Makeup For The Silence

Lincoln - Smashing

Two weeks ago, I went up to Waltham, MA for the first time since I moved away a decade ago for my ten year Brandeis University reunion.
 
Reunions are weird.  

In some way they’re an attempt to recreate, for a weekend, the experience of college, but inevitably they can’t, and the cracks in the facade make the whole jigamarole odd in ways I never expected.

From what I’ve heard, something like 125 class members (out of around 800 total) showed up, which is a pretty good turnout for a class reunion.  Still, it definitely felt a little weird with so many folks missing.  Even more so than the members of my class who didn’t show, the absence of folks from the classes ahead and behind us was pronounced; I would venture to say I had as many friends and acquaintances in the classes that followed mine as I did in my own.  And while there were a lot of friends there that I hadn’t seen or talked to in way too long, for the most part we’re all Facebook friends.  It’s a really odd dynamic, to be among a group of people that you haven’t interacted with in ten years but whose lives you’re pretty much up to date on.  If nothing else, it makes small talk even more awkward.  Even the administrators have changed at this point.

The campus, too, is weirdly different now.  The construction of a new campus center, admissions building, science building and residence hall have left the south end of the campus nearly unrecognizable. The new buildings are ultramodern constructions, sleek and stylized (and in the case of the campus center, really really ugly).  They don’t fit in with any of the buildings on the rest of campus, which is wholly appropriate.  Meanwhile, the north end remains virtually unchanged.  Strolling from one end of campus to the other, like I did before I left, feels like walking through my old memories and out onto the surface of the moon.

(Brandeis’ campus has always been a hodge-podge of mismatched constructions tossed here and there, like someone had dropped big donation checks with peoples’ names on the front out of an airplane and built the buildings wherever they landed, which really isn’t far from the truth.  Every one screams of its era, from the soviet-bloc inspired old science quad to the weirdly dated 70s decor of the social science buildings. Also, we’ve got a castle on campus.  I mean, wtf? A castle? It’s all just part of the place’s charm.)

All that said, it was great reconnecting with friends that I haven’t seen in far too long.  Despite the fact that everyone but me seems to have a toddler or two in tow now, once we started talking it was like no time had passed at all.  It was comfortable.  It was good.  This isn’t a post about nostalgia or reminiscing, but my college years were really the best time of my life, and I’m sure I’ll write more about them in the future.  I hope I manage to keep those connections up; a decade is too long for people you care about.

_________

Lincoln came to Brandeis in the Fall of my first year (that would be 1997 for those keeping count), opening for They Might Be Giants.  They played a great set; both my neighbor Steve and I picked up copies of their self titled debut LP, and it rapidly became one of the soundtracks of our year. That show was a big part of why I decided to get involved in Student Events, which led to me having a hand in putting on a number of big shows for the school that I’m sure I’ll talk about here another time.

Sadly it would be the only release from them, as Lincoln split up in 1998.  Half the band went on to join TMBG, but singer/lyricist Christopher Temple seemingly fell off the map. I’ve searched a couple times over the years to try and find out where he went; the closest I’ve found are some vague references to an accident that left him unable to play music.  Whatever the story is, Lincoln left behind one really great album of idiosyncratic indie pop that I’m still enjoying fifteen years later.