This year’s free community concert in celebration of Daniel Pearl World Music Days will have a distinctly local flavor.
Cook Road Experiment, an East Brunswick-based rock band playing songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s, will perform on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 7:30 pm at Temple B’nai Shalom in East Brunswick as part of the global Daniel Pearl World Music Days celebration. The local concert will once again be sponsored – for the 14th straight year – by the Daniel Pearl Education Center (DPEC), a non-profit, charitable organization committed to the ideals of understanding and community. The DPEC sponsors a number of area programs and activities, including an annual trip to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum for Temple B’nai Shalom’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah class, the eighth grade class at East Brunswick’s St. Bartholomew’s parochial school, and other youth groups; Daniel Pearl scholarships to graduating seniors at East Brunswick High School; teacher training workshops; a speaker series; and much more.
“This year’s concert will be a lot of fun,” said Dr. Andy Boyarsky, chairman of the DPEC. “We have had so many different concerts over the years, and each one was more memorable and enjoyable than the one before. Because Cook Road Experiment is comprised of a number of local musicians, we expect a great hometown atmosphere and lots of support once again from the community.”
Cook Road Experiment band members include:
- Jim Sausmer (drummer), a long-time East Brunswick resident who lives in Monroe Township. A CPA by day, his 18-month-old granddaughter is already playing his drums at home.
- Dean Nevid (keyboard) is a transplanted Brooklynite who lives in East Brunswick. A retired dentist, he trained on the accordion for 4 years and then the piano for 6 years.
- Michael Lereah (guitar and vocals) began performing in high school and had leading roles at Plays in the Park in Edison, NJ for productions of “The Robber Bridegroom,”“Oliver,” “The Music Man” and “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum.” He is one of the founders of Cook Road Experiment.
- Joe Perlmutter (bass and guitar) has been playing the guitar since his teenage years in The Bronx, where he played in several bands. A retired dentist, he has been a resident of East Brunswick since 1980 and joined Cook Road Experiment a few years ago.
- Mike Moe (guitar and vocals) has been playing guitar since his teens and started his own business doing sound for bands at age 21. He has engineered and mixed on concert-size systems for many national recording acts, including Bruce Springsteen, Warren Zevon, Southside Johnny, Smithereens, Phoebe Snow, Gary U.S. Bonds, Al Stewart, Beaver Brown and Rick Derringer.
“We are very committed to producing these annual free concerts,” Boyarsky explained. “As we’ve said in previous years, Danny was committed to using music as a way to bring people together. And we think there’s no better way to do that than with a free concert open to the entire community.”
Daniel Pearl World Music Days was created in response to the kidnapping and murder in early 2002 of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl at the hands of extremists in Karachi, Pakistan. Pearl was a talented musician who joined musical groups in every community in which he lived, leaving behind a long trail of musician-friends spanning the entire globe. Commemorating his October 10th birthday, World Music Days uses the universal language of music to encourage fellowship across cultures and build a platform of “harmony for humanity.”
While the concert is free to the community, seating is limited. To reserve seats or for more information, email dpeccommittee@gmail.com or call 732-251-4300, ext. 222.