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.
When we built the zip line (See those videos here), we had to chop down some trees and since yesterday wasn’t much of a beach day, John decided to chop them up and fix his wagon so he could haul the wood into the garage to store until it gets really cold. In this video he shows you how to chop wood with an ax and use a socket wrench to repair a wagon (red wagon, of course).
Stuff the kids in the car and take a Sunday drive to Latitude43 for their Classic Car Meet and Honky Tonk BBQ. They are having pulled pork in the smoker and smokin’ hot Johnny Carwash beating out classic 60’s surf songs and rockabilly.
Linda Amero Trio at Captain Carlo’s
Brunch at Alchemy with Flynn Cohen & Friends
Brunch at Seaward Inn with Julie Dougherty
That’s 4 ideas from 11am – 3pm. 10 more choices after 3pm and 14 choices TODAY (Sat)! Check out the full list here.
Get out and enjoy family, friends, and some great music on Cape Ann.
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Let’s face it folks, we, in New England, are known for being kinda stuffy, right? Isn’t that why we’ve welcomed Henri Smith to Gloucester? Isn’t that why we do our level best to keep him here year after year? Yes, he’s a fine musician. Yes, most of his friends are all top talent too. Yes, he infuses Gloucester will all kinds of culture we’ve never before experienced. But let’s be honest. He’s fun! And so are his super-talented friends. Just look at this video:
Don’t these guys just look like they’re having the time of their lives? We need more of that — and we’re going to get it on June 3o when Henri gathers the most talented, fun-loving New Orleans musicians you can see north of the bayou at North Shore Music Theatre to open for the iconic for Aaron Neville (get tickets here). Henri’s band will include:
Now for some fun tonight (see full music lineup here) we have to mention one of Gloucester’s most talented and fun musicians with an acerbic wit, Inge Berge, will be at the Dog Bar with his trio. See what we mean by wit and fun in the video below:
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Imagine the new CD that Aaron Neville, Don Was and Keith Richards will create for Blue Note Records, the most famous jazz record label of all time (think Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Chick Corea, Norah Jones, etc., etc.)
Oh, did I mention — Keith Richards will play guitar on this new CD too!
In two weeks we may hear some of the music slated for this new CD at North Shore Music Theatre. Tickets are still available here.
Now that it’s summer, there’s more to do on a Wednesday night in Gloucester. Lots of good people playing (see full music lineup here), but we just have to mention the first solo appearance by Dylan Estes (Allen’s son) at Giuseppe’s tonight. He’ll start about 8:30. We’ll be there with John, the Zip Line Kid.
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If you went to Celebrate Gloucester, you saw Stanton Davis on trumpet (you can see one of his solos at the end of this video). Stanton led a very popular Boston ensemble in the in the late 1970s called Ghetto Mysticism. In the video below the band got together at Scullers 3 years ago and invited Henri Smith to sing a couple of songs.
On June 30th Henri brings Stanton and Ghetto Mysticism’s percussionist Les Lumely to North Shore Music Theatre along with other top New Orleans musicians to open for Aaron Neville. This will be a night you won’t soon forget! Get tickets here.
This is a big week on Cape Ann. It’s the first summer week with more than 40 artists at 18 venues (and Summer doesn’t technically start until next week).
Today we were told that Ned Nugent and Mark Pelosi will join Dennis Monagle tomorrow at Minglewood. Check this week’s complete Gloucester music lineup for all the latest updates.
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Well, our son John has a new project this week. While repairing our roof, we displaced a bird nest with eggs in it and John moved the nest with some help from Vickie, who’s been talking to the bird for some time now suggesting that she really didn’t want to be in our roof anyhow. Watch this video and see how mother and son help out another mother and her (hopeful) offspring.
13 venues with music spread throughout the day, all day and night — it’s going on right now! No reason to stay home. Check out the full music lineup here.
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Did you really think Gloucester would have a Blues Festival without featuring Local Talent? Not in the Live Music Capital of the World! (Just in case you thought that was Austin TX, check this out)
Gloucester’s favorite New Orleans transplant, Henri Smith will open the Blues Festival on August 11 at Stage Fort Park. (If you want to see & hear the national recording stars who will follow, check out all the videos on this page.)
More proof that Gloucester is in fact the live music capital of the world can be found by checking out the live music schedule for this weekend. More new listings since yesterday bring us to 25 artists at 17 venues just tonight and tomorrow — ’nuff said!
