SOMERS POINT BEACH CONCERTS 2018

		SOMERS POINT BEACH CONCERTS 2018  COUNTDOWN TO ECSTASY 11 Great Musicians Performing a Tribute to Steely Dan
June 22		JOHN CAFFERTY & THE BEAVER BROWN BAND, "BIG BOB" ERNANO & THE BRANDON IRELAND BAND, SOMERS POINT HISTORICAL SOCIETY NIGHT John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Bande...Original Multi-Million Selling "Eddie & The Cruisers" Recording Artists; "Big Bob" Ernano & The Brandon Ireland Band; Somers Point Historical Society Night
June 29		THE BILLY WALTON BAND Our Own Jersey Shore Rock & Soul Guitar Hero & "Asbury Juke"
Wednesday July 4		"JERSEY GIRLS DO IT RIGHT" Tribute to Female Pop Rockers starring Patty Blee, Geri Mingori, Ci Bon, Sunday Grasso, Rosie "O'reilly" Gazarra with The Tony Mart Allstars
July 6		THE MUSIC THAT MADE TONY MART'S FAMOUS" From Conway Twitty, Bill Haley to Mitch Ryder, Bob Dylan and The Band, "The Music That Made Tony Mart's Famous" by The Tony Mart Allstars...Bob Campanell, Danny Eyer, "Ernie T" Trionfo, Howard Isaacson, "Old School" Jimmy Glenn, Greg Pordin and Rich "Megahurtz" Kurtz, Musical Director
July 13		MARCIA BALL & HER BAND Grammy Nominated, Muti-Award Winning Swamp Boogie Piano Queen
July 20		THE DEVON ALLMAN PROJECT AND THE BILLY WALTON BAND The Devon Allman Project, Living Legacy Of Southern Rock and Blues; The Billy Walton Band, Jersey Shore Rock & Soul Guitar Hero
July 27		THE WEEKLINGS' TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES' Sgt. Pepper/51 White Album/50, starring Glen Burtnik from Styx, Elo and Beatlemania
Aug. 3		LOUISIANA HOUSE ROCKIN' PARTY Starring New Orleans Award Winner Johnny Sansone and Grammy Nominated Dwayne Dopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers
Aug. 10		CHESS RECORDS TRIBUTE Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker performed by The Nick Moss Band with Special Guests "Little Charley" Baty and Dennis Gruenling
Aug. 17		THE DANE ANTHONY BAND Premier Party Dance Band...Motown, Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Dance Favorites
Aug. 24		HAWKINS ROAD AND THE COCONUTZ SUPERGROUP Country Rock, Reggae, Classic Rock and "Parrothead" Favorites
Aug. 31		WORLD RENOWN BONERAMA WITH DAVE MALONE FROM THE RADIATORS Brassy Funk, Fishhead Funk, New Orleans R&B, Classic Rock and Roll
Sunday Sept. 2		THE ORIGINAL COWSILLS FAMILY BAND & CLASSIC POP TRIBUTE Performing their Multi-Million Selling Pop Hits "Hair", "Indian Lake", "The Flower Girl"; Classic Pop Tribute by Dr. Phil & The Heart Attacks
Sept. 7		CJ CHENIER & THE RED HOT LOUISIANA BAND Multi-Award Winning, Grammy Nominated Son of Clifton Chenier, The Father of Electric Zydeco

http://www.tonymart.com/live-events-beach-concerts.htm

Live Events For more info call 609-653-6069 or Email TONYMARTO@AOL.COM

Josie Kellys Public House

Josie Kellys Public House



At some point in his life every Irishman wants to own his own bar, and for Dermot Lloyd that time has come.

Originally from Limerick, Ireland, Dermot attended college in Birmingham England, where he studied Hospitality and Business Management. He worked in first class hotels and managed the West Gate Pub in Cork, Ireland before being recruited by a group of Irishmen who opened a series of Irish pubs called Ri Ra, a Gaelic saying that loosely translates to "King of Good Times."

After opening new Ri Ra pubs in Atlanta, Charlotte and in Atlantic City at the Trop, he has gone out on his own and is now preparing to open Josie Kelly's Public House in Somers Point.

Jose Kelly's is not a franchise, and is named after Dermot's paternal grandmother, who was from Adare, County Limerick, but she won't be paying the bills or taxes, as only her Irish spirit carries on.

