Act Three: In which Lindsey and Jordan make music in Portland
Ned and Wendy The Band releases its third album, with gratitude to The JWF
By Claire Levine
Maybe you could call it, “When Lindsey met Jordan.” Or “You’ve got Zoom.”
The story of Lindsey and Jordan Plotner is the stuff of rom coms. In fact, while in Los Angeles, they even made an award-winning video about their personal and musical relationship.
Today, the story continues with happy trails that brought them to Portland. Here’s how the full-length movie might go.
Act One: Lindsey is in New York City working on a degree and writing songs. Jordan is in L.A., working as a composer and all-around contributor to recorded music, including creating film and video scores.
Both are recovering from recent break-ups. Both are experiencing health problems. Both are a little sad.
Then a producer suggests Jordan can help Lindsey with musical arrangements.
From the first phone call, they know it’s a music match –- and more.
“By the end of the call,” Lindsey says, “I remember I was just so happy. I felt like everything that I had said in regard to what I was hoping for from the music – he really understood what I was talking about. I was speaking in metaphor . . . like ‘make it sound like ocean tides and like a whirlpool,’” and Jordan got it.
Through Zoom, phone and email, things progress. At first, Jordan supports Lindsey’s writing. Soon it becomes an effervescent collaboration of writing and production.
Nine months after that first call, Lindsey gets on a plane to be with Jordan in L.A.
Until this point, they have never seen each other in person.
Lindsey’s car, named Wendy, arrives later, and is introduced to Jordan’s car, Ned.
Act Two: Lindsay arrives in L.A.
The magic continues. The love grows. The music blossoms. They write and sing together. They record all the time. And Ned and Wendy the Band performs at house concerts and small venues. They marry in 2022.
And they realize that Los Angeles is not the place to be to be fully supported in their musical creativity – and to be able to afford the rent.
When the lease is up, they hit the road.
Act Three: They find what they are looking for in Portland: artistic freedom and a supportive, creative environment. In Lindsey’s words, “I didn’t want to be always trying to become the people that we thought we had to be. I want to just be able to be who we are now. And today, we have so much. We have everything we need.”
Arriving in Portland, they immediately find community. They start performing. They make friends who encourage their unique approach to the world. For example, take the term “Glam-Folk.”
They were under the influence of David Bowie, having just seen a documentary about him.
Jordan said, “We were at a great bar making a new friend, and (to describe our sound) one of us threw out the term ‘Glam-Folk.’”
And their friend instantly said, “That’s great! You should use Glam-Folk from now on.”
They begin recording, taking the time to work and rework and revise their music in a way they never had been able to do before. The result is Back Around Again, their third CD.
Lindsey said, “It captures the cyclical nature of things. We go on these adventures, we go to new places and have discoveries . . . but what I’m finding is we’re rediscovering the same thing we already discovered before that maybe we forgot along the way.” The album acknowledges what Lindsey calls “repeated truths.”
The JWF Connection. With their absorption into Portland’s music community, they quickly learned about The Jeremy Wilson Foundation’s Musician Health & Services Program.
And they both soon found they needed exactly the help the foundation offers.
Jordan lives with a painful genetic condition that affects joints and skin. To manage his Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Jordan requires frequent – and expensive – physical therapy. The Musician Health & Services Program has paid the deductible tso that Jordan’s health insurance fully covers his PT costs.
Later, Lindsey got laid off from a job that paid her insurance – at the same time she required three diagnostic MRIs. Again, the JWF stepped in to cover essential costs.
The musicians also have benefitted from the navigation services that make The JWF unique. JWF Navigators directed the couple to affordable health insurance and tax credits for additional private insurance, which, Jordan said, “is important for us. Only certain specialists can treat this specific condition, and they often only take very specific health insurance.”
So, the JWF has offered long-lasting, as well as one-time, help. And it benefits all of us in the music community, who can hear their outstanding music – and listen to their radio show, City Hums.
The story continues. Ned and Wendy The Band is winning critical acclaim for performances and recordings.
But Lindsey and Jordan remain each other’s biggest fans. Jordan sums up their history – and the rom com plot – this way:
“Even though Lindsey at first wasn’t as confident in asserting her ideas, her thoughts have always been really interesting and completely different from any other artists’, from anyone else I’ve ever heard.
“I heard Lindsey’s voice before I met her, and I stopped dead in my tracks. There was something in her voice that was just magical. And continues to be magical.”
Be sure to watch Welcome Home Ned and Wendy to hear their voices, see their faces and experience the joy they bring to every part of their lives.
This band is definitely going to stay together! Jordan and Lindsey a/k/a Ned and Wendy the Band
