This New Jersey native had to leave the state (for Florida) a few years ago after a good 40 years, but my fondness for the Jukes remains. I have already booked a trip for the upcoming fourth of July weekend for the sole reason of catching Southside Johnny at the Stone Pony on July 1st (and am bringing my friends, as well). So, I am prompted to regale (and let's do it in reverse order, for a change) some key South moments in my life.

In 2003, I was able to enjoy the band as they visited downtown St. Petersburg, FL, for a sweet outdoor-patio concert. What a thrill, as I was able to introduce yet another friend to Southside; she immediately went out and picked up a couple of CDs.

In the summer of 2001, I like many took - make that "made" - time to get to Pt. Pleasant and Martell's to see the band in late August. The smell of the ocean, a cool breeze, and the sound of the rifling horns; can you beat that? Over Memorial Day, 2001, I visited the newly reopened Stone Pony, which the band christened with an outdoor Saturday night concert. Simply spectacular, and Johnny's planned and surprise stage friends certainly ratcheted it up. And, this was about six months following a concert that I took in at the Somerset Patriots baseball stadium, in the early fall of 2000. It was a little chilly outside, but it was an enthusiastic crowd, nevertheless.

In 1995, I believe it was, Southside and the Jukes were the big attraction at the Balloonfest in Branchburg, NJ, and I once again grabbed everybody and carted them there. Always nice to experience a lawn-chair concert, and that was the first time I started to realize how much I like the song, "I Played the Fool" from Hearts of Stone.

A bit of a down period, before that, with jobs and marriage, but I next recall in the summer of 1981 seeing the band at South Mountain Park in South Orange, NJ. This was a chance for me to show off the band to the girl that I was dating at the time (I would pull the trigger on that often).

And, yes, I was in attendance at Freehold Park in the late spring or summer of 1980. The infield was a little damp, and the (different) girl I was with might not have been impressed with the fact that I had a cooler full of smuggled-in alcohol, yet no blanket (I've since smartened up). I yelled for my favorite song at the time, "Vertigo" which the band came through on, and they focused on the songs from their latest album at the time, "Love is a Sacrifice."

But how I did actually come to know the band was a year earlier, in 1979. It was a strange combination: my next door neighbor was dating a member of the Jukes, and she described them in detail to me; later, when I was headed down the shore in the back seat of my family's car, I was able to often zero in on "I'm So Anxious", a favorite of mine that was receiving considerable airplay on WJRZ (100.1). That was the song I wanted to hear as I hit the beach at our family's summer home at Long Beach Island, NJ. I was ahead of the curve for my age, in terms of knowing and appreciating the Jukes. I guess you could say that the Jukes came to me, just a hundred feet or so from my home...and I'm very happy for that good fortune.

Jim Capawana