The Beginning of the Band

I met Nathan on December 4th, 2000. We were co-workers, nothing more.

Then, surprisingly, he invited me to his 25th birthday party. And more surprisingly, I went. By the end of the night, he announced, “We’re a band!” And that was the beginning of ‘Uncle Binky and the Suburban Symphony’.

With me on keys and friends filling in on drums, bass, rhythm guitar, Nathan led us through rehearsals and our first gig. The rest, so they say, is history. Weekly rehearsals, creative collaboration, and supportive bandmates (who saw what was happening before we did) cooked up the perfect stew for a strong friendship that blossomed into an equally strong romance. On December 5th, 2001, Nathan and I got engaged.

And the band kept going. We shortened the band’s name to ‘Uncle Binky’ and called ourselves ‘Binksters’. We added new members: trombone, trumpet, and saxophone made up our ‘brass section’; violins were our ‘strings’. Nathan encouraged each of us to spread our song-writing wings and to try out new instruments. Our guitarist brought his harmonica and accordion. I played the flute, occasionally. The violinist took up the mandolin. The trombonist sang a song or two. We agreed to every gig that came our way, from bookstores to the lawn of the capitol building, and though we rarely made money from our music, none of us really cared. When a friend asked us to play outdoors at Sears Point Raceway– which meant caravaning for more than an hour’s drive and setting up all our equipment in the dust and beating sun– we jumped at the chance. I took my trusty SLR with me, loaded it with a roll of black-and-white film, and named myself historian for the day. The photo above shows my husband (in the sunglasses) warming up with Phil on the bass guitar and Dan hiding behind the drums. It was one of our most memorable performances.

My husband turns 40 this month. He wants to celebrate with a performance in our living room. Yes, the band is still going, though it now has a new name and different members. Through the years and all the changes they bring, the original members have bowed out of the band to focus on work and family. We have celebrated weddings, births, graduations, and promotions. Some have had to move out of the area. But they know that they will forever be ‘Binksters’, and someday, we will have an ‘Uncle Binky’ reunion.

Maybe when Nathan turns 45.