Category: Uncategorized

Sunday, January 1, 2012, 4:00 PM

seARTS welcomes members and friends to join in celebrating the installation of Members of the City Council, the School Committee, and Mayor Carolyn Kirk for her third term in office.  The ceremony will take place tomorrow, January 1, 2012, at 4:00 PM in the Kyrouz Auditorium of Gloucester City Hall. This event is free and open to the public.
We are also pleased to announce that in recognition of the importance of art and culture as a key ingredient in our future, Mayor Kirk has invited seARTS Chairperson Jacqueline Ganim-DeFalco to be the mistress of ceremonies.
Some of the important developments that will impact our local economy include the pending application going before the City Council for a Cultural District in East Gloucester and the recent vote of the Rockport Board of Selectmen to endorse the creation of the state-designated Rockport Cultural District. At the upcoming seARTS 2012 Annual Meeting (date TBA), we will host a keynote speaker with hands-on experience in working with Cultural Districts.
It’s also time to vote for Gloucester to maintain and elevate its status as a top Arts Destination by casting a vote at AmericanStyle.com. We must vote by March 3. Click here to cast your vote!
As you can see, there’s a lot to celebrate around the arts and the local economy!
To learn more about Mayor Kirk’s visions for Gloucester’s future, click here for a Gloucester Daily Times article and here for today’s editorial by the Mayor.
We look forward to seeing you at City Hall.

We all know that the sea often reflects the sky. But sometimes the sky seems to reflect the sea, with the waves rolling in and crashing on a celestial shore.

Tomorrow is not just the first of the month, but also the first day of the new year, so remember . . . say “Rabbit, Rabbit” first thing when you awake on New Year’s Day (no need to spin around 3 times), or right after you say Happy New Year, if you are up at midnight to ring in the New Year, for a year of good luck.  Happy New Year everyone!  See you at the Rocky Neck Plunge.

E.J. Lefavour

December 29, 2011

“… a man may do an immense deal of good if he does not care who gets the credit for it.”

Attributed to “Father Strickland, an English Jesuit” mid- 19^th century.

This quote has been attributed to many people, from Edward Everett Hale to Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan, but according to The Quote Investigator, and others, the first reference in print was as above in the 1873 diary of Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff. Further research has not revealed any details of Father Strickland’s life, not even his given name. However, the concept of altruism coupled with anonymity continues to appear down the years in the words of many who recognize that removing the ego from acts for the common good gives those acts a special power.

Greg Bover

Joey.

I know we have a lot of who plungers who have not participated before and want to make sure we all honor our traditions.

My husband ,myself and Amanda Nash started this years ago as Jeff and I were L street Brownies and his friend who brought us to southie passed away, we decided we would do it on the neck.

We have George Sibley do an poem . Its quick ….. We do a count down from 10 and we all plunge in mass. That’s it.

I have got a few calls about what we are about and we are just a great group people who like to celebrate every occasion.

I thought it was important this year to do something to give back and organized the food drive.

Thanks for the plug. Fyi. My husbands name is Jeff Surette (not Mccarthy)

Best,

Cathy Mccarthy

Remember when we used to get snow?

Hopefully we won’t see any this year.

That the Oliver Griffin House c.1761 on Leonard Street is also known as the house at the head of the cove?
Oliver Griffin, son of Samuel and Mary Goss Griffin, was born in Gloucester December 9, 1739 died in June 1815.  Babson’s history says he seems to have been a mariner most of his life, and that the sea took the lives of all six of his sons.  In March 1763 he married Mary Wise who was born in 1742 and died in June 1821.  Mary was a granddaughter of Joseph York, a successful fisherman at Lobster Cove who settled in Annisquam and married Abigail, daughter of Abraham Robinson (of the Dorchester Company).
Mary Wise Griffin herself was an educated woman and strong character, a careful student of the Bible and a faithful expounder of the doctrine of the Universalist church. It was she who discussed theological subjects so forcibly with Rev Dr Ezra Leonard that he converted from the Orthodox Congregational faith to a zealous Universalist, and his conversion was followed by all members of his former church except two families.

(from History of Essex County, MA by D. Hamilton Hurd, 1888)

E.J. Lefavour

Youth Basketball Reminder

Just a reminder- the Cape Ann YMCA’s Youth Basketball League sign-ups are going on now. League starts next Saturday!

Game times are as follows:

Dyno-Mites (ages 3.5-5)- 11:30am

Mites (kindergarten)- 10:30am

Rookies (grades 1-3)- 9:30am

In addition to Saturday morning games, this year we will be having optional additional weekly practices and a family movie night! Please contact the Cape Ann YMCA for registration or more information 978-283-0470.

Here’s the thing.  There has been a long time Gloucester bar/restaurant that I’d long ago given up on.  Not because the food was terrible.  Not because the ambiance was nasty.  Not because the prices were high.  Quite the contrary actually.  They served some of the best chowder in town.  The prices were reasonable and it’s one of the greatest rooms in town.

The reason I stopped going there over ten years ago and hadn’t gone back was because every single time I went in there I didn’t feel welcome at the bar.

I consider myself a “bar” person.  When I say this I don’t mean barfly type of person.  What I mean is that if the Mrs and I are out for dinner at a place that has a bar and table seating we will 90% of the time sit at the bar because we enjoy the social aspects of interacting with the bartenders, servers and other patrons.  It’s not that we are there to get hammered and as I get older I find myself drinking booze less and less.  It truly is all about the social aspects of it.

This particular place which will go unnamed was open last night and as the Mrs told me as I was leaving work that she wouldn’t have any dinner for me, she asked that I pick something up.  So I ordered take out and told Ed to meet me for a beer while I waited for my take out to be ready for pick up.

Well we went to this joint that I had long ago sworn off and wouldn’t you know that same vibe that existed ten and twenty years ago still was right there same as it ever was.   Not very busy and it took about five minutes to get a beer, whatever no big deal but asking what I’d like to drink was about the extent of the interaction I had with the entire staff despite sitting right at the end of the bar where the waitresses were passing by to pick up drinks one after another.

Let me just explain it for the owners of these places.  I may be the exception and not the rule but I can deal with so –so food.  I can deal with slightly above average prices IF you just go a little teeny tiny out of your way and make me feel welcome.

I’m not asking for a hand crank.  I’m not asking for a blowjob.  Just make me feel the slightest bit like you appreciate my business or want me there.  Because you know what?

THERE ARE WAY TOO MANY GREAT FUCKING RESTAURANTS IN THIS TOWN THAT DO JUST THAT. 

It’s part of the hospitality game.  I don’t care if you’ve been tending bar for 30 years and am burn out.  Act like a professional or get another job.  Or if you are the owner of this type of place and notice your staff isn’t interested in making your guests feel welcome, you might want to do a little motivational speaking and if that doesn’t work replace them.

This place should be doing at least double the business they are doing.

It  had been ten years since I’d stepped foot in there and it will be a whole lot longer til I go back.  I can assure you.

Thank you.