Thursday, August 19, 2010 7:00 PM

Seaside Concert Series
Asser Levy Park, Brooklyn

It has been said that the B-52s are as quintessentially American as the Beach Boys. And twenty-five years and over twenty million albums into their career, the B-52s remain the among the most beloved rock stars ever. Any mystery concerning the longevity and ongoing appeal of the B-52s is immediately solved when exposed to the B-52s unique concert experience.

From the timeless gems of “Rock Lobster,” “Planet Claire” and “Private Idaho” to the more recent classics of “Channel Z,” “Love Shack” and “Roam”, the B-52s unforgettable

dance-rock tunes start a party every time the music begins. Formed on an October night in 1976 following drinks at an Athens, GA, Chinese restaurant, the band played their first gig at a friend’s house on Valentine’s Day 1977.

Naming themselves after Southern slang for exaggerated ‘bouffant” hairdos, the newly-christened B-52s (Fred Schneider, Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, Cindy Wilson and Ricky Wilson) began weekend road trips to New York City for gigs at CBGB’s and a handful of other venues.

Before long, their thrift store aesthetic and genre-defying songs were the talk of the post-punk underground. A record deal soon followed and their self-titled debut disc, produced by Chris Blackwell, sold more than 500,000 copies on the strength of their first singles, the garage rock party classic “Rock Lobster,” and “52 Girls.”

The B-52s began to attract fans far beyond the punk clubs of the Lower East Side–galvanizing the pop world with their ’stream-of-consciousness’ approach to songwriting and outrageous performance. They had clearly tapped into a growing audience for new music that was much larger than anyone could have anticipated.

“We always appealed to people outside the mainstream,” says Kate Pierson, “and I think more people feel they’re outside the mainstream these days.”

Hollywood native Belinda Carlisle was and occasionally still is the lead vocalist for the pop rock band The Go-Go’s and is also a phenomenally successful solo artist.

After the initial breakup of The Go-Go’s in 1985, Belinda embarked on a solo career resulting in six internationally successful albums and the chart-topping hit “Heaven is a Place on Earth.” The video for that song was directed by Diane Keaton and included an appearance by Belinda’s husband Morgan Mason, son of actor James Mason. Belinda’s TV appearances include Celebrity Duets, the MTV competition reality show Rock the Cradle and the eighth season of Dancing with the Stars. Her autobiography, Lips Unsealed: A Memoir, was released in June of 2010.

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Thursday, August 5, 2010 7:30 PM

Seaside Concert Series
Asser Levy Park, Brooklyn

Born John Stephens in Springfield, Ohio, on December 28, 1978, the American pop/soul singer-songwriter-performer-social activist John Legend was still attending the University of Pennsylvania when Lauryn Hill invited him to play piano on “Everything is Everything,” from her Grammy-winning solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. John quickly established a reputation as an in-demand session player, adding his distinctive vocal and/or piano stylings to recordings by Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Kanye West (who signed Legend to his R&B/hip-hop label) and others.

Released on his 26th birthday (December 28 2004), John Legend’s debut album, Get Lifted, rocketed to #4 on the Billboard Top 200 and became America’s #1 Top R&B/Hip-Hop album in January 2005. A critical and commercial triumph, Get Lifted earned John an astounding eight Grammy nominations — he won Best New Artist, Best Male R&B Vocal Performance (“Ordinary People”) and Best R&B album — while selling more than three million copies worldwide.

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Thursday, July 29, 2010 7:30 PM

Seaside Concert Series
Asser Levy Park, Brooklyn

After 35 years as “The World Greatest Bar Band,” George Thorogood & The Destroyers are still bad to the bone.

Formed in Delaware in the early 1970s, the band’s raucous, slide guitar-stoked, blues-rock takes on tunes by Chuck Berry, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley and others helped them audiences across the country with their raucous take on classic urban rock and blues.

Their first hit was “Move It On Over,” an amped-up cover of a Hank Williams tune, and they broke big with the immortal rocker “Bad to the Bone,” the title track from their

gold-certified 1982 album. That song has been a perennial favorite, featured in everything from James Cameron’s Terminator to a Wrangler’s commercial starring Bret Favre.

Their 2004 gold-certified compilation, “Greatest Hits: 30 Years of Rock,” was Billboard’s Blues Album of the Year two years running. Just last year, the band released “The Dirty Dozen,” which paired six new studio recordings with six classic fan favorites and drew raves from fans and critics alike. The Destroyers were the first, and perhaps the only, band to perform in 50 states in 50 days.

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes have flourished for more than 30 years, with 30 albums, EPs and a box set; thousands of live performances around the globe; a legion of dedicated and enthusiastic fans; dozens of classic songs; and a record – Hearts of Stone – that Rolling Stone called one of the “top 100 albums of the 70’s and 80’s.”

Born and raised on the Jersey Shore, Southside started out singing and playing at the now legendary Upstage Club, often joined by pals Bruce Springsteen, “Miami Steve” Van Zandt, and Garry Tallent. Southside and his band, eventually called the Asbury Jukes, grew their reputation as a dynamic live act.

