The Jersey Rhythm Devils (Photo Bill Horin)

The Lower East Side Tenement Museum’s podcasts that is.

The Jersey Rhythm Devils, a unique Atlantic City-area band that performs party, blues and dance music from the 1920s (think Boardwalk Empire with a string-band feel), were recently approached by New York City’s Lower East Side Tenement Museum, which has, starting today, begun using the band’s music in its popular podcasts.

The tenement apartment building on 97 Orchard Street in New York was constructed in America’s iconic immigrant neighborhood, Manhattan’s Lower East Side, in 1863 and was home to nearly 7,000 working-class immigrants.  The people faced the challenges of making a new life in America, starting their families with limited means and working in hopes of a better future for their children and generations to come.  (Think Boardwalk Empire, once again.)

The museum started with Ruth Abram, a historian and social activist who wanted to build a place that honored America’s immigrants.  Today, the Tenement Museum preserves and interprets the rich history of immigration through the personal experiences of the generations of newcomers who settled in, working and building their lives in the neighborhood.

The museum tries to bring about emotional connections between visitors and immigrants both past and present, enhancing the appreciation for the vital role immigration played in America’s past and continues to play in shaping the country’s evolving national identity.

The Jersey Rhythm Devils are a nifty fit for the museum’s podcasts as the band performs the music of the 1920s and is dedicated to bringing authentic arrangements and sounds of all types of exciting music from the Roaring 20s era — always with a few surprises in their sets, such as Tom Waits’ “Temptation” or Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice,” always done in a “20s” feel.

The band features violin, mandolin, piano, guitar, washboard, kazoo and lead singer Linda DeVaul’s genuinely retro voice.

You can hear The Tenement Museum’s latest podcast here. The new one is #1, titled “October 2011.”

Check out songs and video from the Jersey Rhythm Devils, including clips from their sets on the Atlantic City Boardwalk during the summer of 2011, as well as their appearances at Caesars Atlantic City for the “Boardwalk Empire” season two premiere parties, here on their official Facebook page and here in ACWeekly.com’s Local Music Guide.

— Josh Kinney

ATLANTIC CITY — According to the New York Times‘ blog ArtBeat, HBO ordered a third season of Boardwalk Empire on this Wednesday, Oct. 12.

Not too surprising considering the overwhelming response the drama series based in Atlantic City during Prohibition has received around the world since kicking off in September 2010.

That first season earned the show 18 Emmy nominations and several Emmy wins in addition to more awards in other global contests.

Terence Winter, the show’s creator, told AC Weekly in early September that he was already set to start writing the third season, which, if the current second season is any evidence, should be an intense continuation of this half-real/half-fictional tale of the origins of Atlantic City as we know it today; political corruption; the early stages of the Mob and notorious gangsters such as Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Myer Lansky and Arnold Rothstein; the roots of racism in America; how relevant the world of 1921 is to today’s modern world, and how Prohibition affected the course of both Atlantic City and the country.

Rich with characters whose back stories could make for their own future seasons, Boardwalk Empire is one of the most popular cable TV dramas in history and it’s not even halfway through its extraordinary second season, which began Sept. 25 with the much anticipated episode “21.”

The 2010 pilot episode, which reportedly cost $18 million to make, earned an Emmy for Martin Scorsese, who directed the pilot and who has continued to play a key role as one of the show’s executive directors.

Steve Buscemi, who plays bootlegger and political powerbroker Nucky Thompson is the show’s star and his story gets meatier and meatier with each episode.

Expect a DVD of season one out in time for the holidays (maybe with the bonus documentaries that HBO aired in conjunction with the series premiere in 2010, and featuring many Atlantic City locals and historians).

Whether or not HBO releases the DVD with this bonus material, fans of Boardwalk Empire (based in part on the book by Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Nelson Johnson) should check out the Atlantic City History: Conversations & Storytelling Web video series, which was filmed at the Atlantic City premiere screening in 2010, held at Caesars. All 13 episodes of the series, produced by Atlantic City Weekly, can be seen here.

For Boardwalk Empire interviews, news, videos, photos and more, bookmark the AC Weekly Boardwalk Empire Notes Page and join the AC Weekly Boardwalk Empire Fan Club Facebook Page.

Finally, if you would like to win a full-size season two Boardwalk Empire poster, click here to enter.

FURTHER READING:  5 Questions with NPR TV critic David Bianculli on ‘Boardwalk Empire’

FURTHER READING: “All Mobbed Up”

ATLANTIC CITY — With Boardwalk Empire’s second season about to start on HBO (Sunday, Sept. 25, 9pm) the seashore resort, which is the real star of the award-winning and highly acclaimed drama series, is already going gaga for everything Nucky. (Including some interesting sounding events that the Atlantic City Free Public Library has planned, including one with AC Weekly history writer and author Jim Waltzer Saturday.)

