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  • Jason Isbell

    A former member of the
    Southern rock outfit Drive by Truckers, Jason Isbell’s solo career has seemed
    effortless, from Sirens of the Ditch (2007) to Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
    (2009), through Here We Rest (2011) and last year’s Live From Alabama. He writes
    open -hearted songs full of storm and drama, bursting with personal truths, and
    echoing with the southern sound of his Alabama upbringing. Embracing his
    newfound sobriety, Isbell next produced an album of haunting atonement and
    redemption, the sparse and impressive Southeastern, which was a critical
    success and commercial breakthrough.

  • Fifty Years of ‘Makin’ This Guitar Talk: A Bruce Springsteen Forum

    Please Note that tickets including lunch are no longer available. You will still be able to purchase lunch separately at the Student Center during the forum or go off campus on your own.

    As a young child in the 1950s, Bruce Springsteen saw Elvis Presley perform on The Ed Sullivan Show, turned towards his mother and said, “I wanna be just…like…that.” It wasn’t until he was a teenager in 1964, however, during the first summer after the British Invasion began to transform U.S. popular culture, that Springsteen took his first serious steps towards a life in music. According to Peter Ames Carlin’s biography BRUCE, that summer he used money earned from painting his aunt’s house to purchase an $18 acoustic guitar, a copy of 100 Greatest American Folk Songs and then “committed himself to mastering the instrument.” Fifty years have passed since that fateful summer, and Bruce Springsteen is now one of popular music’s most beloved, significant and enduring artists.

    The Friends and Monmouth University will sponsor a unique Springsteen-themed forum entitled in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Bruce Springsteen’s first major steps towards becoming a professional musician.
    The structure of the forum will be centered around a series of moderated panel discussions on various Springsteen-related topics, allowing the audience to hear from and interact with a variety of authors and scholars. As of this writing, the confirmed panelists who will be in attendance are:

    Jim Beviglia, Author, Counting Down Bruce Springsteen: His 100 Finest Songs

    Kenneth Campbell, Monmouth University, Author, “Bruce Springsteen, Songs From The Rising, Introduction” to published in Western Civilization in a Global Context: The Modern – Sources and Documents.

    Jonathan D. Cohen, University of Virginia, Managing Editor, BOSS: The Bi-Annual Online Journal of Springsteen Studies

    Donna M. Dolphin, Monmouth University, Contributor, Bruce Springsteen, Cultural Studies, and the Runaway American Dream and Associate Producer, Asbury Park Musical Memories Part 1

    Stan Goldstein, Co-Author, Rock & Roll Tour of the Jersey Shore and Blogger, NJ.com

    Jean Mikle, Co-Author, Rock & Roll Tour of the Jersey Shore and Contributor, Asbury Park Press

    Marianne Murawski, Stockton College, Contributor, Bruce Springsteen and the American Soul

    Christopher Phillips    , Editor/Publisher, Backstreets Magazine & Backstreets.com and Co-Editor, Talk About A Dream: The Essential Interviews of Bruce Springsteen

    Shawn Poole, Contributor, Backstreets Magazine & Backstreets.com

    Holly Cara Price, Contributor, Huffington Post and BruceSpringsteen.net

    Linda K. Randall, Author, Finding Grace in the Concert Hall: Community & Meaning Among Springsteen Fans

    Barry Schneier, Photographer, Monmouth University Exhibition – Glory Bound – Photographs by Barry Schneier

    Special Group Panel of Authors and Co-Publishers of the forthcoming anthology Trouble In The Heartland: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Bruce Springsteen – Jamez Chang, Jen Conley, Mark Krajnak, James Petersen and Chuck Regan

    William I. Wolff, Rowan University, Contributor, BOSS: The Bi-Annual Online Journal of Springsteen Studies

    Azzan Yadin-Israel, Rutgers University, Course Designer/Instructor, Bruce Springsteen’s Theology

    Panel topics, as well as more authors and scholars, will be announced as they are confirmed. Topics currently under consideration include “Bruce Springsteen’s Evolving Relationship With His Audience(s),” “Springsteen’s Best Songs,” “Springsteen & Live Performance,” “Springsteen & Media Through the Years,” etc.

    Panel topics, as well as more authors and scholars, will be announced as they are confirmed. Topics currently under consideration include “Bruce Springsteen’s Evolving Relationship With His Audience(s),” “Springsteen’s Best Songs,” “Springsteen & Live Performance,” “Springsteen & Media Through the Years,” etc.

    Among our confirmed panel moderators is broadcaster Tom Cunningham, creator and host of the long-running weekly Springsteen-themed radio program The Bruce Brunch on 105.7 The Hawk (WCHR-FM.)

    There will be time and space allotted for authors’ book sales/signings.

    The day’s agenda also will include several live performances of Springsteen’s music by students from Monmouth University and Asbury Park, NJ’s Lakehouse Music Academy.

    All ticket-sale proceeds will benefit Monmouth University and Friends of
    The Bruce Springsteen Special Collection.

