All language subtitles for Asbury.Park.Riot.Redemption.Rock.And.Roll.English-

[intriguing synth music]

[gentle piano music]

[seabirds calling]
[flames crackling]

["Growin' Up" by
Bruce Springsteen]

- There was a certain
moment in time

when something happened here.

It wasn't happening
any place else.

That mattered.

- Asbury Park, it
was like Disney Land.

- Asbury Park was
a honky-tonk town.

To us, it was this exotic
feast for the eyes and ears.

- You just floated a foot
off the ground all day long,

lifted by this great
music all the time,

coming out of stores and clubs.

- We took a little
bit from here,

a little bit from there,
a little bit from soul,

little bit from pop, a
little bit from the sound

on the West Side of
the tracks, you know.

And we kind of combined
it all into the sound

that this town and little part

of the Jersey Shore
became known for.

- The Jersey sound,
whether it be

Southside Johnny or
Bruce Springsteen

or Gary U.S. Bonds,
that Jersey sound

is distinctively
and uniquely Jersey.

It's not black Jersey, it's
not white Jersey, it's Jersey.

It defines us as a group,
not separate and apart,

but it brings us together.

It's soul, is what it is.

- Asbury Park's music
history goes way back,

and a lot of has
been ignored til now,

and we wanna give
it some recognition.

Any city that wants
to move forward

also has to recognize its past.

♪ Growin' up

♪ Work it back now

[groovy rock music]

[dramatic orchestral music]

- [Big Joe Henry]
Asbury Park had been

the creation of James Bradley,

a Methodist who made a fortune

selling canon brushes to the
Union Army in the Civil War.

He founded Asbury
Park and named it

for his faith's first
bishop in the United States.

He wanted to create a
barrier for the Methodist

enclave of Ocean Grove,
found to the south of Asbury,

from the excesses of
the town to the north,

Long Branch, whose wine,
women and gambling ways

Bradley found
wanton and depraved.

- Over the years
as the big hotels

started to come up, they had
to compete with Long Branch,

which had alcohol and gambling,

and all the presidents
went to Long Branch,

and eventually,
Bradley capitulated.

It became a big playground
on the Jersey Shore,

so you would go to
Ocean Grove to pray,

and you'd to Asbury
to party, basically.

- Asbury Park was
a honky-tonk town.

They had pinball machines,
[smooth rock music]

and rides and
hotdogs and popcorn,

and I grew up in Ocean Grove,
the town next door to it,

but we would cross
over the little bridge.

There were bands
playing all the time

and drunks and
women of the night.

To us, it was this exotic
feast for the eyes and ears.

We just loved it
as kids, 'cause it,

Ocean Grove was a wonderful
place to grow up in,

but it was boring, and
Asbury Park was this

great sea of sin [laughs].

- [Big Joe Henry] From
its very inception,

Asbury Park has always
been a tale of two cities,

literally separated by a
set of railroad tracks.

Tours from New York would
pour out of the cars

into the prosperous and
fashionable East Side of town

to enjoy the luxurious hotels
and spend their vacation

dollars in the restaurants
and nightclubs there.

On the other side of the
tracks lay the West Side,

where for over a century,
Italian immigrants

and African Americans
had made their homes

and built their businesses.

- The West Side was created
as soon as the large hotels

came here and they needed
maids and they needed cooks

and they needed butlers
and carriage men.

- Tension between the West
Side and the East Side

has been a part of the
city its inception,

historically going back to
the very, very beginning.

- African Americans and
the Italians, the Jews,

were not really permitted
east of the tracks

for all intents and purposes.

- Blacks were not
allowed on the boardwalk.

My grandfather's known for
being a sand-sculpturer

on the Asbury Park beach.

He was really more
than just an artist,

he was actually an
activist as well.

People used to come from
all over to admire his work,

and they would throw coins down.

And he did wear like a fez
and some kind of robe thing.

He was sneaky enough to say hey,

I'm gonna find a way
to be on the boardwalk,

and that way was to
be dressed in a fez

so they really
weren't quite sure,

and even if they did know,
they could use the excuse,

well we didn't
know he was black.

- Asbury was always a
little bit of a mini city,

and it carried with it
all the same plagues

and problems and
injustices of the day.

[melodic folk music]

- Asbury Park was one of
the last integrated beaches

here at the Jersey Shore.

In between the casino
and Ocean Grove,

you have what was
called Chicken Beach.

That's where the blacks
were allowed to go swimming

during the summer time.

And there's still hard
feelings over that, even today.

- But the reason why
that particular plot

of the beach was available
was because it was

called the Muddy Hole, some
called it the Chicken Beach.

And it was because that was
where the black people went,

where the servants went,
and it was also the place

where the sewage washed up.

- Asbury Park was
legally segregated

until probably into the
late 1940's, early 1950's,

and of course after that
was defacto segregation.

The main thoroughfare in the
West Side is Springwood Avenue.

- Springwood Avenue,
in its hay day,

was the living room for
West Side residents.

It was the boardwalk for
the West Side of resident.

It was the playground for
the West Side residents.

It was home.

- We would go and sit in a car

or maybe go get a sandwich
and sit on Springwood Avenue

and watch the people go up
and down Springwood Avenue,

dressed sharp,
comin' out of clubs,

just fun to see, it was
a show within a show.

- Everybody thought
of Springwood Avenue,

it was the jazz
Mecca on the shore.

There was so much going
on in the early days,

they had the Elks,
they had the Turf Club,

they had Big Bill's,
they had Madonna's,

they had the Orchid Lounge,
it was so many places

that you could go hear
some real good jazz.

- All the top acts used
to go in all these clubs,

and if you were playing in
New York, you would go there,

if you were gonna go on
your way to New York,

you would stop in
Asbury, do some gigs,

and then go to New York.

- My father used to take
me to the Orchid Lounge,

to put like Kenny
Burrell, Grant Green,

all those kind of organ
trios or guitar trios

who'd come through there.

And I was way underage,
but because my father

knew the owner, he would
let me come in with him,

and the music was amazing
back then, just inspirational.

To see that level
of musicianship

up close like that was stunning.

Totally, totally motivated
me and inspired me.

- Jack McDuff, Charles Earland,

James McGriff, Jimmy Smith,
Pat Martino, guitar player,

Grant Green, Joe
Dukes, Ron Carter,

oh god, it was, all these cats
I saw at the Orchid Lounge,

you know what I
mean, and it's like,

and Pat Martino's white, you
know, so what's the big deal,

it's beautiful play,
it doesn't matter

what color you are there,
you know what I mean?

It was like everybody was there.

- People drifted back and
forth across the tracks.

Springwood Avenue
was a huge center

of African American culture,
and you went over there

for things, for clothes, fishes,

for music, you went
to the Orchid Lounge,

where it was a black club,
but you could be white

and go there and there
wasn't any problems.

They played a lot of
jazz, but they also had

soul entertainers come in.

[soulful rock music]

- West Side there,
it was just great.

I mean, when we were
kids, we would see

all the top blues guys
besides the jazz guys,

B.B. King, Hooker,
Lightnin' Hopkins,

all the great B three
players played it then,

Orchid Lounge, and we'd stand
outside and listen you know.

- If you were walking
down the street

on a Saturday night, when
I got a little bit older,

12, 13, 14, there'd
be all these clubs,

and they'd have the doors
open and there'd be bands,

and they'd be doing
"What I'd I Say"

by Ray Charles, but they'd
be using the dirty lyrics,

and there'd be a saxophone
player, you know,

and it just was, it
was exciting to us

because none of that
existed in our little town.

- The players and the
scene at that time

was really kind of
happenin', and it was,

there was an education to be had

every time you walked
through a door.

- Music on the West Side
did have a big influence

on what was going on
along the shore area.

Part of that was because
a lot of black artists

would get to play in the
white clubs on the East Side,

and musicians from the
East Side would cross

over into the West Side
and go into the clubs

and listen to what was going
on there and draw from that.

No form of music
exists in a vacuum,

everybody's influenced
by everybody else.

- The popularizing
of black music

that occurred in the 40's and
50's and early rock n' roll,

it brought, you know, it
brought African American

culture into the mainstream.

