Bubba Mac Blues Band

Legendary Lew London, Danny Eyre - the human percolator and Herb "Bubba" Birch of the Bubba Mac Blues Band.

Herb Bubba Birch has brought together the best musicians at the Jersey Shore to play in his band, including guitarists Lou London, Danny Eyer, Richie Baker and Mike Conti, and with Chris Sooy on keys, and Terri Showers and Karen Logan-Graham on vocals, this is basically an All-Star Band.

They play three days a week - every Friday on the Baia deck in Somers Point (7-11), Reddings (1545 Pacific Ave.) in Atlantic City every Sunday (5-9) and every Wednesday on the Deauville Inn deck in Strathmere (6-10).

Where the Bands are July 22 - 28

Edgardo Citron at Somers Point Beach Friday 7pm

WHERE THE BANDS ARE JULY 22 – 28

FRIDAY July 22

Edgardo Cintron Band with Dane Anthony Latin Sounds with a Tribute to Santana. At Somers Point Beach.

Bubba Mac Band - Baia Restaurant Bay Ave. Somers Point

Scream – Cabanas Cape May
Jumper - Carney’s Cape May
Elvis Costello – Borgata Events Center
Dionne Warwick – House of Blues – Showboat AC
Carl Behrens, Tru Bruddahs at Rusty Nail at Cape May.
Michael James – Harpoon Henry’s Cape May
Moe Fishbone – Harbor View Cape May
Patty and Bugsy and Soul Custody at Coconut Cove Wildwood
Sindi Raymond at Lighthouse Point Wildwood
Tommy Zito and Juliano Brothers at the Wharf Wildwood
Matt Kelly, Johathan Harwood and Jerry Smith at Westys Irish Pub in N. Wildwood
Grape Street Riot, Darin MacDonald, 52 Pickup at Windrift Avalon
Goodman Fiske at Jacks in Avalon
Pickles at The Rocking Chair in Avalon
Broken Strings at Buschs in Sea Isle City
Gene and Ryan, LeCompt at Springfield in Sea Isle City
Jim Maher & Son at Deauville Inn Strathmere
Dan Brown at Tun Tavern AC
Dionne Warwick at House of Blues Showboat AC


SATURDAY July 23

Another Tequila Sunrise (Eagles Tribute) Centennial Park Wildwood
Secret Service, Gypsy Wisdom, Dave Gustafson, Dennis Holmes at Windrift Avalon
Reflex – Boiler Room at Congress Hall Cape May
Dead Poets – Cabanas Cape May
Taste Buds – Carneys Cape May
Stage Pass – Harbor View Cape May
Beachcomber Bill – Harpoon Henrys Cape May
Gregg Carpener, John McNutt at Rusty Nail in Cape May.
Evolution and Cheers at Coconut Cove Wildwood
BLT Band at Lighthouse Point Wildwood
Sindi Raymond and Animal House at the Wharf in Wildwood
Sindi Raymond and boilermakers at Westys Irish Pub N. Wildwood
Larry McKenna at Buschs Sea Isle City
Please Please Me, Juliano Bros, Goodman Fiske at Springfield SIC
Mr. Greengenes at Jacks in Avalon
LeCompt at The Rocking Chair in Avalon
Jerry Blavat, the Boss w/ Hot Sauce spins oldies at Memories Margate.
Gin Bloosoms – House of Blues – Showboat AC
Howie Mandel – Borgata Music Box AC
Daniel Tosh – Borgata Events Center AC
Dark Star Orchestra - Hilton AC
Goo Goo Dolls, Michelle Branch - Trop AC
Lucky You and Tall Boys at Princeton in Avalon
Patrick Stoner at Tun Tavern AC
Goo Goo Dolls w/ Michelle Branch at Trop


SUNDAY July 24

Eddie Morgan Quintet plays Jazz at Ocean Ctly Library. 2 – 3:15 PM Part 2 of a three-part educational series – includes performance and discussion. The Music of Art Blakey with The Eddie Morgan Quintet Ocean City Public Library 1735 Simpson Ave., Ocean City, NJ 08226 609-399-2434 Free admission Somers Point Jazz Society

Bubba Mac Band - Reddings 1545 Pacific Ave., Atlantic City 5-9pm

Reggae Sunday at Rusty Nail in Cape May.
Animal House – Carneys Cape May
It’s a Sinatra Things – Harbor View Cape May
Big Romeo and Rockets at Coconut Cove Wildwood
Gary and the Kid at Lighthouse Point Wildwood
Matt Kelly and Greg Parker at Westys Irish Pub N. Wildwood.
The Chiclettes at Fox Park Amphitheaer Wildwood
Soul Cruisers, The Zone, Darin MacDonald, Long Miles at Windrift Avalon
Vince at The Rocking Chair in Avalon
Shes Trouble, Juliano Bros, LeCompt at Springfield Inn SIC

