Super Bowl of Jersey Bands features Kinnelon's Stereo Jo

Crossroads, Embrace Kids Foundation, Makin Waves & MyCentralJersey will present The Super Bowl of Jersey Bands on Saturday, Feb. 4, at Crossroads, 78 North Ave., Garwood.

The show features six bands for only $7 with $2 from each admission going to New Brunswick-based Embrace Kids Foundation to help families battle childhood disease. One of the bands is Stereo Jo, a fun groove unit from Kinnelon.

The lineup also will feature:

• Experiment 34, a New Brunswick-based "psycho funk" band
• Cook Thugless, a jazz-adelic rap group also from Hub City
• Sunny Gang, a punk-rap quartet from Newark
• Camp Nos, a hip-hop duo from Jersey City
• Collective Man, a funky fusion of '60s and '90s from Montclair that scratches a Primus itch.

"In addition to raising some money for Embrace Kids, the purpose of this show is to bring together bands united by a variety of different kinds of grooves, so they can perform, network and continue to work together," said organizer Bob Makin, whose Makin Waves column has covered New Jersey arts and entertainment since 1988.

"While it's easier than ever for rock bands to record and release music, it's harder than ever for them to garner music industry interest," Makin continued. "But by banding together beyond this show, it's my hope that these six bands will do just that."

Highlights of The Super Bowl of Jersey Bands include a free drawing for an NFL jersey.

NFL players have been invited to the funktacular football fest.

"Hopefully, they will join you in getting your groove on with The Super Bowl of Jersey Bands," Makin said.

The show precedes the Makin Waves' 30th Anniversary Concert Series, which includes several shows through April 2018, such as:

• Makin Waves Rock Circus with Lowlight, The Paper Jets, Black Flamingos, GayGay/StraighGuy, Vivi Noir, and Aerial Fixation, 8 p.m. April 21, Roxy & Dukes, Dunellen
• "Sgt. Pepper" 50th Anniversary & Kurt Cobain 50th Birthday Celebration with The Vaughns, Experiment 34 and more, April 29, The Saint, Asbury Park
• "Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band" 50th Anniversary Concert with The Weeklings, The Grip Weeds, Anderson Council, and The Sgt. Pepper Jersey All-Star Band, June, Asbury Park (date and venue TBA)
• Makin Waves Rock Circus, Oct. 21, Roxy & Dukes
• Makin Waves 30th Anniversary Concert, April 2018.

For more info about The Super Bowl of Jersey Bands, visit https://www.facebook.com/event... For more about Makin Waves, which appears Thursdays on MyCentralJersey.com and Fridays on the front pages of the Home News Tribune and Courier News, visit http://mycj.co/1qOHoVF and www.facebook.com/makinwavescolumn.