What makes me a fan of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes?

I remember it was in 1979 when I saw Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes for the first time. It was a live concert shown in German TV – Rockpalast, one of the famous live rock TV shows at that time. From the first moment on, I loved what I’d seen, but back then, it was almost impossible to go to a live concert outside of the country. So, I had to wait until my favorite bands hit the road and stopped in Switzerland.

 I took more than 10 years until the long waiting had an end. Southside’s “Better Days” tour brought them to the “Albisrieder Haus” in Zurich in 1992. To my own surprise, this concert had such a long-time impact on me, I had the impression, as if they were playing just for me that evening! That was the final trigger to totally “fall in love” with Johnny’s music, the band and their incredible joy to play on stage for their audience. Since then, I need the songs and this sound in times when I’m sad, when I feel like freaking out, or when spending some happy hours with my loving partner, Markus, who in fact totally shares my “craziness” and dedication to this music ever since.

But one problem remained, when and where will I have a chance to see them playing again? To this date, they never showed up again in Switzerland!!! It was the revolution of the Internet that finally made it possible to follow what was happening around my favorite band. That’s when I came across the web site of Allan Wright and I subscribed to the digest to get daily updates. Constantly checking the web for news, I found the German fan site of Klaus – www.jukes.de. I was glad to have found other SSJ fans in Europe who shared my feelings for that music. Since the site was in it’s very initial stage, I felt to contribute. So I did, writing articles about records and videos I owned etc. And it was my source to find out what was happening and where they played.

After so many years of not seeing them live, I had to give up my hope to see them again in Switzerland. In 1999 they were on a short acoustic tour around Europe. I did not want to miss that, so we booked a trip to Paris in a club called the New Morning. What a show! And it was my lucky day to fulfill a long awaited dream of getting an autograph for my “Jersey Shore Wall of Fame”.  The concert in Paris was the beginning of a new kind of passion. I knew I had to travel the world to see more of my favorites.

Thanks to my job, I was called on a business trip to the US from time to time. But unfortunate these trips brought me mostly to the West Cost and not even close enough to the Jersey Shore to get to see any show of SSJ, Bobby Bandiera or John Eddie, who were on my wish list for years. But sometimes dreams come true. I was called to a meeting to the Bay Area in July 1999. The calendar of SSJ always in my mind, I knew that there was going to be a show in San Jose on July 22. Wow, what a coincidence. I just needed to extend my trip a couple of days to see Southside Johnny AND the Asbury Jukes all together for the first time in 7 years! It was exciting, two hours of pure pleasure and great memories to the 1992 Zurich show!

Was that it? No, it could not be, I had to look out for more, I needed more! In September 2000, a business trip brought me again to the US and this time it was the east cost. Yes, I wanted to spend all weekend at the Jersey Shore for concerts. SSJ did not have any concerts planned that weekend, well, no problem for this time, I knew I had other chances to see them. But, for years, I wanted to go to a Bobby Bandiera show and where else could I have such an opportunity than at the Jersey Shore? He was supposed to play at McLoone’s Rum Runner in Sea Bright. I was so excited, was it really true that I had a chance to see a live concert of Bobby Bandiera for the first time in my life? My hotel arranged everything for me to get me from Newark down to Rumson, but no luck for me at all, the show had been cancelled for that evening. What a disappointment.

Oh no, I didn’t give up. Back in Europe I was waiting for any announcement of a possible tour, wherever, I was ready to travel to any place anywhere on this planet to see SSJ. And it came better: the Jukestock was announced. What could be better than 3 days of “Love, Peace and Jukes”? Markus and me were so excited. We were two of the 300 lucky ones to be there. We wanted to be part of that event. And we could never find the right words to express the feelings that this weekend left for us.

Thank you Southside, Bobby, Jeff, La Bamba, Ed, Joey, Chris, MarK, Louie, Muddy and all other musicians of your bands – you made that event to the best music weekends of our life! We are waiting for you in Europe – we will see you at least in Brussels and Zurich and hopefully we will cross the Atlantic at the end of this year, if there is a New Years or Christmas show in New Jersey!

Yes, we keep on traveling.

Silvia from Switzerland

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