JOE MATZERATH
Dez Cadena, performing at The Stone Pony.
The Brighton Bar in Long Branch will host a benefit for former Black Flag and Misfits member Dez Cadena, who is recovering from throat cancer, April 30 at 7 p.m. Performers will include Dez Cadena & The Buzz Aldrin Trio (performing Black Flag songs), Reagan Youth, Jon Caspi & The First Gun (featuring Cadena), Lost in Society, Suicide Crisis and Pep Rally. Also, Jimmy Gestapo and Raven of Murphy’s Law and Russ Iglay of Underdog will make guest appearances.
Newark native Cadena, a singer and guitarist, made groundbreaking hardcore punk music with Black Flag from 1980 to 1983, and was also in The Misfits from 2001 to 2015. He is currently playing with both FLAG (which features other former Black Flag members as well) and Jon Caspi & The First Gun.
The latter group, which is based on the Shore, organized the benefit, and features Cadena on their single, “Sun,” which they recently released on the Brighton Bar Records label. Cadena and Caspi were mutual friends of bassist “Mr. Lou” DeMartino — who played with many area bands, including, most recently, Joe D’Urso and Stone Caravan, and Jason Didner’s Jungle Gym Jam — and decided to start making music together after DeMartino died last year.
“This song is a tribute to Lou and is about how truly sad and tragic endings can sometimes lead to good things,” said Caspi in a press release. “We’d rather have Lou back with us, but since we can’t, we are glad that this came about because of him. It was Lou’s gift to us.”
For information about the benefit, visit brightonbar.com. Fans also can support Cadena via a GoFundMe.com campaign, and downloads of “Sun” can be purchased at joncaspithefirstgun.bandcamp.com.
Here is the video for “Sun”:
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