Humphrey’s, San Diego, CA

Posted on August 3, 2001 by JUKES.NET

ASBURYJUKES.NET – BY STEVE GARDNER – August 02, 2001

Last night the Jukes played in San Diego, so I figured I should drop a note and tell you that it was another great gig. In fact, although last year’s show here was damn good and had the benefit of a nostalgia element for me since it had been something 15 years since I last had seen the band, I actually think they were better this time.

Last year I felt like the band were a little complacent about some of the oldest classics like “I Don’t Wanna Go Home” and “The Fever”, but this show fired on all cylinders all night long. One smart move was moving those heavily worn classics into the main part of the show and using some different songs for encores. The other was that the set focused on songs that rocked and only had a few of the slower bluesey ones. Not that the slow ones are bad, but I like to hear those at home and at the shows I dig the tunes that rock!

In a lot of the Southside shows I’ve seen, my favorite moment is some unusual thing that happens mid-song. Last night there was a song (I can’t even remember it, but it was a slower one) where the band were well into the first verse when a woman approached the stage and tried to hand Johnny a note. He made a quick slashing motion to the band, who stopped instantly, and he took the note from the incredulous gal. He then read it to himself, cocked an eyebrow and said “We’ll see”. This pause took about 20 seconds…he then made a quick chop with his hand and the band started right on cue and exactly where they had left off…right in the middle of a line of lyrics. Unreal.

The other cool point was in between songs, some girl in the front row yelled out that the bouncers wouldn’t let people stand up. So Southside said the band would all sit down, and they did, right on stage. He then told everyone that they could and should stand, which they did for the rest of the night. I don’t get these gig promoters who try to force everyone to sit…I mean, Humphreys tickets are so bloody expensive that you only get senior executives from the town’s major companies to show up there, so it’s not like there’s going to be a riot if people stand!

The Jukes lineup now includes a new bass player who’s a very cool looking gal. She plays with a kind of detached sensualism kind of like Poison Ivy playing guitar with the Cramps, if you’ve ever seen them…I mean, not the slutty image of Ivy, but just a sort of cool sexy presence. It adds a very interesting touch to the overall look of the band.

It’s pretty amazing what great musicians these guys are…I probably see way too many punk rock bands where the players aren’t really that sharp, and I’m not one who thinks you have to be technically proficient to play good music, but these guys have both chops and soul at the same time. I always watch the drummers in bands since that’s what I play, and the guy playing with Southside now is as good as Max Weinberg was as far as I’m concerned.

Anyway, I’m not going to write some long thing like I did last year, I just wanted to say something for the record…great show.

Who want's to be a milionaire?

Posted on July 30, 2000 by JUKES.NET

ASBURYJUKES.NET – BY UZED IN CALI

THE WINERY SARATOGA, CA – July 30, 2000

Who want’s to be a millionaire ? – I just wanted to tell you I saw Southside on Sun at Montalvo in Saratoga. As usual, the energy was great and the band was fun. He shared the bill with Robert Cray. I can only assume Cray was the headliner, because The Jukes opened and nobody turned the sound up….horrible horrible sound. Southside Johnny at this point in his career should not be forced to yell at the sound man for Vocals on his monitor or in the crowd…..

Putting that aside, it was still great seeing them albeit not nearly as impressive a show as last year downtown. This trip featured quite a few covers. with essential Jukes classics sprinkled throughout. Bowing to the bill with Robert Cray, the Jukes stayed primarily in the straight ahead blues vein…..

Picture this….Montalvo is big estate set aside for the arts….very grassy and landscaped. Essentially festival/lawn chair seating on a first come – first serve basis, all very brie, all wine – beer drinkers in the minority. At the front of the stage, they set up and rope off around 200 seats or so for the Wealth Season ticket holders… Going straight back everybody who is not a wealth season ticket holder sets up their own beach chairs wishing they were among the wealthy season ticket holders. All in all the environment is total silicone valley… a lot of money on display… the overall mood is one of “Show me something interesting….something I haven’t seen before….and if you interest me….I may bob my head” Very pretentous….very rigid…..very un-Jukelike.

Last year with good sound, Southside was able to cut through the pretention and get the whole crowd dancing….with the bad sound and the millionaire crowd, the arrangement of seats….it was not to be at this show. Not from lack of trying however. Plus, the true beleivers, the Jukes fans who like to rock were bunched behind the millionairs behind the ropes dancing and letting Southside know we were there for him. Overall it was great getting out and seeing the band, but the overall impression was one of frustration. Why didn’t they turn up the fucking sound? Robert Cray turned in a good show later, but I personally was still a little pissed for him so insecure as to not let the sound crew give Southside his due.

