MANHATTAN, NY—Q104.3 and Southside Johnny And The Poor Fools joined forces with the GTR Store midtown for a rousing holiday season bash that had everyone singing by the end of the night to the Asbury Jukes’ barroom anthems with elfish grins and eyes aglow. Deejay Ken Dashow played MC to the night’s festivities dressed in a psychedelicized shirt straight out of Zappa’s 200 Motels movie.
Southside Johnny was in great form, belting out his bluesy number on acoustic guitar and harmonica as his backup band knocked out the hits and then some for the boisterous crowd. Musical maestro, ex-Bob Dylan, Saturday Night Live alumnus and most recently Roger Waters Wall tour guitar whiz kid G.E. Smith was also on hand as he tweaked, contorted and distorted the blues into rockin’ bolts of thunder.
Springsteen’s “Fever” and “Cocaine Blues” by Rev. Gary Davis that Jackson Browne made famous on his Running On Empty album were some of the highlights of the night. On it, Southside and Smith played an unplugged version that had the crowd singing along. On Dylan’s “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” Smith added some countrified licks on mandolin, rounding out an incredible night of Americana.
The GTR Store sells and rents instruments and the space can also be hired as a showcase room, but most importantly, it’s the guitars that shine, and there are loads of them. For more, check out the website at gtrstore.com.
