Joe Harvard's Long Weekend

Not quite ready to resign yourself to the regular grind of another five day work week? Then head to the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park for Joe Harvard's Long Weekend, a freewheeling weekly event starring the Asbury Park music scene staple.

A producer, songwriter and author, Harvard came up in Boston's indie rock scene of the '80s and worked with artists such as Throwing Muses, Dinosaur Jr. and the Breeders.

The gig is a residency of sorts for Harvard, of Asbury Park, who plays guitar and a dizzying array of other stringed instruments including bouzouki.

There's no cover charge, the food is good, and the music can often be compelling.

Harvard, who made his way to Asbury Park after many years in Boston, ran a similar jam session at the Plough and Stars in Cambridge, Mass., on Monday nights for several years.

The Monday night jams "offer a true variety of sounds and styles that don't cost anything, and the musicians simply have to show up,'' Harvard said at one recent session.

Harvard's musical guests have included Glen Burtnik, Status Green, Last Perfect Thing, Mike Black, the Sex Zombies and local poet and hangout-ologist Greg Schwartz, a.k.a. "Schwartzy.''

"One of the things that's happened is the poetry and spoken word turned out to be a much more integral part of the show,'' Harvard said. ""In recent months, we've had four guys playing music who've never played together before, and they're playing music behind a guy reading poetry, and none of them have ever met. And one night we handed out every single instrument we brought with us, including percussion instruments, and every single instrument was being played by, like, 40 people in the bar, including the bartender. That was really cool.''

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