Date: February 28, 2021
Interviewee: Tim Cabrey
Interviewer: Vincent Sauchelli
Transcriber: Rev.com
Editor: Gillian Demetriou
Location: Zoom meeting
Vincent Sauchelli:
Right. My name is Vincent Sauchelli and I’m a student oral historian at Monmouth University, working with the Paradox School Paradise Project, which is an African-American Oral History and Mapping Project on Asbury Park. We are here today with Mr. Tim Cabrey on February 28th, 2021. And Mr. Cabrey runs musical performance charity efforts in Asbury Park. Although Mr. Cabrey is not African-American, our project appreciates and welcomes all sorts of perspectives relative to the Asbury Park community. Mr. Cabrey has agreed to be interviewed for the project in a phase that focuses on COVID-19’s impact on the city. So with that being said, I thought I would begin by asking you how you’re doing today and followed by some brief background questions before getting to our main focus of your charity efforts.
Tim Cabrey:
I’m great, Vincent. Thank you for having me. It’s a pleasure to be here.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Great to have you, as well. So where and when were you born and raised, Mr. Cabrey?
Tim Cabrey:
I was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, which is a suburb outside of Philadelphia, in the late fifties. That’s as close you’re going to get out of me. And I lived there until college, when I went to University Of Dayton, and then came back and began working in Philadelphia.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Okay. So you said you went to a Dayton College. What could you tell me about that experience? Maybe the experience overall or expectations you had, degrees you pursued, anything like that?
Tim Cabrey:
University of Dayton was a great school. It had a large student community and private housing around the campus. So you had your own little private town. I went for a degree in journalism, communications and marketing, and I pretty much ended up in communications and marketing. I worked for television and marketing sports teams, the majority of my career.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Okay. So that brings us to my next question, which was going to be what you do for work, either previously or currently? So what could you tell me about that marketing career or what you might be doing now, for work?
Tim Cabrey:
It was interesting. When I started, there was basically six television stations, three networks, and a couple of UHFs. And I ended up affiliated with the sports teams originally, the Philadelphia Phillies, who are also owned by folks that had a TV station. So I was the go-between, between the team, the sponsors, the station, and then it grew until we picked up the Sixers and the Flyers and the end result, I ended up staying with the television station and then just kept moving up in levels till I couldn’t go any further. And then I just moved on to other markets, which is the nature of TV. So I worked in Philly and Florida, New York, D.C., ultimately back to Philadelphia. And then I retired at the last recession, like 2009.
Vincent Sauchelli:
So it’s safe to assume you’re a diehard Phillies fan all around, Eagles, Phillies, Sixers?
Tim Cabrey:
It’s funny. I was, but when you grow up in the business side of it, it really changes how you look at it. As a kid straight out of college, it was heaven. I had a season pass to everything that took place in the Spectrum. So it really afforded me a front row view to all the music of the eighties and the nineties, which is more than any music lover could ask for. And I’ve reserved parking under Veteran Stadium for the Phillies. It was nuts. So it really was a lot of fun but you forget that you have to work from eight until six and then you’d be at the ballpark from 7:30 to 11:00 and so it became a lot of work, a lot of hours in the day.
Vincent Sauchelli:
So I can see some information that you recently moved to Asbury Park. What inclined you to move out this way, to the Jersey Shore?
Tim Cabrey:
It’s really just, yeah, mystery of Asbury Park. A lot of it was the opportunity to participate with Monmouth University, with some volunteer opportunities there, with the Springsteen Archives, as well as just the Asbury Park Music Foundation and the thriving arts community. Well, it was thriving until March of last year. And then it just seemed to be a great place to be. It’s only an hour and a half for my family in Philadelphia. I had been living in Florida and I’m too young to live in Florida. It’s just not a place to be full time. So this is much nicer.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Yeah. They say Florida is where old people go to die and-
Tim Cabrey:
Yeah. They call it God’s waiting room.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Yeah. Something along that-
Tim Cabrey:
Yeah. Yeah. I was surrounded by people who were 80 and now I’m surrounded by people who are your age, up to 30. 30 is old in their crowd, so it’s a much different vibe.
Vincent Sauchelli:
So how does living in Asbury Park compare to where you lived before, either Florida, New York, Philadelphia?