After looking for the right location for a few years and missing a few opportunities, Dermot came upon the shutted Sandi Point, that most people remembrer as Mac's.

Taking it's name from the original owner named Harold Megronigle, - that Dermot says is an Ulster Irish name. The building began as a Clam Bar off the alley until Megronigle opened Mac's in 1924.  But after it was sold to the Previti family, Italians from the Ducktown section of Atlantic City, it became famous for its Italian cusine, but kept the Mac's name for the 60 years they ran the place.

For many years it was one of five - first class five star restaurnats in Somers Point, along with Daniel's (Antolini), Harry's Inn (Buddy Styer) - now Clancy's By the Bay, Chi Chi's (another Previti) and the Crab Trap (the only survivor). Dermot hopes to reestablish that legend.

Dermot and his wife Kathleen, who is from Atlantic City, have two sons - Seamus and Cal, and recently moved into a new house in Linwood where the Previtii family lived, so they feel a spiritual bond with the family that ran the place so successfully for many years.

They liked the big building with a parking lot, large bar room, comfortable dining room, side ballroom for special events, and a small upstairs bar that Dermot will one day convert into a Whiskey lounge. Having been schooled in the history and processing of the strong drink, and acquiring an official Whiskey degree, he knows his stuff.

After the Previti family era ended, Sandi Point was operated by a husband and wife team who had previously managed the first class Smithville Inn. Redecorating the old Mac's with a granite bar and wall to wall carpets and fine dining, they failed to bring the first class clientel back, and closed two years ago.

Since a typical Irish pub doesn't sport a granite bar and wall to wall carpets, they were the first to go as Dermot imagined what he could do to bring the Irish motif to life, and decided on Mahogany bars and to add a few fireplaces.

"At the very heart it's a local bar in a nice neighborhood,"  Dermot says in his thick Irish brogue while taking a break from the redecorating. "It must be relevant to the community, a vibrant place, and I just want to feed into that and fit in."

After having a vacant business next to them for two years, the Gregorys are glad to see the Irish move in, as competition only raises the bar and helps businss. Gregory Gregory says, "The best seasons we've ever had - everyone had a great year."

"I'm not trying to be a Crab Trap or a Gregory's, Charlie's or Anchorge," says Dermot, "I will learn from them to see how they've thrived y the community for so long, and try to fit in among them with my own theme, and work side by side with those guys. I'm going to anchor down, get settled in, and learn how to be a local like them."

According to Dermot, "The elements of an Irish pub is its a place to meet friends, have a drink and something to eat, listen to music and enjoy sports, and I'm sports crazy!"

Although he wanted to be open by late June and have his friends Derick Warfield and the Wolftones open the place, their tour dates now preclude that from happening, but he will be open for the second round of the World Cup football, and will have TVs covering the local sports as well, including baseball, soccer and golf.

"When you walk into an Irish pub," Dermot says, "there's businesmen in suits and ties at a corner table, some men in work clothes at the bar, and some young people meeting to go out on the town for the night, and they all coexist in the same place."

Irish music will be part of the deal, especially during Sundays typical Irish brunch, as everyone whose been to Ireland knows that breakfast is the biggest meal of the day.

"Irish cusine is no longer just meat and potatoes," he says, as Ireland has seen an influx of major Eurpean chefs, and "every time I go back it's improved, adding different elements to what is now Irish cusine."

Having been to an English culinary school himself, and his mother Margarete being a retired culinary school teacher, the motif will be casual but the cusine will be first class. The menu, he says, will be a hybird of American standards and traditional Irish, with hamburgers and sandwiches along with Irish brisket, Shepards pie and stew.

Besides the Irish and Scotch whiskeys, there will be a variety of good beers on tap, Guinness of course, as well as Smithwicks, Harp and Red Ale.

There will be a happy hour on weekdays and afternoon tea will be served from 2-6pm.

Josie Kelly's Public House will not be a seaonsal establishment, when they open in early July they will  stay open all year, as they are in it for the long run.

As they announced themselves on social media with a quote from William Butler Yeats: "There are no strangers here, just friends who haven't met yet."

