John Mayer launches tour in Newark, and more things to do in NJ this weekend
Jersey, are you ready for John?
John Mayer, the Grammy-winning singer/songwriter and modern guitar hero, is launching a solo tour on Saturday at the Prudential Center in Newark.
“I’ll be playing old songs, newer songs. Songs you haven’t heard that I’ll be road testing — all on acoustic, electric and piano,” Mayer said in a statement when the tour was announced in January.
Following the Newark debut, the tour plays Madison Square Garden in New York City on Wednesday, March 15. The 19-date tour ends Friday, April 14, at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.
In addition to the upcoming solo tour, he reunites his blues-rock John Mayer Trio for Love Rocks NYC, a Thursday night concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York City supporting God's Love We Deliver, an organization fighting hunger and malnutrition among children and adults living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other serious illnesses.
Mayer will be back on the road this summer with Grateful Dead legacy act Dead and Company for the band's final tour, with local dates at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Thursday, June 15, and Citi Field in New York City on Wednesday, June 21, and Thursday, June 22.
Go: John Mayer, 8 p.m. Saturday, Prudential Center, 25 Lafayette St., Newark; prucenter.com/events/john-mayer.
Don't forget to vote for your favorite pork roll
Our "Pork Roll Play Off" is heating up with nearly 10,000 voters having participated in the first round.
Don't miss the chance to vote for your favorite Jersey Shore spots this week in the second round, which kicked off Wednesday.
Voting ends this Friday at 11:59 p.m. — one vote permitted per day. Be sure to get your friends and family to vote for your favorite by sharing the matchups on social media with #PorkRollPlayoff.
Johnny's Pork Roll in Red Bank is going head-to-head with Allenwood General Store in Wall; Bing's Deli in Avon is taking on Kelly's Tavern in Neptune City; Frank's Deli in Asbury Park is in battle with Joe's Bagel & Grill (multiple locations); and Beach Shack Deli in Point Pleasant Beach is up against Beckman's Deli in Belmar.
Chris Gethard at Cats Luck Vegan
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: A comedian walks into a vegan bakery…
Comedian, actor and author Chris Gethard, who grew up in West Orange, performs Friday night at Cats Luck Vegan in Neptune City.
Gethard is set to release his latest insightful and touching look at modern fatherhood, the Scribd original “The Lonely Dad Conversations,” in audio book and e-book format on Wednesday, March 22.
“There’s right now a pretty wholesale rejection of the idea that people need to be tough, men need to be tough, kids need to be tough," Gethard told the Asbury Park Press last year. "I think a lot of that is going by the wayside, or at the very least we’re kind of re-examining what toughness means and entails, and what purpose it should serve."
Gethard will be joined by special guest Allie Mae, and Cats Luck will have sweet baked goods available for purchase.
Go: Chris Gethard, 7 p.m. Friday, Cats Luck Vegan, 140 Steiner Ave., Neptune City, $10; catsluckvegan.com.
Brew Jersey comes to Little Dog
More than 40 breweries across six states have participated so far in Brew Jersey, an open-source collaborative craft beer endeavor fighting for legislative change in Trenton.
Launched last year by Icarus Brewing of Lakewood and Brix City Brewing Company of Little Ferry, participating breweries are asked to donate a portion of the proceeds from their iterations of Brew Jersey to the Brewers Guild of New Jersey to support its work advocating for changes to restrictions placed on events and food at breweries by the state’s Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Gretchen Schmidhausler and her Little Dog Brewing Co. will release Rudel, their contribution to the cause, this weekend at her Steiner Avenue tasting room in Neptune City.
A 5% ABV roggenbier, or rye beer, fermented with German yeast named after the German word for “pack,” Rudel is a work of brewing solidarity that Schmidhausler plans to add to the regular rotation at Little Dog. It will be available on draft and in four-packs starting Friday.
Go: Little Dog Brewing Co., 141 Steiner Ave., Neptune City; littledogbrewing.com.
Irish-American Comedy and Film Fleadh in Red Bank
The Basie Center Cinemas in Red Bank is hosting the Irish-American Comedy and Film Fleadh, a festival of short films and live comedy, on Saturday night.
Presented in partnership with the Dublin International Comedy Film Festival, the event incudes short films from this year’s Dublin festival.
There also will be a screening of the television pilot “Love Letters Profiles” from Spring Lake writer Michael Farragher, and a set by Irish comedian Katie Boyle.
Go: Irish-American Comedy and Film Fleadh, 6:30 p.m., Basie Center Cinemas, 36 White St., Red Bank, $28, all ages to enter, 21 and older to drink; thebasie.org.
Monmouth Civic Chorus in Colts Neck
Monmouth Civic Chorus presents "Singing Up a Storm: A Trio of Tempestuous Classics" at 4 p.m. Sunday. The program includes works by Handel and Haydn, as well as Rosephanye Powell’s "The Cry of Jeremiah."
The chorus of 80 voices is joined by a professional orchestra. Guest soloists scheduled to perform include soprano Meg Dudley, mezzo-soprano Kate Maroney, tenor Nickolas Karageorgiou, and bass-baritone Edmund Milly. Artistic Director Ryan James Brandau conducts.
The performance will take place at The Parish of St. Mary, 1 Phalanx Road, Colts Neck. Tickets are $40, $35 for seniors, $20 for students.
Masking is encouraged, but not required.
Go: Monmouth Civic Chorus, 4 p.m. Sunday, March 12, The Parish of St. Mary, 1 Phalanx Road, Colts Neck, $20 to $40; 732-933-9333, monmouthcivicchorus.org.
Bad Bunny birthday party in Asbury Park
Bad Bunny turns 29 on Friday.
So what are you going to do? Hop on over to the Bad Bunny Birthday Bash Friday at the House of Independents in Asbury Park.
“I started the party on a whim,” said DJ Honey Cafe of Brooklyn. “It was OK, give the people what they want. Everybody wants to hear Bad Bunny.”
That includes Asbury Park. Friday’s show is the third time Honey Cafe, aka Cali Gonzalez, has brought the party to the House of Independents.
Bad Bunny, aka Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio of Puerto Rico, is a trailblazer. His 2020 Latin trap and reggaeton album, “El Último Tour Del Mundo,” was the first Spanish language LP to top the Billboard 200.
He’s not slowing down, and neither is Honey Cafe.
“The party has spiraled out of control,” Honey Cafe said. “It’s become really popular and we’re selling out over and over and over again. “
Go: Bad Bunny Birthday Bash, 9 p.m. Friday, House of Independents, 572 Cookman Ave., Asbury Park, $20. houseofindependents.com.
Chris Jordan and Gabriela Laracca contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: New Jersey things to do this weekend include John Mayer in Newark
