Southside Johnny has long been considered the Grandfather of "the New Jersey Sound ." Jon Bon Jovi has acknowledged Southside Johnny as his "reason for singing." Q. There's a fascination with the other gender in that you just see the world differently than men do, and I'm always fascinated by that. Now that the pieces are in place, the only thing left is to see how the record sells. Most of the changes have been for the better of the band. In 1978, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes released what many critics consider the band's greatest album, "Hearts of Stone." The newly-formed 1982 lineup of The Asbury Jukes (with former E Street Band member Ernest "Boom" Carter on drums) provided the musical entertainment at the reception, along with "special guest" Bruce Springsteen. A. I don't know if I have one strategy. Keep it Clean. I wasnt going back to working at the post office. We have very eclectic taste. You can link it to other sites. Q. A. I'd probably be a writer. Those albums featured the horn-driven Jukes sound along with a sprinkling of Springsteen-penned nuggets, notably The Fever and Hearts of Stone. Lyon went on to record several 80s albums with the Jukes, along with some solo efforts in several styles, but he never quite regained his stride after the departure of Van Zandt, who was busy in his role as Springsteens guitarist. SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY: Yeah, I love The Birchmere. Patti Scialfa has been a member of Bruce Springsteen's The E Street Band since 1984 and Springsteen's partner since 1988. He is back fronting the nine-piece Jukes and resuming a heavy performing schedule that includes shows tonight and Wednesday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, Thursday at the Roxy in West Hollywood, and Friday and Saturday at the Strand in Redondo Beach. 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 Be Nice. Bruce Springsteen was the breakout star. My mother worked, and would say it was OK to stay home as long as I cleaned the house. Lyon and Bandiera already have performed two weeks of acoustic gigs in Europe in support of the album, and will head East in December with the full band for a two-week tour. Southside Johnny's story is one of resilience, perseverance and making music for the love of music. Bruce Springsteen was the man who took the sound of the Jersey Shore music scene to the world, but it was Southside Johnny (aka John Lyon) who was the early focal point of the scene that produced many of the major figures of the Garden State's rock & roll community. And through all the changes, the band leader -- me -- has remained constant. The band also found time to make an appearance in Joan Micklin Silver's 1977 movie Between the Lines. You could make a career out of it. "Bruce does these charity shows around Christmas and he always calls and it's fun to do, and we play a lot of Chuck Berry, and he drinks tequila and I drink whisky and a good time is had by all.". I am fine. ", Event has been relocated to the Wax Nightclub,125 King St. W., Kitchener, Tickets $45. Notifications from this discussion will be disabled. I had to replace the horn section when they went out with Diana Ross. 877-477-3715. sugarhousecasino.com. I don't define myself entirely by music. Do you agree that it takes a lot of courage? ", He laughs. The enthusiasm for the music is definitely still there. View wiki source for this page without editing. This Time It's for Real was the second album by New Jersey Rock / R&B band Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, featuring three compositions by Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt, as well as an additional five by the latter.Like their first album, I Don't Want To Go Home, there are a number of guest artists and duets, a trend that would be dropped for their next album, Hearts of Stone. He had a gold top Les Paul, and he wrote songs and sang and put together bands and was a great guy to know.". Im doing what I like to do--even if the surroundings continue to be earthy. 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 In 1995, Southside Johnny recorded the title song for a low-budget movie called Tuff Turf, and the tune was issued as a 12" single by Rhino Records, becoming his first solo release. Structural Info Facts Filmography Known for movies Home Alone (1990) as Soundtrack Adventures in Babysitting (1987) as Band Leader at Frat Party The Karate Kid Part II (1986) as Soundtrack The Mighty Ducks (1992) as Soundtrack Source IMDB Wikipedia Even then, he says, Springsteen stood out. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Thats the nature of this kind of long-lived horn band. I think that would be boring. Lyon said it doesnt bother him to remain tied to the Springsteen sphere of influence. The homecoming feel of Better Days was solidified with the return of many of the old Jukes. John Lyon was born in Neptune, New Jersey on December 4, 1948 and grew up in nearby Ocean Gove. Some day I'll do a blues album. Physically, it's a little bit more challenging for me now; my shows tend to be very energetic. IF Bruce Springsteen is the heart of New Jersey's rock sound, then Southside Johnny is its soul. I don't look at it so externally. 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free), Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. Statistical Information Information: (714) 496-8930. You set your sights on making the best music you can and not try to be a star or make a lot of money. I dont look back that much, but when I do I think: How lucky can anybody be? It's not odd to me to have women as friends, and it's almost always been that way. In one of your interviews, you described this age as the golden age for musicians. I have a real iron throat. The connection continues on Slow Dance with Walking Through Midnight, a fine ballad of inner turmoil and frustrated yearning that Lyon and Springsteen wrote 10 years ago. All You are all about raw and honest music, and I think this takes a lot of heart, and also takes a lot of courage; you put all of yourself into music. Find out what you can do. . Relations (People / Bands) SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY: They have such confidence onstage and such delight, and I was always impressed by people like that, like James Brown and Jackie Wilson, Sam & Dave. They don't want us to be the same set list every night. She's in love. SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY: Well, I didn't really believe in it until I had been doing it for a number of years, because most of the time back then, guys wanted to be guitar heroes and play 20-minute guitar solos, and the singer was just somebody that sang in between the guitar solos. Songs | Lyrics