June
2002
DOWNTOWN
NEWS BITS
Progressive
Rock Festival sells out War Memorial in 45 minutes
The
fourth annual NEARfest 2002 sold out its 1851 tickets within 45
minutes of going on sale. The incredibly rapid sellout of a hall
nearly twice the size used for NEARfest 2001 is a major indication
that progressive rock is growing in appeal among music fans, and
that major mainstream notice of this phenomenon is imminent. The
two-day event moved this year from it original home in Bethlehem,
Pa.
Headlining
the Saturday session is Nektar, the legendary psychedelic progressive
band with its original lineup and special guest Larry Fast. On
Sunday world-renowned progressive rock guitar icon Steve Hackett
will event will be the main attraction. Also included in the line-up
are progressive rock bands Echolyn, Caravan, Isildurs Bane, Enchant,
Meriodor, Gerard, Spaced Out, and La Torre Dell'Alchimista.
Rob
Laduca, president and co-founder of NEARfest, said, "Remarkably,
NEARfest has outgrown its second venue in only three years. In
March, [we] sought a bigger home for this growing phenomenon.
After visiting a number of theatres in the Northeast, we settled
on the splendidly renovated Trenton War Memorial Theatre. With
pristine acoustics, beautiful, historic grounds, an enormous amount
of room for CD vendors and catering, super-friendly theater management,
and supportive city and state government, the War Memorial won
the competition hands down."
The
adjacent Lafayette Yard Marriott Conference Hotel is also sold
out for the weekend. For more information visit www.nearfest.com.
Conduit
Nightclub to host pre-NEARfest concert
The
Laser's Edge and Cuneiform Records will present a pre-NEARfest
concert at Trenton's Conduit club on Friday, June 28 at 7:30 p.m.
featuring performances by Free Electric Sound/The Laser's Edge
artists McGill/Manring/Stevens and Cuneiform artists Doctor Nerve.
McGill/Manring/Stevens
brings together three jazz-fusion virtuosos who display jaw dropping
technical ability laced with hooks, melodies, and odd metered
rhythms. Their recent album "Addition by Subtraction"
is destined to become a classic for fans of heavy progressive
rock, metal, and fusion.
Doctor
Nerve is an unlikely meeting ground between heavy metal, "thrashcore"
and art rock, featuring guitar maestro Nick Didkovsky along with
a heavy brass presence. They play some of the densest, heaviest,
most unclassifiable and most intricately composed music imaginable,
sure to please adventurous progressive rock fans.
Tickets
for this showcase are $12 and are available via Ticketmaster.com
and by phone at (215) 336-2000. Only 400 tickets will be made
available.
Times
sponsors "Plum Evening" at Marsilio's with author Evanovich
Best-selling author Janet Evanovich, whose crime-fighting heroine,
Stephanie Plum, is a resident of Trenton, will be dining at Marsilio's
Restaurant on June 22 with five lucky winners of "The Times
Janet Evanovich Contest." Deadline for entries is June 7.
See a copy of the Times of Trenton for additional details.
Winners will be treated to an evening with the author and a five-course
"Tuscany Feast" provided by Marsilio's, a Chambersburg
restaurant. Winners will also receive an autographed copy of Ms.
Evanovich's most recent novel, Hard Eight.
Annual
garden tour a sign of spring in Mill Hill
The Eleventh Annual Mill Hill Garden Tour is slated for June 8,
2002, from noon until 6 p.m, rain or shine. The walking tours
include 20 houses and historic sites in the Mill Hill national
historic district whose origins go back to 1679 when Quakers build
the first grist mill on the banks of the Assunpink Creek. Tours
are self-guided so that participants can proceed at their own
pace. Maps are provided.
The Mill Hill Garden Tour is one of a series of annual events
and initiatives that the Old Mill Hill Society sponsors every
year. Events include lectures on preservation and the history
of the neighborhood; a flea market; an exhibit showing the progress
of restoration in Mill Hill; and a fundraising campaign to initiate
ambitious, public space improvements.
Advance tickets are $8 and are available at Joe's Mill Hill Saloon,
Friends Gift Shop at the N.J. State Museum, Rhinehart-Fischer
Gallery, Trenton Bagel Shop and Urban Word Café. "Day
of" tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Mill Hill
Playhouse. Free parking is available.
