that Brielle native and singer Mark Tornillo has played in the Teutonic thrashers’ resurrection. Prior to joining Accept, Tornillo was best-known as the frontman for T.T. Quick, the Brick-based metalers who released two albums in the mid-80s and were a staple on the New Jersey and New York club scene. This past Tuesday, April 10, Accept released “Stalingrad,” the band’s highly-anticipated second album to feature the Jersey shore-bred vocalist. Tornillo’s Accept debut, “Blood of the Nations,” was hailed by many fans and critics as 2010’s heavy…

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Report: Christie Snoozed During Springsteen Show

The governor apparently nodded off during a Bruce Springsteen concert in New York City.

Bruce Springsteen's high-energy shows are known to inspire fervor in his audiences.  But, apparenty Gov. Christopher J. Christie was running a little low on energy at a recent concert by The Boss at Madison Square Garden in New York City, according to a report on The Huffington Post.   A fan sent in a photo of Christie resting his head in his hand, apparently napping during the show, the New York Post reports.  The governor is a longtime fan of The Boss. Last month Christie attended what he said was his 127th Springsteen concert, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.  Christie's name has been tossed around as a potential running mate for Mitt Romney in next year's presidential election. Last year, Christie mulled his own presidential …

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Charlotte Sometimes Eliminated From The Voice

Wall High School grad will not move on in national singing competition

Charlotte Sometimes, the Wall High School grad known locally as Jessica Poland, on Tuesday was eliminated from NBC's "The Voice" after a dramatic sing-off against two other teammates. Poland, 24, failed to sway the national audience to vote in sufficient numbers to keep her safe from elimination with her live performance of Paramore's "Misery Business'' on Monday's show. As one of the three artists from Team Blake who garnered the fewest votes, Poland was forced into a sing-off against two other teammates for survival on the show.  But her cover of the Goo Goo Doll's "Iris'' wasn't enough to convince team coach and country superstar Blake Shelton to choose her to continue. "This is not the end of the road by any stretch of the imagination…

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Jessica Poland Rocks Out On The Voice — Live

Wall High School grad sings live on nationally televised singing competition

Wall's own Jessica Poland sang live before a television audience of millions and for her survival on NBC's nationally televised The Voice Monday night. Poland, a Wall Township High School graduate who sings under the name Charlotte Sometimes, performed "Misery Business'' by Paramore on Monday's live round of competition. It is now up to the audience to decide whether she was good enough to move on in the competition. Only three artists from each of the two teams in Monday's competition will continue on to the next round. The winners are expected to be announced on Tuesday's show. "I think it's going to be tough,'' said Poland's coach, country superstar Blake Shelton, before the competition began. "It's not going to be easy." It wasn't…

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Garden State Film Festival Lights Up The Shore

Ed Asner and other famous actors appear to celebrate, receive awards and watch films

The Garden State Film Festival 2012 Tenth Anniversary Celebration runs thru Sunday at various venues in Asbury Park. The event features almost 200 film screenings, parties, workshops and panel discussions. Famous actors such as Ed Asner, formerly of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, made the trip.

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Dave Witte Lays Waste to Drums

The Monmouth County native, who got his start in the Asbury Park club scene, performs with Municipal Waste at the Starland Ballroom on March 18

Fate figuratively and literally led Monmouth County native Dave Witte to a career as a prominent heavy metal drummer. Witte said that he was 9 or 10 and riding his BMX bike to a friend’s house when a discarded cassette tape lying in the road caught his eye. The tape, wrapped in four one-dollar bills, included the classic metal band Mercyful Fate’s album, “The Oath,” and Metallica’s legendary debut, “Kill ‘Em All.” Witte, who was already playing drums – his uncle Victor introduced him to the instrument – was immediately drawn to the thunderous and frenzied rhythms and high-speed tempo of metal drumming. “I was blown away,” said Witte, 40, who now lives in Richmond, Va. and is the drummer for thrashers Municipal Waste. “It was a chance …

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