♪ You ain't nothin'
but a hound dog ♪

♪ Cr-cryin' all the time

And if you look at Elvis,
he crossed racial lines,

and he had a lot of soul
and a blackness to him,

those things had a
good part to play,

I believe, in the emergence
of the civil rights

struggle in the early 60's.

- Music is the only art
form that half created

by blacks, half
created by whites.

I think it's one of
the main reasons why,

you know, integration happened.

You got immediate
racial common ground.

- I'd always said, if you
wanna see true integration,

just get with musicians,
man, just, just,

there's where you see it.

You see how people can
unite and work together.

♪ Gonna tell Aunt Mary
'bout Uncle John ♪

♪ He claim he has the misery
but he's havin' a lot of fun ♪

♪ Oh baby, yeah baby, woo
[rhythmic clapping]

♪ Baby

- Motown, makin' black
records for white kids.

Rock n' roll certainly,
Little Richard invented it,

and Chuck Berry was
the first major artist,

most influential cat,
Bo Diddley had the beat,

you know, they were gods, gods.

♪ Hey, Bo Diddley
[crowd cheering]

♪ Hey, Bo Diddley

♪ Hey, Bo Diddley

♪ Hey, Bo Diddley

We grew up in the
Renaissance period,

it's just the greatest
music ever made,

it was such a big
part of our culture,

I mean it was everything
to our whole generation.

[upbeat rock music]

- [Big Joe Henry] Since
it's very beginning

as a Gilded Age getaway,
Asbury Park has always provided

a showcase for A-list talent

and a spawning ground
for new artists,

with music being one
of the only connectors

reaching across
the tracks between

the East and West Side of town.

By 1968, Asbury
boasted some 73 clubs,

bars, and ballrooms
featuring live music,

in a town of just
one square mile.

- Every place you
went had music.

I mean, it didn't
make any difference

if it was a hotel, corner room,

a little lunch place,
a bar, a restaurant,

there was music everywhere.

- I think it was 1964,
Ray Charles initiated

the Galaxy of Stars down
there with Moe Septee.

So we were used to
having, you know,

top notch, world-class acts
coming through Asbury Park.

- I guess I was about 16,
["You Keep Me Hangin' On"]

dad drove us down to Convention
Hall to see Vanilla Fudge.

That was my first
time to Asbury Park.

Great stuff, great stuff.

♪ You just keep me hangin' on

- The fact that rock and
roll grew out of Asbury Park

was in no small measure
due to Moe Septee,

who brought rock and
roll all summer long,

all the great English
groups, you name it,

they played Convention Hall.

♪ People try to put us down
[talkin' 'bout my generation] ♪

♪ J-just because we get around
[talkin' 'bout my generation] ♪

- The Who, Herman's
Hermits, and Blues Magoos,

that was all one show.

My high school math teacher was,

his summer job was
the head of security

at the Convention
Hall, so Mr. Michler,

if you're out there, I
would show up and he's like

6'5" or somethin' like that.

And you know, the tickets
were like two dollars

or somethin', I didn't
have two dollars.

He would just look and
he would just go, go in.

- In 1966, I went away
to camp, summer camp,

but I came back, guys in my
class had a group at the shore,

and their parents
somehow knew Moe Septee

and got booked onto the opening
slot for Herman's Hermits.

Their drummer couldn't make
it, and they called me.

Playing at Convention
Hall, if you played there,

I mean, to us in New Jersey,
that was like playing

Shea Stadium when The
Beatles played there.

♪ Your love for me
has got to be real ♪

- Rolling Stones at their peak,

you could see them ever
summer at Convention Hall,

every major act
came to Asbury Park.

- The rides were going,

Rookies believe or
not in the casino,

there were shows
both in the casino

and the Conventional Hall.

It was great from then on.

[audience cheers]

- [Big Joe Henry] In a
town jammed with venues

for A-list talent
and top-40 clubs,

one place would be completely
unique, the Upstage Club.

With no liquor license,
Upstage would be

about one thing, music.

- There were plenty of
after-hours places around here,

but they were for drinking.

This was the first
after-hours place

that was devoted to music
and devoted to young people.

[groovy rock music]

- When we were like
16, 17, there was,

you know, nowhere
you could play.

But we could go there and
play til five in the morning,

and you know, play
for hours at a time

in front of like a packed house.

Where else can you do that
when you're 16, 17 years old.

- There was a place
that was needed

for us kids, because we
couldn't go to the bars,

and we were fortunate to
have a place where we could

enjoy music and dance
and meet girls [laughs].

[intense rock music]

- Wow.

It was the beginning of
something important, you know.

Yeah baby.

It was the beginning of
us coming into our own,

you know, coming
into our own world.

- It's your youth,
it's your youth,

it's when things were wide open

and when a little bit
took you a long way.

Wasn't much to the place at all

except what people
brought to it.

It was one of those places
that there was a certain

moment in time when
something happened here,

it wasn't happening anyplace
else, and that mattered.

- [Big Joe Henry] The brainchild
of Asbury Park beauticians

Tom Potter and
his wife Margaret,

The Upstage was meant to be
a club for musicians only.

- I knew about its opening
before it actually opened,

'cause Tom would
invite musicians, I
was playing in a band,

probably The Moment of
Truth or Speed Limit 25,

one of those, you know,
thousands of bands

on the Jersey Shore,
and they used to invite

musicians after they
finished at two o'clock,

three o'clock in the
morning, up to his place

in Asbury to sit around and jam

and play something
other than the top 40

that they had been
playing all night.

- After I found out
about The Upstage,

I told Steve, and
then Steve came up

and he blew everybody away too,

'cause Steve was a hell of a
front man and guitar player.

So then, this became
our hang, you know,

the two of us were
here every weekend,

and we were inseparable.

- Here's where we met
like most of the people

that we know to this day.

The freaks and
misfits and outcasts,

we all hung out here together.

The genius of Tom Potter,
Tom and Margaret Potter

to have like a little
sanctuary for the freaks.

It was one big happy, freaky
family, it really was.

- When Tom initially
had the idea to do this,

we arrive, and you
started cleaning

and sweeping and painting,
and then he came in

and started his magic of what
he would do on the walls.

- It was a psychedelic
electric club.

The walls were black
and DayGlo painted,

and you walked into it,
looked like a fun house

you were walking into,
it was jet black walls

with this fluorescent
paint, and although it was

a crazy kind of carnival
kind of atmosphere.

[invigorating rock music]

- I remember when Tom
first floated the idea,

he's like you know, for
people to haul stuff

up and down two
flights of stairs

is just not gonna
work out, he says,

what would you think if I built
amplifiers into the stage?

I said, well if you do it,

there's gotta be
a lot of speakers.

And he took me at my word.

He put a lot of
speakers, the whole wall.

- That whole thing was
like a wall of guitar sound

and the PA all at once, so we
didn't need columns out here.

- He had the front of the stage,

where like footlights would
be on a conventional stage,

there was a rack, and in this
rack were the amplifiers,

Bassmans, Band
Masters, Super Reverbs.

- So there was four
outputs in each one

of the Fender Bassmans,
so now you had

a potential of eight guitar
players can play at once.

- All the amps were there,
and all you had to do

was take your chord,
plug it in to the thing

and tell 'em what
speakers you wanted

and you were off and running.

- And then you had to
bring an instrument,

you just showed up and
it was all done for you.

So us being being the
lazy people we are,

that sounded like just
our kind of place.

- The wall of
sound, there it is.

[dynamic rock music]

- A kid with a cheap guitar
that couldn't afford an amp

could come here and play
because there was amps here

for him to play on.

If you were a kid
drummer and you wanted

to learn how to play the drums
and you're just learning,

you could come here, there
was drums here to play on.

You didn't have to
have a drum set.

There's no place
around like that,

nobody's gonna set that
up for anybody now.

Everything's way different.

- Tom was an ornery old
guy, but had a vision,

he had a great vision.

- He was a party animal.

- And Tom was this
big, garrulous,

goatee, very
beatnik-y, you know,

Bohemian, sex on
his mind [laughs],

just huge, cursing,
quite cheerful character.

