The Jersey City Jazz Festival kicked off this afternoon despite threats from iffy weather and the ongoing construction at Exchange Place. According to organizer Bryan Beninghove, it was touch-and-go this week as the city raced to replace water pipes under the soon-to-be renovated plaza at the foot of Montgomery Street. Whatever stress Beninghove was feeling, […]
Performing Arts
Posted inArts and Culture
Art House Launches $500,000 Fundraising Campaign for New Space
Art House Productions, one of Jersey City’s preeminent performing and visual arts organizations, is launching a fundraising campaign June 2, 2023, to raise $500,000 for capital and operating expenditures as it prepares to formally open its new space at 345 Marin Blvd. “The reopening of Art House Productions and our new home marks an exciting […]
Posted inUncategorized
Rogue Waves June: Jersey City Jazz Festival and More
The Jersey City Jazz Festival pitches a big tent. This year’s event is the most varied in its history, with very little redundancy in a lineup that involves more than two hundred musicians at thirty shows spread over four early June nights. Tonight’s ticketed kickoff event at White Eagle Hall (337 Newark, $25, show at 8 […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Benedict Cumberbatch Films Scenes for Netflix Series in Downtown Jersey City
On the corner of Wayne Street and Jersey Avenue, a pound of coffee is $1.69 and a dozen eggs are 80 cents this morning. At least that’s what the signs say in the new corner grocery store occupying what was, until a few days ago, the restaurant Kitchen Step. The 1980s pricing goes nicely with […]
Posted inHeights, Performing Arts
Diners at Box Cafe Eat and Drink to Immersive Dance Performance
Bars and restaurants are often disaster areas. The floor of a café can be a cavalcade of dismay. The stood up, the broken up, the lovelorn, the hopelessly inebriated and the would-be heroes, the frustrated rockers and out-of-control dancers: they’re all hanging somewhere in the shadowed corners of the public house. Going out means putting […]
Posted inPerforming Arts
Arts and Culture Fund Awards $1 Million to Artists and Organizations
The Jersey City Arts and Culture Trust Fund announced April 28 the granting of $1 million to 88 local artists and arts organizations that the city says “expand the impact and inclusiveness of the arts in Jersey City, build community connections through art, and develop creative and economic opportunities for artists.” Funded by a property tax […]
Posted inPerforming Arts
Rogue Waves May: Live Music in Jersey City
There hasn’t been much action at Monty Hall (43 Montgomery St.) since the beginning of the pandemic. That’s been a shame. Any room affiliated with WFMU — the legendary free-form radio station upstairs — is bound to have exciting bookings. For years, Monty Hall was one of the most reliable spots in Jersey City to […]
Posted inPerforming Arts
Nimbus Dance Takes on the Nation in “The New Americana”
No singer has ever felt more American than Sam Cooke. His music drew from genres designed by African-Americans to reflect their experience: blues, soul, gospel, rock and roll. Cooke made his sonic amalgam palatable to a mainstream audience through sheer force of talent, and by shaking hands with styles and sounds popular with white listeners. Like all […]
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Rogue Waves April: Live Music (and Rocky Horror) in Jersey City
You many have heard recent reports of drag-averse states banning showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I take this as a personal insult to Jersey City. Rocky Horror wasn’t created here, but we’ve got a long history with the movie and its attendant phenomena, including some memorably gonzo screenings and performances in the Harsimus Cemetery. Sal Piro, the longtime […]
Posted inPerforming Arts
Rogue Waves March: Musical Events in Jersey City
This column is designed to call your attention to live music. Multimedia installations with recorded sound are a completely different kind of experience— usually one involving less moshing and fewer bottles of beer. But some art shows with musical dimensions are so weird and intriguing that they barge into the conversation about local musical events […]