Freehold Poised for Rock Stardom

Songwriter Jo Wymer Introduces the Legends & Lyrics Series to Freehold this weekend.

In a number of stories over the past few weeks, we've been following a growing interest in live music in Freehold Borough that has brought singer-songwriters to the gazebo, punk bands to Zebu, talent searches to the Hall of Records, and major names in classic rock to our little town.

Freehold, it seems, is making a rock comeback.

The birthplace of Springsteen is pushing to become the re-birthplace of rock in Western Monmouth County, and at the forefront of that mission is local musician Jo Wymer, a blues guitarist and singer-songwriter who is organizing a new event kicking off this Sunday at Zebu: The Legends and Lyrics Songwriters Series.

We got the chance to chat with Wymer, 43, of Freehold, about how this series will help transform Freehold Borough into a live music hub:

FinJ: Okay, let's do the nuts and bolts. What is the Legends and Lyrics Songwriters Series and who will be playing?

Mad Dog

Wymer: It's basically a showcase for big names in Jersey Shore music to gather an intimate audience, perform, and explain where that song came from, and why it came about--who inspired it and what style it is.

This Sunday, we picked five songwriters-- four big-name Jersey Shore music  guys and me, who've been around the music scene here for forty or fifty years. We all have different styles of music but write from similarly personal places, about relationships or broken hearts or personal pain.

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The Nerds To Perform Sept. 18

Freehold Borough will be able to hang onto summer just a little bit longer than the rest of the state this yera. The summer concert series will be extended to September 18, when the Nerds will take the stage in the Hall of Records parking lot from 7-9 P.M.m.

The famous funnymen from New Jersey tour the country playing covers of classic rock, R&B, soul, and pretty much anything else you can think of. They're famous for their "Sweet Caroline" sing-a-long, their nerdy outfits, and their Monty Python-style sense of humor on stage.

The concert was originally scheduled for August but was cancelled due to thunderstorms. The scheduling geniuses at the Freehold Center Partnership worked to reschedule the concert as soon as possible, and the show will close out the summer series for 2009.

Classic Rock Comes to Freehold

The Wings' guitarist Denny Laine

The Freehold Center Partnership has just announced a rockin' September concert to be held in the Hall of Records parking lot: Denny Laine, former guitarist of Wings, and Terry Sylvester, former guitarist and singer for the Hollies.

Terry Slyvester of the Hollies

The classic rock duo will take the stage on Friday, September 11, at 7:30 P.M. to play hits from the 60s and 70s, when both musicians spent time touring and playing with the Beatles.

After playing lead guitar for the 60s-era Moody Blues, Laine left to cofound Wings with ex-Beatle Paul McCartney and his wife Linda. The three were the only members to remain in the band until it broke up in 1980, following world tours, 14 Top Ten singles in the US, and the hit song, "Mull of Kintyre."

Slyvester, meanwhile, founded his first band The Escorts in Liverpool, England in the early 1960s and played many local shows with the Beatles around Liverpool. In 1969, Sylvester replaced Graham Nash (of Crosby, Stills, and Nash) in the Hollies, and later recorded solo albums at Abbey Road Studios with famed producer Allen Parsons.

Freehold is Rockin’

Downtown Freehold loves to boogie. For the musically-inclined, the rest of this week offers daily opportunities to get your dance on.

Tonight: Freehold Idol FinalsTonight is week two of the Idol Finale for the 15-22 age group. Come see favorites you've been tracking from the beginning, plus special guest performances. There's only one week of Idol left this summer after this, so get your Cowell-knockoff while you can.

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Is Freehold Ready To Rock?

It's a sunny Thursday night in Freehold, and Ryan Timmons is ready to put his plan into action. The dinner crowd at Zebu Forno is pleasant and altogether unsuspecting, picking over salads, pizza, paninis. But a tattooed, bearded, and smiling Timmons stands over them, smirking knowingly at what is to come.

At 30, Timmons has worked at music venues and bars all around the Jersey Shore before becoming manager of Zebu when it opened here in February. Now, he is passionate about bringing cool, young bands to kids in a town where there's not much of an edgy music scene for the younger demographic.

"We're going to start a rock revolution," Timmons declares, with more than a hint of rock-stardom-dreaming in his voice. He'll put on two shows a week-Thursdays and Sundays-with bands from the area. Right now, he says, "it takes a lot of homework to find these bands." But he's just getting started.

As the sun sinks over Main Street just out the window, crowds of summertime diners and strollers mill just beyond Zebu's French doors. Preppy-looking teenage girls finish paninis and bottled waters, and a couple seated at the window-bar sip white wine, watching South Street as the Freehold workday comes to an end and its mellow nightlife begins. Café life hums along quietly.

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