- [Tom] What the
hell's going on?

Oh, got it workin' now [laughs].

Ladies and gentlemen,
The Odyssey!

[upbeat rock music]

- He saw a place for
the youth of that day,

don't forget it was the 60's.

He wanted a place that
would encourage and nurture

creativity, primarily
through music.

- Tom Potter, what a
nut, what a great guy,

but he was this great, big,
tall, bearded, beer-belly guy,

and he was crazy, he
was just absolutely,

he was a hairdresser
who looked like a biker.

- Tom was just,
character, you know,

he had decoupage icebox with
all these cutout nudes on it,

and whatever it was.

- Had this operatic-type,
monster-loud voice,

and he scared me at first.

- [Tom] You like that?

I don't hear you
people in the back!

[crowd cheers]
There,

did you hear me back there?

- [Male Speaker 1] He had
his little set of rules,

and everybody had
to toe the line

or he'd call around
one of the bouncers

to toss 'em down the
stairs, you know,

just literally drag 'em out.

- Was always a thrill
to go up the stairs

and you know, I'd bring
an acoustic guitar

and sit in here and
there, and Tom would say,

alright, you go up with
him and you do this,

and you know, you
play with this guy,

and he was like the ringmaster,
you know, Tom Potter.

- [Tom] Sunday night, Margaret

and The Third Floor
will be playing.

[crowd cheers]

I think you wanna join them.

- Margaret's hard to, she's
hard to sum up in a few words.

- Margaret was initially

of indeterminate
sexual origin [laughs].

I came up one night and
there was some young kid

playing the guitar,
and then I noticed

there was a little
breast hanging over

the top of the guitar,
and that was Margaret

and The Distractions [laughs].

- 'Course Margaret
was just one of those

wonderful people who just,
you know, you instantly love.

- She cut my hair, she cut
a lot of people's hair,

'cause that was her
main job, hairdressing,

she had her, the
band, the house band,

the Margaret and
The Distractions.

- She was punk before
anybody knew what punk was.

Her stage presence
was extraordinary.

There were people that
just didn't understand

what she was all about, 'cause
she wore unusual clothes

and she had an unusual voice,

and she, she was
happenin', she was,

she was lightning in a bottle.

- [Big Joe Henry] The Upstage
did not really crank up

until after all the
other clubs closed.

When Asbury's best of the best

would climb an endless flight
of stairs to jam until dawn.

- He had an only game
in town thing here,

because even though
some of the bars

were open til three,
that still left Tom

two hours of the evening
that he had all to himself.

- You'd be up there,
and like three o'clock,

there'd be guys who
just finished gigs

on the boardwalk there,
and they'd be strollin' in,

comin' in with their
axes and stuff.

- Now the first floor
was like a coffee house,

you know, like a
little restaurant.

The whole trick was
you had to like,

make your bones on
the first floor,

you know, you had to
prove you were good enough

to get to the second
floor, you know.

- And the place had
gotten a sort of hip cache

so that musicians,
soon as they were done

with their bar gigs
hustled over here

to see who was here,
who was playing,

to play the music they
really wanted to play

that they couldn't
play in the bars.

- You come down to
Asbury, you look around

for some guys to jam with,
everybody's over there

at The Upstage.

- It was fundamentally
a jam club,

people came up and you saw
what everybody's chops were.

- Guitar players used
to come try and knock

each other off here.

Be me and Garry Tallent
playing the bass,

and Southside singer or
Alby Tallon would sing,

or Bruce would come
in a jam, Miami Steve,

I think Ricky Disarno convinced
him to come in and play,

Rick was always here, Davy
Sancious was always here.

Lot of people.

- I was scared to go in there.

I seen guys going in there
and never came out [laughs].

Bruce used to go in there.

Disappeared for three
or four days at a time.

- I came here by myself.

I brought my guitar, made
my way up the stairs,

I played "Rock Me, Baby,"
Jeff Beck style [laughs].

You know, just played it
with everything I had.

["Rock Me, Baby"]

Doin' just about everything,

settin' off all the
fireworks I could.

- Bruce, he was up there
with Little Vinnie Roslin.

And me and Danny where
over there by the door,

Margaret was
standing there, said,

oh jeez, look at this guy.

Margaret said, yeah, he's got
a lot of charisma, don't he?

- I think the first
time I saw Bruce,

you could see that he
did something special

to the people, you know,
the reaction of the people

that nobody else did.

- You can tell when
suddenly you've got

everybody's attention [laughs].

I could feel that
moment happening.

- You knew that this guy was
headed for greatness, without--

he got up on the stage and
he commanded your attention,

commanded it, not by
his, not by anything

other than his charisma,
he just stood there

and played and sang,
and you could tell

that this guy was goin' places.

- And by the time
I got off stage,

I'd made a lot of
new friends [laughs].

- Danny said, you
know, I think we wanna

start a band with this guy,
and I said, you should,

this guy's, you know,
he's got a gift.

- When you've got a really good,

when you were one of
the best in the place,

then you were, then you
ran the jam upstairs.

If you jammed all night,
you got paid five dollars.

If you ran the jam, and only
a few of us ran the jam,

Bruce, Garry Tallent,
or Ricky Disarno,

it was only a few guys
who run the jam all night.

And they got 15 dollars,
so that was big money.

- We would arrange the jams,
we'd send four guys up there,

but three of the guys, you knew
that they could make music,

and you would put one new guy
with those three other guys,

and you knew that if
this guy even struggle,

there would still,
that was your job,

make sure that there's
real music goin' down,

not just an open jam that
didn't make any sense

with musicians
who couldn't play.

- Oh man, I saw a
lot of great jammin'.

Billy Ryan used to drop
in, I'd say Van Zandt

and Springsteen and
Disarno were the three

that I remember
more than anybody.

I remember Bruce liked
to finish the night

with a tune by Ten Years
After called "I'm Going Home."

To end the show, I'm going home,

30 minutes later, he
finally went home [laughs].

- Used to come in
after a gig at first,

and then I started
to play with Bruce,

and we'd come here
and stay all night,

til five o'clock in the
morning every night,

[laughs] it was, it was fun.

- You hone your craft here,
you get to know each other,

get to play with
different people,

get to play different styles,
that's what it's all about,

you know, playing
with Bruce one night

and Billy Ryan another night,
that's different styles.

- You start to learn
how to perform,

you learn how to interact
with an audience,

how to interact with
other band members,

that whole interaction,
that energy

that is what rock and roll
is all about, you know.

- I learned almost
everything I know

about performing and singing
from those three years,

two and a half years at Upstage,

because it was like our college.

And I loved it, and I
learned not to be afraid

of being on stage.

- You were just
getting little snippets

of history every time
you turned around.

The thing that you
would never hear again

would be on that
stage, you know,

or the two people that you would
probably never see together

play again, you know,
it would on that stage,

and I think that people
who were true musicians

and true musician listeners
knew it and loved it.

- In The Upstage, there was
a handful of black musicians

who braved the East Side
because they were interested

in a wider, a more
diverse style of music.

- Garry Tallent was standing
there next to Bruce,

and they were organizing
a jam session,

and he goes, you wanna, do you
wanna play, you wanna sit in?

I said yeah.

- First time I saw
Davy Sancious here,

he was revolutionary,
looked like a,

barely a teenager,
he looked like.

But he was electric
on stage, he,

first of all, he had
enormous stage presence.

He danced, he went
up and down the keys,

he played better than
anybody you'd ever heard.

And he was just, wow, where
did that kid come from?

He came from 10th Avenue
and East Street, you know.

- And at the end of the
jam, they were letting out,

it's like five o'clock
in the morning now,

and we're all walking
home or, you know,

walking to our
bicycles or whatever,

and Bruce and I were
walking next to each other,

and he goes, I'm
about to start this,

start another band, we're
about to break up this band

I'm in, Steel Mill, I'm
gonna start up a new band.

Would you like to
play keyboards in it?

And you know, the rest
is history as we say.

- David called me up
and says, you know,

Bruce is looking
for another drummer,

and why don't you come
on down to the club

and you know, meet us and
check out the band and stuff,

so I went down there to
the club and heard 'em.

