---

The celebration that unites the city’s creatives returns on Oct. 14.

Asbury Underground 10 will showcase over 80 performances, featuring a 100+ musicians, 50 visual artists, two hours of spoken word, three hours of comedy, and two charitable events, founder Pat Schiavino [at right] said.

“Asbury Park has a long tradition as being the premier destination for original music, but what most people are unaware of, is that it is quickly becoming one of the most concentrated areas for the fine arts as well; and we now have about 30 restaurants downtown alone,” Schiavino, a local artist, said. “That is pretty phenomenal growth in a very short time. The whole idea from the inception of Asbury Underground was to bring a broader awareness of just how fertile in all of the arts our city truly is – art, music, comedy, food… it’s our culture.”

The self-guided art and music crawl runs from noon and 9 p.m. at 23 venues.

Kicking off with a performance by the Lakehouse Music Academy Pros at their 619 Lake Ave building, the crawl includes stops at  art galleries, coffee houses, vapor bars, clothing stores and various other locations. The day winds down at The House of Independents at 572 Cookman Ave before a free after party goes live at The Asbury, located at 210 Fifth Ave.

On the bill are many local favorites, including Stringbean and the Boardwalk Social Club, Levy & the Oaks, Pamela Flores, Morgan Freemasons, Cranston Dean, Chris Brown, Colton Kayser, Billy Hector, Quincy Mumford, Emily Grove, The Zach Westfall Group, The Tomás Doncker Band, Accidental Seabirds, and a few guest DJs.

“This is truly a grass-roots production requiring the talents of many people,” Schiavino said. “It has always been a free event, open to the public, and we rely solely on the generosity of our friends and neighbors in the community for financial support garnered through the selling of sponsorship. It is really heartwarming how everyone pitches in to make this all happen. It is an amazing celebration of who we are as a community; I have never experienced anything quite like it anywhere.”

Event highlights include:

Music and art throughout the day at the gARTen, located at 715 Cookman Ave, next door to Parlor Gallery. The gArten is the brainchild of local musician, author and artist Joe Harvard, featuring glow painted sculptures made entirely of repurposed plastic containers and debris.

From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. The Underground Poets will take over the underground area at The Shoppes at The Arcade at  658 Cookman Ave, outside of Backward Glances. Chelsea Palermo, founder of the Ministry of Artistic Intent, has gathered an eclectic crew of poets from Asbury Park to New York and Philly. For the full schedule of poets go to www.MAIntent.org.

Comedy takes hold from 1 to 5 p.m. at DJ’s Delights at 620 Mattison Ave. Curated by Jess Alaimo, the lineup features Ian Wolsten, Alyssa Stephenson, Tiz Irie, Tyler Langlois, Emily Chrzanowski, Melissa Jouben, Andy Lawson, Angelo Gingerelli, Brian St. John, Chelsea Moroski, James Weir, Kate Ireland, Mark Henely, Danish Maqbool, Jack Steiger, Joe McAndrew, Ryan Metzger and Allie Mae.

Shaune Pony Heath, Elias Drell, Well Wisher, Sunday Blues, Julian Fulton, and The Vaughns perform at Fitness Lifestyles/BTII Gallery, located 614 Cookman Ave, in support of environmental nonprofit Surfrider Foundation.  

And there’s also The Dispersion Art Show, a pop-up curated by city artist Laurie Tobia in support of Waves for Water, a front-line group that works to provide clean water to communities across the globe.

The Asbury Underground APP, a free download via the Apple App Store and Google Play, features a map of the day’s events, schedule, and up-to- the-minute updates of specials. For more information, visit the website and Facebook page.

[Feature Photo of Pamela Flores by Delaney Gerard Images; other photos courtesy of Asbury Underground]

—————————————————————————————-

Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Asbury Park Sun is affiliated with the triCityNews newspaper.

---