Marty’s photos of the day #4339-#4345: Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ! (Again) This time I found a proper sign inside The Stone Pony. If you missed yesterday’s post, my next college show is Monday, at the University of Delaware. With a day-and-a-half off between shows, I’m staying at a hotel in Colts Neck, New Jersey (Bruce Springsteen’s current hometown) and am indulging in some Springsteen tourism. Last night, I went bar hopping to two venues where Springsteen has played and still occasionally shows up at for impromptu sets.
1. This is a large mural inside The Stone Pony, very much like the cover of Springsteen’s first album, “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.”
2. First, I stopped by the Wonder Bar, on the famous Asbury Park Boardwalk. Heavy fog was rolling in at the time.
3. Asbury Fever, a Springsteen tribute band, was playing at the Wonderbar. The crowd seemed to be into the band, but I thought they were incredibly mediocre. Sure, the vocalist resembled the old-version of The Boss, but I cringed several times when he tried to hit notes that were way out of his range, and his stilted moves on stage were distracting. That said, I bet “Fake Bruce” gets laid quite often by groupies that figure if they can’t fuck the real Bruce, the fake one is close enough!
4. I found this in the Men’s Room of the Wonderbar. When Bruce shows up, it’s important to document his every movement!
5. After a set at the Wonderbar, I headed over to The Stone Pony. Just like First Avenue in Minneapolis is known as “Prince’s bar,” and CBGB’s in New York City was known as “The Talking Heads and Blondie’s bar,” The Stone Pony is known as “Bruce Springsteen’s bar.”
6. The band performing at The Stone Pony was Paradise Rose, a Guns N’ Roses tribute band. I love Bruce Springsteen much more than Guns N’ Roses, but I have to say that I’d much rather watch a good Guns N’ Roses tribute band than a mediocre Bruce Springsteen tribute band.
7. There is so much rock ‘n’ roll history at The Stone Pony! The walls are covered with Bruce Springsteen posters/photos and hundreds of signed guitars from all the big names who have played there. I tried to find a guitar signed by Springsteen, but was unsuccessful. I even asked a woman who has worked there for 17 years. She let out a frustrated breath and said, “They used to have plaques for each guitar, but someone took them down. It’s so frustrating. It’s impossible to read any of the signatures!” In this photo are the two guitars I could confirm: one signed by Grace Potter and the other signed by Seether.
More to come!