Vickie grew up in Iowa. Lived in Silicon Valley & NYC. Peter has lived all over (NJ, NY, CH, IN, CA, MA, etc.) We chose to live and raise our family in Gloucester. Owners of gimmesound.com & Van Ness Group. Producers of gimmeLIVE concerts.
Over the past few years, we’ve profiled a number of rising stars from Cape Ann. Here’s our latest pick for whom to watch: Alexandra Valenti. Her insightful songs and endearing spirit captivate audiences and keep you listening, wanting more.
You can see her live at the Town Hall Stage at 3pm during Manchester’s Festival by the Sea this Saturday. And you can be introduced to her on Local Music Seen with Allen Estes tomorrow (WED) at 6:30pm on Cape Ann TV Channel 12. She sings three wonderfully original songs and speaks candidly — and with wisdom beyond her years — about the songwriting process and music business. Here’s a taste of what you can expect:
“I’m on a tightrope, balancing myself so I don’t choke on fear.” You can tell she’s going places if she’s already writing lyrics like that. You might as well catch this rising star while you can close to home. It won’t be long before she’s playing big venues far away for a steep ticket price.
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Returning for an encore performance at Shalin Liu, Ann Hampton Callaway is a national multimedia superstar, having performed as a singer, pianist, composer, lyricist, and an actress in theatre and film. Considered an icon of the American songbook and known for a Tony-nominated performance in the hit Broadway musical Swing! (she even wrote the theme song for the TV show The Nanny), Callaway’s records are platinum selling. She has performed for President Clinton, shared the stage with superstars like Liza Minelli and Wynton Marsalis, and is a frequent guest performer for renowned symphonies, including The Boston Pops. Her passionate and spontaneous performances delight audiences around the country.
Florence (Aimee Doherty) and Porker (Thomas Phillip O’Neill) photo: Gary Ng
Israel Horowitz’s Pulitzer-nominated “North Shore Fish” premiered at Gloucester Stage in 1986, has since been produced off Broadway in New York City, then all over the world, adapted into a TV movie in 1997 and is back at Gloucester Stage again with an excellent cast, whose performances will have you riveted from the very first scene.
Yes, it’s fun to hear the names of familiar Gloucester places batted about by actors on a stage. And the fish processing set, replete with real lockers, production line, shrink wrapper and plenty of doors to slam will take anyone who’s ever labored in food service or production right back to work. Plus, I have to admit I was eager to see Tip O’Neill’s grandson, Thomas Phillip O’Neill in one of the lead roles as Porker.
While any of these, along with the fact that many consider North Shore Fish to be one of Israel Horowitz’s best plays, would be reason enough go see it, the REAL reason is that Gloucester Stage’s production of North Shore Fish will make you think and feel in ways you’ve never experienced before. That’s what good theatre does — and this is theatre at its best.
According to Horovitz, “North Shore Fish, to my thinking, is a play about love and dignity in the workplace.” You might ask yourself, well what else is there? What else do we really want besides love and dignity and work that matters? North Shore Fish will help you appreciate what you have and question your priorities. And you’ll realize that this drama doesn’t happen only in Gloucester. That’s why North Shore Fish has universal appeal.
If you’re a Cape Ann Resident, you can see this play for a mere twenty bucks this Wednesday or Thursday at 8pm. North Shore Fish only runs through this Sunday, August 4. It would be a shame if you missed it. Call box office at 978-281-4433 for tickets.
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This just in from Ina Hahn & Lisa Hahn, Windhover Performing Arts Center in Rockport:
Due to the rain we are adding a performance TODAY at 11AM and we will still have the 5:30 performance. We hope to see everyone today!
“Quarry Dance 1”…performed by the Dušan Týnek Dance Theatre at Halibut Point State Park in Rockport, Mass. during the summer of 2012 was so successful that Windhover Performing Arts Center (located in Rockport, Mass) has invited choreographer, Dušan Týnek and his New York based modern dance company to develop a second installment , “Quarry Dance 2.”
