By Alex Biese, June 26, 2009
It wouldn’t be summer at the Shore without him
Between his annual Independence Day weekend appearances at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park and his crowd-pleasing New Year’s Eve shows at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, Monmouth County’s own Southside Johnny Lyon has become something of a Shore institution over the years.
“Well, I’ve been in most of the Shore institutions so I guess I belong,” Lyon told Metromix Jersey Shore last year.
Lyon and his house-rocking band, the Asbury Jukes, will be sticking with tradition when they return to The Stone Pony on Thursday to kick off Fourth of July weekend early.
However, for someone who brings his good-time tunes around the world for the bulk of each year, Lyon said he feels the most pressure when he plays for his hometown crowd.
“There’s a lot more pressure here because they’ve seen all my tricks, they know all my moves, so I’ve got to come up with different things to keep them on their toes — both the band and the audience and myself, too,” Lyon explained.
“But, it’s also nice to know that you can come back here and do whatever you want,” he added. “(Local audiences) know me, and they know if I get a little nutty onstage and start going into songs we don’t know, that too shall pass and we’ll eventually get to the songs they know. . . . But Jersey Shore people see us three, four, five times a year, so you really are under a lot of pressure to make it exciting and new and different. But, having said that, it’s nice to go home to your own bed after a show, too.”
When reminded that he could practically walk home to Ocean Grove from The Stone Pony, Lyon agreed.
“That’s what I usually do,” Lyon admitted. “I usually walk home from the Pony, from those shows.”
While he and his music have been synonymous with good times at the Shore for decades, Lyon revealed that his Shore pride was late-blooming.
“You know, growing up in Ocean Grove . . . I couldn’t wait to get away,” he said. “When we started playing in bands we got to travel, even before we made records, I mean, all the way to Nanuet, N.Y. But we went to Philly and all, and it was great, we loved it.
“So, when we really started touring I was so happy to get away from New Jersey because it’s really a sense of place in New Jersey. When you’re from New Jersey, you know you’re from New Jersey, you know what I mean? There are a lot of reasons for that. And so, it’s good to get away and kind of break the bonds, and I lived all over the place, too.”
These days, however, Lyon proudly calls the Shore home.
“Now, being back at the Shore and playing here, I started to realize how great it is to be a Jersey Shore guy,” he said. “I mean, you’ve got the beach, you’ve got all the different things that go on here and it’s all very homey to me. I don’t always like that, but I’m enjoying it now. And it’s nice to know that the fans will come to Asbury Park, especially now that it’s going to be a little bit better, and have a good time. It really does make you feel as though you’ve accomplished something. Although, I still like to go to Paris.”
