Home News Tribune: Club Bene's Tune Erased by Sour Notes
XQoozeMe
clubs in the 80's. "Close Encounters" was the best. I'll always remember those
days.
George
>From: Ano...@The.Basement.Cave
>
>_________________________________________________________
>"Club Bene started gaining a national reputation after Philbin and
>Howard Stern, who performed often at the club in the 1980s, started
>to reference Club Bene on their shows." (Below)
>_________________________________________________________
>
>Home News Tribune (N.J.)
>1/14/01
>
>Club Bene's tune erased by sour notes
>By CHRIS JORDAN
>STAFF WRITER
>
> SAYREVILLE: The 55-year old Club Bene was a unique New Jersey
>attraction with a reputation that had spread across the country.
>
> The Route 35 nightclub, now known as Krome, provided big-name
>entertainment in an intimate dinner-theater setting.
>
> Over the years the club featured talents such as Jerry Vale, Jay Leno
>and Regis Philbin.
>
> But as the nightspot changed its focus to acts that attracted younger
>fans, many borough residents began saying the club was no longer a
>well-behaved neighbor. After a series of incidents at the site, the
>club had its liquor license revoked in December, and its owners say
>they've practically been forced to put the property on the market.
>
> "There's absolutely no respect to the history that we brought to this
>town," said co-owner Tom Beninato, 53. "None, zero. If there was any
>respect we would have been given some kind of slack."In the late
>1970s, a time when many New Jersey theaters were either shut down or
>showing off-color movies, and Atlantic City wasn't the entertainment
>draw it is today, Club Bene started to book big-name entertainers.
>
> "The early years were exciting, because being the only game in town .
>. . we'd sell out," Beninato said. "Jerry Vale would sell out 12 shows
>in 11 days. You could see the consumer in this area was starved."
>
> Club Bene was run by the firm hand of cigar-smoking Joe Beninato Sr.,
>an Elizabeth native who died in 1994. He was assisted by his wife,
>Mary, who died in 1988. They raised three children, Joe Jr., Tom and
>Donna, largely on the premises.
>
> A quaintness and homespun quality accompanied the Club Bene
>experience. Wine-colored carpeting and cafeteria-style tables lined
>the main room, and portraits of Joe Sr., Mary and the Pope hung in the
>club's lobby.
>
> "Everybody knew it was a family operation," said Beninato, whose
>father's style recalled that of old-time show-business promoters.
>"He'd be greeting you when you came in, or he'd be sitting there. You
>knew that the owner was hands-on."
>
> Performers such as Philbin and Al Martino often arrived early to
>enjoy Mary's home cooking.
>
> "It was a tradition," said comedian Pat Cooper, who performed
>frequently at the club. "It was the last place to have matinees on
>Wednesdays and Sundays. Those days are gone -- nobody appreciates
>that!"
>
> Club Bene started gaining a national reputation after Philbin and
>Howard Stern, who performed often at the club in the 1980s, started to
>reference Club Bene on their shows.
>
> "I was sitting home one day watching 'Monday Night Football,' " Bene
>said. "Frank Gifford was talking about (his wife) Kathie Lee, and he
>says, 'Yea, Kathie Lee and Regis are probably thinking about his next
>date at Cafe (sic) Bene.' He was talking about it on 'Monday Night
>Football' -- what the hell!" Changing times
>
> By the time the club's name had begun spreading nationally, its
>booking formula had already started to change. The entertainment field
>in New Jersey had become crowded thanks to the resurgence of Atlantic
>City and the return of venues such as the State Theatre of New
>Brunswick.
>
> "When you did an act, you did very well," Beninato said. "Later, when
>you brought that same act back, you didn't do quite as well."
>
> The club started to book younger performers.
>
> "We did so really slow," Bene said. "We would go from a Jerry Vale to
>a Frankie Avalon -- the audience is younger. Not by a lot, but it's
>younger.
>
> "Our goal, and it's always been our goal, is to have an audience
>between 18 and 30," Tom said. "In the early stages it was 18 to 45.
>Those are the people who go out."