     

  • Mavis Staples with Nicole Atkins

    There are few living musicians who can lay claim to being the voice of America’s conscience, and even fewer who continue to make vital music. For six decades Mavis Staples has been the solid rock of American music. Alongside the family group she is so identified with, the Staple Singers, Mavis has managed to transform herself as she goes, yet never alter.

    From the delta-inflected gospel sound she helped create in the 1950s (“Uncloudy Day”), to the engaged protest of the civil rights era (“Freedom Highway”), and then, amazingly, on pop radio in the 1970s with a series of chart hits (“I’ll Take You There,” “Respect Yourself,” “Lets Do It Again”)–through all these, Mavis carried on, her warm embrace of a voice the only constant.
     
    On their second collaboration, the Grammy-nominated 2013 album “One True Vine,” the legendary singer and her producer, Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy, have crafted a gospel album for the 21st century. On the record, Mavis gives voice to something new in her repertoire, something deeper and more resonant with our times.  Where her Stax-era hits spoke for a growing black social consciousness, and her seventies collaborations with The Band gave spiritual weight to the rediscovery of traditional American music, Jeff Tweedy has crafted a pulpit from which Mavis lends her voice to a search for grace.
     
    Staples is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner, and a National Heritage Fellowship Award recipient.  VH1 named her one of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and Rolling Stone listed her as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.  Her previous album, the Tweedy-produced “You Are Not Alone,” won the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album in 2011, adding a remarkable new chapter to an already historic career.

    Opening for Staples is a songwriter and performer who represents an exciting new voice in millennial music — in addition to being the Jersey Shore music scene’s most acclaimed breakout artist in a generation. Nicole Atkins grabbed the industry’s attention several seasons back with her major-label debut album Neptune City, a nationwide TV commercial for American Express, and a musicologist’s dexterity that found her sharing stages comfortably and confidently with everyone from Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds to Monmouth professor Marc Muller’s Dead On Live project. Having reaffirmed her indie roots with her latest release Slow Phaser, Atkins is creating some strong and innovative new music — and she’ll be sharing it, along with the expected surprise interpretations of her many and varied influences, in a solo acoustic setting on the Pollak stage.

  • National Theatre of London: Of Mice and Men (Broadcast in HD)

    Golden Globe® winner and Academy Award®
    nominee James Franco (127 Hours, Milk)
    and Tony Award® nominee Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids,
    Girls    ) star in the hit Broadway production Of Mice And Men, filmed on stage by National Theatre Live. This
    landmark revival of Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck’s play is a powerful
    portrait of the American spirit and a heartbreaking testament to the bonds of
    friendship.     

    Of Mice and Men is directed by Tony Award®,
    Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circles award winner Anna D. Shapiro (Broadway’s August: Osage County) and features
    Leighton Meester (Country Strong, Gossip
    Girl    ) and Tony Award® winner Jim Norton (The Seafarer). The production was nominated for two Tony Awards®,
    including Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play for Chris
    O’Dowd.     

    Broadcast in HD 

    This ‘moving masterpiece’ (Time Magazine) will screen in movie
    theaters internationally from November 6, 2014.

  • A World at War, 1937-1945: Triumph, Tragedy, Memory, and Myth

    This event WILL be held as scheduled.

    “A World at War, 1937-1945:

    Triumph, Tragedy, Memory, and Myth”

    With the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II coming up on May 8, 2015, Monmouth University is pleased to present five films on the life-and-death decisions that people made in the invaded countries to survive in the war, defend their homeland and beliefs, and protect their families. Collectively, the films show episodes of resistance, collaboration, and heroism in addition to the legacy of the global war for the later 20th century and our
    current century as well.

    All movies will be shown in the Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University free of charge and open to the Monmouth University community and the general public.</p>

    Host:  Dr. Thomas S. Pearson – Professor, Department of History & Anthropology

    The second film in the series:

    “In The Fog”

    Discussant: Dr. Kevin Dooley – Dean, Honors School and Associate Professor, Department of Political Science & Sociology

    Wednesday, January 28, 2015
    7:30 pm
    Pollak Theatre
    Monmouth University

    Sergei Loznitsa’s “In The Fog” (2012) (Unrated)

    Western frontiers of the USSR, 1942. The region is under German occupation. A man is wrongly accused of collaboration. Desperate to save his dignity, he faces impossible moral choices.

    Organized by the Office of Global Initiatives

  • All Time Low: The Future Hearts Tour with special guests Issues, Tonight Alive, & State Champs

    They’ve repeatedly topped the charts, sold over 1.1 million albums worldwide, raked in 100+ million views on YouTube, toured with the biggest names in music, and have taken over airwaves around the globe… American rock band All Time Low is a bona fide worldwide sensation and they’re kicking off a whole new chapter in 2015. After a two-year writing binge, band members Alex Gaskarth, Jack Barakat, Rian Dawson and Zack Merrick are back with what Alternative Press Magazine is already calling the “most anticipated album of 2015”: their sixth studio album, Future Hearts.
     
    The massive buzz surrounding the new album triggered a fan frenzy among their 5+ million followers on social media. The band is ecstatic to hit the road and perform new material for fans – many of which have been loyal followers since All Time Low first began. Tickets are on sale Friday, January 16 at noon.