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Austin, TX claims to be the Live Music Capital of the World saying that they have the most music venues per capita. Now the Austin Chronicle lists 923 Venues for a city of 790,390 people, which works out to 1 music venue for every 856 people.
I decided to check the gimmesound.com database and found 68 venues in Gloucester which have music from time to time (not every night). Gloucester has 28,789 residents as of the 2010 census, so that works out to 1 music venue for every 423 people, which is more than TWICE the music venues per person as Austin TX, making Gloucester the true LIVE MUSIC CAPITAL OF THE WORLD! Spread the word, folks!
This weekend alone we have over 3 dozen artists at 17 music venues — and one of those venues is a schooner — try that Austin; you’re 200 miles from the water!
Now, for those of you where thinking you would defend Austin because they have SXSW, which I have to admit is pretty cool, don’t forget that on August 11 (when the average high in Austin is 96 and very humid) Gloucester is having a Blues Festival and our average temp for that day is 79. Where would you rather be? Wait … don’t answer until you see this video of Lucky Peterson, who will be at the Blues Fest!
Why the (s)? Watch the video and see how long it takes you to figure it out. If you don’t get it after 20 seconds, have another cup of coffee . . .
Kenny will be at the Gloucester Blues Festival. It won’t be long before the sun heats things up around here and you’ll be at the beach, Fiesta, whatever … where you might forget that you can save $12 by getting tickets ahead of time, so get tickets now and stop worrying.
Our local music scene is already hot with 10 live music choices tonight (more really, because Nights on the Neck alone has 6 live shows between 5 and 8:45 and we only list them once — see their full schedule here).
And let’s not forget Bradley Royds begins his Thursday Night Series at Giuseppe’s.
If you were at Minglewood Tavern on May 5, you just might be in Brad Byrd‘s new video On My Way Down shot by Hollywood Director Brandon Rose that night. If you can’t remember May 5, perhaps you’re the one dancing, singing the words and pointing in the air at 1:24 seconds into this video.
Brad is Allen Estes‘ guest on this week’s Local Music Seen, which premieres tonight at 6:30pm on Cape Ann TV Channel 12. It’s a half hour of excellent music and fascinating dialogue between two of Cape Ann’s best songwriters. Plus you’ll get to hear three songs by Brad and Allen’s new song The Trouble with Me.
When the show is over, you can choose from half a dozen live music venues tonight with music for every taste you could imagine. See the full live music schedule here.
Have you seen the sun today? It’s coming back and will be here in full force soon enough, which is a good reminder to save $12 by getting your tickets now for the Gloucester Blues Festival on Saturday August 11 at Stage Fort Park. See you there!
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Yesterday’s video introduced you to the Gloucester Blues Festival performers (click here if you missed it) and promised a week-long preview. Today, we feature the headliner Shemekia Copeland, whose stellar performance at the White House recently aired on WGBH TV. Watch the video and you’ll know why you have to get tickets now, so you can save $12.
On August 11, Paul Benjamin & Bob Hastings bring some of the world’s best blues artists to Gloucester for what we hope will be an annual event, the Gloucester Blues Festival. In this video (the first of our week-long Blues Festival Series) the producers give you a preview of some of the music you’ll hear and artists you’ll see. Remember, you can save $12 if you buy tickets in advance ~ Get tickets here.
It’s a great week for music on Cape Ann with 22 artists performing between now and Thursday alone! See the full music lineup here.
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Here’s a zip line update for all of you who have asked about it. You may remember last week we showed you John’s improved zip line (see here if you missed it). Well the neighborhood kids decided they wanted to see how fast they could go. Wow! It helps to be a gymnast.
Starting tomorrow, we’ll have a week-long preview of Gloucester’s first Blues Festival on August 11. We’re all hoping this will become a tradition as Gloucester welcomes some of the world’s best Blues musicians to Stage Fort Park. Stay tuned for some great music and video of blues musicians young and old.
In this video, Vickie talks with producers Paul Benjamin & Bob Hastings about what we can expect. It will be a very exciting day for Gloucester and we hope it will be the beginning of a new tradition.
Starting Monday, Paul Benjamin will be the gimmesound Artist of the Week. He’ll give us some exciting previews of the Gloucester Blues Festival — music, video and all!
Don’t choose. Do it all! OK, all might be a tad ambitious, but you can do a lot because the first show starts at 6:30 and the last one at 9:30. See the complete music lineup here.
