THE MOD-ERATES ARE THE REVOLUTIONARIES IN THIS PARTY

Chris Collins, Mick “London” Hale, and Bobby “Werner” Strete perform as MOD FUN, Friday the 13^th at Asbury Park Yacht Club.

Published in The Coaster (Asbury Park, NJ) and The Link (Long Branch, NJ), March 12, 2020

 “They say that turbulent times are good for the arts,” says guitarist and vocalist Mick London, by way of explaining a level of activity that brings his long-running rock band Mod Fun back to the local stage this Friday, March 13. “And what does it say that we’ve stayed together a lot longer this time around, than when we were first on the scene?”

One of the most attention-compelling original combos to emerge out of New Jersey in the early to mid-1980s, Mod Fun caught the cutting edge of a rock renaissance that centered around such creative hives as Hoboken, New Brunswick, and our own Shore points; fortified by such legendary outposts as The Dirt Club in Bloomfield (site of the band’s inaugural gig), City Gardens, Maxwell’s, Court Tavern, the Fast Lane and the Brighton Bar; supported by a robust indie press and the pioneers of college/ alternative radio (oh, and The Uncle Floyd Show). While most of those cultural outlets are the stuff of late-boomer nostalgia these days, the trio of London, drummer Chris Collins and bassist Bobby “Werner” Strete remains on call; ready to assemble like Avengers or some jukebox Justice League, whenever turbulent times demand the peculiar diplomacy of the band’s supercharged postpunk powerpop.

Hosted within the satisfyingly stripped-down setting of the Asbury Park Yacht Club on the famous boards, the Friday night fracas finds the Fun playing its first Asbury Park gig in a full decade, having last appeared at the “old” Asbury Lanes in 2010 as part of a “Modsbury Park” bill in support of their to-date most recent recording, the full-length album Futurepresent.

Bolstered by a widely viewed video for “Give” (a clip filmed against the backdrop of such now-vanished landmarks like the Baronet Theatre and the aborted Esperanza condo project), the album cemented the band’s bond with Asbury Park, even as charter member Strete relocated to the Cincinnati area. For the core trio whose career was inspired by the “Mod” era revivalism of Paul Weller’s `1970s band The Jam — and whose early focus on northern NJ and NYC led to and high-profile sets up and down the eastern seaboard — it was a “homecoming” rooted in a 2004 show at The Saint; a reunion that marked the 20th anniversary of the band’s hard-driving debut single, “I Am With You.”

Even as he’s kept one foot planted in the garage-land realm of guitars and amps, however, “Mick London” is better known to current city residents as DJ Mick Hale, the dance-music specialist who presides over “Tempted Tuesdays,” Tea Dances and Pink Proms throughout the calendar year. Having enlivened the normally drab foothills of the working-week hump via his long-running Tuesday night gig at Georgie’s Bar, Hale prepares to augment his weekly residency at “the gay Cheers” of north Asbury with a summer-season stint at the poolside lounge of The Asbury Hotel, as well as an anticipated return to Convention Hall’s Beach Bar and other outlets of the partystarting pulsebeat.

That “double life” of the Anglophile aficionado of classic Brit bands like The Who and The Kinks, and the expert purveyor of R&B/dancefloor favorites, is reconciled to some extent by Hale’s ongoing involvement with another well-established endeavor: the electronica group Crocodile Shop, a dormant-not-dead entity (founded in 1987, and also harnessing the talents of Strete) about which the busy music maker says, “our keyboard player (v.Markus) sent me five new tracks last year…we finished one, and I keep having the idea of reviving Croc Shop as a recording project.”

There’s another element still to the     musical makeup of Mr. Mick Hale — a factor little-known to the scene at large, but hardly anything of an embarrassment to the Wanamassa resident — and that’s his 15-year career with the U.S. Postal Service, about which more momentarily.  

