The next generation of jazz stars will be on display at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark April 26 when over 100 of them will perform for free in honor of International Jazz Day on April 30.

The 60 nominees in six categories for the 2025 New Jersey Hall of Fame induction ceremony later this year have been announced. You can vote as of now by using the link below (which contains capsule biographies on all 60.) You have until April 15.

It’s only been 37 years. Hoboken brothers Bob and Mike Delevante pioneered the Americana format in 1988 with the help of E Streeter Garry Tallent and Heartbreaker Benmont Tench. Now based in Nashville, as is Tallent (who appears on the new album), Delevante has festooned the party with immaculate flair.

Willie Dixon wrote “Spoonful” for Howlin’ Wolf in 1960. He borrowed the song from Charley Patton’s 1929 “A Spoonful Of Blues” who borrowed it Papa Charlie Jackson’s 1925 “All I Want Is A Spoonful.” Eddie Skuller, from Jersey City, has now turned it into a reggae.

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark will host a Broadway Birthday Bash for Governor Thomas H. Kean on April 21 when he hits 90. The 48^th Governor of our great state served two scandal-free terms from 1982 to 1990.

The feisty throb of “Better Off Alone” seems to get better and better with each successive listen. And, that, right there, is the mark of a solid single. It’s a jet-propelled piece of pop-punk that Good Damage excels at.

Patti Smith, 78, has announced plans to tour in support of the 50^th Anniversary of her groundbreaking Horses debut where she will be performing the album in its entirety. Guitarist Lenny Kaye and drummer Jay Dee Daugherty, who both played on the original release, will be with her plus keyboardist-bassist Tony Shanahan and Patti’s son, guitarist Jackson Smith.

Longtime Asbury Park Bluesman-Producer-Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist Billy Hector has unveiled one hell of a night he had down the shore seven years ago at The Saint (closed since 2022 after losing its liquor license). The Billy Hector Band Live at the Saint (AERIA Records) features drummer Sim Cain, bassist Winston Roye, keyboardist David Nunez, tenor sax man Tommy La Bella, trumpeter Steve Jankowski and bari sax man John Martin with a song by guest singer Suzan Elle.

Starting tomorrow night, and continuing every Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:00 in Hoboken on Washington Street at Symposia Bookstore, Jersey City singer-songwriter-bassist Greg McLoughlin will be performing solo away from his Lemonade band through April 16. He’s been doing a Monday night youTube livestream with this Monday being his 250^th such stream.

Longtime leader of The J. Howard Duff Band out of Union County, Duff moved down south and the vocal on his latest single sounds like it. Bruce Gladstone’s new album, Journey 2, is his most satisfying work yet. A former Aquarian Weekly Editor, Mike Daly’s Lost N’ Found is a series of recently unearthed recordings by the front man for Every Damn Day and Mike Daly & The Planets.

The latest album in Bruce Springsteen’s archival series of live shows is Omaha, NE Nov 15, 2012. It is here, in the great state of Nebraska, where he performed six songs from what many consider his greatest album, Nebraska.

They call it “The Festival Only Jersey Can Handle.” The third annual North To Shore fest will take place June 14-29 in Newark, Asbury Park, Red Bank, Montclair and Atlantic City.

Last year, Reece Young told everyone he was Here, in South Plainfield, where he grew up. The EP showed potential. That potential has been realized with the release of “Broken Glass” via UNFD (an Australian indie label specializing in the hard and the heavy).

Longtime Union City and Hasbrouck Heights resident Tony Orlando, 80, was honored in Louisiana with “The Louis Prima Award.” The award was established in 2011 by Prima’s wife Gia Prima with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). “I was so humbled to receive this award at the Louisiana Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame Gala,” gushed Orlando.

They will hear the twang throughout Cape May County from June 19 to the 22^nd when Wildwood hosts the fifth annual Barefoot Country Music Fest happening right on the beach in-between Morey’s Piers. Over 40 artists will perform on five stages:  Jelly Roll, Jason Aldean, Lainey Wilson, Rascal Flatts, Jordan Davis, Megan Moroney, Chris Janson, Warren Zeiders, Elle Langley, Boyz II Men, Sam Barber, Larry Fleet, Chris Gagle, Colt Ford, Meghan Patrick and Kaitlin Butts are but the tip of the iceberg.

The mind-blowing three-day orgy of Dark Force will take place in Parsippany, Morris County, May 2-4, when hordes of metalheads, punks, goth kids, monsters, vampires, rockers, zombies and adventurers descend upon the Sheraton Hotel on Smith Road to witness 35 bands from around the globe on two stages of Hard Rock, Industrial, Goth, Punk, Post-Punk, Darkwave, Metal (be it trad, black, death, power or nu) and alternative.

Michale Graves, 49, born and raised in Bergen County’s Dumont Township, has had a string of shows cancelled on his current tour. Once known because he sang for The Misfits 25 years ago, he’s now most known for his association with The Proud Boys and the January 6 insurrection.

If you ask Asbury Park singer-songwriter Doug Gatta about his home town, he’ll tell you that it’s “Lonesome City” to him. The multi-instrumentalist—who debuted with God’s Lonely Men in 2022—has now put his thoughts and feelings into “Lonesome City.”

Punk didn’t kill Prog. The Inquisition comes out of Hackettstown in Warren County. They grew up wearing out their Pink Floyd, Genesis and Porcupine Tree albums. Now they have an album of their own called The Magi of Kent Act #1: Turn Of The Tide. It’s all about corruption and ambiguous intentions. Feel free to call it a fantasy rock-opera.

Singer-Songwriter Todd Bailey may be from Burlington County in South Jersey but in his mind and heart, he resides in Cactusland.