By DON STINE
 Coaster Photo by John Cavanaugh: Southside Johnny Lyon signs autographs on the Asbury Park boardwalk July 3. |
Southside Johnny Lyon may sing I Dont Want To Go Home but the Ocean Grove native has been living back in his hometown for the past few years and says he is lovin it.
The town feels like the original Ocean Grove. Its going back to the kind of town I grew up in and I think its the greatest town in the United States and the world. Its calm. Its right on the ocean. It has charm, he said.
Lyon greeted fans and signed autographs last Thursday at John Cavanaughs Rocktography exhibit in the Asbury Shutterbugs Galleria on the boardwalk in Asbury Park.
Later that night Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes performed at the Stone Pony to a huge and enthusiastic crowd. The band played songs from the 1978 Hearts of Stone album, marking its 30th anniversary.
Im looking forward to it, Lyon said earlier in the day.
Miami Steve Van Zandt helped arranged and produce the Hearts of Stone album and also contributed many of the songs, along with some by Bruce Springsteen. The album was voted by Rolling Stone magazine in 1982 as one of the top 100 albums of the 1970s and 1980s.
Lyon, who was born and raised in Ocean Grove, returned to Ocean Grove after living in Nashville and in Delaware for a number of years.
Im home again and Im lovin it, he said
Lyon said part of the reason he left Ocean Grove years ago was the attention he was getting locally.
It was getting to be a little bit too much. Plus I wanted to see the world, he said.
But Lyon said people dont bother him much anymore now that he is back home.
I guess they dont bother me because Im older now, he said.
Lyon said he has a new album coming out soon, most likely to be released this September.
It a Big Band album with eclectic types of music, from swing, to rock n roll, to even New Orleans funeral marches, he said.
Lyon was asked if he ever had his fortune told by Asbury Park fortune teller Madam Marie like his friend Bruce Springsteen did years ago.
No, she used to scare me, he said.
 Coaster Photo by John Cavanaugh: Southside Johnny Lyon (right) is pictured with photographer John Cavanaugh at Cavanaughs Rocktography exhibit in the Asbury Shutterbugs Galleria on the boardwalk in Asbury Park. |
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