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Southside Johnny Talks Asbury Park
by Michelle O'Brien

Longtime Jersey shore veteran, Southside Johnny Lyon is no stranger to Asbury Park. Growing up in Ocean Grove, Southside spent many nights on the Asbury Park music scene, and was nice enough to sit down and discuss some of his memories of the town as a young boy as well as tell us his thoughts about the growing businesses here.

The Jukes have been busy touring this spring. Have you had time to visit Asbury Park lately and have you seen the new Entertainment Guide?
I have. I saw the June issue - the one about the Mayfair theatre. I used to go the old Mayfair to see movies. I also saw a copy of the old Asbury Park Entertainment Guide that was mentioned in that issue. That guide came out the year I was born and had ads for all the old, grand hotels in Asbury. I remember a lot of these old buildings -- huge hotels like palaces. Some of these are still standing and some are just gone.

I saw an ad in that old magazine for the Sunset Cab Company. My dad worked for that cab company! He worked in the post office during the day and drove a cab at night to make extra money. I remember, sometimes he'd take us kids in the cab with him. That was the big thrill for us. We would pile in a bunch of kids from the neighborhood and go get ice cream.

But you didn't live in Asbury?
We lived in Ocean Grove, "God's Square Mile of Health and Happiness." Not to be confused with God's Little Acre, which is a book by Erskine Caldwell. The irony with God's Little Acre is that it was actually banned in some states as too lewd.

There is so much regrowth and renovation happening here. Some people welcome these changes; some people are fighting them. Others want to tear it all down and start new. How do you feel about it?
Nothing stays the same. Asbury Park has been hurting for a long, long time. If business is coming back to Asbury, that's a good thing. And if it ends up being condos on the beach, that's not the end of the world. When I was growing up, Asbury was a honky-tonk town but that doesn't mean it has to stay that way. Asbury Park is really an anomaly among the shore towns. It has a big boardwalk, lakes, bridges and beautiful parks yet it's in such a state of decay. It doesn't make sense, Asbury is a huge asset but it seems no one wants to use it.

We had a theory when we were kids watching the deterioration of the city. The decay really set in in the 70's right around the time when Atlantic City opened its casinos. Asbury Park deteriorated so massively and so rapidly, it seemed like it almost had to be intentional. We thought that two or three people might have bought up all the land and then purposely let it decay. Let it get really bad and then say, "Let's put some casinos in here and bring some money back into Asbury." That was our casino conspiracy theory. I'm still not convinced that we were wrong.

There are still beautiful spots in the city. Someone once gave me a film from 1938. It was shot with a color camera around Deal Lake and Sunset Park and it was just gorgeous. I still think it's beautiful over there by the water. I lost that film – that's what happens when you live on a bus for ten months!

You're listed in the credits of quite a few of the songs on the latest CD, Going to Jukesville. Are you on some sort of creative wave right now?
Yeah, and the tide goes in and out a lot more than you want it to. I've always written songs but my songs were never as good as Bruce's or Steven's so when they were writing songs for us, we put those songs on the albums. I don't have the kind of ego that needs for my songs to get on every album. In the last six or seven years, I have been writing more songs and we've decided to use them when making an album. The last album was really a lot of fun to make. The recording part of the business is not always fun. Doing the shows is the fun part . I always know it's gonna get a little crazy and I always know it's gonna be fun. I never worry about that part.

You perform at quite a few festivals in the summer. When you perform at these festivals, do you get out to see other artists play or is there no time when you're on the road?
Usually, I'd take the opportunity to spend some time alone and maybe read a book. I've been going to hear bands since I was a teenager. We'd go to bars and clubs or we'd go to New York and see them. If I wasn't playing, I'd go see a band or two or sometimes three in a night. After so many years, seeing live music loses some of its thrill. Once in awhile, there is an exception. I remember we were playing at a festival with Little Feat they're just great. That night, everybody stayed. The whole band wanted to hear them.

Have you eaten at any of the restaurants in Asbury lately -- either new places or old favorites?
Frank's Deli...now and forever. I want to try Harry's and Moonstruck, a restaurant that moved to Asbury Park from Ocean Grove.

Mike Saunders Interview | Southside Talks Asbury | Music and Martinis | Influences | Puttin' Up His Jukes

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