Bruce was playin', I was
like checkin' 'em out,

I was yeah, this is rockin'
man, this is pretty good.

And you know, this guy
is rockin' his ass off,

and it just
snowballed after that.

- People drifted back and forth

across the tracks,
just as the ways

we didn't wanna be tied
down to just pop music

or white rock and roll,
they didn't wanna be

tied down to just
R&B or soul music,

so those adventurous minds
tended to cross tracks

and meet here.

- What's unique about
The Upstage club

is it's one of the first times

where African American musicians

and white musicians,
they all got together

to jam together, you know,
that's where you can see

some of the influence
of the West Side

probably coming in
to The Upstage club,

it was the first
time that there was

this mixture of
cultures in one place

for burgeoning rock
and roll, you know,

and that's why I say, it was
kind of a proving ground there.

- I'm proud of being part
of both sides of the track,

you know what I mean, the
West Side and the East Side.

I was able to cross over
and play with anybody

on that side and come back home

and play with
anybody on this side.

So yeah, definitely I'm
proud to be a part of that.

- My girlfriend and
I answered an ad

in the Asbury Park Press.

Somebody was looking
for two singers

with a gospel sound, and
my girlfriend called me up

and said, I think this is us.

And I'm like, are you sure
that they really are looking

for some singers that are
just a couple of chicks

to come up through
this factory, you know.

She said girl, let's get in
there and just sing, you know.

So we went in, my name
is Bruce Springsteen,

he introduced himself, you know,

he put on a little
Van Morrison and said

the sound that he was
kind of looking for

for this 10-piece band that
he was putting together.

And we just looked at
each other and we said,

let's sing, you know.

And before the day was over,
he said you girls got the job.

[catchy pop music]

- Clarence was a local
figure of some renown,

because he played
in a band called

Little Melvin and The Invaders,

which was an all-black
band with the exception

of Garry Tallent, and they
played in the black clubs

that surrounded Asbury Park.

So the night Clarence came in,

needless to say, he
was larger than life,

got up on stage,
blew that saxophone

like it was a force of nature,

and was a natural creature
of Asbury Park and the coast.

There's only one, there's
not gonna be another one.

- We didn't lead with
our interracial-ness,

we led with our
musicianship, really.

Because Bruce was the
best guitar player around,

nobody played like
Clarence, I was pretty good

at what I was doing,
Ernest Carter was amazing,

Garry's fantastic, so you know,

and Danny as well, all the,
that's where the power was,

in the expression itself.

♪ Good ol' Melinda, sure
can make a man smile ♪

♪ Ooh, oh-ee baby, now
you're drivin' me wild ♪

- [Big Joe Henry]
Because Tom Potter

insisted that bands
perform original material,

The Upstage became a
crucible for young talent,

a late-night meeting place
where the best musicians

on the shore could connect
and were encouraged

to develop their own
style, rather than cover

top-40 hits for
the tourist crowd.

- You wanted to do your thing,
you could do it in Asbury.

It was here, this is
where you had to go.

- You could do
anything you wanted

at The Upstage club,
you could play any

kind of music you
want, and we did,

we took advantage of that.

People were writing
songs, Bruce most notably,

but Steven too, a lot of
people played their own things.

- It's just at that moment
when that whole shift

in the culture was
happening from the top 40,

from show business, you
know, formal show business,

which is what the
bar scene represented

at that point with the
top 40 being required.

And became more about
personal expression.

- For a musician, it
was the best place,

'cause you could cut your teeth
and you could try new ideas.

- There was some cool
shit happening there,

'cause they try
anything up there.

- That was one of
the first places

where you could begin
to do original stuff,

but Bruce was the one
who really insisted

on doing like, his
original stuff.

And we got into
trouble at some point

with club owners
because [laughs],

that's really not what
they wanted, you know,

they wanted like a kind
of jukebox situation,

but he insisted on
doing his own stuff,

and you know, we did it.

♪ The way you do them things

♪ That you do

♪ Oh I, oh I, oh I, oh I, oh

♪ Everybody

- [Big Joe Henry] It
was in the apartment,

an abandoned beauty
parlor in this building

four and a half decades ago
that New Jersey's favorite son

captured the poetry and tragic
beauty of this seaside town.

["It's Hard to Be a Saint in
the City" by Bruce Springsteen]

- Well, the first record,
I had lived next door

in the beauty salon
in Tom's apartment,

which was a flight upstairs,
then the beauty salon

was second floor, I
wrote all the songs

in the back of the
beauty salon on,

on a spinet piano that I had
from my aunt, my aunt gave me.

So the songs were
called from characters

both real and imagined
from the streets

of Asbury Park, you
know, there was also

the carnie atmosphere,
the street atmosphere,

the sort of punk
poetry was just a part

of the town and the
city at that moment,

so that was how I translated it.

You know, I passed the
postcard stand and I went, hm.

I like this, this is me, you
know, this is where I'm from,

these are the people
I'm talkin' for,

people from Asbury Park,
people from New Jersey.

You had Southside bringing in
an enormous amount of blues.

Stevie and I played,
you know, a lot of R&B

and rock music of the
day, and then I guess

I was the first to start
playing my own music.

Basically unlike
Dylan or Beatles

or, you know like
I said, who were,

I believe were musical
revolutionaries,

we were more
alchemists, you know,

we took a little bit from here,

a little bit from there,
a little bit from soul,

little bit from pop, a
little bit from the sound

on the West Side of the tracks.

And we kinda combined
it all into the sound

that this town and little part

of the Jersey Shore
became known for.

♪ I want to know
if love is wild ♪

♪ Babe I want to know
if love is real ♪

- Upstage was
literally like the,

it was a Liverpool of America.

Bruce Springsteen, of
course, came out of there,

and all, most of the
members of his band.

Southside Johnny
came out of there,

David Sancious, when he was
a young kid, came over there.

- Incredible musician,
one of the best musicians

ever came out of this
area was David Sancious.

- Billy Ryan was a
monster, a monster.

I was in New York at
the Brill Building,

and there was a guy in
there that had been working

with Hendrix, says,
what in the hell

was that I saw on that stage?

I said what, he said,
that boy on guitar

was as good as Eric
Clapton and Jimmy Hendrix,

what the hell is he
doing in Asbury Park.

- It was fun because
the music was so good.

There were lots and
lots of great musicians

coming through there,
and a lot of them

had become, had
risen to the top.

- I like to tell ya, you
know, I was dedicated,

I was, I knew I
was gonna make it,

you know, I was relentless,
and I had the, you know,

I was persistent,
that's bullshit, okay.

I was not capable of doing
anything else [laughs].

And when the smoke
cleared, you know,

the two freaks who
really were not capable

of doing anything else,
who were left standing,

which was me and
Bruce Springsteen.

[mellow instrumental music]

- [Big Joe Henry]
But the glory days

for The Upstage and for
the once-grand Asbury Park

came to a sudden and
almost fatal crash

on the Fourth of July,
1970, when a tragic flaw

in the very
foundation of the town

finally gave way and brought
everything down with it.

It promised to be a
big holiday weekend.

The Fourth fell on a
Saturday, and local vendors

were hoping crowds would
come to the boardwalk

to beat the heat and enjoy a
full bill of entertainment.

Glory Road was booked
to play The Upstage.

Mrs. Jay's had acid
rockers, The Applecore.

Over on the West Side,
the Houston Person's trio

was at the Orchid Lounge,

and Norman Seldin
& The Joyful Noyze

was at the Banjo
Palace in Long Branch.

Patton was playing
down at the Paramount,

Hello Dolly! at the St. James,

and Airport at the Mayfair.

Promoter Moe Septee
had two big shows

booked at Convention
Hall, Ten Years After

on the fourth, followed by
Jethro Tull on the fifth.

And London it-girl Petula Clark

was set to make a
guest appearance

at Steinbach's department
store on Cookman.

And then for reasons
which are still not clear,

the pot just boiled over.

- Black people started
complainin' that in these areas,

there was nothing for the
blacks beside the bars.

Some people started
complainin' that

the meat markets were
selling bad meat.

