My View of Life on the Dock
An extremely happy whale has been spotted just outside Bean & Leaf on Bearskin Neck. This sculpture is attributed to uber-Rockporter Tom (he’s the guy who’s been walking around with the snow shovel for the last 8 weeks digging everybody out downtown). Stop by Bean & Leaf to check it out in person – and get a cup of coffee to sustain you while you’re at it!
There’s a local blog (with universal appeal) you should check out. A Rockporter goes to the beach every day collecting trash and other detritus that washes up. She then organizes this trash – sometimes by color, sometimes by theme, sometimes by another method – and documents each find with a photo.
It’s a bit shocking (as well as visually fascinating) to see both the kinds of things that wash up and the volume of things that wash up. Of course we all know, theoretically anyway, that a bunch of trash litters the beach after every tide. But gone, more or less, are the days of poetic trash, like beach glass. In fact, finding beautiful beach glass juxtaposed against plastic bottle caps on the sand only heightens the awareness of how ugly and permanent our modern version of beach glass is in its plastic persistence. The irony of seeing water bottles littering the beach, when these bottles no doubt originated with health-conscious and hydration-minded people, would be funny if it weren’t so sad.
And if you’d rather not view the blog from an environmentalist’s perspective, you can enjoy the images for the sense of color and visual interest they retain. Just another example of the artistic wealth on Cape Ann, where residents are capable of creating beauty from piles of trash.
The blog: Catch…What a Whale Shouldn’t Have to Eat
I looked out the window well past nightfall last evening and saw Mr. Roving Home outside with a headlamp on, avoiding his grown-up responsibilities (who can blame him?) to make this:
Don’t be deterred by the sight of Rockport’s Christmas tree being hacked into bits…downtown Rockport is still happening, with lots of shops still open along with TWO coffee shops and a couple of restaurants! Besides, it’s cathartic to see the giant tree taken down in late January, even if it is in such a gruesome manner. You know that the time for excess partying is past and we have settled into one of our classic, cold and beautiful New England winters.
I realize “old-timers” is a relative term. For the purposes of this post we’ll consider you an old-timer if you remember Rockport when you could pump gas in Dock Square and pick up some groceries at Ketchopulos Market. Because the Rockport Festivals Committee is looking for people with memories of Motif No.1 Day, the way it used to be. The Rockport Festivals Committee wants to know just what it was like back in the day. They’re putting together an oral history of Motif No. 1 Day to preserve for the ages and include as a part of this year’s celebration of Motif No. 1 Day, scheduled for May 21st.
2010 saw a revival of this storied Rockport tradition, but as they plan for an even strong Motif No. 1 Day in 2011, the Rockport Festivals Committee doesn’t want to forget the good (or bad, depending on your perspective) old days. If you’d like to throw in your two cents, or know someone who would, please e-mail rockportfestivals@gmail.com or call 978-546-2861 with your contact information. The Festivals Committee would love to hear your recollections of Motif No. 1 Day through the years!
Here’s Ketchopulos Market from a 1925 painting (click for the source):
The Metropolitan Museum of Art website features a story today by Ruthie Dibble, the 2010-2011 Douglass Foundation Fellow in The American Wing (the pinnacle of success for a history major). She’s on the hunt for early American murals in historic New England houses, and might have some luck finding a few on Cape Ann. For more information, check out this link, which highlights the results of some of her research and gives a fascinating glimpse into the artistic tastes of wealthy Americans in the early part of the 19th century.
In a post last week I mentioned Rockport’s lack of year-round restaurant options, especially downtown, so it was exciting to walk along Main Street just a few days later to see that a new coffee shop has opened up in the location of the old Rockport standby, The Coffee Shop. (I was always so impressed that the owners of The Coffee Shop had the gumption to give their business that name, as though it was the ultimate coffee shop – which actually was the case for many locals and visitors – that I always referred to it as The Coffee Shop).
