1987-07-31 Stone Pony (The), Asbury Park, NJ

Robert Crenshaw

This story is an excerpt from my memoir My Mythological Narrative, a Rock Odyssey. This is from the section about the Maryjean and 9 Others tour with Marshall Crenshaw, Graham Maby, and myself. This was one of the last dates of the tour and one of my last dates playing with Marshall. … We had a gig at The Stone Pony is Asbury Park, NJ. Some of you readers may know that Bruce Springsteen sometimes frequents that club and has been known to sit in with bands performing there. We had played there many times, but never had met him. Lots of times when we played in New Jersey, Garry Tallent would come and visit us. Garry is a super nice guy and we had known him for years. Marshall and I went to his house one time and he took us fishing for flounder and fluke. He was a good friend. We didn’t see him that night, but Marilyn Laverty and Andy Schwartz, who were our friends and both worked for CBS, were there. Marilyn had been married to Alan Betrock for many years. Before the set started we were told that Bruce was in the audience. We were pretty geeked, but we didn’t know what to expect. We played our show to an enthusiastic audience, just as we had before. It was a normal gig. When the set was over, we were taken to the dressing room, where we waited a few minutes before going back out for an encore. I’m a pretty enthusiastic guy, so I usually made it back to the stage area first. When I got there, there was Bruce. He smiled at me and asked something to the effect of: “can I sit in with you guys?” I just laughed. A few minutes later Marshall and Graham walked out and Marshall handed Bruce a guitar to play. When the stage lights went back up, the crowd roared like a jet engine. It was “Beatles on Ed Sullivan” enthusiasm. Bruce starting playing the introduction to La Bamba. I’m sure he figured since Marshall was in the movie, he would sing it. Marshall, not speaking a word of Spanish and never having sung the song before, assumed Bruce would sing it. Recognizing their dilemma, they looked at each other for a few minutes and laughed, then Bruce stopped the song and launched into “Twist and Shout,” Marshall would have to know the lyrics to that. They traded off verses and Bruce sang background vocal with Graham and me. I don’t know what other songs we played, but we did a proper encore. After the set, we all went back to the dressing room and I talked to Bruce for a few minutes. I told him that I had recently mixed monitors for a Chuck Berry show in Burlington, Vermont, and not only was it an honor, but Chuck had torn the place apart, the audience loved him. Bruce told me that when he was starting out, he was one of the guys who would get called from the union to play for Chuck Berry when he came into town. Chuck Berry didn’t tour with a band; every night, he’d get pickup guys. This would have been at the end of the Born in the USA tour. Bruce was buff; we talked a little about working out and trying to eat right on the road. Our conversation couldn’t have lasted ten minutes, but I was impressed with how gracious he was and naturally, it was exciting as could be. Of all the cool things that had happened to us on the road, this was in the top ten, for sure. I think the last gig we played together was at a New Year’s Eve party for Rolling Stone magazine employees at a place in lower Manhattan.