Who's the rising Asbury Park rocker having her record release show at the Wonder Bar?
Rachel Ana Dobken's golden new album “Acceptance” is about perseverance, in a way.
“It's about having to come to terms with things that are really uncomfortable, but in that uncomfortability is where you find that acceptance and the ability to strengthen, learn from and move on from.” Dobken said.
The rising star of the Asbury Park music scene will play an “Acceptance” record release show Friday, April 5, at the city's Wonder Bar. Drkhrt and Jwalttz are also on the bill.
Dobken's heart-sleeve soul, silken rhythms, blues bombast and million-dollar hooks make “Acceptance” a winner.
Dobken, multi-talented to say the least, played drums, guitar, keyboards and sang on the record, which was produced by Dobken, Erik Romero of the Front Bottoms, and Paul Ritchie of the Parlor Mob and Gods.
The rocker has a few famous friends lending a hand, too. Rogers Stevens of Blind Melon appears on “Bed You Made”; Clint Maedgen of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is on “Give Us Another Chance”; and celeb photographer and harmonica player Danny Clinch lends grooves on a few tracks, too.
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Dobken is the former music director of the Transparent Clinch Gallery in Asbury Park, where she played with a lot of talented folks. Clinch co-founded the Sea Hear Now festival in 2018, and Dobken will play this year's fest on Sept. 15.
“In 2016 I walked in there and Danny told me he wanted (the gallery) to be a hang out and have some musicians play, and I offered to put together some shows,” Dobken said. “It's always going to be home to me.”
Go: Rachel Ana Dobken with Drkhrt and Jwalttz, Friday, April 5, Wonder Bar, 1213 Ocean Ave., Asbruy Park, $16 in advance, $20 st the door; wonderbarasburypark.com.
Ellen Foley returns to Asbury Park
Ellen Foley — and her rock 'n' roll heart — are returning to Asbury Park.
Foley, who starred on the classic NBC comedy “Night Court” and Broadway's “Into the Woods,” will star in “Kabaret Kaput: A Surrealist Rock Kabaret” with Robert I. Rubinsky Friday, April 5, through Sunday, April 7, at the Jersey Shore Arts Center in Ocean Grove.
The musical, presented by the Asbury Park Theater Company, is directed by Anthony “Remember Jones” D'Amato.
Foley and Rubinsky are described as two “ancient vaudevillians” in a surreal Dada world, somewhere outside time and space, who have to sing to escape.
“We call ourselves vaudevillian because we come from many different times and eras in history, and we're described as two ancient vaudevillians, but the music is rock 'n' roll,” Foley said.
Queen, Blondie, Radiohead, Broadway favorites and surprises, including Meat Loaf songs, are performed.
Foley knows the material. She sang on Meat Loaf's “Bat Out of Hell,” and also performed on records by the Clash. The group's Mick Jones and Joe Strummer wrote, produced and performed on "Spirit of St. Louis," her 1981 underground classic.
“I was pretty young and transplanted from St. Louis into New York, and then suddenly I was in London during all of this," Foley said. "I was surrounded by this time that was so huge musically and being around the people who were such a part of it.”
Foley came to Asbury Park with the Clash when they opened their 1982 “Combat Rock” tour at Convention Hall. She and Jones rode the Mad-O-Rama ride in the former Casino on the boardwalk.
It was quite a ride. Clash frontman Joe Strummer passed away in 2002 at the age of 50.
“Joe Strummer was a real artist,” Foley said. “He had sort of a Bohemian soul, so he brought that into the world of rock 'n' roll. It started as punk and it developed as real poetry.”
Go: “Kabaret Kaput: A Surrealist Rock Kabaret,” Friday, April 5, to Sunday, April 7, Jersey Shore Arts Center, 66. S. Main St., Ocean Grove, $40; asburyparktheatercompany.org.
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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; [email protected]
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Asbury Park rocker having her LP release show at Wonder Bar