65°F clear sky

RED BANK: BASIE BOOSTS PARKER CENTER

The Parker facility on Shrewsbury Avenue is in the midst of an expansion. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

red bank, nj, done good,Red Bank’s Parker Family Health Center is the latest beneficiary of the Count Basie Center for the Arts‘ “Giving Year” program, which donates $1 from every event ticket sold during a specified month to a different charitable organization.

The designation will put up to $15,000 into the health center’s coffers, according to a Basie announcement last week.

More →

October 17, 2023 - 8:15 am |

RED BANK: TRIAL BIKE LANES ASSESSED

Cyclists gathered at Canal Street and Hudson Avenue, above, and pedaling along East Bergen Place, at right, during the Red Bank Porchfest townwide music festival Sunday. 

In addition to numerous pedestrians moving from stage to stage, the event appeared to bring out several hundred cyclists, many of whom used temporary bike lanes set up with assistance from the transportation nonprofit EZ Ride to get around town.

Earlier this week, redbankgreen did an email Q&A about the experiment with Councilwoman Nancy Facey-Blackwood, who helped coordinate the temporary lanes. Below are excerpts.

More →

October 5, 2023 - 8:00 am |

RED BANK: PORCHFEST ROLLS AND SHINES

For the second year in a row, the sun shone Red Bank’s Porchfest townwide music festival Sunday. 

The five-hour event, a fundraiser for the housing nonprofit HABcore, offered peripatetic audiences opportunities to hear classical music, bluegrass, hard rock and more by 90-something acts (including a spotted lanternfly) performing on 25 porches, driveways, in back yards and at least one gazebo.

Among the throngs were numerous bicyclists, taking advantage of temporary bike lanes set up for the event.

redbankgreen stopped in at all 25 venues. Here’s some of what we saw; click photos to enlarge.

More →

October 2, 2023 - 8:56 am |

RED BANK: YOUR GUIDE TO PORCHFEST II

Chamber music, metal, “stoner folk,” jazz, a bit of standup comedy and more: Red Bank’s second annual Porchfest townwide music festival promises a cornucopia of melody Sunday.

But who’s playing, when and where? Here’s a handy guide to help you plan an itinerary.

More →

September 29, 2023 - 7:30 am |

RED BANK: SKYWATCH FOR WEEKEND EVENTS

Xol Azul Band, seen here playing last year’s Porchfest at the Fortune Cultural Center, is scheduled to reprise the gig Sunday, one day after a scheduled headline appearance at the Hispanic Heritage Celebration in Riverside Gardens Park. (redbankgreen photo. Click to enlarge.)

hot topicIt’s eyes-on-the-sky time as four outdoor events dominate Red Bank’s dance card this weekend.

For two, it’s a matter of avoiding a second straight rainout Saturday, while the outlook is clearer, and sunnier, for two others slated for Sunday.

More →

September 28, 2023 - 7:55 am |

RED BANK: BIKE LANES SET FOR PORCHFEST

Red Bank’s second annual Porchfest townwide music festival is shaping up to be bigger than the first, organizers said last week.

To encourage attendees to bike between the more two dozen “stages,” this year’s event will feature temporary bike lanes. 

More →

September 26, 2023 - 8:40 am |

RED BANK: WET FORECAST BUMPS EVENTS

Oktoberfest is slated to take place in Edmund Wilson Plaza, between Triumph Brewing Company and the Two River Theater. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

A forecast of rain has prompted reschedulings for two outdoor Red Bank festivals slated for the upcoming weekend.

The change means that – weather permitting – the town could have both a beer-and-spirits tasting event and a Hispanic Heritage Celebration running simultaneously the following Saturday.

More →

September 22, 2023 - 1:43 pm |

RED BANK: LIBRARY TO GET $15K FROM BASIE

The funding will be used to boost the library’s Hispanic community outreach efforts. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

red bank, nj, done good,One Red Bank nonprofit will help another next week when the Red Bank Public Library receives a check for up to $15,000 from the Count Basie Center for the Arts.

