By William Kelly
Live music enthusiasts know the name Tony Mart’s from its nightclub heyday, to its great shows at the Somers Point Beach and Kennedy Plaza in Atlantic City. Now Tony Mart’s is taking the show on the road to Cape May.
There will be two shows at the Cape May Convention Hall. The first will be 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 29, with the second set for 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3.
While some locals will undoubtedly make the half-hour trip down the Parkway to Exit 0, it will be a new experience to many Cape May music enthusiasts, so they should know what they are getting into.
Although the old Somers Point nightclub is long gone, Carmen Marotta, the son of the late Anthony Marotta, has continued the family’s musical traditions. With his wife Nancy, they travel frequently to New Orleans to attend music festivals there, and often return with some of the terrific talent they meet and showcasing them at their local shows so we can all appreciate them.
As Marotta has said: “Summertime at the Jersey Shore is rich with rock ‘n’ roll history. In 1965 Conway Twitty brought Levon and the Hawks to Tony Mart’s, and Bob Dylan took them away to Woodstock to become The Band. In 1982 the rock ‘n’ roll cult classic ‘Eddie and the Cruisers’ was filmed at Tony Mart’s. This year Tony Mart’s will celebrate those iconic moments July 29 with the Tony Mart’s Legacy Last Waltz.”
Cape May has a strong jazz festival tradition, and jazz fans should recognize these Big Easy bands as the epitome of where jazz originated.
Performers will include The Radiators’ Dave Malone, Bonerama’s Mark Mullins, Johnny Sansone, and the Honey Island Swamp Band in the musical rendition of “The Last Waltz,” the Martin Scorsese movie filmed 11 years after Levon & the Hawks left Tony Mart’s.
These stars of the New Orleans Jazz Fest and other major festival events around the country will perform the Americana Rock Tribute of the season featuring the music of Bob Dylan and The Band, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Dr. John, Muddy Waters, Neil Diamond, Ronnie Hawkins, and Mike Bloomfield.
Among the headline guest stars is Tre Twitty, who will be performing his “pappy’s” (Conway Twitty’s) hits as they were performed in 1965 with the Hawks at Tony Mart’s. Tre’s father, a country-western star, gave up rock ‘n’ roll while he was at Tony Mart’s to follow his heart and pursue country music.
Also scheduled is a Tony Mart’s All Star Jam Concert with Cape May’s own Howard Street Ramble, along with Tre Twitty as part of the inaugural Tony Mart Legacy Concert in Cape May.
“From New Orleans to Arkansas and the Jersey Shore, celebrate our musical history and ramble with us to Cape May,” Marotta said. There is limited VIP seating with an exclusive meet and greet reception after the show.
Besides the Monday night July 29 show, a second show is scheduled for Saturday night, Aug. 3, featuring John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, whose music was the primary attraction of the classic movie “Eddie and the Cruisers.”
“With Bruce and Southside Johnny, John Cafferty and his Beaver Brown Band are one of the greatest living legacies of East Coast Jersey Shore rock ‘n’ roll,” Marotta said.
Cafferty and his band have been releasing a series of Jersey Shore songs, including “Day in the Sun.” But it is his classic tunes including “On The Dark Side,” “Tender Years,” and “Wild Summer Nights,” that made the Jersey Shore immortal in the classic cult rock ‘n’ roll film, “Eddie & The Cruisers.”
Somers Point and Ocean City is where most of the movie was filmed. Its legacy is the foundation for Tony Mart’s Presents and the popular AtlantiCare Concerts on the Beach in Somers Point, which was named the No. 1 outdoor concert series in the United States by USA Today in 2023.
“All of that is our legacy,” said Marotta. “And for the first time, it will come to Cape May on Saturday night, Aug. 3, in the middle of the magic that is a Jersey Shore summer.”
Tickets are on sale now and a limited number of VIP, meet and greet tickets will be available for Cape May Convention Hall where Cafferty will rock a two-hour plus show with all of his hits.
“Rock ‘n’ roll fans say that John Cafferty sounds like Bruce Springsteen,” said Marotta, “but we know better. John Cafferty sounds like John Cafferty, one of the greatest East Coast platinum selling rock ‘n’ roll stars of our lifetime. There will be no opening act.
Tickets are $45, $55, and $75 and available at capemaycity.com/box-office-ticket-info Billkelly3@gmail.com