ASBURY UNDERGROUND RISES AGAIN, IN A CRAWL TO DUTY

Mark “Xylophone of Wrench” Davis returns to Joe Harvard’s gARTen — where he plied his unique musical trade in October 2018 — when the semi-annual sonic smorgasbord known as ASBURY UNDERGROUND comes back to the bistros, boutiques, and boulevards of downtown AP on October 19.

Published in The Coaster (Asbury Park, NJ) and The Link (Long Branch, NJ), October 17, 2019

 It’s a FESTIVAL for sure, here in a seaside destination that’s just signed up for a third go-round of Sea.Hear.Now in 2020. Only this is one that elevates the storefront over the waterfront; the beloved “townies” over the international touring acts — and where the only surfing to be done is in catching the wave of a city’s creative community, within the most delightfully unexpected settings.

This Saturday afternoon, October 19, marks the plucky 13th edition of the Asbury Underground Art and Music Crawl, a strolling/ rolling smorgasbord that commandeers a collection of offbeat venues for a happening that, like the recent Porchfest of a few weeks back, puts the “underground” in street-level sight — placing the fertile scene’s big heart front and center for all to see. The brainchild of Patrick Schiavino — artist, gallery owner, curator, promoter, vanguard Asbury Park developer, and big-time music fan — the Crawl works its way up and down the Cookman Avenue corridor (plus points on Bond Street, Bangs Ave, Lake/ Springwood and Main Street) between the hours of 1 and 6 pm.

Speaking at art629, his Cookman Avenue gallery space that does duty as Asbury Underground’s headquarters, Schiavino explains that “come September, things tend to get very quiet downtown during the week…it’s like someone let the air out of the balloon…and my neighbors here in the business district love that I’m doing something that brings people to town in the daytime.”

With a music business resume that includes stints as booker for such fabled Jersey nightspots as The Fountain Casino and Club Bene, and as a co-owner of the Circuit landmark Wonder Bar (to say nothing of his years as manager of TV/ nightclub icon Uncle Floyd Vivino), Schiavino could maybe afford to rest on the laurels of that well-earned cred — but for him, the event represents “an opportunity for performers to connect with new audiences — younger kids, older people, anyone who doesn’t go out to bars at night.”

Also blinking out into the daylight sun are performers that span the generations and the genres, encompassing longtime local faves (Stringbean, Kevin John Allen) and next-gen breakouts (Taylor Tote, Quincy Mumford, Pamela Flores), plus purveyors of punk, powerpop, Americana, torchy jazz, and the classically inspired compositions of David Ross Lawn. With a number of new additions on board for this year’s tour (inlcuding Amici, Locals ArtSpace, Proven Poké, Sami’s, Wacky Tobacky), the pop-up pop concerts transform the town’s galleries, eateries, salons, and retail spaces into places where one can almost literally stumble over The Next Big Thing.

“It gets a little bigger each year, and it could possibly be even bigger by about a third, if we had the extra manpower…and if there were such a thing as more hours in the day,” says Pat with a laugh. “As it is, we really can’t fit more people on our schedule in a single day, without doing an injustice to those that are playing.”

It’s a Herculean task behind the scenes, as undertaken by Pat’s music organizers, Dark City Entertainment’s Christine Feola and Shore scene veteran Rick Barry. Considerations include maintaining an eclectic shuffle mix; taking stock of who’s going to be on the road at the time (frequent-flyer performers Emily Grove and Dentist are thus missing in action this year), and making sure that musicians who draw an overlapping crowd are scheduled in such a way that fans can catch as many of their favorites as possible. 

SCARY SKETCHES, FROM THE UNDERGROUND

Models Kevin Tallon, Nicole Howard, and Saraphina Curry are pictured in a scene from Dr. Sketchy Asbury Park’s GRIMM FAIRY TALES event in October 2018. Photos by CJ Mars

Published in The Coaster (Asbury Park, NJ) and The Link (Long Branch, NJ), October 10, 2019

 It’s a truism that applies to any musician, comedian, deejay, trivia quizzard, bingo master, psychic medium, or variety entertainer who ever forged a mutually beneficial relationship with a restaurant or bar: if you want to have a steady gig, you’ve gotta draw.

