Remembrance of artists past

Posted on February 28, 2005 by JUKES.NET

THE NEW JERSEY STAR LEDGER – BY JAY LUSTIG – Star-Ledger Staff – MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2005

SHORE GROUP PAYS TRIBUTE TO ROY ORBISON

“I gotta follow that?” asked John “Southside Johnny” Lyon with a look of mock-horror on his face, as he took the stage at Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre, Friday night.

He was exaggerating for comic effect, but still, he faced a daunting task. It was the first show by the newly formed Jersey Shore Rock and Soul Revue, and Bobby Bandiera, the Revue’s leader, had just finished singing a version of Roy Orbison’s 1961 hit “Crying” that Orbison himself would have been proud of. Audience members responded with a standing ovation, and some were still standing as Southside Johnny walked out.

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Shore Rockers bring Tribute to Red Bank

Posted on February 24, 2005 by JUKES.NET

THE NEW JERSEY STAR LEDGER – BY JAY LUSTIG – FEBRUARY 24, 2005

Lots of rock vocalists admire Roy Orbison, but few try to imitate him. It’s just too daunting a task. One of the exceptions is Bobby Bandiera, who has often covered Orbison’s soaring, almost operatic songs, and written tunes with a strong Orbison flavor.

Bandiera, a longtime member of Southside Johnny’s Asbury Jukes who also leads his own Bobby Bandiera Band, will front the newly formed Jersey Shore Rock & Soul Revue in a sold-out Orbison tribute concert, tomorrow night at Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre. Plans call for this new group, dominated by current and former Jukes, to continue to present occasional tribute concerts at the Basie in the future. Potential subjects include Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and The Everly Brothers.

Count Basie Theatre CEO Numa Saisselin came up with the idea for the project, but Bandiera suggested starting with Orbison.

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The Big Three Backing Bobby Bandiera

Posted on March 20, 2003 by JUKES.NET

THE NEW JERSEY STAR LEDGER – BY JAY LUSTIG – THURSDAY, MARCH 20, 2003

The big three of Jersey Shore rock ‘n’ roll — Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi and Southside Johnny — will perform in a benefit concert at Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre on April 29. The beneficiary of the show, titled “The Hope Concert,” will be a musician who has backed them all many times in the past: Bobby Bandiera. The guitarist needs the money to cover medical expenses for his son, Robert Bandiera Jr.

Bobby Bandiera and Gary U.S. Bonds will also perform at the event, and Big Joe Henry of the Trenton-based radio station New Jersey 101.5 FM and Tim McLoone of the Shore-based charity band Holiday Express will co-host. Tickets, priced at $100, $250 and $300, go on sale tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. at the Count Basie box office, 99 Monmouth St., and through the box office’s phone line, (732) 842-9000. There will be a four-ticket limit per person.

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They didn't want to go home...

Posted on March 5, 2001 by JUKES.NET

THE NEW JERSEY STAR LEDGER – BY JAY LUSTIG – MARCH 06, 2001

JUKESTOCK celebrates Southside Johnny and his band from the Shore

It wasn’t the biggest or most glamorous gig Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes have ever played. If you took away one crucial element, in fact, the band’s Saturday night set at the Tinton Falls Holiday Inn could have been seen as embarrassing, in a how-the-mighty-have-fallen kind of way.

Here’s the crucial element: The band’s set was part of a three-day celebration of all things Jukes that attracted fans from as far away as Australia and Switzerland. Three hundred devotees, paying $140 each, were treated not only to the intimate, high-energy, nearly three-hour show in the hotel’s ballroom, but autograph and picture-posing sessions with the band Saturday morning, and separate sets throughout the weekend by bands led by Jukes members Mark Pender, Bobby Bandiera, Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg and Jeff Kazee. Memorabilia on display included the band’s first promotional T-shirt, from 1975; hand-written lyrics to one of their signature songs, “I Don’t Want To Go Home,” and the key to the city of Asbury Park, which they received in 1978.

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Little Big Man

Posted on October 17, 1999 by JUKES.NET

THE NEW JERSEY STAR LEDGER – BY JAY LUSTIG – OCTOBER 17, 1999

Steven Van Zandt sees mobster Silvio Dante, the character he plays on the HBO series “The Sopranos,” as a Renaissance man who happens to operate outside of the law. “He’s one of (Mob boss) Tony Soprano’s best friends and closest confidants,” say Van Zandt, a k a Little Steven. “He’s everything from an ambassador to the outside world to a hitman. He does all the jobs inside that family that are required of him.”

Take the evil out of the equation, and you’re left with something like Van Zandt’s role in the New Jersey rock scene over the last 30 years. Simply put, he’s done it all.

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