By WALLACE STROBY | For INSIDE JERSEY magazine

IT'S ONE-THIRTY on a Saturday night/Sunday morning in January, and Bruce Springsteen is onstage at Asbury Park's Paramount Theatre, with more than two dozen musicians behind him. It's the grand finale of the 15th annual Light of Day benefit concert, an all-star gathering of Jersey Shore musicians performing to raise funds for Parkinson's disease research.

Bruce Springsteen performs at the 2015 Light of Day Concert in Asbury Park.

Springsteen, who's made an unbilled appearance at 11 of the 15 shows, is sharing the microphone with Bob Benjamin, a longtime Shore music promoter and manager who founded Light of Day and also has Parkinson's.

"You get a bunch of musicians in a room like this, and it's a wonderful thing," Springsteen tells the crowd. "There's a tremendous brotherhood and sisterhood in that. Obviously, it's a great cause, but I also come out just to feel that thing. It's a feeling in this room tonight. It's inspiring ... and it's always just great to be a part of. ... So, whoever knows this, feel free to sing along."

Then, guitar in hand, Springsteen begins to play a moving acoustic version of "Thunder Road," while the assembled musicians -- and some 1,600 audience members -- sing along, matching him word for word.

The Paramount show capped two weeks of Light of Day events at various venues in New Jersey and New York. With 17 billed acts performing on that Saturday night alone, Light of Day has come to be both an annual high point and a symbol of the Shore music scene.

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Some of the musicians that night -- notably "Southside Johnny" Lyon and former E Street Band drummer Vini "Maddog" Lopez -- go back more than 40 years with Springsteen. All three were veterans of the legendary Upstage Club on Asbury Park's Cookman Avenue, where, in the late '60s and early 1970s, Springsteen and other musicians honed their craft by jamming into the early morning hours.

The Upstage was little more than a windowless room above a shoe store, but music history was made there. It was at the Upstage that the nucleus of the E Street Band was formed. E Street bassist Garry Tallent, guitarist Steve Van Zandt, drummer Lopez and keyboard players David Sancious and Danny Federici were all Upstage regulars. In 1973, less than two years after the club closed, Springsteen released his first album, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." Two years after that he was on the covers of Time and Newsweek -- simultaneously -- on the heels of his breakthrough third album, "Born to Run."

BOOM AND BUST

The Shore music scene didn't begin with Springsteen, of course. The beach towns of central New Jersey -- especially Monmouth County -- have been synonymous with music since the late 1800s. Back then, march king John Philip Sousa's band was a frequent attraction at both the bandstands of Asbury Park and at the Great Auditorium in neighboring Ocean Grove.

Sousa's trombone player and conductor, Arthur Pryor, liked Asbury Park so much, he made it his home. Adding ragtime rhythms to Sousa's traditional sound, Pryor formed his own massively popular touring band in 1903 and played regularly at the Shore until 1930. Pryor, whose compositions included "Down at Asbury Park" and "On Jersey Shore," later turned to politics, winning a seat on the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

The Stone Pony opened in the mid-'70s in Asbury Park.

Throughout the 1940s, '50 and '60s, Asbury Park maintained its reputation as an entertainment mecca. Performers such as Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald appeared there regularly, both at the Paramount and the adjoining Convention Hall, as well as the Casino Arena at the south end of the boardwalk.

In the late 1950s and early '60s, Asbury Park's traditionally African-American West Side produced a number of doo-wop and R&B groups. In 1963, city native Lenny Welch had a million-selling hit with his recording of the big band standard "Since I Fell For You." Freehold's Billy Brown recorded with the West Side group The Uniques -- later known as The Broadways -- and eventually joined the vocal trio The Moments, which had a massive hit in 1970 with "Love on a Two-Way Street."

Ironically, as the city's fortunes fell in the late '60s, its music scene flourished. Creeping urban decay, crime, dwindling tourism and a riot in July 1970 devastated Asbury Park's infrastructure. Properties were abandoned and many of the city's once-grand hotels now housed former residents of a nearby mental hospital.

But cheap rents and a freer social environment helped to draw musicians from across the state to Asbury Park. After the Upstage closed, the scene spread to clubs such as the Sunshine In and the Student Prince, and eventually, in the mid-'70s, The Stone Pony, The Fast Lane and others.