Ok, by the way, the *new* “Live at the Paradise Theater” album is great. Rough sound in some spots, but a really great album. Funny thing. The disc is good and I’m digging it, but I realized just how much I missed the material off “Better Days” or “Love is a Sacrifice”. Like everyone, the CBS discs loom as large icons of the Southside cannon, but the later records are just as good and just as interesting and just as big a part of me as I stand behind the ropes watching millionairs in the front row during the show and they’re not up dancing.

During “I don’t want to go home” They’re not dancing.
WHO wants to be a millionaire ???????

UZED

Humphrey's, San Diego, CA

Posted on July 20, 2000 by JUKES.NET

ASBURYJUKES.NET REVIEW – BY STEVE GARDNER

“You should know better than to think that you can return to the past…” goes the line in the classic title track to Southside Johnny’s 1978 third lp masterpiece, Hearts Of Stone. But tonight’s big question for me was just that: could Southside Johnny put together a concert that matched the memories of one brilliant gig after another that I had the good fortune to witness in the period from 1976 to 1982? It was the first Southside Johnny foray into southern California in over 15 years. His last lp of new material, the superb Better Days, was eight years ago. Would he arrive with a set of fresh songs or rely on his past classics? And would he be the somewhat uninterested performer I saw in Washington, DC in the 1984 show supporting the misguided In The Heat lp or the energetic crowd pleaser who built his reputation through the non-stop energy of countless east coast gigs in the previous decade?

Everything about the setting was bizarre. To start with, the ticket price was more than the total cost of all previous Southside Johnny shows I’ve seen put together (and I’ve seen nearly a dozen). Second, the venue uses assigned seating with bouncers willing and ready to try to escort anyone with the temerity to stand up quickly out of the place. The usual crowd in this venue for the most part does not require bouncers to prevent their standing, and San Diego has not proven to be a Southside Johnny town in the past. The venue is outdoors with palm trees waving in the background, and at 8:00 when Southside Johnny and his band went on, the sky was still bright. The idea of a Southside Johnny gig played under the light of day nearly boggles the mind. In deference to the mostly middle aged crowd, the volume level was, in my opinion, hopelessly inadequate for what is arguably the best bar band the world has ever seen and which ought to be felt as well as heard. For people to be able to carry on a conversation during a Southside Johnny gig is in my opinion just wrong.

When the band came out, it seemed like half the seats were still empty, although people were gradually filing in and eventually the place pretty well filled up. Southside appeared, wearing what looked like the shirt from his bowling league. Certainly a far cry from the early days when the whole band appeared like a bunch of 1930s gangsters in garish 3 piece suits and fedoras! And sadly, the years have turned over a lot of the band.no Kevin Kavanaugh on the keys, no Popeye Pentifallo on drums to do the super deep backing vocal bits, no La Bamba Rosenberg on trombone, no Doc Berger on bass, no Willie Rush or Steve Van Zandt on guitar. The horn section, down to 3 pieces from what used to always be at least five and sometimes six in the Miami Horns, still included Eddie Manion on baritone sax, but the other players were new.

Bobby Bandiera, who has been with the band long enough to count as an original member, but who I had only seen on one other tour, played a key role with superb backing vocals that match the style that Steve Van Zandt used to employ. His guitar playing also is terrific, but on this night he was cursed by a sound man who seemed to regard guitar as an unwanted noise to be eliminated in the mix as much as possible.even his solos were barely audible. All the new players are very capable technically and seem to have strong sympathy for the music they’re playing; the main drawback is that as performers they just aren’t as colorful as their predecessors. The trumpet player would have to count as an exception.his dancing and horn twirling remind a lot of the antics that the Miami Horns regularly used to pull off.

