GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK:
Five Questions With Singer/Songwriter Rick Barry

This is the first of a multi-part series in which we talk to various movers and shakers in the Asbury Park music scene about their city, their scene, and their careers. First up, singer/songwriter Rick Barry.

Q) Where did you grow up, and how did you wind up living and working in Asbury Park?

I grew up in Point Pleasant. Throughout Highschool I pretty much exclusively performed at a coffee shop called "The After Hours Cafe" which was on Bridge Ave in Point. At this point, although writing a lot of songs, my soul purpose for playing was pretty much to impress girls and since my ambitions were so superficial at that age, I didn't do much to expand my audience. However, I was fortunate enough to have a local record store owner named John Ficoratta, secretly pass my demo CD along to people like Scott Stamper, Peter Mantis and the late great Chris Barry, all of whom gave me some great opportunities early on, especially for a young kid. I had a backup band at the time, but did a lot of solo shows around town as well.

I have had a lot of influences and a lot of people who have helped me out over the past couple years, but if I had to think of one specific "mentor" per se as an artist early on.. Off the top of my head singer/songwriter, Micheal Ferentino comes to mind. He was a huge supporter of my music, before virtually any other artist would spit in my direction. I did a show with him back in '06 and he addressed the audience stating, "People think Rick Barry is something new, I was singing his praises in the 90's," which is true. I really did learn a lot from him back then.

From 2000-2005 I shared the stage with many great local talents and really started to figure out who I was as an artist, or maybe more importantly, who I was not (the next you know who) instead, I began my journey toward becoming the first "Rick Barry" (not including the Basketball Player or the world famous securities investigator.)

I think this time period really marked the beginning of what some call the Asbury Neo-Renaissance, for lack of a better term. With the emergence of acts like Days Awake, Maybe Pete, and Agency to name a mere few.. Every night of the week there was a show to see in Asbury Park. Even though many of us all dipped into the same pool for a fanbase, the scene thrived with the artists continued support of each other. This was the first sign I saw of a real music "community."

In the summer of 2005 I disappeared for a few months, couch surfing and "soul searching" out on the west coast, but always keeping tabs on what was going on back home. I was living in San Fransisco, when I first listened to April Smith's new tracks, "Bright White Jackets" and "California" on Myspace, preceded by rumors of some band called Status Green selling out the Stone Pony for their first gig. Having been unable to really tap into any type of scene out West and observing what was happening back home, I started to feel like I was really missing out on something. So one day I just hopped in my car and drove straight home. With zero hours sleep and a case of Rockstar Energy drinks, I made it back within 2 1/2 days! That following summer The Asbury Music Company and All Hour entertainment debuted the 1st Annual Wave Gathering which introduced many new young artists to our community including a personal favorite, Anthony Fiumano. In a nut shell, although it took me awhile to make the commitment and become an official Asbury Park citizen, I have considered this town my home for nearly a decade and wouldn't have had it any other way.


Photo by Nicole Lipman/Hey Cole Presents

Q: What do you like about Asbury Park? What's good about being a performer or fan or promoter there? Venues, audience, promoters, the beer... the proximity to NYC and Philly... whatever.

Asbury Park has been a great city to grow in as an artist, without the pressure of big city life. This can be considered a positive or negative attribute, depending on the individual. As the city "reemerges" we see new bars, venues, shops etc. opening every day.
Any day or night, I walk down Cookman or the board walk and it is virtually impossible not to run into people I know, like "these are the people in my neighborhood" feeling. Having come from a small town, it is comforting to still have that sense of community in a city, albeit a small one.

3.) Bigger question: What is wrong with Asbury Park? What's the first thing about the city you'd change if you could?

The trees. Just kidding.

Well, Asbury has a lot of warts and bruises. My first complaint is in reference to my answer to "what I like about Asbury." In full agreement with the idea of focusing on tourism, It still bothers me deeply that, with all of the money the city has put into the "downtown development," We still don't see much being down to better the lives of the citizens on the west side of the tracks. That being said, it is my understanding that the upcoming infrastructure plans extend across Main st. to include Springwood ave, which I personally would consider a step in the right direction.

Also, there seems to be an ongoing feud between musicians, venues and the residents in the downtown area. For example, recently a restaurant on Cookman Ave. was having an acoustic music series on Friday and Saturday nights, primarily solo singer/songwriters such as myself. With no cover and while offering reasonably priced drinks to their fans, the restaurant was still able to compensate the artists fairly for their performance. This is something that many area venues are not in a position to do, thus this series was mutually beneficial for all involved. When neighbors began calling the police, it was only a matter of time before this bar was intimidated into cancelling the nights all together, leaving them with significantly less patrons on Fridays and Saturdays and leaving multiple local artists, who had come to rely on the extra income, a couple hundred bucks behind on paying their bills every month. What's really baffling is that many of the people making these complaints are also business owners in the downtown area, so it's hard to believe that a group of entrepreneurs could be so narcissistic and short sighted that they would fail to realize that Asbury's downtown is a fragile ecosystem. The bars and restaurants are a huge part of what brings people to Cookman Ave's business district. Without music, the bars suffer and without the bars, Cookman will likely return to the desolate ghost town it was just a decade ago. On the other hand, apartments for rent in the downtown area are not cheap and it is important that residents feel like they are being treated fairly and that their quality of life is not effected in such a way that they feel the need to pack up and move elsewhere. Such a reaction could also likely result in the eminent decline of the downtown. My frustration lies with the city leaders, who have been unable to come up with anything remotely resembling a specific and fair compromise between the two vital entities. City council meetings have recently resulted in some decisions being made, but the details are fairly unspecific and nothing, to my knowledge has been implemented. However, I am hopeful that these issues will very soon be a thing of the past and in comparisons to the troubles this town has seen, these are good problems to have.

As far as the first thing I would change, I certainly would hope for more effective crime prevention, which out of sheer self preservation I will not go into detail about. I would never want to seem like I was putting down our brave city's police force. Also, I am not an economist, but the paid parking system certainly needs to be rethought.

Q: Clearly Asbury is a city with a storied past that's been mired in a sort of murky present for a long time, with (supposedly) a bright future. I am reminded of Hoboken. Musicians and artists flocked there in the Eighties because the town was a dump, but a cheap place to live and a great place to be a musician. Developers moved in and then it became not-a-dump but a modern commuter city, but the rents were no longer cheap and it wasn't such a great place for musicians and artists. So: Can urban development and gentrification come to Asbury Park and NOT wipe out everything that people in the music scene like the place? Is there room for a "new" Asbury that leaves room for the Wonder Bar and Asbury Lanes and the Stone Pony?

I believe you can find some idea of my thoughts on this in my previous answers. Can it be done?... Well that remains to be seen, but so far I see more and more artists moving into Asbury and falling in love with it. When it starts to look like Red Bank...that's when I'lll throw in the towel.

Q: Pretend I am a 15 year old kid in Nebraska reading this and all I know about Asbury Park comes from the lyrics of a Bruce Springsteen song. What is the most important thing you want to tell me about your city?

I would try to keep it brief, since 15 year olds have short attention spans. I would say,
Asbury Park is the live music capitol of New Jersey and that just one man didn't make it so. While It's absolutey true that artists like Bruce Springsteen and Southside Johnny planted the seeds. Indie artists of every genre have been tending the garden ever since and it has grown and it thrives.

For more information and upcoming shows, visit myspace.com/rickbarrymusic