A Most Memorable Reckless Steamy Night
Over the past quarter century, we have had many memorable nights at the Red Bank Woman’s Club, but it would have been hard to top the final show for 2025. First, we had never done a show during the holidays, always January through October, but Joe Hughes and his wife Pam had planned a vacation to France during the last half of October. Since Goldenseal has become our traditional end of the season attraction, we decide that since Thanksgiving was late this year, we would hold it the Friday before. In addition, Joe’s law firm donates a scholarship in memory of past JSJBF president, Dennis Eschbach, and past treasurer, Danny Rongo, who both spent time in the band.
Joe and Pam also arranged for Danny’s widow, Andrea, to be there, and of course, Doris Lazur, who was by Dennis side during his time in the foundation, and was our office manager, was there, as she always is. In addition, former board member, Wayne Bell was in from Portland Oregon, as well as long time supporter, Trish “Irish Rain” Hogan, who was visiting from her new home in Ireland. If that wasn’t enough, Jill Stryker, who plays cardio tennis with Joe, came with her husband, and brought along her brother, Matt O’Ree!
The band, which will be celebrating their 25th anniversary, consists of Joe on acoustic guitar and vocals, Pat Martucci on drums and vocals, Jesse Kessler on bass and vocals, with the most recent member Art Hoffer on guitar and vocals. Joining them, as he does quite frequently, Lee Sanderson was on the sax.
They kicked of the first set to a packed house with an excellent rendition of the Traveling Wilburys nugget, “Handle with Care.” This ten-song set was filled with a curated group of choice covers, like Jimi Hendrix version of “All Along the Watchtower,” and The Band’s classic, “The Weight,” along with New Brunswick’s own Looking Glass, only hit, the 1972 number 1 tune “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)”. One song that their audiences always respond to is their original number, “This is My Home,” and on this night it was warmly received.
At intermission, Joe presented the JSJBF with a donation scholarship check along with some heart felt comments about Dennis and Danny, with some funny stories, including Danny’s ability to satirize some of the more heated and lengthy board meeting discussions in a hilariously funny and non-attacking way. His impressions were amazing. As a participant at those meetings, I am glad we now have a much smaller board, and meetings are finished in a reasonable timeframe.
Due to the length of the intermission, the second set was only six songs, but again, the choices were great ones. After a rousing version of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Prideand Joy,” Joe prefaced the next number, Dire Strait’s “Sultans of Swing,” listen to Art’s playing to see if you can hear any mistakes. Well, Art was flawless and the band received a big round of applause. Cream’s version of the seminal Robert Johnson tune “Crossroads,” included some outstanding bass from Jesse that was reminiscent of Jack Bruce, and took this song to another level. The finale, The Door’s “Roadhouse Blues,” is a staple of Goldenseal’s repertoire, and on this night, they were joined by our own Gary Neuwirth on harp, and Matt O’Ree on guitar, and did they ever rock the house. It was a fitting ending to a wonderful evening, honoring brothers in music who are gone, but not forgotten as well as helping aspiring musicians of the future.
For more about Goldenseal, and up coming gigs, visit them on Facebook or www.GoldensealTheBand.com