NJPAC Hosting Kwanzaa Celebrations this Week

Marketplace, 'Spirit' dance performance among holiday attractions

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark is celebrating Kwanzaa with The Spirit of Kwanzaa, a performance incorporating tap, hip-hop and ballet produced  by IllStyle & Peace Productions. There will also be a  Kwanzaa Children’s Festival. Both events are on Dec. 22.  A Kwanzaa Marketplace, where patrons can pick up last-minute gifts, is open in NJPAC’s Prudential Hall lobby Dec. 21 and 22 as well. Philadelphia’s high-octane Illstyle & Peace Productions celebrate The Spirit of Kwanzaa in NJPAC’s Victoria Theater on Saturday, Dec. 22 and 2pm and 5pm.  Their performance is a blend hip hop dance styles with tap, ballet, DJing and beat boxing. Founded in 2002 by Brandon “Peace” Albright, this multicultural troupe has toured to critical …

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Music's Biggest Names Come Together for Sandy Relief

The lineup for tonight's 12-12-12 concert features Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, The Who, Kanye West, Dave Grohl, Bon Jovi and more.

One of the most prestigious pop music lineups ever assembled is slated to perform for a Hurricane Sandy benefit concert Wednesday at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Called the 12-12-12 Concert for Sandy Relief, the long-sold out benefit show features a lineup that includes Jersey Shore rock stalwarts Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi. Proceeds from ticket sales and donations will benefit the Robin Hood Relief Fund, which has distributed approximately $10.5 million in grants to more than 100 different Hurricane Sandy-related groups. Springsteen and Bon Jovi are being joined by Eric Clapton, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Eddie Vedder, Roger Waters, Kanye West, the Who, Paul …

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Differences Between Real Nucky Johnson and HBO's Nucky Thompson Go Beyond the Fictionalized Name

"Boardwalk Empire" is a hit television show that shares the same name—and a few facts—as the nonfiction book that inspired the HBO series.

-Written by Kevin C. Shelly- What's in a name? When it comes to comparing Nucky Johnson, Atlantic City's real-life politics and racketeering boss, to HBO's fictionalized "Nucky Thompson"  in the series Boardwalk Empire, the answer is more than just the TV character's fictionalized name. Author Nelson Johnson, who literally wrote thebook on the real Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, says HBO's Terence Winter has said the fictionalized character created for the TV version of Boardwalk Empire is 70 percent drawn from Johnson's 2002 book of the same name. When I told Johnson, a state Superior Court judge whom I've known for more than two decades, that it strikes me that the percentages are more like 60 percent fiction and 40 percent fact in the HBO …

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Free Reading of "Holidays on Ice" Tonight at Holmdel Theatre Company

HTC's Free Play Reading Series continues with selections from David Sedaris's hilarious meditations on the holiday season. Show starts at 7 pm.

  Fans of NPR will recognize "Holidays on Ice," as the collection of holiday-themed fictional stories and personal essays written by best-selling humorist David Sedaris.  Directed by Tom Frascatore, selected essays will be presented this evening at the Duncan Smith Theater, 36 Crawfords Corner Road at 7:00 p.m. "Sedaris's unique literary voice combines wicked, sometimes dark, humor and laser focused social satire in a way few writers today can match," said Frascatore.   Skewering the annual holiday missive, "Seasons Greetings to Our Friends and Family!!!" is a chipper suburban Christmas letter that spirals dizzily out of control, and "Front Row Center with Thaddeus Bristol," is a vicious theatrical review of children's Christmas pageants…

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Hurricane Sandy

Telethon to Benefit Hurricane Sandy Victims

The one-hour telethon will feature superstar celebrities, including Bruce Springsteen and Sting.

