Charity begins at home with Alliance of Neighbors DANNY KLENCHES Jon Bon Jovi (l) and Bruce Springsteen entertain at a benefit concert for the Alliance of Neighbors of Monmouth County Thursday. Rock stars Springsteen, Bon Jovi team up with local groups to aid families of Sept. 11 attacks By albie connelly Correspondent With their hearts and checkbooks in the right places, a standing-room-only crowd at Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre got a pretty good taste of the musical menu in Monmouth County last week. The Alliance of Neighbors of Monmouth County benefit concerts Thursday and Friday tapped local musicians, famous and not-yet famous, to generate financial support for the families of Monmouth County victims of the World Trade Center disaster. The organization came into being just days after the disaster and immediately went right to work helping the families of those lost in the Sept. 11 attacks. The efforts of the group will be bolstered considerably by the two shows; the concerts and other fund-raising efforts associated with them raised more than $700,000. What those in the audiences (and those at home watching Friday night’s show on CN8) saw and heard was a show that went from the Pilgrim Baptist Church Gospel Choir of Red Bank down through Neptune for the hip-hop/metal of Borealis and back to the rock ’n’ roll of Bruce Springsteen. DANNY KLENCHES The Pilgrim Baptist Church Gospel Choir sings at a benefit concert Thursday at the Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank. After a stirring performance from the choir, it was Sayreville transplant Jon Bon Jovi who set the tone for much of what would follow. The current Middletown resident, backed by the choir, opened with "Keep the Faith," managing to deliver one of his biggest hits in a way that addressed the still-open wound from the Sept. 11 attacks. He followed with subdued versions of "(Wanted) Dead or Alive" and "Livin on a Prayer" before closing with Richard Holler’s 1968 quiet civil rights protest song "Abraham, Martin and John." The years of four-star hotels, Hollywood parties and supermodels haven’t softened these Jersey rockers a bit — they played as strong as ever, turning in an emotionally charged acoustic performance that kept the house on their feet, clapping along to their hometown heroes as they played their classic crowd-pleaser hits. Richie Sambora played a great double-necked acoustic guitar for the set — an interesting combination of elements, the double-necked guitar serving as the universal symbol for rock-star bombast, while the acoustic guitar shows the choice of a more grounded, mature songwriter. Whatever it signifies, he’s married to Heather Locklear, so what he’s doing seems to be working out. He’s a true rock star, the last of a proud, endangered American species. Things stayed acoustic with Aztec Two-Step, the two-man singer-songwriter act of Rex Fowler and Neal Shulman that’s been together for 30 years. The duo, now based in New York, was joined on stage by a trio of folk-singer friends from their native states of Maine and New Hampshire. They played a mournful-but-uplifting ballad (one line was "to find meaning in my sadness," which seemed appropriate for the evening) and an upbeat chicken-in-the-bread-pan number that paid tribute to the charms of small-town America. Long Branch-based Highway 9 (formerly Samhill) turned on the juice for their set and delivered a couple of tunes reminiscent of a young Bon Jovi. They have a record coming out on the major label Epic, so some local boys have made good. Borealis then checked in with a funk-metal set that may have been a bit foreign to most of the audience, but they undoubtedly made some friends with the effort. The Smithereens brought the show back to rock ’n’ roll with a short powerful set of three of their biggest hits, "Only a Memory," "Blood and Roses" and "A Girl Like You." It was a rousing set that brought the crowd to a standing rock ’n’ roll boil. It should be noted that Smithereens’ drummer Dennis Diken seemed to rarely leave the stage, sitting in with just about every act on the bill. He was easily the hardest-working man on the night, something truly rare when Springsteen is in the house. But Springsteen did not disappoint the many fans in the audience he had drawn to the show. In addition to his closing set, he came out for turns with the Sun Records group as well as Joe Ely and Joan Jett. For all of the youth of the preceding locals, it was the Sun Records artists who really got the house rocking Nashville-style. The musicians got a break for a bit when Rick Korn, one of the founders of the alliance, explained just what kind of help the organization would be providing, and the evening’s host, Red Bank filmmaker Kevin Smith, played a short film he recently made titled Why I Love %#@*% New York. The rest of the world got to see the film on Saturday night at the VH1-sponsored Concert for New York put together by Paul McCartney and held at Madison Square Garden. The film was pretty funny, with some man-on-the-street footage of New Yorkers talking about New Jersey. After the break the show took a short side trip to the 1970s as Henry Gross and Phoebe Snow hit the stage. Gross’ trio of songs included his 1976 hit "Shannon," and Snow followed by belting out "You’ll Never Walk Alone" and "America the Beautiful" all the way back to the cheap seats. Joe Ely followed Snow, and after her soaring vocals, delivered his songs with a warm friend of a voice that the audience slipped into like a comfortable old shirt. Springsteen put in two quick appearances as he played with Ely and Jett who followed him on stage. With Jett, Bruce took the opportunity to perform the title track from the movie Light of Day, which he wrote and Jett originally recorded. Jett starred in the movie with Michael J. Fox. The Rascals’ Felix Cavallieri was up next and he delivered his classics "It’s a Beautiful Morning" and another reminder of 1968 with "(People Everywhere Just) Got to Be Free." After those many tasty musical morsels, the audience was primed for the evening’s headliner, and Springsteen did not disappoint. Despite playing a part in much of what had gone on in the three hours before, he hit the stage with a formidable amount of energy for the fully charged final set with a sort of skeleton crew of the E Street Band. E Street bassist Garry Tallent, who had originally put the bill together as a benefit for World Hunger Year and who played along with other artists throughout the night, was there as back-up, as was Max Weinberg. They rocked out "Bobby Jean," a somber "My City in Ruins," "Land of Hope and Dreams," and a rousing version of "Thunder Road" for which they were joined by fellow E-Streeter (and Bruce’s wife) Patti Scialfa. For the finale Bruce called out all of the evening’s performers for the obligatory all-star singalong, and the assembled crowd of celebrities, up-and-comers and rock ’n’ roll legends joined Bruce in a heartfelt, raved-up rendition of "Stand by Me." Lindsey Siegle, a managing editor with Greater Media News-papers, contributed to this story