Southside Johnny Isn't Taking It Easy

Posted on March 12, 1993 by JUKES.NET

March 12, 1993 | BUDDY SEIGAL | SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The performer says he still loves being onstage with band the Jukes even after almost 20 years of gigs. At the start of a concert captured on his magnificent “Reach Up and Touch the Sky” album in 1981, Southside Johnny Lyon gave his fans a good scare.

“Hey listen, it’s gonna be one of those relaxed nights, you know?” he began. “Y’all had Jackson Browne in here last night and the Doobie Brothers, so we’re gonna put on our earphones and just sort of relax, take it easy. Play a little West Coast rock.” Whereupon guitarist Billy Rush started strumming the familiar opening chords of Browne’s “Take It Easy,” and Southside joined in, crooning lazily: “Well I’m a-runnin’ down the road trying to loosen my load, I got . . .

“For -GET IT!”

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Parting Is Such Sweat Sorrow : Southside Johnny Pours On the Energy

Posted on May 22, 1992 by JUKES.NET

Southside Johnny Pours On the Energy in His Last Concert as an Orange County Resident
May 22, 1992 | MIKE BOEHM | TIMES STAFF WRITER

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — One is tempted to say “Johnny, we hardly knew ye” to Southside Johnny Lyon, therocking New Jerseyite who is heading back to the East Coast after a three-year residence on the south side of Orange County. But anyone who saw Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes play a warm and rowdy, heartfelt and sweaty, long, soulful and beautifully constructed concert Wednesday night at the Coach House must have come away with a pretty thorough knowledge of his talent as a rock ‘n’ soul performer.

It was one of those special nights. Lyon and his eight-man band were obviously enjoying the music and each other’s company, the crowd got keyed in, then it got keyed up, and the evening just rode along from strength to strength, from pleasure to pleasure, from ovation to ovation, and from encore to encore (three in all, before the house lights went on, ending the show after 2 hours and 15 minutes).

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Wearing Different Jerseys : Street-smart Southside Johnny Lyon

Posted on November 30, 1991 by JUKES.NET

November 30, 1991 | RICK VANDERKNYFF | SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

If they came up with a prototype for the hard-working Jersey Shore bar-band rocker, it would probably come pretty close to the real-life Southside Johnny Lyon.

Pal to Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt, longtime veteran of late-night jams at such legendary Joizy clubs as the Upstage and the Stone Pony, possessor of a classic R&B growl, Lyon even named his band the Asbury Jukes after Asbury Park, the decaying resort town and center of the state’s productive ’70s musical scene.

So what’s he doing in–gulp–San Clemente? Has Southside Johnny become Surfside Johnny?

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Southside and Pals Wail With Jukes-Box Classics

Posted on December 1, 1988 by JUKES.NET

December 01, 1988 | DUNCAN STRAUSS

OK, so here’s the deal: You go to a show by Southside Johnny and — like, say, the one Tuesday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano–maybe feeling a little sad, maybe feeling a little lonely, maybe feeling a little bit old–and after a 2-hour set of Jukes-box classics, you walk out feeling like a million bucks.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is, in simplest terms, why Southside and the Jukes just may be what they have been called time and again, “the world’s greatest bar band.”

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Southside Johnny Back at Bar With the Jukes After a Year

Posted on November 26, 1988 by JUKES.NET

November 26, 1988 | MIKE BOEHM

Southside Johnny Lyon was always the quintessential bar rocker–the raspy singer from the Jersey shore who fronted a brassy, scruffy-looking band and sang night after night about romance and parties, and about how he didn’t want to go home.

It went on like that for years–first during an apprenticeship in a succession of bands that included such fellow aspiring rockers as Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt (both of whom played important roles in launching Lyon’s career) and followed by more than a decade of touring and recording as leader of Southside Johnny & the Jukes.

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