Hidden beneath the bustling sidewalks of Asbury Park’s Cookman Avenue corridor, a passionate posse of offbeat art lovers has taken that bit of accepted wisdom to literal, face-value heart — by offering local denizens a genuinely one-of-a-kind diversion; one that speaks in equal measure to expressing one’s soulful self, while indulging in a healthy bit of masquerade and make-believe.

Presented year-round, on the third Wednesday evening of each month, the communal drawing sessions of Dr. Sketchy’s Asbury Park invite participants of all ages and skillsets to “draw together” in a relaxed and yet wildly vivid setting, equipped with live figure models who are spectacularly outfitted according to each session’s designated theme.

It all happens, colorfully and often oh-so-quietly, in the lower-level Basement Bar of the Bond Street Complex, that interconnected colony of rendez-vous accessible via the Bond Street Bar, Capitoline (Cookman Ave.), or Loteria (Mattison Ave.). With sessions starting at 6:30 pm (and lasting approximately three hours, including breaks), the events are neither sober instructional classes nor merlot-marinated Paint ‘N Sips, but a place where — in the words of Carly-Jean Booker — “some super crazy talented people can work alongside people who just want to work on their skills, with a little friendly competition, but no critiquing and no pressure.”

 As the leader and public face of the Asbury Park group’s Team Sketchy, the arts aficionado who goes by the name CJ Mars maintains a “passion project” that’s loosely but officially affiliated with the original Dr. Sketchy events — the popular sessions that began in NYC, and subsequently spread to major cities across the U.S. and several other foreign shores. Call her “Doctor” if you must (in a way that suggests a Dr. Who-like regeneration process that ensures the long-term survival of the Sketchy franchise) — but as CJ sees it, she and her Team mates Tracy Coon, Celia Connaire, and Amanda Mercadante are not only offering their fellow New Jerseyans entree to a genuine international phenomenon (the Asbury chapter is currently the only regularly operating one in the Garden State), but carrying on in the spirit of the local chapter’s founder, Tim Lucas.

Organizing Sketchy sessions in the earlier years of the decade at various venues like the Jenn Hampton-era Asbury Lanes, Lucas made a late-innings convert in Carly-Jean, who “started attending in March 2015, and began to go almost religiously, it affected me so much.”

“I have a BFA in graphic design, and I was always into art, although not really figure drawing,” says the designer in the Ocean County library system. “Knowing people in the Burlesque scene, and getting involved with belly dance, I had friends who got me into some cool things…but I had never seen anything like this. It helped get me out of my shell!”

When Lucas stepped aside from his Doctorly duties, Stephanie Wolter kept the local group going in sessions at the Belmar Arts Council — but a move away from the area left the Shore chapter at sea, until CJ and company stepped in with the determination that “no way are we going to give this up…this has to go on.” And in October 2017 — two years ago this week — Team Sketchy hosted their first event; a Halloween themed offering centered around Witches and Warlocks.

LIVE THEATER? IT’S NO ZOMBIE ART FORM

Dan Lauria of TV’s WONDER YEARS is among the actors, directors and playwrights taking part in a Theater Brut Festival of Short Plays this weekend in West End…while Ray Dademo and Frank Falisi star as the brothers Mizner, when Ocean Grove’s NENAproductions takes on Stephen Sondheim’s rarely seen ROAD SHOW.

Published in The Coaster (Asbury Park, NJ) and The Link (Long Branch, NJ), October 3, 2019

On a weekend when the Zombie hordes lurch once more along the boards and boulevards of Asbury Park (and the force of nature known as Shatner walks the land, and a couple of veteran Springsteen bandmates play a free concert), a couple of seemingly unrelated happenings serve to remind us that — when it comes to resolutely original, routine-breaking, risk-taking live theater — this place sits squarely within the Land of the Living.