>
> Eventually the club started to present heavy metal and punk-rock acts
>such as The Ramones.
>
> "Even when I stopped going, my children would go to the (rock)
>shows," said Tracy Strickland, 49, of Matawan. "It was nice to keep
>them in the neighborhood. It stopped them from going to New York."
>
> However, tragedy struck the club during a hardcore rock show in 1994
>when a 20-year-old South Amboy resident died after being struck in the
>head by a cymbal stand. The club was not held liable in the incident.
>
> More recently, the club had switched its emphasis, to dance nights
>featuring disc jockeys playing contemporary dance music on Friday
>nights and R&B and hip-hop on Saturdays.
>
> On May 12, as part of a municipal crackdown on "rave drugs," Club
>Bene was raided -- along with Sayreville's Club Abyss and Hunka Bunka
>nightspots -- by the borough police department, working with area and
>county police.
>
> Authorities also focused their attention on Club Bene's R&B and
>hip-hop nights. On Aug. 26, 45 local, county and state police officers
>-- some wearing riot helmets -- descended upon the club's parking lot,
>responding partly to prior complaints from neighbors.
>
> "They make too much noise, and there's too many people congregating,
>and a lot of them carry boom boxes," Francis Waitt, a neighbor of the
>club since it opened, said at the time.
>
> But the primarily black crowd that police encountered was
>well-behaved, and many were upset by the large police presence. One
>man was charged with a disorderly persons offense for public urination
>in the club's parking lot.
>
> "I felt like I was under siege," Carol Mack, 37, of Plainsboro said
>at the time. "It was all-white officers with a predominantly
>African-American club. It makes you a little anxious."
>
> Beninato maintains that the raids and scrutiny of the club were
>racially motivated.
>
> "The police were here because I had black people," he said. "They're
>afraid. They've lived in a community that had no blacks, they went to
>a school that had no blacks and all of a sudden they're looking out
>the door and there's black people. It was just too much -- they
>couldn't handle it."
>
> Sayreville Mayor Kennedy O'Brien denies Beninato's charge.
>
> "It's a cheap, racist accusation using the race card," O'Brien said.
>"He's made some very poor business decisions, and he's looking for a
>way out."
>
> After a hip-hop dance night Oct. 8, a man fired a gun into the air in
>the club's parking lot, and another man was stabbed. Two people were
>charged with aggravated assault and other offenses.
>
> Beninato discontinued the hip-hop and R&B nights after the incident.
>'Politics of dancing'
>
> The fallout from the shooting included the revocation of the club's
>liquor license, which had been renewed with conditions in September
>after several drug arrests at the club. Also, a reference to the
>shooting was featured in Republican radio ads leading up to November's
>Borough Council election.
>
> "The Republicans used it to win the election," said Mary Novak, a
>Democrat who lost her council seat. "In all fairness, there was a
>problem there."
>
> The Republicans, who won two seats from Democratic incumbents, ran on
>an anti-club ticket, promising to roll back bar-closing times in the
>borough from 3 a.m. to 2 a.m. A public hearing and final vote on the
>issue are scheduled Jan. 22.
>
> "The people have spoken out," said newly elected GOP councilman John
>Melillo. "They want to live in peace and contentment and not be
>awakened in the middle of the night."
>
> While appealing its liquor-license revocation to the state, the club
>now presents sporadic all-ages events at which no alcohol is served.
>
> Beninato, who co-owns the club with Joe Jr. and their sister, Donna
>Andrejewski, said he's looking to sell.
>
> "I feel a little bit like Ralph Branca," said Beninato, referring to
>the Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher who gave up a pennant-winning home run,
>known as "The Shot Heard 'Round the World," to the New York Giants'
>Bobby Thompson. "You're a good pitcher, but you'll be remembered for
>giving up that one home run. That's all they're going to remember you
>for."
>
>http://www.thnt.com/news/hnt/story/0,2109,342127,00.html
>
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Dan Mo
he used to have that giant plastic pussy that he'd pull things out of...those
were really great shows
D
make a jazz noise here