By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery
It’s a gorgeous Thursday, Sept. 8, 2021 afternoon at Holmdel, NJ’s PNC Bank Arts Center. As we make our way up to the spacious amphitheater, music lovers are already lining up for an afternoon concert by Vinnie Medugno featuring The Chiclettes and The Coda Band.
Vinnie Medugno is an entertainer with Staten Island roots. …
By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery
It’s a lovely Saturday, September 4, 2021 evening as hundreds of theater lovers carrying lawn chairs and blankets line up for a benefit Labor Day weekend concert under the stars at the Oskar Schindler Performing Arts Center in West Orange, NJ. The concert, starring Tony-winning Broadway veteran Laura Benanti, is slated to benefit two local community theater organizations, The Barn Theatre and Pleasant Valley Productions.
In her Broadway career, Benanti has received five Tony Award nominations and won the award for her role as Louise in the 2008 revival of Gypsy. She played…
By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery
Grammy Award-winning guitarist/singer/producer John Pizzarelli stars with Grammy-winning vocalist Catherine Russell in Billie & Blue Eyes on Sept. 26, 2021 at 7pm at Toms River, NJ’s Grunin Center for the Arts. Spotlight Central recently caught up with Pizzarelli to talk with him about his musical family, his work with such musical icons as Paul McCartney and James Taylor, in addition to his upcoming tribute to Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra, Billie & Blue Eyes, at Toms River’s Grunin Center.
Spotlight Central: You were born in 1960 in Paterson, NJ, into a musical family…
By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery
Even though it’s a sweltering, muggy Thursday, August 26, 2021 evening, music lovers of all ages brave the heat at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ to attend Cousin Brucie’s Palisades Park Reunion Concert, a free event presented by the Garden State Arts Foundation. Featuring classic music from artists who entertained audiences at NJ’s Palisades Amusement Park back in the 1960s, tonight’s show — hosted by 77-WABC radio DJ Bruce “Cousin Brucie” Morrow — is slated to star such beloved performers as Tony Orlando, Bobby Rydell, and The Capris.
While music…
By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery
The ocean in Seaside Heights, NJ, this misty Friday, August 20, 2021 evening is a vibrant blue. Although the sun is beginning to set in the west, it still illuminates the white, sandy beach where country music fans are streaming in for a live concert by the New Jersey-based country duo, Williams Honor.
Williams Honor is comprised of vocalist Reagan Richards and singer/guitarist/composer Gordon Brown. As a youngster, Richards performed on the Steve Allen Radio Show, and went on to sing with such established musicians as Les Paul, Joan Jett, and Lisa Loeb…
By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery
It’s a breezy August 18, 2021 evening on the campus of Toms River, NJ’s Ocean County College. Music lovers in lawn chairs dot the hillside above a portable stage as they wait for the start of a live performance by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra featuring the music of George Bizet, Aaron Copland, John Williams, and more.
Some relax and others picnic as concert-goers listen to an eclectic soundtrack of piped-in pop music played while NJSO musicians warm up on the stage. …
By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery
The boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ is packed this cool, cloudy August 17, 2021 evening, but outside the Ocean City Music Pier, music lovers are already making their way off the public walk and inside the historic venue for a live concert by Tommy James and the Shondells.
Tommy James is one of the most popular artists of the 1960s. With hits like “Hanky Panky,” “Gettin’ Together,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” and “Do Something to Me,” James has sold over 100 million records worldwide. More than 300 artists including Bruce Springsteen, Santana…
By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery
An enthusiastic crowd of Broadway fans is waiting on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, NJ this balmy Friday, August 13, 2021 evening for a live performance of Broadway Meets the Beach. Tonight’s show, which features such Broadway stars as Constantine Maroulis (Rock of Ages, Jekyll and Hyde), Jim Borstelmann (The Producers, Young Frankenstein), Korie Lee Blossey (Disney’s Aladdin, Tarzan), and Jen Perry (Kinky Boots, Mama Mia), also spotlights local New Jersey talent including two groups of young dancers from Kick Performing Arts Studios in Fair Haven, NJ.
Before the show begins, we chat…
By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery
The world-famous Seaside Heights boardwalk is packed this Saturday, August 7, 2021 evening as the sun begins to set over the Jersey shore. Happy screams can be heard emanating from the Tilt-A-Whirl and Skyscraper rides on Casino Pier, and vacationers can be seen enjoying cheesy pizza and tasty ice cream treats while strolling the boards, but the main attraction that has people lined up with beach chairs and blankets is tonight’s Freestyle at the Beach concert starring Lisa Lisa, George Lamond, Judy Torres, and DJ Whiteboy.
On a stage located on the beach…
By Spotlight Central. Photos by Love Imagery
It’s drizzling outside Ocean Grove, NJ’s Great Auditorium this Thursday, July 29, 2021 evening, a night on which the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association has slated a long-awaited Summer Stars Classical music program entitled “Beethoven and Friends.” The event, which features the MidAtlantic Orchestra under the baton of Jason Tramm, also spotlights such additional musical friends as violinist Byung Kook Kwak, soprano vocalist Michelle Johnson, and organist Gordon Turk.
After dodging the raindrops on our way inside the historic venue, we see members of the MidAtlantic Orchestra already on stage getting ready for…