The band launched the show with “Better Days”, played at a somewhat sluggish tempo. The crowd seemed distracted and I thought “uh-oh. This could be a difficult night.” But over the next several songs, you could feel the band warming up and a connection starting to form, and by the time they had powered through “Talk To Me” and “Love On The Wrong Side” the night was coming, the band was hot, and the crowd was getting into it. With only three pieces the horns felt a little thin, and the mix was dominated by the arena style drum sound, but it didn’t seem to matter. For two hours Southside Johnny would rattle through one classic after another and reinforce some of the fondest memories of rock and roll I’ve ever developed

“Walk Away Renee” was the first highlight. Bobby Bandiera’s backing vocals (and those of the rest of the band) complemented Southside’s lead perfectly and really drove home the wistful feel of the song, especially when all the instruments dropped out and the whole band sang almost as a choir. The crowd cheered as enthusiastically as a San Diego crowd will cheer after this one. Southside then spent a little while gazing at the surroundings, saying “Wow, this place is just too nice for the Jukes. It ain’t nothing like New Jersey. I’m trying to see just one reference point that reminds me of Newark.nope, I don’t see one.” Laughs all around from the crowd.

From here the hits rolled. A thunderous version of the threatening “Why Is Love Such A Sacrifice” was another mid set highlight, with the song breaking down in the middle and Southside telling the crowd how playing in the band has been a sacrifice for Bobby Bandiera “He used to dress nice, he used to have a good haircut, and look at him now!”. To which Bobby responded “I used to have money! I used to get paid!”, and the band then crunched back in to finish out the song. Terrific. The drummer, who was an impressive player throughout the night, really pounded his way through this one.

Mid set the band took a break and Southside and Bobby did a couple of ballads with just guitar for accompaniment. The band returned for a blockbuster version of the first lp soul masterpiece “Broke Down Piece Of Man”, always one the more underrated Southside tracks. Bandiera took a turn on lead vocals for his own “Caroline”, a cool song that displays a very obvious influence from Bruce Springsteen tunes in the vein of “Thunder Road”. The crowd cheered enthusiastically. Southside pretended to be extremely distressed at the applause and extolled us not to encourage Bandiera, but you could tell that he enjoyed it.

As he always has done, Southside grimaces, gestures, points fingers, hurls insults at both band members and audience, waves his arms like a member of Joe Cocker’s gene pool, shakes sweat off his head, tosses his mike stand around, and generally acts out every lyric to every song. He’s a wonderful performer to watch. Bandiera by contrast acts as the very dignified and professional counterpoint who would never dream of showing up for a gig in a bowling shirt.

A strong version of “Trapped Again” sent one obviously long time fan into a fit of ecstacy dancing up and down the aisle. After much mock on-stage argument about whether he should be allowed to do so, the sax player came forward and soloed the band through a rocking version of the old surf tune “Tequila”.very well suited to the California environment. The piano then riffled through what sounded like the opening bars of the long time Jukes signature track “The Fever”, and the crowd cheered in anticipation. But then Southside entered another mock argument with the piano player for playing while he was talking, and the piano player launched into a long solo, which finally did devolve into the track we were all waiting for. Southside has probably played this song many thousands of times, and one can ‘t blame him for not wanting to do it the same way every time, but on this particular song, he seemed to be singing it more as an obligation than as something he really wanted to do. He sang it with a different melody line and missed quite a few notes. The trumpet player then took a solo, and half the band missed the change coming out of the solo. One of the more embarrassing on-stage mistakes I’ve seen out of a band in a long time. By this point the band had played nearly 90 minutes, and it’s not unnatural for concentration to flag when you play that long. But as much as I like it, I’ d suggest retiring “The Fever” for a while until it seems a little fresher to play.

From this point the band recovered nicely, with a strong version of “Coming Back”, a Tom Waits cover, a soulful “All The Way Home”, and a powerhouse “I’ve Been Working Too Hard”.

Here the band ended the main set. They quickly returned for an encore, a rollicking version of “Shake ‘Em Down” during which the band pulled three very good looking women from the crowd on stage to join them as go-go dancers. I don’t know if these gals were ringers, but they sure could dance, and the effect of these gals gyrating through this song was pretty memorable.

Another quick encore followed, after which the band stayed offstage for a much longer period. I was convinced that they would not leave without playing “I Don’t Want To Go Home”, and sure enough, they came out again for a bash through this well worn classic. I expected that to be the end, but they followed with a good take of “Hearts Of Stone”. And that was it. Two full hours of Southside Johnny at a higher level than I had thought possible going in. So many bands that come around 20 years after their heyday have nothing left to show, but Southside still has it. I don’t know how much longer he’ll be doing this, and I have this sad sense that this might have been the last time I get to see a Southside show, but this gig proved to me that my memories weren’t some overrated dream in which my mind had built up past recollections far out of proportion to what had actually happened.

