Photo by Michael Gates
There are a lot of poets in New Jersey, and a large concentration of them in Jersey City. Dujuana Sharese is one of the major forces in the city's poetry slam and spoken word scene. The 38-year-old is not only an accomplished poet herself, but she's the organizer of Cypher Movement, an event that happens every fourth Friday which combines spoken word performances, visual arts and, sometimes, music performances as well.
Over the past five or so years, there's been a renewed interest from indie rockers, punks, and other assorted rockers in roots music, country and the blues. I can vividly remember hopping from bar to bar in the Lower East Side and East Village on the night of Johnny Cash's death -- who knew so many skinny hipsters considered themselves hard-boiled "Cash men?"
What's that got to do with Jersey City's Darren Deicide? Well, a little, but ultimately, not all that much. While Deicide comes from a punk rock background (he was formerly the vocalist/guitarist for Hopeless Dregs of Humanity) his solo stuff sounds like someone applying the ethics and values of punk rock to front-porch, gather 'round, hootin' and hollerin' blues-stomp -- in other words, it feels natural, not like musical chameleon-ship. His latest release, Temptation and the Taboo, Part 1, is a concept album of sorts, about -- you guessed it -- temptation and taboo, among other things.
Joe Condiracci is a well-known veteran around Hudson County's music scene, as a singer-songwriter and as part of the now-defunct Uncle Joe's. These days, the "39-year-old" from Hoboken can be found at the Corkscrew in Jersey City Heights, which, since July, has given Jersey City two new DJ nights (STD Saturdays and now Fridays as well) and may soon start featuring bands.
RICO Steal was born in Trinidad and Tobago, but the 31-year-old now resides in Jersey City. He's a jack-of-all-trades: a poet and spoken word performer, a graphic designer, and a novelist. His spoken word is often angry but always intelligent and reasoned -- witness "Don't Play Golf," where he connects the Iraq War, white privilege, the president, and the golf course. He's currently working on a T-shirt line and graphic novel.
Back before City Belt was launched, it was Victoria Mack -- her hectic waitressing schedule and her stunning talent -- who inspired this very column. We're coming full circle, folks. Even though her performances have been lauded by publications from the New Yorker to the Star-Ledger to Variety, she still can't quit her day job -- more proof (as if we needed it) that critical success doesn't always bring home the bacon. The actor is currently starring as Elizabeth in Bonnie J. Monte's adaptation of Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. The show is running through Nov. 19 on the campus of Drew University in Madison.
Graphic designers are an interesting bunch. They are clearly artistically-inclined, and in many cases, they truly get to express these tendencies through the art of graphic design. But for other designers, who might fall into a corporate hierarchy of sorts, they're left wondering how such an "artistic" career could be so explicitly not artistic, as they pick from the three colors and four fonts allowed by the front office.
Tyson Thorne is a graphic designer by day, and an art photographer by evening and weekend, I suppose. The 30-year-old Jersey City resident takes wonderfully bright and bold photographs of urban life, or as he says, he "documents the people and places I come in contact with." This includes an ongoing project photographing people wearing the likeness of the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. Thorne currently has a show of photos, DEMO, hung at LIFE in Jersey City. The opening cocktail reception is this Saturday, Nov. 4, from 6-11 pm.
Meat: The Cleavers, live at the Court Tavern, as painted by Jenny Blankenship
Meat: The Cleavers, the brainchild of New Brunswick’s Chris Caccavale, plays its own brand of come-down music for acid heads, that much can be sure. But behind the heavy delay and whispered vocals lies song structures that are stark and beautiful. The details aren’t completely clear to me, but, the best I can tell, Matt Riddle joined Caccavale in the band for a while -- though it looks like this Saturday’s show in Philly will be Riddle’s last for an unspecified time being.
Dominic Nicosia plays bass and piano and sings in Estella, a band from central Jersey that treads a line between the slow build and dirge of bands like Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor and the tight, dynamic "emo" of bands like Sunny Day Real Estate. I think they're at their best when they keep it slow, like in "Tourniquet of the Century," but all the songs are quality here, and the interplay of Stephanie Scola's voice with the male vocals (Dominic and his brother Michael) is striking.
Electro-pop is a tricky genre. It seems like a lot of groups have been trying it out in the past few years, but most of them fall far short, either sounding like New Order redux or just like they’ve listened to the Postal Service far too many times. Luckily, Huma doesn’t fall into either category. The New Brunswick three-piece’s songs walk the line between organic and electronic, with programmed beats and synths providing the framework for acoustic and electric guitars, clarinets and male-female vocals to float through and swirl around. The end result? A dreamy, catchy and driving mix of sounds. Plus, they’ve got a thing for kitty masks. Huma is playing a free show tomorrow night (Oct. 6) at the Court Tavern, with Where's Alaska?, Meat: The Cleavers, and Electric Lights Flashing Very Fast.
A Reminder from Your Friendly Editors: Don't forget, the Day Job music showcase series begins next Wednesday, Oct. 4 at Maxwell's at 8:30 pm. Admission is $6. Lismore, Tris McCall, and Kate Sikora will be performing, so be sure to check it out. Without further ado, on to this week's column:
William Stamos makes art that is most certainly surreal, and at times fantastical – some of his paintings look like they could be the cover of a weird, tripped-out underground sci-fi book. The 53-year-old artist from Jersey City says his goal is “to blur the boundaries between ‘inner’ space and ‘outer’ space,” and he does, as his work seems to simultaneously take you to around the cosmos and through the inner depths of your psyche.
