Live Music in 2019 Taste of South Orange Food Stroll & Pub Crawl
The Taste of South Orange Food Stroll & Pub Crawl took place on Sunday, April 28th from 4 PM to 7 PM hosted by South Orange Village Center Alliance — SOVCA . This is a tasting event that showcases the diverse restaurants and unique retailers in our Village Center
It was a fun day filled with some wonderful folks and for the first time you could listen to live music while you tasted your delectable goodies as you crawled from pub to pub with friends, neighbors and others you may have just met. This year 3 bands provided live music this year in the heart of downtown South Orange.
MPACK MUSIC was in the South Orange Gazebo from 4–5 PM
MPack is a band, a brand, and musical production enterprise, consisting of multiple elements in an ever evolving flow. Like a river, it’s unpredictable and never flows the same way twice. It is a thought provoking, limitless musical experience that will elevate your mind, body & soul and make you shake your behind all at the same time. Founder, Clarence “MPack” Conover is creatively talented and has gathered other like-minded musicians and vocalists — Patricia Walton, Chris “Baby Funk” Meagher, Joe Scarpitto, Brett Calder & Kev “Natz” Moore), Kenny Robinson and occasionally you will catch Jazz pianist extraordinaire Glen Merrit and you have this musical phenomenon knows as MPack Band.
FLIP DA SKRIP BAND was in the Spiotta Park from 5–6 PM
Flip Da Skrip Band Came together In 2009. Drummer Alban Jones Sr. & Keyboardist Alban Jones JR Always Knew There Would Come A Day When They Would Join Forces together Musically to Harness Their Unique Skillz. Although Deeply Drenched In Funk/R&B…, This Band Covers Pop, Jazz, Rock, Hip-Hop, & Dance Grooves.
HOWLING POETS was in the South Orange Gazebo from 6–7 PM
Howlin’ Poets featuring Orange Jam were formed in 2018 as an spin-off combination of two bands with the same goal — TO MAKE ROCK AND MAKE IT FUNKY!! The original Howlin’ Poets was formed as The Relations (later The Disciples) at Seton Hall University in the early 1990s. The group had several well-received songs and recording projects. They are a funky collective of musicians which started out as a weekly get together for local musicians, playing almost every genre imaginable, and developed into a more coherent band focused on funk and funky takes of classic reggae, rock, R&B, and disco tunes, with the occasional original thrown in to boot.
Wristbands were available for sale $20 advance and $5 for kids 3–8 and SHU students with ID purchased tickets for $15. Children age 2 and under were free. Tickets were available at Kitchen a la Mode, Sparkhouse and also the General Store’s Pop-up Kid Shop on Springfield Avenue in Maplewood. Tickets were an additional $5 on the day of the event and could be secured at two locations, the corner of Sloan Street and South Orange Ave and the corner of South Orange Ave. and Prospect Street. Pub Crawl drinks were cash bar and not covered by the wristband fee.
Great day, great music, great food and great pubs. Next we will recap the day and the music.
About the Author
Gregory Burrus, Live Music Ambassador
Gregory Burrus with South Orange Trustee Bob Zuckerman former Executive Director of SOVCA. Downtown After Sundown is a program sponsored by the South Orange Village Center Alliance and the Town of South Orange. https://www.sovillagecenter.org/pub/event/story/2382/
Gregory Burrus curates an manages the South Orange Village Center Alliance’s Downtown After Sundown Live Music Concerts. This SOMA resident arrived in South Orange, 23-year ago and just loves South Orange, NJ. Gregory enjoys all music genres but his first love jazz began as a boy when his mother and father played jazz on the good old record player at home and took him to clubs all over Manhattan. Greg was an executive in the telecommunications industry and has consulted on telecom, technology and operational business processes systems all over the world. Now he is putting his expertise, gain from his former business environment to work producing music, art and community events across South Orange, Maplewood, Newark and other towns around Northern New Jersey and New York.
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