month and doing an original tune.
Joe was one of three or four art-
ists who were the backbone of
the series. It didn’t matter who
the artist for the month was, Joe
would come to play and bang out
his covers and it was always one
of my favorite sets of the day.
He would go on to bring his
own long-running series - “The
Long Weekend Variety Show” - to
Asbury. The series began at the
Plough and Stars in Cambridge in
early 1989 and became the place
to be on Monday nights. In As-
bury, the show bounced around at
a few venues and never reached
the same level of popularity that
Joe hoped it would. Nevertheless
it still managed to roll on for about
three years and was co-hosted by
his soulmate and partner, Mallory
Massara (shown below).
During his time in Asbury Park,
he played solo shows, band
shows, and performed with
acts like Dub Proof, Cockwalk-
ers, Velveeta, Mimi Cross, Keith
Monacchio, and numerous others
over the years. He wrote a few ar-