Groove on Grove is officially back next Wednesday! and I am so beyond excited for this! Every Wednesday from Spring to Fall you will see me and mini chicpea rocking out right by the stage on Grove Street and Newark Ave.

I wanted to get the background story on “GOG” so I reached out to the team behind it: Rachel, the Executive Director of the HDSID, “Dancing Tony” (post coming soon) who books all the bands and talents and pretty much runs the JC entertainment scene and Debbie aka Vera Vixeness who is bringing the Artist Maker Market to this weekly shindig.

Which is FREE! yes, free. So go home after work, grab your kids/dog/partner/mom/dad/bird/snacks and come party it up on a Wednesday. #turnup

What’s your name? My name is Rachel Sieg.

What do you do? I am the Executive Director of the Historic Downtown Special Improvements district.

When did Groove on Grove begin? Groove on Grove started in 2008, the board of trustees had an idea of basically bringing people together downtown, offering the neighborhood a free music concert series and getting the neighborhood involved.

Awesome and what are the plans for this years Groove on Grove? This year, we decided that because we’re not going to allow as many food vendors since there’s so many wonderful restaurants opening up in our district… we decided that we are going to allow artists. Artists vendors to come to Groove on Grove to sell their art! We want to make it special… make it bigger and better. Every year it’s important for us to grow.

I decided to bring Debbie (Vera Vixeness) to partner up with us to allow artists or any kind of creative vendor to Groove on Grove once a month. I want it to grow and I think maybe this will be the way it will get bigger….

So is there going to be food from local restaurants? Koro Koro is going to be there, Raval, Orale, so between the vendors, the music and the food, it’s going to be great.

Do you know any of the music that’s going to be playing? That’s all “Dancing Tony”. He does all the bookings, he brings all the equipment he’s been doing that since day 1.

Anything else  you want people to know about Groove on Grove? It’s kid friendly, and it’s a free event. Our job is to basically bring the neighborhood together on a Wednesday night and enjoy a free concert outside!

I love it! We are going to have Liquor nights once a month… we will have a Ladies on the mic night…

So Fun!! Thanks Rachel!

Tony, tell me about Groove on Grove.  We are in our 7^th or 8^th season and I got involved in the second season. At the time they asked for me to be in charge of sound and doing booking because I had a good pulse on bands and everything that was going on.

It was my first above ground exposure, because I used to do events in art galleries, and halls and you always had to worry if the cops were going to shut the party down. With Groove on Grove it was a good opportunity to put on bands that I had perform at the gallery space on a regular basis.

Most of the bands I liked are indie rock bands but this is not some indie rock crowd, so the more groups that got involved with the programming, gave more of a cultural perspective. Now Groove on Grove is not all about rock bands! We got Opera singers, folk music, jazz its all just exposing people to different music. It’s a beautiful day, it’s the type of day when you walk out the PATH and you hear music playing and kind of like just enjoy it.

Awesome. Can you tell me about the bands that are on your lineup? I have got a lot of request for this year already. The main focus is to showcase local bands, so it’s always important for someone in the band to be from Hudson County.

We work on different levels as compared to JC Fridays…  those are slots I hold for bands that have toured nationally and actually have released music. Those are the bands that I want to have , but also we have the Back To School special for the Emerging Artists which is a 18 and under show, because that’s tomorrows kids.

Anything else you can tell me about your involvement with Groove on Grove ? I used to tell bands that I book, is that it’s a early show, it’s not about you bringing people , it’s about you keeping people.

Can your tell me what bands are going to play? Kiwi is going to play

I love Kiwi. I actually only booked 3 bands so far, there’s a lot of submissions coming in. But for me its important to showcase new stuff, and not have it be the same routine.

Thanks Tony! 

Debbie, so you are the new one on the “Groove on Grove Team” tell me about your involvement. They decided to incorporate more of a vending situation for the Groove on Grove this year because they bring such a great crowd. I was talking to Rachel, and we was both on the same page bringing in an indie fresh vendor situation so us being on the same page is how the Artist Maker Market was born….

So can you tell me about the vendors that are going to be at Groove on Grove. Its going to be a combination of vintage sellers, artists, photographers, artisans….  I want people who work well on their art brands to have a place to showcase, so when people get off the train and they say “hey this is top quality art from the artist of this city”  Jersey City has such great talent!

Do you have any names that you can draw up right now? Well right now we are in the application process, so don’t want to necessarily give out names yet….but I’m just really excited.

If anyone wants to be a vendor do they still have the chance to apply? Yes they do there are no deadlines, because our dates run from May 6th til September 4th, once approved your all set!

Do you have to pay? Yeah its $60 per space for Wednesdays, and for JC Friday it’s $100.

How do people become vendors? All they have to do is e-mail me!

Thanks Groove on Grove Team!! 

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