East Side had everything
for whites, everything.

- If you don't have the
jobs, if you don't have

the recreation, if you don't
have the single-family housing

in the sense, that's, what
we had was overcrowded.

And for us, those who
lived on the West Side,

coming up, we didn't have
access to all of the things.

- This guy comes to
Asbury Park high school

and he says he's a Black Panther

and he's bringing up
all this violent stuff,

and it wasn't the people
who lived in our community,

it was the people on the
outside coming from other cities

and places coming down
to cause problems.

- There was rumors that
it was gonna happen.

But not rumors that
reached the East Side,

it was on the West Side.

There was a place called
Al's House of Hits

that was on Springwood Avenue,

and he knew what was going on,

and he would say, you
know, Nicky Vartin,

next week or so and so,
these guys are coming in.

- I got the minutes
from one of the meetings

that I had with the
Mayor, Chief of Police,

and I told 'em that what the
young people were saying,

the restlessness, they had
nothin' for 'em to do, no jobs.

Our police department was
not prepared for a riot.

- But the city was tense,
and eventually it exploded.

- It was the Fourth
of July, 1970,

and I was standin' right here,

corner of Atkins and
Springwood Avenue.

- Me and Bob had gone down
to open up for the late set,

and we're setting
up our bar stools,

we sit down there at the
door to the sidewalk,

and we saw on the other
side of Main Street

at Bankers Furniture, the
sidewalk's full of people,

what's going on?

- All of a sudden,
out of the blue,

the young man that was
standing next to me

pulled out a Molotov
cocktail, lit it,

and threw it at a car
that was passing by.

It went from just
another quiet day

to, all hell broke loose.

- And it happened so quick
that all of a sudden,

people are rioting
in the streets,

they're burning buildings,

they're attacking
places and people.

- Heard glass break and
then saw a guy throw

a Molotov cocktail
into the building.

And I turned around to Bob,

and he was already
halfway up the stairs.

I grabbed the bar stools,
locked the door behind me,

and ran up and called
the Asbury Park police,

and said something like,
there's a riot going on.

[sirens wail]
[dramatic instrumental music]

- [Big Joe Henry]
The Asbury Park Press

reported the trouble
had started at 11 p.m.

and was out of control
by four Sunday morning.

Mayor Mattice ordered
a state of emergency.

[helicopter blades spinning]
- We heard helicopters,

I guess it was National
Guard going over head,

we heard gun shots, I
remember running out of there

and running all the way home.

[screaming and crashing]
- You look out there,

you saw people
breaking the windows,

setting fires, they
were just ripping

and robbing and stealing.

- By that time, we were
angry, we were angry.

I'll try to rationalize
it, I can't,

I can't rationalize
it, but I know that

once you start
something, you're in it,

you know what I mean,
once it got started,

we were in it, we
did what we could,

we did what we had to do.

- I was livin' in the
Surfboard Factory,

climbed on top of
the water tower,

and the clouds billowed,
billowed of the shore for days.

- I can remember that the
very first time I was out,

and we were playing,
and we saw a big cloud

of black smoke, and
we were wondering,

what is that, it's like
the whole sky turned black.

And of course, we didn't
know that it was the riot,

but we later did find out.

We were playing, black kids and
white kids playing together,

and it seemed like
the next day we had,

we were in different worlds.

- [Big Joe Henry]
Police Chief Tommy Smith

reported the Asbury
Fire Department

was being stoned and
attacked as they worked

to fight the fires raging up
and down Springwood Avenue.

- We go down there where
the, like the fire engine

and the truck, and we
used to have a tiller man

which is in the
back of the truck,

and he'd steer the back

and the front guy
would steer the front.

And that poor bastard,
whoever it was in that tiller,

you know, they'd throw
piles of bricks at him,

everything, it just, I
mean, it was pitiful.

Yeah, and how you come
out alive was beyond me.

- I'm sitting on my
porch looking at this,

and all of a sudden,
all the fires,

after about an hour and a half,

we're looking, I said,
dad, look at that.

Rats runnin' down the street,
lice and rats and rodents

just comin' down, runnin'
away from the fires.

- [Big Joe Henry] Police
from seven surrounding towns

rushed to Asbury's aid
as the trouble began

to spread to Neptune
with broken windows

and a robbery at
the Neptune dinner.

- I remember that day very well,

coming over here because
everybody was concerned

about The Upstage club, I mean,

all the buildings in
the area were burning,

especially to one
block west of here,

the whole block was burning.

- The heat from Bankers,
the furniture store,

you could feel it at the
front of The Upstage.

You could feel it, I was
on the roof of The Upstage,

you could feel it.

- My grandfather was on the roof

with a shotgun and
watching all of the chaos

take place below.

- The weirdest thing,
he had a friend of his

from Philadelphia who just
happened to be in town

who played Scottish bagpipes.

And he went up on the roof
and played the bagpipes

while this, we could hear
gunshots and flames going up.

- And I remember
guys that, you know,

I used to think were
very nice, sweet guys,

gettin' riffles and
standing on the roof.

Like it was hunting
season, you know.

It got weird for a minute there.

- I was sitting on the
stairs by the front door,

and some dude opened the
door with a lit Molotov,

and I pointed my
shotgun at his head,

and I said just go away,
and he did [laughs].

- [Big Joe Henry] By
Tuesday, the commuter train

from New York was skipping
the Asbury station,

Jersey Central Power and
Light had cut off power

to a six-block area
around Springwood Avenue,

and the protesters presented
a list of 22 demands

to Mayor Mattice,
including the removal

of City Magistrate
Eugene Capibianco.

- There are multiple things
that could have caused it.

When you live in
a city like this

where it's 40%
black and there's a,

not enough employment
for our youth

and there's so many social ills

that would have to be corrected.

- [Big Joe Henry] And
then 100 New Jersey

State Troopers joined the
fray and shut it all down.

- Troopers makin' sure
that you did not get

across Main Street.

- Right here at Memorial
Drive and Springwood Avenue,

seemed like the whole
community was lined up.

And they had bricks
and bottles and stuff,

and as we were running,
they were throwing

over our heads at the
oncoming police officers.

- Everybody was
there who had a gun

and protect Asbury
Park from the riots

going from the West
Side to the East Side.

- The Asbury police at the
time were pretty aggressive,

you know, for this area.

- As we were running
along Springwood Avenue,

the police were shooting,
they were shooting,

and we thought that they
were shooting pellets,

but a young man that was
running with me got shot,

he got hit in the
leg with the .38,

and it went through
his leg, hit an artery.

I borrowed a woman's petticoat,

she ripped her slip, and I
made a tourniquet out of that,

and I actually saved his life.

- It truly was ugly,
you know, I can remember

the State Troopers, two in
the front, two in the back,

and they got this guy
squashed in the middle.

Pulled him over,
guy took his keys,

opened up the truck
loaded with gasoline,

Molotov cocktails,
everything, I was like,

these Troopers annihilated
these guys, they pulverized 'em.

- You're hearing about
people being accosted

by the state police and
put in trunks of cars,

and you're scared,
everybody's scared,

you don't wanna go out, you
don't wanna walk the streets.

You can smell fire,
smoke everywhere,

you know, that was a very
dark, very dark time.

- [Big Joe Henry] When
the smoke cleared,

eight big buildings had been
completely destroyed by fire,

75% of the businesses on
Springwood Avenue were damaged

and closed, never to reopen.

[mournful instrumental music]

- All the citizens
of Asbury Park

have been irreparably damaged.

I observe that the burnings
were indiscriminate.

Many black businesses were
burned, as well as white.

It took no great judgment
for me to conclude

that this is a disaster area.

- [Reporter]
Whatever happens now,

Asbury Park will never
again be the same.

This small but tragically
typical ghetto,

the rioting has meant a venting
of long-simmering anger,

a desperate expression
of frustration.

The people of Asbury
Park's West Side

don't feel much
like talking now.

They too are shocked and worried

about the chances for a
really better tomorrow.

Jeff Kamen, NBC news.

- Some of the people
lived on Springwood Avenue

above the stores, and it
was like slumlord, you know.

