Bruce Springsteen at Asbury Lanes: Boss no stranger to Kingsley Street

Chris Jordan | Asbury Park Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Bruce Springsteen on Kingsley Street Bruce Springsteen's history on Kingsley Street in Asbury Park.

Bruce Springsteen knows his way around Kingsley Street in Asbury Park.

“I’m riding down Kingsley, figuring I’ll get a drink,” the Boss sang in “Something in the Night.”

Now, the Boss will be a “special guest” at the Asbury Lanes re-opening party with Portugal. The Man and the Tangiers Blues Band on Monday, June 18.

The Lanes is located on the corner of Kingsley and Fourth Avenue. The show is a benefit for the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County, which his celebrating its 80th anniversary this year.

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“The very cool thing is that Bruce is going to be a part of the official opening of Asbury Lanes, which has been an important part of the Asbury Park music scene since early 2000s,” said Kevin Farrell, a member of the advisory board of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University in West Long Branch. “It’s great to see that it’s coming back. It may be an upscale version of the old place but it will continue to be a music venue that features new music and that’s an important part of the Asbury Park music heritage.”

Asbury Lanes was built in the early ‘60s and it began hosting national touring and local acts, mostly of the punk variety, in 2003. The club closed in 2015 after it was purchased by iStar, a city waterfront developer, and it’s since been renovated.

The Lanes reopened its doors on May 18.

“Having Bruce appear at the reopening gives it immediate legitimacy,” Farrell said. “Bruce is coming full circle. He started out in the small clubs of Asbury Park, becomes an international rock star and now comes back to promote a small music venue. It’s very cool. Bruce never forgets his roots.”

Asbury Park takes center stage each night in “Springsteen on Broadway.”

“I come from a boardwalk town where almost everything is tinged with bit of fraud,” says Springsteen in his autobiography, “Born to Run,” and also in “Springsteen on Broadway.” “So am I.”

Springsteen was already a veteran of the Western Monmouth music scene when he debuted at the former Upstage Club on the city’s Cookman Avenue in 1968. He played “Rock Me Baby.”

“I fried the paint off the place with all the guitar pyrotechnics and wizardry my eighteen-year old fingers could muster,” Springsteen writes in “Born to Run.”

Soon after, Vini “Mad Dog” Lopez asked Springsteen to join his band, and here we are.

The Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County seeks to “empower all young people to reach their full potential as productive, caring, and responsible citizens,” according the group’s website.

There are county branches in Asbury Park and Red Bank.

“When the club was founded in 1938 on Main Street (in Asbury Park) it was at that time seen as a place for kids to go hang out and play and meet with their friends,” said club executive director Douglas Eagles. “Leaning doesn’t have to take place just in school. Skill sets can be further developed if you add on enhancements after the school day.”

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Music education plays a big role in furthering those skills sets at the club. The Hip-Hop Institute, a collaboration with the Lakehouse Music Academy and Asbury Park Music Foundation with the club, teaches kids how to write and record their own music.

Teamwork and collaboration are essential. A new club program will let kids work with visual and audio technology to produce their own videos and movies, Eagles said.

iStar, the owner of Asbury Lanes and the adjacent Asbury Hotel, has donated more than $500,000 to support the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County. Brian Cheripka, iStar’s Senior VP for Land Management, has served on the club’s board of directors since 2013.

Springsteen played two solo acoustic shows at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park for the benefit of the club in 1996. He’s been no stranger in town since the early years.

The Tangiers Blues Band features noted Springsteen photographer Danny Clinch. Springsteen visited Clinch at his Transparent Gallery in the summer of 2017. Both the Transparent Gallery and Asbury Lanes are physically connected to The Asbury hotel.

“He said hello. I walked him around and he posted up right next to that photo I took of him in 2007,” said Clinch said. “He hung out, watched the musicians and people were taking pictures, asking him to sign things. He was signing a book once in a while.”

The visit made national headlines.

Springsteen last appeared on an Asbury Park stage last month when he inducted Stevie Van Zandt into the New Jersey Hall of Fame, and he performed with Van Zandt and the Disciples of Soul, too, at the Paramount Theatre.

Prior to that, he guested for two performances on consecutive nights in the Asbury Park Music and Film Festival at the Paramount in May of 2017. The first night was during a reunion of musicians who played the former Upstage Club in the city, and the second was with Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul.

The APMFF, founded by the Asbury Park Press, also raises funds for music education programs for city kids, including the Hip-Hop Institute.

Springsteen has become associated with the annual Light of Day festival in January, which raises funds in the fight against Parkinson’s and related diseases. He last LOD appearance was in 2015. His last announced public performance on an Asbury Park stage were three Christmas shows at Convention Hall in 2003.

Springsteen has never performed at Asbury Lanes, but he and wife Patti Scialfa did attend a Wanda Jackson show there in 2006.

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Two hundred free tickets are being reserved for city residents, and there was a lottery for the tickets at asburylanes.com. There was also a contest for two tickets for the show and a room at The Asbury hotel.

Portugal. The Man, an alt-rock combo from Wasilla, Alaska, whose hits include “Feel It Still,” are technically the headliners on Monday.

“I suspect he’ll play a few numbers with Danny’s band and that’s it,” Farrell said. “Unless he takes over the show like he did at when he played with Joe Grushecky at the Wonder Bar (in 2015).”

If the Boss has a guitar around his neck in Asbury Park, all bets are off.

Chris Jordan: cjordan@app.com. Twitter: @chrisfhjordan

Asbury Lanes Reopening Party

Who: Portual. The Man with the Tangiers Blues Band featuring Danny Clinch, and Bruce Springsteen

When: 8 p.m. Monday, June 18

Where: Asbury Lanes, 209 4th Ave, Asbury Park

Tickets: Sold out

Info: www.asburylanes.com