The 2024 season for outdoor music at the Historic Jersey City & Harsimus Cemetery kicks off on Saturday, May 17, with the 12th annual Pushing Up the Daisies Festival.
As always, the festival and all events at the cemetery – up to and including the season-ending Ghost of Uncle Joe’s Halloween Extravaganza – are fundraisers to pay for upkeep and improvements at the cemetery, which receives no public or church-sponsored funding. Dancing Tony Susco, Jersey City’s official Commissioner of Fun, organizes and books all of the cemetery event.
This year’s Pushing Up the Daisies lineup includes several scene veterans, like Thomas John Carlson’s art-rock combo Papermaker and Jersey City-based indie-rockers Supermutt.
The festival will also give fans a chance to experience Maidin, whose folk-laced indie-pop has been turning heads from Hoboken to Brooklyn and beyond. She doesn’t use her real name, but adopted Maidin, which means “morning” in Irish Gaelic, after discovering the facility to play a variety of instruments by ear as a child. She’s also performed a career in acting, but devoted herself to music full-time when the pandemic closed theaters and any opportunity to perform on stage.
“I was born in raised in Hawthorne, NJ, which is also Blondie’s hometown,” Maidin stated. “I play guitar, piano, and dabble in things like mandolin and dulcimer. I write all the music and lyrics. My biggest influences are Joni Mitchell, Bon Iver, Kate Bush, Hozier, Joan Baez.
“I also listen to a lot of indie bands, and love going to local shows,” Maidin continued. “I travel a lot and wherever I go I try to catch the underground bands there, recently found some inspiring acts in Dublin and in Berlin. I gain a lot of inspiration from smaller musicians just starting out. That’s where the truly creative stuff tends to happen.”
On that note, Maidin might find inspiration from Skylar Pocket, an indie-pop group hailing from the all-ages basement-show scene in New Brunswick. Fronted by trans artist Skylar Graham, Skylar Pocket’s repertoire ranges from upbeat pop-punk to lo-fi reveries, with trumpet and trombone expanding the band’s core guitar/bass/drums sound. The group’s (highly recommended) Bandcamp page (skylarpocket.bandcamp.com) includes this description: “Tunes centered around trans/ngc (non-gender conforming) love + heartbreak and gender euphoria.”
Plastiq Passion might not be a familiar name to many, but the all-female quartet has been rocking around the Hudson area for nearly 15 years.
“We are very excited to be playing at the historic Jersey City Harsimus Cemetery,” said frontperson Jessica Chaos. “We have played at the cemetery a few times before and petted those cute little goats. We also love that the proceeds go to maintaining the beauty of the cemetery. I’m from Union City, Stacey Lee and Christine Simon are from Staten Island, and Deborah Sanchez is from Brooklyn.”
Plastiq Passion’s next show following Pushing Up the Daisies will be a free Gay Pride weekend at Club Cumming in Manhattan on Friday, June 14.
“I’ll be DJ’ing, I’m a DJ now, too,” Chaos added. You can sample her music at soundcloud.com/djjessicachaos, and find Plastiq Passion at plastiqpassiontheband.com.
Also on the bill is Smugly Ugly, a punk/ska/reggae combo with a sense of humor that matches its moniker.
Composed of Bennett Saltzman, Gavin Cranmer, Kyle deCamp, and Alex Knezevic, the band is spread out around Manhattan, Brooklyn and Jersey City, with the latter being home base for rehearsals. The group played Jersey City’s Pet Shop in February and has been busy since, releasing two singles, a music video, and having another video featured in the Coney Island Film Fest.
The Historic Jersey City & Harsimus Cemetery is located at 435 Newark Ave., Jersey City, just below Dickinson High School. Mass transit or bicycling is advised since parking is limited.
Doors open at 3 p.m. Festival admission is $20 for adults (18 and up); $10 for teens, and $5 for seniors, veterans, and children ages 5-12. (Free for children under 5.) No one under 18 will be admitted without a parent or guardian, and children must be under adult supervision at all times.
In the event of inclement weather, the rain date is Sunday, May 18.
Here’s the schedule:
3:30 p.m.: Maidin
4:20: Skylar Pocket
5:10: Plastiq Passion Band
6: Smugly Ugly
6:50: Papermaker
7:40: Supermutt
CLUB CALENDAR ‘
Will cannabis dispensaries be the new frontier for live music in Hudson County?
DIPT Dispensary on Jersey City’s Broadway recently hosted a hip-hop event, and now the Cannabis Place, 1542 Kennedy Blvd., Jersey City, will present “The Rambling Folk Army,” a showcase featuring performances by the Looms, Jester of No Court, Stormi Montana, and Jaden Gwynn on Wednesday, May 22.
Admission for the 7 p.m. show is $15 at the door.
Jim Testa is on Facebook at facebook.com/Constant-Listener-Jim-Testa-On-Hudson-Music-108591071738628. He can also be reached at jim@jerseybeat.com.
