According to the Associated Press, the June 30 deadline for bids on the former airport in Atlantic City, Bader Field, has not garnered any bids. The parcel has been thought to be the most valuable property for sale on the East Coast. The AP article says that Atlantic City Councilman Dennis Mason has said that “nobody had submitted a bid as of Tuesday” and that he doesn’t expect one to come in before the deadline.

“Nothing came in,” Mason told the AP. “There’s nothing going on in Atlantic City other than Revel.”

Starting this Friday, July 3, singer Doreen Taylor will be performing at Ego Lounge in the Trump Taj Mahal casino for a 10-week span ending Saturday, Sept. 5. Her shows will be every Friday and Saturday from 5-9pm, where Taylor will sing songs from her breakout album Unbreakable. The classically trained Taylor has a wide range and versatility, performing in many types of genres including opera, musical theater, country and jazz and swing.
The series of performances is being billed as a dance party and one-woman show where, during the four hours, Taylor will give away prizes and guests can participate in trivia. “There is nothing that this girl can’t, and doesn’t, sing,” says her publicist, Shannon Rose. “She is a living jukebox.” For more information on Doreen including tour dates for other shows, go here. For more information about the club, go here — Katie Harman

Boogie Nights at Resorts and the House of Blues at the Showboat are offering Michael Jackson tributes this weekend.
Michael Jackson’s music, which has been a mainstay on the musical landscape of Boogie Nights since its inception, will be celebrated all weekend at the retro dance club. Those who party at Boogie Nights will be treated to a Michael Jackson tribute, featuring his chart-topping hits and countless such as “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough,” “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’,” “Billie Jean,” “Beat It,” “Thriller,” “Man in the Mirror” and so many more.
Over at the Showboat, The House of Blues will present a free concert honoring Michael Jackson, starring the premier MJ tribute band Who’s Bad. The concert, which is restricted to ages 18 and over, will take place in the Music Hall Saturday, July 4, at 10:30pm; doors open at 9:30pm. While a physical ticket is not required to attend the free concert tribute, space is limited and based upon availability. In glitzy jackets, glittering gloves and ‘80s regalia, Who’s Bad is an infectious party production that takes audiences on a musical expedition spanning three decades of Jackson’s chart-cresting music. From “ABC” to “You Rock My World.”

Tied to the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, McCullough’s Emerald Golf Links will be transformed into a Rock ‘n’ Roll Roots Jamfest featuring six live bands Saturday, Aug. 1.
The event is part of the Tony Mart’s Presents summer series, and will be highlighted by a group featuring former Grateful Dead vocalist Donna Jean Godchaux (pictured left, with the band’s late lead guitarist Jerry Garcia) and members of the longtime Dead tribute band Zen Tricksters. It will also include The Ryders featuring AC Weekly editor Jeff Schwachter on guitar, Ray Polonsky on guitar, Mike Hoebler on drums and unconventional accordionist Malcolm Tent and 1Adam12 on bass rounding out the group. The Ryders will include in their set Bob Dylan songs that the Dead and JGB covered. The bands Cerberus and Franny Smith’s New Orleans Trio will perform along with others to be announced later. There will be a late-night jam session at the restaurant Mangia by the Greens, located next to McCullough’s club house.
“This is going to be the big Tony Mart event of the summer,” says event organizer Carmen Marotta. “We’ll have a lot of major countywide sponsorship like Island Sun Tanning and others, and there’ll be Chef Richard’s famous gumbo, tequila and margarita tastings and more. It’ll be a really fun time.”
The outdoor event will take place from 7pm-midnight at McCullough’s, 3016 Ocean Heights Avenue in EHT. Tickets will be $20 apiece. Call 653-6069 for more information, or e-mail TonyMarto@aol.com.

Billy Mays, 1958-2009.

Billy Mays, the TV pitchman for Oxi-Clean, Kaboom!, ESPN commercials of late and numerous other products, is another victim of a sudden, unexpected death, at age 50. Mays got his start as a pitchman in Atlantic City.
According to Fox News, he was born in Pittsburgh and in 1983 he moved to Atlantic City with a high school friend who was going to become a salesman there. He also took part in the selling game on the Boardwalk, hawking WashMatik (a bucket with a washer inside), the Ultimate Chopper, knives, mops, and other “As seen on TV” products. This gives him a connection to Ed McMahon, who also got his start as a pitchman on the AC boardwalk.

