Southside Johnny & Little Steven – Unplugged 1993

 

Southside Johnny & Little Steven – Unplugged

Recorded for the K-Rock Hungerthon Rent Party, New York City, November 21, 1993

WXRK-FM Radio Studio, New York City, New York, USA

Back in 1993, Bruce Springsteen guitarist Little Steven—who cofounded Southside Johnny’s Asbury Jukes in the mid 70s—teamed up with Southside to perform an acoustic benefit concert that aired on New York radio. The show, which embraced several of their best-known originals as well as a long menu of well-chosen covers, featured Asbury Jukes guitarist Bobby Bandiera as well as their former bassist David Hayes and the E Street Band’s Soozie Tyrell on violin.

    It helps that the material is as good as the performances. Highlights of the 18-track set include a definitive reading of Van Zandt’s “I Don’t Wanna Go Home”; Springsteen’s “Rosalita” and “The Fever,” the latter an Asbury Jukes staple; Neil Young’s “Like a Hurricane,” Hank Williams’s “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry,” and versions of Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” and Van Morrison’s “Into the Mystic” that arguably outshine the composers’ fine originals. 

                                        https://workupload.com/file/mGkKZE4SrHf

Southside Johnny / Ryerson Theatre, Toronto, Ontario - Nov. 14, 1979

Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes
Ryerson Theatre, Toronto, ON Canada
November 14, 1979

01 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Talk To Me
02 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - I'm So Anxious
03 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - The Time
04 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - The Fever
05 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Take It Inside
06 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Vertigo
07 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - I Don't Want To Go Home
08 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Bring It On Home To Me
09 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Havin' A Party
10 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - New Orleans

Unknown generation tape, sounds good, there's a bit of hiss.

I found a copy of the newspaper ad, and a concert review.

The ad confirms the date as November 14, 1979. The ad shows the concert was sponsored by Toronto FM station Q107, so it's likely they were the station that broadcast the concert.  

The ad also reveals there were two shows, at 7:00 and 10:00 PM.  The tape I have is only 10 songs long.  I cross-referenced this with a different source posted by our pal Speedy
over at So Many Roads, and his version is the same length...and
cuts off Southside's comment after the song "New Orleans" in almost the same place.  Even if we take into account opening act YIPES! burning up a 1/2 hour to forty minutes, this was either a really short show, or they only broadcast a portion of the full concert.

By the way...Discogs tells me YIPES! put out two LPs back in the day.  Do any of Our Beloved Audience remember these guys?

https://mega.nz/file/CZxkRDKI#aW5fOTbTpAXHEJCmBWXsIeax55YLWbpFqb_bkv0KnBM

Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes / Savoy Nightclub, SF, CA Nov. 6, 1976 KSAN-FM

Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes
The Savoy Nightclub, San Francisco, CA
November 6, 1976
KSAN-FM
1st generation from cassette

01 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - KSAN Intro
02 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - This Time It's For Real
03 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Got To Get You Off Of My Mind
04 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - I Can Tell
05 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Sweeter Than Honey
06 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Fannie Mae
07 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Snatching It Back
08 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Little By Little
09 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - It Ain't The Meat (It's The Motion)
10 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - I Choose To Sing The Blues
11 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - The Fever
12 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - I Don't Want To Go Home
13 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Having A Party
14 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Audience
15 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - You Mean So Much To Me
16 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Audience
17 Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes - Stagger Lee

Includes! Local newspaper interview done before the show! Print ads for the Savoy Nite Club! A review of the Nov. 4th show! (The first of the three nights they played the Savoy Nite Club, the KSAN broadcast was from the 6th).

This is NOT the same source that's out there already on Guitars 101....this has a tiny bit of the KSAN deejay at the start....PLUS the cover of Bo Diddley's "I Can Tell" which is missing from the version at Guitars 101 (or at least "was missing from the version I downloaded last year.)  There's no real difference in the sound quality, though...but it's from my 1st gen cassette, not from the existing download.

The name of the club is sometimes given as "the Savoy Tivoli," which had been the name of the club since 1967.  Before that, it was the New Tivoli. The newspaper ads in 1976, however, say the Savoy Nite Club.

At the time of this broadcast, Southside Johnny had released his first LP "I Don't Want To Go Home" five months earlier on June 7, 1976. The fourteen songs performed on the Savoy show include just six tracks from that LP.  

A promotional album "Jukes Live At The Bottom Line" was recorded three weeks earlier on October 16 at the famous New York City club but was not yet released at the time of this show.
So most of what's here....eight tracks... was new to the audience.  Well...new by Southside Johnny, as most are covers of R&B songs.  

Also...on the currently circulating version, the missing track is named as "I Know You Don't Love Me No More."  The correct title is "I Can Tell."  The original was by Bo Diddley.

https://mega.nz/file/GExSGbJI#eAtJxa2GKmSpzEK635o6SwQwR9DSeoev5iSn-Rh7q2Q

Southside Johnny / Command Performance, Toronto December 1991

Southside Johnny
Command Performance
Toronto, Ottowa, Canada
December 1991

01 Announcer - Intro
02 Southside Johnny - Coming Back
03 Denise Donlon & Southside Johnny - Interview
04 Southside Johnny - It's Been A Long Time (album version)
05 Announcer - Segment Intro
06 Southside Johnny - The Heart of Saturday Night
07 Denise Donlon & Southside Johnny - Interview
08 Southside Johnny - I've Been Working Too Hard (album version)
09 Announcer - Segment Intro
10 Southside Johnny - Trapped Again
11 Denise Donlon & Southside Johnny - Interview
12 Southside Johnny - Better Days (album version)
13 Announcer - Segment Intro
14 Denise Donlon & Southside Johnny - Interview
15 Southside Johnny - I Don't Want To Go Home

bonus track recorded at Q107, Toronto 1991-12-10
16 Southside Johnny - Coming Back

Four songs done live in an "unplugged" studio format, plus interviews and three tracks from his current record.

First generation tape, sounds great.  There's a LOT of great Southside shows out there on Guitars 101.  I think this is his first time here on the Wagon, though.

Host Denise Donlon has a fabulous career ahead of her, eventually becoming president of Sony Music Canada (2000-2004) and executive director of CBC Radio's English language division (2008-2011).  

https://mega.nz/file/eVZG1DzY#Vw5-ag2wzCtx1WLykp0FpExGrVmJjuNzN0Os7K63HJw