Reprinted from the Asbury Park Press:
They like it loud at the Light of Day Winterfest.
The first take of a “Happy Birthday” sing-along for festival founder Bob Benjamin Saturday, March 12, at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank did not quite have the decibels rocker Joe Grushecky was looking for.
“You can do better than that, c'mon,” said Joe Grushecky. “One more time!”
Take two got the job done to close the Light of Day's Bob's Birthday Bash show at the Basie. Benjamin, confined to a wheelchair due to Parkinson's Disease, gave a thumbs up.
The fest raises funds and awareness in the fight against Parkinson's and related diseases. The Light of Day Foundation has allotted more than $1 million to the Parkinson's Foundation, said Parkinson's Foundation head John L. Lehr from the stage on Saturday.
“There are a million Americans who live with Parkinson's Disease, and the Parkinson's Foundation is all about making lives better for them by investing in care, improving their health, and really investing in research to get the answers we're all looking for,” said Lehr, as a band behind the stage curtain was tuning up.
And they were tuning up loudly.
It’s about fighting Parkinson’s with the “awesome power of music,” as Light of Day president Tony Pallagrosi said.
Grushecky and the Houserockers, Willie Nile, Jesse Malin, the Weeklings, Joe D’Urso and the Stone Caravan, James Maddock, Linda Chorney, Guy Davis, Williams Honor, Remember Jones and more were on the bill Saturday.
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Steve Forbert was scheduled to play Saturday, and a Light of Day show Friday in Asbury Park, but did not. “Complications from having a kidney removed back in 2017 have got me back in the hospital,” he said on his social media.
Bruce Springsteen, who has been an unannounced performer at the Birthday Bash for 12 of the previous 22 shows, did not make it this year at the Basie.
“It's a fun night anyhow and these are great artists," said Marc Zingarini of Ocean Grove, who attended Saturday's show with wife Christina Zingarini. "I don't like to think that people are just showing up because it's a Bruce appearance maybe. These guys deserve all the credit in the world and they're terrific.”
The night was big on bar-style roots rock — expertly, and passionately, delivered by Grushecky, Nile, Malin, D’Urso and Maddock.
Nile feigned he wasn't going to play his classic, “One Guitar.”
“You want to hear 'One Guitar'?” said Nile to a collective “yes.” “God bless your rock 'n' roll hearts.”
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Maddock, an English singer-songwriter, added an extra touch of melody to his set. His keyboardist, Ben Stivers, provided alluringly warm tones on songs like “When the Sun's Out.”
Maddock also gave a nod to the shuttered Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, where the Birthday Bash had been held the few last years.
“I wonder what's going to happen to that place,” Maddock said. “I might buy it.”
Concerts at the Paramount and Convention Hall have been canceled or moved to other venues since late August, when Asbury Park issued a notice of default to Madison Marquette, the retail developer of the city's boardwalk, over safety concerns at the Paramount.
Back on the Basie stage, the Weeklings gave a fab performance of Beatles and Beatles-inspired songs, and Remember Jones delivered a happily unhinged, straps-off-the-shoulders set of tunes that was capped by an epic cover of Meat Loaf's “All Revved Up With No Place To Go.”
You could tell this was going to be something different when Remember Jones frontman Anthony D'Amato came out in yellow sport coat, sky-high heels, and a three-foot exclamation point on top of his head.
It was a party. Fans hit the new Basie Center lounges throughout the night.
“The vibe out here is that people are happy to be out,” Christina Zingarini said.
This is the final weekend of the 2022 edition of the Light of Day Winterfest, which was postponed from January due to the COVID surge. The fest went virtual last year.
Light of Day began at a 1998 birthday show for Benjamin at the Downtown Cafe in Red Bank. He had been recently diagnosed with Parkinson's.
Shows this year are primarily in Asbury Park, including the city's Stone Pony, which hosted the Asbury Angels induction for late musicians and scenemakers on Friday, March 11.
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Jonathan T. Richardson, a famous early 1900s bandleader from Asbury Park's West Side; Shore blues guitar legend Billy Ryan; Andrew “Hood” Kafafian, Southside Johnny's longtime assistant; and Kerry Layton, Stone Pony “ambassador” and decades-long supporter of the music scene, were bestowed.
“He would have loved it,” said Layton's lifelong soulmate, Pam DeLisa, on Friday at the Pony. “He absolutely would have loved it.”
Light of Day crew will have a float in the Asbury Park St. Patrick's Day parade on Sunday, March 13. The parade starts at 1 p.m. on Ocean Avenue.
Visit www.lightofday.org for more info on Sunday's shows and the Light of Day.
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