Group photo of the dance company performing
This site-specific dance will be performed at privately owned Valley Pit Quarry, located at 7 Leverett Street in Lanesville (Gloucester) on Friday, July 26 and Saturday, July 27, 2013 at 5:30p.m. and is open to the public free of charge. Contributions are welcome. Parking is available at the Lanesville Congregational Church at 1120 Washington Street across from Leverett Street on both days. Parking is also available at the Lanesville Community Center at 8 Vulcan Street on Friday, July 26thonly. Street parking is allowed on Emerald Street, as well as on one side of Washington Street. The performance will last about one hour.
Valley Pit Quarry has a unique history because its former owner, Sylvester Ahola, a Lanesville native, was one of the most talented and famous musicians of the 1920’s and 30’s, playing lead trumpet with over a dozen big bands and making over 2,000 records. After retirement in 1940’s, he hosted many sailing parties at the quarry as a way of celebrating these man-made wonders.
Today, almost 100 years later, Dušan Týnek takes on the challenge by creating a new dance that will reflect upon this special place and generate a new and fresh narrative. The dance will move naturally through the environment using perspective and the unique architecture created by the granite ledges, overhangs, cracks, cliffs and terraces. And the dancers will also be in contact with the water, using its sounds as an additional dimension to the dance. The entire quarry and its surroundings will become a stage.
The Dušan Týnek Dance Theatre is a dynamic, contemporary dance company based in Brooklyn, NY. Recently named one of the top 5 New York City dance companies of the year by the New York Times, they have toured throughout the U.S, Europe and Russia and have recently completed a series of successful performances at Baruch College in New York City. In September, they are scheduled to perform at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in celebration of the company’s 10th anniversary. “ Terrific…striking…a high level of invention… Mr. Týnek is an undoubted talent.” NYTimes
Chairs will be provided for the audience, but people are welcome to bring their own chairs too, and people are encouraged to bring their own water and/or soft drinks.
Windhover is grateful to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation for their support and the funding which has made this event possible. We also wish to thank the Rockport and Gloucester Cultural Councils and The Donor Advised Fund of the Boston Foundation for their important contributions, as well as our many friends and supporters. We could not have achieved this without all of you.
Ina Hahn & Lisa Hahn, Windhover Performing Arts Center in Rockport, Mass. 01966
GLOUCESTER STAGE NEW PLAY READING SERIES KICKS OFF WITH THE RAINMAKER
Iconic Play with Local Connection
The Rainmaker by N. Richard Nash Monday, July 29, 8 PM
This play reading celebrates the 100th anniversary of distinguished American writer N. Richard Nash’s birth. The iconic play, The Rainmaker was written about the drought leading into the dust bowl. The evening includes a casual reception and conversation with Gloucester resident Amanda Nash, daughter of the playwright, following the reading.
The Rainmaker cast includes many Gloucester Stage favorites:
Richard Snee as H.C. Curry
Alexander Platt as Noah Curry
Michael Underhill as Jim Curry
Julie Jirousek as Lizzie Curry
Steven Barkhimer as File
Robert D. Murphy as Sheriff Thomas
Johnny Lee Davenport as Bill Starbuck
The reading is directed by Barlow Adamson who shared the GSC stage with Richard Snee and Steven Barkhimer in the Alan Ayckbourn’s Norman Conquests Trilogy from 2010 through 2012. Johnny Lee Davenport starred in 2012’s Master Harold… and the Boys and returns later in the GSC’s 2013 season to star in Driving Miss Daisy with Lindsay Crouse. The Rainmaker takes place during the time of a paralyzing drought in the West. A plain girl whose father and two brothers are worried as much about her potential future as an old maid as they are about the drought and their dying cattle. The brothers try every possible scheme to marry her off, but without success and there any sign of relief from the dry heat. Suddenly from out of nowhere appears a picaresque, sweet-talking man with quite the sales pitch. Claiming to be a “rainmaker,” the man promises to bring rain, for $100. It’s a silly idea, but the rainmaker is so refreshing and persistent that the family finally consents, banging on big brass drums to rattle the sky. Meanwhile the rainmaker also turns his magic on the girl, and persuades her that she has a very real beauty of her own. She believes it, just as her father believes the fellow can actually bring rain. Rain does come, and so does love.
All readings are at 8 PM.
Suggested Donation for Each Reading is $20. Seating is general admission.
