As I'm writing this, I'm getting ready to see Vince Dynamic at a show in the Chicago area. It's another amusing circumstance that's fallen on my lap that I'm in Chicago at the same time the band is rounding up their tour, inching their way back to their home in Michigan.
These words are put down exactly a week since I filmed this session with Vince Dynamic in Asbury Park. I find myself humming the tune to "Young Jersey Friend." Chris from the band emailed me before their tour started after encountering the Wanderer Session with Via Audio; one of my favorite ever bands and a group that tours pretty vigorously almost year round. It's funny isn't it? A band from Michigan on the Wanderer Sessions. I've been working hard and filming as far out of New Jersey as I can go but how funny that the farthest musicians on these Sessions so far have met me so close to home.
I told them to meet me at the shore that afternoon, thinking Chris and the others needed some downtime after driving so much. Asbury was clear and the winds were warm. The beach-goers crowded the sand and colorfully clad children were dragged along the boardwalk by their parents and their over-sized balloons. It was a good summer day. I was hoping New Jersey would be very welcoming that day since the only experience Vince Dynamic had with playing there was in a pretty shady venue up some wilderness in the Northern part of the state. No Hoboken, no New Brunswick, no Montclair. They seemed pretty oblivious to the great venues they missed but I told them I'll help next time around.
031 Vince Dynamic
video by: Kevin de Wilde
They played a couple of songs on the boardwalk in front of some old lovers walking by and an uncaring policeman who thought one of the band members was his cousin. Cheers to New Jersey police. The songs were great. "Young Jersey Friend" was the one I recognized the most after listening to their stuff online.
I was nervous about meeting them beforehand. Michigan is far enough out to pass all the musical friends I knew. But I suppose, this day, our circles have expanded to the Midwest. We were chatting in a Mexican restaurant about music and college and life and all these usual things I enjoy talking to musicians about. They're never the same experience. Chris' girlfriend said that he was really excited when he got my email about filming and was immediately telling people back home. How lovely. Sometimes, I myself am so enthralled with these great musicians that I forget about wondering what they could be thinking too. They had fun, they said. That's what mattered.
I'm amazed how rapid and expansive my musical world has become. I'm thankful for every piece of film, every grateful handshake, every pretty grin that comes my way during these Sessions. I suppose our baby, Pollifax, really is growing faster and better than Christine and I could ever dream of.
Ah, it's almost time to see these awesome musicians again. St. Charles, Illinois. How amusing, this second meeting.