The marriage between Neil Goldberg’s Cirque Dreams and the Trump Organization continues this summer, although at a new venue. After years of performances at the Trump Plaza, the Taj’s Xanadu Theatre has been renamed the Cirque Dreams Theatre for the run of Cirque Dreams Pandemonia, now to Sept. 6.

Not only is the new show fresh and vibrant with some cool new circus performers, Goldberg announced that Cirque Dreams and Taj are holding a contest to find one lucky and talented individual who has what it takes to perform in the show. The contest takes place on Saturday, July 18, 10am-1pm in the theater. There is no age limit.

(more…)

An honoree of the 2009 Top 40 Under 40 project has died according to reports. The young Atlantic City High School grad and Rutgers student was running for City Council in Atlantic City.

Here is Rasheed’s bio from our March 2009 Top 40 Under 40 issue:

Dafiq Rasheed
Technology Instructor, Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City

Dafiq is a graduate of Atlantic City High School and a current freshman at Rutgers University in Camden. He is studying to become a high school history teacher. As the technology instructor at the Boys and Girls Club in Atlantic City, he teaches children technology, emphasizing life skills, mathematics and the arts. During the fall, Dafiq volunteered for the Barack Obama campaign and recently served on the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Inaugural Gala Committee. He has been the recipient of various awards and scholarships for his advocacy and service within the community including the United Way G.I.V.E. Award, an Assembly Resolution, and the Fannie Lou Hamer Ordinary People/Extraordinary Deeds Award. Dafiq has been an influential voice and a prominent role model for the youth in Atlantic City and is also a candidate for one of the City Council at-Large seats in Atlantic City.

We got to meet him at the March party at MIXX at Borgata. He seemed like a very sweet and inspring person. He’ll certainly be mised by his family, friends and all those he mentored and inspired.

With a city full of exciting events on any given Saturday night, Atlantic City’s House of Blues at Showboat was the place to be last night.

Biz Markie at the House of Blues Atlantic City (Photo: Kevin McCarty)

Around 9pm, Biz Markie (above) helped kick off the first-and-only Legends of Hip-Hop show, which, along with the Biz’s party-starting set, included appearances by fellow old-school rappers Kool Moe D., Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh. The latter blew minds with his unparalleled ability as a beat boxer — he’s the original. Slick Rick’s diamond-and-gold-studded set, although brief, included “Hey, Young World,” and, of course, “Children’s Story.” The crowd, many more over-30s then under as the artists concluded during their mid-set polls — went nuts as soon as Slick Rick (”the Ruler”) took the stage of the Music Hall, dressed in yellow, black and blue denim —  and monster gold chains and medallions, a diamond-studded eye patch over his right eye (below).

Slick Rick at House of Blues Atlantic City (Photo: Kevin McCarty)

We hoped to get backstage to interview some of the artists – namely Slick Rick, who was supposed to be down for an interview after the show – we just had to confirm with Chill Will, Doug E. Fresh’s DJ (and long-time cohort) and agent for both he and Slick Rick. We had been communicating for days trying to set this up. He didn’t promise, but was very helpful in trying to make it happen. 

Biz Markie hosted an after party at the House of Blues. I headed to the Foundation Room for a couple drinks, thinking about the death of Michael Jackson (Biz Markie tried for a moment of silence towards the end of his set), Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh’s version of “The Show,” which they performed together at the HOB as well as back in 1984 when it was a monster club hit and Biz Markie’s stellar version of “Vapors.”

Chill Will texted from the stage that Slick Rick had to rush to the airport after the show and that Doug had to catch a flight to Los Angeles for the BET awards. Therefore, our planned video interviews with this pair of hip-hop royalty wasn’t going to happen after all.

Doug E. Fresh at the House of Blues Atlantic City (Photo: Kevin McCarty)

But the show was awesome. The entire place was packed and clapping and singing along; the floors were shaking to the evening’s bouncing beats. It was a celebration and then some. I doubt if anybody left the Music Hall disappointed. Doug E. Fresh and the others brought ‘em back to the 1980s, calling up old songs (even TV theme songs) and memories — including those of the late King of Pop.

Shock: dead at 50.

Michael Jackson is dead. I don’t know how I feel about that.

I’m shocked. Twenty years ago, he was defined by his music.

In recent years he has been defined and ridiculed for his bizarre behavior, and more disturbingly, by the controversy surrounding such antics as dangling his son over a balcony.

The truth of his music will endure; the rest will remain a shadow that hangs over his legacy.

Farrah Fawcett also died today, after her long and public battle with cancer. She was an cultural icon in the same era as the young Michael Jackson, an ironic footnote to their deaths on the same day.

The famous poster pose.