It’s a relatively quiet end of the summer Labor Day weekend. But in between your Labor Day BBQs, last hurrah beach trips, or other getaways, there are some fun things to do locally.
On Friday night, you can go to Ruthie’s BBQ & Pizza in Montclair to enjoy the music of Dean Shot. Shot’s playing incorporates many diverse musical influences and draws from his experiences growing up in Northern New Jersey, surrounded by various cultures. Finding inspiration in a large variety of early American music, Dean’s influences can often be clearly heard, yet he delivers a strong style that is most definitely all his own. As usual, Ruthie’s will be serving up good pizza and BBQ too. We suggest you try the Mac and Cheese.
Montclair Center Stage has only five more shows left. Don’t miss out on the talented line-up this Saturday evening on Church Street! - 5pm-6:45 pm The Super Experiment, Genre-R&B/Jazz
- 7 pm-7:30 pm Alexandra DeMattia, Genre-Teen Pop
- 8 pm-10 pm Dave Murphy, Genre-Americana
Also on Saturday night, you can go to Hat City Kitchen in Orange to enjoy the music of Hodgepodge. The band is Matt Chertkoff (guitar), Jonathan Riley (drums), and the recent addition to the band Jared Gold (organ). Matt and Jonathan developed the band during a four year steady weekly gig in NYC. Originally the repertoire consisted of jazz standards but grew to include Rock, Pop, and Soul. You might hear a Jimmy Hendrix song like “Hey Joe” followed by Charlie Parker followed by the pop tune “Crazy” by Gnarles Barkley. The process of taking great melodies that are a part of our musical fabric and arranging them for this instrumentation without regard for genre is great fun: hence the name Hodgepodge.
You could also spend Labor Day taking a leisurely paddle on the Passaic River with the Essex Environmental Center. Enjoy scenery and peacefulness while paddling up the river and floating down stream. there are two paddling times: 10:30 am or 2 pm and it’s just $30 per canoe.
Labor Day PaddleMonday, September 1 at 10:30 am or 2 pmEssex County Environmental Center, Garibaldi Hall, 621A Eagle Rock Avenue, Roseland, NJ Meet in the Garibaldi Hall parking lot.$30 per canoe. Register in advance by calling 973-228-8776
Check out our Calendar for other local happenings.
I would absolutely love going to the river. You forget how quiet the world can be until you are drifting in the current. If you add in a picnic lunch a a couple friends you can make your own piece of floating heaven.