The West Front Street library’s support foundation is the latest beneficiary of the Basie’s “Giving Year” program, which donates $1 from every event ticket sold during a specified month to a different charitable organization.

The funding will be used to boost Hispanic community outreach efforts, the two organizations said Thursday.

More →

September 21, 2023 - 3:00 pm |

RED BANK: BROADWALK PAIR GOES FOR $6.1M

The former home to Coco Pari, and the building next door, with Catch 19, were sold in a joint deal. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A prime bit of downtown Red Bank retail space was part of a two-building sale last month, redbankgreen has learned.

What goes into the vacant storefont of one is among the changes Retail Churn is keeping an eye on.

More →

August 4, 2023 - 7:40 am |

RED BANK: RESTAURANTS CHURN IN… AND OUT

Agra Indian Masala is under construction at the onetime home of Monmouth Music. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Two long-vacant spaces in downtown Red Bank are showing signs of returning as new restaurants.

Also in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn: two restaurants that proved short-lived.

More →

July 21, 2023 - 8:00 am |

RED BANK: ARTS CHAMPION TOM CHESEK DIES

Tom Chesek in Asbury Park in 2013. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Tom Chesek, an arts-and-entertainment writer who for decades trained a spotlight on otherwise unheralded musicians, playwrights, visual artists and other creators on the Greater Red Bank Green, died at home in Asbury Park Tuesday night. He was 64 years old.

Among countless freelance gigs, he was a longtime writer for redbankgreen.

More →

July 7, 2023 - 12:30 pm |

RED BANK: THOUSANDS ENJOY RIVER CONCERT

In lawn chairs, on blankets and aboard boats, thousands of music lovers flocked to Marine Park in Red Bank for the return of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra after a three-year absence Saturday night.

Were you there for the sublime concert on the Navesink? Check out redbankgreen‘s photos below to spot familiar faces, and let us know what you thought of the event, organized as in the past by downtown promotion agency Red Bank RiverCenter. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

More →

July 4, 2023 - 11:45 am |

RED BANK: STREETLIFE GIGS AVAILABLE

It’s not quite the mainstage at the Basie, but the sidewalks of downtown Red Bank offer a platform for singers, musicians and other entertainers to share their talents in the open air this summer. More →

April 28, 2023 - 8:24 am |

RED BANK: BASIE ADDS TO FOOTPRINT

The Basie acquired this onetime residence in the professional office zone. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Less than two years after completing a $25 million expansion, the Count Basie Center for the Arts has added to its Red Bank real estate holdings.

But the nonprofit theater has no plans to seek an exemption from property taxes on the newly acquired site, a spokesman told redbankgreen.

More →

March 15, 2023 - 7:30 am |

RED BANK: HOLIDAY CHEER & ‘BUCKS’ IN KICKOFF



red bank nj holiday express light-up concertThe 30th edition of a dazzling Red Bank event, and the first of one helping local businesses compete, kick off the Christmas season Friday and Saturday.

Here’s what you need to know. More →

November 25, 2022 - 6:25 am |

RED BANK: SECRET STAR OF THE PARADE?

Ok, we could be dead wrong about this, but it seems to us at redbankgreen that there may be an entertainment superstar who enjoyed Red Bank’s Halloween Parade and was able to blend into the crowd in costume.

More →

November 4, 2022 - 12:00 pm |

RED BANK: PUTH TO HEAD $20M BASIE DRIVE

Charlie Puth with Count Basie Center president and CEO Adam Philipson at the kickoff of Puth’s ‘One Night Only’ tour in Red Bank Sunday night.

Press release

Pop music star Charlie Puth has been named honorary chair of the Count Basie Center for the Arts‘ ‘Forever For Everyone’ endowment campaign, the Red Bank venue announced Sunday.

The aim of the drive is to raise $20 million to fund hundreds of scholarships in perpetuity for students interested in studying the performing arts at the Count Basie Center Academy, the nonprofit organization said in an announcement.

More →

October 24, 2022 - 5:45 am |

RED BANK: PORCHFEST ROCKS TOWN

Sunshine, cool weather, beach chairs, bikes and guitars… Red Bank’s first-ever Porchfest music festival “went off as flawlessly as it could” Sunday, said lone mayoral candidate Billy Portman. 

