Eddie and The Cruisers was not a real band, but the movie stars the great sax player named “Tunes.”
All of us who lived through the decades from the ’50s to the ’80s at Tony Marts know that there was clearly only one “greatest band that ever played” there.
The band has been enshrined in The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame following its final concert and immortalized in the famous movie, “The Last Waltz,” one of the greatest concert films ever made.
The enigmatic, musically famous event in the history of Tony Marts occurred in May 1965 when Conway Twitty convinced Tony “Mart” Marotta to hire “Levon and The Hawks.”
They quickly became the rage of the Jersey shore. They were the most popular rock ‘n’ roll band playing an entire season as the house band.
In August of that year, Levon Helm came down from the apartments over Tony Mart’s and took a call in the old, wooden phone booth in the back.
The call was from Bob Dylan, offering them good money to tour and record with him as he went electric.
With Tony Mart’s blessing, they left Sunday of that week, on or about Aug. 20, 1965.
Conway Twitty rocked at The Mart for six years from 1960 to 1965. He played his last rock ‘n’ roll concert there in 1965 and went on to become a great country music star.
The rockabilly sound that they performed nightly was truly a major influence on what has now become the popular music genres known as Americana roots, rock ‘n’ roll and jam music.
Eleven years after Levon and The Hawks left Tony Marts and became The Band, they performed the famous final concert, which will now be reenacted in one of the major entertainment events at the Jersey shore this summer, “The Tony Mart Legacy Last Waltz.”
The shows will be performed on Wednesday, July 24 at Mardi Gras on the
Boardwalk in Atlantic City and Friday, July 26 at The Atlanticare Concerts on the Beach in Somers Point.
For the first time ever, Tony Marts will present a legacy concert at Cape May Convention Hall on Monday, July 29, complete with excellent acoustics, a VIP section and ambience for southern Cape May County visitors and residents who will especially enjoy their own Howard Street Ramble performing at the show.
In the movie, you hear and see performances by Bob Dylan and The Band, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Dr. John, Neil Young, Ron Wood, Ronnie Hawkins and Neil Diamond.
On stage at The Tony Mart Legacy Last Waltz performances, you will see Dave Malone, the star lead vocalist and guitarist from The Radiators; Mark Mullins from Bonerama leading the horn section, including South Jersey’s own Howard Isaacson; Bob Margolin, who appeared in The Last Waltz as Muddy Waters’ guitar player; The Honey Island Swamp Band and Johnny Sansone.
This will be an awesome three-night residency in South Jersey that should not be missed at any of these venues!
It is one of the most complex and involved productions ever presented by Tony Marts, celebrating the Tony Mart legacy of rock ‘n’ roll at the Jersey shore.
There was only one greatest band to ever play Tony Marts. It was Levon and The Hawks!