MONDAY July 25

Cyril Neville and Tribe 13. New Orleans legends. Kennedy Plaza. AC Boardwalk.
Billy Walton Band at Breezes in New Gretna
High Society at Centennial Park Wildwood
Nate Cwik at Rusty Nail in Cape May
Ann Oswald – Harpoon Henrys Cape May
Stellar Mojo at Lighthouse Point Wildwood
David Christopher Band at Coconut Cove Wildwood
Rob Lipkin at The Rocking Chair in Avalon
Mike LeCompt and Table Ten at Springfield Inn SIC
Patrick Stoner, Jim Bannach and karoke with Lori Kelly at Windrift Avalon

All Star Jam at Ocean Drive in SIC w/Laura Lea of Tripp Fabulous, Rick Artz from Love Seed Mama Jump, Brian Bortnick of The Brian Bortnick Band and Mike Thompson of Kirko

TUESDAY July 26

Sal Anthony – Harpoon Henrys Cape May
Joe Kozat at Rusty Nail in Cape May
Justin Steere, Gypsy Wisdom and Darin MacDonad at Windrift Avalon
Cyril Neville and Tribe 13. New Orleans legends. Kennedy Plaza. AC Boardwalk.
Red Garter Night at Coconut Cove Wildwood


WEDNESDAY July 27

Bubba Mac Band at The Deauville Inn Strathmere 6-10

Barynaya. Russian folk ensemble. Kennedy Plaza. AC Boardwalk.
Joe and Friends perform in the Piano Room at Steve & Cookies in Margate, where Phil Stocker also does a popular flashback tunes.
Barynaya. Russian folk ensemble. Kennedy Plaza. AC Boardwalk.
Secret Service at Ocean Drive in Sea Isle City.


THURSDAY July 28

Monnette Sudler Tony Day Quartet. First Lady of Guitar. CBB, Kennedy Plaza. AC

Lefty Lucy at Atlantic City Country Club
Joe and Friends Jam in the Piano Room at Steve & Cookies in Margate.
Jerry Blavat at Lighthouse Point Wildwood
Burnt Sienna at Ocean Drive Sea Isle City
Gary and the Kid at Deauville Inn Strathmere

Warren Zevon at Stockton (circa 1985)

Twisties in Strathmere

Twisties in Strathmere is one of the most legendary bars in New Jersey, mainly because it actually still exists, and pretty much intact, while most legendary bars have gone the way of the buffalo or dinasours.

You usually discover the Deauville Inn before you learn about Twisties.

The Deauville is a centuries old Victorian era Inn that sits on the south side of the inlet across from the barrier island of Ocean City. Because Ocean City has been a dry town with no liquor licenses, the closest towns of Somers Point, Egg Harbor Townshp and Strathmere all have bars and liquor stores right by the bridges to Ocean City from every direction. From the south there's the Deauville Inn, which has gone through a century of transformations.

Just down the side street, heading south along the bay, about a block and a half, across from the old Coast Guarde station, is Twistie's.

Owned by the local reaitor - Mr. Riordan, Twistie's for many years that stretched into decades, only opened for a few weeks a year, at the end of the summer, just so the bar could maintain its liquor license. It was closed 350 days a year, and you had to time youself if you wanted to experience the place when it was open.

Made of old wood, the bar extends from just to the left of the front door and around the back wall which has windows that look out onto the bay and the unblemished marsh landscape, other than the Parkway lights that run like a string of pearls across the scene.

It used to have an old mechanical jukebox that actually took quarters, and gave you three songs, and the whole place was sort of a throwback in time.

Other than the jukebox and the TV with sports on it, there was little sign that anything had changed in fifty years or more. On the south wall there were a dozen fish trophys, one of pretty much each kind you could find around here or Florida.

Running along the top of the panneling near the ceiling was a shelf with dozens of Indian head face carved coconuts that a previous owner had brought back with him from Florida, once each time he went.

Most of all Twisties was known to be a Rum Runners haven, even though it was just down the street from the Coast Guard station. There were no police in Strathmere or Sea Isle City for many years, and the State Police didn't want to come out this way, so the locals and visitors alike pretty much had to live in peace with one another. And that didn't seem to hard, at least for those who patronized Twisties and the Deauville.

Michael Tearson

With Dion DiMucci at the Jukebox

Dion DiMucci – The Wanderer Checks In

If you remember the Sixties they say, then you weren’t there. It’s a cliché that holds true, at least in part for Dion DiMucci.

The Wanderer, who is still married to his high school sweetheart, Runaround Sue, is still wandering and playing rock & roll, but the wonder years are a thing of the past, and mostly a blur in his memory banks that were shortcircuited by booze and drugs.

Dion, who had ten songs in the top ten charts in the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, hasn’t had a drink or a taste of drugs since April 1, 1968, and hasn’t had a hit song since then either. He’s a survivor however, and he’s lived to tell the story of the heydays of rock & roll, at least what he remembers of them.