They just got tired, they
say, well if you tear it down,

they got to build
us something new,

they gotta build it up.

They wouldn't have any
idea that it was gonna

be like this now,
what it is now.

- They were living in
terrible conditions,

so they burnt it
down, and it was,

you know, really mind-boggling

that it happened in our
little corner of the world.

You had seen it in Detroit
and Newark and like that,

but in Asbury Park, it
just seemed so strange,

but it was understandable.

- It was just a phenomena,
it was, sort of a tired

of being sick and
tired kinda thing,

and they exhibited
it, their anger

and their frustration
in a violent way.

- When it happened in Asbury,
it didn't surprise me.

Growin' up in the
late 60's, you see,

I remember the marches,
I remember graphic images

of water hoses down in Alabama.

When Martin Luther King was
killed and Bobby Kennedy,

and I remember the rise of
the Black Panther Party.

When they shot the
kids at Kent State,

I remember seeing
that on television,

I was like, what are they doing?

What are they doing
to these people?

- It was a sad moment
in the city's history,

but it probably needed to
happen, it needed to happen.

- [Big Joe Henry] And
the town of Asbury Park

was started on a steep
and destructive spiral

which would bring
it over the course

of the next several
decades to a state

of complete urban blight.

- When the riots happened,
everything closed up.

Took the wind out of
everybody's sails.

- Many of us that
grew up in this town

went to either the Boys
Club or any number of places

where we didn't know
race issues at that time,

and it was a rude
awakening in many cases,

because for a lot
of those people,

they were living those issues
every day of their life.

[ominous instrumental music]

- Not everybody on the
West Side participated

in the riots, but it seemed
that everybody had to pay

for the problems that existed.

They weren't involved,
but they found it hard

to find jobs, they were
considered to be trouble-makers,

even though they might
have tried to help out,

even after the riots,
they were looked upon

as being violent individuals,

and individuals that
couldn't be trusted.

- I don't know if they
were being punished,

but just the money
factor was not there.

The investors decided not to
invest in that particular area,

and it made the people
very, very disheartened.

But they just felt that
we were being ostracized

and really, the West
Side was just there.

The riots really, really
turned Springwood Avenue

and the West Side outside down.

We lost all of the
stores and the atmosphere

and the ability to really enjoy
ourselves on the West Side.

I guess loss, a lost art,

as far as the music
scene was concerned.

- And I think that has
a long-term impact,

in fact, individuals
who grew up in that era,

they don't even
have the memories

of what it used to be,
that is their life,

that's all they
know, is the void

of the West Side of Asbury Park.

- [Male Speaker 2]
Asbury Park went through

what a lot of cities went
through during that time period,

taking the educational
system down

and the property values down
was probably the main thing

that started Asbury into
its downward spiral.

Did the riots play a factor?

Yes they did.

Did they ruin Springwood Avenue?

Yes they did.

Could the city have
recovered from it?

Yes it could've.

- What really kept
Asbury Park down

was the greed, it was
the corruption, it
was the disrespect.

There were really
some basic politics

played in Asbury Park, of
corruption and control.

[smooth folk music]

You had all sorts of
shenanigans going on.

Families members for
generations being hired,

not because of qualifications
or because of what

they could bring to the city,

but just because of
those connections.

So it really was
the old-fashioned,
good-ole-boy network.

- In the early 80's, the
city concocted a scheme,

they're gonna sell
the entire beachfront.

- Asbury Park used to have
the most grand theaters

at the Jersey Shore.

The Mayfair was torn
down over, what,

a tax dispute between
the city and the owner.

- The guy that was gonna buy it

had no construction experience,

no development
experience, he was a,

quote, financial planner.

- [Ed] And then you had the
revenue from the parking meters

evaporating in between
collection and the bank account.

- I'll make a long story short,

they were gonna sell
him every building

from the power plant to casino

to all the pavilions,
the Convention Hall,

every building on the
beachfront, one million dollars.

- People dismantled this town
and put it in their pockets

at the expense of other people.

[explosions]

- [Big Joe Henry]
Despite the hurdles,

there were occasional sparks
of life along the boardwalk.

In the 80's, local
builder Henry Vaccaro

led an attempt to
revitalize the waterfront.

- [Vaccaro] I'm the guy that
started the re-development,

and we brought Danny
Devito to Asbury,

he had the world
premier of his movie

Throw Mama from the
Train at the Berkeley

Carterwood Hotel,
and then he had

the premier across the
street at the Paramount,

I mean, this was, it
was, it was good times.

- [Big Joe Henry] But
a lost summer season

due to a sewage spill
and the SNL crisis

bankrupted Vaccaro
and his partners.

- We had the period of time
between the 80's and 90's,

which is 10, 20 years
even after the riots,

where it's very
barren, it's void.

There's nothing to reach
for, there's a void of music,

there's a void of purpose,
this spirit is broken.

- [Big Joe Henry] Asbury
continued its long death spiral

until only one light remained
lit on the Asbury shore,

the famed Stone Pony.

[invigorating rock music]

- We were pretty
much, at that point,

the only business
that was operational

on the oceanfront,
but for the most part,

people weren't
coming to Asbury Park

for any other reason other
than to listen to music.

[upbeat R&B music]

- You got the gig
at the Stone Pony,

and that's where we started out.

Steven was working
with The Dovells,

an oldies act at the time,
plus he was also working

on the New Jersey Turnpike.

This is a guitar player,
magnificent guitar player,

songwriter, ranger,
brilliant musician,

and he's out there
with this Jack Henry,

and his hands
would be like this,

and he'd be covered in
asphalt, and I'm like,

Stevie, you can't
do that, you know.

And so eventually, he
joined the band that I had,

and we renamed it the Jukes,

and he kinda took
over direction.

- We changed the
sound of a bar band.

We had horns and almost, any
bar band has to have horns.

- The sound was good, you know,

they would give us free
drinks, which was key for me.

- I think we started on
whatever the worst night was,

you know, Monday
night or something.

- And we built a following,
and then they gave us

Sunday night, so we had
Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday,

the three worst nights
of the week to play.

And we built up
quite an audience.

- It was like, you know,
50 people, and then 100,

and 200, and then they
fixed the roof [laughs].

So maybe, maybe we won't close.

- We had a vast
repertoire of songs,

people would come and jam,
Boz Scaggs came one night,

Jim Messina, Bruce
would come down and jam.

- [Steve] We had a
little notoriety,

had gotten a little publicity,

so Bruce hanging out
with us, you know,

brought a little
bit more attention,

and so all of a sudden,
we created a scene.

- And then they started to
have other acts come in,

you know, The Ramones
would come in, say,

or some band that had a
following somewhere else.

- Rolling Stone
magazine used to have,

the last page used
to be a live review.

Miles Davis at the
Fillmore, or you know,

Grateful Dead over
here, or that,

and for us, they did
Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays

at the Stone Pony
[laughs], the Jukes.

- It's the same
everywhere, I mean,

it's why local bands
remain important,

because huge part of the thing
that threads people together,

you know, you get
a night of that,

the next day, back at your
job, out on the street,

eh, it doesn't
seem quite as bad.

These things make a difference.

Everybody's broken, so we are
the fixer of broken things.

- And that residency
was pretty historic,

lookin' back on it now.

- And it became more of
an international place,

but at the beginning,
it was just another

knockdown bar in Asbury Park,
and it just grew from there.

♪ I don't wanna go

- Biggest difficulties
we had here

was the perceived
notion that Asbury Park

was very scary place,
it was violent,

it was a place you
didn't wanna come.

So we did a lot of events to
get people back into the city.

- As the Mayor of Asbury Park,

I'm gonna declare Asbury
Park to be the music capital

of the Jersey Shore.

[smooth soul music]

- You could feel it, things
were startin' to happen again.

Most of the clubs were only
open on Saturday night,

then they were
doin' Friday night,

and then Thursday
night, and then Sunday,

you know, and it just
sort of came together,

but as it came together, the
people started coming back.

You could feel it, you could
feel that the music was back,

and it just, just as it always
carried the city before,

it just happened again.

- Right now the awesome
power of music is behind me.