The new coffee shop on Main Street is named Brother’s Brew Coffee Shop, and is owned by a member of the Brackett family, who have a seasonal restaurant next door. The highlights about Brother’s Brew, besides the fact that it is extremely charming?
That last one is big news y’all. Locals and visitors can wander in throughout the entire weekend, which is a big deal for anyone paying attention to the dining options downtown, and an expansion of the hours that the previous coffee shop kept. And there is even the possibility of opening at night when an event is taking place at the Shalin Liu Performance Center a few doors down. While this won’t solve the problem of lack of adequate places to dine in the evening (or in the daytime), it will at least contribute to a culture of liveliness downtown, with a few places keeping the lights on, so to speak.
Oh – and before you go there in person to buy some coffee and a treat for yourself, be sure to head over to the Brother’s Brew Coffee Shop facebook page and connect with them online. The page posts daily specials and other coffee shop news, so you’ll be the first to know when the doughnuts are fresh and the soup’s on.
Thanks to Peter Webber of the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce for this e-mail:
Hello Sarah. I am guessing, by the Ohio reference, that you were the author of the recent Rockport restaurant rant on Good Morning Gloucester. I have also looked at some of the comments. Here is some more information to add: The Coffee Shop was purchased by the Bracketts who spent longer than they hoped to make major renovations. It re-opened this week, and is being operated by their sons. Lograsso’s, Bistro 127, Rockport House of Pizza and Roast Beef, and the Grand Café are also open year round. RHOP is daily 10-10 year round; Lograsso’s is Wed-Sat. year round; Bistro and Grand Café are Fridays and Saturdays in January for dinner and then expand their operations with the calendar; Hong Kong Kitchen is daily year-round.
Rockporters, we need to make every effort to support Rockport restaurants during the winter months. However, even when viewed in the most optimistic terms, the situation with restaurants in Rockport clearly reveals a persistent problem, particularly downtown. There just aren’t enough restaurants (and none with a significant number of seats), to support the non-food establishments that are working so hard to make a go of things during both the high season and off-season. The John Tarr Store, Toad Hall Bookstore, Rockport Music and a host of other businesses and organizations manage to hang in there year-round – so where are the restaurants? People presumably still frequent the library, the churches still hold services, the Rotary Club & Garden Club hold meetings, so why can’t more restaurants manage to stay open? I’d love to hear from some business owners on this, and some Rockporters. And once again, let LoGrasso’s, the Rockport House of Pizza, and the rest (some mentioned in yesterday’s post) know that as a local, you appreciate the fact that they work hard to serve their community, as well as contribute to our town industry by staying open for visitors. Rockporters need to consciously support local business if we want a thriving year-round community with an active downtown culture.
Warning: Rant Ahead…
Rockporters need help (Selectmen? Economic Development Committee? Joe Citizen? Are you listening?). Besides a few very hearty, hard-working souls, we can’t get any restaurant-owners to keep their establishments open year-round. “But there are only 7,000 year-round residents!” I’m told. Well, it seems to me that 7,000 is not an insignificant number – small towns all over America manage to support downtown restaurants based on a similar number. My hometown in Ohio has 1,699 living souls occupying it – and ZERO tourists – yet it miraculously manages to support several eating establishments, from pizza places to family restaurants. I know – it’s a chicken-and-egg thing. Locals don’t come downtown to eat because there are so few places open and then restaurants don’t stay open because there is no one coming to eat. And of course restaurant owners are used to gauging success by the numbers they do in the summer, so the off-season numbers must seem pretty paltry in comparison, even if the business is still profitable.
To add insult to injury, the Boston developer who owns the former Greenery Restaurant building, located in the heart of Dock Square and one of the only places where parties of four or more can be accommodated, has applied for a change-of-use approval for the location – he wants to turn it into yet another condo building! Meanwhile, shop owners all along Main Street and even several on Bearskin Neck stay open year-round in spite of the fact that locals don’t show up in great numbers (because why bother to shop if there’s nowhere to grab lunch for you and your friends?), and their revenue is decidedly more dicey than the revenue of food establishments. And then there is the Shalin Liu Performance Center, bravely forging ahead with programming throughout the entire Winter season. Presumably someone is filling those seats and those same people consume food, just like the rest of us. Where are they going to eat? And finally, it has been crushing to see that The Coffee Shop (fresh doughnuts and Nisu bread!) was scooped up by a local restaurant-owner, only to be immediately shut down just in time for the holidays. Merry Christmas, Rockport.
