Cloaca Melodia

Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ..... This show was a benefit for "Dollar" Bill Benfer, a salesguy at WHTG who was dealing with some serious health issues.

Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ..... When we knew that WHTG was in the process of being sold in 2000 but we didn't know exactly when, we wanted to have a farewell concert of some kind. We couldn't call it a farewell concert since the station buyers at this point wanted to pretend that nothing was going to change about the station. So we thought of all of the Heritage Festivals that happened annually at the PNC Bank Arts Festival, celebrating Polish, Irish, Italian or other cultures, and we call this show the "WHTG Cultural Heritage Festival." Add your own comments if you were also there!    

Surf Club, Ortley Beach, NJ .... Surfstock 5. Matt Pinfield was the MC. My credential for the show.

Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!    

Surf Club, Ortley Beach, NJ sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!

Surf Club, Ortley Beach, NJ.... Surfstock 4. Below is a contemporaneous review of this show I wrote for injersey.com. Surfstock 4, the July 4th concert at the Surf Club in Ortley Beach, was a worthy successor to the fine previous shows on the beach. This year, sponsoring radio station FM 106.3 selected bands to give the show a well-rounded diversity of styles, and the approach seemed to work well for most audience members. The whole of Surfstock was greater than the sum of its parts, and each performer contributed a great deal to the fun and energy of the event. Not only was the music terrific, but the atmosphere was appropriately party-like. The weather was ideal, the crowd was eager and receptive, and the bands and artists themselves were largely accessible to fans--most of the performers strolled around the beach when they weren't on stage, gladly signing autographs or simply chatting with admirers. The headliner, former Dramarama frontman John Easdale was clearly the crowd favo...

Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ.... The WHTG Snowball.   Here's an interview I did with John Easdale a couple of weeks before this show. Mike: So first, the basics--where are you from originally? John: I grew up in Wayne. Mike: Is that where Dramarama started? John: Yes, everybody in the band was originally from Wayne for the most part--our first couple of drummers were from Wayne, but [later Dramarama drummer and former Blondie drummer] Clem Burke, I guess, is from Union. We were pretty New Jersey based. The four of us who stayed throughout--from the beginning to the end--we all went to the same high school. Mike: Do I remember correctly that you guys had a record store at one point? John: Yeah, actually, Chris Carter--the bass player--and Tommy--who was the sixth member of Dramarama, he was the keyboard player, acoustic guitar player, and background vocalist--they opened a store when they got out of high school called Loony Tunes Records on Route 23. I was their first employee. I use...

Surf Club, Ortley Beach, NJ.... Surfstock 3. Joan Jett was MC for the show.