It’s actually cool for a July evening on the boardwalk in Ocean Grove, NJ. The wind is whipping off the ocean and the lady selling enormous bubble wands is creating giant amorphous amoeba-shaped bubbles, some of which the wind has carried into town as far as three blocks away.
A woman stops to ask the “bubble lady” if she’s heard who’s playing at the Great Auditorium tonight, just about three blocks from where we’re standing.
“No,” she says, “Who?”
“TOMMY… of Tommy James and the Shondells!,” the woman excitedly replies, as if to convey memories of carefree days as a teen hanging out with one’s “best friends forever” in the basement rec room listening to Tommy James and the Shondells’ orange and yellow-striped Roulette ’45 “Crimson and Clover” — “over and over” — gazing at the groovy new blue lava lamp as it swirls and dances to that incredible music.
And indeed, on this July 9th, 2016 evening, Tommy James and the Shondells is the featured act at Ocean Grove’s famous Great Auditorium, an historic theater which these days, holds church services on Sunday mornings which — in the good ol’ summertime — are often preceded by rock concerts the previous Saturday night.
It’s 7:45 pm and, as the audience of primarily baby boomers happily makes its way past the tent lights glowing outside and into the 122-year-old edifice, one can feel the ocean breezes rolling through the open doors and, along with the salty air, take in the scent of this amazing all-wooden structure where, in just moments, all eyes will be on the hitmaker whom everyone is here to see tonight.
Opening with an exhilerating version of his 1971 solo hit, “Draggin’ The Line,” Tommy James and his band, the Shondells, hit the stage and rock the house with their powerful LIVE! sound, the colored lights shifting to the music and James’ voice never sounding better.
“Thanks for having us,” James, 69, excitedly tells the crowd, “Let’s make something happen!”
And he does just that as the lights turn blue, the breezy tremelo electric guitar begins to play, and James starts to croon the lyrics to The Shondells’ enormously popular Top Ten hit, “Crystal Blue Persuasion,” its powerful message of “Love is the answer,” as timely today in 2016 as it was when James originally recorded it back in 1968.
According to James, he wrote “Crystal Blue Persuasion” upon reading in the Book of Revelation in the Bible about a future age of brotherhood of mankind living in peace and harmony, a perfect sentiment for either a Saturday night concert or a Sunday morning church service in this magnificent venue. When asked about the song years ago, James is said to have replied, “It’s my favorite of all my songs and one of our most requested.”
After performing several additional numbers including the joyful “Getting Together” and the “This Old Man”-inspired “It’s Only Love,” James takes time out to tell the audience about his memoir, Me, the Mob, and the Music, which is soon to become a motion picture conceding, “I’m amazed this story is worthy of a film.”
Originally slated to be titled Crimson and Clover, James’ autobiography was initially going to be about what he calls “the nice stuff,” but Tommy realized he needed to tell the “whole story,” which is not always as wholesome.
Why?
Because when James and his bandmates originally signed a deal with their record company, none of them had any idea it was a front for one of the most powerful organized crime families in New York City.
For “all these years,” James goes on to explain, “we walked on eggshells,” but “stuck it out” despite the fact that he and the boys often “weren’t being paid.”
And just to make sure there would be no repercussions following a public disclosure of such a revelation, after writing the book, James and his co-writer, Martin Fitzpatrick, put it “on the shelf” for eight years. In 2010, Simon and Schuster published the autobiography and now, as James explains, it’s slated to become both a “movie and, maybe, a Broadway show.”
In the final scene of the book — and in the movie, as James envisions it — the mobster who ran the group’s record company dies and a last song is played where Tommy can say an “imaginary goodbye” to the man who both made him and his music famous, but also at times, made his life terrifying.
The song?
A slow, melodious, thoughtful —and mainly “unplugged” — version of “I Think We’re Alone Now,” presented now as more of a contemporary power ballad with James’ voice sailing out, engaging the crowd with a new way of comprehending the song’s famous “running just as fast as we can” lyric.
Additional highlights of Tommy and the band’s performance at The Great Auditorium include a live version of a song James wrote and produced for the group, Alive N Kickin’, back in 1970. Filled with mighty harmonies and power chords, James and his band members — John Golden on lead guitar, Jonathn Ashe on bass, Mike Dimeo on Hammond organ, Bobby Guy on synthesizer, and Glenn (“The Hit Man”) Wyka on drums — make the song their own as they put a fresh spin on the million-selling Top Ten hit, “Tighter, Tighter.”
As the lights come up and shine on swatches of the audience, many start to scream as James and the band break into their #1 smash from 1968, the psychedelic “Crimson and Clover,” a song which sold over 5 million copies. On this classic number, James’ distinctive tenor is supported by his bandmates’ falcetto backup vocals, along with hand-clapping (over their heads!) from members of the crowd in addition to heads earnestly bobbing in appreciation as the music takes them back to an earlier time. Of particular interest is the end of the song where Tommy and the Shondells faithfully replicate LIVE that iconic pulsating tremelo effect from the original recording, vibrating the vocals on the famous tag, “Crimson and Clover, over and over,” giving it that authentic 60s sound.
And if that’s not enough for the enthusiastic crowd at The Great Auditorium, the next song really gets the fans moving — the Jeff Barry and Ellie Grenwich composition which TJ and the Shondells released in 1966, “Hanky Panky.” For this number, people are out of their seats, smiling and singing along, to this — James’ very first #1 hit record.
Following a second rendition of “I Think We’re Alone Now” — this time, an up-tempo version like the original 1967 #4 charting ’45 — in addition to a spirited version of 1968’s “Do Something To Me,” James and band launch into an incredible nearly-20-minute version of one of the greatest party songs in the history of music, 1968’s Top Ten smash, “Mony Mony.” With people dancing everywhere, the Great Auditorium looks more like the high school gym sock hop of your dreams than a concert hall. And after James sings his heart out, with the instruments still rocking, he does something remarkable.
And just what do you think that might be?
Something James tells the audience he’s done “all around the world” and thus, “might as well do right here in Jersey.”
And at that point, James leaves the stage, struts down the stairs into the crowd below and spends the next quarter hour shaking hands with as many fans in the audience as he can!
“How are you doing over here?,” he asks as he travels through the throng, the crowd clearly excited to experience something most of them have never experienced before!
After making such a personal impression on all of his devoted fans at The Great Auditorium, James takes his place back on the bandstand and finishes this memorable number to great applause. And after encores of his 1969 gem, “Sweet Cherry Wine,” and 1967’s bouncy “Mirage,” James and the band once again segue back into the concluding strains of “Mony Mony.”
“We love you, Ocean Grove! Thank you!,” shouts Tommy, leaving the crowd on its feet, smiles on his fans’ faces, with many still humming and probably thinking the same thought after seeing Tommy James and the Shondells LIVE and in person here at The Jersey Shore’s unique Great Auditorium…
“You make us feel… so… good!”
For more on Tommy James and the Shondells — including their upcoming NJ performance with Felix Cavliere’s Rascals at BergenPAC in Englewood, NJ, on September 16, 2016 — see tommyjames.com. For more on upcoming summer programming at Ocean Grove’s Great Auditorium — including The Beach Boys on July 16, Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Broadway on July 23, The Grass Roots & The Buckinghams on July 30; Engelbert Humperdinck on Aug. 6, and Michael Bolton on Aug. 13 — please go to oceangrove.org.
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