I caught up with Dion at the Island Highroller lounge, just off the Sands casino floor, shortly after a Labor Day weekend performance. Most people didn’t recognize him since he was wearing a baseball hat instead of his trademark floppy Andy cap. The Papparazi Queen noticed him though, tugged my arm and said, “There’s Dion over by the jukebox.”

Dion and the Belmonts – Dion’s original group of singers included Freddie Milano, Angelo D’Aleo and Carlo Mastrangelo, all kids from the hood – which in his case was centered around the corner of Crotona Avenue and 187th Street, near Belmont Avenue in the Bronx.

They fused a motley conglamoration of R&B, country, side walk acapella and doo-wop into a new stream of rock & roll. While most of the Belmonts drifted off into a jazzy acapella realm, Dion stuck with rock & roll.

Since I had him cornered I went up to the Juke Box and put some more money in and he looked at me as if to see if I wanted to fight, and then smiled. I introduced myself and he asked us to join them at his table.

Asked how it differs today from touring in the early days of rock & roll Dion said, “I think it’s difficult, sometimes for the later generations of rockers to appreciate a time when there were no rules, no expectations, no luxury busses, no stage monitors. We were just a bunch of street singers who were regarded by society as degenerate infidels, one small step away from jail or the gutter, you know? But it was a lot of fun because it was a very creative time. Rock & roll didn’t exist, since we were making it up as we went along. And it was very cool traveling with guys like Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly.”

He’s been on the road since he was 14 years old, playing honkeytonks, roadhouses, school auditoriums, arenas, concert halls and casinos. He was Bobby Daren’s roommate on one tour, and was with Buddy Holly, Frankie Vallens and the Big Bopper when they decided to get off the bus and rent a plane, but Dion didn’t have the $38 a seat.

“It was sub-zero degree weather and we didn’t have those beautiful luxury converted touring buses that we have today,” he recalls. “It was just a school bus, and we slept in the luggage racks, and it kept breaking down. I was supposed to be on the plane, we were recruiting people, the more people the less the fare would be, and when I found out it was $38, I bowed out. My parents were paying $38 a month rent in New York City at the time, and it was a lot of money.”

“I was baffeled. I was 19 at the tiem, Februray 1959, and we were riding on top of the world at the time, and the rug was pulled out from under me.”

Like Runaround Sue, there really was a Wanderer, a guy by the name of Jackie Burns. “He was a real character,” Dion explained, “a real guy with a lot of swagger. He had Flo tattooed on his left arm. When he broke up with Flo, he he had it covered with a panther, and then got a Mary tatoo, and had to cover that up with an elephant” and he kept going until he had to cover them all with a battleship. “I like writing about strong characters,” Dion quipped.

Besides a 1987 tribute concert at Madison Square Garden that featured Billy Joel, Paul Simon and Bruce, and a tribute album that features Brian Adams, Phil Spector and Patti Smyth, getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was his biggest thrill. “That meant a lot to me. It was a great night. I was inducted with Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones, the Temps and Otis Redding.”

“And to look out into the audience and see Sprigsteen, Bob Seeger, Paul Simon – they came there to honor me. It was a wonderful feeling.”

Does he ever get tired of the old songs? “Well, you know, it’s a funny thing. You’d think I’d be tired of them, but those particular songs, those hit records have become more valuable to me as time moves on. They mean more to mean, and I think they mean more to the people that come and see our shows. I see the response. We hold these songs in a very fond place in our hearts and I enjoy singing them today.”

I had bought a copy of his book at the concert, so I asked him if he would sign my copy of his book, and he was happy to oblige.

After telling him that “Runaround Sue” was one of the most popular songs on the Anchorage Tavern jukebox he looked up at me and smiled before writing, “To Bill Kelly and the gang at the Anchorage – Dion,”

He then wrote down September, and looked up and asked, “What year is this again?”


Dion opened the summer concert season at the Trump Plaza in May and will be at the NJPAC in Elizabeth on July 27 and at the Count Base Theater in Red Bank on July 31.

Also see: The Wanderer – Dion’s Story (Beech Tree Books, William Morrow Press, NY, 1988)

[Bill Kelly – billkelly3@gmail.com]

Mike Pedicin, Jr. Monday Nites at Sandi Point Loft

Mike Pedicin, Jr. leads the jazz jam on sax Monday and every Monday night in the Loft at Sandi Point in Somers Point.

When he was a kid Mike used to play a toy sax at the feet of his father, the leader of the house band at the old Bay Shores nightclub. Mike Pedicin, Sr. had one hit song, "Shake A Hand," but he didn't like to travel to promote it, and just stayed around Somers Point and Philly area.

While his dad was early rock & roll and r & b, Mike, Jr. liked jazz, and traveled extensively with Dave Brubeck (Take Five) and other top flight acts before settling down in Atlatnic City where he ran his BayShores Music company and was entertainment director at the Trop casino.

Now he's promoting jazz in Somers Point, the Somers Point Jazz Society events (Blue Moon Summer Series), doing a jazz education program at the Ocean City Library and playing every Monday night in the loft at Sandi Point (formerlly Mac's).