Atlantic City Concerts - Summer 2018

Top Upcoming Atlantic City Concerts – Summer of 2018

1)     Saturday 14 April – Englebert Humperdinck – Golden Nugget

2)     Saturday 5 May - Paul Anka – Golden Nugget

3)     Saturday 12 May – Jackson Browne – Borgata

4)     Friday 25 May – John Fogerty and ZZ Top – Borgata

5)     Sunday 27 May – Kenny Logins – Borgata

6)     Saturday 2 June – Sir Ringo Starr and His All-Star Band – Borgata

7)     Saturday – 9 June – Three Dog Night – Trump / Righteous Brothers – Borgata

8)     Saturday – 16 June – Boz Scaggs – Trump

9)     Saturday 23 June – Stephen Stills and Judy Collins – Trop

10)  Wednesday 27 June – Bobby Rydell – Caesars

Sunday 15 July – Huey Lewis and the News – Borgat

Thursday 19 July and Friday 20 July and Saturday 21 July - Britney Spears – Borgata

Friday 3 August – Yanni – Borgata

Saturday 4 August – Rod Stewart and Cyndi Lauper – Boardwalk Hall

 Sunday 2 September – Earth, Wind and Fire – Borgata

Saturday 15 September – Jefferson Starship – Tropicana

Dreaming of George McGonigle

I had a dream that I went to Gregory's bar in Somers Point and George McGonigle was bartending and I took a selfie photo of him with my camera.

And then I found this among my old photos, I think my brother Leo took this in the late 1970s

Dreamin' of you George, you old rascal.

Herb "Bubba Mac" Birch RIP

Herb "Bubba Mac" Birch - RIP



Herb "Bubba Mac" and Carmen Marotta
Two Jersey Shore Music Heavyweights

By William Kelly

It was at the Tony Marts All-Stars concert on the Somers Point beach last summer (2016) when I was approached by a hesitant young kid who asked me if I was Bubba Mac.

"No," I said to the clearly disappointed kid, "but if you follow me I'll introduce you to The Man himself," and his face lit up and he followed me to the stage where Bubba was standing with Carmen Marotta, son of the legendary Tony Mart and primary promoter of the Point beach concert series, now in its 25th season.

While I somewhat resemble Herb Birch with now white hair and beard and we are about the same height, he was older, wiser and richer than me by a long shot.

We shook hands and he gave me a big biker hug and I said hello to Carmen and Herb's son Mac, and then introduced him to the kid who wanted to meet Bubba Mac.

Herb didn't look too good, as he was on oxygen, but played his guitar and sang in his distinctive voice and put on a great show with the other Tony Marts All Stars.

So it was with much dismay that I learned of his recent death.

In retrospect - I recall when he first came to town in the late 1990s, buying a house in Ocean City and frequenting the Point, looking to put a band together.

Having sold his Maryland medical services company for millions, he had deep pockets and money to spend.

First he put a band together - one with a blues bent that consisted of him and his good friend Ritchie Baker on guitars, and brought in the best local talent money could buy - including guitarist Danny Eyer, Lew  London on fiddle, Chris Sooy on piano, and rounded it out with Charlie Winters on harp and vocalist Terri Showers.

Then he needed a place to play, and sat down with Randy Scarborough, whose bar/restaurant was up for lease. Randy's father had pretty much built Cherry Hill as a suburb of Camden, and Randy, being a racing sailor, bought the bayside land at the north end of Bay Avenue, erecting upscale townhouses that came with boat slips. He also built a large restaurant, got a liquor license and leased it out to the son of the president of an Atlantic City casino they called Markers - as in ship markers.

It was an upscale carpet joint in a shot and beer drinking town with a fishing problem, and it served the people with money - no riff raff. But after five years, someone new tried something different - a Friday's type place that didn't work for long. But Bubba had his own ideas and Randy handed the keys over to him in 2000and Herb opened the Bubba Mac Shack - a mid-scale barbecue and beer joint with live music - featuring The Bubba Mac Blues Band. And the Riff Raff were welcome.

Somers Point hadn't seen such a big place since Bay Shores and Tony Marts bit the dust in the late 1980s. With two stages - the first up front in the main bar, and he built a new large wood stage out back that had a dance floor and balcony, the Shack had four bars - one outside overlooking the bayside boat slips - and you could arrive by boat as transient slips led right to the bar.

