FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE
1. JOE D'URSO DISCUSSES WORLD HUNGER YEAR IN HIS SECOND PONY INTERVIEW
2. CALENDAR OF EVENTS
This Week at The Stone Pony: John Eddie (Wednesday), Soozie Tyrell (Friday), Hoobastank (Saturday)
Happy Thanksgiving from The Stone Pony! (Yes, We're Open!)
New on the Pony Calendar: Gary U.S. Bonds (December 5), Dirty Wednesday with the Dirty Water Dogs (December 10 & 17), Hippy Holidaze with Juggling Suns and Splintered Sunlight (December 12), Leon Russell (February 20)
The Official Stone Pony
Store now online!
We're proud to announce the debut of our brand new Official Stone Pony
Online Store! The store has a widely expanded assortment of items and is
ready to serve you right now with secure online ordering. Get a head start
on holiday gift giving with a visit to the all-new
Official Online Store.
The Jersey shore music scene, with the Stone Pony at its center, has a long tradition of supporting charitable causes. This tradition dates back almost to the beginnings of the club itself, and several of these worthy benefits have found a home here, returning to combine great music and an important effort into memorable evenings. One of the most notable of these is World Hunger Year. A New York-based organization founded by musician Harry Chapin and radio talk show host Bill Ayres in 1975, WHY is the leader in the fight against hunger and poverty around the world. Its goal is to find long-term solutions to hunger and poverty at a grass-roots level.
Musician Joe D'Urso became involved in WHY back in 1997, when he contributed a track to a Bruce Springsteen tribute benefit CD released that year, and later participated in two WHY benefit concerts held in New York City. He has since donated countless hours of his time, and became a founding member of Artists Against Poverty -- a WHY program which recently gained the support of Areosmith (see WHY's excellent website for details) -- and became a supervisor of WHY's annual Hungerthon, their major fund-raising initiative.
The Pony Newsletter last spoke with Joe in November 2001 about his music and efforts on behalf of WHY. The World Hunger Year show at the club that year was a big success, and this year's event this past Saturday was another memorable evening of talented musicians and enthusiastic fans taking part in a good time for a good cause. We spoke with D'Urso prior to Saturday's show, and figured it was time to invite him back to discuss what's gone on in the past two years, what has changed and what has stayed the same.
The Stone Pony: Start off with a run-down of this year's WHY show at the Stone Pony. Who are the artists who will be performing, and what other activities will be going on that evening? Do you have any specific goals in terms of money you're looking to raise that you're hoping to accomplish?
Joe D'Urso: The artists participating at this year's Jersey Shore Hungerthon are: JD&SC, Boccigalupe & The Bad Boys, Danny White Band, Maybe Pete, Jason Shain, Bobby Strange, Rob Dye, One Eyed Jack, Melissa Chill and Jennifer Glass. We'll be raffling off a signed guitar that evening and we'll have CD and DVD giveaways as Sony will be donating some of the new Bruce stuff. The goals for the evening are easy; lots of great music and artists, raise some more awareness about WHY and what it does as an organization, to raise a few dollars for them to help continue their work and to collect a good amount of canned food for the Monmouth Food Bank.
The Stone Pony: The Stone Pony WHY benefit is part of a group of events, Hungerthon 2003, that World Hunger Year is conducting. Can you give us a general overview of Hungerthon’s mission, and a specific run-down of this year's Hungerthon schedule of events?
Joe D'Urso: The full WHY story can be found at www.worldhungeryear.org; but in a nutshell, WHY advances long-term solutions to hunger and poverty by supporting community-based organizations that empower individuals and build self-reliance, i.e., offering job training, education and after-school programs; increasing access to housing and healthcare; providing microcredit and entrepreneurial opportunities; teaching people to grow their own food; and assisting small farmers. WHY connects these organizations to funders, media and legislators.
