June Update
the Criminal podcast covers Action Park, new event announcements, press appearances galore, a secret garden in Essex County, and ten opportunities for local artists.
I’m going to keep it brief up top because there’s A LOT crammed into this issue! “I hope you’re staying warm and dry this weekend” is not a sentence I thought I’d ever have to say about Memorial Day weekend, but here we are.
I’ll be back in a few weeks with another update, but thanks for being here and for reading!
-Kerri
On May 30, New Jersey Fan Club contributor Alicia Cook is doing a poetry reading and book signing at the Plainfield Performing Arts Center, followed by an open mic where anyone is welcome to share.
Preservation New Jersey has shared this year’s list of the ten most endangered historic places in the state. The goal of the annual list is to shine a light on threatened sites to hopefully inspire “action, partnerships, and solutions that can save them.”
Chris Gethard is a guest on the latest episode of the Criminal podcast, discussing Action Park.
Satirical “newspaper” The Onion recently paired a stock photo of a Jersey-based diner with the headline “Disgusting Restaurant Celebrates 30 Years As Small Town’s Only Option,” and I (along with many many commenters) immediately clocked the image as the Arlington Diner. Which, actually, is pretty solid!
And speaking of diners, Eater recently ran an article all about disco fries.
On June 14th, Ocean Grove will transform into a walkable art gallery called Art on the Porch. Local artists will display their work on porches throughout town.
I somehow never knew that skee-ball was invented in New Jersey, which, now that I type that out, OF COURSE it was. I can’t wait to learn all about it from this documentary, And the Balls Roll On, which chronicles the inventor from Vineland and the game’s Jersey Shore boardwalk origins.
New Jersey Bookstore Crawl
Are you participating in the New Jersey Bookstore Crawl in a few weeks? If you click through to the website, you can print a guide in color, low ink, or black and white, and then on June 7 & 8, bring it to whichever of the participating stores you visit to have it marked, and then enter to win prizes! The prizes are really great and will be shared on our Instagram very soon.
Upcoming events
Princeton Zine Fest at the Princeton Public Library
Saturday, June 21 from 12:00 - 5:00 PM
65 Witherspoon St, Princeton, NJ
Montclair Flea at Lackawanna Station
Saturday & Sunday June 28 & 29 from 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
292 Bloomfield Ave, Montclair, NJ
New Jersey Fan Club book event at Howling Basset Books
Saturday, August 2 at 5:00 PM
45 N Main St, Lambertville, NJ
RSVP here! And if any book contributors are reading this and want to join me for this event, let me know—I would be happy to have company!
Can’t make it to an event? Shop our online souvenir shop! New Jersey Fan Club is also available wherever books are sold—if your favorite local shop doesn’t have it, ask them to order it!
Sticker Club
Thank you to everyone who came out on Independent Bookstore Day for our pop-up at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair! This was the first pop-up I’ve ever done where the machine that SOLD OUT. I got the message saying it was out of stickers and my first thought was that something just got jammed, but nope, it really was empty.
Thanks again to Watchung Booksellers for hosting and for dealing with the machine and giving out quarters on what I’m sure was a chaotic, busy day!
The next pop-ups we have scheduled are listed on our website.
Recent press & podcast appearances
I was thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with Laura Sims for the Watchung Booksellers Podcast a few weeks ago! If her name sounds familiar to you, it’s likely because she’s the author of several books, including How Can I Help You. I’ve been a fan of the Watchung Booksellers podcast since the beginning—one of the coolest things they do is connect people under a shared topic for really interesting conversations.
Laura and I both work as public librarians in New Jersey in addition to being writers, so that’s what we centered our conversation around. I loved meeting and talking to Laura, and I loved getting to record in the bookstore!
I had another exciting opportunity recently when I was invited to be a guest on Your New Jersey, a show that airs on the On New Jersey network, to talk about the bookstore crawl.
I believe, but don’t quote me on it, the show will air Saturday 5/31 at 6 AM and Sunday 6/1 at 8 AM, and the clip will also show up online around that time. Thanks to the production team and Lisa Marie Falbo for having me on!
