{"id":144,"date":"2008-05-16T14:16:53","date_gmt":"2008-05-16T14:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=144"},"modified":"2010-01-02T18:31:24","modified_gmt":"2010-01-02T18:31:24","slug":"mike-ness-at-the-stone-pony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=144","title":{"rendered":"Mike Ness at The Stone Pony"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asbury Park, NJ<\/p>\n

Mike Ness,<\/strong> frontman for the classic punk-hardcore band Social Distortion<\/strong> and virtuoso guitarist, now performs and records mainly under his own name. His touring band is made up at least partly by members of Social Distortion. On May 16, 2008 he brought his tour to this landmark club, a venue with which he was sufficiently familiar to spark his comments about changes in the urban environment of that decaying Jersey shore town.
\n Heavily-inked and hair slicked back, Ness took off his Stetson hat and opened with one of his originals, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Devil in Miss Jones\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and then proceeded quickly to an upbeat cover of Bob Dylan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t No Use.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He continued for over an hour during which he accomplished his miracle of converting an audience of hard rockers into country-and-western fans for a night. Homage was paid to pioneers Hank Willliams<\/strong> with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153All I Do Is Cry,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Carl Perkins <\/strong>with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Let the Jukebox Keep on Playing,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and Johnny Cash<\/strong> with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ballad of a Lonely Man.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d There were, of course, Mike Ness originals, too, including \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cheating at Solitaire,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Rest of Our Lives\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Misery Loves Company.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n

The mainstay of his repertoire remains autobiographical like the Social Distortion classic \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Story of My Life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, but Ness<\/strong> also revives bluegrass classics and depression-era standards. Encores included his own \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Charmed Life,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Mike\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s expression of gratitude for his survival and success, rendered without irony, which says a lot about the heart of this great artist. Ness called for recognition of the openers, Jesse Dayton and his band, authentic representatives of the style that Ness, former punk rocker, in his artistic maturity has now adopted. <\/p>\n


\n In the end he included two standards, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I Fought the Law\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ring of Fire.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The lyrics to Ness<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s body of work, including both his solo material and that of Social Distortion, have laid bare the painful tribulations which he survived: substance abuse, the untimely loss of a friend, shattered relationships. On this occasion he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t perform his signature anthem \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ball and Chain.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Perhaps he no longer needs to plead that they be taken away. But in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Dope Fiend Blues\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he reminds us that he \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sold my soul to the Devil, and then I stole it back.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

While his early biography may have been a tale of woe, his grateful acknowledgement of how well things have turned out is shown by his resolute and grateful homage to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153roots\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Americana. Mike Ness<\/strong> has earned the status as a national treasure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asbury Park, NJ Mike Ness, frontman for the classic punk-hardcore band Social Distortion and virtuoso guitarist, now performs and records mainly under his own name. His touring band is made up at least partly by members of Social Distortion. On May 16, 2008 he brought his tour to this landmark club, a venue with which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}