Jeff Kazee performs at The Cutting Room in New York on Dec. 20.
Asbury Jukes keyboard player and music director Jeff Kazee sang and played one of Southside Johnny’s signature songs, “I Don’t Want to Go Home,” at his annual holiday show at The Cutting Room in New York, Dec. 20. After it, he told a funny story about him and Southside fighting during a show in Germany, and then said, among other things, “He’s not done. He’s just done doing it, (for) a while.”
You can watch the whole segment in the video below, which also includes the next number, a portion of Bob Dylan’s farewell song, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” with Kazee inserting the name “Johnny” into the final line.
Southside Johnny announced, earlier that day, that he is retiring from touring, due to health issues, and that his show with the Jukes at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, New Year’s Eve, has been cancelled. Some people who have posted about this online have taken Southside’s statement to mean that he is retiring from music, but as Kazee’s comment emphasizes, this is not true. He is just retiring from touring.
Asbury Jukes guitarist Glenn Alexander posted on Facebook, Dec. 21, “I do hope that Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes will do something, some final show or shows down the road, but it does seem like this could be the final chapter to a iconic, historical, ground-breaking New Jersey rock group. It has indeed been my great honor, privilege and pleasure to have been a member of Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes for the past 15 years.”
Thanks to Sammy Steinlight for posting the Jeff Kazee video.
I have also included, below it, Low Cut Connie’s tribute to Southside at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, Dec. 20 (posted by Mark Scotti).
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