In navarrio, Joe, Joe
Grushecky and The Houserockers.

[crowd cheers]
[intense rock music]

- Light of day opened up
slowly over the last 18 years.

One of the initial things,
and important things

that I think it did was,
it was another thing

that told people that there
was life in Asbury Park,

that people would come here.

- A lot of us, you know,
really are music experiences

is basically centered
on Asbury Park,

and we kind of migrated
here, we were drawn here

by it in a way, so we felt we
had to give something back.

Now we're probably bringing
in 10,000, 12,000 people

'cause we have a downtown
come for another.

- Asbury Park is
very important to us,

because of the history and
because of the mythology

surrounding it.

[crowd cheers]

♪ Nancy, who says

- [Big Joe Henry] At the
other end of the boardwalk,

Shep Pettibone opened
the Paradise Nightclub,

followed by the Empress Hotel,

destinations designed to
cater to the LGBTQ community.

- Straight people
come into Paradise,

and they're like, wow, how did
I never know this was here?

That's definitely the
first thing they think of,

maybe not the first,
the first probably is,

just so you know, I'm not gay.

Second thing is, wow,
this place is wonderful.

[crowd cheering]
[club music]

We are open for everyone,
everyone is welcome,

that's always been
part of Shep's motto.

I watched him give a
speech that he had a vision

to bring people together,
especially on a dance floor

where they can feel home
and free and not afraid.

That definitely
is what he created

when he bought and
opened Paradise.

- And it was amazing thing
in the first couple of years

of being here to have
that type of establishment

open and be a draw, and it
became a draw in and of itself,

like even though
nothing else was ready

for the people to
come, the people came.

- Everything else was
just floundering a bit,

that Empress Hotel found
a way to move forward,

and that Paradise,
the Paradise club

was the happening place,
and yes it was a gay club,

but I had fun
going there myself.

- The good thing about
Asbury, like I said,

it was a little bit of a city,

so the rules were a
little more wide open.

Yes it was a gay bar, the
people came across the tracks

either way a little bit, it
was just a little more urban

and slightly more sophisticated.

It was dangerous still,
I mean, it wasn't easy

for any of those
folks, but it was,

there were places
there for you to go.

That was, made Asbury
very, very, very unique.

- Asbury Park, New Jersey,
Jersey make some noise.

- I've said it a thousand times,

the gay community played a
huge part in saving this town.

Great things are happening,
and when the gay community

decided they would set
up shop to some extent,

in downtown and Cookman
and all the rest of it,

and have all these galleries
and great restaurants,

it was a great thing.

- And then they took
it to the next level

because they've started
to invest in Asbury Park.

And not just businesses,
actually a lot of 'em

are business owners
and actually residents.

- It got so low that it
was like an open space,

you know, it was an open city.

And the gay population come down

and begin to be real
creative in town

and bring the town back.

They had some musicians,
some artists come in,

and it was a place
where suddenly,

there was room to create.

The fact that that
was the foundation

of the new Asbury Park,
and that it's been able

to hold on to that
part of its identity

while being developed
is a great thing.

- I think pretty much in Asbury,

being gay is
tolerated everywhere.

Gay people came to this town,

renovated the beautiful
Victorian houses,

and put their flag up, one
of the first things they did.

- Am I proud of
that flag behind me?

I think it's an
important visual.

It's one of the things that,
to people who come to visit

who might be gay,
they get a sense,

they get an immediate
sense of community,

an immediate sense of welcoming.

So I'm proud of it for
the message that it has,

especially in light
of some of the things

that have happened in the world.

I wanna make sure
that I have a symbol

that welcomes anybody that
wants to come to my town.

The two flags
always fly together

because you can't be
this without that.

[uplifting alternative music]

- There's been a rehabilitation,

if you will, of the East Side.

Simultaneously, there
should have been

the same thing going
on on the West Side,

but absolutely nothing
has really happened

or changed on the West Side.

There's no real
measurement, if you will,

of anything like what's
been already taken place

on the East Side.

- West Side is still in
dire need of development

and share in some
of the prosperity

that come to the city.

You forget when
Springwood Avenue burned,

a tremendous loss of African
American culture in the city.

And that's never quite come back

the way it was at
one time, you know,

that'd be nice to
see at some point.

- Music moves,
and music unifies,

and music is the
soul of Asbury Park.

- [Big Joe Henry] In
a watershed moment,

music returned to the
West Side of Asbury Park.

- Tonight, the Asbury
Park Music Foundation

has the honor of
bringing you all

one of the most historical
concerts in over 40 years.

- [Big Joe Henry]
For the first time

since the death of
legendary Springwood Avenue,

a concert series was
held in a new park

where the Great
Cubas once stood,

the first public
music on the West Side

in more than four decades.

- Put your hands in
the air, come on!

[exciting soul music]

- We have five concerts out
at the park, jam packed.

Not only the people
from the West Side,

but even more maybe
came from elsewhere.

[crowd cheers]

- [Big Joe Henry] And
although the death

of Springwood
Avenue has silenced

the world-renowned jazz
and blues of the West Side,

[upbeat gospel music]

the power of music lives
on in the community.

- Music, music is powerful
because it is therapeutic.

I know secular music has
a way of moving people,

but there's nothing
like the spirituals.

It is somethin' that
kept our people,

even during the very
difficult time in this country

as African Americans,
and it is somethin'

that holds us, that
keeps up even now.

[moving gospel music]

- This was a place where
Ella Fitzgerald sang

and B.B. King and
Duke Ellington,

the biggest, the greatest.

Can we bring that spirit back?

Well, then you'd have to bring

those kinds of people
back, you'd have to have

more Bruce Springsteens
walkin' the streets

of Asbury Park and
shakin' hands with people

and saying to those
on the East Side,

hey, why don't you bring
some of these people

over here from the
West Side and show 'em

what we got and
see what they got,

because they have
somethin' to offer.

- You have to proceed as if
problems can be resolved,

and as if the sun's gonna
rise in the morning,

and those better
days are waitin', so.

- Let me tell you
somethin', that same,

that same artistic
blood that ran

in the veins of the forerunners

are in their grandchild and
their great-grand children.

There's some very, very
talented people here,

still, just waiting
for an opportunity

to express their greatness.

[smooth rock music]

- [Big Joe Henry] In the
shadow of the legendary Upstage

stands the future of
music in Asbury Park,

the shiny, new
Lakehouse Studios.

- You good?

- Mm-hmm.
- Alright.

We're ready, we're ready.

[tuneful guitar music]
- The kids are experts

in one thing only, what
they like [laughs].

You know?

And what do they
like, they like music.

- Power music is
alive at Lakehouse.

The intention of Lakehouse
was to create a place

to nurture young musicians
to out into the world

and sing their song.

What does it mean
to go to Lakehouse?

- It's really cool
there, actually,

like, there're really cool
people there like this person

right here.
[laughter]

- The Lakehouse is so important,

what John has done there
is picked up the slack

where our government
has let us all down.

Because when I was a kid, there
were a lot of art programs,

there were a lot
of music programs,

things that exposed you to areas

that you might not
otherwise be exposed to.

- For me, from as early
as I can remember,

it was really about music.

Music changed my state,
literally changed my state.

It made life better,
and I was all in.

- Music saved my
life, I mean you know,

I don't know what I
would do without it,

I was raised in New York City,
actually in Queens, New York,

not a great neighborhood,
not a lot of ambition,

just drugs and gangs.

If it wasn't for music, I
wouldn't have any direction.

You're connecting to this,

I want you to connect
to the audience.

I see kids all the time, comin',

walkin' through our
doors, they're broken

they're you know, not
holdin' their heads up.

I guess out of place
at their school,

and they come to us at Lakehouse

and they find their niche,
they find their family,

they find their home,
they find their artistry,

creativity, all that,
man, just really turns

a person around, you
know, gives them direction

and a path to walk on.

[uplifting instrumental music]

We're gonna do somethin'
called a rock and roll ending.

You know what that is?

- Yes.

- What's a rock and roll ending?

Go ahead.