Besides his own really terrific band - CDs are still available, Herb hooked up with Carmen Marotta and Jerry Blavat - the Geater with the Heater - the Boss with the Hot Sauce, who spun the oldies but goodies on dance night. Carmen introduced Herb to a lot of great talent that played the Shack's main stage over the years - blues harp man the late great James Cotton, Hubert Simkin - Howlin' Wolf's legendary guitarist, drummer Levon Helm from The Band and Bill Haley's Original Comets, who made a Labor Day weekend performance a regular gig for years.

Sunday afternoons were particularly popular as Herb gave the main stage to local talent Jackie Major, whose band was solid and visiting guests really jammed.

Herb "Bubba Mac" Birch brought a rush of fresh air to the Point and brought back the great music the  town was know for in its heyday glory years, something no one believed would happen.

Now I don't know what happened, but from what I understand, it was the neighbor's complaints that did the Shack in, as some of the people who lived nearby didn't appreciate the music or noise that came out of the Shack until two in the morning - something the Point was known for. You don't buy a house next to an airport and complain about the planes.

So Randy, shortly before he died, let Herb finish out his lease and then sold off the liquor license and tore the building down - a parting shot if ever there was one.

But Herb kept the band together, opened another Bubba Mac Shack on the Ocean City boardwalk, and kept plugging the blues - sponsoring a fantastic two day Blues Fest at the big baseball field - Bernie Robbins Stadium in Atlantic City - the last time I saw Woody and the late Carol Stone - founders of the Cape May Jazz Festival.

And now Herb - Bubba Mac Birch is gone too, leaving us with his big smile and a lot of great memories of the music he brought to town - the Music Man.





Bubba Mac and Jerry Blavat - TGWTH-TBWTHS



Levon Helm on drums and Bubba at the Mic at the Old Shack






Bruce Aydelotte's photos of Levon at the Shack - Circa 2001

Robbie Robertson Remembers Tony Marts - The Summer of 1965

     

Robbie Robertson – from the autobiography Testimony (2016)  – Chapter 12 p. 158

IN THE SUMMER of 1965 we had booked a gig at Tony Mart’s big dance club in Somers Point, New Jersey. Tony’s was a hot spot, a popular club that sometimes had three bands playing on separate stages over the course of the evening. A big round bar sat in the middle of the club, handy for a refill no matter where you were standing. Tony himself was an unusual club owner, a real character.

A bit stocky, no-nonsense, and Sicilian born. Anthony Marrota spoke broken English and hardly ever smiled. He ran his “circus” with a strong hand, wandering through the crowds while yelling order at bartenders and bouncers. Every once in a while he’d walk by the center stage we were playing on and call out, “Hey, turna downa the jukebox!” We took this to mean we were playing too loud for an early-evening crowd.

On the first weekend we were there, you could tell the audience was into our type of music. Conway Twitty and some of his original band were in residence too, which was a nice surprise. When we went on, the place came alive. By Saturday night the club was so packed you couldn’t move. Tony Mart pushed his way through the crowd and called up to us, “Hey, turna upa tha jukebox!” and gave a little grin.

After the first two weeks, Tony asked us to come back for two more weeks later in June. It was very unusual for us to play two stands so close together in one spot like that, but we were glad to plant our feet for a while. And lo and behold, our old road manager, Bill Avis, showed up in Somers Point too, managing a band of lesbians calling themselves the Female Beatles.

In between dates in Somers Point, we would head up to New York City to meet with production companies that had seen us play and were interested in signing us. We listened to songs they thought we could record, but none of them really connected….The acoustic folk setting was thriving in New York. You could feel it goring in Toronto’s Yorkville district, but Greenwich Village was the epicenter of this world.

John Hammond (Jr.) asked me to come hear him play at the Gaslight Club. He talked up Dave Van Ronk, Fred Neil and a couple other guys he thought were very soulful folk singers. The Gaslight had a sign out front announcing the next act that would be performing there – Mississippi John Hurt. I told him about our jam with Sonny Boy Williams, and he said, “Sonny Boy one or two?”

One afternoon John came by the Forest Hotel to collect me for a trip downtown to a hip record store,…then he hit the breaks and said, “Oh, man, I forgot something. A friend of mine is recording around the corner and I promised him I would stop by….”

Before long we were on the elevator in the Columbia Records building heading for Studio A. In the control room people were listening to the playback of a song they had just cut. John said hello to a man in round wire-rimmed glasses with shoulder-length grayish hair.

