
John J. Moser
News DirectorI’m deputy director for news at LehighValleyNews.com and have been a reporter and editor at newspapers in Pennsylvania and North Carolina for nearly 40 years. I spent more than 30 years at The Morning Call in Allentown as a reporter, copy editor and editor, and for 12 years was its music critic and entertainment writer. I’ve captured more than two dozen statewide and national awards for writing and editing, and was part of a team of reporters in North Carolina that was runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Contact me at JohnM@lehighvalleynews.com or 610-984-8183.
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Brad Paisley will headline Allentown Fair for the third time. He performed there in 2009, and in 2007 had Taylor Swift as his opening act.
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.38 Special, best known for the 1981 hit “Hold on Loosely” and 1982’s “Caught Up in You,” will perform Aug. 16 as part of the series at Univest Performance Center.
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The Black Crowes, best known for its No. 1 hits "Hard to Handle" and "She Talks to Angels" will perform at 8 p.m. on May 3 at Wind Creek.
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Brooks and Dunn, the country music Hall of Fame duo that had a dozen gold and platinum albums and more than 40 Top 10 Country chart hits before retiring in 2010, will reform for another tour, it was announced Monday.
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State Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Northampton, announced Monday he will seek re-election to a 20th term.
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Orgy, known best for its 1998 hit cover of the New Order song “Blue Monday,” will perform at 5:30 p.m. May 17 at MainGate Night Club as part of a tour to mark the anniversary of its album “Candyass,” which included “Blue Monday.”
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Listen to the Dissonance: Songs & Conversations About Mental Health will be at 2 p.m. Feb. 4 (doors and vendors open at 1:30) in the Charles Brown Icehouse, 56 River St., Bethlehem. Offered by Your Next Favorite Band podcast, the show will offer interviews and solo performances by five regional performers, then a songwriter roundtable with all the participating artists.
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ArtsQuest’s Concerts on the Grange, which kicked off last year as a two-day music festival featuring tribute acts to Upper Macungie Township’s Grange Park, this year will expand to four nights of music throughout spring and summer.
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The series, at the Frank Banko Alehouse Cinema in the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, "promises to immerse audiences in the magic of 1999, a year celebrated for its groundbreaking and iconic films," an ArtsQuest release said.
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The Hooters, the Philadelphia band best known for hits 1980s hits "Day By Day" and "And We Danced," will return to Quakertown's Sounds of Summer concert series for the fourth year in a row.
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Highlights among the nearly 50 concerts in the Levitt Pavillion's 13th season include gold-selling punk rockers The Ataris, top blues singer/saxophone player Vanessa Collier, jazz-pop singer Morgan James, Cincinnati indie-rockers Motherfolk and Grammy Award-winning Latin rock-fusion band La Santa Cecelia.
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Irish singer and comedian Seamus Kennedy and singer Gerry Timlin will perform in the same show at 7 p.m. on June 22 in Moravian College’s Foy Hall.
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Blast Furnace Blues Festival will celebrate its 10th year when it returns to ArtsQuest’s SteelStacks campus July 21-23, it was announced Friday.
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Dorney Park opens to the public on May 12. The park said it will have several updates and upgrades for the new season, including adding new cabanas and two new bars, new shows, an all-new main stage and more.
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La Santa Cecilia, which in 2014 won the Grammy for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album and has been nominated twice, will perform at Levitt SteelStacks at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26.
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Soviet-born Israeli-American classical pianist Yefim Bronfman, whose works have won a Grammy Award and also appeared in Disney films, will open the 73rd season of Allentown’s Miller Symphony Hall.
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ArtsQuest, in partnership with the Lehigh Valley Brewer’s Guild, has announced its first annual Spring Beer Fest on April 15 at the SteelStacks campus.
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One Earth ReggaeFest will offer a dozen reggae and related musical acts on two outdoor stages over 12 hours on July 12 on the SteelStacks campus. The hours will be noon to midnight.
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Mayfair Festival of the Arts, the Allentown Memorial Day weekend festival that for the past five years has been held at Cedar Crest College, will return May 26-28, the festival announced Tuesday.
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Keith Sweat, a leading force in the New Jack Swing movement, will headline the main Steel Stage at the massive music festival in downtown and South Side Bethlehem at 7 p.m. Aug. 8.
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ArtsQuest is using the Bethlehem Visitor Center to present comedy shows. And it plans on a new dedicated comedy club at the new Banana Factory.
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The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania said Tuesday that Saucon Valley School District will not reverse its decision to deny the After School Satan Club access to school facilities.