Tim Cabrey:
I’ve also had a beach house for years, 30 years, in Rehoboth, which was a similarly small town. Maybe we only had 15,000 year-round residents, but it didn’t have the arts community that Asbury has. I mean, before the pandemic hit, if you’re local here, you know that there are more things going on, on a Tuesday night in February, than you could even possibly run to on it’s end. So the music community, which really was where my heart lay, it’s just thriving. I came into town and I think before I even moved any furniture in, I had a, call it the Shake The Foundation house party for Light of Day and it was part of the Light of Day schedule for that week. I think I had six bands in my house and about a hundred-some people and it was great. We raised some money for the foundation and it was a good way to kickstart my life in Asbury Park.
Vincent Sauchelli:
You seem pretty passionate and involved in the music community. How did you get started in the music community? Were you a musician yourself or something along those lines?
Tim Cabrey:
No, I really wasn’t. I just, everybody grows up with a passion and mine was rock and pop radio. I was very fortunate, in Bryn Mawr, the city I grew up in, I could run, literally run, from school, down to the little club called the Main Point. And that was a coffee house. It admitted folks of all ages. And we got to see everybody who were the big stars today. I mean, most notably it was Bruce, but there was also James Taylor and Billy Joel and Janis Ian and Tom Waits, Doc Watson. I mean, you name it, Cheech and Chong. Everybody went through there and since it was an all ages show, I would go. I mean, you took your paper out, money, you spent your $3, you got a ticket and you got to see Bruce Springsteen. So it really was… And that was when I was 14 or 15. And I knew that’s where my heart really was, is in music.
Vincent Sauchelli:
So one last thing on the Asbury Park area, in your opinion, are there any racial divides in Asbury Park, that you’ve been able to observe in your time living there, either economically, socially or opportunistically?
Tim Cabrey:
Yeah, I think that’s true all over the world. I think Asbury has its division. I mean, I volunteered for all of the Springwood events that Asbury Park Music Foundation has this year on the other side of town. And there are efforts made by those who wish to make them, to reach out to the other side. And then I think that’s a very slow process that moves forward and moves back. But who was it? Somebody had a quote, Martin Luther King, that the arc may be a little slow, but the continuum is towards the right side, which is equality. But you look at the economic situation, that’s affected everybody by the pandemic. And of course you know that those of lower income are affected more dramatically. So most of my efforts, since having come to town, has been to create events that would benefit that community. And I’ve become maybe obsessed with it, I guess. I am wildly busy but everybody has to do their part and I’m happy to be able to do mine.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Wonderful. And now to get two words, I’m talking about your charity efforts. I was provided a decent amount of information from Professor Z, as well as yourself. One of the efforts I saw was Asbury Park Presents charity effort, which I am assuming, was a previous effort that’s now included. And then you followed up with some information, which is what I assume to be the current effort, the Watermark Series. Are they essentially the same sort of effort? And what could you tell me about those?
Tim Cabrey:
Yeah. At first, after the Light Of Day thing, and then after the pandemic, nobody really knew what to do. And I had a neighbor, who unbeknownst to me, had planted this original art on the corner of my house, because I’m at the intersection of how you come into Asbury Park. And it was a picture of Tillie, with a COVID mask on it. And I watched all the people stop. I mean, the cars would stop, people walking, would stop and to get their pictures taken with this thing. And long story short, I found out who the artist was and we created a campaign called Stay Safe AP. And we had t-shirts made, both with COVID Tillie and then we also did a mermaid. And then we sold them, with all of the profits going to Interfaith Neighbors, Asbury Park Dinner Table, Asbury Park Music Foundation, pretty much everybody that was struggling to serve the needs of the community.
And that was a huge endeavor. I had no idea that my house was going to look like Macy’s. I mean, we had shirts, we sold a lot of shirts, so much so that it became life changing. I had to stop. And then I was finding that my friends in the music community, they were living five to six together in a house and they were getting thrown out because they couldn’t pay the rent. And so here are friends, 28, 29, 30 years old, moving into their parents’ basements and selling equipment. And it broke my heart. And no one, although the Asbury Park Music Foundation was doing what they could with outdoors safely distanced events, it wasn’t that middle ground, the middle ground of rock and rollers who had any opportunity to really to play. If they weren’t big enough to play at the Blue Grotto or do a drive in like Southside Johnny, which not many people are, they were languishing.