My biggest disappointment in this show was the absence of new material. I had hoped that the show would be a mix of old classics and new songs, indicating that a new CD was likely to follow. Unfortunately, there was nothing to suggest that this might be the case. When Better Days came out in 1991, it seemed like ages since At Least We Got Shoes, the previous Jukes lp. But the gap since Better Days is far greater. With the thousands of indie CDs released these days, it doesn’t seem like too much to hope for another Jukes CD one of these days.

At any rate, I came away thinking how much enjoyment this performer has given me for such a long time, and it makes me sad and a little bit angry to think that the man has not become wealthy, especially considering the others who have made fortunes with far less talent, sincerity or effort. I only hope that he recognizes the appreciation of his die hard fans and that for him, this might be something of more value than money. I suspect it is.

Plaza de Chavez, San Jose, CA

Posted on July 22, 1999 by JUKES.NET

ASBURYJUKES.NET – REVIEW – LIVE IN SAN JOSE – BY CATHIE KESSLER

Yeah, the San Jose show was all that and more. Southside was happy, looking healthy, and in a good mood. I gave him about a dozen songs before the show since he’s working on a new album. He laughed and said in typical Southside style “Yeah, like I’ve been working on it for 8 years – thank you” Then the warm up band was finished and there he was – on stage -singing. God, it had been so long.

He looked good too – black T-shirt and jeans, shades of course (no bowling shirt like he wore in San Diego – sorry Steve!) When the band started into “Coming Back” you knew you were at a Jukes show. It was LOUD! The mix was real bad, especially with Bobby’s guitar, which at times was barely audible but by the end of the 3rd song nobody cared. Johnny had them going. The connection was there, and everyone was a Juke! People could no longer contain themselves (myself included) and were up in front of the stage singing & dancing.

Southside was in constant motion the whole time. He asked some of us what we wanted to hear and when we responded with “Hearts of Stone” and “You Can Count on Me” he quipped “I hate you people, you only want to hear slow songs”. I was glad I didn’t ask for “Slow Dance” later on he told the band he hated them too and to “get out of here” so he & Bobby could do a few solos after the third encore.

He did a stunning “trapped again” and brought everyone into participating with him in “The Fever” holding the microphone out when it was our turn to sing and sh’sing us when it was his.

He sang everything without a break in 2 hours (Bobby sang his own “Caroline” very pretty), the energy was so high. Johnny & Bobby were so tight, and we were all deaf afterwards, a good indication that we had been to a Jukes show.

Later the keyboard player (I’m sorry baby I forgot your name) & I both were buying t-shirts at the same time. He said that he didn’t know that Johnny would go on for so long and that he was wound tight tonight. Sure got that part right.

There were so many Jukes fans holding all kinds of stuff during the show – album covers, Juke shirts, jackets, etc. and screaming. I was standing next to the stage the whole time with this Jersey guy (Hi Billy, sure had fun!) and we were singing and swinging.

Afterwards we were talking (or I should say trying to talk since we were
all deaf and all saying WHAT?) when Matthew, my 15 year old son said “there’s some Jukes right there”. Billy ran, saying “I gotta meet Bobby” and the rest of us followed. I reached over Bobby to the keyboard guy and said jokingly “I gotta touch a juke.” We laughed. I looked at Bobby (get ready for this one girls) said “Your’e so great Bobby” – he said “You are too” and while putting out his hand to shake mine leaned over and kissed me. I reminded him to tell Southside to read the songs (lyrics really) I gave him and he said “I will” and disappeared into the night.

I came away after this and every other Jukes show feeling “this wasn’t enough – It never is. I always need more.” but so satisfied at the same time – soothed my soul.

So Johnny please won’tcha try to find some time to work on stuff for the new album so that when Garry gets back from the road you might have something organized. I’m willing to help you in any way I can – like I said got lots more songs & ideas but ya gotta call & ask. I don’t know what direction you want to go (more blues/rock?) but if I can help just let me know.

Johnny / Jukes fans are dying to hear some new sounds from you. The time is right – please don’t wait too long. Man, we all love you!

Gotta say hi to Frank, Steve, and Bebop who were at the San Diego show – spent many hours on the net with you, to Bruce and Billy from the San Jose show (Billy, hope you had fun this past weekend seing Bruce’s show in Jersey), and of course to Klaus who runs the best Southside Johnny website around (thanks for putting me in touch with Steve in SD. And Steve Becker, please have your buddy get back to me about that jacket.

Thanx. That’s about it for now – keep on rocking Jukes!

cosmo316@webtv.net – Cathie Kessler – July 22, 1999