In fact, with more professional and semipro companies active in the area than at any time in recent memory — and several more ambitious fledgling troupes prepping for their turn in the spotlight (Asbury Park Theater, Dromio Theater, and Shore Thing Improv — about which more to come in this space), those who branded the art form a “fabulous invalid” in general, and a walking-dead issue on the local front, have to up and admit that the live local stage is most definitely No Country for Old Zombies.

THE SCENT OF BRUT

The French defined “Art Brut” (“raw” or “outsider” art) as a creative work that “colors outside the lines” of socially accepted, polite, or even legal norms — and while “Theatre Brut” as practiced by the folks at New Jersey Repertory Company is done entirely according to copyright law, Equity rules, and public permit, the (more or less) annual festival of that name represents an opportunity for the Long Branch-based company to assemble an allstar team of their favorite frequent-flyer guest artists — having fun, and playing fast-and-loose with expectations, in a way that allows actors, directors, and playwrights to invade each others’ wheelhouse.

Going up for four separate sessions between tonight, October 3 and Sunday, October 6, the 2019 Theater Brut Festival of Short Plays presents 16 never before seen works, loosely collected under the assigned theme “Some Like It Hot.”

It’s the eighth such event presented by NJ Rep co-founders SuzAnne and Gabor Barabas, and the third to be hosted inside the West End Arts Center, the reborn and repurposed elementary school building (occupying a whole city block worth of Long Branch’s West End neighborhood) that’s the subject of some truly ambitious plans for future seasons. It’s also the centerpiece of the latest West End Festival of the Arts, a five-day fling that kicked off Wednesday night with an all-star poetry reading hosted by poet/ educator/ editor/ musician Daniel Weeks and his magazine This Broken Shore (there are also concurrent visual art and photo exhibits on display for the duration of the weekend).

As with previous years’ themes (some of which have included “The Seven Deadly Sins,” “The Circus Comes to Town,” and “America’s Pastime”), playwrights are invited to submit scripts that interpret the given title in any number of ways — and, as SuzAnne Barabas explains, the concept of “Hot” has inspired the authors to deal with topics that range from sexual relationships, to climate change — and even “elements from the movie Some Like It Hot, like gangsters and drag!”

And, as is the custom, those playwrights are a diverse lot, ranging from award-winning veterans to newcomers — and even a couple of scribes who are more familiar as faces on our nation’s TV screens.

NJ REP GOES BACK IN THE USSR…AND DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE

L-R: Steve Brady, Benjamin Satchel, Andrea Gallo, and Amie Bermowitz star in the NJ Repertory Company production of D.W. Gregory’s MEMOIRS OF A FORGOTTEN MAN, opening this weekend. (Photos by Andrea Phox)

Published in The Coaster (Asbury Park, NJ) and The Link (Long Branch, NJ), August 15, 2019

In the 2018 feature film The Death of Stalin, a cast of veteran comic character players (including Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor, and Monty Python’s Michael Palin) has a blast detailing the often murderous machinations of a group of Russian Communist Party insiders, each one jockeying for top dog status after the longtime dictator Joseph Stalin drops dead on the carpet.

As D.W. Gregory reminds us, however, the transition between the uniformed Soviet strongman Stalin and the Cold War regime of the bullet-headed, business-suited Nikita Kruschev wasn’t exactly a barrel of laughs — not for the various party functionaries who feared they were on the wrong side of history’s gun barrel, nor for the “ordinary people, who really aren’t political themselves…but who get caught up in massive political upheaval, when society is completely re-ordered.”

The award winning playwright who makes her home these days in West Virginia has been spending a good deal of time in the beachier setting of Long Branch in recent weeks, observing rehearsals of the New Jersey Repertory Company production of her script Memoirs of a Forgotten Man. Described as a work that “wrestles with the idea of public memory…and deals with what happens when a regime rewrites history,” the play opens this weekend as the latest offering at NJ Rep’s branded playhouse on downtown Broadway.