And so I approached a couple of neighbors with huge yards and said, “Would you mind if I put a concert together in their yard?” And overwhelmingly, they were like, “Can you do that?” I’m like, “Yeah, let’s.” So I really had no idea what I was doing. I had never promoted or presented a concert before, but I learned a lot. And I think we held maybe a dozen sold out shows, outside. All safely distanced, no problems until it just got too cold to do it. And like many, I didn’t want to be the guy that had the indoor show that became a spreading event. And I just wasn’t going to do anything or hadn’t thought of yet what I was going to do. And then a Watermark, which is a beautiful restaurant and lounge on the boardwalk in Asbury Park, decided, “We’re just going to close the season.”
It was a challenge because there’s a bar, you had to be seated. You couldn’t go up to the bar and it wasn’t really the nature of his customers. So I just gotta poke the bear and said, “That’d be a great place to stream shows.” And through the graciousness and generosity of Russell Lewis, he gave me the keys and said, “Go for it, go do whatever you want.” And so we originally started out with six weeks of different acts and the money was going to different charities, largely the Asbury Park Music Foundation, Asbury Park Dinner Table, and Fulfill of Monmouth County, which is another food bank and it was going so well, after the third week, we extended it two more weeks. So now I’ve got eight weeks worth of concerts that will go until the end of March.
Vincent Sauchelli:
So you alluded to some of the non-profits, Asbury Park Dinner Table, Asbury Park Music Foundation, Fulfill foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean, I also have the Light of Day Foundation here. How exactly is the money raised and what could you tell me about how exactly these nonprofits benefit, maybe along the lines of what their efforts might be and what they do or what exactly they use the proceeds for?
Tim Cabrey:
Yeah. It varies. The t-shirt campaign was, basically I wrote them a check. We raised money through the sales of the shirts and then if the shirts were $9, we sold it for 25. The difference was spread to the charities. So there was that basis for the contribution, but then I generally matched it, just because these were charities I would’ve supported anyway. And it just found a way to bolster it and to increase the awareness in the community. I spent my business life in communications, and so I reached out to the local papers and the radio stations or whatever, to see if I could get some more PR for these folks, because they deserved it, and we were successful. For the Summer Concert series, it’s ticket sales. So that was easy.
And we found that each concert, I would align with a particular benefit. And so maybe you’re coming to see Bobby Mahoney and The Seventh Son and Bobby wants to charge 10 bucks, 15 bucks, but we always had a tip bucket as folks came in, for whoever the charity was. And it was amazing. We generated significantly more money from the tip buckets at the events than we did for people who wanted to donate in advance to the charity. So it was largely through the generosity of neighbors, who just saw the value and the joy of seeing live music. We were trapped in summer and so it was seeing that, I think we created a happy environment. Liquor free, for the most part, I really couldn’t sell liquor, but we raised a lot of money that way. And again, my tendency was to match it.
You know, this winter, it’s a little different. I can’t sell tickets because these venues, they’re not open and I can’t do the 25% capacity. I didn’t want to do that. So I tried to do something different. Was a little experiment. I said, “Look, donate what you can, if you can, of any amount to a Venmo account or to enter a chance to win two tickets to one of these shows, or just send an email with your information, because obviously, no purchase is necessary.” And I didn’t raise a lot of money. There was nowhere near enough to even cover the production expenses, much less compensate the artists or create donations for the charities. It’s May, I just kick in.
I would always have been someone who supported the arts and nonprofits anyway, so this is a way to do it that also creates some joy. These people, the performers, are over the moon, to get to perform. They wish there was an audience there, but we keep upping our production values each week and the audience on the stream is growing and they’re generating some revenue and tips. And I haven’t heard really from the charities themselves because they keep those cards close to their vest, as to how much they’ve generated per. But at the end of it, I’ll write each of them a check just because they deserve it.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Okay. This charity is also meant to benefit musicians, artists and their technical crews, under my understanding. So how exactly do the musicians, artists and tech crews benefit from the charity proceeds?
Tim Cabrey:
The tech guys I just pay. You have to have, if you don’t put together a good production, you’ve got nothing. People aren’t going to watch the days of sitting with your cell phone and streaming out you playing your guitar and your mother’s living room. Those are past. And then folks moved up to GoPro. I’ve got Warner Brothers at this point, we’ve gotten so out of control buying cameras and lights and professional equipment. My audio guy had been doing audio, it’s Cooper Davis from Super Duper Sounds, a great audio guy, but he didn’t know anything about video and suddenly content is king and that content is video. And so we have each week, I think, stepped up our game. I did a show last night with Foes of Fern. I think I had five stationary and two handheld roving cameras and it was quite the production.
