Jade – An Xperience Interview
Written by Staff on July 6, 2024
Jade – An Xperience Interview – by Sketchy Hubris.
“It was Burma, after the war.”
Higgins (Magnum, P.I. 1982)
After serving in Vietnam, brothers Bob and Dennis Santa Lucia started the band Jade in 1971. Jade’s name comes from a popular cologne of the time, Jade East.
Members of the band have come and gone, but 79-year-old Bob Santa Lucia has been a constant and consummate rock-and-roller as frontman for the band for 53 years. Jade will be performing as part of the Pruyn House Summer 2024 Concerts in the Barn series on July 17, from 6-8 p.m. Jade will also be performing at the Shenendehowa’s 60th Reunion in October, Bob’s graduating class.
Dennis, who lives in California now, will rejoin the band for the Pruyn House show. Other current Jade bandmates are drummer Greg Coughlin (with the band for 35 years), bass player Pete Murray (28 years), and youngster/saxophonist Gordy Rockstroh (25 years).
RRX: Bob, what was the first song you learned to play?
BS: First song? You’re going back to … ha, ha, it had to be Elvis, ‘cause I used to do him on the school bus going to school, probably “Hound Dog.”
RRX: So the Pruyn House barn gig – you have done before?
BS: This is our 13th year, not in a row. There was Covid, and then in ‘22 they left us out (we will never know). And then we were back in ‘23.
GC: But they wanted us back!
RRX: How many songs do you maintain in your set list?
BS: I got enough songs to last me for 100 years.
GC: We never play the same song twice at a gig.
BS: It pisses some people off: “ I wanna hear … again.” Pick another song.
RRX: What is a favorite song you guys do?
PM: “Drift Away.”
GC: I like the Beatles a lot; “I Saw Her Standing There”.
GR: “Boardwalk Angel,” from the Eddie and the Cruisers movie by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band – there is an obscure one.
BS: All of them, but I always do “Brown Eyed Girl” for my daughter.
RRX: Since it’s July, what do you want for Christmas?
BS: What I want for Christmas is the next month; my birthday is on January 28. I want to make it to 80.
GR: Caught off guard; let’s see, don’t need a new saxophone. Come back to me.
RRX: I think you are going to answer last month’s band question posed to Otobo: what is your favorite ice cream?
GC: I just want everybody to be healthy.
PM: Yes, everybody to remain healthy.
RRX: So Gordy, what is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
GR: It’s gotta be vanilla-chocolate twist, it’s gotta be soft ice cream. I’m wishy-washy; it’s gotta be both vanilla and chocolate.
Continue reading
RadioRadioX