Funny in Red Bank

  For years, Improv Jam has been a staple of Red Bank nightlife, particularly for kids under 21. Performing weekend shows at the Internet Café, the improvisational comedy troupe consistently played to packed houses, demonstrating their undeniable talent for cracking people up. 
  Improv Jam moved out of the Café in April and has since been performing at the Phoenix Theatre at 111 Monmouth Street in Red Bank on Friday and Saturday nights, from 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.  I recently attended one of the shows at their new location; having not seen them perform since I first left for college. It was marvelous, after four years, to see their skillful (and very, very funny) improvisation again.
  The show was divided into two parts: the first was something of a competition between two teams of two improvisers. (Troupe members Carl and Kevyn made up one team, Pete and Rich the other.) Each team played a game or did a scene and then were judged on a scale of 1 to 5 by three judges picked out of the audience.  The second half of the show had all of the troupe members working together.

The boys of Improv perform

  If you've never seen an Improv Jam show, they typically consist of a series of games or scenes rooted around suggestions provided by audience members. For example, the first game played during the team half of the show was an opening debate over flip-flops, a topic shouted out by the audience. Also, for a game called "Props," several members of the audience came prepared with unusual props for the performers to use. (The game consists of coming up with strange new uses for these given props.)
  There are also games which require direct participation from the audience. For one, called "Finishing Sentences," the troupe brought up two participants from the audience to finish the sentences of the performers during a scene. The performers would be acting out the scene, and then stop and touch one of the audience members on the shoulder for them to finish the line.  For example, if the performer were to say "And now we must…" and then tap the audience member, they might say "dance," or "crouch," or "shave," or some other verb along those lines.
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Clearwater Festival

  The Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater held their Twenty-eighth annual
festival in Asbury Park August 16 and 17. The festival, which originally met at Sandy Hook, is a hybrid of entertainment and education to inform locals about threats to our water and ecosystems and about environmentally friendly alternatives to our everyday lives.
  The event, known as the Clearwater Festival, presented live music as well as a dance troupe, children’s’ craft and educational stands, a display of ultra-low emissions vehicles, and of course, vendors selling butterfly fries and funnel cakes.
  This year's family stage featured Rik Palieri, Jan Christensen, Mimi Cross, Bill Hudson and the Josh Zandman Trio. The Main Street stage included Chik-A- Boom and Boccigalupe & The Bad Boys, closing both nights with a Clearwater All-Star Jam.

sprawl, otherwise known as environmentally damaging development in suburban areas.
  Monmouth County Friends of Clearwater can be traced back to the Hudson River Clearwater group formed by Pete Seeger 30 years ago.
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