    7:00 p.m. Show (Doors 6:00 p.m.)

    Parking Fee: $10
    There is an eight (8) ticket limit per household.

    Tickets on sale January 16 at noon via Ticketmaster.com, 800.745.3000, and Ticketmaster retail outlets. A limited amount of tickets will be available for sale in person at the MAC and Pollak Theatre box offices.

    Produced by TTM, Inc and AEG Live

  • Sinatra: An American Icon Symposium

    Location: Wilson Auditorium
    Tickets are no longer on sale online. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door – cash only. 

    The Sinatra Family and Frank Sinatra Enterprises are pleased to announce some of the major initiatives confirmed as part of this year’s Sinatra 100 centennial celebration honoring one of the most cherished entertainment legends of all time, Frank Sinatra. An icon who forever epitomizes the American dream, Frank Sinatra continues to have an immeasurable influence on popular culture: music, film, art, theatre, fashion and beyond. Sinatra was a true one-of-a-kind personality whose incredible achievements continue to inspire greatness in others.

    As part of this celebration, Monmouth University in partnership with the GRAMMY MUSEUM will be hosting a day long Sinatra Centennial symposium.

    The schedule for the day includes (subject the change):

    Noon – President Paul Brown, Welcome and Introduction
    Keynote
    by Bob Santelli, executive director of the GRAMMY Museum

    12:30 – Sinatra 101 – The
    Essence of Frank Sinatra,     Associate Dean of the School of Humanities and
    Social Sciences Michael Thomas

    12:50 – Performance by
    MU students: Kellen Brennan – Keyboards, Connor Healy – Bass, Dino Marino – Sax, Liam Frank – Drums, Nicole Govel  – Vocals

    1:00-2:00 – The Man,
    The Music, The Legend    , Panel will include musicians
    Max Weinberg – Drummer, Bandleader,
    Author
    Southside Johnny Lyon – Singer,
    Songwriter, Arranger
    Steve Forbert, Singer,
    Songwriter, Guitarist
    Mike Barris – Instructor, “Perfectly Frank: An Appreciation of the Music of Frank Sinatra”, Brookdale
    Community College
    Chuck Granata – Record and Radio Producer, Author, Music Historian and Archivist
    Followed
    by a Q & A

    2:00-2:45 – Somewhere
    Along the Way     – Sinatra as a social activist by Bob Santelli and Max
    Weinberg

    Screening of the short film, “The
    House I Live In”. The Academy Award film starring Sinatra, was made in 1945 to
    promote racial tolerance

    2:45-3:45 – Nothing
    but the Best,     Panel will include Sinatra aficionados
         Joe Amodei, President of Virgil Films
    Joe Amore, Businessman and Sinatraphile
    Aaron Furgason, Associate Professor of Communications
    Stuart Rosenberg, Associate Professor of Management and Decision Sciences
    Followed by a Q & A

    3:45 – 3:55 – Performance by MU students: Kellen Brennan – Keyboards, Connor Healy – Bass, Dino Marino – Sax, Liam Frank – Drums, Nicole Govel  – Vocals

    3:55 – Bob Santelli will briefly describe the exhibit in the Pollak Gallery and encourage everyone to walk over to the Gallery

    In conjunction with the symposium, there will be a special Sinatra photo exhibition in Pollak Gallery. Click here for details.

  • 2015 Black Maria Film Festival

    From the world-renowned Black Maria Film Festival, the Department of Communication presents a screening of highly-recognized and award-winning short films, spanning across several genres and topics. Introduction and post-screening discussion to be held by Specialist Professor Matthew Lawrence.

  • Met Opera: La Traviata (Broadcast in HD)

    Willy Decker’s stunning production of Verdi’s timeless tragedy stars the riveting singing actress Natalie Dessay as Violetta. Matthew Polenzani is Alfredo Germont, the young man from a good family who risks everything for Violetta. Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s father. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium.

    Please note that due to a scheduling conflict this screening was moved from it’s original date of July 7 to July 9.

  • Bravo Amici

    Bravo Amici’s mix of handsome tenors and stunning divas perform an uplifting collection of well-known classical and contemporary arias. Combining the essential elements of pop, Broadway and opera with classical overtones, their powerful performance is a tribute to the emerging musical genre of “Contemporary Classical Crossover” taking the world by storm. With fans ranging from Sir Elton John to Queen Elizabeth, these acclaimed international top artists have sold more than 3 million albums.

    Cast includes multi-platinum selling recording artist and accomplished tenor Geoff Sewell; Jeremy Stolle who played Phantom in the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera, Mollie Vogt-Welch from A Tale of Two Cities original Broadway cast, Jared Zirilli who just starred in the World Premiere of Pretty Filthy with The Civilians and Michael Friedman off Broadway, and Betsy DiLellio who was hand-picked by Tony Award winning composer Adam Guettel to join the cast of the multiple Tony-Award winning The Light in the Piazza’s national tour.  

    For more information: http://www.bravoamici.com/