When We Were Fab: How the Fabulous Greaseband Became a Fixture at the Bongo Room
The Fabulous Greaseband’s (from left) Doug Stackhouse, Chuck Broadbent and Larry Ditullo performing in 1979.
It could have just as easily been 36 minutes but, in reality it had been 36 years since the Fabulous Greaseband stepped off the stage in the Bongo Room in the Avalon Hotel for the last time. But here they were on a Zoom meeting in August 2022: Greaseband founding members Harry Pasquito and Doug Stackhouse were joined by longtime bandmate Craig Parson along with the man who was the heart and soul of the old Bongo Room, Phil Judyski.
The purpose of the call was to recall how it all began in mid-1970s: How did the Fabulous Greaseband end up at the Bongo Room? Given all the years that have passed, it would be understandable if memories fell short. But that wasn’t the case. Anything but. As each participant clicked into the meeting, there was an instant connection. Smiles and memories flowed. Clearly evident was the immense respect that the group’s members still held for each other.
And why not? Together, they made magic. At that time, Sunday nights were quiet and maybe a bit sleepy in Avalon. After the beach earlier in the day on a Sunday, anyone without a hangover after a long weekend might head over to the Rock Room, Jack’s Place, or the Whitebrier’s outdoor pool, looking for the best afternoon party. It was known at the time as a Sunday jam session. Fun, but it was all just a prelude to the weekend exodus. Soon the cars would be packed and headed out Avalon Boulevard for the trek home after another great weekend at the Shore. Alas, all good things must come to an end. Or not.
As Stackhouse, the Greaseband’s original bass singer tells it, people were looking for something different. “Disco was very popular at that point,” he remembers. “Clubs were running it six nights a week. Everyone had an off night when they were looking for something different for that night. Our agent Jimmy LaMar booked us for a lot of these one-nighters. When we found a home, we stayed there. We were exclusive and we were paid exclusively.”
Pasquito adds: “We got the call initially because The Coasters canceled a booking at the Bongo Room during the summer of 1975. That was our first appearance at the Bongo Room.”
Judyski, a member of the Matalucci family that owned both the Princeton and Avalon hotels, managed the 90-plus-year-old hotel at 7th and First avenues.
“We were in the concrete business,” he says. “But in the summer, we operated the Princeton and Avalon hotels. The people that we purchased the Avalon Hotel from had done an extensive renovation on the restaurant and kitchen. It was during this renovation that the Catacombs Bar was created in the basement. That was the original nightspot there.”
Judyski notes that his uncles, Phil and Tony Matalucci, “had the younger crowd down at the Rock Room. We were looking for something different, where we didn’t compete with ourselves. The oldies seemed to work well.”
Except it wasn’t that easy. Judyski would regularly book “name” entertainers – The Shirelles, The Coasters, The Flamingos and even The Drifters. “Some worked out well for us,” Judyski recalls. “Others, not so well. Some of the groups were tough to deal with. Plus, by that time, some groups were beginning to lose their original members.”
Judyski thought he found the answer. His booking agent found a slick oldies band.
“They were great,” he says now, some 45 years later. “They sounded great, good costumes and the lead singer even had the slicked-back hair. The crowd loved them.”
More importantly, they seemed like nice guys, too. Best of all, they were low-maintenance. Through a conversation that Judyski struck up with the lead singer, he learned that singing was simply a side gig for these guys. The lead singer for example, was a printer in real life.
“They seemed like the real deal,” Judyski adds. “So, I called the agent and said, ‘Hey, we want those guys back. They were great!”
The agent tried some fast talking before finally explaining that this particular group was no longer available. The agent then explained that the lead singer was tied up for the next several years. Let’s just say that his “printing” job got him in a bit of hot water with the feds.
Like any good agent, this guy had another group for Judyski. “You’ll love them,” he promised.
It was a group of kids from the Mercer County area. They call themselves The Fabulous Greaseband.
“Kids!” Judyski exclaims. “The older groups were a pain to deal with, but what do kids know about doing oldies?”
Logical question, but these “kids” were pretty tight, Judyski would learn. They were well-rehearsed, had complete costume changes with each set, and had a higher energy performance than anyone had seen at the Jersey Shore at that time.
The rest as they say, is history. Literally.
“We played a couple of weekends that summer of ’75,” Pasquito says. “Then in the summer of 1976, the Bongo Room became a regular gig.”
The band had a series of exclusive engagements throughout the state, and on Sunday nights, Avalon would become their home.
It was probably on Sunday, May 30, 1976, at about 10pm when it all kicked off. A series of Sunday night appearances that would build into an amazing tradition that would last a decade – more than 200 shows!
The extensive kitchen and dining room renovations that were made before the Mataluccis took ownership of the Avalon Hotel would give way to an area to be called the Bongo Room.
