WHILE THE SPRING S.O.S. continues here in North Myrtle Beach, with another great evening at Deckerz in that town, and also finally catching Rick and Lesa this week at Duplin Winery, let's head back up to my hometown of Roselle Park NJ where that town's Arts Festival returns after a year's hiatus.
Granted, Roselle Park is a small town and the "Roselle Park Loves ARTS" is probably small when compared to other towns music festivals, but the relatively intimate atmosphere, adds a lot to not just the musical performers on two stages, but also the many other forms of media displayed there, just as art, dance, crafts, drum circles and an overall experience in the arts. This year will mark the 11th that this festival will have taken place.
And it features two acts that have combined for ELEVEN number one songs on my Scenes 'n' Soundwaves 100 chart.
I have attended this festival three times, in 2021, 2022 and 2024, and being this the town I grew up in, I've run into several friends to hang out and enjoy what Roselle Park these days has to offer. The event has been traditionally held in late September each year, but took a breather in 2025. Starting this year, the festival has been moved to the last Saturday in April; this year it will take place this Saturday, April 25 (tomorrow, as I write this).
As is the case every year, there are two stages, one in front of the town's library, and another a block away at Mauri Park, which is the Roselle Park's town green. The festival takes up several blocks of Chestnut Street, the borough's business district. In addition to the two stages, dance troupes will perform throughout the afternoon, and various media creations will be on display throughout the festival area.
But of course, the reason why I attended this festival was the music. Many performers who I have been introduced to have gone on and made the SNS 100 chart. They include Jennifer Citron, Ryan Chatelain (both solo and with his band The Dust-Ups), Alexis Morrast, and Swingadelic. Also, many well-known to New Jersey contingents like The Verdict have performed here in the past.
And then there's two acts that have, as mentioned above, combined for 11 number one's on SNS: ScreenAge/Colorjoy, and Charlotte Sessions.
The good news: Both Colorjoy and Charlotte Sessions will be playing this Saturday.
The bad news: They're on different stages and almost at the same time.
Before I get into that, I will discuss some of the other musicians that will be taking the stages on Saturday.
 |
| Colorjoy (L) and Charlotte Sessions will return to perform at "Roselle Park Loves Art" festival in the borough's downtown on Saturday, April 25. |
At the Breakwater Stage, in the town square of Mauri Park, Roselle Park's High School Marching Band will start things off at 12:30. Having been a member of that outfit back in the 1970's, it'll be interesting to see. The Choral Art Society of New Jersey goes on at 1:20. Widely Grown, a five-piece band, which performed in 2024 and charted at #64 here with "While the Night Is Young" that year, will return at 2:10. That is followed by Nini Iris at 3:15. If that name sounds familiar, it's because she was a finalist on Season 24 of The Voice, on coach Niall Horan's team. In fact, her performance of Everybody Loves An Outlaw's "I See Red" during that season was instrumental in that song hitting #1 on my blog chart.
Colorjoy, with two SNS number ones to its credit, makes a return to the festival (its members have performed here since 2019), coming on at 4:45, and I will talk more about them below, and finally, headlining the Breakwater stage at 5:50 is Los 9 del Sabor, a renowned salsa-music band, ends the day with a Latin-flavored set.
MOVING TO THE LIBRARY STAGE, some other familiar faces to festival-goers. As they did in 2024, The Lanze Music School kids start things off at 12 noon. They are followed, at 1:15 by The Saxations, a trio of young men all playing alto and tenor saxes and have been here several years and return once again. An artist to watch, Kelli Bruno will bring her acoustic brand of indie music to the stage, at 2:15. This may be an artist to watch in the future. A little break at 3:00 as there will be kazoo lessons on the stage, but at 4 PM, music resumes with the return of the duo Isabelle Latorre and Reanna Saldana, once known as Quaranteens. Finally, it's none other than Charlotte Sessions topping things off at 5 PM.
And while all of these artists are worthy to check out, I'm going to focus on Colorjoy and Charlotte Sessions, as they've been the most successful on my blog.
Colorjoy, if you've been reading my blog for many years, consists of the duo of Emily MacMahon and Sam Novotny. The two of them started out as members of the four-piece band ScreenAge. They released two albums and racked up six number ones on the SNS 100, including "Blue Eyed Addiction", and "Think Again", which were my #1 songs for 2020 and 2021, respectively. Their second album, DNR, yielded five number one songs (tying a blog record), before leaving this band and forming Colorjoy. Colorjoy's first (and so far, only) album, 2023's Golden Age, produced two more number ones and a total of seven top tens which is still a blog record. Emily also scored a #1 solo with "Only Us", which gives her nine number ones, exceeded only by The Black Keys and Fitz and the Tantrums. ScreenAge played the festival in 2019 and 2021, while Colorjoy resumed in 2022 and '23. Over the past couple of years, the duo has concentrated on the clubs in New York City and have worked to gain a following there. The festival this year will mark a return to their home state.
