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Showing posts with the label WHTG

John Easdale, Jeffrey Gaines, Highway 9, Matt Witte's New Blood Revival, Everlounge, Red Engine 9, Blow Up

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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.

John Easdale, Everlounge

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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!    

Psychedelic Furs, Spacehog, Elwood, Peter Searcy, SR-71, Fenix TX, Dynamite Hack

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Surf Club, Ortley Beach, NJ.... WHTG's Surfstock 2000.   me making stage announcements at Surfstock 2000

Joe 90

The Saint, Asbury Park, NJ sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!

The Smithereens, Fountains of Wayne, Joydrop, Self, Gigolo Aunts, Angry Salad, Catch 22

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

Cherry Poppin' Daddys, Local H, Less Than Jake, Harvey Danger, Bugzy

Hunka Bunka Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ.... The WHTG Snowball.

John Easdale, They Might Be Giants, The Connells, Miles Hunt & Malcolm Treece, Superdrag, Jonathan Fire*Eater, Pee Shy, Solution a.d., Evelyn Forever

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

Catherine Wheel, Letters to Cleo, Shelter, Firewater, Evelyn Forever

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Tradewinds, Sea Bright, NJ.... The WHTG Snowball.     FM 106.3 staff onstage at the Snowball. L to R, Jennifer Saunders, "Sportsguy" Glenn Vistica, me, Maryelizabeth.

John Easdale, Jill Sobule, Burlap to Cashmere, Coward, My Drug Hell, Weston, Holy Hand Grenade

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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...

John Easdale, Juliana Hatfield, Fountains of Wayne, Patti Rothberg, Wesley Willis, Mars Needs Women, Goud's Thumb

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...

John Easdale, Soul Coughing, The Connells, Mono Puff, Pete Droge, Love in Reverse, Little John, Marry Me Jane, Solution a.d.

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

They Might Be Giants, Civ, Del Amitri, Deep Blue Something, Rusty, Solution a.d., Whirling Dervishes

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Count Basie Theater, Red Bank, NJ..... It was the WHTG Snow Ball, the second annual holiday concert out of a five-year run for the event. Everybody was terrific on stage. CIV was nuts. TMBG and Del Amitri did their usual high-quality sets. Deep Blue Something was in the top 40 at the time of the show with "Breakfast at Tiffany's"--it was at #11 on the Billboard chart right then and would peak at #5 five weeks later. I don't really recall much of Rusty and solution a.d., but Whirling Dervishes got the show off to a great start with a set including their cover of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch." I wore my paisley tux jacket (see below) and I think I introduced Del Amitri on stage.   the front cover of the official program for the show me in my paisley tux jacket from a 1998 WHTG event being fed by WHTG's Chris Rake

The Urchins

SeaStreak Ferry, New York Bay, NJ/NY sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!

The Smithereens, Mike Peters, The Caulfields, Fossil, Urchins, Green Apple Quick Step, The Gefkens

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Surf Club, Ortley Beach, NJ.... It was the 2nd edition of WHTG's Surfstock.     sorry, I haven't yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!    my credential from the show

The Soup Dragons, Richard Butler, Evan Dando, Pete Droge, Jeffrey Gaines, Frente, The Murmurs, Whirling Dervishes

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Count Basie Theater, Red Bank, NJ....     sorry, Mike has not yet written about this show... add your own comments if you were also there!

Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians

WHTG, Eatontown, NJ An in-studio performance by Hitchcock, Andy Metcalfe, and Morris Windsor. Interview by Brian Billy. Songs performed: Ultra Unbelievable Love Alright Yeah Silence of the Damaged Rays Child of the Universe Raymond Chandler Evening