City of Angels is set to host its annual Rockfest at the East Picnic Grove in Mercer County Park June 22.
This community music festival is organized to promote awareness about the disease of addictions; it is a sober event.
Rockfest includes live music, a custom car show, motorcycle run, kids activities, food vendors and an amateur BBQ cook-off with a “wounded warrior” theme for the guest judges.
Gates are set to open at 11 a.m. for the custom car show and vendors. The music, which includes fourteen bands, is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.
An hour long Recovery Session with testimonials and a recovery band is set for 6:30 p.m.
BBQ cook-off guest judges includes 2012 Olympic gold medalist Esther Lofgren. Along with winning gold for rowing in the Olympic Games, she won silver at the 2013 Samsung World Rowing Cup I.
Lofgren blogs for USRowing and on her personal blog, estherlofgren.blogspot.com.
United States Marine Corps Sgt. Al Brenner is also a guest judge. Sgt. Brenner was stationed at Camp Pendleton in California from 2008 to 2010, when he was deployed with his working-dog Grief.
On Oct. 24, 2010, Grief and Sgt. Brenner were hit by an IED. He was severely injured on his arms and legs, but Grief was killed in action. After returning to the U.S., Sgt. Brenner spent months in rehab at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
For his service, he was awarded the Purple Heart, Army Commendation, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement, Navy Unit Commendation, Combat Action Ribbon, Afghanistan Campaign, NATO, Good Conduct and Sea Service Deployment.
Rockfest features headlining acts License to Chill and Zara Phillips.
License to Chill drummer, Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez is a drummer toured with Bruce Springsteen in several bands, including Steel Mill and the E Street Band. He also played on Springsteen’s first two albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle.
In 2010, Lopez formed License To Chill featuring Vince Berardi on guitar and lead vocals and Jon Brice on bass guitar. Two years later they released “Moon Motel,” named after the landmark hotel on Route 9 in Howell.
Singer-songwriter Zara Phillips began her professional career working as a backing vocalist for Live-Aid creator Bob Geldof. She worked on Geldof’s album “Deep in the Heart of Nowhere,” and appeared in music videos and on some of the U.K.’s most highly rated programs.
She continued her work on tour, in television and videos with artists such as Matt Bianco, Nick Kamen, David Essex and the solo project from Dire Straits’ John Illsley. Additionally, she toured in support of Bananarama with a Perfect Day.
City of Angels NJ, Inc. aims to help those recovering from substance additions.
More information is online at cityofangelsnj.org.