And lastly, thank you to NJ Radar for writing this feature on us!
The Mountsier Garden
Location: Nutley, NJ
The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days happen only a few times a year, and they’re a chance to visit private gardens around the country. There are a lot in New Jersey, but the only one I’ve ever been to as part of this program is The Mountsier Garden in Nutley. June 1st is your next opportunity to see it, and then it’s only open again once in September until next year, so I figured this was a good time to share! I went a few years ago, and I was blown away that this impressive garden, which has a bunch of surprises like sculptures and a greenhouse and stairs you can climb, is located behind a normal-looking house on a quiet residential street. My photos do it zero justice, but you can see a few more in this article about the garden.
A short list of other things to do nearby
Grab a pie from Emilio’s.
Walk through Nutley’s parks and check out the historic Kingsland Manor.
Get ube soft serve from Kubo.
Welcome to the NJ Q+A, where we hear from an interesting New Jerseyan! Interview has been lightly edited for space.
This month, I caught up with two New Jersey musicians, Roe O'Brien, also known as Roe Knows Best, and Max Rauch (MAUCH), a producer, engineer, member of the band LKFFCT. They recently collaborated on an EP called Weekend at Mauchie’s Vol 1, available on June 6th. We talked about how New Jersey teaches perseverance, the process of collaborating with another artist, and advice for anyone who wants to get started with music (or any other creative project).
How did you get started making music?
MR: A phone had a cable connecting it to the wall, a web page took 45 mins to load, I wasn’t very athletically or academically gifted. My whole family played music so I decided to follow suit.
RO: From the time I was a kid, I was always making up little songs and singing little melodies. It's something that always came natural to me. Formally, I started with Suzuki piano lessons at five years old and I was also a choir kid. Green Day's American Idiot changed my life and I begged my mom for a guitar. I taught myself every song in Green Day's discography until my finger calluses developed and I had a firm understanding of power chords. A few years later, I got into The Beatles really heavy and started learning those songs, and on and on it went.
Who are some of your favorite New Jersey artists?
RO: It would be absolute sacrilege not to include Bruce Springsteen, but also: Jenny Owen Youngs, The Early November / I Can Make a Mess / Ace Enders, Thursday, The Front Bottoms, Whitney Houston, Queen Latifah, Charlie Puth...The list could go on! I also would be remiss not to include my favorite local NJ artists in the DIY scene: LKFFCT, John Cozz, Ogbert the Nerd, No Good With Secrets, Marty I'm Afraid, Reilly & Co. Wizard Brain, Sammy Mellman, Mt. Feral, Aidan Jack Finnecy, Best Dressed Ghost, Chemical X, Memorial Field, Bad Blooms...This list could go on and on too.
MR: John Cozz, Wizard Brain, Roe Knows Best, Reilly & Co, Aidan Jack Finnecy, Redeye, Chris Dalla Riva.
How would you say New Jersey in general influences your work?
MR: Born and raised here! It’s definitely baked into everything I do creatively.
RO: Being born, raised, and having lived my whole life here, there is certainly a camaraderie with the state itself and I'd say overall there's bit of a je ne sais quoi found in our collective kinship and experiences, the heavens and hells that we live through together here. Being a New Jerseyan makes you a fighter, a go-getter, and overall speaks to a strength of perseverance, persistence, and overcoming. New Jersey is driving down the Parkway with the windows down and the music blasting, or resting your head against the seat in front of you on NJTransit during another delay. There are highs and lows. But when we're allowed time to shine in our creative spaces, we come alive like no other. Hopefully those beliefs and philosophy shine through in my own creative work somehow. Being from New Jersey makes me work harder, fight harder, and motivates me to be the best I can be and write the best songs I possibly can. Also acknowledging the fact that New Jersey has an incredibly deep & rich history when it comes to making music here. It's inspiring to keep the tradition going.
Tell us a bit about your latest release, Weekend at Mauchie's Vol. 1.
RO: Max's band LKFFCT put out a record called Temporary Parade. I listened to it and loved it and from the jump had this desire to co-write with Max. Just from listening to the songs, I just recognized and felt an immediate simpatico between us. I'd already known Max for a few years and had worked together with him on Roe Knows Best stuff, but I really wanted to co-write with him and see what manifested.