This year, Hungerthon is quite exciting as The Hard Rock Cafe has come aboard and [has] been a great help. As in the past, The Infinity Broadcasting Network blocks hours at a time on the stations it owns in the New York area and WHY is able to conduct a telethon of sorts which includes phone donations, auctions of various kinds (signed guitars, walk-on TV parts, etc.) and general information about WHY and what is going on with poverty and hunger in this country and who is falling in between the cracks and who may fall in between the cracks in the very near future.
The Stone Pony: Some of the artists, such as Boccigaulpe and Jason Shain, have participated in past WHY events, while others are performing for the first time to benefit the charity. How do you normally go about enlisting support and getting performers involved, and do you find that those who take part enjoy continuing their involvement?
Joe D'Urso: Yeah, Bocci and Shain are good friends and have been there for WHY before. This was the easiest show I have every organized! I sent out a few emails and phone calls and was able to get everyone to say yes within a day or two. It shows once again the great giving nature of the New Jersey/Jersey Shore musicians and artists that are always there for a good cause.
The Stone Pony: A few weeks ago, you performed as part of the Light of Day events put together by Bob Benjamin to benefit the Parkinson's Disease Foundation and the Kristen Ann Carr Fund. To what do you attribute the culture of charity and support for these causes that's so prevalent on the local New Jersey music scene? Do you find that the artists who perform at these events together develop more of a connection with each other?
Joe D'Urso: Without a doubt, I have relationships with other musicians, that have become friendships, that are directly related to The Light of Day Benefits over these past four years and the WHY Hungerthon shows. There is a real connection as everyone knows exactly why they are there; to give the audience a good time, to do something that we all are very fortunate and lucky to do and to raise funds and awareness for great causes. I think Jersey musicians have something that is very special. Where it comes from I'm not exactly sure. [Mine] comes from my upbringing and the music and humanity of Harry Chapin and Bruce Springsteen. I think a lot of the other musicians realize how amazing Bruce has been with his time and money over the years and it follows a tradition of getting involved. Southside Johnny has been a really great friend to WHY over the years and we all know what Little Steven has meant politically and socially. I think it comes down to each individual person and band stepping up and being a good person with a conscience.
The Stone Pony: On the topic of Light of Day, want to take a few moments to tell us your feelings having participated in that event and all of the work that Bob Benjamin has done in putting those shows together? Fans who were there can share what it was like to watch the show, but what was the experience like actually performing on stage? Do you have any good stories from the after party?
Joe D'Urso: Bob has been nothing less than a juggernaut in his ability to round up the artists and make these shows into an event. He has had great help from Tony Palligrosi on the planning side and Tony Amato on the musical production side. I am very proud to call Bob my co-manager and friend. He inspires me to keep the wheel moving and not to complain about smaller everyday nonsense, as he constantly rises above his own problems and keeps moving forward.
Performing on the shows is great as it gives me a chance to see a lot of the "guys" I don't get to see too often, as I spent a lot of time on the road and in Europe. It's a little hectic as well with so many artists, guitars and everyone playing short sets, but that also lends to the energy of the evening. Stories from the afterparties ... hmm ... let's just say it usually ends with the famous and the not-so-famous, tequila and the back bar of the Pony. (Laughs.)
The Stone Pony: Back to WHY, can you estimate how much money has been raised towards its mission of eliminating hunger and poverty since you became involved? Can you provide some explanation of where that money goes and how directly it can benefit the people it's raised to assist?
Joe D'Urso: I don't have exact numbers of what WHY has raised since I become involved with them since 1997. I am just one of many, many small cogs in the wheel that is made up of so many great everyday people who think that hunger is this country is, to quote Harry Chapin, "obscene." I tend to direct anyone and everyone to the website, www.worldhungeryear.org, as they answer all questions and tell you exactly where the funds go and how they can help people to help themselves.
The Stone Pony: What advice would you give to people who would like to get involved with causes such as World Hunger Year, but might not know where to start or the best ways in which they can be helpful? What are the best ways that people can support, outside of simply giving money, and start to participate?