Restaurant owners: you’re killing us here! And Rockporters: you need to support your local restaurants, especially the ones who stay open year-round: Bean & Leaf Cafe, The Red Skiff, and Hula Moon (let me know if I forgot someone) and thank them for their support. It’s time that we Rockporters invest in our own downtown – or suffer the consequences.
…who were sacrificed to make the hats my husband and I received as Christmas presents. A friend bought one for each of us, giving them to us just before we left Cape Ann to spend the holidays in North Carolina and Ohio. Let me just say that our holiday travels and revels were greatly enhanced by these hats, for both practical and entertainment purposes. There’s nothing like confusing the good people who work at the gas stations of West Virginia (who thought we were from Russia) and the Wal-mart (who stared and stared and stared) for wholesome fun. The hats are also amazingly warm. We managed to go ice skating in just a hat and scarf – no coat (though we were otherwise fully clothed) – and stayed perfectly comfortable in freezing temperatures.
I tried to model the hat myself but it’s no picnic to try to take a photo of a hat on your own head. I then discovered a much cuter model, conveniently located right here at home. He seemed happy with the photo shoot, though he refused to stop playing with his toys. Our hats were purchased at the awesome Bearskin Neck Leathers, located right in Rockport and open year-round. DJ, the owner of the shop which dates all the way back to the 1970s (can you believe it?), will set you up with the perfect sheepskin hat, or whatever else you need in the way of leather goods, just in time for January on Cape Ann.
The end of 2010, that is. Even though I’m spending Christmas far from Cape Ann, I’m dreaming of a White Christmas in New England, and of course already planning for the last night of 2010 at New Year’s Rockport Eve, the annual party (including a ball drop in Dock Square) in downtown Rockport. Claire Franklin, the one-woman whirlwind who founded and organizes the event, works hard all year to bring all of us this event, offering entertainment of all kinds – magicians, puppet shows, and every genre of music you can think of.
Click the link for more information and the Schedule of Events. The video is of the band BeatleTracks playing at last year’s New Year’s Rockport Eve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcmEpU3Ba7A
…by The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research. Until now, no thorough online documentation of this great Rockport tradition existed. But a researcher/photographer came to downtown Rockport this past Saturday and took some great photos of the Rockport Christmas Pageant under nearly perfect conditions (though a little snow would have been welcome). The Pageant went off without a hitch. The asses behaved, and so did the donkeys. The choir sounded lovely, the three kings looked regal, and baby Jesus didn’t make a peep, though I can’t say the same for my own child.
Check out The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research for, not only the pageant photos, but a great guide to all things aesthetically-fascinating in the New England Region.
Special thanks to Rockport Music for directing our attention to this resource.
A shout-out to D.J. of Bearskin Neck Leathers for coming up with a nickname for the classiest joint in Rockport: the beautiful Shalin Liu Performance Center. D.J. likes to call it The Liu, pronounced loo, and since D.J. can be kinda scary (in a good way), we do what he says. Tomorrow at The Liu, there’s a free screening of a movie (filmed in Rockport in 1988) hosted by the great Philip Hopkins of Film Chest, as well as some vintage home movies of Rockport from the collection of lifelong resident Pierce Sears, proprietor of everybody’s favorite hometown business, the Twin Lights Soda Company. And as if all of that isn’t compelling enough, there will also be a holiday sing-along. Of course all of this fun is preceded by Rockport’s pageant, beginning at 5 p.m. sharp.
So get to town early, shop, get some coffee at the Bean & Leaf, watch the pageant, watch the movie, watch the home movies, then sing your heart out at The Liu. Sounds like the perfect pre-Christmas Rockport Saturday to me.
