This one's for Bob.
New Jersey alt-rock legends the Whirling Dervishes will play a rare set Saturday, July 20, at the Break on the Asbury Park boardwalk.
The band is marking the belated digital release of their 1992 album “Strange and Wonderful,” and celebrating the life and legacy of founding member Bob Ardrey, who passed away June 25 in Fort Mill, South Carolina, after an undisclosed year-long illness. He was 62.
“We planned the gig and the release knowing (Ardrey) wasn't going to be able to perform, but we made T-shirts with his face on, the Handsome Bob Ardey face on them," said frontman Don Dazzo. "... PK Lavengood, an amazing guitarist, learned all of Bob's parts and it was going to be a tribute to Bob while he was still here. He didn't make it.”
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The Whirling Dervishes, formed in Westfield in the early 1980s, brought a Stones-y snarl, and a wink and a smirk, too, to the area's then-burgeoning alt-rock scene.
The shows at the Green Parrot in Neptune, the Brighton Bar in Red Bank, and the Fast Lane in Asbury Park, all venues that are gone, were happenings. The Asbury Park heritage bands still held a foothold of the scene, but the Dervishes were kicking at the door, thanks partly to regular plays on the former WHTG-FM in Eatontown.
Ironically, the band became best known for their cover of “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” originally sung by Thurl Ravenscroft in 1966’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”
Ardrey had the vision.
“I heard the Tubes, the Sex Pistols and the first Van Halen record in Bob's bedroom,” said Dazzo, a childhood friend of Ardrey. “He worked at the local music store, the Music Staff in Westfield, and so he was always on the cutting edge of what was coming out and what was good — and we were all huge Stones fans. He was a natural band leader, mellow for the most part, firm when he had to be, and very open creatively.”
The band was active through the '90s, and Ardrey later joined in with Dazzo and keyboardist Billy Siegel in the lounge rock combo Everlounge.
“We got a lot of work done," Dazzo said of the Dervishes. "We did some East Coast touring, and we played a lot of gigs, wrote a lot of songs and had a lot of fun. So it really was a blast.”
Ardrey was a music lifer who remained in the biz after his band days. His survivors include his daughter and his mom. A memorial mass will take place at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, July 27, at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Westfield, and he'll be buried in the town's Fairview Cemetery, according to the Dooley Colonial Home.
There will be a Celebration of Life following the interment from noon to 4 p.m. at the Crossroads, 78 North Ave. in Garwood. Members from the Whirling Dervishes, Everlounge, Bouncing Balls and more will play.
“We all loved Bob — everybody had the nicest times with him,” Dazzo said. “He had a wonderfully creative brain that is going to be so missed. He was so cool and unpretentious and so much fun. We had a lot of laughs.”
Go: Whirling Dervishes, with opening act Kanak, 9 p.m. Saturday, July 20, The Break, 1000 Ocean Ave., Asbury Park, free; thebreakap.com.
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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at cjordan@app.com.
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