So you have to pay those people upfront. It’s just, they get paid up front. The musicians, I pay more than what they would have gotten for a similarly live gig, if they had been playing at the Wonder Bar somewhere, because they’re not playing Wonder Bar every week. This may have been the only gig some of them have had since February. So my tendency is to over-pay them a little bit because they need the money. And then fortunately for me, there’s no expense for the venue. Watermark has handed it over and said, “Please just take it.” So that saves me a lot. It was part of the reason I didn’t think I was going to be able to do that this winter, because although there are many empty venues in town, like House of Independence or The Saint, the cost of renting them, it gets really expensive.
Vincent Sauchelli:
So where or how do you find these acts to perform out here?
Tim Cabrey:
It’s funny, some of them you just fall into. If you ever have been watching streaming videos at any point, the video will end and just automatically goes to something else that you may not have selected. And I have found a couple artists, some are obviously just old friends that I’ve known, and then others just popped up on my screen. I mean, I fell on a guy this summer, his name was Connor Myers, former Marine, former police officer in Nashville, wounded in battle, had a voice like… I was just sitting there like, “Wow, who is this?” And I found a way to reach him the next day. He was back in Garwood, New Jersey, living with his wife’s family, looking to wait, to make the money in country music because the competition in Nashville was intense. And so I said, “Do you want to do some shows in Asbury?”
He’s like, “Can you?” I’m like, “Yeah, let’s go.” And so we did a benefit for Asbury Park commissioners running for reelection. We did one for the Asbury Park Music Foundation. We did one for Wounded Warriors. I think we did four or five shows with Connor. And didn’t later find out until he called me one day to say, “I got to really apologize. I can’t come to the show today.” I’m like, “Are you okay? Everything all right?” He says, “Well, my boss called.” And long story short, I’m like, “Well, who’s your boss?” It ended up to be Ron Aniello, who is Springsteen’s producer.
And he had been living at this, he is still living in Springsteen’s estate. And I guess Bruce and Patty left for a couple of days. And he said, “Come over and we’ll produce some songs in Bruce’s studio.” So it’s funny, you run into somebody you don’t know where their background is and suddenly he ends up… He isn’t royalty yet. I think he’s going to be a songwriter more than a singer. And then others are just acts. No, it’s not six degrees of separation in Asbury Park, it’s two. And so you know somebody, and then they introduced it to the other. And now, they’re scratching at my door, like crazy. Like, “Can we do something?”
And I can’t do everybody. And hopefully in the summer, we’ll do more shows with multiple acts. It’s hard to do that on a stream. So it’s a combination. People just drop in your laps and you hear music and you like it. Connor Bracken Band had done a stream, premiering a new album of theirs, no audience. And again, it was one of those deals where I called him the next day. I said, “Dude, you have got to perform this material in front of people.” And they’re hesitant, but we got them to do a big show outside, all safely distanced and was a huge success for them. It also increases awareness of their record, make some sales for them. People buy merch, put some money in their pockets. So it’s been fun. It’s been a lot of fun.
Vincent Sauchelli:
It sounds like fun and definitely appropriate in these needy times for people who are at a loss, with the pandemic. It’s funny how you said these things fall in your lap sometimes. I actually have a friend who plays the bass and he’s in a couple of bands. He might be in three bands and he actually performed a gig last night at the Brighton Bar. So I thought it was appropriate to mention to him. I had to call him and tell him that I couldn’t make it because I had a little too much schoolwork, but I said, “I’m interviewing this man tomorrow, who is running these music performance charities.” They obviously were interested. They would love to perform in case… I told them I would have to be speaking to you and I could obviously maybe see if I could pull some strings, get some contacts together but-
Tim Cabrey:
What’s his name?
Vincent Sauchelli:
My friend’s name is Brian. And I believe he’s in a couple bands. The one he performed with last night, as long as I get it correct, 99% sure they’re Honeywine. And I know they’re on Apple Music and Spotify if you want to check them out. Honeywine. Like some sort of wine drink, they’re named after something like that.
Tim Cabrey:
So like a three-piece jazz thing or is he playing standup bass or electric?
Vincent Sauchelli:
No, it’s an electric bass. They’re like rocky alternative. They just were doing their new album last night. So I said to him, maybe there’s some new ventures there. I told them also that it seems like you’re booked for the…
Tim Cabrey:
Watermark?