Roselle Park resident Charlotte Sessions has played the festival every year since 2022. While she has released only two songs thus far, "Should I Be the Man", and "I've Fallen For a Dragon", both of them hit #1, with the latter coming in at #2 on my 2024 year-end list. Charlotte has been spending the last couple of years with the Songwriters Masters Program at NYU, further developing her craft. Aside from her appearance at the festival, she will also be performing at a recital on Saturday May 9. She has also been giving back to the music community, helping and teaching others at symposiums. At her recital, she will be introducing some new music which she plans on releasing very soon.
I am not able to make it up to the festival this year (to be honest, even though it's been announced for some time, thanks to the social media algorithm, I only learned about it last week), but both Colorjoy and Charlotte have talent and I know they will have a big career in music ahead of them.
The only issue is somehow, they're both playing at the same time! Colorjoy plays the Breakwater Stage from 4:45 to 5:30, and Ms. Sessions is at the Library Stage from 5 to 5:45. If you go, perhaps you can check out Colorjoy until 5:15, then walk the block up to the library and catch Charlotte until she finishes. They both are enormous talents and I will continue to support them any way I can.
"Roselle Park Loves ARTS" starts at 12 noon and goes to 7 PM. There is no admission charge.
 |
| Lesa Hudson and Rick Strickland performing at Duplin Winery in North Myrtle Beach on April 20 |
HEADING BACK SOUTH, where the beach music S.O.S. continues, I was able to catch Rick Strickland and Lesa Hudson performing at Duplin Winery this past Monday. It's the first time seeing this duo, who have racked up two #1's on the SNS 100. When I was down here visiting in 2023, my wife and two other friends went there, but inclement weather (cold and rainy) caused them to cancel. This time, it was a beautiful, pleasant sunny day and Rick and Lesa were performing out on the winery's porch. I was able to catch them playing several of their big songs, including Lesa's "Sunny Days", and the duo's big hits "Got It Right (The First Time)" and "Every Road", as well as their new song, "Too Late", which is this week's Top Debut. Also in attendance was Steve Cheek, and deejay Pat Gwinn. Lesa is awesome in communicating with the crowd, and she did a shout-out to me there (as she has done in her Facebook Live broadcasts. Rick & Lesa will be at Mother Tucker's Pour House on Saturday and Deckerz on Sunday.
More happenings during S.O.S. week were going on, unfortunately not being able to attend, included The Mac Daddy's Band at MOTO's, who performed their current "Bad Time", and Rhonda McDaniel also did a song with them. Cecilia Patterson performed at Deckerz on Thursday. Christina Cooper Black debuted her new song this past week and also joined Cecilia at Deckerz.
Spring S.O.S runs through to Sunday.
ELLA-MANIA: Turning to the national scene and the Billboard Hot 100, is there anyone hotter than Ella Langley? "Choosin' Texas" holds at #1 for a seventh consecutive week. The song is #2 here on SNS, and it's crossed over to a few beach music surveys as well, including #24 on The Wave. And this week, the song is joined by "Be Her" moving up to #4. Meanwhile, Olivia Dean's "Man I Need" continues its "2 or 3" as it has logged another week in the runner-up spot. The song still hasn't hit #1 as of yet. Bruno Mars' "I Just Might", also on beach music stations, holds at #3, and yes, "Ordinary"' is still #5 in its 61st week. Folks, this was LAST year's "song of the summer", how about making a new one this year?
SNS 100: Turing to my chart, sombr's "Homewrecker" narrowly edges "Choosin' Texas" to gain a second week at #1 on my chart. It was a virtual tie between the two songs, but "Homewrecker" gets the nod as it was ahead last week. The Half-Cubes' "Whenever You're On My Mind" moves 4-3, Jennifer Licko's "Meet Me at the Shag Pad" goes 5-4, and The Jay Vons' "Changing Seasons" drops from 2 to 5. New to the top 10 is Steve Cheek's "Sugar With My Coffee" (15-7) and The Black Keys' "You Got to Lose" (13-8).
Some big movers in the second ten. The Impact Award goes to Ruth Morayniss' "Come the Light" (30-12). Ruth last week posted some nice words about my blog, for which I am forever grateful! Thank you, Ruth! Just behind her is another singer-songwriter, Vaughan Penn, with "Bands on the Beach" garnering Mover of the Week honors, in a 32-13 move.
