originally published: 10/31/2022
There are the concert events, the club gigs, the festivals that formed the soundtrack to our days and nights…and made memories to last a lifetime. The milestones in the lives of the legends, from local to global, who created a city’s signature sound. The landmark recordings; the people and the places to play; the passage of years in a place where music is the cash crop, the calling card, the principal export to the big world beyond…and where the world finds its way to our door.
On the threshold of the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen’s debut album “Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.,” the Asbury Park Historical Society sounds a keynote to the coming year 2023, with a limited-edition 12 month wall calendar that celebrates the diverse and dynamic sonic legacy of a little city that has moved the nation and the world to its beat.
Written and designed by Historical Society trustee and longtime arts/ entertainment correspondent Tom Chesek, the exclusive “Soundings from Asbury Park” calendar draws from all eras, all genres, all sides of the tracks, in telling the story of a community that found its collective voice…and whose voice resonated from coast to coast, louder than any other town of its size.
Illustrated with dozens of vivid photos, and packed with hundreds of This Day in History facts from the tuneful timeline, the newly published collectible is the latest in a series of unique holiday season gift items offered by the Society, dedicated to all of those who “live, or just plain love, all things Asbury Park.”
“Whether you cruised the Circuit in its glory days, caught your favorite performers in concert right here on our stages, or are right now exploring all of the great music on the current scene, there’s something for everyone in these pages,” said Tom Chesek. “There are the contemporaries and collaborators who contributed to the rise of Springsteen’s star; the amazing and long overlooked music makers of the West Side; the landmark venues, the giant festivals, the generations of legendary locals…and some pretty awesome out-of-towners make an appearance as well!”
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“You’ll encounter Judy Garland, Johnny Cash, Count Basie, and so many other greats…all of them with an Asbury connection,” he continued. “There’s Sir Paul McCartney dining at Jimmy’s Italian Restaurant; Duke Ellington washing dishes at a waterfront hotel…and The Great Caruso himself performing at no less than Steinbach’s Department Store!”
The “Soundings From Asbury Park” 2023 wall calendar can be purchased directly from the Asbury Park Historical Society’s website at aphistoricalsociety.org, for $21.99 plus $6.00 shipping while supplies last. Copies can also be purchased from local retailers that include the two Funhouse stores in Asbury Park (704 Cookman Avenue and the Grand Arcade at Convention Hall), as well as Asbury Book Co-Op (644-A Cookman), and in Ocean Grove at Comfort Zone (44 1/2 Main Avenue) and Gifts By Tina (73 Main Avenue).
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