Reach Up and Touch the Sky

Rolling right along with blog hits via the Jersey Shore (see previous concert entries on Garry Tallent and Little Steven, not to mention more than a few passing references to a certain Boss), this time we're checking in with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, still having a party after all these years.

John Lyon, better known simply as Southside for the past 40+ years, was one of several acts to emerge from the Jersey Shore, home of the Stone Pony nightclub and multiple other hotspots that helped produce some of the greatest musical acts of our generation.

Southside actually graduated from high school with the aforementioned Tallent, not to mention another early member of the E Street Band, Vini Lopez.

For this outing, we once again enlisted the Godfather himself, my brother Jimmy, and even managed a rendezvous with the music encyclopedia on two feet, Mike O'Connell, not to mention fellow Boss boss, Ken Gordon.  Between the six of us, we've notched dozens of Southside shows these past decades.  For Andrew, it was his first exposure.

The venue was the Blue Ocean Music Hall in Salisbury, so for these E Streeters, that first meant a pit stop not at the Jersey Shore, but the Seabrook Shore.

A father/son relationship on the rocks

Right out of the gate, Southside was armed and ready with his flyswatter

I saw Southside multiple times during the 1980s, when I had just started dipping my toes into the live concert pools.  You were always guaranteed a raucous club party whenever the Jukes came to town.

Stevie Van Zandt and Southside were inextricably linked in the band's early years, with Stevie playing a number of roles with the group.  Many of Stevie Van Zandt's songs have since become the lyrical background of many of Southside's club shows these past 40 years, and the two remain close friends, with influences frequently bleeding into one another's on-stage performances.

In the ensuing decades, several other members of the E Street Band have toured or recorded with the Jukes, including the Big Man Clarence Clemons, Garry Tallent, Mighty Max Weinberg, Sister Soozie Tyrell, and Patti Scialfa, who would go on to become Springsteen's wife.

Can't let the blog pass without trumpeting the talent of Southside's horns section - John Isley, Chris Anderson and Neal Pawley

So once again, thanks Southside, for allowing this longtime fan to reach up and touch the sky and create a new soul-filled, soulful musical memory with family and friends in the process.

 I know that it's getting late

But I don't want to go home

I am in no hurry baby time can wait

I don't want to go home

Listen to the man sing his song

I don't want to go home

I don't mind baby to stay alnight long

Cause I don't want to go home

Listen baby

I know we had to try

To reach up and touch the sky baby

What ever happened to you and I

That I don't want to go home 

Still Disciples After All These Years

October 16, 1982 - to date, it remains one of the hands-down LOUDEST concerts this music aficionado has ever attended.

(Rivaled only by Roger Waters at the Worcester Centrum on March 30, 1985.)

The show?  Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul at 15 Landsdowne Street, Boston.

Admittedly, the club itself wasn't that large, which contributed to the ear-splitting volume.   Course, it also had a lot to do with the performer - Miami Steve Van Zandt, frontman for Bruce Springsteen, who was exploring a foray into a solo career with his Men Without Women album.

The Boston-born Miami Steve had broken off from touring with Bruce after the Boss's Nebraska album and prior to Born in the U.S.A., which rocketed Freehold's favorite son into the rock and roll stratosphere.

Suddenly, here was Little Steven, bedecked in bandana and leather jacket complete with a Disciples of Soul rocker, and a band all his own, not to mention a sound.

I have to admit, I was a big fan from the outset, as were several of my fellow E Streeters, especially John Piekos.  Yes, things took some sideways detours with Stevie's political Sun City anti-apartheid anthem a few years later, but Men Without Women, coupled with his follow up album, Voice of America, still hold a special place in my music collection.

Which brings us to September 29, 2017, a new tour with Little Steven and a return to the Orpheum Theatre in Boston.

In the 1980s I was lucky enough to see several music acts at the Orpheum, including the Police and a little known band from Dublin, U2, in May of 1983.

This time, I had not only the guy who introduced me to all things E Street, but the next generation E Streeter in tow as well - my brother, Jimmy and son, Andrew. Jimmy, by the way, was the one who took me to my first Little Steven show 35 years ago, so it all comes around. 

Drawing from his latest album, Soulfire, Stevie and his Disciples riffed through several of the new tracks, but also paid more than ample homage to the music of some of his Asbury Park cohorts, including Southside Johnny and Gary U. S. Bonds.

The show featured street corner Doo Wop, soul sounds, R&B, blues - heck, he covered just about every genre he could squeeze into the 2 1/2 hour rockfest 

It was akin to a night spent listening to his varied Underground Garage discography over on Sirius radio.  A tremendous five-man horns section, complimented by a trio of non-stop dancers helped make for a packed stage of frenetic music talent.

It's no secret that Stevie and Peter Wolf, the former front man for the J. Geils band are best buds -the Wooba Gooba with the Green Teeth is a staple at virtually any Springsteen Boston-area show over the last 30 years, and almost always ends up sharing a microphone with Van Zandt.

This particular night, he resurrected a couple of J. Geils songs from the music crypt - Lookin' For a Love and Freeze Frame - both which kept the sold-out crowd on its feet hearkening back to the Boston-based band's 1980s tandem of hits.

Stevie wrapped up his show with the song Out of the Darkness, from his second album.

Released 33 years ago, its message and lyrics seem even more poignant in today's divided society.

Check it out here:

Out of The Darkness

There's a sadness all around us

There are words we're too afraid to say

The things that I thought would last forever

Are changing every day

There's a hunger can't be satisfied

And the streets are filled with rage

It's time to dig deep inside ourselves

And face the life we've made

It's gonna take two of us

Ijust can't do it all on my own

I see the day gettin' brighter

Hold me a little bit tighter

Out of the darkness in hand in hand

Baby together we will make our stand

Reach out and touch me we can win somehow

I know there's nothing that can stop us now

Oh, baby, come with me out of the darkness

I've lived my life trapped with trouble

Now it's time to make a new start

I thought the only justice in this world

Came from an angry heart

Now I know there's got to be love to protect us

But we can't wait for it to come

I know there's more to life than black and white

The sooner we learn, the sooner we've won

It's gonna take the two of us

I just can't make it all on my own

If you are a fighter

Hold me a little bit tighter

Out of the darkness and hand in hand

Baby together we will make our stand

Reach out and touch me we can win somehow

I know there's nothin' that can stop us now

Oh baby, come with me out of the darkness

Peace, love and understanding!

35 years later, still a Disciple.