April Lindner

Bassist Johnny Pisano at the first annual Rockland-Bergen Music Festival When you're Jersey Shore musician, Stone Caravan frontman Joe D'Urso, you don't just throw a party on your fiftieth birthday.  You throw a music festival. Birthday Boy Joe D'Urso And when you're Joe--a longtime promoter of charitable causes--you make the day really count, collecting proceeds for Light of Day and WHYHunger  and other worthy charities.   You outfit the German Masonic Park in Tappan, New York with two stages, offer free admission to anybody born in 1964, and invite your friends to come out and play. Because your friends just happen to be legends of the New York/Jersey Shore/national music scene, word spreads among music fans, and enthusiastic concertgoers spread out blankets and lawn chairs under a perfect blue sky The result? A perfect summer celebration of music and the folks who love it. with Diane Lynn Gotaski Pastrick photo of Kiley Armstrong b...

Willie Nile For a musician who draws so much inspiration from the hard-edged New York punk scene, Willie Nile is a gentle soul.  You can hear it all over his lyrics--"One Guitar"--a pacifist anthem about the power of music, for example.  Or in "The Innocent Ones," a song that bursts with empathy for the vulnerable and powerless.  But  Willie's music brings an edge of punk intensity to balance out his big-hearted idealism.  That's true on his new album, American Ride , and even more true live, when Willie and his band--bassist Johnny Pisano, guitarist Matt Hogan, and drummer Alex Alexander--never fail to play their hearts out.   Matt Hogan Andre and I have seen Willie and his band live before, but never as headliners, and we've always been left wanting more.  This year on my birthday that wish came true. We traveled to Mexicali Live in Teaneck, New Jersey:  for dinner and tales of concert-going misadventures with some warm and ...