Vincent Sauchelli:
… the Watermark right now, but obviously the summer has a lot more opportunity. They’re also dying for gigs too. So maybe we could-
Tim Cabrey:
That’s really very much what I look for. I’m looking for younger artists who are doing original material and trying to get it out there. As much as I have friends who do great covers and cover bands, it’s not really what I’m looking for. I think the younger voices that have music that needs to get out, those are the people I’m seeking out. So I have to look for Honeywine and see how they sound. You know what? Watermark’s not going to open until May. So I’m not sure if it’ll pop up and add more weeks into April. I’m almost hoping not, I could use a break. It’s a lot more work than I would’ve thought it is. You’re juggling multiple bands and production people and publicity, which has gotten to be… I’m better at now.
And the business owner, it’s a lot. So on the day after show, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. And then I start it all over again for the following week. But obviously it makes me happy and it makes the bands happy, and the audience members. Some people have been just so gratified to have something, to do some live local music, where I’m afraid to go to the Brighton. I’ve had friends, Jarod Clemons has been playing there and I bought tickets and then decided I can’t go. I just wasn’t comfortable being in an indoor space like that, particularly because I now have a major responsibility to all these people in these other shows. So the ones that I’m doing, it’s a huge space. And we are so distanced and masked, temperature taken, the whole nine yards. So the doors are open to the ocean breeze. So we’re about as safe as we can be. And these folks that I’m putting shows on for, aren’t comfortable going into the Brighton or Bora either. They just don’t think they’re ready yet.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Yeah, it seems right, taking the precautions you need to do, while obviously benefiting everybody that could benefit. So I wanted to ask about the acts you have booked for the 2021 effort. What could you tell me about them? And are there any that you’re looking most forward to, in particular,
Tim Cabrey:
Last night was Telegraph Hill Records, is a local… It’s Joe Pomarico and Matt Fernicola. They basically produce a tremendous amount of local artists, particularly out of Asbury Park. I think I first became acquainted with them because I was friendly with Bobby Mahoney, and Bobby Mahoney and the Seventh Son. Somebody I think I met years ago through Light Of Day, and that circle just kept widening. And the Telegraph Hill folks are, I think they made up five of the eight shows in this series. And then others were just locals like Sean Tobin and the Boardwalk Fire, who had a brand new EP to be released. I’d seen Sean a couple of times over the years and he’s done a couple shows for me, but this was a full band experience with a brand new EP and it was awesome. And we did a Monmouth band.
The kids’ names were Malibu and they were all either attending or just left Monmouth University. And so I try to get some diversity. Next week, we got Des and the Swagmatics. She is like the punk funk diva of all time. She’s awesome. A true but natural performer. And then the week after that is Alexander Simone, who was Nina Simone’s grandson. And he’s got a pretty funky, like a parlademic band called Whodat. So I’m trying to mix it up, get some of each in there. And so far it’s been pretty successful, a lot of fun. I wish I could make some money. So if you know anybody who wants to donate, I’m happy to take the donations because they’ve stopped coming in. So that’s all right. It’s still a good time.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Yeah. It’s that part of the effort that counts. That’s definitely rewarding enough, I feel like. So I know you alluded this to a little bit previously, but where exactly did you find the inspiration to start this effort?
Tim Cabrey:
That’s a good question. Disappointment, I think would be the honest answer, in that others who were more established here, weren’t doing anything. I mean, I volunteered for every Asbury Park Music Foundation show and I was thrilled that they were able to pull them off, safely distanced, no problems. Everyone wore masks, the whole nine yards. And that was a great opportunity. And we also did a concert band series outside the Paramount Theater and then they added a St. John Island Series, which was more acoustic acts. Nobody knew what St. John Island is. It’s just a splotch of land in the middle of Sunset Lake in Asbury Park. But we were doing shows for, I think, 75 was our ticket capacity on that, but that needed to be acoustic. I said there’s that middle ground of acts that just weren’t being addressed.
And I thought, “Well, no one else is going to do it. Let’s see if I can.” And truly that’s how it happened. I did one and it did really well. And then I did another one and it did even better. And then people in the hood, who had really big yards said, “Would you like to come here?” And I’m like, “Sure.” So suddenly I was doing shows in multiple yards and it just kept going until it was too cold. So I hope to start up. I’d really rather do nothing than stand in front of the stage at the Wonder Bar with a beer in my hand and not have to have anything to do with it, but I don’t think that’s going to happen for a while.
