Jersey Shore Restaurant Week is kicking off with an opening party titled "Palates, Palettes and Pairings"  -- a Chef's invitational celebrating food, art and wine. When does this take place? We thought you'd never ask. This extraordinary event is scheduled for April 15th and the Atlantic Club in Manasquan will be the gracious hosts.

Top area chefs have been invited to provide a tasting of their cuisines. Each tasting will be individually paired with wines from all over the world. 

Local artists have been invited to paint live during the event. Guests will be able to sip and nibble while watching local talent paint the party scene in their own artistic point of view. The paintings will then be auctioned off and the proceeds will be donated to charity.

This is a party not to be missed. Clear your calendar, save the date and get those babysitters ready. 

Jersey Shore Restaurant Week starts on April 16th and continues through April 25th. For information on participating restaurants and other events, go to www.jerseyshorerestaurantweek.com.

I was having a discussion with Fred Wong, one of our guest writers about why there is so much hype around "Happy Hour." And after much debate, he provided the most brilliant explanation. 

"We realize that there's not one singular way to make up for all of the time and energy put into work but Happy Hour seems to help a bit. It's like how we honk our horns when we're mad at another driver. We realize it doesn't fully express our sentiments and it doesn't erase what that person did to make us angry.  But for a brief moment, it helps. So, Happy Hour is like us honking our horns at the work week." 

--From the Desk of Fred Wong

Status Green is hosting a big party at The Stone Pony to celebrate the release of their "Cheap Sunglasses" album on February 20th. River City Extension, Midatlantic J'AC and Foxes and Lions will be there as special guests. It's a party not to be missed.

So because we love you JSD fans so much, we are giving out a 4-pack of tickets. Of course this comes with a small price tag. After speaking to the lead singer Lou Montesano, the band wants you to respond to this post with your favorite Status Green concert experience. The band will pick the best story and we will hand over the tickets. It's as simple as that. So dig into your memory bank and share your story here. What if you've never seen them? Well, give us your best reason why we should send you for your first Status Green concert. Who knows you may get lucky. 

Winners will be announced, February 17th! 

Click here to enter.

Update on Wednesday, February 17, 2010 at 09:13PM by Jersey Shore Diva

AND THE WINNER IS......

Laura Gesin.  A local web design, ecommerce, media writing and social media marketing teacher for local schools. She wanted to be the "cool mom" and get the tickets for her son who is an aspiring musician and drummer for a local band, Mind Detergent, and his bandmates. They are big fans of the Pony and independent music. Laura believes that nothing would inspire these young musicians more than to see a band that started around their age and "made it happen". Status Green could not agree more with this "cool mom". So Laura, JSD and Status Green are pleased to give you the tickets. 

Thank you to everyone that participated!

 

 

There are so many great charity opportunities this month....we just had to write a post to share.

Relief Effort For Haiti

We want to start out with the most urgent...relief assistance is needed for those tragically hit by the devasting earthquake in Haiti just three short days ago. Over 3 million people have been affected and there is no time better than now to step up and do what we can to help.  As always, Langosta Lounge has stepped up to help and is working with Eve Silver, Board President of Asbury Park's Hispanic Affairs Resource Center, to organize a clothing, dry-goods and monetary drive in Asbury Park. To donate you can visit the resource directly at 913 Sewall Avenue in Asbury Park. After contacting them today, they said they are in need of clothes more than anything. Let's do what we can!

Light of Day 

The Light of Day Foundation is hosting concerts this weekend throughout Asbury Park. The foundation raises funds through concert series to help fight against Parkinson's and related diseases by supporting research into better treatments, cures and support for patients suffering from Parkinson’s and related diseases. 

Starvation Eradication!

A fellow twitter follower @karimehome has been working with Passionworks, an organization that advocates for the homeless and hungry to host a charity event. It will be an acoustic show full of local talent on January 23rd at Rockn Joe's Coffeehouse in Point Beach starting at 7 PM.  Admission is free, and 10% of the shop's sales for the night are donated to the helping local homeless.  Door prizes will also be raffled off. Below is the Facebook invite with further info, as well as more info on the bands/artists playing.

Bands/Artists booked as of January 13th:
Monday Night Heroes - www.myspace.com/mondaynightheroes
Mike from Grand Alto - www.myspace.com/grandalto
Shaune Scutellaro from Echo Screen - www.myspace.com/echoscreen
Mike Cuntala - www.myspace.com/mikecuntala

Facebook Invite