Omegaman's Excellent Adventure
This is Simko's Grill in Brielle. Back in the day this was the ShipWheel Inn.
The Ship Wheel was a favorite hang and a great place to hear live music. Bands like Fresh, Bystander, Phase Mahoney, Star, which later morphed into Backstreets and currently still out there as the B Street Band.
One night Bobby and I were walking in from the parking lot along the front of the building and heard what we thought was the juke box up really loud playing some Otis Redding. We walked in the door and were amazed to see a huge band with a fullhorn section. We found out it was The Shots, with Donny Bertleson on lead vocals. He was a wild man, such an entertainer, down off the stage, popping down backwards onto the dance floor and bouncing right back up (difficult to explain) but at the end of the first set he exclaimed, and it became one of those phrases..."Showtime, Next Set!"
I always wondered what happened to that band. Unfortunately many years later, I learned from Stoney on the Southside Johnny Message board, that Donny died young. A real loss to the Jersey Music Scene.