Written by Jeff Spevak – 20120126 — There was a point, about 20 years ago, when we nearly lost Southside Johnny. “I was sick of the music business, I had personal problems, my mother was dying,” he says.

“I needed to get away. I found this little house, kind of a lodge with a four-burner stove, two of which worked, and a fireplace. Every now and then I’d go into town and buy some groceries… talk to the perky little checkout girl. But mostly, it was just a pile of books and listening to classical music — and whiskey. Piles of books and whiskey bottles, and that was it.”

It seems like a bad story, but romantic at the same time. The musician who drifts away, searching for something, puttering with dysfunctional appliances. Turning his back on those amazing times in the early ’70s when Bruce Springsteen came roaring out of New Jersey, and right on Springsteen’s heels was his own band, Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes.

Jon Bon Jovi — he’s another one of those Jersey rockers — said it was Southside who inspired him to put together his first rock band. A mesh of rock and soul. These guys made something.

“The past is gone, I’m much more interested in what’s in front of me,” Southside insists. Yet look at the band that he’s bringing to the German House Theater on Sunday: Southside Johnny & the Poor Fools. Rootsy American songbook. Dylan, George Jones. Muddy Waters. Southside’s even going to play some guitar, which scares him, since he lost a lot of the feeling in his left hand years ago, when he cut it on broken glass. “I remember when James Taylor was doing a solo tour, and he cut his hand with an axe,” Southside says. “The tour was just him and a guitar and a glass of water onstage, and they had to cancel a bunch of shows. And everybody I knew was asking, ‘Why is this guy cutting wood?’”

Maybe the burners on his stove were out.

“We’ve been rehearsing about 30 songs,” Southside says of the Poor Fools. “Some we’ve written, some by Tom Waits, who’s a friend, and Emmylou Harris, and some Jukes classics done in a different way. Songs by Robert Johnson, Son House ….”

Read the full article at: The Democrat And Chronicle

Southside Johnny and the Poor Fools – My Old Kentucky Home – Center for Art – Homer, NY – 2012-01-28

Video by SnarkyMagpie74

Southside Johnny began a new performance project late last year, dubbed Southside Johnny and The Poor Fools. They’ve played ten shows now; more are scheduled in between Jukes gigs. The new venture delves into the sort of acoustic-electric roots rock / Americana that one might associate with The Band, Bob Dylan, latter-day Hot Tuna, and various Brothers acts (Wood Brothers, Felice Brothers). It’s both a departure from Jukes music and a natural extension of Johnny’s catalog.

Read the whole story by Anton A at Tantalized – A Live Rock Chronicle

Browse the pictures at Photobucket

Photo (c) by Anton A – 2012

Beautiful, quiet rendition of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas followed by lots of fun crazy stuff including SSJ bringing Phil the Kingpin onstage to sing, then topped off by a rockin’ I’ve Been Working Too Hard!

12-09-2011 Tarrytown Music Hall in Tarrytown NY – All Videos by Linda Thebold.

Happy Birthday To Me / Blue Christmas

Southside Johnny talking about his birthday card that plays Havin’ A Party and how he doesn’t get paid for it!

All Videos by Linda Thebold, recorded at B.B.King’s Nightclub, NYC, NY, USA – December 03. 2011

Southside Johnny & The Poor Fools – The Fever – Turning Point, Piermont, NY, USA

Southside Johnny & The Poor Fools – Trapped Again – Turning Point, Piermont, NY, USA

Videos by JukeboxLindaT

Southside Johnny: Vocals, Harmonica, Guitar, Bass
Tommy Byrnes: Guitar, Vocals, Drums
John Conte: Bass, Drums, Vocals
Soozy Tyrell: Violin, Percussion, Guitar
Jeff Kazee: Keyboards, Accordion, Drums

By JEFF MIERS – THE BUFFALO NEWS – July 22, 2011, 12:00 AM

In the wake of Clarence Clemons’ death, Thursday’s Square/Wharf show with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes took on added poignancy. You could feel the Big Man’s presence in the humid air at the Central Wharf throughout Thursday’s killer show — particularly during the elegiac, burning saxophone solos.

Led by Southside Johnny Lyon and anchored by one of the most smoking horn sections in the non-jazz world, the Jukes tore it up big time Thursday before a crowd that seemed to be undaunted by the heat wave. We danced, we sang along, we felt the fiery blend of soul, R&B and rock that is this seasoned band’s stock in trade and we left as sweaty and fulfilled as one imagines the band members themselves were.

Read the full article…

By Jim Forger – The City of Rochester was Havin’ a Party to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Rochester International Jazz Fest, and I can’t think of a better act to kick off opening weekend than Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

A huge crowd packed the downtown corners of Chestnut St. and East Ave to spend their Saturday night rocking out with Johnny and the Jukes.

Although I haven’t seen them in years, these guys were one of my favorite bands from back in the day. Unlike countless other bands that lose a little something over the years, Saturday night’s show was right on par with their late 1970s performance at Syracuse University’s quad.

Text & Photos by Jim Forger, Rochester, NY

Read: Kind Of Bleu – Southside Johnny at the Rochester Jazz Festival

Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes, perhaps the most-perfect street party band ever invented by Bacchus, brought out the big crowd as promised at Rochester’s Biggest Party, more modestly described in the literature as the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival.

With the big stage moved off of East Avenue, where it was in past years, and onto Chestnut Street, it was the same party, facing a different direction, as the longtime rock and R&B veterans with their tight, horn-powered sound opened with “This Time It’s For Real.”

A few moments later and it was on to “The Fever,” delivered perfectly by Southside Johnny Lyons, who still has one of the most compellingly soulful voices in rock. That one was written by Southside’s Asbury Park neighbor, Bruce Springsteen. Imagine being such a cool band, Springsteen tosses you a song and says, “Here, Johnny, I can’t use this one this week.”

By Jeff Spevak – Read the full story

Show of the night: Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, baby.

Soul, r& b, soul, rock ‘n’ roll, swing, and soul came careening off the East & Chestnut stage in a brass-filled blast of good old barroom cacophony.

I’ve been watching this band for years and this was the best it has ever sounded. Southside Johnny (John Lyon) is the band’s biggest fan, as he bounded around joyously and unselfconsciously in a way that makes Joe Cocker look like a ballerina by comparison. Oh, and did I mention the soul?

By Frank De Blase – Read the full story…