I could not convince my wife to submit me for fan of the month, so I will have to do it myself. I became a fan of Southside and the Jukes while still a junior in Saddle Brook High School in North Jersey in 1976. I heard this unbelievable sound coming out of my brother's room, and was immediately drawn to it. I went in to his room and asked him what he was playing, and he showed me the first Jukes album, I Don't Want To Go Home. Now, my brother was not one much for sharing in those days, so when I wanted to listen to the album, I used to have to sneak in to his room when he was not around to temporarily steal the album and listen to it on my own. Once I saved up the $3.25 to buy the album and got someone to give me a ride to the store, it was the very next album I bought, which I proceeded to play the hell out of and had to replace 3 times due to ware and tear. Luckily, I got my drivers license shortly after that, and not long before that New Jersey had lowered the drinking age to 18.

Back then, the Jukes played clubs all over NJ all the time, and my plans for every weekend for the next few years basically consisted of figuring out where Southside was playing and figuring out if I could get there. Eventually, my buddies and I discovered the Fast Lane in Asbury Park and the next best thing to seeing the Jukes was going to see a band named Whistler And The Wheels, so we started heading down the Shore on the weekends to see them on a regular basis. The big bonus that went with seeing them was the fact that several members of the Jukes used to regularly show up and play with Whistler And the Wheels all the time. On extra special occasions, Southside himself would make an appearance too. Of course we were young and broke, so we used to sneak extra bottles of beers in to the Fast Lane in our socks, making sure it was a brand that was sold in the Fast Lane.

One time in particular, when we were in the men's room getting our beers out of our socks, Southside came in, caught us in the act, and made some serious fun of us, but it was just great. Being that we were from North Jersey and we wanted to get a day on the beach after these shows at the Fast Lane, we used to mill around the Fast Lane at the end of the night, even after they closed until someone figured out that we were not supposed to be there and kicked us out. Southside would often be at the back bar insulting us, much to our delight. So the rest of the weekend consisted of us leaving the Fast Lane at two or three in the morning, driving to Manasquan and crashing on the beach until the beach cleaners kicked us off around sunrise. We would then head down to Seaside Heights, catch breakfast at some dumpy diner, take showers in the public beach house, and then hang out on the beach all day until it was time to head back up to North Jersey.

It seemed like we did that for years, but it was probably just two summers. As the eighties moved on, I got married and had a kid, I was not able to catch a Southside show for many years. But sometime around 10 years ago, after moving to Wilmington, Delaware, I saw that Southside was playing shows between Christmas and New Years at the Electric Factory in Philly and my wife and I bought tickets and went. We were delighted to see that Johnny and the boys were as great as ever, if not even better. It was also great to see that the new line up included Bobby, having been a huge fan of Cat's On A Smooth Surface, and spent many Sunday nights at the Stone Pony watching them. Well, it turned out the Jukes played the Electric Factory again the next year and we went again, and then we saw Southside and Bobby do their "unplugged" tour at the North Star Bar in Philly shortly after that. Suddenly, I was able to see Southside on a regular basis at all kinds places like the TLA, the Summer Concert Pier in Philly, Echo Lake Park in NJ, with David Bromberg right here in Wilmington, and at Penn's Peak in Jim Thorpe, PA. Now it's kind of like being a teenager again, searching to see if Southside will be playing somewhere nearby so I can go. In fact my wife Julie and I will be going to see the band again this January when they play at the Media Theater in Media, PA. I am so happy that Johnny has stuck to his roots, and can so consistently deliver great shows and new CD's that keep me dancing and smiling all night long. I will see you in January.

Here is a picture of me this past August at the Jim Thorpe Inn, holding up my tickets for the show that night at Penn's Peak:

Rick Bolline