The B-Side

The lineup for the 2009 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, set to be held April 17 to 19 at Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., announced its lineup today (Jan. 30), and it looks like there are a few rockers with Garden State ties set to take the stage and make Jersey proud during the first big music festival of 2009. New Brunswick-based band the Gaslight Anthem, which found itself at the receiving end of plenty of critical praise in 2008 thanks to its album "The '59 Sound" and indie rock trio Yeah Yeah Yeahs, featuring Englewood native Karen O on lead vocals, will both be taking the stage during the festival's third day.

With a lineup this strong, you'd think the recently-announced roster for the second annual All Points West festival was some kind of April Fool's Day joke, the kind that was too good to be true. Well, then you'd be wrong -- the line-up was released two days ago (March 30), and it's the real deal.

If you missed your chance to snatch up tickets to New Brunswick-bred rockers the Gaslight Anthem's May 8 show at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, consider yourself lucky: the buzz-friendly quartet has announced a second Stone Pony show, this one to be held on Saturday, May 9.

Patti Smith, Gaslight Anthem and more ring 'Chimes'

Just like every other critic, blogger, scene regular and frequent record store patron around this time of year, I've compiled a "top 10" list. However, rather than throw together a list of my favorite albums, singles, videos, re-issues or beards using the same pool of nominees as every other list-maker, I've decided to make my "top 10" pretty personal. Here is a list of the top 10 shows I saw in New Jersey this year.