other. Joe got us invited to play a
house show with Thomas Wesley
Stern and The Porchistas at Alan’s
house. There were so many hon-
estly good-hearted people there,
it was unbelievable. We made
friends with their friends and truly
felt at home.
Asbury Park is where all of our
paths eventually crossed. Without
the music community in that town,
my life and my circle of good
friends would be something differ-
ent for sure.
Joe: Asbury Park is like a conduit
where artists can find a place to
play. There are so many options,
whereas most places have only
one venue or two to choose from
if you’re extremely lucky. In As-
bury, there are dozens of spaces
that have music. If it’s not a venue,
odds are it doubles as one dur-
ing Asbury Underground or an-
other one of the town-wide events
they run each year.
I met Jesse in Lakewood at a mu-
NJ STAGE 2017 - Issue 40
tual friend’s house, but it’s crazy
because my sister and he gradu-
ated from our middle school the
same year, and I never met him un-
til six years ago. I met Alan for
the first time in Asbury Park at the
NJ Clearwater festival in 2010. Our
bands played the same day, and
we talked a little, but really be-
came friends after we started play-
ing at Tierney’s in Montclair with
The Porchistas and the Seabirds.
It was a biannual gig for years up
there, and it helped us develop a
following in North Jersey, where
fans are hard to win, but when you
hook ’em, they’re yours.
As far as Asbury, our best
shows together were at Asbury
Lanes, which doesn’t exist any-
more. We don’t know what’s go-
ing to happen with it, but we really
hope whomever owns it listens to
the old owners and includes them
in their plans to reopen it, if that’s
even on the table. A big piece
of Asbury died when that place
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