Tune In, Turn On
By Doug Deutsch
Several of our recent columns have included writeups on regional or national acts playing at the Shore. This week we turn the spotlight on local promoters and performers.
Tina Marie Notero: “We’re doing our part to rebuild underground culture in the city,” Notero told me recently. “Thanks to Anchor Rock Club, we have this amazing space to showcase and elevate local artists.” That’s exactly what this tireless promoter has been doing, having recently curated (with Mari Beth) the well-done three-day Electric Halloween music/art/multi-media event, among other shows. Notero brings New Moon ‘Wonderland’ Night Market and Dance Party (billed as AC’s hyper-local art marketplace) back to the Anchor on Friday, December 23 with a mixed bag of indie acts including June’s Landing, The Washups, Saturn Daze, Bungalo, and South Jersey’s Senior Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla, accordion player/vocalist, Malcolm Tent; plus club-style deejays who will definitely have the ARC hoppin’ and more. Should be fun, these always are.
Betsy Lynn Paisley: Anyone who books bands, lets them stay at her place and whose only stipulation is “must love dogs” is definitely going to be included here. Paisley and I were long-distance Facebook friends for many years with a genre in common – her a blues promoter, myself a blues publicist – before I moved back East. “I stopped touring/booking/radio/publicity and now just do house concerts,” Paisley told me. “I start booking bands and setting the lineup after the IBC (International Blues Challenge, every January in Memphis).” Her company, Betsy’s Backyard Productions, in existence since 2004, has hosted some great blues acts in the past, including 2022 BMA winner and Philly resident, saxophonist Vanessa Collier, Guitar Shorty, Annika Chambers Band and more. Betsy told us she hopes to be booking Johnny Burgin Band, Mitch Kolassa, guitarist Kevin Burt (someone I’ve personally publicized; good dude, better player), Rae Gordon, Lisa Mann, and Janice Harrington (the latter an eighty-years-young stellar blues singer from Germany) in 2023.
Pending Light: There’s this hippie-rock-vibe sound coming back, and that’s not a bad thing. “We blend ‘90s alternative rock with shades of R&B and even some gospel influence,” PL’s Keith Aaron Steinberg told me recently. Check out the fine guitar playing by Steinberg and solid vocals by Carlos ‘Daiz’ Diaz on Pending Light’s new videos, “Strong” from their new CD, “Bison Prism.”
Ventnor Coffee on Dorset Ave. hosts a CD Release Party this Friday, December 16 headlined by Pending Light with openers Ubsidian and Jackie O. Doors open at 5pm, show at 6 pm. It’s free, so please don’t forget to tip the bands.
Molly Ringworm: The first indie band we wrote about for this magazine. Happy recent belated birthday to MR vocalist/guitarist Sarah Holt.
Dead Reckoning: Bet y’all thought right away of the Grateful Dead when you first heard the name of this local act, right? Well, horror/zombie movie buffs will recall this as the name of the armored vehicle built to kill the undead in the classic 2005 George Romero film, “Land of the Dead.” This DR bills itself as ‘the world’s only Dylan and (Grateful) Dead tribute experience, also performing Grateful Dead classics and rarities’ on its website. “We do lots of duo gigs as Dead Reckoning acoustic duo,
and we also perform as a Dead Reckoning acoustic trio.
The Electric Grateful Dead tribute experience is Dead Reckoning. We also perform as a three-piece tribute to Bob Weir’s Wolf brothers, Weir-Wolves,” DR’s Charlie Wigo IV, a/k/a Cosmic Charlie, told me via email. “And I play solo as Cosmic Charlie.” I also have a band playing original music I’ve written called IV Play.
The newest tribute experience is called ‘60s British Invasion. We perform the music of The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Who, Traffic, Cream, Jethro Tull, The Kinks, The Faces, The Clash and other classic British bands.”
Wigo adds, “I’ve been playing guitar since age six and am a huge live music fan, having seen well over a thousand concerts. My parents took me to see Elvis Presley at age seven and it was at that moment I realized I wanted to be a professional musician.” That’s a lot of music and band iterations to keep up with, not to mention music to learn how to play! Their busy schedule includes several gigs at the Tennessee Avenue Beer Hall on Tennessee Avenue, including one there New Year’s Eve starting at 9pm. Info: www.deadreckoningnj.com.
That’s all for this week, stay safe out there and support live music.
Doug is the owner/operator of Doug Deutsch Publicity Services, which since 1995 has been servicing nationally touring acts, and working record release campaigns for clients. Doug also hàs experience writing for the one time shore-based weekly publication, Whoot! He also was a team member with Chip Braymes Advertising. Doug loves bicycling and aspires to bring the Blues to Atlantic City. He can be reached at ShoreLocalDoug@gmail.com and www.facebook.com/dougdeutschpublicity.