Vincent Sauchelli:
So are there any other charitable efforts you have run or participated in previously or currently?
Tim Cabrey:
I did a thing this winter, the Asbury Park Toy Drive, I think it had been in existence for 20 years and it had been run by Connie Breech. She was an Asbury Park police officer. And the Toy Drive is obviously a deserving cause particularly this year, I think because folks didn’t have the extra money to buy gifts for their kids. I mean, how could you turn that down? And because of the pandemic this year, and folks’ hesitancy to go shopping in some cases, the Toy Drive was directing people to a major wishlist on Amazon. And I was like, “Hey, wait a minute. We should be shopping locally here, as best as we can.” So I approached them and said, “Would you mind if I did like a shop local initiative?” And there were three stores in town that sold toys, only three, and clearly the Asbury Park Book Cooperative, which I’m a member of.
So long story short, for every dollar spent in any of these stores, shopping locally, that they donate it to the toy drive, I matched. So I think we raised like $2,000 with the toys sold. And then I gave the businesses and bought another $2,000 or whatever it was, worth the toys and donated it towards the Toy Drive. So it served two things, keeping our money locally and shopping locally as best we can and creating some cheer. I mean, I just remodeled my house and I did everything I could to buy everything locally, which sometimes was a huge pain in the butt. But I think it’s important to support the community in which you live. So that was one way to do that.
Vincent Sauchelli:
So you just said you were a member of the Asbury Park Book Cooperative. What is the Book Cooperative? What could you tell me about that? What did you do with them?
Tim Cabrey:
Yeah. It’s a bookstore in town and they were in danger of going under. An independent bookseller had a challenge long before the pandemic. I mean, Amazon took a big bite out of that and I’ve lived in bigger markets where the Barnes and Nobles were just collapsing because people couldn’t afford it. And their attitude, which is true, I think every town needs a good bookstore. And rather than go under, based on what their sales were, they invited members of the community to buy a piece of it. Like you’re buying into a co-op building. And so they looked for folks to make donations at varying levels, to help keep the bookstore afloat. And I think they were on the front page of Tri-City News this week, about how successful they’ve been. And now we’re coming into the second year of the Co-op and I think they’ve expanded the point that they are a thriving business on Cookman Avenue. And not many businesses can say they’re thriving in Cookman Avenue at the moment. So it’s been a very successful attempt for them and one I was really happy to support.
Vincent Sauchelli:
So how has COVID affected the charity effort, back to talking about the Watermark and has it made the process easier or difficult and how have you or your team been able to work through the obstacles created by COVID?
Tim Cabrey:
Oh, it’s brutal, Vincent. I mean the Asbury Park Music Foundation, I think had planned, they do like a Asbury Park Music and Film Festival the first week in April, with multi… I mean, they had Melissa Etheridge, they had David Chase who created the Sopranos. They had Thom Zimny, who films a lot of Bruce’s works and to premiere some videos. And then Bruce tends to show up to those things, so they sell out very quickly. So they had some really big events, so loud, boom, wiped out. So here are their major fundraisers for the year and don’t quote me exactly, but I think they had been supplying 300 scholarships with the value of that $3,000 each. So that’s a quick $900,000. So you can’t really replace very easily. So everybody was struggling.
The Asbury Park Dinner Table, if you don’t know much about it, serves really two masters because they get their food from local restaurants, so they generate donations and then they buy and pay the restaurant workers to make the food. And then they distribute it at local food kitchens and churches around the area. So that provided two fronts, kept people employed and provided food for the community. But they’re struggling. They just got a great big grant, which is terrific. But every case is different. Interfaith Neighbors, we did another one for the center, which provides services for HIV people in the community. They house, I think, 25 persons full time, at no cost to them. They provide food, medicine, no questions asked for anybody who comes off the streets, homeless, whatever. And they’re a very deserving charity too, who had their gala pulled away from them. So very often these big charities made their money through big parties and then you often auction off art or do whatever. And they can’t do that anymore. So we need to find the best ways we can, to try to create an atmosphere where people will be willing to give. So we’re doing okay. Sorry, my dog is sleeping.
Vincent Sauchelli:
You said you have to find a way to create the atmosphere where people can give, how have you created that atmosphere?
