First and foremost, thank goodness we heard that our Jovifriends in New Zealand are all okay after the earthquake (including Super_Kiwi who is right there in Christchurch and sent around some great shots.)
Secondly, Hurricane Earl ... umm ... all this brew-ha-ha (how DO you spell that anyway?) about evacuating Long Island ... LIRR cancels all trains going to Montauk ... people are stocking up on water and movies from Blockbuster like there's no tomorrow. The end is certainly coming ... well ... not so much. Just a lot of rain. And a lot of media coverage.
And as if that all wasn't enough, we have the force of nature known as Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.
Last night's show at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett is one of the unofficial end-of-summer shows for the gang. The venue is a tiny place right on Main Street that doesn't serve food - just drinks (and lots of them! Or maybe that was just us?)
I always seem to miss this show due to various reasons, but not this year. So, off I went on the Hampton Jitney (remember that Sex and the City episode? LOL) and arrived a couple of hours before the show. It was raining like crazy but that was it in terms of the Earl Effect. Passed the time at a pizza joint (where I ran into Neal and Ed) and had a bite to eat and pondered the variable-rate bond business. Fun, eh?!
Anyhoo, met up with some Jukesfans and we headed over to the venue. In comparison to most SSJ shows, the ticket price was high (but still a steal in comparison to another band I love.) As a result, there seemed to be very few diehards there -- basically us four girls singing and making a good ruckus (which earned us a few amused looks not only from SSJ but from another rockstar too, perhaps. LOL)
It was totally worth the few extra bucks for VIP seating which got us a spot at one of the front tables (luckily on Kazee's side.) Unfortunately (but actually not) it was right under the speaker that was dripping an inordinate amount of water. I say "but actually not" because as a result we ended up with free drinks all night - which we definitely took advantage of! *and another round please* as an aside, I'm still thinking ... lots of water plus electrical wiring in speakers not a good thingUnlike most SSJ shows, they actually followed the set list ... most likely due to the guest bass player (regular bass master John Conte is in Germany.) Well, they followed it for the most part ... except they didn't do "Lost" -- what's up with THAT Johnny?! *my all-time fave song*
Here's how things went down (as I posted on SSJ boards):
Trapped Again
Passion Street
One More Night to Rock
Lead Me On
This Time Baby's Gone for Good
I Played the Fool
Forever
Walk Away Renee
(did I hear a little Riders on the Storm?)/Strange, Strange Feeling
Coming Back
(Phantom of the Opera intro)/Tango Til They're Sore
Talk to Me (with JBJ)
Love on the Wrong Side of Town
*appearance by JBJ as waiter, complete with towel over his arm*
Woke Up This Morning
Without Love (plus an interesting quasi-angelic solo from JK that sounded a bit like a twisted version of Styx's Come Sail Away intro ... just sayin')
Til the Good is Gone/Tracks of My Tears
Happy
Into the Harbour *sigh*
The Fever
I Don't Want to Go Home
Thank You *wow! just ... wow* (first time I heard it live)
Encore
Cross That Line
Harder Than It Looks
Working Too Hard/Hard Days Night
(more Beatles) Oh, Darling (Jeff vox)
Baby You Can Drive My Car
Band Lineup:
Vocals/Harp/All-Around Frivolity, Southside Johnny
Keyboards/Song Wizard, Jeff Kazee
Guitar, Billy Walton
Bass, Skip Ward
Drums, Tom Seguso
Guitar, Glenn Alexander
Baritone Sax, Ed Manion
Trombone, Neal Pawley
Trumpet, Chris Anderson
Sax, Joey Stann
Yes, as anticipated Jon Bon Jovi jumped on stage for a bit of wrestling/singing with Johnny. And thank goodness he picked on SSJ's shirt, which we have been doing secretly (or not-so-secretly) for some time now.
I had seen Mike Rew come in and figured Jon couldn't be too far behind. Sure enough in came Jon and Dorothea looking tanned, happy and relaxed. Good for them because touring, school, etc etc etc is fast approaching.
Here's the clip of J&J doing Talk To Me ... (which was posted in record time I may add!)
(btw, the video was done by this nice woman from Smithtown ... we met standing out in the rain. LOL)
As you can see from the set list, Jon came out a bit later to offer SSJ a drink. He was supposed to come back up for another song, but that didn't happen. I still await my dream performance of him and SSJ doing "Soul's on Fire" (from the Better Days album.)
I didn't take many pictures because I just wanted to enjoy it ... AND the fact that it was so dark you had to use a flash which I just don't like to do at shows. Anyway, here are a couple of blurry pictures for ya!
...I like this one...JBJ picking on SSJ's shirt (though in all fairness, SSJ picked on Jon's moccasins or whatever the heck those things were LOL.) The fashion highlight of the evening by far was Kazee's red suede sneakers. :-)
...my two guys together at the mic...*sigh*
...and SSJ doing what he does best...
It was a fun night--a bit soggy, but that's alright (please note I didn't say "its alright" ... y'all KNOW how I feel about that song! Haha.)
P.S. Oh, and here are a few funny pics from soundcheck at Martell's Monday afternoon.
...ummm, did they really put Jeff in charge!? SSJ actually came up behind the handful of us that were watching and said "who the hell are those guys?!" LOL
(seriously though, you couldn't ask for a better right-hand guy and SSJ knows it)
Surefire way to get SSJ up on stage...start playing his harmonica...LOL
...and what's this? Is Kazee staring me down?...
Well ... so ends my week with the Jukes. "Its Been a Long Time" since I had so many SSJ shows in such a short period of time and it was a blast for sure. (p.s. if you don't know the reference to the song, check out the Better Days album.)