Tonight is your last chance to see Inge Berge at Giuseppe’s (8pm). He’s one of our favorites and if you haven’t heard his new song with ever-so-slightly-tragic, but perfectly insightful lyrics set to a catchy, lyrical tune that is signature Inge, check it out here (you can read the lyrics too, but you don’t have to because Inge actually sings clearly, so you can understand them!) You might want to request this song tonight, too.
At 6:30 you can see former gimmesound Artist of the Week Orville Giddings with Mark Earley at Captain Carlos. Here’s a video of Orville at In a Pig’s Eye in Salem. Notice how he quiets the crowd with his captivating performance
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Congratulations to Diana Long, who won our GMG text to win contest for 2 tickets to the gimmeLIVE summer concert of her choice. Diana chose Chris Isaak with Chelsea Berry opening. (Click here if you missed yesterday’s post with one of Chelsea’s most touching songs.)
There’s still time to enter our contest to win a VIP upgrade (see VIP details here). You can’t buy a VIP upgrade, but you can win it. Just sign up for the gimmeLIVE Concert Club (click here, it’s free) and you’ll automatically be entered into a drawing to win 2 FREE VIP UPGRADES to the concert of your choice. All you need is 2 regular tickets and you and your honey can go as VIPs! The winner will be chosen on Friday. Good seats are still available, but they are going fast. Get tickets here.
Now for some sad news. The great Doc Watson died yesterday. His playing influenced a generation of guitarists, including one of Gloucester’s best, Allen Estes, who knew both Doc and his late son Merle. I saw Doc with other greats including Bill Monroe several times in Bean Blossom Indiana in the 70s. Here’s a video of Doc with Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs & Alison Krauss. Enjoy!
There are plenty of choices for live music tonight and many of them might be willing to play a Doc Watson tune if you request it. See full music lineup here.
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Yes, we’ve been touting Chelsea Berry‘s new electric band lately (see this post, for example) But it’s really her voice that captures you. Watch this video and see what we mean. Allen got goose bumps listening to this song when we shot Local Music Seen a couple of weeks ago. You can see the entire show tomorrow at 6:30pm on Cape Ann TV Channel 12. The show features a new song by Allen Estes and a new song by Chelsea. Plus she closes with one of my favorites.
And you can see Chelsea with her new band open for Chris Isaak at North Shore Music Theatre on June 28. This will be the first time Chelsea’s new band performs in public and the only Boston area Chris Isaak concert this year. Don’t wait until it’s sold out. Get tickets now.
Last Sunday we showed you a video of our son’s homemade zip line built with stuff found in the garage. He used a PVC elbow in place of a pulley because we didn’t have one.
As the week went on, friction cut a ridge in the PVC, slowing down the zip. John noticed that it worked better in the rain (yes, moms, neither he nor his friends care about being out in the rain).
Finally, he started nagging us to get a pulley and on Friday after school we stopped at the Building Center and bought a good, strong one. He offered to buy it with his money (earned from working various jobs) but we figured he deserved this one on us since he’d engineered the whole thing, witnessed first hand the effects of friction and figured a pulley would solve the problem.
There’s simply nothing like hands-on experiment and experience to spark a child’s thrill of discovery and inspire his quest for the best! Here’s a video of the first zip line so you can see the improvement:
This experience also offered a chance to overcome his fear. The first run on both zip lines was terrifying. He simply didn’t know what would happen. It took real courage to take those first leaps off the ladder. Congratulations John!
If you ever wondered why the Nevilles are known as New Orleans’ first family of funk, this video tells the story. It was shot at Jazz Fest 3 weeks ago. You can see Aaron with his brother Charles on sax plus the quintet at North Shore Music Theatre on June 30 (get tickets here or you can try to win tickets here). This is their only concert in the Northeast U.S. this year (they recently returned from a wildly successful tour of Japan).
Opening for the Nevilles will be Gloucester’s favorite New Orleans transplant Henri Smith, who is assembling an all-star band for this performance. June 30 will be a night you won’t soon forget.
There’s music all day today — it’s going on right now and will continue into the night. You can get to most of it because the shows are spread fairly evenly throughout the day and evening. If you start now you could take in 8 free shows (see the full music schedule here). Where else on Earth could you do that in a friendly environment surrounded by water, beaches and one of the world’s most beautiful harbors?
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Good Morning Gloucester 