Tim Cabrey:
One more time?
Vincent Sauchelli:
You said that you needed to find a way to create an atmosphere that would encourage people to give. How have you created that atmosphere?
Tim Cabrey:
When I first came here, I really wanted to put art and music together to create fundraisers for nonprofits. I mean, that was the intention of this house. And that’s what I had done for Light and Day within weeks of moving in. I have a number of friends who were physical artists, besides musical artists, and they would not contribute but they would sell me their art work at a very reasonable cost. And then I would auction it off. I’d pay the artists the $300 for their painting, then if it auctioned for 1300, then the $1,000 went to the charity. So we started to do some of those, besides the music, we had other vendors, they wanted to sell their product and then they would say, “Hey, Tim, here’s my base price. Can you get me this? And then if you get me above this, you can have it toward the charity.”
And we did that with a lot of local artists and it did okay. You’re buying art when people are strapped, you don’t have money for food, you’re not going to be buying a lot of art. And we’re trying to get bigger named acts involved, which is a process. You have to go through their managers and does it affect other things they’re going to do? But if you can grab whoever, a Southside Johnny, to do a show as a benefit for somebody else, you makes some money, but that’s a process we’re hoping to get through, for this spring.
Even the people I was talking to last night, they’re all like, “What are you doing in the summer?” I’m like, “I don’t know. What are you doing this summer?” Nobody knows whether we’re going to be able to gather together or not. My guess is not, maybe it’s September, maybe. So it’s really a grassroots, like, “Okay, we’ve done this,” or “I’ve done this, what can I do next,” kind of thing? So it’s definitely learning by going.
Vincent Sauchelli:
So back to the community and the impact of COVID. How have you seen COVID-19 impact the Asbury Park community since you have been living in the city?
Tim Cabrey:
Well, it’s decimated a lot of small businesses. These bars and restaurants, you can’t go to a bar, really. You know you can’t sit at a bar and it’s a single person. I used to love to go to a restaurant and bar and just sit at the bar and have dinner because now, I hate taking up a table of four because I don’t feel like I’m not going to eat as much as the table of four. I may tip for a table of four, but I don’t feel it’s right. So they are 25, I think they’re now at 35% capacity and that’s not enough to keep afloat. It’s hard enough to be in a resort town where the majority of your business comes through Memorial Day to Labor Day. And then you struggle through the winters anyway. I don’t know how they’re doing it, truly, but I’m grateful for the many that have, and I do a lot of takeout and support them in that way.
And I think it just affects everybody differently. To me, the worst has been the panic. You go to the grocery store and you just look at people and they’re like rushing through the store. The stress level is so high. And I think sometimes it’s the stress we create is as harmful as the virus, should we catch it. So I think there’s a lot of that everywhere. I think it’s everywhere. And the music community, it’s done. Lagosta will do something. The Brighton does something. Chubby Pickle will do something. Bora does something. They’ve actually been playing outside every week. Sunday afternoons, Marc Ribler, who is the musical director for Stevie Van Zandt, he’s got a band that’s been playing outside every Sunday. Well, probably not today because it’s pouring rain, but it’s 35, 40 degrees. They got gloves on and they’re playing. So that’s some hard core, to do that outside. We’re looking forward to warmer days. And more vaccinations. I think as that rolls out, the comfort level will increase for everybody.
Vincent Sauchelli:
All right. So that just does it for the questions I have for you today. But I did want to take the opportunity to open the floor and hand the mic over to you, if there was any questions you had, wanted to ask for any points that you wanted to make, that maybe I didn’t cover as well as you would’ve liked to, the floor is now yours.
Tim Cabrey:
No, the only question I have, I only talked to Dr. Z briefly and so, “Why do you want me to participate in this? I’m not a member of the African-American community.” But she said, “You know what? It’s the charitable initiative that you’ve created, that is an interesting story.” And I think from my perspective, you try to lead by example, I reckon. And so I have tried to get others to think mindfully as well, as to how their efforts or how there’s something they could do, could uplift the community, particularly the African-American population of Asbury Park and the Hispanic, which isn’t doing as well. And so I’m looking for other acts and other opportunities. There is an African-American music project in Asbury Park, over by Springwood, and we’ll try to find ways to elevate their visibility in the community and find ways to raise money for them. But very often, and with all respect to these charities, volunteers have other responsibilities and it’s trying to hurt the kittens a little bit. So what is the overall focus of… Are you doing other interviews with other folks? I’m assuming you are.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Yes. So the last man I interviewed, by the name of Dan Harris, he was a minister at the Second Baptist Church in Asbury Park and he was born and raised in Neptune. So just got his oral history of the area since his time as a youth. And then similar to what I asked you, how he’s seen COVID impact the area and stuff like that? And although, like you said, you’re not an African-American individual, this is more focused on the impact of COVID on the community is also a part of this project.
