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I got this from Jim Testa of Jersey Beat Magazine who has contributed some of his old issues to the exhibit and may be
speaking at a panel discussion soon.
And I say it's about time we paid tribute to the musical history of Hoboken!
"Hoboken Tunes: Our Musical Heritage"
July 29th through end of December
T
he Hoboken Historical Museum
1301 Hudson Street
201-656-2240
More details from Jim Testa:
Frank Sinatra may have put Hoboken on the world map, but his is not the only musical career this town has fostered. Stephen Foster, for one, lived here when he wrote "I Dream of Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair." A few years after Sinatra, and just a few doors down from his childhood home, another crooner, Jimmy Roselli rose to fame singing standards and traditional Neapolitan songs in a style that reportedly made the "wiseguys weep." The musical "Hair" was written here, and the number of bands who made the leap to national fame after playing at Maxwell's in the 1980s and '90s is too large to count.
Hoboken has played host to many diverse musical communities in its 150-plus years, including German social clubs, Irish music bands, Italian vaudeville, salsa clubs and Club Zanzibar, which was a frequent stop for jazz and R&B performers after their gigs at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Music thrived and evolved here among the many immigrant communities. Blind Tom, an internationally famous piano sensation, retired to Hoboken in the 1850s.
The exhibit traces the role of music in the cultural life of Hoboken, as well as the contributions Hoboken's musicians have made to the national music scene. Naturally, center stage is given to favorite son Frank Sinatra, whose career might not have taken off as quickly if he hadn't grown up so close to "New York, New York." His big break was performing on Major Bowe's Amateur Hour radio show in New York in 1935 with his fellow singers in the "Hoboken Four."
Like many musicians and singers before and after him, Sinatra's success was partly rooted in Hoboken's proximity to New York City, where the popular music industry was centered before much of it shifted to Hollywood in the 1930s and '40s. Before high-fidelity recording technology, most music played on radio or in theaters was performed live, Lewis says, and most popular music in the first half of this century was published, performed and broadcast from New York City.
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