“We got rid of the kitchen and the restaurant and focused on the nightclub,” Judyski says. It was small, but it served its purpose. After all, it was Sunday night and “It would take some time for people to learn who these guys were and just how good they were.”
It did take some time, but the crowds continued to grow. And grow.
The popularity grew so much that Judyski realized that an expansion was needed.
“We needed to do something,” he says. “We were in the concrete business, so I reached out to one of our customers. I explained that we needed more space. He assured me that he could do it.”
So, with great precision they went out in the parking lot, picked up a stick and scratched out their plans in the sand beside the old hotel.
“We had a handshake deal,” says Parson, who in addition to being a band member served as business manager. “Phil said that if we have a deal and you come back next summer, we’ll build a bigger Bongo Room. You will always have a home here.”
Some 3,000 square feet of indoor space and a huge covered outdoor porch later, the expanded Bongo Room was ready for the summer of 1977.
“Phil built the stage to our specifications,” Pasquito notes. “The stage would be 22-by-14 [feet]. And it was all based on that handshake with Phil.”
“Genius” is the only way to describe it. No one could have predicted the crowds that came out week after week. The lines would begin to form outside before doors opened at 8pm. The que would form down the high steps from the large porch, down the sidewalk on First Avenue and around the corner and down 7th Street. The length would vary, but it was there every night. All for a chance to squeeze into what has fondly been called a “sauna,” a result of the intense heat and lack of a conventional cooling system. Sweaty bodies standing shoulder to shoulder for hours on end. Insanely, some would even remove their shoes, despite the presence of beer served in glass bottles. They’d dance until their feet matched the black wooden floors.
There were no IPAs or craft brews here – your choices were few: Schlitz and Heineken. For the summer of 1976 there was also a brand-new offering, Schlitz Lite, amid the introduction of lower-calorie beers. Schlitz was $1.75 and for the big spenders, Heineken was $2.25.
The crowds came night after night, summer after summer. Somehow, many of those in the crowd still found a way to make it back to work on Monday mornings. They came from all walks of life. There were waitresses, bartenders, salespeople, lawyers, financial planners – you might even bump into your FedEx driver on Sunday nights in the Bongo Room. On Sundays in the summers, The Bongo Room and The Greaseband were the great equalizers, regardless of who you were or what you did.
While the lines built to get into the Bongo Room, the same could be said for the lines on the Townsends Inlet Bridge. Traffic would back up on Sunday nights as if the bridge had had an extended opening. Tolls were collected in both directions at this time and often toll takers from both directions were required to satisfy the line of cars heading to or from the Bongo Room. It’s still hard to fathom.
Louis Mancano, a family health physician today in Pennsylvania’s Berks County, was lead singer of Surrender, the house band at Bongo Room in the late ’70s, while he was in college. He had a unique perspective and still has fond memories.
“The crowds were excited to be there, generally well-behaved and there to socialize and have a good time,” Mancano recalls. “I played during the summer of 1977 in Margate and the crowds there were much different: kind of rough and much rowdier. But Avalon was a breath of fresh air. People would line up around the block to get in, often waiting for a group of four or five to leave so another group could enter.
“On Sundays, Surrender alternated sets with The Greaseband, and most people that lined up were there to see them. On so many Sunday nights, we would finish our set on the house-band stage and there would be thousands of people packed in so tight that we could not find space to get off the stage. I would watch The Greaseband perform from our stage through a cloud of cigarette smoke in 100 degrees.
“To say that people were sweating profusely is an understatement. Yet, everyone seemed happy. We had so much fun that neither the heat nor the smoke interfered. From my vantage point on the stage, I saw and heard plenty of dancing, singing, laughing and flirting all to the music of The Greaseband. It truly was ‘fabulous.’
Judyski remembers his uncle Phil’s amazement when he’d drive by the Bongo Room on Sunday nights.
“He was astounded because everything was measured against The Rock Room,” he says. “He’d drive by on Sunday nights and say, ‘I can’t believe the line that you had last night. I couldn’t even find a single parking place.’
“And we’d always outperform the Princeton on Sunday nights,” Judyski adds with a smile.
Stackhouse says he still runs into people today, 40 years later, who “still remember The Greaseband in the Bongo Room. It’s hard to explain, but it was something very special.”
“Hey, look,” Judyski concludes. “It was a special time in my life and these guys were just amazing. I can’t say enough about them as people and performers. It was just amazing.”
Thanks to The Coasters canceling that performance in 1975, those amazing Sunday nights are now a part of Avalon’s history.
Editor’s note: The Bongo Room tradition continued until Sept. 6, 1986, when The Fabulous Greaseband performed its final show there. There was no special send-off. No one realized that it was the final performance. Unexpectedly, The Avalon Hotel was sold and then demolished in 1987. The band would go on for another long string of Sunday performances in Avalon at Jack’s Place. And to this day, after 49 years, The Greaseband continues to be an immensely popular nightclub and party attraction throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. You can follow the band at greaseband.com.