THE UPSTAGE
REMEMBERED
The Upstage was one of the original Asbury Park clubs. From 1968 through 1970, Bruce Springsteen, Garry Tallent, Danny Federici, Davey Sancious, Vini Lopez, Miami Steve Van Zandt, and Billy Chinnock jammed here.
In the late 1960's the Upstage Club in Asbury Park was one of the first places Bruce Springsteen began to build up a huge reputation as a guitar wizard. The club was started by Tom and Margaret Potter. The Upstage became a place that allowed the musicians to jam together as late as five a.m. Along with Bruce, "Miami" Steve Van Zandt, "Southside" Johnny Lyon, E Street Band members Danny Federici and Garry W. Tallent, and E Street alumnus "Mad Dog" Vini Lopez were among the others jamming in the club.
Robert Santelli, education director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and former Jersey resident, stated, "The Upstage was really the birth of the whole Asbury Park scene, the whole idea that the Jersey Shore had something to say musically."
The upstage stood at the corner of Bond Street and Cookman Avenue in the business
district of Asbury Park.
Credit http://www.beyondthepalace.com/newjersey/upstage.html
The Upstage (702 Cookman Avenue) according to Bob Santelli writing for Backstreets
Magazine "ranks with the Stone Pony as the most popular and most important
club, historically speaking, of all the Asbury Park and Shore clubs." Its
lifespan was short - 1968 through 1970. Jam sessions lasting 'till dawn on weekends
included the likes of not only Springsteen but E Streeters Garry Tallent, Danny
Federici, Davey Sancious, Vini Lopez, and Miami Steve Van Zandt as well as Southside
Johnny, members of the old Asbury Jukes, Billy Chinnock and others too numerous
to mention. (See Bruce's liner notes on the back of Southside's first album,
"I Don't Want To Go Home.")
The Upstage used to be located atop a Thom McCan shoe store. It has since been
subdivided into a series of stores, most (if not all) of which are closed. The
store with the sign "OK Shoes" used to be part of it. Next door is
a small door which leads up the stairs to a rehearsal studio called the Music
Booth, which used to be part of the Upstage's upper level.
What used to be the "mythical Asbury Park" that fueled so many of Bruce's songs and experiences is no longer. At least the tangible part of it.
There's still an intangible feeling, a spirit if you will, that's still there and easily helps one draw the conclusion that the stuff Bruce wrote could only have come from here.
Credit: http://members.aol.com/sooshii/asbury.htm
Thanks to Dan for the photo.
Courtesy of Carrie Potter from the Tom Potter Photo Collection.
Courtesy of Carrie Potter from the Tom Potter Photo Collection.
For more information on the upstage and the Carrie Potter collection please have a look here.