New York too.

The marketing team involved with Boardwalk Empire has new 20s-era subway cars in New York promoting the show, which is really cool.

Too bad A.C. doesn’t have a subway.

Also, here in Atlantic City, HBO has already started its promotion of season two with a press release that went out earlier this week, stating the following:

In celebration of Atlantic City and season 2 of the award winning series “Boardwalk Empire,”on Sunday, Sept. 25th, HBO is pleased to announce their sponsorship of a beautification project at the entrance to Atlantic City.  “Compliments of Nucky,” will be unveiled today, August 31. In addition to this beautification project, HBO will sponsor all eastbound Pleasantville tolls into Atlantic City from the AC Expressway during the premiere weekend starting at midnight Friday, Sept. 23rd through 11:59 pm on Sunday, Sept. 25th

About the beautification project:  Located along the gateway into Atlantic City, HBO and the Atlantic City Expressway have joined forces to provide a special welcome for visitors and residents of Atlantic City alike.  (photos attached). There are  three designated beautification sites that will be unveiled on Wednesday, August 31st, revealing  landscaping that features native New Jersey plants and trees.  This beautification effort is part of a larger “Compliments of Nucky” campaign that HBO plans to unveil over the course of the month of September.

About the sponsorship of the tolls:   Starting at midnight on Friday, September 23rd and concluding at 11:59PM on Sunday, September 25th, HBO will sponsor all Eastbound Pleasantville tolls into Atlantic City from the AC Expressway offering commuters a perk, “Compliments of Nucky.”

Other elements of the campaign include a Facebook application launching on Sept. 6 at facebook.com/boardwalkempire

Expect more news to be coming out next week, after the holiday weekend, with regard to season two, its local premiere, which is slated to be a star-studded event at Caesars AC Weekly hears, as well as the soundtrack album being released by Elektra.

We’ll post information pertaining to the show on our Boardwalk Empire Notes page as well as AC Weekly’s Boardwalk Empire Fan Club Facebook page.

Michael K. Williams' character Chaulky White faces the Klan in the first episode.

Boardwalk Empire returns to HBO Sunday, Sept. 25 at 9pm (EST) and media outlets have received screening copies of the second season of the show from HBO this week.

According to Reuters, the first episode is packed with “an insurrection, an arrest, and a terrifying visit from the Ku Klux Klan.”

The Season 2 premiere, titled “21,” will, according to Reuters, “find Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), Atlantic City’s man behind the curtain, contending with trouble in his inner circle. Chalky White, meanwhile, suffers a life-threatening attack from the Klan, and Margaret Schroeder, Nucky’s on-again off-again squeeze, contends with her son’s disciplinary problems.”

Click here for the latest everything related to Boardwalk Empire and join AC Weekly’s Boardwalk Empire Fan Club on Facebook.

Courtesy of HBO

UPDATE: 12:41pm EST

A very reliable source who wishes to remain anonymous tells Atlantic City Weekly that filming for the second season of the award-winning HBO series is slated to begin in February.

We’ll be sure to keep you updated on all fronts with regard to the second season, which everyone is looking forward to now that the debut, much-anticipated (and loved) first season has commenced.

In related news, a story in the United Kingdom’s Guardian newspaper from last Thursday, Jan. 20, hails the series — it debuts months later across the pond;  we’re told it may debut in the U.K. “next week” — as “a fascinating look at the birth of US gangster mythology.” Read full story here.

On the “unbiased media and entertainment news” site, Beehive.com, there is another story indicating that British viewers will be “hooked from the beginning episode,” also suggesting the series has just come to the U.K.

In the story, entitled “Preview: Boardwalk Empire – Scorsese hits the jackpot in Sky’s new Atlantic City,” the following is revealed:

“[Kelly] Macdonald has signed up for six seasons, which suggests Boardwalk Empire will demonstrate a Sopranos-style stamina. With Buscemi promising a towering, nuanced central performance to match James Gandolfini’s, that’s good news for British viewers who will be hooked from the opening episode.”

Six seasons? Don’t get excited yet.

According to a spokesperson for HBO, just because an actor/actress has signed a multi-season deal doesn’t necessarily mean the series will run for six seasons.

“It’s standard business practice for actors to sign a multi-year contract,” says the spokesperson. “That is normal, not unusual.  It also does NOT mean that the series is committed to six years, just that the actors are committed to the project. The network reserves the right to continue production and presentation of the series or not. So, the U.K. press really misinterpreted that information as something unique and extraordinary – it is not.”

In addition to the Great Britain premiere, “150 territories” have purchased the rights to the series. Debut dates for each are not available at this time.