Being Blown Away at The Saint (Asbury Park): Gedeon Luke. (on Wed. Jan 30^th)      By Calvin Schwartz    Feb 1, 2013

For the last several weeks every which way I seemed to turn in my central Jersey music world, people asked me, “Did you ever see Gedeon Luke perform?” I thought it better to say, “No I haven’t,” and let it be. I don’t want to let my guard down (image) and mention I’ve never heard of him. Perhaps like an old saying about fire (appropriate for Gedeon) and smoke, when enough people accosted me, I checked around. Gedeon Luke and band and back-up singers were doing a gig at one of my favorite places in Asbury Park, The Saint; an affable, affordable, artistic, acoustical place of ambiance and alcohol with stage and curtain.

The Saint walled ambiance

Life is funny sometimes. When I was six years old in first grade, World War II ended a few years before. My teacher had a lesson plan one day. A newspaper headline on the bulletin board said, “Pearl Harbor Attacked.” My mother had a friend Pearl so I thought another lady named Pearl was attacked; the imagery of a young innocent mind. And I also thought that Gedeon Luke was a young teenage guitarist from an all-white suburban upper middle class Monmouth county township. It would be a night of epiphany and being blown away by a young 24 year old black singer from a tough part of Memphis.

Before gig with Gedeon Luke

Being blown away almost became a physical reality much like Dorothy on her way to Oz. The weather forecast for Wednesday night was ominous. Tornadoes down south. Thunderstorms and bad weather was heading to Asbury Park with 60 mile per hour winds. That was enough reason to stay home on a warm sofa in front of a listless TV. But it was the collection of praises for Gedeon over the past few weeks that got me on the road to Asbury. The Dorothy and Oz metaphor works well. I was headed to the land of a magical place; Gedeon Luke’s stage. Witness the beginnings of a musical presence here in America.

electricity and motion

passion reach and depth

A friend got me a seat right up front. Before the show, she introduced me to Gedeon; of course not what I imagined. Then the curtain opened. What I saw and heard instantaneously was energy, love, passion, electricity and soulful fire; a love for his music and words.  Gracefully he moved over the stage manipulating a microphone much like a renaissance artist’s brush doing an oil painting. The audience was mixed (culturally, sociologically, and age with an interesting representation of Asbury’s music elite insiders.)  A few people had eyes closed as if in a dreamy state.  Soon I snaked to the back for a different perspective. Claiming my spot of concrete floor, I was moving and gyrating. Gedeon suddenly was off the stage in the audience. He was a magnet; his audience, small metal chips of adoration. I knew then molecularly and synchronistically about witnessing the early days of a major musical presence.

The blown away was sealed after listening to his gospel, soul and rock influences and feeling his freedom of expression and love and then suddenly hearing the Beatles’ “Come Together.”  I thought about a power to reach every kind of audience; it’s also the wind and fire element of being blown away.

up close and personal. a love of his music. World class bassist Jack Daley in background.

At “Calvin Schwartz-Cerebral Writer” on Facebook a few hours later I quickly dropped these words on my wall. “i like beginnings. you can say you were there. it is insight. involvement. belief. absorption. digestion. fascination. faith. luck. conviction. and being blown away by a performer. severe weather was forecast. 2 inches of rain. 60 mph wind. but the lure of a dynamic new performer on stage where you can feel vibes and be part….so i was at the Saint in Asbury Park last night being a music journalist and loving every moment, fulfilled.  and later the wind at my back pushed me around.”

Concert over; I thanked Gedeon’s manager Marc Swersky and congratulated him. And to Gedeon, I said, “You’ll be filling up arenas soon enough. Thanks for sharing your passion and music.” One of my favorite things in life is to be able to say I was there in the beginning. I watched Neil Armstrong land on the moon; the Brooklyn Dodgers win their first World Series and saw Gedeon Luke live when he was only 24. You all need to do that one of these days.

Gedeon Luke: http://gedeonluke.com/

Calvin Schwartz

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