Lighty's Page

By Gary Wien

(rating 4 stars out of 4)

In some far off parallel world, Bruce Springsteen signed a record contract with Bill Graham for his band Steel Mill. Instead of saxophones, the sound was defined by soaring guitar licks, thundering drums, and pounding bass and the E Street Band was never formed. Steel Mill took their legions of fans in New Jersey and Virginia and became one of the major rock bands in the country playing music festival after festival. And judging by the tunes found on Stee… Continue

(ASBURY PARK, NJ – JUNE 19-21, 2009) – The fourth annual Wave Gathering music festival took place in Asbury Park during one of the wettest Junes in memory. The festival got off to a good start on Friday night thanks to a break in the weather, but had to battle the elements through most of the weekend. The rain definitely kept some people away, but couldn't stop another excellent festival from taking place. In many ways, this year's festival was better than any of the previous years.

This was th… Continue

It's still very much under construction (articles and information is being added, the layout will change several times...) but please check out http://www.NewJerseyStage.com - it's a new website I'm developing for arts & entertainment. The site will mainly feature New Jersey / Tri-State information, but we will be posting information for other areas as well.

If you have any press releases for shows of yours, please send them to us. We'll gladly add them to the site. Send press releases to:… Continue

from AsburyMusic.com

(OCTOBER 21, 2008) -- It's to be expected that there will be grumblings each time the Asbury Music Awards are announced. Some very deserving artists are bound to get left out while some artists nominated leave you scratching your head. One topic that seems to have been on many people's minds is the idea of the "Beyond Asbury" category given to those who are deemed to have graduated from the nominations.

In case you aren't familiar with it, the "Beyond Asbury" catego… Continue

(AUGUST 16, 2008 -- LAWRENCE, NJ) -- Just outside of Trenton, at McGuinn's Place, a bar that the band had played often throughout their career, The Commons played their final show on Saturday night in front of many of their long-time fans.

The set list was peppered with songs running through the band's entire catalog even going back to songs off their first CD that have rarely been played in recent years. It was definitely a treat for the die-hards in the audience that not only have been friend… Continue