Joe D'Urso: Volunteering! They are so many worthwhile organizations all around the states and especially the New York/New Jersey area. People can call WHY by phone or go to the website and get in contact with them as they always needs more volunteers to help answer phones during Hungerthon and various other jobs.
People just need to make the first move, call an organization, go down to a meeting, meet some of the people involved. Odds are you will find a great bunch of like-minded people looking to do "something" to make this a better place to live.
The Stone Pony: What do you feel are the greatest impediments in the way of solving the issues of hunger and poverty WHY is working to fight? It is simply inevitable that these problems will always be with us, or are there real economic or political changes that can be made to reduce these burdens? Have there been successes during your involvement with this mission that have made you feel the work has been worthwhile?
Joe D'Urso: I feel the greatest work that WHY has done is get people off the horrible welfare cycle that exists today. They help people learn self-reliance which is the first step in making many parts of one's life better. In this day and age when so many programs get cut or are reduced, the job that WHY is doing is invaluable as they direct people to the right organization that may be out there to help that person at that particular time. May seem simple in theory, but to some of these people it is absolutely life-saving! I don't feel like all the problems are inevitable and some have gone away or have been reduced. But, it takes time, understanding, hard work and money to change the way we as a country have been going for some years now.
The Stone Pony: Talk about Joe D’Urso and Stone Caravan for a moment. What are the latest goings on with the band? Where are you going to be touring over the next few weeks, and what plans are you working on for releasing any new albums or other projects?
Joe D'Urso: I just got back from a two-week tour of the UK where I was supporting Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes for the third time in three years. That is always a lot of fun, as you may imagine. I return back to England for a one-week solo acoustic tour the week before Christmas and then return back to Europe with Stone Caravan for a three-week tour from February 3 to February 23 which will bring us to the UK, Ireland and Italy. Also, in December we will be making our annual appearance at Blankfest which has been running for seven years now. It's a great benefit show hosted and run by Kenn Rowell of the Bagdaddios. Admission is one blanket; and Kenn and an army of volunteers then go out on Christmas Eve and give out these blankets to the homeless in New York City. Modern day Santa Clauses ...
There aren't any new band releases scheduled for 2004 as our latest release "Both Sides of Life" was released in January 2003 and is a double CD, so I see at least one more year of supporting that release. I will be releasing a 10-song solo acoustic CD in December that is a side project of sorts. It's not the next "official" release, but songs that I wrote this past summer and a few songs that have been sitting around for a while that I wanted to get out for a while now. It's a very quiet acoustic record, though some of these songs may see light of day again on the next JD&SC record. We were also included in the Light of Day CD project which was a great honor as we covered "Badlands" and had the Jukes on horns!
The Stone Pony: The Stone Pony has a history of supporting worthy causes and for many years has run charity shows such as we've discussed in this interview. How important is the participation of the club in putting together a show such as the WHY event and, as an artist and coordinator of such an event, how would you describe the Pony's reputation for being involved in such a way?
Joe D'Urso: The Stone Pony has been there for so many organizations over the years. They have been there twice for me with the WHY shows and twice for the LOD shows so I have nothing but good things to say about them, the work they have done and the time they have put into good causes. It's extremely important that a community, be it the artist community or the general community, has a place to come together in song and a place where people can try their best to make the world just a little bit "better place to be."
The World Hunger Year official website can be found at www.worldhungeryear.org. Joe D'Urso's official site is located at www.jdcaravan.com.
Now at AsburyPark.net:
Springsteen contest boosts merchants
Bruce Springsteen's three holiday concerts at Asbury Park's
Convention Hall sold out within minutes, but a contest involving the city's
business community has as its grand prize a coveted pair of tickets and a
meeting with Springsteen himself on Dec. 7.
Thursday Nights: Ladies Night
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specials. Doors open at 9:30 pm. DJ Prime and B.G. are on the wheels of
steel ... Dress to impress - our promoters are tough on the door ... Come
see for yourself what all the hype is about. It's on every Thursday
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