The Sweet Soul and Rock 'n' Roll Concert in Wildwood has been canceled.

Event organizer Carver Entertainment Group, citing the pending adverse weather conditions brought on by Hurricane Earl, has canceled the Sweet Soul and Rock & Roll Concert Series — to have taken place this Saturday, Sept. 4, at the Wildwoods Convention Centerr — and plans to reschedule at a later date. No date has been announced as of this time.

Three legendary groups from the Motown era were scheduled to perform at in the inaugural event — The Spinners, Little Anthony and the Imperials (pictured), and The Temptations Review featuring Dennis Edwards. Celebrity impersonator Linda Axelrod was to host the show, performing at Joan Rivers.

For more information contact the Carver Entertainment Group at 570-646-2643. For information about the Wildwoods, go here or call 609-729-9000.

Philanthropist and Philadelphia attorney James Binns has overseen the funding and dedication of hundreds memorial plaques for police officers who died in the line of duty (including eight in Atlantic City and two in Margate), and created a similar program that commemorates the lives of Philadelphia firefighters who lost their lives while serving the public.

He’s established a fundraising effort called Cop Wheels that has provided dozens of patrol motorcycles to various police departments, and he single-handedly revived a popular Philadelphia spectacle (scheduled for Sept. 18 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philly) called the Hero Thrill Show that has raised well over $1 million in five years to pay for the college tuitions of children of police officers/firefighters who died in the line of duty.

This Saturday, Aug. 28, as a sort of prelude to that Philadelphia show, the City of Margate will host its own Hero Thrill Show. It will take place at Ventura’s Greenhouse at Benson Street and Atlantic Avenue (by Lucy the Elephant) from 11am-3pm, and will include daring stunts by the Philadelphia Police Department Motorcycle Drill Team, a K-9 unit demonstration, stunts by the Philadelphia Police Narcotics Strike Force Bicycle Team, and a demonstration by the Atlantic City Bomb Squad. The event is free to the public, and there will be food and entertainment provided.

For more on this event, go here.

One of the smaller participants in last year's Roar to the Shore motorcycle event in the Wildwoods. (photo from roartotheshoreonline.com)

If you need a quick “roar” fix between the recently completed “Thunder Over the Boardwalk” air show and the upcoming revival of Atlantic City’s “Feel the Power” offshore powerboat races on Sept. 19, then head down to Wildwood for the annual “Roar to the Shore” motorcycle rally taking place Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 9-12.

Thousands of bikers will roll into the Wildwoods for this 15^th annual event featuring specialized vendors and demonstrations, live entertainment and more. The vast vendor areas will feature hundreds of top-of-the-line merchants. It will be open each of the four days from 9am, and include everything from pin-striping, accessories, leather goods, helmets, eye protection, fine cigars and (drum roll please) … a mobile Jack Daniels museum. Merchants will be spread across five separate vending areas sited at the Wildwoods Convention Center (WCC)’s parking lot, and all along Oak and Atlantic avenues in downtown Wildwood.

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U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds

The Atlantic City Airshow “Thunder Over the Boardwalk” will take place rain or shine Wednesday, Aug. 25, as long as the cloud ceiling and visibility are within Federal Aviation Administration minimums for flying aircraft. There is no rain date for the show.

In the eight years that the Atlantic City Airshow has taken place, it has never been canceled.

Current weather conditions call for a slight chance of rain — 20 percent — for the day of the Airshow. For weather updates, monitor News Talk 1400-AM WOND or WMGM TV40 or your local news affiliate. For any updates on the Atlantic City Airshow, go here.

Roy Goldberg with the Hooters' Eric Bazilian

On Sunday, Aug. 22, the Gold Foundation hosted its sixth annual Margate Rock Festival, a free summer blockbuster concert presented by Harrah’s Entertainment. The live concert featured The Hooters, whose show was followed by a fireworks display over the Margate bayfront sponsored by Tomatoe’s Restaurant.
The Hooters hit the club scene in 1980 and skyrocketed to national prominence with hit songs like “Day By Day,” “And We Danced,” “Where do the Children Go,” “All You Zombies,” “Hanging on a Heartbeat,” “Can’t Get Blood from a Stone” and others. Original band members Eric Bazilian, Rob Hyman and Dave Uosikkinen were later joined by Fran Smith and John Lilley, and that combination has remained intact for over 20 years.

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The Village Voice blog has an insightful post today on the New York Times “excellent piece” on Guy Fieri’s recent appearance at Caesars during the Atlantic City Food & Wine Festival.

Here’s the NY Times story. It’s called “Guy Fieri, Chef-Dude, Is in the House.”

Worth the read.

The inaugural Atlantic City International Film & Music Festival takes place Sept. 8-12, with the support of Harrah’s Entertainment properties, Bally’s Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City, Harrah’s Resort and the Showboat Casino-Hotel. Go here for the story

Members of Atlantic City’s Indian community and the Indo U.S. Council have established a tribute to India’s original homeland and the homeland of the nation’s ancestors.
The three-day event will take place Friday through Sunday, Aug. 13-15. India has traditionally celebrated Aug. 15 to commemorate its independence from British rule, and its birth as a sovereign nation since 1947. (more…)

Robert Cray and AC Weekly editor Jeff Schwachter

The Atlantic City Food & Wine Festival, held July 29-Aug. 1, was a complete success. It was held during a beautiful weekend weather-wise, which brought foodies from all over into Atlantic City.

AC Weekly staffers attended several of the 40 events held at Harrah’s Entertainment’s four properties in town – as well as the kick-off party at the Chelsea – and had a blast.

One highlight for this writer was the Blues, Brews and BBQ event at the House of Blues featuring a concert by the Robert Cray Band and some mighty tasty food from Food Network stars the Neelys. (The BBQ spaghetti was simply amazing.)

Another mind-blowing event was the Grand Market at Bally’s. You had to be there to understand the massive size of this event, which included what seemed like hundreds of vendors offering information about their product(s) and offering samples.

I sampled some very hot coffee at one of the tables and wound up spilling it all over my red shirt. Thankfully, the friendly folks from the New Jersey Beer Company (njbeerco.com) gave me a T-shirt to wear. (Due to the tight-fitting medium sized Tee — see pic — I also got a larger T-shirt from the Brownies Squared table. The company, based in Mays Landing, bakes some delicious brownies, and I’m not just saying that because they lent me a shirt.)

NJ Beer Company homies with Schwachter (and his new T-shirt - thanks guys!)

John McCarthy and the rest of his N.J. Beer Co. crew — great tasting ale, by the way — happened to have their table set up right next to Atlantic City’s own Tony Boloney’s table at the Grand Market.

The night before, Tony Boloney’s owner Mike Hauke took the trophy in Guy Fieri’s Cheesesteak Battle. The next day Hauke was pretty much a legend as his pizza shop on Oriental Avenue was packed with people trying to get a taste of his prize-winning eats.

Tony Boloney's Mike Hauke with his Cheesesteak Battle trophy and Schwachter's pre-coffee-drenched shirt

AC Weekly associate editor Lori Hoffman filed a few reports over the weekend that you can read here, here and here.

Also, AC Weekly columnist David Spatz sent us this report from the four-day festival, which mentions the fact that two of the biggest names at the festival may each open a restaurant in Atlantic City in the not-too-distant future.

Paula Deen’s big event at the Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival, a party under a tent outdoors at Bally’s Dennis Courtyard, delivered a great combination of terrific food and delightful stories from the “Queen of Southern Cuisine.” Go here for the story.

Go here for video of Pat & Gina Neely and their “Play With Your Food” Event.