Top 10 NJ Arts Events of Week: Southside Johnny, Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival, more

DANNY CLINCH

Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes will perform at the Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park, Sept. 4

Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around the state, through Sept. 8.

MUSIC

• Postponed from July 2 because of an ominous weather forecast, the annual Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes summer concert at the Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park will finally take place, Sept. 4. Three bands will also play inside the nightclub — The Promised Land at 5 p.m., Jarod Clemons & the Late Nights at 6:45 p.m., and the Gary Frost Band at 10 p.m. — with the Jukes expected to appear on the outside Summer Stage around 7:30 p.m.

DEL McCOURY

• The 50th Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival takes place at the Salem County Fair Grounds in Woodstown, Sept. 2-4, with three full days of performances, jam sessions, workshops and children’s activities. The Sept. 2 headliner is Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, with guests Laurie Lewis and Dudley Connell, in a tribute to festival co-founders Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley. The Sept. 3 headliner is the Del McCoury Band with guests Claire Lynch and Danny Paisley, also in tribute to Monroe and Stanley. Other performers, over the course of the weekend, will include Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, The Seldom Scene, Don Flemons, The Gibson Brothers, Tuba Skinny, Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike and The Bob & Sarah Amos Band.

• Queen Latifah and Newark mayor Ras Baraka will co-host a free event titled “24 Hours of Peace,” taking place from Sept. 2 at 6 p.m. to Sept. 3 at 6 p.m. on Springfield Avenue, from Bergen to Blum streets, in Newark. Performers will include Faith Evans, Fabolous, CL Smooth and 24 Hours of Peace co-founder Hakim Green on Sept. 2, and Rowdy Rebel, Fivio Foreign, G Herbo and 2Rare on Sept. 3. There will also be local artists on each day, plus retail and food vendors, community resource information, poetry, a town hall meeting and a midnight movie. Baraka has called the festival “a time for our residents to unify, to get access to important resources and information, to share ideas and solutions at a town hall meeting, and join together to end violence and move a peaceful Newark forward.”

• Sylvester Stallone will host a show featuring his brother Frank Stallone, plus John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band, at Sound Waves at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, Sept. 2 at 9 p.m. According to a press release, the show will be “a night of music, movies, and stories with the brothers.” Frank, who is four years younger than Sylvester, has recorded eight albums over the years and had a Top 10 hit in 1983 with “Far From Over,” from the soundtrack of the movie “Staying Alive” (directed and co-written by Sylvester Stallone). He also has had music on the soundtracks of the movies “Rocky,” “Rocky II,” “Paradise Alley,” “Rambo: First Blood Part II,” “Over the Top” and “The Expendables 2.” A documentary about his life, “Stallone: Frank, That Is,” came out last year.

RICHARD BARATTA

• A Jazz Thursdays series will include free concerts outdoors at Woodbridge High School, beginning Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. with Mwenso & the Shakes and Richard Baratta’s 3 B’s Plus 2, and continuing with Kandace Springs, Sept. 15; James Austin Jr. and Alexis Morrast, Sept. 22; The High and Mighty Brass Band, Sept. 29; and The Lao Tizer Quartet, Oct. 6.

• Grammy-nominated singer Carla Cook and her trio will perform at an Art Meets Jazz concert at the Montclair Art Museum, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m., that is also part of this year’s Montclair Jazz Festival. A pre-show cocktail hour, beginning at 5:30 p.m., will feature live music from students in the Montclair-based Jazz House Kids program.

FAMILY

• Swedish-American singer IVA, contralto Hanne Ladefoged-Dollas (presenting a celebration of Danish poets in song), comedian-pianist Magnus Martensson, storyteller Jonathan Kruk, the Oskar Stenmark Duo (featuring the trumpeter with pianist Alex Pryrodny) and the groups Smorgasbandet and The Swedish Meatballs will be among the performers at the 36th Scandanavian Fest, taking place throughout the day Sept. 4 at Vasa Park in Budd Lake. The event will also feature food, crafts, talks on Scandanavian culture and children’s entertainment.

“Clerks III” will be shown in Red Bank, Sept. 4.

FILM

• Director and actor Kevin Smith will show his “Clerks III” in its New Jersey premiere, and answer questions about it, at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Sept. 4 at 1:30 and 7 p.m. The original, low-budget “Clerks” (1994) was Smith’s debut film, and a surprise hit, and “Clerks II” followed in 2006; Smith has made several other films using the “Clerks” characters as well.

• Following the Aug. 8 death of Olivia Newton-John, at the age of 73, The Delsea Drive-In Theatre in Vineland will show her biggest big-screen success, “Grease,” Sept. 2-4 at 7:50 p.m., in a double bill with “Top Gun: Maverick,” which will be shown following it each night.

• Actor James Caan also died this summer — July 6, at the age of 82 — and the Princeton Garden Theatre will show one of his most highly regarded films, “Thief” (1981), Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.

REVIEWS

“The Metromaniacs” at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at Drew University, Madison. (Through Sept. 4)

“Maxwell Mustardo: Dish-Oriented” at Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. (Through Sept. 4)

“Land of the Free” at MANA Contemporary, Jersey City. Works by Vincent Valdez, Hugo Crosthwaite and Joe Minter. (Through Sept. 17)

“For the Culture, by the Culture: Thirty Years of Black Art, Activism, and Achievement” at Morris Museum, Morris Township. (Through Sept. 25)

“New Jersey Arts Annual: Reemergence” at State Museum, Trenton. (Through April 30)

 “And in That Place Where Flower and Flame Meet We Grow” at YES Gallery, Hoboken.