Joseph Alia Incagnoli, Jr.

Joe "Harvard" Incagnoli, a creative force in the revival of Asbury Park, sadly passed away at home on Sunday, March 24, 2019. Joe was born in 1959 and grew up in Jeffries Point, East Boston. He was the son of Mae Mae Vitale, and Joe "Shoemaker" Incagnoli. He is survived by his son Aidan Mars, sisters Rosemary Trainor and her wife Barbara; Maureen Massaro and her husband Enio; his nieces Carla Massaro and Marisa O Donnell and his grand-nephew Lucca. Joe received a scholarship to Harvard University, where he studied Archaeological Anthropology and graduated cum laude. Later he worked as Assistant to the Director of the Peabody Museum and accompanied the Comprehensive Survey of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the central Arabian desert. Later, during a summer spent working on an East River dig near Wall Street, his sole discovery was that he really missed his recording equipment and decided to pursue a career as a musician and producer. He become active in the Boston-Cambridge music scene where he co-founded Fort Apache Recording Studios (Pixies, Bosstones, Morphine, Lemonheads, Throwing Muses, Dinosaur Jr., etc) and Helldorado Productions, which brought rock music to the now-venerable Middle East Restaurant. He was the first recipient of the WFNX/Boston Phoenix Poll Top Local Producer title. In 1999 he moved to NYC where he co-owned the World Tribal Soundz music store and won the first MOTH NYC Annual Grand Storyslam. He made the move to Asbury Park in 2001 where he continued to play music and worked as soundman for the Saint and Wonder Bar. In 2009/10 he was honored with Asbury Music Awards for Top Americana, Top Multi-Instrumentalist and Top Avant-Garde Act for the three-year run of The Long Weekend Variety Show, a Monday night music, poetry and trivia show co-hosted by partner Mallory Massara. Joe co-founded and was program director of the Media Center @ Ballard, where he taught music and technical skills to economically disadvantaged youngsters. He was a multi-instrumentalist and recorded and gigged with local bands Dub Proof, Velveeta, Cockwalkers, and Keith Monacchio & the Dustup Troubadours to name a few. Joe recorded and released many albums, his latest in 2016 was a double solo album Hudgemabudge, which he self- produced as "Doctor Danger", playing all of the dozen plus instruments himself. As well as a talented musician and producer, he was also an author. His book "The Velvet Underground and Nico", part of the 33 1/3 series, has sold over 100,000 copies and been translated into six languages. In 2015 Joe founded the gARTen @ 713 Cookman, a black light community art garden/gallery, dedicated to found objects and "trash art". Joe was that rare thing - a true Renaissance man, who will be missed by all who knew him.