RED BANK: BASIE STARTS MASSIVE EXPANSION

Sep 20, 2017

Dozens of local politicians and players in the arts world turned out for the event. Below, Basie board members Steven Van Zandt and his wife, Maureen Van Zandt. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

A $23 million expansion of Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre formally got underway Wednesday, beginning what’s expected to be a 20-month endeavor to turn the Vaudeville-era venue into a powerhouse for live performance and arts education.

The aim, musician and actor Steven Van Zandt told an al fresco gathering, is “to make Red Bank an example to the rest of the county of what it is possible to do” in elevating the arts.

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September 20, 2017 - 3:23 pm |

RED BANK: BROWNSTONES PROJECT APPROVED

Sep 8, 2017

Mumford’s plan calls for the demolition of six existing structures, including the blocklong factory building at 9 Catherine Street, above. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank real estate developer Roger Mumford won plaudits Thursday night from neighbors — along with zoning board approval — for a 22-unit townhouse project on a West Side industrial tract.

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September 8, 2017 - 9:15 am |

RED BANK: UP NEXT: MUMFORD TOWNHOUSES

Sep 5, 2017

A rendering of builder Roger Mumford’s proposed Brownstones at Red Bank project. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank real estate developer Roger Mumford is a busy man these days: restoring the National Historic Register T. Thomas Fortune house and adding 31 apartments to the Drs. James Parker Boulevard property; completing the 12-unit affordable housing project called Oakland Square at the corner of Oakland and West streets; and simultaneously vying for the right to redevelop what’s easily the hottest patch of asphalt in town — the borough-owned White Street parking lot.

Meantime, he’s got another project in the works, one slated to go before the zoning board for review Thursday night: a plan for townhouses on the footprint of old factory buildings just a stone’s throw from his West Side office.

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September 5, 2017 - 7:15 am |

RED BANK: HOMEBUILDER EYES FACTORIES

Apr 25, 2017

A cluster of industrial buildings between Catherine Street, above, and River Street would be razed for new brownstones, according to the prospective builder. Part of the site abuts the Cedar Crossing homes, seen in the distance above. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

A block of factory buildings on Red Bank’s West Side, including some old millworks and a former guitar factory, could give way to new housing in coming months, redbankgreen has learned.

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April 25, 2017 - 2:00 pm |

RED BANK: VAN ZANDT LINEUP TO ROCK BASIE

Nov 14, 2016

Steven Van Zandt and Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno on stage at the Basie Monday. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

A four-night campaign of classic rock shows curated by E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt in coming months will help drive a $20 million expansion Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre, officials said Monday.

But the names of the acts to be spotlighted in the series remained under wraps at a press conference held on the stage of the Vaudeville-era venue.
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November 14, 2016 - 1:20 pm |

RED BANK: CHUCK LAMBERT HITS A MILESTONE

Jul 29, 2016

Chuck Lambert, seen above performing at Riverfest in Marine Park in 2012, turns 65 years old Saturday, when he and his band are scheduled to play Jamian’s Food and Drink. Below, Lambert in downtown Red Bank in 2006. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

In a way, it’s just another gig for a hardworking musician, one of maybe 250 he does each year in bars, clubs and on sidewalks on the Greater Red Bank Green, as well as in New York, Philly and Atlantic City.

But when Chuck Lambert plugs in at Jamian’s Food and Drink in Red Bank Saturday night, this one will be special for the local guitar legend, and not just because it’s occurring on his 65th birthday.

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July 29, 2016 - 9:19 am |

RED BANK: O’REE PLANS RECORD-DROP SETS

Mar 26, 2016

In conjunction with the release of a new record entitled “Brotherhood,” guitarist Matt O’Ree — a 2015 tour sideman for Bon Jovi — and his band plan to play two sets at Jamian’s Food and Drink in Red Bank on April 22. Tickets ($20) and other information can be had here. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

March 26, 2016 - 2:48 pm |

RED BANK: BASIE PLANS MASSIVE EXPANSION

Oct 26, 2015

An architect’s rendering of the expanded Count Basie Theatre includes additions on the east and west sides of the existing structure. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s Vaudeville-era Count Basie Theatre is in for a massive, $20 milion expansion that will turn it into a “creative campus” dedicated to the performing arts in coming years, officials said Monday.

Incorporating adjoining properties acquired in recent years, theater officials plan to “move toward our longtime vision of an entire city block dedicated to the performing arts,” Tom Widener, chairman of the theater’s board of trustees, said in an announcement released Monday morning.
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October 26, 2015 - 10:00 am |

BON JOVI PICKS O’REE FOR ASIAN LEG OF TOUR

Sep 9, 2015

Matt O’Ree playing in Red Bank’s Marine Park in 2013, will share in guitar duties for the band led by Middletown’s Jon Bon Jovi, seen below at JBJ Soul Kitchen in 2011. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

In a headline-making realignment of local music stars, pop singer Jon Bon Jovi has chosen blues guitar monster Matt O’Ree as the road replacement for Bobby Bandiera, according to reports by the Asbury Park Press and other news outlets.

The Holmdel-based leader of the Matt O’Ree Band will join Bon Jovi as touring guitarist for the band’s upcoming shows in Asia and the Middle East starting in Indonesia on Friday, the Press reports, citing multiple unnamed sources.

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September 9, 2015 - 12:01 pm |

THIEF RETURNS GUITAR

Sep 9, 2011

Dale Lakata’s guitar at Jamian’s Thursday evening. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The man whose plucking of a performer’s beloved acoustic guitar from a Red Bank bar was captured on video surveillance early Monday has returned the instrument.

Jamians Food & Drink owner Jamian Laviola tells redbankgreen the thief walked into the Monmouth Street bar Thursday afternoon, instrument in hand, and expressed remorse for what he’d done.

“He said, ‘I was drunk, that’s not me, I’m not like that,” Laviola said as he awaited the arrival of borough police, who wanted the guitar as evidence.

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September 9, 2011 - 7:22 am |

GUITAR THIEF CAUGHT ON CAMERA

Sep 7, 2011

A frame from a surveillance video shows the alleged thief eying the guitar at Jamian’s. (Click to enlarge)

Do you know this guy?

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September 7, 2011 - 4:13 pm |

A BIT OF BLUES ON THE GREEN

Dec 15, 2009

The tune is called ‘Red Bank Blue,’ and the composer/guitarist is Dave Crowton, 47-year-old lifelong borough resident.

redbankgreen asked Crowton, via Facebook, what makes this a Red Bank tune.

Here’s his reply:
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December 15, 2009 - 7:48 am |

RED BANK: WORKING UP A SWEAT

Jun 1, 2006

Chuck Lambert’s day job is not exactly the kind of gritty, back-breaking slog typically associated with the blues: he’s a membership services associate at Red Bank’s Community YMCA. That’s right, he’s the guy who’ll give you the orientation tour, set you up with access to the Cybex machines or heated indoor pool, and do it all with purring, irresistible charm.

But Lambert has also had glimpses of the seamier side of what the world can show you, he says, and hes not just talking about the men’s locker room at peak occupancy. For starters, some of the musicians Lambert has played with have been run over by the music biz, or drugs, or just plain bad luck, without having any sort of safety net for themselves or their families. Music — the blues in particular — has its pitfalls, he says over tonic water at the Downtown Café. Next thing you know, theyre having a benefit concert for you.

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June 1, 2006 - 12:05 am |