Living The Dream

When I was growing up in West Long Branch, one of the greatest passions I had was playing music. I started piano lessons at age five, and then I took up guitar lessons at age twelve. 

I was in several garage bands that started out with the neighborhood kids. We’d play Cub Scout pancake breakfasts or enter ourselves in local talent contests for the experience. You could make mistakes on stage at that point, with the idea of getting better as you grew up. 

Of course, with playing music came the notion of making a living out of it. When you’re a kid, you think that anything is possible until you realize that in the music business, there’s just so much talent out there that it’s hard to break in and maintain a presence in the market. 

One of the guys who I was in a garage band with was my friend, Herbie Van Note. Herbie's passion was playing the drums, and he loved to perform. 

In West Long Branch, the town is so small, everybody knew everybody. My connection with Herbie was no exception. Herbie’s dad was a police officer in town as well as a volunteer firefighter. My dad was a volunteer firefighter as well, and I first met Herbie when our dads used to play softball for the fire company’s team. Even today, our dads are both members of the Long Branch Old Guard. 

Herbie was a year ahead of me at school, but we used to talk about music and putting a band together all the time. We became fast friends. I think it was every kids’ dream in the neighborhood to get in a garage band and try to make a go of it professionally. Herbie and I were no exception to that sentiment. 

We lost touch during the school year, with Herbie attending Frank Antonides School while I went off to St. Jerome School, but we reconnected at Shore Regional High School. By then, Herbie had taken up the drums, I had played guitar for a couple of years, and we began flirting with the idea again of putting a band together. Through his connections at school, Herbie became friends with a guy by the name of Danny Craig, and the three of us started jamming at our parents’ houses on alternating practice sessions. 

We held many a jam session, but unfortunately, between practicing, the rigors of high school, and our family lives, we were just too busy to ever play a gig together. It was fun times, though. I remember one time when we were practicing over Herbie’s parents’ house, and the amplifier that I had borrowed from a friend to use that night almost caught fire. Believe me, it wasn’t because my rhythm guitar playing was smokin’. 

Fast forward about 30 years, and I run into Herbie at the Quick Check in West Long Branch. He had taken a job with the Long Branch Department of Public Works, but then he starts telling me about this up and coming country and western band that he’s in called After The Reign and how things were taking off for them. I was so happy for him. The passion I had seen in him as a kid was still there, burning brighter than ever. 

I went to go see Herbie and the band a few times, usually when they played in the summer concert series at Pier Village. Then the band’s popularity went viral. They placed in a national “battle of the bands” contest, and then the band wrote and performed “Jersey Strong” a song about Superstorm Sandy that won a national contest and got the band some appearances on national TV. They really were going places. Herbie was living the dream that so many of us from the neighborhood wanted for ourselves as kids. 

The last time I saw Herbie was in the Long Branch Middle School in August of last year. The concert that After The Reign was to perform at Pier Village got moved to the middle school auditorium due to inclement weather. It was, without a doubt, one of the most well-attended concerts all summer. 

My friend Herbie Van Note passed away on January 5, 2014. He was only 56 years old. My heart sunk when I found out. Here was a guy who loved what he was doing, only to have it end by an unexpected twist of fate. 

Rest in peace, Herbie, my lifelong friend.  Heaven needs a good drummer every now and then.