Readings held at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA
For reservations and further information,
contact Gloucester Stage Box Office at 978-281-4433
or visit www.gloucesterstage.org
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Hailed by Rolling Stone as “a genre unto herself,” Kaki King is a true iconoclast, a visionary musician/artist whose singular work rightly stands out amongst the easily formatted. Over her decade-long career thus far, the Brooklyn-based guitarist/composer has recorded five extraordinarily diverse and distinctive LPs, performed with such icons as Foo Fighters, Timbaland, and The Mountain Goats, contributed to a variety of film and TV soundtracks (spanning Golden Globe-nominated work on Sean Penn’s Into The Wild to scoring – and appearing in as guitar-playing hand double – the acclaimed 2007 drama, August Rush), and played to ever-growing audiences on innumerable world tours. Each twist and veer marked the turning of a page, another step forward on a truly exceptional musical path. Beginning with 2002’s Everybody Loves You – to date, her only fully acoustic guitar recording. Best known for her percussive, virtuosic take on string instruments, Brooklyn-based guitarist-composer Kaki King has expanded and reconceived the role of the solo instrumental artist, constantly kicking at the boundaries of what is expected. For her solo performance, she brings a collection of several rare instruments, including a harp guitar, a dojo, a hybrid between a guitar and koto that King made herself, and, of course, her custom Ovation Adamas guitar.
“Her command of the guitar creates a unique listening experience that explores every raw emotion.” -Paste Magazine
“Guitarist Kaki King’s rightful place is among kings of the strings.”
–Chicago Tribune
“Kaki King has never been just a guitarist. While her immaculately picked guitar remains the centerpiece, she creates immersive, organic and cinematic compositions.”
–Relix
The Choir of St. Mary’s Church from Maldon, in the County of Essex, in the United Kingdom, will sing a concert program of British classics including music of Britten, Stanford and William Byrd on Monday, July 29, at 7 p.m. at Saint John’s Episcopal Church, 48 Middle St Gloucester. There is free parking at 33 Washington St. The public is welcome, there will be a free will offering. 978.283.1708
The Choir of St Mary’s, Maldon, is a mixed choir of adults and children which leads the worship Sunday by Sunday. The ethos of the choir is rooted in the rich tradition of Anglican Choral music but also draws heavily on continental experience, singing music from the sixteenth century to the present day. Formed, in its present guise, in January 2008, the choir has gained an enviable reputation both in the UK and around the world. They are now recognised as one of the best choirs in the Diocese of Chelmsford and receive frequent invitations to sing at special services and concerts in Chelmsford Cathedral and in parishes throughout Essex.
The choir’s first CD, A Maldon Christmas, was issued in 2009 and a second is currently in preparation. The choir gives an annual liturgical performance of Bach’s St John Passion on Good Friday, accompanied by professional original instrument ensemble, Spiritato. This moving event, complete with homily by the Bishop of Chelmsford, sees the church packed to capacity, with standing room only.
Touring is an important part of the choir’s schedule. Besides touring in the UK, they have sung in Germany and several times in Italy. This is the choir’s first trip across the Atlantic and they are delighted to be visiting their sister town of Malden, Mass., to which, along with the Parish of St Paul, they are extremely grateful for the kind hospitality they have received.
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Visiting Gloucester? Have friends in from out of town? You’re probably complaining to yourself that the weather isn’t cooperating, right? Not to worry! There’s lots to do in Gloucester and Cape Ann when the weather is lousy. Just be glad you’re not on Cape Cod, where there really isn’t much to do except go to the beach.
Just to see what he’d say I asked a friend, who grew up in Gloucester and now lives in NYC (owns a bar and writes for a New York Time Blog) why would New Yorkers come here instead of Cape Cod. Here’s the mini rant he wrote back:
Gloucester is a place for culture now, just like it was in the 1800s and 1900s. Contemporary culture is actually at its best here, maybe more so than any Mass city other than Boston and Cambridge. Where else can you buy fresh caught fish, see a great play, hear Henri Smith play a bar or watch the Met opera in 3D, attend a reading by a national author, eat lobster in the rough or a 3-star style meal, hike, jump quarries, dive off rocks into the ocean (there are no rocks on Cape Cod), mountain bike, drink a $2 beer in barroom full of fisherman, see the most beautiful boats in the world, go to a world class museum, etc etc.
