Robbie Robertson was at Tony Mart’s in Somers Point when Bob Dylan called. The rest is music history

PHILADELPHIA — One of the most mind-blowing episodes in South Jersey music history is that in the summer of 1965, Levon & the Hawks were the house band at Tony Mart’s, a dance club in Somers Point. The group was fronted by drummer Levon Helm and four Canadian members, including guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson, who died Wednesday at 80. And it was there that the band — who would soon become known as The Band — first made the connection that would change the course of music history. “When we first got there, it was like a gig on our way to New York,” Robertson told me in 2016, while pr...