Tim Cabrey:
Well, I was a student in Monmouth University when the call came from the professor to evacuate campus, which I thought was horribly timed. I mean, the kids in my class just like running over each other to get out the door. We were in the middle of class and I thought, “Well, that wasn’t handled very well.” So are you in school, virtual? What are you doing?
Vincent Sauchelli:
I am taking six classes right now. And so I got a little bit of everything. One class is totally asynchronous, so we don’t meet. We just have assignments every week. Other classes meet on Zoom strictly, where we just are face-to-face talking about the assignments we’ve done. My class with Professor Z is like a hybrid, which is something that would typically be offered in normal times, which we meet online one day. We don’t actually be online, we have an assignment due for one day a week. Sometimes we may meet on Zoom and then one day a week we meet in person, obviously under safety protocols, social distance. And then another class I have, is actually, believe it or not, totally in person. We meet twice a week, 8:30s, which is a fun-
Tim Cabrey:
Sorry to hear that.
Vincent Sauchelli:
… Everything is done, obviously, through the protocols and it’s not a bad experience. It’s nice to be in the classroom. Parking is a lot easier than it usually would be, but as eerie as it is, the way campus is right now, it’s still is a bit refreshing to still be able to go in and to your professor lecture.
Tim Cabrey:
Yeah. That’s absolutely true. I mean, isolation is a real challenge anytime, but particularly now. People, especially folks your age, are stuck at home with their parents. It’s like, “I love my parents, but boy, I gotta get out of here and be around people my own age.” And so I’m glad you’re able to get at least two days of that. Maybe next semester will be at 11 o’clock instead of 8:30. Six courses is a heavy load. Good for you.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Thank you. Thank you.
Tim Cabrey:
Thank you. I appreciate your time. Anything I can do for you guys, anytime, just give me a holler.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Of course, of course.
Tim Cabrey:
Who’s the contact for Honeywine?
Vincent Sauchelli:
Honeywine… Like I said, My friend is the bassist. I’ve met the other guys here and there. Probably the lead singer, I think his name is Matt, I’ll probably talk to my buddy Brian at some point and get their contact info and I can reach out to you, maybe if you listen to them. Like I said, they’re on Apple Music and Spotify, if you want to listen.
Tim Cabrey:
They’re probably on Instagram and everything else too. It’s always fun to hear new music. It’s pretty much what keeps me going.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Awesome. They pretty-
Tim Cabrey:
Thank you, Vincent. I appreciate your time.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Of course. So that just about does it for the time we have. I appreciate your time, your perspectives, and on behalf of Monmouth University and myself and the Paradoxical Paradise Projects, I just want to sincerely thank you for all that you’ve done for us today, what you do in the community. And I want to wish you luck with your future and your upcoming events, and maybe I’ll see you on the boardwalk or something like that.
Tim Cabrey:
There you go. When we start doing outdoor shows, we hope you’ll be able to come. Actually, I’ve been trying to get Dr. Z’s son to play. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen him. She keeps it pretty quiet. She has a son who’s about 12, I think, who’s one heck of a piano player and singer. And I’ve tried to sneak him into my house for Porchfest and say, “Sneak him in the front door, sneak him out the back door,” but she’s like, “No, not yet.” So you’ll have to ask her about him the next time you see her.
Vincent Sauchelli:
I will, I will. I actually played the saxophone. I played as a young boy. I played the Alto from third to fifth grade and then picked up the baritone from six to eight. And then I put it down throughout high school, but just recently, with nothing to do, I figured I could get into some old habits again. I got a new horn. I’ve been playing mostly covers, but I’m definitely look to expand a little bit.
Tim Cabrey:
It gives you something to do. Music is a great distraction during this times. Congratulations.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Thank you. Thank you.
Tim Cabrey:
All right, Vincent. Be good to yourself. Thanks a lot, man. Take care.
Vincent Sauchelli:
Thank you. You as well. Bye-bye.