Asbury Park has some excellent music venues: The Stone Pony, The Wonder Bar, The Saint, Asbury Lanes. On any night of the week, at least one of those spots is likely to have something worth seeing. I think it's time that we add The Berkeley Bar and Langosta Lounge to that list.
It's true that neither place is primarily a music venue. There's the occasional post-wedding or post-bar/bat mitzvah crowd to weave through at The Berkeley. There are the late-night diners who weren't expecting a rock show at Langosta Lounge. Neither space has the sophisticated sound capabilities of the other, more famous, establishments. But both The Berkeley Bar and Langosta Lounge feature a selection of top, local acts almost every Friday and Saturday night of the year. For free.
This past Saturday, I noticed that Black Jesuses would be playing a 10pm show at Langosta. I headed out after the kids went to bed to catch their set. As it turned out, the set was going to happen closer to 11. Rather than wait it out at the bar, I walked the few blocks over to The Berkeley and caught Frank Lombardi's solo acoustic set there.
I saw Lombardi in the spring, opening for Nicole Atkins, at what may have been the inaugural post-Sandy performance at Langosta Lounge, so I was happy to find that he was opening the evening at The Berkeley on Saturday. He had several supporters in the audience and impressed with a set that included an excellent cover of The Shins' "New Slang."
Following Lombardi's performance, I walked back to Langosta Lounge. Black Jesuses -- a duo made up of Parlor Mob members David James Rosen on guitar and Sam Bey on drums -- eventually came on at around at 11:30. The band focus on a raw, almost pure blues, sound. Their set includes covers of Robert Johnson's "Me and the Devil" and Reverend Gary Davis's "Death Don't Have No Mercy" along with originals like "Rotten Schemin' Dirty and Mean," "Roll Call Blues," and "Tidbit."
I forgot the SD card for my camera; so after a few shots of Frank Lombardi, I had no more room in my memory. Luckily, I do have some shots of Black Jesuses from their set as openers for The Black Lips on November 3rd.
Don't forget to add Langosta Lounge and The Berkeley bar to your list of places to check out when planning your weekend live music activities. I usually go here to find out what they've got scheduled.
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