Listening to Now

On February 10, 1977, the group Boston hit the stage at Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum as the headline act having quickly risen to rock stardom on the strength of their eponymous debut album, and I was there. I was 18 years old, somebody suggested we get tickets and jump in a car and drive the 64 miles from my suburban home north of New York City to Uniondale, New York, the site of the venue, approximately seven miles east of the eastern limits of New York City.

I wasn’t ever really sure I liked Boston, but with hits like “More Than A Feeling” and “Foreplay/Long Time” blasting on the radio in a loop, making the trip seemed like a very cool thing to do, and indeed it was.

Almost 47 years later I remember very little of the event, but I do remember one story from that night that I’ve told over and over. And as happens with favourite stories, if one is honest about it, some doubt starts to creep in as to whether or not it actually happened, so I did a bit of research.

The opening act was Starcastle, a group the New York Times reviewer described as a blend of “Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young harmonies with excessively clever progressive‐rock arrangements.” Okay, I didn’t know who they were then and haven’t heard of them since. The reviewer, John Rockwell, then went on to describe the second act.

The middle act—rudely received by Boston’s Long Island fans—was Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, One gathers that vaguely progressive boogie fanciers aren’t ready for lovingly crafted rhythm‐and‐blues revivalism just yet.

As it happened, Southside Johnny Lyon and his cohorts delivered an enjoyable set, even if the harmonica solos could ‘be curtailed. Mr. Lyon’s voice in particular sounded stronger than this listener had heard before. But one suspects the Jukes would be better off headlining smaller shows for fans who came to hear them.

New York Times, Feb. 11, 1977

That night I knew nothing of Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes and would not learn of their close association to Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band until a few years later. I remember, though, thinking that I really enjoyed their music and was annoyed that the philistines in the crowd didn’t get it. When I became a fan it was fun to tell the story about this unforgivable sin of disrespect by a bunch of teenagers on Long Island -rudely received indeed.

The AllMusic entry on Southside Johnny makes the point that while “Bruce Springsteen was the man who took the sound of the Jersey Shore music scene to the world, it was Southside Johnny (aka John Lyon) who was the early focal point of the scene that produced many of the major figures of the Garden State’s rock & roll community.”

As a lover of horn sections in a rock n’ roll band, it’s worth noting that the band’s horn section – the Miami Horns – has also toured and recorded with Springsteen.

Vintage blues, R&B, and soul with a killer horn section is where I’ve been for many years, though I didn’t know that was where I was headed in 1977.