You nailed it Ray! Below the video, we’ve listed another 15 things you can do on a rainy day. Just be glad you don’t live in England, where you wouldn’t expect the sun. As John Lennon put it in the Beatles classic, “I Am the Walrus”:
Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun.
If the sun don’t come, you get a tan
From standing in the English rain.
SEE 15 RAINY DAY IDEAS BELOW VIDEO:
Glazed – Paint Your Own Pottery & Glass Fusing 184 Washington St Gloucester MA 01930 Phone 978-283-5751
Cape Ann Lanes 53 Gloucester Avenue
Gloucester, MA 01930-2256
(978) 283-9753
Next Monday 7/29, we’re filming two Local Music Seen with Allen Estes shows for Cape Ann TV at their studio at 38 Blackburn Center (see map). Filming will begin around 2:30pm. Allen’s guests will be Joe Thomas & Memory Lane of Giuseppe’s, who hosted the very popular Noise Magazine Singer Songwriter Shuffle. There will be a break after filming Joe & Memory and then we’ll begin filming a show with very talented, young singer/songwriter Alexandra Valenti as Allen’s Guest. Here’s Alexandra at the Singer Songwriter Shuffle.
People are welcome to attend as guests. If you’d like to attend, please be there by 2:30pm. And please be patient as we have to test sound and lights and often we have to move stuff around and mess with various gadgets to get things just right.
If you’d like to be notified, by email, of all future Local Music Seen with Allen Estes tapings (along with other concert info before the public knows) you can join our gimmeLIVE Concert Club here.
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Here’s an entertaining video by Cape Ann TV’s Lisa Smith that captures all sorts of 2013 Fiesta fun with profiles of the Hat Ladies and Greasy Pole Champs, plus a special appearance by Gloucester City Councilor Sefatia Romeo Theken . ENJOY!
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Dave Sag is on a roll. One way to gauge the quality of a musician is by the guests who perform with him and it just seems like some of the best musicians in the area are showing up as Dave Sag’s guests lately (see list here). So we figured it was time to reprise the Local Music Seen show we premiered a couple of years ago featuring Dave Sag. The show will air tonight at 6:30 on Cape Ann TV Channel 12, and on Friday at 1:30pm and Sunday at 6pm.
In addition to being a talented, versatile musician, Dave Sag is an entertaining story teller and his stories shine in this show, as you can tell from this clip, where Dave asks our sound guy, Will Hunt (who did a did an excellent job programming the Block Party music and managing sound on all 3 stages this past Saturday) to join him on Sax — and Will, who’s equally versatile and always a good sport, agrees. Check out the dynamic, on-stage spontaneity in this number:
Just in case you don’t live in Gloucester and can’t get Channel 12, you can watch the entire show on-line now thanks to Cape Ann TV’s new technology! Click here to watch the show.
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Enjoy a Sunset Music Sail on the Schooner Thomas E. Lannon on THURSDAY, July 25th from 6:30-8:30 p.m. featuring music performed by Allen Estes and Fly Amero.
These two awesome musicians wow everyone onboard every year with their amazing guitar playing and singing.
Schooner Thomas E. Lannon Thursday, July 25
6:30 – 8:30pm (be at the dock by 6:15)
Seven Seas Wharf
63 Rogers Street
Gloucester, MA 01930
(978) 281-6634 http://www.schooner.org/
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Come one come all to the Reggae Bashment on The High Seas Annual Reggae Boat Cruise. Bring your friends for a beautiful evening of music, dancing and socializing out on the open ocean. Music provided from renowned Reggae DJ’s Renegade Red, Jah Red and Vision of Lion Pride Sound. We will be bringing you the best in Dancehall, Ska, Lovers and Roots Rock Reggae Music. This is not an event to be missed. Tickets can be purchased before hand by calling Lara at 603-759-6487 or you can buy them at the boat while supplies last. Cruise leaves at 7PM SHARP from the 7 Seas Whale Watch at 63 Rogers Street in Gloucester MA
*CASH BAR ONBOARD BOAT
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This just in from Ina Hahn & Lisa Hahn, Windhover Performing Arts Center in Rockport
“Quarry Dance 1”…performed by the Dušan Týnek Dance Theatre at Halibut Point State Park in Rockport, Mass. during the summer of 2012 was so successful that Windhover Performing Arts Center (located in Rockport, Mass) has invited choreographer, Dušan Týnek and his New York based modern dance company to develop a second installment , “Quarry Dance 2.”