The five-hour festival, which Portman organized with HABcore executive Marta Quinn as a fundraiser for the housing nonprofit, put more than 80 musical acts on 22 porches, lawns and driveways across the borough. Each drew an audience, some in the hundreds.

Traveling around to the various porches, yards and driveways, “I just watched it grow as the hours got later,” Portman told redbankgreen.

The event was nonpolitical, Portman said, though “it is completely aligned with what I hope to do more of as a mayor, and that is bring people together, and focus more on our similarities, and less on our differences.” He also hopes to make Porchfest as an annual occurrence, he said.

redbankgreen stopped in at all 22 venues. Here’s some of what we saw; click photos to enlarge.

More →

October 10, 2022 - 10:45 am |

RED BANK: PORCHFEST TO FILL EARS & HEARTS

An interactive map for the event displays the lineup of acts at each location; click on circled numbers to view. Below, Carlotta Schmidt is among the scheduled artists. (Photo from YouTube. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

It was not that long ago that Red Bank was a place of large-scale, outdoor music festivals. One needn’t be ancient to recall the sprawling, weekend-long Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Festival in Marine Park each summer, or the spring-and-fall festivals in the White Street parking lot, both of which went dark this year.

But this Sunday, live, open-air concerts come roaring back to the borough in a new, decentralized model that’s been road-tested elsewhere: Porchfest, a five-hour eargasm of 70 acts spread across town on 21 residential porches, plus 11 more acts at a previously scheduled music fest behind a dentist’s office.

More →

October 6, 2022 - 7:30 am |

RED BANK: STOMPIN’ THRU THE WEEKEND

We kick off this first weekend of autumn, 2022 with the debut of ‘Stomp Your Blues Away,’ a post-pandemic paean to Red Bank by Omega Train.

“When I take my body down to old Red Bank’s downtown,” goes the song, “my pain don’t hurt me anymore.”

Well, that’s music to Red Bank’s restaurants and shops this next-to-final weekend of the Broadwalk outdoor dining plaza. Visitors will also find lots of added attractions, including a Kids’ Takeover from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Friday; StreetLife music performances Saturday night; and bands at three bars: Red Tank Brewing, Jamian’s and Triumph Brewing.

And the weather looks ideal for stomping… or maybe just strolling. Both Friday and Saturday will be warm and sunny, with early-fall temperatures in the evening, according to the National Weather Service. Sunday’s outlook isn’t look bad, either: partly sunny, with a 30-percent chance of rain after 2 p.m.

Check out the extended forecast below.  More →

September 23, 2022 - 6:20 am |

RED BANK: BARGAINS TO FILL SIDEWALKS

It’s a summer tradition that for 67 summers past has helped sustain local business: the Red Bank Sidewalk Sale. And it returns for a three-day run starting August 19.

More →

August 11, 2022 - 7:50 am |

RED BANK: EX-STUDENT LEADS CONSERVATORY

Students perform outside the Monmouth Conservatory’s home on Chestnut Street in 2019. Laura Petillo, below. (Click to enlarge.)

Press release

The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank has named violinist and longtime strings instructor Laura Petillo as Manager of Music Programs at its Academy of the Arts and the Count Basie Center’s Monmouth Conservatory of Music.

More →

July 18, 2022 - 6:33 am |

RED BANK: PORTMAN READY FOR MAYOR’S MIC

Billy Portman in a scene from the 1994 short film ‘No Time,’ directed by Darren Aronofsky. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

After his mic-drop win in the Red Bank Democratic primary last month, Billy Portman enters the general election campaign as – in all likelihood – the first mayoral candidate in borough history with an IMDB listing and a “filthy” rap record on his résumé.

It turns out the 53-year-old building contractor/cover-band singer has had a long involvement in comedy and films, too.

More →

July 1, 2022 - 7:00 am |
1 2 3 4 5 >»
redbankgreen.com

PO Box 8683
Red Bank NJ 07701

© 2024 redbankgreen.com. No portion of this website or its content can be used without permission. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy