| The Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ History
By:SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC IN ASBURY PARK, NJ
The Stone Pony, one of the world's best known music venues, opened its doors on Feb. 8, 1974 in a building which formerly housed a popular restaurant called Mrs. Jay's.
Founders John P. "Jack" Roig and Robert "Butch" Pielka first met while working in a club on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights. Roig purchased the building which then housed an abandoned disco called The Magic Touch, and enlisted the managerial skills and construction talents of friend and former co-worker Pielka as general manager and minority partner.
Pielka says the club's name came to him in a dream. Butch and Jack never realized they were about to turn a dream into an integral and irreplaceable part of Asbury Park history. The Stone Pony was about to take a prominent place in an evolving music scene which began at clubs like the Upstage, the Student Prince, and the Sunshine-In.
But the Pony's success seemed far away on its opening night. There were seven inches of snow, the heater blew out and the night's receipts totaled one dollar. By December of 1974, the club's creditors were about to come calling and foreclosure seemed imminent. That's when the first of the Pony's many "house bands," the Blackberry Booze Band, began playing regularly, and the large crowds they drew saved the club.
The Blackberry Booze Band, featured Ocean Grove resident "Southside" Johnny Lyon and Middletown's Steve Van Zandt. With new personnel and an added soulful, horn driven and classic R&B repertoire, the band was renamed Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and played three nights a week at the club.
| | Kevin Maypother Just a little clarification at least as far as my memory goes any way. The Blackberry Booze Band existed long before Southside and Steven joined the group. Paul Dickler, the original guitarist and founding member and David Meyers regularly rocked the Pony and only after they and a few other early bands established the Pony as a great place to hear music did Southside start to sit in. And he was just one of many people who wanted to hear their voices with such a great band behind them. Paul Whistler used to enjoy sitting in with them too in those days. What Billy Hector was to Jason's, the original Blackberry Booze Band was to the Pony. They built the foundation that Southside and Bruce stepped up on.
Wayne Larsen .... me and Ricky Eldridge we talking about the Black Berry Blooze band playing in West End, how it was the begining the whole Sound Asbury Park thing.
| | Popeye Kenny Pentifallo You also should have been around when we rocked the Stony End and The Cat's Meow in Long Branch. There was Paul Dickler ( great great slide guitar ) David Meyer ( never ending bass pounder ) Paul Green ( Outstanding blues harp ) and me. We also had many others who would drop by and jam with us. Buzzsaw on congas, Clarence Clemons on sax, Somebody? Spalding on flute, Donnie Lubitz on keyboard and on and on. Shitloads of great music and great friends and great times.
Karen Faye Mason I worked at the Cat's Meow in Long Branch in the 70"s and the Blackberry Blues Band was the hottest band around. I always volunteered to stay late when they were playing. They always had great players just stopping in to play with them. It was an amazing time and I feel so blessed to have been there.
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