Group photo of the dance company performing
This site-specific dance will be performed at privately owned Valley Pit Quarry, located at 7 Leverett Street in Lanesville (Gloucester) on Friday, July 26 and Saturday, July 27, 2013 at 5:30p.m. and is open to the public free of charge. Contributions are welcome. Parking is available at the Lanesville Congregational Church at 1120 Washington Street across from Leverett Street on both days. Parking is also available at the Lanesville Community Center at 8 Vulcan Street on Friday, July 26thonly. Street parking is allowed on Emerald Street, as well as on one side of Washington Street. The performance will last about one hour.
Valley Pit Quarry has a unique history because its former owner, Sylvester Ahola, a Lanesville native, was one of the most talented and famous musicians of the 1920’s and 30’s, playing lead trumpet with over a dozen big bands and making over 2,000 records. After retirement in 1940’s, he hosted many sailing parties at the quarry as a way of celebrating these man-made wonders.
Today, almost 100 years later, Dušan Týnek takes on the challenge by creating a new dance that will reflect upon this special place and generate a new and fresh narrative. The dance will move naturally through the environment using perspective and the unique architecture created by the granite ledges, overhangs, cracks, cliffs and terraces. And the dancers will also be in contact with the water, using its sounds as an additional dimension to the dance. The entire quarry and its surroundings will become a stage.
The Dušan Týnek Dance Theatre is a dynamic, contemporary dance company based in Brooklyn, NY. Recently named one of the top 5 New York City dance companies of the year by the New York Times, they have toured throughout the U.S, Europe and Russia and have recently completed a series of successful performances at Baruch College in New York City. In September, they are scheduled to perform at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in celebration of the company’s 10th anniversary. “ Terrific…striking…a high level of invention… Mr. Týnek is an undoubted talent.” NYTimes
Chairs will be provided for the audience, but people are welcome to bring their own chairs too, and people are encouraged to bring their own water and/or soft drinks.
Windhover is grateful to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation for their support and the funding which has made this event possible. We also wish to thank the Rockport and Gloucester Cultural Councils and The Donor Advised Fund of the Boston Foundation for their important contributions, as well as our many friends and supporters. We could not have achieved this without all of you.
Ina Hahn & Lisa Hahn, Windhover Performing Arts Center in Rockport, Mass. 01966
Due to anticipated rain/thunderstorms; tonight’s Music in Masconomo Park Concert featuring Chelsea Barry has been postponed until tomorrow (Wednesday, July 24th.)
The Concert is being sponsored by the Manchester Community Center who unfortunately will NOT be able to provide food at tomorrow’s makeup concert.
See you all at Masconomo Park tomorrow night
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The Outlaws performing at Blue Ocean Music Hall on July 25th, 2013
The OutlawsSatch Keran Band
The Outlaws featuring Satch Keran Band will be performing on July 25th at the Blue Ocean Music Hall on Salisbury beach. The cost of admission is $29-$39 and The Outlaws will begin at 8pm sharp. Doors open 90 minutes prior to the start of the show allowing enough time to enjoy food and drinks.
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Did you see Ned & the Big Babies at Dog Bar during the Block Party? Wow! Tight, crisp, rockin’ sound; you just can’t help but move around! These guys are one of the most entertaining bands in Gloucester. And the best thing is that you could hear them all the way up on Main Street. I saw people dancing their way down to Dog Bar’s gorgeous outdoor dining spot on their Rogers St. side because you couldn’t just walk, you had to dance. Thankfully, nobody took any photos of me dancing down there (at least none that I know of).
Imagine what kind of party you could throw with a whole CD of new Ned & the Big Babies songs. Now click here and help make that happen! Not so sure? Watch the video:
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Over the past few years, we’ve profiled a number of rising stars from Cape Ann. Here’s our latest pick for whom to watch: Alexandra Valenti. Her insightful songs and endearing spirit captivate audiences and keep you listening, wanting more.
Due to anticipated rain/thunderstorms; tonight’s Music in Masconomo Park Concert featuring Chelsea Barry has been postponed until tomorrow (Wednesday, July 24th.)
Good Morning Gloucester 