LOCAL HEROES

In one sense, there's no such thing as a "Shore sound." The term is commonly identified with the horn-driven, rough-edged R&B-rooted music popularized by Southside Johnny and his band, the Asbury Jukes. But it's had many variations. Before finding international fame in the mid-'80s with his mega-hit arena rock, Sayreville native Jon Bon Jovi got his start performing at venues such as The Fast Lane, with his early bands The Rest and Atlantic City Expressway. In recent years, the four-piece Gaslight Anthem, fronted by Red Bank native Brian Fallon, has found a national following with their stripped-down, guitar-driven sound.

The Gaslight Anthem, from left, Alex Rosamilia, Brian Fallon, Ben Horowitz and Alex Levine.

What marks the Shore scene more than anything else is its sense of community. The Upstage may be long gone, but its spirit survives. Many of the performers onstage with Springsteen that Saturday night in January had played together -- off and on -- for decades. John Eddie, who performed a set with his own band earlier in the evening, may be from Virginia, but he found his musical home in Monmouth County in the early '80s, playing at venues such as the Pony and Big Man's West in Red Bank (owned by E Street band saxophonist Clarence Clemons).

Big Man's West -- and the Big Man himself -- are no more, but Eddie still plays the Pony and other Shore clubs, to a following that's nothing short of fanatic (Eddie calls them "the Faithful"). Along the way, he's released seven albums, and Kid Rock has recorded three of his songs.

Another Shore mainstay onstage that night was guitarist and singer Bobby Bandiera, one of the unsung heroes of the local music scene for more than 30 years. He began his career in bands such as Cats on a Smooth Surface, whose Sunday night gigs at the Stone Pony in the early '80s saw regular Springsteen guest appearances. In addition to fronting his own band, Bandiera has also toured with Bon Jovi and had a long stint with the Jukes. These days, he's often found leading the house bands at all-star benefit shows, including the long-running Hope concerts benefiting various charities, as well as his series of "Rock and Soul Revues" at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank.

Other once-promising Shore musicians have fallen by the wayside. Some opted for a steady paycheck and stability when their musical dreams failed to materialize. Others died relatively young. In his song "The Promise," Springsteen paid tribute to them. "I won big once and I hit the coast," he sang. "But somehow I paid the big cost/ Inside I felt like I was carrying the broken spirits/ Of all the other ones who lost."

Many of those names are on a black stone monument on the boardwalk outside the Paramount, dedicated to "The Creators of the Sound of Asbury Park." Springsteen's name is there, along with other E Street Band members, side-by-side with relative unknowns. Some of the benches on the boardwalk are adorned with brass plaques bearing the names of "Asbury Angels" -- Shore music veterans who have died. (Arthur Pryor was among the first to be honored.)

NEW FACES, NEW PLACES

How Asbury's ongoing redevelopment will affect its music culture is yet to be seen.

"Neptune City" is the name of the debut album from Nicole Atkins, a Neptune native.

The Stone Pony -- the venue at which Springsteen has performed more than any other -- celebrated its 40th year in 2014, having survived several attempts to raze it as part of various developers' beachfront plans. Some venues, such as The Fast Lane and the long-abandoned Casino Arena, have fallen victim to the wrecking ball, but others carry on. The Saint -- an intimate club on Main Street with a capacity of just 150 -- books both local and national acts, as does The Wonder Bar, located across the street from the Paramount, and nearby Asbury Lanes, a combination bowling alley/nightclub.

New venues have opened, as well. When not touring nationally, singer-songwriter and Neptune native Nicole Atkins can sometimes be found performing impromptu sets at the Langosta Lounge on the boardwalk in Asbury Park. Just a few yards away, a once-decrepit Howard Johnson's restaurant has been retrofitted into a trendy supper club owned by longtime Shore restaurateur and musician Tim McLoone.

It's easy to feel nostalgic for the Shore music scene that once was, but there's no need. It's still there. You can hear live music at any number of venues almost seven nights a week, whether it's from veteran performers or newcomers. You don't need a time machine, just transportation and maybe a few bucks for a cover charge. And best of all, you can do it anytime. This month. This week. Tonight.

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