Going up for a pair of preview performances beginning tonight, August 15, the drama is also the latest in a long line of partnerships with the National New Play Network, the organization through which nonprofit theaters like NJ Rep share in the “rolling world premiere” of a featured show, which is produced in several member locales, each with its own director and cast.

While the Long Branch-based professional troupe has often been first out of the box with NNPN shows, in this case Memoirs has been seen by audiences in West Virginia (at Shepherd University’s Contemporary American Theater Festival), and upstate New York (at Shadowland Stages in Ellenville). And, as the playwright (who has had two of her earlier scripts become fully staged productions at NJ Rep) sees it, that’s a good thing.

“As a writer who likes to stay involved with my work, I get to refine the script as it moves from theater to theater…which is great,” she says. “I actually wrote this play with NJ Rep in mind…I often think of their space when I’m writing…and I have to say I was a little dubious about the first production, which took place in a 400 seat house, although they did an amazing job with it!”

Moving back and forth in time between the 1930s era when Stalin cemented his grip on absolute power, and the space-age span of Kruschev, Memoirs of a Forgotten Man displays the signature fascination with 20th century history that served the veteran journalist well in past works like her celebrated Radium Girls (and particularly October 1962, the tense period piece that brought the Cuban Missile Crisis to the NJ Rep home front in 2004). There’s also an implicit parallel to our own American moment, in which the concept of “fake news” and some time-tested tenets of propaganda have combined with some previously unimaginable teechnologies to create a cultural environment in which (as she observed on the Shepherd University website) “we’re losing our grip on realiity because we can’t agree on the fundamentals of facts themselves.”

According to Gregory, “I had the idea for the play well before the 2016 presidential campaign…things like Fox News and Alex Jones, Infowars were on my mind…but I didn’t have a story to hang it on.” That all changed, however, when the author “stumbled across” two books that would bring the project into sharp focus.

REG IS MAKIN A GLORIOUS NOISE, AT 4-DAY MUSIC FEST

REG SATANA of Defiance Engine and 19DRT (photo by Judi Hull)

Published in The Coaster (Asbury Park, NJ) and The Link (Long Branch, NJ), May 16, 2019

Although there doesn’t seem to be such a thing as a traditionally recommended gift for a 31st anniversary — most sources have it as somewhere between pearl and coral — that’s hardly any excuse for music fans to skip the momentous milestone occasion unfolding on the famous stage of a landmark rock bar this weekend. In fact, the official designation of the first annual Makin Waves Fest can be regarded as a Year One celebration that merits a gift of paper — namely, the legal-tender currency that allows access to one of the must-see events of the season.

The occasion is the latest birthday for the beloved baby of entertainment journalist Bob Makin — which is to say Makin Waves, the long-running, award-winning music column that appears in The Aquarian Weekly, New Jersey Stage and other Jersey-based outlets. The veteran news reporter has staked out a ringside seat for every significant development on the Shore scene throughout the past few decades; interviewing scores of music makers, promoting live shows, and in the process helping to raise many thousands of dollars for children’s charities, arts education, community food banks, and other non-profit entities.

This time out, the designated beneficiary is one that’s unabashedly close to home, as the inaugural Makin Waves Fest is a “Save the Wave” endeavor designed to help the multi-media venture “sustain itself due to a lack of revenue and funds.” To that end, Makin has partnered with a panorama of co-sponsors (including Wave Resort, BlowUpRadio.com, and Tito’s Vodka, facilitator of featured drink specials for the four-day fest) — in addition to primary host venue The Brighton Bar, the Long Branch-based outpost of the innovative and fiercely indie that carried the torch of original music, when other stages had gone dark, or surrendered to the demands of the cover-band dinosaurs and the disco ball. Under the stewardship of co-owner, public schoolteacher and seasoned punk rocker Greg Macolino, the West End wonder at 121 Brighton Avenue soldiers on into our strange new century; staying connected to its own wall-of-fame legacy, even as it nurtures another new generation of bands, off-beat comics, and other vanguard vaudevillians.