Americans are used to watching telethons for desperate and needy people around the globe. On Friday, a one-hour live benefit telethon featuring superstar guests will raise money for an issue close to home: the victims of Superstorm Sandy. Christina Aguilera, Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and Sting headline the event. “Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together" airs from 8-9 p.m. on NBCUniversal networks. The Huffington Post reports that money raised will go to the Red Cross to help surivors with the baiscs – medical care, shelter, food. The live telethon will be hosted by NBC “Today” anchor Matt Lauer, and broadcast from the NBC studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The following channels will air the show: NBC, Bravo, CNBC, E!, G4, MSNBC, …

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ralebird

8:57 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Come on, Mike, do a public service and give us all the dirty inside information you have. Think of all the support you could gain if you gave us something to work with. I suppose by now you've discovered what the organizers have done with all the money. Call Robin Hood to help you out if you need more information and keep us posted!   more ›

Marching Huskies to Host 15th Annual Bayshore Band Competion Sunday

After placing third last year, the band is looking forward to competing again at Barry Rizzo Stadium

The sixty-five young musicians and color guard members of the Matawan Marching Huskies will march out on to the football field on Sept. 29 and perform a musical arrangement that highlights several Russian composers from the Romantic Period and 21st Century, according to Band Director Christopher Hensel. The evening at Barry Rizzo Stadium will mark the fifteenth year in a row that Matawan has hosted the Bayshore Band Competition with the assistance of the Matawan Regional High School Music Parents Association. Last year, the band placed third. Their theme was storm. This year, their theme is fire and passion, and while they are excited about the music Hensel notes that it's also exciting to see it performed on the field during competition…

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Sunday: Bayonet Farm Arts & Music Festival in Holmdel

Holmdel's 9th Annual celebration of live music and juried art will also feature art demonstrations and tours of Laura Harding's estate. Noon until 5pm

  Celebrating art and artists for the 9th year, the Annual Bayonet Farm Arts & Music Festival, 41 Middletown Road, Holmdel, NJ will be held on Sunday, September 23, 2012.   The juried Art Exhibit and En Plein Air (Outdoor) Painters event and sale will also include live music, art demonstrations, children’s crafts and guided tours of the gracious Harding House. The bucolic estate has been preserved as a Holmdel park. Admission to the event is $5; children under 12 are free. Parking included. Expanding on the success of the tri-state area plein air event, the festival committee is encouraging artists nationally to participate and offering an introduction to the beautiful destination setting of Bayonet Farm.    Artists The juried art …

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Annual Saint Barbara's Greek Festival in Toms River This Weekend

Saint Barbara's Fall Greek Festival expected to draw thousands over weekend

Whether or not you know your souvlaki from your moussaka, you needn't be Greek to come down to Saint Barbara's Church Annual Fall Greek Festival, Sept. 21-23, in Toms River. In fact, according to Gus Kakavas, the Promotions Chairman for Saint Barbara's Church, the majority of attendees are not of Greek heritage. The annual fall festival also continues to grow, he said. "As you know, the Greek community is only a small part of the attendees at the Greek Festival. Our first Saint Barbara Greek Festival was held in September of 1973 — 39 years ago," he said in an email.   With nearly four decades of Greek Festivals at the church, over the years the event has expanded the number of attendees it draws to its expanding offerings of food, …

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Monmouth County's First Comic-Con Comes to Manalapan

The Monmouth County Library is hosting a comic convention on Sunday, Sept. 23 at Monmouth County Library headquarters.

It’s time to embrace your inner nerd and express it in the most outwardly way. On Sunday, Sept. 23 the Monmouth County Library is holding their first ever comic convention! So grab your light saber and come join the fun. KAPOW! Comic-Con: A Celebration of Comic Books and Superheroes at the Monmouth County Library is every comic book lovers dream come true. From 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. meet your favorite characters, superheroes, authors, illustrators, and artists from the creative and zany comic-book world. Take pictures with your favorite superheroes, including Batman, Robin, Batgirl along side the Batmobile in front of the library. Jonathan Maberry, multiple Bram Stoker award-winning author and freelance comic book writer for Marvel Comics, …

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