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WHEN: Thursday, November 18, at 7 PM; doors open at 6 PM
WHERE: The Stone Pony, 913 Ocean Avenue, Asbury Park
TICKETS: $20
Ticketmaster 800.745.3000 or www.asburyparkmusic2011.com for details
Join Asbury Park in celebrating Musical Heritage Year 2011 in Asbury Park! The Smithsonian Institute has selected Asbury Park as a site for its traveling musical heritage exhibit: New Harmonies. The exhibit will come to Asbury Park, the first urban city to host this display, in March 12–April 17, 2011.
In honor of this award, the city has created a year-long series of events that embrace the rich musical heritage of this great city. It is their intention to brand Asbury Park as a musical mecca. Although the project is very early in the planning stages, the organizers expect this celebration to include concerts, art exhibitions, plays, educational programs, lectures, films and much, much more.
From bandleaders John Philip Sousa and Arthur Pryor in the early days to modern musical icons, like Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny and many others, Asbury Park has always been at the forefront of the music scene at the Jersey Shore. Big-band leaders like Glen Miller, Benny Goodman and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, brought their bands to the city, as did jazz and blues greats like Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Lionel Hampton and many others. Gospel music still thrives in Asbury Park as it has for more than 100 years! Venues like the Convention Hall, the Paramount Theatre, the Stone Pony, The Saint, the Wonder Bar, Asbury Lanes and the expected preservation of the old Upstage Club downtown, allows Asbury Park to continue to attract all the new talent.
The Smithsonian exhibit, entitled New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music, explores the growth of American music, as rich and eclectic as the country itself. This exhibit is part of the Museum on Main Street: a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and the Federation of State Humanities Councils and in our case, the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. The main beat of the exhibition is the ongoing cultural process that has made America the birthplace of such great music. An inspiring and toe-tapping examination of America’s multi-cultural exchange, New Harmonies is full of surprises about familiar songs and instruments while exploring the continuity of musical roots—from the flourishing of sacred music to the emergence of commercial folk and country. This national exhibit is curated by Robert Santelli, former director of the Rock & Roll Museum & Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, and director of the Experience Music Project in Seattle, Washington. Santelli, who is a Jersey Shore native, said that Asbury Park has always been a melting pot for music and music-lovers. “It has an incredibly rich musical heritage for the size of the city.”
New Harmonies will travel statewide, where each site will host it for six weeks. Asbury Park will be the first New Jersey stop. The exhibition will be housed in the Asbury Park Library. A companion exhibit will focus on the music themes that are such an important part of the city’s heritage. This will include a special display in the Asbury Park Library of items from the library’s vast collection of printed Bruce Springsteen memorabilia. A companion exhibit about the city’s own unique musical heritage is also in the works. A memorabilia trade show is in the plans, and a documentary will be created to capture the year-long celebration. It will be a musical trip down memory lane. This celebration is long overdue and will position the City of Asbury Park as a musical mecca that will help the city continue its robust economic recovery. The motto selected to rally our residents, businesses, visitors, children and all music lovers: Asbury Park “Where Music Lives.”