One of my sax players went with David Bowie. The following year, Southside Johnny revived the Asbury Jukes for the album Better Days, a set in the group's classic style that was produced by Steve Van Zandt and included appearances from Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, the latter a longtime Southside Johnny fan. There's some really nice people down here," so I did. ", A 2004 interview with the Washington Post noted that "21st Street Lullaby" came out almost exactly 20 years after Springsteen's iconic 1984 album "Born In The USA." Who were your role models or sources of inspiration when you began your music career? Southside Johnny & the Jukes 1986 album, At Least We Got Shoes, had not left much of a commercial footprint. It wasnt a mid-life crisis, said Lyon, who will turn 40 Sunday. Per Acoustic Storm, Scialfa contrasted the record with the intimacy of her first one, saying, "There are some songs with the same theme of closeness; how to be close, love songs. There was nothing that was attractive other than music, so that's what you did You were tenacious about following that one opportunity to do the one thing you really loved. Q. 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 A. 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 When I plan to make an album, I drive myself insane trying to think of the right thing or things to do, instead of just going into the studio and having fun. The album received great reviews, but while Southside and the band were touring in support, Impact Records, the label that released it, went bankrupt, which left the record dead in the water. For 1983's Trash It Up!, the group shortened their name to Southside Johnny & the Jukes, moved to the Atlantic-distributed Mirage label, and teamed with producer Nile Rodgers to create a sleeker, more dance-oriented sound. I think I earned enough credits to get an associate arts degree, but I'm not sure. By 1971, Lyon had formed a group called the Sundance Blues Band, which featured Lyon on lead vocals and harp, as well his high school friend Garry Tallent and other future stars such as Steven Van Zandt, Vini Lopez, David Sancious, and a promising guitarist named Bruce Springsteen. And Lyon found himself wondering whether he ever would be able to develop a musical direction beyond the horn-driven, roots-conscious R&B; that was the Jukes specialty. Its the stupidest drug. A lot of those, Steven and Bruce and those people, had not heard a lot of Chicago blues, some, but not a lot of them. I was always of the mind-set of if you get a better offer for more money, take it. In the song, Lyon channels his anger over the citys neglect of homeless people into sassy, edgy ironic humor that fits into an old blues tradition of laughing when it hurts too much to cry: You pray to God, but he never seems to hear/Youre in the mayors prayers, Lord, make them disappear, Lyon sings in a voice that is half biting, half bemused. People come and go; that's part of the business. "Change for the sake of change is not always a good thing," said Mr. Lyon, who is 45. 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While the group's membership has gone through dozens of changes since the mid-'70s, with Southside at the vocal mike their sound has remained remarkably consistent from their '70s efforts (1976's I Don't Want to Go Home, 1978's Hearts of Stone) to their 21st century sessions (2002's Going to Jukesville, 2010's Pills and Ammo), though the group did detour into dance music on 1983's Trash It Up (produced by Nile Rodgers). Is Virginia ready for mandated electric vehicles? Meanwhile, Lyon has landed appearances on The Tonight Show and Late Night With David Letterman. And theres a video of Its Been a Long Time, the shooting of which picked up national media attention. Even though his friends Bruce Springsteen and. When New Jerseys Asbury Park music scene rose up in the 1970s, there were three bright lights on its rock-and-soul triangle. Also, I was the blues guy. Do you feel that you understand women? Every time I got off the bus, there would be literally hundreds of people sleeping there and begging and nobody was taking care of them, he said. They loved good music and they had great senses of humor and some sarcasm. It was crazy. Recorded over six weeks in June and July, Better Days was released late last month. Call 519-635-6257 or purchase online at. 1949-64 It was so overwhelming that other things just didn't matter as much. They're glowing. I said, Great--any towns got a pool hall cant be so bad. Well, of course, as soon as I move in there they close it down and make a Volkswagen parts joint out of it. Call 519-635-6257 or purchase online at www.ticketmaster.com/, - Venue change for Thursday's Southside Johnny concert in Kitchener, Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be a registered Torstar account holder. Well, I don't know what people thought about the record one way or another. A. I certainly hope so. But I can't imagine not being in music. A powerful vocalist whose style is steeped in vintage blues, R&B, and soul, Johnny was the leader and frontman for the group the Asbury Jukes, whose tough bar band sound married the impact of hard rock with the swing and horn-fueled punch of blues and deep soul. Getting some traction is the hardest thing for me. I think we know what it takes to keep an audience and to make them want to come back. We had a Monopoly game on stage. Use the 'Report' link on It got a lot of great reviews. Steve was Miami Steve, and I became Southside Johnny because of my love of Chicago blues. I collected that kind of music, so they would play their English kind of invasion music and garage bands and I'd play blues. Southside Johnny (his nickname comes from his love of the raw, hard-edged brand of blues from Chicago's South Side) and the Asbury Jukes started out in 1974 as the house band at the Stone Pony, Asbury Park's now-legendary rock club. 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 Tell me about the women in your life. General Wikidot.com documentation and help section. That record was like really a love letter to my husband, Bruce, and had very few characters in it. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Most E Street Band and Asbury Jukes members (past and present) were in attendance. The album entered the Billboard charts at No. But Epic Records were disappointed with their sales, and in 1979 they dropped the band. Thats right. His multiple awards include recognition for stories on both Bruce Springsteen and Jersey Shore. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com. For more money, take it sax players went with David Letterman $ 45 had very characters. 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