By Tim Kelly
Scott Patterson has always been a Jersey Shore kind of guy.
The “Gilmore Girls” star, who grew up in Haddonfield, now resides in Los Angeles and has hundreds of miles of world-class coastline within close proximity. But Patterson still ranks his home state at the top.
“There are some unbelievable places (in California) but as far as the beaches themselves, there is nothing like the Jersey Shore. It’s been a long time since I was there and I’m very much looking forward to coming back.”
He will do so on Sunday August 14 when his hard driving blues-rock band, Gordon, performs a 1 p.m. concert at the Hughes Performing Arts Center at Ocean City High School. The show is being held in conjunction with the Guts and Glory 5K Walk/Run taking place at 8:30 a.m. the same day. Both events benefit the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America’s Philadelphia/Delaware Valley chapter.
His five-piece band features all original music Patterson wrote himself. When asked to characterize its style, he chuckled. “Don’t quote me as the one saying this, but the guy on the sound board last night (at a Summersville, West Virginia benefit for flood-ravaged areas) said we were a cross between the Who and Jethro Tull—without the flute.”
Ticket pricing, expected to be in the $40 range, as well as ticket purchasing information, will be announced soon, according to Donna Lombard, Guts & Glory race director.
In addition to his starring role as Luke Danes in the Gilmore Girls, which is being re-booted in a four-part Netflix limited series this November; Patterson is famous for his turn as Billy, the “sponge-worthy” date of Elaine in a memorable Seinfeld episode. He also portrayed Agent Peter Strahm in three of the “Saw” horror franchise flicks, Saw IV, V, and VI.
The original Gilmore Girls run attracted a loyal, almost cult-like following from 2000 to its end in 2007, and fans have been hoping for a rumored feature film ever since. Patterson, while giving no spoilers, says the Netflix version will take on a new dimension while still satisfying fans.
“What I can say is we will have 90-minute chapters that will be deeper and more complex and driven by great characters. It will be appropriate (in continuation of the original series) with the same bubbly, quick-witted dialog and a great story, but because it is Netflix, it goes deeper. More like a movie. People will get four stand-alone films for 20 bucks. I think our fans will be thrilled. It’s instant satisfaction. They can forget about Black Friday and just watch it all.”
Patterson’s character, Luke, is the earthy proprietor of Luke’s Diner and the love interest of the show’s protagonist, Lorelai Gilmore, played by Lauren Graham. He said the new version’s writing will reflect the passing of Edward Hermann, who played patriarch Richard Gilmore.
“(Richard) will still be a character and (the story) will pay homage to him,” Scott said.
As for Seinfeld, Patterson still is stopped in airports and on the streets by fans wanting a picture, and when he obliges, he invariably hears the “sponge-worthy” pop culture reference. He is right up there with the Soup Nazi and the Bubble Boy, Scott agreed.
“That show is probably the most heavily rotated in history. It’s always on somewhere. Seinfeld made a lot of careers. I did a lot of different things in the business but I got a real break landing a role in that show. That one role changed everything.”
Patterson’s musical background dates back to his teens. “I picked up a guitar for the first time when I was about 13 and I was always in a band of some kind. I got a little more serious about it right around the time I landed (the role in) Gilmore, but now it is coming full circle. We are a solid band, and powerful. We heard (the PAC) is a beautiful venue and we plan to rock out. It’s a lot of fun, and we can shed light on a lot of causes.”
Besides the flood relief shows in West Virginia, Scott said that Gordon (named after his middle name) was scheduling New Jersey shows in Asbury Park and Sea Bright to aid families still trying to rebound from Superstorm Sandy.
According to on-line biographical information, which Patterson confirmed, he is a direct descendent of the Leeds family, said by legend to have given birth to the Jersey Devil, and also of Richard Stockton, one of the state’s signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. You don’t get much more New Jersey than that.
Patterson’s childhood in Camden County involved not only music and acting, but also sports. He was an All South Jersey pitcher at Haddonfield High and for the Brooklawn American Legion national powerhouse squad and he played minor league ball in the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees organizations. At one point he won 13 consecutive games in the Braves’ chain, but his diamond career hit a plateau at the AAA level, at which point Patterson retired to concentrate on acting.
All the while, he continued to come to the Jersey Shore. “Ocean City, absolutely but also Cape May, Sea Isle, Margate. My family used to rent a place and we would come down for two weeks every summer. And I would come down on my own. When I was about 14, I used to ride my bike 50 miles all the way down, jump in the ocean and ride all the way back.”
