Two years ago, I was fortunate enough to attend one of the most interesting shows I've ever seen at the Stone Pony. It was billed as a once in a lifetime show - the Creators of the Sound of Asbury Park returning home. Thankfully, they're coming back for one final go around.
In 2006, many of the founders of the Jersey Shore music scene returned to the Stone Pony for a benefit concert. The show was one of the hottest tickets in years with scalped tickets going for $1,000 or more on online websites. This year's return should be a hot ticket as well, so if you're interested in the history of Jersey Shore music go get your tickets now. I got my pair weeks ago just to be sure...
You can read an interview I had with Doc Holliday about the creation of the first show by clicking here. And my recap of the first concert by clicking here.
Here's the press release for this year's return...
In 2006, a benefit concert featuring the "Creators of the Sound of Asbury Park" reunited many of the founders of the Jersey Shore scene for a night of music at the Stone Pony. This summer, they're doing it again. The press release follows...
On August 29, The Creators of S.O.A.P. will return to Asbury Park once again to perform and support two local charities based in Asbury Park (The Mercy Center & Interfaith Neighbors) with a concert called: The Ultimate Jersey Shore JAM!!!! The Creators of S.O.A.P. , Live, Raw, and Unplugged In Concert.
This time around they bring with them Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez & Steel Mill introducing their new album for the first time, All Man Their Guns for America. Plus a historic reunion event: for the first time together in 40 years on the same stage, the band that set the tone for the new direction of the Sound of Asbury Park, all the original members of The Moment of Truth: Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez, Garry "The Thunder of the E Street Band" Tallent, Rick DeSarno, and Tom Wuorio.
The Creators will also be introducing a hot new band from Virginia Beach, called Wava. Although the band members are only 16 to 18 years old, they have received worldwide acclaim for their self-titled first album release and have managed to incorporate the Sound Of Asbury Park into their music and once again re-invent that classic rock & roll sound and bring it to the next level.
There will a cocktail party the night before the concert, on Thursday August 28 starting at 9 p.m. at the Beach Bar right next to the S.O.A.P. Monument on the boardwalk by Convention Hall. This will be a meet & greet event, where the Creators also intend to announce names that will be added to the S.O.A.P. Monument that were overlooked the first time around.
The Creators and friends will take the stage at the Stone Pony on the 29th in a very relaxed situation, all sitting on stools across the stage. They'll start by swapping stories about those early days of the Asbury music scene, from 1960 to 1970, and fielding questions from the audience about certain players or events of those days. These are stories that you might have read about in the many books published on the history of Jersey Shore Rock 'n' Roll, and some that were never told before. But this time you'll hear the real versions from the people who were there and lived them, and the audience will be able to ask questions concerning the events. This will be the real history of the '60s on the Jersey Shore. During that time some of the Creators will do songs off-the-cuff from those early days on the Shore, whether with just a guitar or piano as backup or a whole band of Creators joining in to jam -- very raw and very real versions of those favorite songs from the back in the early days on the Shore that laid the foundation for what would be known worldwide as The Sound of Asbury Park.
Please note: only the performers listed publicly and in the promotions to perform at this event will be there on August 29.
For more information, you can visit these web sites:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JRrWusiQYS4
http://www.1docholiday.com/soap%202008.htm
http://www.stoneponyonline.com/schedule.html
Gary Wien has been covering the arts since 2001 and has had work published with Jersey Arts, Elmore Magazine, Princeton Magazine, Backstreets and other publications. He is a three-time winner of the Asbury Music Award for Top Music Journalist and the author of Beyond the Palace (the first book on the history of rock and roll in Asbury Park) and Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists. In addition, he runs New Jersey Stage and the online radio station The Penguin Rocks. He can be contacted at gary@newjerseystage.com.
