1 in 5 Norwegians watched LILYHAMMER premiere on NRK1, reaching an overall share of 56,3% – an all-time-high for NRK1 and the best ratings for a Norwegian made drama-series ever! With 44.2% in the commercial demographics, LILYHAMMER outperformed the channel average by 245%!

So, since you already know who triggered the whole TV craziness in Scandinavia, here’s the scoop:

After Frank “The Fixer” Tagliano testifies against his Mafia boss in New York, he enters the Witness Protection Program and makes an unusual demand: he wants to be set up with a new life in a small town in the Norwegian countryside called Lillehammer.

A sports fanatic, he had fallen in love with the place while watching the ’94 Winter Olympic Games. Now, he is hoping that “Lilyhammer”, as he pronounces it, will offer him more than “Clean air, fresh white snow and gorgeous broads”.

He knows that he is a marked man and figures nobody will ever find him there. That was his second mistake – the first was ratting out the Delucci Family…

But vengeful gangsters are only a part of his problems. Adjusting to the Scandinavian way of life is driving him crazy! At least he has a great Norwegian teacher, Sigrid, with whom he shares a passion far beyond books.

Of course, once a mobster, always a mobster – it is not long before Frank gets involved in shady dealings with the ex-Olympic “test jumper” Torgeir Lien and the local lawyer and businessman Julius Backe.

Here, cops are of an altogether different variety. Lillehammer’s calm and sensitive sheriff, Laila Hovland, is far more interested in crime prevention and education than solving cases… and boy can she bake! Yet another cop, Geir Tvedt, spends his spare time heading up the band “Geir Elvis and His Cell Mates”!

Of course, somebody has to try keeping Frank on the right path – a job that falls to his counselor at the local unemployment office, Jan Johansen, who specifically handles immigrants and asylum seekers, and who is a stickler for regulations!

Thrust into a brand new world forcing out a new side of his personality – and offers ample opportunities for an old one – Frank is confronted with a colorful cast of characters totally unlike the New York variety. But as he soon finds out, the past always has a way of catching up with you, especially when it concerns the Delucci family…

Netflix acquired the broadcast & distribution rights for the series in North and Latin America and will stream all eight episodes of the first season starting Feb. 6. Netflix has also signed on to co-produce the show’s second season.

Read more: ‘Lilyhammer’ sets new NRK record – January 26, 2012

Sources: Netflix.com, Seven One International, NRK

Make sure you stop by at Southside Johnny & The Poor Fools’ new online home… which just opened at http://thepoorfools.com/ Get a brief bio on the band, some catchy newsflashs and (probably most important) the official tour calendar. A Poor Fools Store will follow soon! So check back often!

Visit: Southside Johnny & The Poor Fools

The Southside show will air on Channel 20, which is better known as E Street Radio, an outlet dedicated to the music of Bruce Springsteen and affiliated artists.

Sat 12/31 9:00 pm ET / Rebroadcast: Sun 1/1 12:00 pm ET

Source: Tris McCall/The Star-Ledger / Sirius XM Radio

Just a year ago, Southside wrote on his website: “Big thanks to all those who made it out to the Lynn Auditorium (…) this past weekend! Special thanks to Mayor Kennedy and her staff and family, for breaking out the red carpet for the Jukes and allowing us to bring some chaos to City Hall. We didn’t quite get the key to the city, but maybe next time…”

Now, this just came in on Southside Johnny’s official Twitter stream: “Southside just got the key to the city of Lynn, Mass. Don’t bother locking the doors Lynnians.” Photo of Lynn Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy & Johnny via: img.ly

Congratulations to Mayor Kennedy for the stunt and to the honorable Mr. Lyon… for one of the nicest smiles ever seen on his face! Too cool!

Posted by Marc Berman on Friday, November 18, 2011 6:48AM – Little Steven Van Zandt, Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez take the stage with the B Street Band and surprise guests at a fundraiser for Gilda’s Club South Jersey held at the Hard Rock Cafe Atlantic City

Source: NJ.com

11/10/2011 20:00 Bridge Street Live Collinsville, CT
11/11/2011 20:00 The Palace Danbury, CT
11/12/2011 17:00 The Turning Point, Piermont, NY
11/14/2011 TBA – Boulton Center, Bay Shore, NY
11/15/2011 19:30 Stage One, Fairfield, CT
11/16/2011 19:00 The Kate, Old Saybrook, CT

Southside Johnny says “The Poor Fools tour is a chance for me to try out different material and some Jukes standards in an acoustic-ish form. In this incarnation, Jeff Kazee, John Conte, Tommy Byrnes, Soozie Tyrell and I will all be singing, playing, and having some fun on stage. It will be a loose mix of songs, stories and banter between the musicians and–hopefully–the audience. Just lookin’ to have a good time. It’ll be a little side trip between the usual Asbury Jukes touring and our next recording.”