Power of music at Lakehouse
is also kids from different

neighborhoods, people
of different religions,

different nationalities,
social-economic upbringings,

comin' together,
they're all here,

and they play in bands together,

and the only thing
they see is that

you're playing C chord,
I'm gonna play a C chord,

and that's how we align.

Here we go, one, two, three.

[chaotic rock music]

- [Big Joe Henry] Some
of the brightest lights

in Asbury Park are a group
of 10 and 11 year olds

called the Lakehouse
Junior Pros,

who've played more than
50 professional shows

since being formed in 2015.

[drumming]

- Jeremy's a star,
and when I say a star,

he has light in him.

He's humble, he
knows that, you know,

he can do some
damage on the drums,

but he never acts
that way, he comes in,

and he's ready to learn.

[drumming]

- I don't really care,
like, who people like,

like gay, lesbian, bi,
what skin color they are,

their religion really, all
that matters is practicing

and making a good
career out of music.

[enrapturing rock music]

- Everybody can relate
to like, a certain band.

And like, me and Jeremy,
we both love Blink-182.

And like, we don't
care that people say

that band's bad, and
that's how we bond,

'cause we both like it, so
it like brings us together.

[powerful rock music]

- Zakya walked, and I
always tell this story,

she walked through our
doors, she was nine I think,

not even, eight.

Not even four foot tall.

I asked her, I said,
what do you wanna play?

And she thought for a second
and she pointed at the bass.

And I said the bass, 'cause
nobody ever says the bass,

they wanna play drums,
they wanna sing lead,

you know, or rock
out on the guitar.

She wanted the bass,
I put it on her,

it was huge, and she's
been non-stop since.

- At first I was
like, oh my gosh,

oh my gosh, what I am doing,

oh my gosh, I'm not
gonna be on stage,

oh my gosh, what am
I, dah, dah, dah.

And now I just said, okay, hi,
and then I just keep playing.

- [Big Joe Henry]
And the Junior Pros

were invited to record
an original song

with some of the veterans
of The Upstage club.

- Uh oh, trouble's here.

[tuneful rock music]

♪ Divin' deep in the city

♪ Though we knew there
was work to be done ♪

♪ On the boardwalk those
girls look so damn pretty ♪

♪ On the circuit those
machines came for us ♪

♪ Those poundin' hearts

- [Big Joe Henry]
And the Junior Pros

were invited to play
that original song

at the Prudential
Center in Newark

to a sold-out
audience of 16,000.

♪ Dreams were
waiting to scream ♪

♪ Were playing in
time to our hearts ♪

♪ There mad dogs and guns
that were waiting their turn ♪

♪ As a legacy waiting on tape

But the biggest dream
comes true moment

for the Junior Pros
came just a week later

when they were invited
to play a sold-out

Paramount Theatre
in Asbury Park.

On the bill with The
Upstage veterans,

Southside Johnny and
the Asbury Jukes,

Little Steven and the
Disciples of Soul,

and one very special
surprise guest.

[exciting rock music]

♪ She finally got the
letter she was dreaming of ♪

♪ Johnny wrote and told
her he had fell in love ♪

♪ As soon as he was married
he would bring her back ♪

♪ And build a big mansion
by the railroad track ♪

♪ So every time you heard
that locomotive roar ♪

♪ She'd be standing there
waiting in the kitchen door ♪

♪ Bye, bye, bye, bye

♪ Bye, bye, bye, bye

♪ Bye bye Johnny,
goodbye Johnny B. Goode ♪

- I think Asbury Park is
a microcosm of the world

because there's so much
here, and there are,

there's this
polarized Asbury Park

with an East Side
and a West Side,

and I think in anything in life,

having those two poles,
putting them together

is when the electricity and
the opportunity happens.

[invigorating rock music]

♪ If I had a dollar baby

♪ Every broken heart

- Music does bring
people together.

It is a bond that
stood us in good stead

when we were
musicians, teenagers.

♪ Blues is my business

♪ And business is good

- It's that universal
heartbeat, right,

that universal dance
of life, you know,

that we all have in common.

- It was just a
way of being part

of something bigger
than you are.

I think people need that
when things are bad.

♪ When I woke up this mornin'
Lucille was not in sight ♪

♪ Asked my friends about her
but all their lips were tight ♪

♪ Lucille, please come
back where you belong ♪

♪ Ain't done nothin' to you,
I don't wanna do you no harm ♪

[catchy rock music]

- Your job is to
provide proof of life

to people that they're
simply not alone,

that there is an us that is real

and that gets called
up when the band leader

counts off, one,
two, three, four.

There is a community
that's brought forth,

there's a commonality that
gets pulled out of people

that means something, has a
direct result on their lives

and their life when they
take it out of the building.

- The East Side
and the West Side

can learn somethin'
from the musicians

in Asbury Park, that we're
able to come together

and work on harmony once
we just not think about

color and those things
that separate us,

well, let's think
about some things

that bring us together,
the things that cause joy

and happiness in our lives.

And if we can sing together,

we can definitely work together.

♪ Go go

♪ Go Johnny, Johnny B. Goode

- [Male Speaker 3] One more
more time folks, everybody.

♪ Go go

♪ Go Johnny go go

♪ Go Johnny go go

- They always say it's
darkest right before dawn,

so we've been through
the darkest hour.

We're not where we need
to be, but you know,

we're definitely headed
in that direction.

Asbury is never going back.

The only thing we're gonna
be is the new Asbury Park.

[crowd cheers]

[laughter]

- [Male Speaker 4]
Anybody wanna go home?

- [Crowd] No!

[upbeat soul music]

- [Male Speaker 4] I was
hopin' you'd say that.

Come on baby.

Alright!

Everybody clap your hands!

♪ Oh, oh, oh

♪ Oh, oh, oh

♪ I know the time
is getting late ♪

♪ But I don't want to go home

♪ I'm in no hurry
baby, time can wait ♪

♪ 'Cause I don't
want to go home ♪

♪ Listen

♪ Listen to the
man sing his song ♪

♪ I don't want to go home

♪ Baby

♪ I don't mind to
stay all night long ♪

♪ I don't want to go home

♪ Because

♪ I know we had to try

♪ To reach up and
touch the sky, baby ♪

♪ Whatever happened
to you and I ♪

♪ Baby, I don't
want to go home ♪

♪ Look at all the
people saying, well ♪

♪ I don't want to go home

♪ I know why, 'cause
in their minds ♪

♪ They've all been
there, that's right ♪

♪ I don't want to go home

♪ And one more thing

♪ I know the words to
the song are real ♪

♪ I don't want to go home
♪ Yes I do, baby

♪ I know it's talking
about the way I feel now ♪

♪ I don't want to go home

♪ I know we had to try
♪ I know, I know, I know

♪ To reach up and
touch the sky baby ♪

♪ To try

♪ Whatever happened
to you and I, baby ♪

♪ I don't want to go home

♪ Now dig this

♪ I want to hear
people laughing ♪

♪ And having a good time, baby

♪ I want to know why she
told me she had to go ♪

♪ Why did she leave
me so sad and lonely ♪

♪ Oh, somebody tell me why,
tell me why, tell me why ♪

♪ I know it's time to go

♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ Brother, play the blues
for me soft and low ♪

♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ 'Cause I gotta go

♪ I know we had to try
♪ No, no, no, no, no

♪ To reach up and
touch the sky ♪

♪ What happened to
you and I, darlin' ♪

♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ Somebody tell me, please

♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ 'Cause I gotta know

♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ I don't wanna go

♪ I don't wanna go back home

♪ 'Cause there ain't
nobody with me back home ♪

♪ I said to give me one more
♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ I'll tell ya
♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ One more for the road
♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ For that long,
long lonely road ♪

♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ For that long,
long lonely road ♪

♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ For that long,
long lonely road ♪

♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ For that long, long,
long, long lonely road ♪

♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ For that long, long,
long, long lonely road ♪

♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ Bartender

♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ Give me one more
for the road ♪

♪ I don't wanna go home

♪ For that long,
long lonely road ♪

♪ I don't wanna go home

["I Don't Wanna Go Home"]

- This is it.

Last man out.

It's the end of Upstage,
time for somethin' new.