Look closer at Makin’s list of event partners and you’ll notice the banner of “Reg Satana Presents,” a name that denotes the (more or less) official entry into the band booking biz for a figure who is herself no stranger to the Brighton stage: thunderdome drummer, record label exec, pop culture authority and supermom Reg “Satana” Hogan.

“Bob suggested that I help him line up bands for the Saturday show,” explains the scene stalwart whose extensive resume includes stints with fondly recalled bands like Dimebag, Solarized, Freak Theater, and the nationally renowned Daisycutter. “I was happy to do it, since I’ve done some occasional shows at The Saint, and I’m glad to be playing it…twice!”

Reg (whose stage name pays tribute to the late great Tura Satana, one-of-a-kind star of the 1960s cinema classic Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!) appears as a member of two distinct power trios, during the May 18 multi-band blitz that kicks off at 3 pm. The surgically jagged noise-rock incursions of Defiance Engine find the drummer teaming with her husband, bassist-vocalist Jim “Rex” Hogan (with whom she co-founded the now-legendary 1980s/90s label Heat Blast Records), as well as with guitarist Rich Walter. It should be noted that, in addition, to their string-throttling skills, the two guys in the band are ace administrators of a pair of must-view Facebook groups for likeminded fans: Rich as curator of NJ Hardcore Reunion, and Rex as all-seeing watcher over the ever-growing online community known as Noise Rock Now!

The drumminatrix returns to the driver’s seat with the more recently minted 19DRT (a semiprivate-joke reference to a person or thing being so old, that they date back to the year “19-dirt”), in which “I play ‘Sammy’ to my fellow Rat Packers, Frank (Burdynski) and Dean (Monjoy).” Flexing her promoter muscles — and tying in to the day’s theme of bands who boast a connection to the fabled history of the Brighton — Reg also brings aboard the five-piece Full On Empty (featuring Keith Ackerman of The Atomic Bitchwax) and Solace (featuring Tommy Southard and Rob Hultz of the high-profile national recording act Godspeed).

STRINGBEAN ON BOARD-WAY: A SUMMER SIGNIFIER TAKES IT OUTSIDE

Published in The Coaster (Asbury Park, NJ) and The Link (Long Branch, NJ), May 9, 2019

It’s as sure a signifier of the summertime season as “Event Rate” parking: every Monday evening, from the cherry-blossom bosom of May and right on through the October moon of the Great Pumpkin,  the herringboned hardwoods of the Asbury Park Boardwalk bear witness to a ritual that’s as much about the Joy as it is about the Blues — a ceremony that summons a devoted group of followers, even as it draws unsuspecting passersby into a spell that’s “loose, danceable, with a lot less pressure to enjoy yourself.”

The speaker of these spells is blues harmonica ace, guitarist, singer, songwriter and bandleader Ken “Stringbean” Sorensen — and these revels in the foothills of the working week are the Monday night meetings of Stringbean and the Boardwalk Social Club, a tradition that inaugurated its ninth consecutive season at Marilyn Schlossbach’s Langosta Lounge on May 6. Scheduled to take place inside the waterfront restaurant for its first few weeks, the freewheeling (and free of cover charge) session is expected to hit the boards, on the oceanside patio between Langosta and the adjoining AP Yacht Club, by Memorial Day Monday if weather cooperates.

With his signature knit cap, and his hard-earned bona fides as a retired New York harbor pilot, the lanky Stringbean has the air of a guy who’s not afraid to work in “any and every kind of weather” — and indeed, the veteran of countless open-air festivals, beach jams and street fairs has already notched his first outdoor gig of the season, during last weekend’s Asbury Park Alive! fest. Pronounced “a big success” by Sorensen, the inaugural slate of health and eco-themed displays, speakers, bands and activities coordinated by the Alliance for a Healthier Asbury Park — during which Springwood/Lake Avenue was closed to vehicular traffic between Springwood Park and the boardwalk — traced its origins to an endeavor that’s long been near and dear to the musician’s heart: the effort to create a more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly community.

