On Jan. 14, 2012 Peter Elkas fulfilled a life long dream: he met and sang with his musical hero Bruce Springsteen. It all went down at the Paramount Theatre in Ashbury Park, New Jersey as part of an annual fundraiser called Light of Day but how Peter got there is a much more interesting and elaborate story.
In honour of the Boss releasing his 17th studio album Wrecking Ball this week, we thought we asked Elkas to share his Springsteen tale through his own photos and words.
Meetings in Ashbury Park
1. Yes, that’s Bruce Springsteen and me, Peter Elkas, together at last in Asbury Park, NJ over Light Of Day weekend 2012. Want to know how this happened?
2. I guess you have to go back to the beginning. This is a Bruce-obsessed me in 1994, still 17, in Belmar, NJ (a neighboring town of Asbury Park) at the corner of 10th avenue and E Street more excited to meet a street sign than I had been to graduate high-school. As soon as I bought my first car (brown ‘85 Dodge Aries, tan interior, full bench seat in the front), my friends Tim and Tom and I drove from Montreal to Asbury to make a pilgrimage to The Boss. We even rang his doorbell in Rumson. “Is Bruce Home?” (it was a buzzer on a squawk-box; the voice told us he was not). I did get his autograph the following February after a show at Place-Des-Arts in Montreal. I said, “I went to your house last summer and rang the doorbell.” He said, “That was you?” photo by Thomas Unterberger
3. I pursued music with Springsteen as my primary inspiration. This is me at 19 or 20 Brucing-out like heck on stage in Toronto with our band the Local Rabbits. photo by Jon Bartlett
4. Things have really changed. Now I have a beard. This is me Brucing-out like heck with the Peter Elkas Band 15 years later on stage at Light Of Day 2011 in Hamilton, Ontario in November. The Light Of Day Foundation is an organization that funds research for possible cures, improved treatments, and support for patients who suffer with Parkinson’s disease (http://www.lightofday.org). Started by New Jersey music industry veteran and Bruce-o-phile, Bob Benjamin, the fundraisers have evolved from one rock concert at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ in 2000, to multi-night rock n roll events that take place in the U.S., Europe, and Canada. Bob is a Parkinson’s patient and has vowed to do everything he can to beat the disease. He has inspired many to contribute in any way they can to further the cause including Springsteen, who has appeared at most of the Asbury Park LOD events. The shows are named after a Springsteen song that is the title of a movie starring Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett. Fox also suffers from Parkinson’s and has appeared at the Asbury event in the past. photo by Kaiden Seven
5. I was added to the Hamilton event by my friends Lou Molinaro and Andrea Rehill. Lou owns This Ain’t Hollywood where the Hamiton LOD takes place, and Andrea is the LOD Hamilton coordinator. She is a huge Bruce fan and brought me on board knowing I would connect with the spirit of the event and possibly put some people in the house. I swiftly called Joel Plaskett, knowing that if we could get Joel involved, we could do some damage to Parkinson’s that night. He came through. We added a second night and rocked ‘em hard with the Plaskett-Elkas one-two punch. We raised over $5000.00. Thanks, again Joel! photo by Kaiden Seven
6. Other key figures in this story are Willie Nile (left) and Joe D’Urso And Stone Caravan (Joe pictured in the center). Willie is a legendary underground New York songwriter who has seen and rocked it all. Joe D’Urso is one of the main organisers of LOD and front-man of the wrecking-ball Jersey bar-band Stone Caravan. These guys tour tirelessly to promote awareness and raise money for LOD all over. Coincidentally, I had met Willie before in Halifax. He rocks the city annually and is pals with Plaskett. Here they are blasting through a tune of Willie’s in Hamilton. photo by Jeff Ross
7. Another key person in this epic tale is The Sopranos’ Vincent “Big Pussy” Pastore. He is a dedicated contributor and travels with the bands as the M.C. for the LOD events. I have gone on record as saying The Sopranos is my favorite cultural phenomenon, so meeting and befriending Big Puss was surreal. photo by Jeff Ross
8. Here the Elkas Band poses with Vinnie Pastore outside of This Ain’t Hollywood after LOD Hamilton in November. He loved our band and jammed with us on Them’s classic hit Gloria. We had never played it before. Neither had he. That’s a copy of our album Repeat Offender he is holding. He’d better not rat us out. photo by Jeff Ross
9. My reward for doing a good job in the Hammer was to be added to a songwriter event at Light Of Day Asbury Park, NJ. I was thrilled to participate. What’s more, I was asked to sit-in with Joe D’Urso and Stone Caravan at the Main Event at the Paramount Theater on the Saturday night. This meant all-access and watching the whole thing from the wings. I drove down from Toronto on Friday the 13th through some insane weather that made the van look like when the Delorian has just traveled through time in Back To The Future (all icy and stuff). We arrived in Asbury Park, and the same excitement I had when I was 17 came rushing back. I had almost forgotten how much romance this place had inspired in me. As I was driving down Kingsley, I fumbled to quickly put on ‘Something In The Night’ from the album Darkness On The Edge Of Town. The first lyric is, “I’m driving down Kingsley figuring I’ll get a drink...”. The strip is simple and stark, especially at night in Winter. We came upon the Paramount theatre (pictured here) where the main event would take place on Saturday night. The word had been passed from multiple reliable sources that Bruce would be “sitting”-in with Joe Grushecky and The House Rockers as an unannounced guest. Remember, I had all-access...
Stay tuned for Meetings in Ashbury Park part 2 tomorrow where Elkas meets members from Clarence Clemons and The Red Bank Rockers.
Related links:
Elvis Costello and The Roots cover Bruce Springsteen [VIDEO]