Letters to the Editor

Farewell from Asbury Park, N.J. In 1968, a skinny teenager named Bruce Springsteen started jamming at an all-ages club on the Jersey Shore. Now, as the Upstage faces demolition, fans remember better days. By Rebecca Traister [2006-01-03]

• I was at the Upstage during the riots

  Hello Friends. My name is Albee Tellone and I was a "folksinger" playing at the Green Memaid the night of the riots. I lived down by the Palace Amusements and could walk to the Upstage. I always got there early around 8pm and Steve Van Zant was there with John Lyon. They were jamming with me in the Green Mermaid when Tom Potter came in to tell us there was a riot going on across the tracks which ran parallel to Main St. The Upstage was one block away from Main St. - so we were very close. That answered our question as to why there were no customers in the club. The place was empty ! Tom got out some shotguns and armed the bouncers Big Danny Gallagher and Eddie Luraschi (John Luraschi's big brother) who were positioned on the roof. The entrance was still open when Steve and I walked down to the corner of Cookman Ave. and Main St. to watch a furniture store go up in flames. None of the rioters came past Main St. and the Thom McAn shoe store did not get a broken window. We didn't even close the door. One of Tom's friends named "Dick" was on the roof playing the bagpipes of all things ! It was very surreal.

  I never like the excuse that the riots ruined Asbury Park. Greed and political corruption did that. The Stone Pony really got going in the 1970s when the drinking age was lowered to 18. Asbury and all of the shore towns that had nightclubs prospered during those years. After they raised the age back to 21 in the 1980s it started to sag.

  --No Name Given
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