Nobody likes to tour in August. It’s hot in the bus, school’s out, and families are on vacation. Fourth of July is long over, and the novelty of outdoor festivals has wilted in the heatwaves. Big shows can wait until the calendar turns. August is often a programming dead zone for large venues and performing arts centers attached to […]
Performing Arts
Posted inRecreation and events
Amidst Fanfare and a Parade, Art House Productions Cuts the Ribbon
It was not spontaneous, but it was sincere. Grown men and women in shiny, conical party hats paraded south on Marin Boulevard to the train station in the midday July sun. They followed a brass band, clapped, and shook noisemakers as they walked. The party favors (and pink-frosted slices of celebratory cake) were supplied by […]
Posted inPerforming Arts
New Resident Symbolizes Jersey City’s Growing Ties With Orchestra
Erin Lunsford Norton’s recent arrival in McGinley Square coincides with growing ties between Jersey City and her employer, the New Jersey Symphony. Lunsford Norton is vice president of artistic planning for the NJS, which celebrated its centennial year with a concert in Jersey City during Independence Day weekend. The event had been scheduled to take […]
Posted inPerforming Arts
Rogue Waves July: Live Music Picks in Jersey City
July means music in the open, out in public places: by the fountain in Lincoln Park, near the flags at the south end of Liberty State Park on Tuesdays, in the shadow of the great cylinders at Berry Lane on Thursday nights. Bookings at these shows can be hit or miss, but it’s tough to […]
Posted inPerforming Arts
Review: Horseshoe Empire and the Irrepressible Ghost of Frank Hague
Every East Coast city has had a legendary mayor — a superhero, or supervillain, who embodies the town’s aspirations, creative energies, its strengths, and its flaws. Boston has Curley. New York has LaGuardia. We’ve got Frank Hague. If you’re from Jersey City, you might think, not unreasonably, that our guy could lick their guy. That’s part of […]
Posted inArts and Culture
NJ Symphony Orchestra to Play Liberty State Park on July 4th Weekend
What figures to be the one of the biggest summer arts events in Jersey City will be happening in just a few weeks, yet the city seems in no rush to get the word out. The event host has also been officially silent. So here’s the skinny. The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra will be coming […]
Posted inUncategorized
Jersey City Jazz Festival Swings Into Action at Exchange Place
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, […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Art House Launches $500,000 Fundraising Campaign for New SpaceÂ
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 […]