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January, 2001 Fan of the Month: Maggie Powell
Being asked to
follow Debbie May, “Fan Of The Month” for December 2000, is
indeed a compliment as well as a challenge because the Southside
Digest has been paramount in providing me with information and
contacts for many of the writing projects I’ve put together
about Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.
So with a little trepidation, here goes… New Jersey and
its unique music scene is a subject that has lain close to my
heart ever since I heard “Born To Run” back in 1975 and I
find discovering connections and inter-connections between
different bands and their members, fascinating.
My earliest recollection of being impacted by Jukes music
happened in 1983 when I saw Little Steven and the Disciples of
Soul play a concert in Birmingham, England - having missed
“The River” tour in 1982, I was ever so slightly determined
to see Little Steven perform. The absolute highlight of the show
for me was Steven’s totally bang-up job of “I Don’t Want
To Go Home”. And
that was it! I was
hooked and I ain’t too proud to admit that I still love the
song. Due to
geographical complexities, I finally saw my first full-blown
Jukes show during the “Better Days” tour and, it was an
amazing experience. Digbeth
Town Hall was the location and believe me, it was the sort of
place where your feet stuck to the carpet around the bar if you
stood still for longer than 5 seconds!
Yes, it was a dump, but you can’t buy the kind of
atmosphere places like that exude and I often wonder if the
Jukes ever played anywhere else that had a giant organ set
against a broken glass mirror as a stage backdrop??
I didn’t know it then, but going to that show was the
start of a fantastic musical voyage of discovery that has opened
up my mind to the sounds of many other talented Jersey Shore
musicians. By
co-incidence, at the above-mentioned Jukes show, someone gave me
a promotional flyer for Badlands, the UK Bruce
Springsteen Fan Club and it was through going on an organized
trip with them to see Bruce’s shows in Philadelphia in 1995,
that I got my first taste of the Jersey Shore – I swear I have
never been the same since!
We visited Asbury Park and saw all the places and names
that I’d been carrying around inside my head for 20 years and,
we also visited Cheers (now Hooligans), in Long Branch, where
Bobby Bandiera was playing with his own band. I remembered
Bobby from the Digbeth show but hadn’t realized that he was
such an incredibly talented musician in his own right.
I went back to New Jersey a few months later specifically
to see Bobby perform and after that trip, I began writing
regularly for the Badlands’ magazine, The Ties That Bind,
which has given me an opportunity to spout forth about my
favorite New Jersey musicians. Not so long
ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Johnny about his new
release, “Messin’ With The Blues”, and thoroughly enjoyed
working with the wonderful cyber-responses he was kind enough to
give me. To date, I
think my favorite published piece is the article that focused on
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes’ 1999 tour dates.
Although there had been a few Jukes shows prior to 1999,
this was kinda like a “come back” year for the band.
So thanks to contributions from Jukes fans on both sides
of the Atlantic (via the Southside Digest), I was able to create
an expose that highlighted many of the “magic Jukes moments”
that happened at the shows throughout the entire year.
It also meant that Johnny’s long time European fans
were able to share this too since they tend to not have so many
opportunities to see him and the band perform. Until very
recently, if anyone had asked me to select a favorite moment or
two from any of the Southside Johnny shows I’ve seen, I would
have chosen the following:
However, on
December 17th, 2000 I was lucky enough to be part of
the audience at Bruce Springsteen’s Holiday Show at the
Convention Hall in Asbury Park, N.J.
To have had the chance to see Bruce, Little Steven and
Southside Johnny, a.k.a. “The Father, Son and Holy Ghost of
Jersey Shore Rock ‘n‘ Roll”, trading verses on “This
Time It’s For Real”, “All I Needed Was You” and “I
Don’t Want To Go Home”… I tell ya, the goose bump factor
went right off the top of the scale! All of the
above contributes to my love for the mystique that lies behind
the sadly neglected buildings that currently degrade Asbury
Park’s waterfront and because of this, I am actively involved
in helping to promote the campaign to “Save Tillie” here, in
Europe - (http://homestead.com/savetillie).
My/our hope for the future is that the City of Asbury
Park restores and preserves ALL of its famous musical heritage
so that future generations of Shore music fans can visit and see
the places where Southside Johnny et al began their musical
careers. Sincere thanks
to everyone concerned for honouring me as “Fan Of The Month”
for January 2001 and please know that anything I’ve done to
help to promote “The Greatest Bar Band in the World” has
been a pleasure. Maggie Powell
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