Southside Johnny

In 1975, they released the critically acclaimed I Don’t Want To Go Home, and a legend began. Over three decades of recording and touring followed. Since 1999, Johnny and the Jukes have released Messin’ With The Blues, Going To Jukesville, Into The Harbour and a live album. A new live record and a studio record are in the works.

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Thursday July 22, 2010 7:30 PM

Seaside Concert Series
Asser Levy Park, Brooklyn

You can capsulize most pop music acts by reciting how many hits they’ve had and how many millions of albums they’ve sold. But these conventional measurements fall short when you’re assessing the impact of The Beach Boys. To be sure, this band has birthed a torrent of hit singles and sold albums by the tens of millions. But its greater significance lies in the fact that it changed the musical landscape so profoundly that every pop act since has been in its debt.

Happily for us all, The Beach Boys continue to create and perform with the same bold imagination and style that marked their explosive debut 40 years ago. And now in

2006, their latest Capitol Records release, Sounds of Summer (RIAA certified double platinum with over two million in sales and climbing), marks a resurgence in Beach Boys interest that has again rocked the world.

Flo & Eddie (Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman)’s 1960s hits with The Turtles included the #1 hit “Happy Together,” “She’d Rather Be With Me,” “Elenore” and “It Ain’t Me, Babe.”

Micky Dolenz sang lead on the Monkees’ #1 singles “Last Train to Clarksville” and “I’m a Believer.” The group sold more than 65 million records worldwide.

Mark Lindsay is the former lead singer and co-founder of Paul Revere & the Raiders, and was the voice on 17 Top 40 hits, including “Kicks,” “Hungry” and “Arizona.”

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Thursday July 15 7:30 PM

Seaside Concert Series
Asser Levy Park, Brooklyn

The history of Rock N’ Roll would be incomplete without the innumerable contributions of Neil Sedaka. For over fifty years, Neil has written, performed, produced, and inspired countless songs, and his canon of compositions will continue to stand the test of time.

Neil Sedaka was born on March 13, 1939. Neil’s interest in music began at the young age of four, when he would listen to The Make-Believe Ballroom. But, it was not Rock and Roll, but Classical music that would shape Neil into the musician he is today. By the time he was eight years old, he had already begun his intensive classical piano training at the prestigious Julliard School of Music.

At 16, Arthur Rubenstein voted Neil as one of the best New York High School pianists. Though Neil considered pursuing a Doctorate in music, Neil’s next choice became his chosen vocation.

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She was an original “rocker” in the sixties.. A true superstar in the seventies .. Her talent topped the country charts in the eighties … She became a living legend in the nineties.

It seems like Brenda Lee has been around forever… It certainly does seem that way. . .! It could be because her hit records have become timeless standards… It could also be simply because she has been performing since she was 7 years old. When she was 12, she was on the Grand Ole Opry with Elvis Presley … he was 22! Before she turned 20, The Beatles were her opening act!

At 54, she has accomplished what most performers only dream of… And today, Brenda Lee is still coming on strong to sold-out audiences worldwide!

MLK Concert Series
Wingate Field, Brooklyn
 
July 12 – George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic, The Ohio Players 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Seaside Concert Series
Asser Levy Park, Brooklyn
 
July 15 – Neil Sedaka, Brenda Lee
July 22 – The Beach Boys, The Turtles, The Monkees, Mark Lindsay
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Find more free Summer concerts with the Free Concert Calendar

The 31st Annual Seaside Summer Concert Series had Surf Ave in Coney Island rocking this past Summer with big name acts. The most popular concert of the series, and of the Summer, was the August 13 performance of Blondie, Pat Benatar, and The Donnas. Hall & Oates, Creedence Clearwater Revisited, Mountain, John Sebastian, Gladys Knight, The O’Jay’s, Frankie Valli, and Donna Summer all had a chance to re-connect with their long time fans and reach new ones.

Blondie – Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough (Michael Jackson Tribute)

Donna Summer

Hall & Oates

Thursday August 27 7:00 PM

The 31st Annual Seaside Summer Concert Series
Asser Levy Park
at West 5th Street and Surf Avenue
Coney Island, NY

An artist who once defined the ’70s pop music generation as the “Queen of Disco,” Donna Summer has become one of the world’s leading singers and songwriters. The career of the five-time Grammy-winner spans a range of musical genres from R&B and rock to inspirational and dance.

Born Donna Gaines to a large family in Boston, she developed an early interest in music. From the age of eight, Summer sang in church choirs and city-wide choruses, and by her early twenties she began performing in the musical theatre in Germany. While there, she won parts in such highly-acclaimed shows as Hair, Showboat, Godspell, and Porgy and Bess.

She also met producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte who produced her first single, Hostage, which became a hit in the Netherlands, France and Belgium.

In 1975, Moroder and Bellotte produced the international hit, Love to Love You Baby which rose to #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and triggered Summer’s triumphant return to the United States as a key figure of the new disco genre. Love to Love You Baby paved the way for such Grammy-award winning hits as Bad Girls and Hot Stuff as well as the Academy-award winning theme song Last Dance from the film Thank God It’s Friday, which remains a shining moment of Summer’s career. (Source)

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