Singer, pianist and composer Andrew Hink, of Ocean City, has been riding NJ Transit trains for years between Philadelphia and the Jersey Shore.
The 24-year-old graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2010, and the Lindenwold station came to be a metaphor for his stage in life.
“I’d take PATCO out of the city and transfer at Lindenwold, then take the Atlantic City line down,” he said. “Lindenwold was a place of crossroads to me.”
He wrote songs on those train trips, and has produced an album called “Lindenwold,” which he will present for the first time 7 p.m. Feb. 1 at the Ocean City Library. Locals who played on it include his brother Brian, on bass, and trumpet player Valerie Hamburg, both of Mays Landing.
Hink, who describes his music as piano rock along the lines of Billy Joel, thought about becoming a meteorologist.
“I write lots of weather songs,” he said, such as “Hurricane,” which looks at life as a swirling storm. “And I edit on Wikipedia a lot for hurricane items.”
He has performed at five First Night programs, with the Youth Opera Company, Ocean City Repertory Theater and Greater Ocean City Theatre Company, and been musical director for shows at Ocean City High School.
His Dad, Gary Hink Sr., is the Ocean City tax collector. His mom, Donna, teaches at St. Joseph’s in Somers Point.
South Jersey AIDS Alliance officers
Lori Link has been elected president of the nonprofit South Jersey AIDS Alliance. Link is a partner and creative director at WiserLink Advertising and Public Relations in Galloway Township and has been an SJAA board member since 2008.
Joel Ballesteros, new vice president, is the director of LGBT marketing at Resorts Casino Hotel; Douglas J. Kelley, immediate past president and newly elected secretary, owns an optometry practice in Galloway Township; and James T. Foley, new treasurer, is senior vice president, CFO and compliance officer of the Shore Memorial Health System in Somers Point.
First place for Southern students
For the second year in a row, Southern Regional High School students Fran Castoria and Shana Maw won first place overall in Hospitality and Tourism Management Decision Making at the New Jersey DECA Regional Competition at Middlesex County College in Edison.
At regionals, 1,000 students from 19 schools competed for qualifying spots at the state conference, to be held Feb. 24 to 26 in Cherry Hill.
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Contact Michelle Brunetti Post:
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