By Lee Maxwell
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ASBURY PARK, NJ – There are people other than Bruce Springsteen who’ve written music about this city by the sea, although it’s hard to tell from web searching the phrase "songs about Asbury Park, NJ". One of them is folk singer/songwriter Martin Swinger. He’s written two.
Here some of the lyrics of one song, which he wrote for The Boss:
From a postcard back in time
Comes a sparkle beginning to shine
Jewel of the Shore, light in the dark
Returning to glory, Asbury Park
And from the other, a video of which is posted on Youtube, along with several other performance videos:
There’s a fresh bold look to the oceanfront
Fashion Boutiques and new restaurants
Asbury Park has a Renaissance
@ City of Asbury Park dot com
Although Martin, a Georgia native and lifelong folksinger, now lives in Maine, he fell in love with Asbury long ago. He wrote both songs about two years ago to praise Asbury’s revealed treasures and offered them to the City. He hope they are used one day.
Martin will perform his Asbury songs and songs from his newest CD, MOON, in his performance from 7-9 p.m. Friday, May 6 in The Bar 660 @ Synaxis Restaurant, 660 Cookman Avenue, Asbury Park. Admission is $15 per person at the door. Proceeds from the concert benefit ArtsCAP. Patrons can take advantage of the reasonably priced dinner fare at The Bar 660, or enjoy a full dinner in Synaxis.
Martin’s fifth and newest CD, Moon, debuts this month, and brings together 15 of his oldest and newest original songs. MOON is a tastefully diverse album whose songs cycle through phases from thoughtful and contemplative, to profoundly honest and outrageously funny.
In MOON, he revisits some personal history with Jamie’s Song, Home to You, Moth Song and Something Like Goodbye – songs whose timelessness and poetic appeal have kept them vital. More recent songs – Little Plastic Part, Coney Island Lullaby, Betty Boop & Buddha – have won accolades from fellow songwriters across the country, and along with My Old Shoe, Stay With Me and Gravity reflect Martin’s eclectic approach.
One song, Wooden Boy, was written about a young man with autism and is based on essays by a friend and facilitated communications prodigy, Gene Marcus. A portion of MOON’s proceeds will be donated to the study of Autism and facilitated communication at Syracuse University’s Institute for Communication and Inclusion.
Martin supports the mission of the Arts Coalition of Asbury Park to support artistic creation and appreciation in Asbury Park, especially art education.
"Having been an artist and arts educator for 20 years, I know the expression of creative art is a common human need and inspires a link between all of us," Martin said. "Through the expression of our art we share meaningful communication, build a healthy, respectful and diverse community and gain spiritual strength together. If we don’t encourage and support the arts in our communities, we become lonely, stifled and there is no more communication nor community.
"ArtsCAP seeks to bring the diverse residents in Asbury Park together to engage, share and celebrate our creative spirits as one community," he added. "How could I not want to be part of that?"
Martin is a co-founder and singing workshop leader for the improvisational a cappella group, ImproVox. He leads improvisational singing workshops for teens (New Jersey Teen Arts Festival) and adults. As a residency artist Martin teaches songwriting to all ages of student, specializing with K-6th grades and teaches his simple method of classroom song construction to school teachers.
For more information on the concert and Martin, visit the event page on the ArtsCAP website, http://www.artscap.org/events.
Artscap believes that art by its very nature enriches community life. As a coalition of artists, citizens and cultural organizations, the Arts Coalition of Asbury Park is dedicated to the promotion and advancement of the arts through collaboration, advocacy and education. To learn more about ArtsCAP, visit our website at http://www.artscap.org.
