The Broadway Central Café in South Amboy has closed. The last Open Mic happened on March 11th, and the final show was March 13th. No more Wayne Turback blowing on a sea shell. No more “Birdman Of South Amboy.” No more Chartreuse.  No more drinking Budweiser inside a surreal art gallery while some guy played a set of wrenches on stage. Yes, I said wrenches. And no more Christmas Dogs of War on the famous checkerboard stage.

The Broadway was the greatest place... totally original. It was a real hangout for musicians. It was a special place filled with people who loved to play and it will be greatly missed. Thanks to everyone for making the Open Mic such a great event for the last six years. Thanks to Wayne for being so supportive. See you around.
           - Broadway Central Photo Album -
  Joe Canzano

It was Friday night March 12th and I was rambling up route 35-North to witness my first “all ages show” at Krome. I had been there years ago when it was a dinner/theater called Club Bene, but that now seemed ages ago as I pulled into their parking lot and went inside.
   Following the cover charge of $14.00 (in addition to the $2.00 extra they get to park in the lot) I saw a large, black walled room which houses the larger of the two stages at Krome. Flanking both sides of each stage, were large “venue supplied”  PA systems that can give your ears plenty of punch, although with the age range around 17 to 21 this particular night, earplugs were not noticeable.

The two stages, located in different stage-rooms, allowed Krome to provided overlapping sound, so the venue always had at least one stage with live music, but with enough distance between the rooms, that the sounds didn’t collide.  Separating the rooms, was an area with a non alcoholic bar that served, soda, water, juices and enough quiet that friends could talk or check out  t-shirts and CD's on sale by
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