MR: Roe submitted a song to the pizza bagel records “songs about soup” compilation that John Cozz and I put together back in 2021. We loved the song so much that we made it track one! This was the start of a creative relationship and friendship that eventually yielded “Weekend at Mauchie’s Vol 1.”
RO: We wrote the four songs on the EP over the course of five days. We came in with nothing and after a week had the EP. Sessions would usually start with Max playing a riff, me writing the lyrics, and everything else just growing from there. What I love most about the EP is that it doesn't stay in one place genre-wise. It was so freeing be in these sessions with Max to just be ourselves, be weird, get crazy, and follow whatever strange intuitive impulses manifested when creating these bangers. No rules, just knowing that we had five days to write and create the best songs we could.
What advice would you give someone who wants to either get into music or who wants to collaborate with another artist?
RO: Don't let anything stop you, especially any self-limiting beliefs. Bat those thoughts away and start learning / playing / writing today. With the Internet, all things are possible. Make creation and learning a daily practice. A little bit at a time can get you far when you have consistency.
MR: Stop overthinking everything. Enjoy the process w/o worrying so much about the result or how it’ll be perceived.
RO: If you want to collaborate with another artist, just approach them and ask! See what they say! If they're down, my advice would be to just let creative energy flow. See what manifests in the moment and follow that. Just get out there and have fun.
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Beach Badge Zine is looking for “shore-related creative non-fiction of 250-2,000 words, photographs, or other artwork” for their next issue. Deadline: 5/26.
DC Gallery & Studio in Millville is looking for “emerging and established New Jersey artists’ unique interpretation” of the theme ‘Jersey Summer’ for a group exhibition. The exhibition is open to all mediums and materials from visual artists living or working in New Jersey. Deadline: 6/1. $25 for up to two submissions.
“Monument Lab—in partnership with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the New Jersey Historical Commission, and RevolutionNJ—is launching an Open Call for Artist Ideas to commission a new monumental performance series in New Jersey that will animate histories and legacies of the American Revolution in 2026. Revolutionary Acts invites artists who live or work in New Jersey to propose a performance-based work that will unfold across sites in Camden, Trenton, and Fort Lee.” Performance is defined quite broadly. Deadline: 6/16.
The Montclair Film Festival is accepting submissions of features, shorts, and documentaries for its October festival. They have a dedicated New Jersey category, too. Deadline: 6/20. Submission fees vary depending on date submitted and film type, but range between $30-$55.
Journey Through Jersey and Historic Whitesbog Village are hosting a spring photo contest with the theme: History and Bloom. Deadline: 6/20.
Flemington DIY invites NJ BIPOC artists to submit work for a juried exhibition titled What Is American?, which will explore “themes of sovereignty, identity, and the evolution of radical and revolutionary ideals from the American Revolution to the present day.” Proposal deadline: 6/27.
Prototype 237 in Paterson is taking submissions for an afternoon activities series, held on the afternoon of September 27th as part of their five year anniversary party. They are open to everything including “musical acts, live painting, dance performances, classes, workshops, and immersive experiences” that are between 30 minutes to an hour. Deadline: 6/30.
The Trenton-based small press Read Furiously seeks submissions for a third volume of their Life in the Garden State anthology series, to be titled Disco Fries and Scenic Drives: Life in the Garden State. They are looking for “creative work about all things New Jersey” in formats including short stories, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, comics, and “photographic or illustrated stories.” Deadline: 6/30.
Flemington DIY is hosting Summer Story Slams on different themes, and they’re looking for storytellers to prepare 5-minute stories on the following themes: mother nature, underdogs, and fresh starts/new beginnings. Registration is suggested. Dates in June, July, and August.
The Red Bank Public Library is seeking submissions for their sixth annual “Red Bank Always Beautiful” photography contest. They are looking for photos and videos that “showcase the beauty, strength and courage of our community,” and “express the spirit that makes Red Bank special.” All photographs must be taken in or of Red Bank, but you do not need to be a Red Bank resident to enter. Deadline: 10/6.