For
more information or to purchase tickets before the day of the
tour, e-mail the Old Mill Hill Society at info@oldmillhillsociety.org
ESPN
Radio 1680 changes programming from sports to multicultural
WTTM-AM ESPN Radio 1680, the former radio home of the Trenton
Thunder, changed its format from all-sports to multicultural following
the sale of the station from Nassau Broadcasting L.P. to Multicultural
Broadcasting L.P. of New York.
Thunder games will now be heard on WHWH-AM 1350, as well as on
WJHR-AM 1040 out of Flemington, which has changed its format to
ESPN Radio's all-sports offering. There has been some talk, though,
of WHWH eventually going silent, which would mean the Thunder
would be heard only on WJHR.
Thunder and ESPN Radio fans in the Trenton area need not fear
that they will lose their ability to follow their favorite team
or talking heads. Even though WJHR is based in Flemington, the
station's signal is stronger than WTTM's and comes in clearly
throughout most of Mercer County.
Möller
pipe organ to be featured in War Memorial concert
Veteran
organist Lew Williams returns to Patriots Theater and the newly
rededicated Möller pipe organ on Sunday, June 23 at 3 p.m.
to perform a repertoire of great organ works.
The
War Memorial's famous organ was originally installed in Trenton's
renowned Lincoln Theatre in 1928. In 1974, a few years after the
Lincoln Theatre closed its doors, the Möller was moved to
the War Memorial to preserve its place in Trenton's musical history.
There it has been restored and meticulously maintained through
the efforts of the Garden State Theatre Organ Society, who are
the presenters of the show.
Lew Williams has played concerts on many of the USA's finest Theatre
Pipe Organs and has played five concert tours of Great Britain.
In 1988 he appeared in Australia's national theatre organ convention
at Adelaide and he was named "Organist of the Year"
by the American Theatre Organ Society at the 1988 national convention.
Tickets
are $12 for general admission; $10 for seniors and children under
18. For more information call 609-984-8400 or go to http://www.state.nj.us/state/warmemorial.
Pennington
Avenue getting new supermarket
Ground has been broken for the new 54,000-square foot Pennington
Avenue Shopping Village in the northwestern part of the city.
At the groundbreaking announcement that took place at City Hall,
Mayor Doug Palmer was joined by the project's developer, Theodore
Davis, and other participants in the project, as well as government
officials.
According to developers, the shopping center is already 80 percent
leased with a Laundromat, general merchandise retail store, Chinese
restaurant, beauty supply store and a hair and nail salon.
"We
are happy to be able to invigorate the retail environment of Trenton,"
said Mr. Davis.
The mayor noted that the new shopping center will give residents
of the North and West wards the ability to shop in their own communities.
The project required a cooperative effort between the City of
Trenton, Capital Health System and the developer to work through
a land swap. The city provided alternative parking locations for
Capital Health, who occupied a portion of the site.
City
makes health-care service announcements
On May 7, Mayor Douglas H. Palmer hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony
at a new transitional housing and outpatient drug treatment facility
in the city. The official opening of the new Trenton Treatment
Center was held at 56 Escher Street. The building is behind the
single room occupancy facility located at 50 Escher Street.
A week earlier, the City of Trenton and the University of Medicine
and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) announced that they were strengthening
their partnership to provide primary care and behavior health
services to medically underserved populations in Trenton.
The Trenton Treatment Center, to be operated by United Progress,
Inc., will integrate state-of-the-art intensive outpatient drug
treatment with a 24-bed transitional housing unit. It will replace
the old UPI building on East State Street that has been used for
decades as a substance abuse treatment center.
Also, under a plan unveiled at the UMDNJ news conference, Mayor
Doug Palmer said the city will locate a primary care clinic in
the Mercer Trenton Addiction Science Center, joining the behavioral
health services clinic operated by UMDNJ's University Behavior
HealthCare network, which is in the same building.
The City of Trenton applied for and received more than $1.3 million
in grants from the New Jersey Departments of Health and Senior
Services and Community Affairs and the United States Department
of Housing and Urban Development to construct the new transitional
housing facility. The city also used funds from regional contribution
agreements (RCAs) to cover up some of the construction costs.
The city also lobbied the state to provide UPI with additional
funding for support services and operations.
Another source of funding for the facility will come from the
transfer of an addiction treatment grant from the Mercer County
Department of Human Services.
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