• Concert Review: Cat Circus in Bloomfield, NJ, 5/2/14

    Like a great number of "venues" in New Jersey, the Cat Circus is just the basement of a house rented out by college students, but it's definitely the cleanest, most organized college house I've ever set foot in. The original bill for this show/birthday party/vegan BBQ consisted of eight acts, which is three or four more than is usually recommended for a house show, but two of the acts ended up not playing, which I'm sure the neighbors were quite thankful for.

  • JJ Heller's "I Dream Of You" Awakens the Child in You

    JJ Heller's newest project, "I Dream of You," a companion to her and hubby David's children's book, "The Golden Feather" is low-key and soft, but don't think that means it's fluff. Quite the contrary, "I Dream of You" is as powerful as it is beautiful.

  • Concert Review: The Meatlocker in Montclair, New Jersey

    Shows at the Meatlocker in Montclair, NJ sit somewhere in between basement shows and legitimate venue shows. Technically it’s the basement to an apartment building, but I’m pretty sure nobody who lives in the apartment actually goes down into that cold, filthy space. Anyone can rent out the space for the night and put on a show, and while big acts such as Ted Leo, Wavves, and Screaming Females have played there, most nights it’s just a bunch of small, scrappy punk bands playing for a couple of people, like the show I went to last night.

  • 'American Idol' Season 13 recap: Jessica Meuse and C.J. Harris refuse to come alive for top 6 rock and country night [VIDEOS]

    American Idol got a little bit country and a little bit rock 'n' roll and a little bit of Grumpy Cat last night for its top six performances. For the first time, each of the remaining contestants performed two songs a piece. The first half of the show? Marked by rock songs of all sorts, from Neon Trees to Heart. The second half was all country with two tracks by Idol alumna Carrie Underwood and a few comfy classics.

  • Junk Mail: E-mailing about Future's new album 'Honest'

    Music Times writers share an office area of roughly 45 sq. ft, which makes having face-to-face conversations totally impossible. Junk Mail is these millenials' attempt to discuss and review the week's hottest album releases... without needing to look at each other.

  • 'American Idol' Season 13 recap: top 7 choice songs predictable as Jena Irene, Alex Preston break out [WATCH]

    After two weeks in the top eight, American Idol is finally down to seven contestants this week and decided to let the remaining singers show their real stuff (yet again) with their own choice of song. Thus, the picks were pretty predictable and everyone performed thusly. It's pretty well established who the stars are on this season of Idol -- Jena Irene, Alex Preston and Caleb Johnson, and those three had the strongest showings. The mediocre singers were mediocre and the boring guys were boring.

  • Concert Review: Cloud Nothings at Music Hall of Williamsburg, 4/13/14

    What sets Music Hall of Williamsburg apart from all of the other major venues I’ve been to is the absence of a barricade between the audience and the stage. For the first time in my life, I was able to stand right next to the stage and rest my arms and my beer on it. I chose to hang around stage left, and it turned out to be the best spot in the house for taking photos of the bands.

  • Concert Review: Mt. Doom in New Brunswick, NJ, 4/11/14

    New Brunswick, New Jersey is a city basically run by college students, and because of this, their basement music scene has become semi-legendary (there’s even a Wikipedia article about it). There are dozens of “venues” that are simply the basements of houses rented out by students at Rutgers, and they all have cool names like “The Candy Barrel” and “The Cooler Ranch”. The name of the house I went to last night was “Mt. Doom”, which I thought was particularly cool, since I’m a huge Lord of the Rings fan. Though the basement at Mt. Doom was dimly lit and heavily tagged with graffiti, it was a relatively neat and organized space for a punk show.

  • Ronnie Dunn Delivers Peace Love and Country Music

    Ronnie Dunn's indie debut on his own label, Peace Love and Country Music does a lot of things, but most of all, it proves that he still has one of the best voices in country music today. Whether it's the new, original tunes or the one solitary cover ("You Don’t Know Me," made famous by Ray Charles and Elvis Presley), he's putting his heart into it and making you feel each word.
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