A Wicked Good Blog: 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.