Via: Speak Into My Good Eye by Chris Rotolo, Senior Staff Writer: According to a tweet made Tuesday afternoon by local producer, and electric ivory tickler for the Southside Johnny led Asbury Jukes, Jeff Kazee, he and the aforementioned front-man have finished recording a cover of The Beatles‘ “I’m Down” for a lengthy project, nearing the entrance to its third year, named The Beatles Complete On Ukulele (TBCOU).

Read the full article…

(ASBURY PARK, NJ) — Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes have announced they will play the Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul 1982 debut album ‘Men Without Women’ in sequence during their July 2nd show at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park. The Jukes will have some help from some friends to perform the album which include former Jukes and original Disciples of Soul members Richie “LaBamba” Rosenberg, Mark “Loveman” Pender and Stan Harrison along with Seeger Session Band members Soozie Tyrell and Lisa Lowell.

‘Men Without Women’ charted in the US Billboard 200 in 1982 with top 100 single “Forever”, which has been a long time favorite at the Asbury Jukes shows over the years. Steven Van Zandt was a founding member of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes and longtime member of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

All ten tracks of 1982 Little Steven and The Disciples of Soul album to be played in sequence along with current and future Jukes classics on Saturday, July 2 at the Stone Pony Summer Stage.

Also on the bill on July 2: Pat DiNizio, Outside the Box and Jody Joseph. Gates open at 5pm; tickets are $30 in advance and $35 day of show.

Visit: New Jersey Stage

Hey, gang.

Thought I’d say something here for all to see. It’s been a bad couple of weeks. Kevin, Steve Popovich and now unbelievably, Clarence. I’m still finding it hard to get out of bed in the morning. But think what all three would say.

Don’t let your mourning stop you from enjoying life.

Kevin was always positive and up, and Steve, whom most of you didn’t know, had such energy and love of music that he would wear you out. Clarence, well just look at the clips on youtube. Could anyone be more forceful and happy with his being a member of the E Street Band?

I guess the lesson is to wring every drop of joy out of our brief time on earth and celebrate the gifts that these and other giving people left us, and try to do the same for others.

These are the moments that make me glad I make music. It’s helps me and I know it can help you, too.

It’s like Steve Van Zandt wrote: Better Days Are Coming.

Love, Southside

posted on SouthsideJohnny.com on June 20th 2011

Clarence Clemons (* January 11th 1942 – † June 18th 2011)

Bruce Springsteen may have summed up Clarence best during his speech when the Boss was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March of 1999.

“Last but not least, Clarence Clemons. That’s right. You want to be like him but you can’t, you know. The night I met Clarence, he got up onstage (and) a sound came out of his horn that seemed to rattle the glasses behind the bar, and threatened to blow out the back wall. The door literally blew off the club in a storm that night, and I knew I’d found my sax player. But there was something else, something – something happened when we stood side by side. Some, some, some energy, some unspoken story.

For years Clarence has been a source of myth and light and enormous strength for me on stage. He has filled my heart so many night – so many nights – and I love it when he wraps me in those arms at the end of the night. That night we first stood together, I looked over at C and it looked like his head reached into the clouds. And I felt like a mere mortal scurrying upon the earth, you know. But he always lifted me up. Way, way, way up. Together we told a story of the possibilities of friendship, a story older than the ones that I was writing and a story I could never have told without him at my side. I want to thank you, Big Man, and I love you so much.”

Quote from: “Clarence Clemons: Some special memories from over the years” by Stan Goldstein

BruceSpringsteen.net – A Message from Bruce Springsteen
Backstreets.com – Tribute to Clarence Clemons
Ricochet – Brush With Greatness: Meeting “The Big Man”
The New Jersey Star Ledger – Springsteen sax man Clarence Clemons remembered Sunday at Stone Pony
The New Jersey Star Ledger – Clarence Clemons’ death provokes music world response, tributes
Blogness on the Edge of Town – Clarence Clemons: An Appreciation
Eastcoastmusic – The Biggest Man You’ve Ever Seen
Eastcoastmusic – U2 Pays Tribute To The Big Man Clarence Clemons: Moment Of Surrender
Stern.de – Springsteens “Big Man” ist tot (German)

Photo by Joe Lopez (Backstreets)