The Carolina beach music releases are charging up the chart as well: Jennifer James' "Takin' It Easy"' (35-25), Tim Sidden's "Don't Let Us Fade Away" (41-30), Starbuck's "Red Cadillac" (55-45) and The Tams' "I Lied" (65-50) are just three of them. Also making gains is Brooke Combe's "Tears Won't Lie" (29-21).
DEBUTING: Rick Strickland and Lesa Hudson top the new entries this week with "Too Late", the follow-up to the #1 "Every Road" (which resurges this week from 74 to 69), entering at #57. A change-of-pace as the duo get into a bluesy funky groove. It's a blast of 70's style funk music, and it's a fun romp here as it's very catchy as well. The song shows off Rick and Lesa's versatility. Should be another big hit for them!
Malcolm Todd makes his SNS debut with "Earrings" at #82. Hailing from Los Angeles, Todd originally made his mark as a child actor, appearing in an episode of the sitcom The Middle. The song reminds me of Steve Lacy's "Helmet" from three years back, with sort of a chugging beat to it. A good slice of alt-pop here. Suki Waterhouse follows up her top 3 "Dream Woman" with "Back in Love". Like the prior song, this is sort of a dreamy, but trip-hoppy excursion that should score yet another hit for her. Alabama Shakes continue their revival with "American Dream" at #88, following up Brittany Howard and company's top 20 "Another Life". Another blues-driven song that enables Ms. Howard to really express herself. It's songs like this that got me into this band in the first place. It's a great flashback to 2015 when the Shakes had two number ones in a span of a month. Play this one a few times, perhaps on a retreat and you'll know what I mean.
The Jesters debut with "Private Number". While this is their blog debut, this is a beach music-oriented band whose roots date back well into the 1960's. Not to be confused with the 1950's doo-wop group, this was a "blue-eyed soul" band originating in Athens, Georgia in 1964. The band originally split in 1970 but got back together in 1982. Their Wikipedia page had indicated that they split in 2014, but like The Tams, there are some second-generation members here. Appearing on beach music lists, the song should do well. It enters at #90.
While alternative radio continues with "Site Unseen", I am going with her recent release of "Lotta Love" from Courtney Barnett. Yes, this is the Neil Young song that Nicolette Larson hit with in 1979. Beach music group The Tonez also had a version of it that spent a week at #100 in 2022. Courtney makes the song her own. This is such a great song that anyone who covers it would do a great job. But Ms. Barnett delivers an unpretentious take on the song that should propel her back up the chart. It enters at #92.
Young the Giant which hit #1 in 2014 with "It's About Time" returns with "Different Kind of Love" at #97, a slice of mainstream alt-pop; and neo-garage vets The Strokes come back with "Going Shopping" at #98 with a sort of alt-jam thing that could click.
AND FINALLY, another legendary rock artist has passed away. Dave Mason, a guitarist from Worcester, England, who was part of the band Traffic, and later had a solo career, died last week at the age of 79. He was a founding member of Traffic and sang lead on several of that band's songs. He was also a prolific songwriter, penning "Feelin' Alright" which charted for both Grand Funk Railroad and Joe Cocker, and "Only You Know and I Know", a hit for Delaney & Bonnie. Towards the late 1970's, he scored solo on the charts with "We Just Disagree", "Let it Go, Let It Flow", and a cover of the Carole King-penned hit for The Shirelles, "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow". He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.
Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100 Playlist
April 19, 2026
|
This Week |
Last Week |
ARTIST-Title |
Weeks on List |
|
1 |
1 |
NUMBER ONE:  (Single Release) (2 Weeks at #1) |
10 |
|
2 |
3 |
14 |
|
|
3 |
4 |
9 |
|
|
4 |
5 |
12 |
|
|
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
|
6 |
7 |
12 |
|
|
7 |
15 |
10 |
|
|
8 |
13 |
11 |
|
|
9 |
10 |
11 |
|
|
10 |
8 |
11 |
|
|
11 |
16 |
7 |
|
|
12 |
30 |
TOP 20 IMPACT OF THE WEEKI:  (Single Release) |
4 |
|
13 |
32 |
MOVER OF THE WEEK:  (Single Release) |
3 |
|
14 |
9 |
11 |
|
|
15 |
17 |
9 |
|
|
16 |
6 |
11 |
|
|
17 |
11 |
12 |
|
|
18 |
12 |
13 |
|
|
19 |
14 |
14 |
|
|
20 |
19 |
10 |
|
|
21 |
29 |
3 |
|
|
22 |
22 |
7 |
|
|
23 |
21 |
8 |
|
|
24 |
27 |
8 |
|
|
25 |
35 |
4 |
|
|
26 |
26 |
8 |
|
|
27 |
28 |
9 |
|
|
28 |
20 |
14 |
|
|
29 |
23 |
12 |
|
|
30 |
41 |
3 |
|
|
31 |
33 |
7 |
|
|
32 |
36 |
7 |
|
|
33 |
18 |
14 |
|
|
34 |
34 |
8 |
|
|
35 |
25 |
11 |
|
|
36 |
31 |
31 |
|
|
37 |
24 |
15 |
|
|
38 |
38 |
13 |
|
|
39 |
39 |
11 |
|
|
40 |
42 |
6 |
|
|
41 |
43 |
5 |
|
|
42 |
46 |
4 |
|
|
43 |
50 |
5 |
|
|
44 |
48 |
26 |
|
|
45 |
55 |
4 |
|
|
46 |
45 |
Rev. Bubba D.
Liverance and the Cornhole Prophets - Wish You Were Here |
10 |
|
47 |
51 |
6 |
|
|
48 |
49 |
9 |
|
|
49 |
37 |
11 |
|
|
50 |
65 |
2 |
|
|
51 |
56 |
6 |
|
|
52 |
57 |
6 |
|
|
53 |
58 |
5 |
|
|
54 |
40 |
15 |
|
|
55 |
62 |
6 |
|
|
56 |
47 |
15 |
|
|
57 |
--- |
TOP DEBUT:  RICK STRICKLAND and LESA HUDSON "Too Late" (Single Release) |
1 |
|
58 |
52 |
16 |
|
|
59 |
60 |
7 |
|
|
60 |
66 |
4 |
|
|
61 |
44 |
12 |
|
|
62 |
59 |
15 |
|
|
63 |
69 |
4 |
|
|
64 |
53 |
14 |
|
|
65 |
84 |
2 |
|
|
66 |
71 |
4 |
|
|
67 |
64 |
7 |
|
|
68 |
68 |
4 |
|
|
69 |
74 |
21 |
|
|
70 |
63 |
23 |
|
|
71 |
76 |
3 |
|
|
72 |
70 |
13 |
|
|
73 |
75 |
5 |
|
|
74 |
79 |
3 |
|
|
75 |
54 |
13 |
|
|
76 |
80 |
3 |
|
|
77 |
78 |
5 |
|
|
78 |
86 |
2 |
|
|
79 |
81 |
6 |
|
|
80 |
61 |
8 |
|
|
81 |
90 |
2 |
|
|
82 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
83 |
98 |
27 |
|
|
84 |
92 |
3 |
|
|
85 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
86 |
73 |
6 |
|
|
87 |
93 |
2 |
|
|
88 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
89 |
72 |
16 |
|
|
90 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
91 |
67 |
7 |
|
|
92 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
93 |
89 |
3 |
|
|
94 |
94 |
4 |
|
|
95 |
91 |
35 |
|
|
96 |
83 |
12 |
|
|
97 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
98 |
--- |
1 |
|
|
99 |
82 |
21 |
|
|
100 |
100 |
2 |
Tremors:
101. Sabrina Carpenter, When Did You Get Hot
102. PinkPantheress ft. Zara Larsson, Stateside
Tremors: Songs which have steady or increasing points but not enough to chart on the SNS 100.
Murmurs:
Lana Del Rey - White Feather Dark Tail Deer Hunter
Murmurs: Songs which are in the queue for future adds onto the Scenes ‘n’ Soundwaves 100 Playlist.
|
|
Songs
with the greatest increase in favorite points over the prior week
●Songs garnering 25 plays
on Spotify (“Scrobbles”) according to Last.Fm (effective October 2024) ▲ Songs garnering 50 plays.
Songs
on the SNS 100 are included on the following public Spotify playlists
Scenes
‘n’ Soundwaves Top 40: Contains songs in positions 1-40 on the SNS
100
Scenes
41-100 and Newbies Songs in Positions 41-100 on the SNS 100 plus
new additions
Scenes
Recurrents: Songs which had been in
the top 20 and/or songs on the chart 25 weeks or more, that have dropped off
the SNS 100.
(Rob Sheldon
is a music fan who has followed music trends the past 60 years, and covers new
and classic music, specializing in pop, rock, alternative, beach, soul and
country genres). He can be contacted
at rsheldonx4804@gmail.com