“Robbie, this is the great music manager Albert Grossman,” Sitting in the corner silently was Dion of Dion and the Belmonts. Then John went over and gave a big greeting to his friend who was recording. He turned to introduce me.

“Hey, Bob, this is my guitar-player friend Robbie, from Canada. This is Bob Dylan.”

You could barely see his eyes through the dark glasses he wore, but there was high voltage in the room coming from his persona.

Bob said hello,a nd then to John. “You want to hear something.”

“Yea, I’d love to.”

Bob teased. “You sure you want to hear this? You never heard anything like this before.”

Albert Grossman and the record producer nodded in serious agreement.

“It’s called ‘Like a Rolling Stone,’ Bob said with a little smirk.

Bob was right – I’d never heard anything like this before. The studio lit up with the sound of toughness, humor and originality. It was hard to take it all in on one listen….

By then we’d begun our second stand at Tony Mart’s club in New Jersey, and on our nights off we would slip over to the Wonder Gardens club in Atlantic City, where we caught some of the best jazz-organ combos going. Jimmy Smith played there, and we also saw Brother Jack McDufff, whom Garth appreciated for his unusual style. Shirley Scott, “Queen of the Organ,” was a favorite of mine, with her husband, Stanley Turrentine, on sax. Most of these jazz organizats played a Hammond B2 with bass pedals, which meant they could play a lead part with their right hand on the upper keyboard and chords or counterparts (and sometimes lead) with the left hand on the lower keyboard. At the same time they’d be changing sounds and controlling the speed with both hands while playing the bass part with their feet. The whole thing was a remarkable balancing act. And of course the grove and texture of the B3 was sexy cool. It made you want to order Cutty Shark and soda. Garth played a whole other kind of organ, the incomparable Lowrey. Different sound, different touch all together from the Hammond B3, and you could bend the notes like a horn or guitar, which completely baffled a lot of listeners. So great when Garth would kick into a free-for-all jam by himself, with those bass pedals in full effect. Gave you the shivers.

One night after we finished playing Tony Marts, Garth began telling me about some ideas and effects he was experimenting with. He was always devising new modes of ‘hot rodding’ the Lowrey organ and its Leslie speaker to create brilliant new sonic wonders. As he described his research and discovery approach, most of it went over my head, but the results were undeniable. The sounds that came out of Garth’s keyboards or wind instruments had originality stamped all over them. Garth experimented endlessly, like a Harry Partch or Les Paul. He never stopped wanting to expand on his technical abilities inside or outside the instrument. None of the rest of us Hawks was so inclined. 

Some people wanted to know how a watch works, and other people just want to know what time it is.

Quite regularly on our days off I would head up to New York City, sometimes crashing out with our Canadian pal Mary Martin, who had taken a job working for Albert Grossman’s management company. She was always so supportive and would try to turn us on to new music that was happening, like John Sebastian’s new group, the Lovin’ Spoonful. Sometimes one or two of the other Hawks would join me on these excursions into the city, but it soon became evident that I was the one most drawn to the metropolis….

Of all the groups that played Somers Point in the summer of 1965, Tony Mart’s personal favorite was Levon and the Hawks, though it was sometimes hard to tell whether he like the swampy sound of our music or the ringing of the cash registers.

Towards the end of our stint, our relationship with Tony had grown warm, almost familial. He hired us to finish out the season, which proved ideal for future recording sessions and continued access to the city. Everyone in the band seemed to be in a good place during those days.

The only dark cloud that passed over us that summer (other than the enduring stress of the drug bust in Canada) was when we got word that our dear Sonny Boy Williamson II had passed away from tuberculosis, and that the beautiful dream we had of recording together had died with him.

Soon after I got a message from Albert Grossman’s office, asking me to come up to the city on our next day off to meet with Bob Dylan. I’d only met him briefly with John Hammond when they were recording “Like a Rolling Stone.” I asked the guys if they knew any of Bob’s music. I wasn’t that familiar with it myself, though I remembered a song he’d done a few years back called “Oxford Town.” It rang true, and the tone of his voice really stood out for me. Richard offered that Bob’s record of “Subterranean Homesick Blues” reminded him of Chuck Berry’s “Too Much Monkey Business.”

“Yea,” I said, “That staccato rhythmic phrasing is reminiscent.”

Albert Grossman’s office set up for me to meet with Bob the following Monday. I couldn’t help but wonder what this was all about.