Paradise by the Sea: La Bamba's Big Band and Jarod Clemons at Asbury Lanes
A Monmouth County Institution Returns
Northeast Philadelphia native Richie “La Bamba” Rosenberg is perhaps best known for being featured on Conan O’Brien’s various late-night talk shows, but he has been a native of the tri-state area music scene for decades. Joining Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes for their second album, 1977’s This Time It’s for Real (Epic), he spent decades with the Jukes, leaving when he and fellow Juke Mark “The Love Man” Pender moved to California for The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien. Rosenberg and Pender were also part of the horn section on Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul’s egregiously underrated classic debut Men Without Women (EMI America, 1982). “La Bamba”’s instrument is the trombone; Pender is known for his puissant blasts and long sustained notes on his trumpet. Both sing. The two are essentially the frontmen of the massive La Bamba’s Big Band. They were also fixtures of La Bamba and the Hubcaps and La Bamba’s Holiday Hurrah, an annual concert which is still held every December.
At Asbury Park’s Asbury Lanes last night, the band played a boisterous, marathon two-hour-and-thirty-seven-minute set that was not for younger generations and their decimated attention spans. (As is often the case, I was one of the few under sixty in the audience, and once again, the youngsters and relative youngsters know not what they’re missing.) Establishing a theme for the evening, they opened at 8:32 PM EDT with an extended, colorful, horn-inflected tune with long instrumental passages and rotating solos from several band members.
They finished playing it at 8:49 PM EDT.
Then, they complemented the extended instrumental with their other basic song mode, the short(er) vocal tune, often associated with the local music scene. The second song was “When You Dance”, which starts and ends (on record and stage) with repeated chants of “La Bamba”. Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt wrote the song for The Bruce Springsteen Band in 1971. It ended up on This Time It’s for Real.
The set was an effective blend of originals, obscure covers, and famous covers, with La Bamba and the Love Man telling stories of their decades in the Asbury Jukes and the local music scene in between songs. Obscure covers included Springsteen’s “From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)”, a Born in the USA-era reject that he quietly released on the first edition of The Essential Bruce Springsteen in 2003. (As an aside relevant to this Substack publication, Born in the USA was released thirty-nine years ago today. The first known appearance of the famous Born in the USA bandanna: La Bamba’s Holiday Hurrah on December 28, 1983.) Famous covers included an instrumental romp of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer in the City” and Eddie Cochran’s “C’mon Everybody”. (Another aside relevant to this publication: Cochran co-wrote “C’mon Everybody” with his manager, Robert Kennedy assassination suspect Jerry Capehart. Capehart was the man author/director Shane O’Sullivan refers to as “Jack” in “Epilogue, 2017” in the 2018 edition of his book Who Killed Bobby? But the Robert Kennedy assassination is a topic for past and future articles, especially as Kennedy Junior campaigns for president himself.)
The band includes current (and former) Disciple of Soul Stan Harrison and Clarence Banks of the Count Basie Orchestra. They are among more horn plays one can possibly count. There is also a drummer, bass guitarist, guitarist, and keyboardist. Guests who came and went from the stage included Jim Babjak of The Smithereens, La Bamba’s daughter Jade, and Mike Sanders, who sang a moving rendition of U2’s “Angel of Harlem”.
La Bamba and company provide an enjoyable evening of exuberant entertainment. They do not aspire to the “serious art” that Springsteen, Little Steven, and U2 achieve when they’re at their best; they’re more like a wedding band. Any fan of O’Brien’s or the tri-state area music scene should see them. In terms of appearance and personality, La Bamba and the Love Man are strikingly different, looking slightly like a Laurel and Hardy combo. La Bamba is slim and more laconic, and he wears a trademark fedora. The Love Man is louder and larger. He acquired that handle because he tended to sing lead on most of the love songs in an early band of his with multiple vocalists. The story behind La Bamba acquiring his name is vague and hazy, but it reportedly happened at the nearby Stone Pony during a performance of “La Bamba” shortly after Rosenberg joined the Asbury Jukes. The contrast between the two is effective, and they complement each other even if they don’t always compliment each other in their between-song chatter.
Jarod Clemons opened with a thirty-four minute set in the acoustic duo format. Usually joined by his band The Late Nites, here he was only accompanied by Late Nites guitarist Alex Fuhring. Their set included their recent release “Sinkin” and closed with “Money”, one of Clemons’s best compositions. He dedicated Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” to his father, the late Clarence. He and Fuhring also sang his father’s hit, “You’re a Friend of Mine”. Clemons closely resembles his father, but their respective artistries are different. Jarod Clemons is a guitar player who leans in a metal direction; his father’s dulcet saxophone was a highlight of the famous studio version of “Dancing in the Dark”. Clemons and the Late Nites are a lively, engaging hard rock band; the acoustic duo was a nice diversion. Clemons and company are also worth seeing. (Fuhring and I discussed the possibility of me interviewing Clemons and the Late Nites.)
Asbury Lanes is (or was) a bowling alley with a large, high stage. The lanes were closed last night, but I remember seeing Tragedy: A Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees there long ago while people bowled during the concert. Unlike some other well-known Asbury Park venues, it has survived. Unfortunately, The Fast Lane, which was next door on Fourth Avenue, didn’t. U2 ended their first North American tour at The Fast Lane on May 31, 1981. Around that time young John Bongiovi and future Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan frequently played Springsteen and Southside Johnny covers there in Atlantic City Expressway. They were violating New Jersey’s “underage drinking” laws then. Those laws, and their increased enforcement over the decades, is not unrelated to the decline of live music over the decades and the lack of opportunities for young players. But it is encouraging that Asbury Lanes and The Stone Pony still stand, among other Asbury Park venues, old and new.
Towards the end of their set, La Bamba’s Big Band played “Paradise by the ‘C’”, a Springsteen instrumental composition that was a staple of the Darkness on the Edge of Town Tour. (A live recording from the Roxy in Los Angeles on July 7, 1978 won the 1987 Best Rock Instrumental Grammy.) It is a joyous, melodic, rousing instrumental in the key of C major. It fit well with the repertoire for the rest of the evening, and it fit well with the venue and location. On its best days and moments, Asbury Park is something approaching a paradise by the sea, at least in recent years and decades gone by. If its music scene ends, it will not continue to be.