“Asbury’s on the right track, as far as becoming a walkable, bikeable city,” says Sorensen, himself an early member of the Complete Streets Coalition, the grass-roots group that advocates for bicycle safety. “It’s a progressive city with some wealth behind it, and a lot of people who bike for recreation, or as their main form of transportation.”

A particular pet cause for the busy  music maker has been the ongoing state-run project to place Asbury Park’s Main Street/ Route 71 on a “road diet,” with the previous four-lane layout reconfigured as two motor vehicle lanes, a central turning lane, and dedicated bicycle lanes for both northbound and southbound riders. While the project has inspired its share of detractors, Sorensen emerged as a clear and avid supporter from the get-go; writing letters to the local media, lobbying public officials, and taking every opportunity to state his case that “this is going to improve everyone’s quality of life…it’s a lot of work, but when it’s done, it’s gonna be great.”

Just in case there were any lingering doubts as to whether Stringbean “bikes the bike” as well as he talks the talk, check out Bike Riddim, the documentary that made its debut at the 2018 Asbury Park Music and Film Festival — and that made Stringbean a star of the (hyperlocal) silver screen.

Following Sorensen throughout a gig-packed summer of 2017, filmmaker (and fellow bike enthusiast) Sarah Galloway painted a portrait of an artist-activist who favors the pedal-powered two wheeler as his preferred mode of transport to all of his regular engagements, including a residency at Belmar’s Ragin’ Cajun restaurant that’s been a Sunday night fixture for 25 years.

A SURFING REPORT, FROM AN ARTIST WITH SHOWBIZ IN HER DNA

Playwright and performer Jodi Long brings the showbiz pedigree and the backstory to the stage of New Jersey Repertory Company, with the East Coast premiere of SURFING MY DNA. Photo courtesy of NJ Repertory Co.

Published in The Coaster (Asbury Park, NJ) and The Link (Long Branch, NJ), May 2, 2019

STAGES: SURFING MY DNA at New Jersey Repertory Company

While she wasn’t literally birthed in a dressing room, Jodi Long could qualify as what might have once been called a “trunk baby” — a child born into a hard-touring showbiz family, and seemingly predestined to carry on the family business.

“My parents were entertainers, dating back to before I was born, so I grew up backstage,” explains the stage/screen actress who’s perhaps most familiar as Margaret Cho’s mom on the sitcom All American Girl, and as  Steve Byrne‘s mom on the series Sullivan and Son. “They would pull out a drawer in whatever place they were staying, and that was my crib.”

Prior to making her Broadway debut at age 7 in a show directed by Sidney Lumet, young Jodi hit the road with her folks — Australian-born singer-comedian “Larry” Long and Japanese-American dancer Kimiye “Trudy” Long — as the veteran show people plied their trade at nightclubs ranging from their NYC home base, to the “Chop Suey Circuit” of the Bay Area, with the high point of their decades-spanning career being an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The story of the act known as “Larry and Trudy Leung” — and the experiences of the daughter who had a ringside seat to the showbiz life in her pre-school years — forms the basis of Surfing My DNA, the autobiographical theatrical piece that makes its East Coast debut this weekend at New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch.  Accompanied onstage by musician Yukio Tsuji, Long returns to the downtown Broadway playhouse (where she appeared last year as part of a stellar ensemble of seasoned character actors in Fern Hill) with a retooled version of a work that she first performed in Los Angeles in 2006.

Using music, humor, and her own considerable toolbox of talents, the playwright-performer tells the tale of a marriage and a vanished lifestyle; bolstered by highs like an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show— and haunted by such experiences as Trudy’s time in a Japanese-American internment camp.