It’s hard to get into the holiday spirit when I look out my back window and I see this:
…instead of this:
The time has come. Christmas is next week, and we need some snow around here. Let’s get this thing done.
Rockport Music is gettin’ down with our favorite little animated round-headed friend tonight at the Shalin Liu Performance Center. No, I’m not referring to Joey C. I’m talking about Charlie Brown and the amazing soundtrack to the Christmas classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, which will be featured tonight in a performance by the deeply talented David Benoit and the Charlie Brown Christmas Trio. Here’s your chance to listen to some great live jazz in downtown Rockport!
This holiday season, our 4-year-old son was introduced to the 1964 Christmas classic Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. When he went to bed that night, I imagined that he was thinking about this:
Actually – as we soon discovered through his terrorized screams – he was thinking about this:
And this:
I don’t know if he learned any life lessons from watching Rudolph, but I know I sure did. When it comes to pre-schoolers, the Abominable Snowman is no joke.
Gloucester’s own Denise Frame Harlan has been included in a book of collected essays called “The Spirit of Food”. Denise is many things: mother, teacher, fabric artist and of course, writer – which makes her fit in perfectly on Cape Ann, with its community of creative people skilled in crafting both things and words.
Denise will be at Common Crow tomorrow, December 11th, from 11:30 to 1:30 pm to sign copies of “The Spirit of Food” or just chat with you about the life of a mother/teacher/fabric artist/writer. This is a perfect complement to the Middle Street Walk going on just around the corner from Common Crow, so stop in and say hello, no purchase necessary (according to the writer herself). You can take in a holiday walk on Middle Street, pick up your organic groceries and chat up a Gloucester writer all in one fell swoop. Where else but on Cape Ann could you squeeze in so much good food and culture in the course of an ordinary Saturday?
If you’ve ever heard this band, you’ll no doubt want to come tonight to hear them again, and if you’ve never heard this band, here’s your chance. They’re playing in the Old Firehouse Trust, which is right in Dock Square in downtown Rockport, from 4 to 8pm, where they will be tearing it up with their brand of high-energy jazz. The A-Train Orchestra will help you warm up between stops on your shopping trip throughout downtown. The Rockport Festivals group is hosting a hot chocolate stand right next to the band, so you can have a hot drink in hand while listening to some great music.
See you there!
In anticipation of tomorrow night’s special shopping event in Rockport, here’s a little preview of the store The Paper Mermaid, located at 57 Main Street in Rockport, just around the corner from Front Beach.
The Paper Mermaid is a treat, both visually and practically-speaking. Mary, the owner, carries some fantastic toys – we are faithful fans of the Automoblox line of cars (check ’em out, parents & grandparents – they are inexpensive, well-made, and kids like them – what more could you ask for?), books, and games. She also covers a lot of ground in the world of paper. There is a great selection of cards, many of which feature designs by local artists (including Mary herself), notepaper, and art supplies, both for children and grown-ups. The atmosphere of the store is both modern and vintage, wildly colorful but also somehow very calm. Shopping for toys and greeting cards can actually be a pleasant experience, shockingly enough, when you do it at The Paper Mermaid. The store is featuring a discount during tomorrow night’s shopping event – for details give Mary a call at 978-546-3553.
Yes! I would love a sculpture made from driftwood for Christmas, thank you! In our house, we place a high premium on driftwood. A huge piece hangs over our fireplace like a great big mounted fish (yes, we realize this is strange), so you can imagine my delight at finding trees made from driftwood in a few shop windows in Rockport this season. These driftwood trees look great as sculptural pieces of course, but you could also be adventurous and treat your driftwood tree like a conventional Christmas tree. Add homemade ornaments and admire. And just think – no pine needles to sweep up! Look for artisan-made driftwood trees at Rockport’s Tusinski Gallery on Main Street and Lula’s Pantry in Dock Square.
Good Morning Gloucester 