Social D. Soundchecks This Past Saturday At The Stone Pony
Monday, Monday. If you were out rollicking around the City of Asbury Park this past weekend, then you know that, as the Mama’s & The Papa’s had warned, you cannot trust that day. And because no one parties like Asbury parties because Asbury parties don’t stop, I know I’m not the only one who was on a steady diet of music and alcohol for the past three days. (You know who you are! Oh, yeah, and thanks for the shots!)
While I’m laying in bed doing my Descartian reflection, I have been reliving the best moments (that I can remember) of the weekend, and I thought I’d share them with the folks who were unable to join us for what turned out to be an unofficial Summer kick-off for Asbury Park.
If you live here, or if you’ve just been reading up on us, then you know how wicked awesome AP is. Where else would I have been able to bounce around from venue to venue with tons of reasonably priced, choice live performances, all within a few short blocks of each other?
The sheer density of venues creates a feeling that I’m in some sort of suspended adolescence playground where, rolling deep with an interchanging rock n’ roll posse, the music never stops playing, the whiskey never stops flowing, and the rock stars are always standing next to you at the bar.
I started the weekend off right at The Stone Pony, where The Sleigh Bells, Javelin, and Wet Witch brought the house down. Fun fact: Alexis of The Sleigh Bells is actually from Manasquan, NJ, a town just a few miles south of AP. ( I told you we just let you all believe the Snookie hype so that non-natives don’t come and blow up our scene).
NJ Native Alexis Krauss of The Sleigh Bells Gets The Crowd To Give It Up At The Stone Pony Last Friday
At that show, I had the pleasure of chatting with the lovely Kate Hiltz, the ever-pleasant, soft spoken, indispensable manger extrordinare to The Bouncing Souls. ( I believe anyone at the Souls camp would agree that she is immensely responsible for the continually expanding success of the band. Plus she makes KILLER vegan treats you can wolf down at cool spots around town like Watermark—find a cooler girl, go on, try!)
Javelin Warms Up The Crowd At The Pony
Before Sleigh Bells got started, I got to speak with Kate for a bit and she filled me in on the openers, Javelin and Wet Witch, which she really enjoyed (and I had missed—whoops!), plus I got to glean a little knowledge on the ins and outs of how you kids consume your music these days with hugely successful acts like the largely electronic Sleigh Bells. Who couldn’t play an encore because for this national tour, they’ve only got about 40 minutes of music! Interesting, interesting. I then bounced over to The Asbury Lanes for the afterparty, where singer Alexis was in the lane next to me bowling. That’s a little surreal, huh?
Where The Cool Kids Hang: The Asbury Lanes
On Saturday Sharks, Chuck Ragan (of Hot Water Music) and the honorable Mike Ness and Social Distortion packed the Stone Pony Summer Stage to capacity, playing for thousands and thousands of fans under the May night sky.
It was a pretty magical night for all, and if you forgive me, I have to get nerdy and mention here that I was standing on the side of the stage during Social D. And when they played “Story Of My Life”, I looked behind me, and there was Pete Steinkopf of The Bouncing Souls singing right along with the rest of the crowd. Neat-O!
Another really cool jewel of a moment that I was really happy to be a part of was when the Godfather of punk himself, Mike Ness, cited Bruce Springsteen as one of his biggest influences of all time, right here in Bruce’s favorite place.
From A Few Years Back: Mike Ness & Bruce Springsteen At The Stone Pony
And rocking out to Social D’s closing song, His Highness Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire, only a few blocks from where Johnny called home in the 80’s, The Berkeley Carteret, and The Paramount Theatre where Mr. Cash performed the same song years ago… Suffice to say, that was something I’ll never forget.
Of course there are other stellar music towns, but moments like that haven’t happened to me in Austin, Portland, New York or Brooklyn, as much as I love those towns. Nope—that was all Asbury Park, thank you very much.
Being that it was outdoors, the Social D. show had gotten started pretty early and was over by 10. Which was great because it left plenty of time to run two streets over and catch legendary punk paragons, The Queers at the Asbury Lanes. And just like the night before, bands and fans from The Pony packed this venue, my home away from home, for a gloriously wild after-party.
Oh, the singer for The Sharks is sitting next to me at the Lanes and it looks like he’s fixing to order a late night, deep-fried, alcohol absorbing mess of tater tots, just like me. Oh, there are the guys from The Queers loading their equipment out in classic, unglamorous DIY fashion. Oh there’s The Pete catching up with Chuck Ragan over a few (dozen) bottles of beer. No big deal. Just another starry skied, wild eyed, high five night in The City By The Sea.
Sharks: These Fine Brit Punks Followed Me To The Lanes After Their Show At The Pony Last Saturday. Or At Least, That’s How I Like To Remember It.
And because there are some things a lady does not disclose, I’m going to have to leave my Sunday funday in my diary, dear readers. I will let you know that it was filled with fine company, good food, booze, and a final beer and a few rounds of Skee-Ball at Johnny Mac’s, in what turned out to be a lovely evening stroll through town.
I wound up there where the always stunning entrepreneurial Meghan Scott poured me one last Blue Moon before I trundled on home, satisfied in every way that a woman of my position should be after the rollercoaster weekend let me off right where I began on the Friday night before–At my extremely affordable apartment, a few blocks from where all the fun was had. (As I know you know, drinking and walking beats drinking and driving any day! And NY Transit Authority, I love you, and waiting on a Subway at 3 AM isn’t the worst, but an oceanfront stroll has that beat, son.)
This just the start, folks! The way the Summer is stretching out before AP, well I am absolutely aching with anticipation. Filter, All Tomorrow’s Parties, The Electric Six and many more not-to-be-missed nights are already scheduled in our little rock utopia. And if this past weekend is any indication of how our Rock-N-Roll lifestyles are going to play out, then I’d better be prepared. You know… For what’s shaping up to be only like, The Best Summer Ever. 😀
XOXO
Ang
