Aurelia Nelson and the crew from North Shore 104.9 are in front of Cape Ann Savings Bank with their Prize Wheel RIGHT NOW. And they’ll be there all day today! Tomorrow you can enter your name to win prizes instead of spinning the wheel. Either way, you’ll want to go down to the Sidewalk Bazaar and try your luck!
Are you ready? Do you suffer from 4 weal drive? Wheys and miens? Corrosive carbuncles? Well, we offer the perfect ointment for your troubles in the form of Ms. Lisa Marie. Yes, this Thursday Ms. LM descends through the clouds spraying sunshine on all those parts that you fear need toning. Gonna be a big dance party. She’ dragging in Mr. Johnny Juxo on the keys and those fabulous wombat-skinned pointy Italian Shoes to shake things up. A drummer of dubious origin, too? I’m not sure….
It’s also Dave Trooper’s Going away party! From 6 to 8 pm, come by and wish him and Catherine good luck as they deport themselves to Ecuador, where the living is easy, the fish are jumpin’ and the coca grows high. Bring your instruments and show him who’s boss! Seriously, I’m going to miss him terribly and wish both all the luck on their new adventure. Do come!
Dave Sag
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ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ROBERT WALSH BRINGS JASON ROBERT BROWN’S POWERFUL SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD TO GLOUCESTER STAGE COMPANY
Song Cycle Features Cast of Broadway Veterans including Tony Award Nominee Barbara Walsh & Rockport’s Wendy Waring
Gloucester Stage Company continues its 37th season of professional theater on Cape Ann with a limited run of Jason Robert Brown’s Songs For A New World from August 4 through August 27 at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Songs For A New World with music and lyrics by three time Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown is a stirring musical journey examining the moments of decision and difficult choices faced in everyday life. Known for such Broadway hits as Parade, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon in Vegas, andThe Last Five Years, Mr. Brown artfully blends pop, jazz and gospel in solos and ensemble styles to create this inspiring song cycle. Directed by Gloucester Stage Artistic Director Robert Walsh, the production features four singers including Tony Award nominee Barbara Walsh, Broadway veterans Rockport’s Wendy Waring and Jack Donahue, Berklee College of Music graduate Chris Pittman and Brandeis’ Nyah Macklin, all four in their Gloucester Stage debut. According to Director and GSC Artistic Director Walsh, “Songs For A New World is an enthralling evening of storytelling through song and movement reminiscent of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. We are so fortunate to have such a talented group of actor-singers to bring this work to our audience. It’s a particular treat to work with my cousin Barbara again after so many years! Wendy, Jack, Chris and Nyah are also incredibly fun, hugely talented and all working together in such a fun way – it’s a thrill!”
While Rio welcomes the 2016 XXXI Olympics, Gloucester will host the “38th Annual Celebrate the Clean Harbor Swim” on August 13, 2016 at 9AM on Niles Beach. A 500 meter course for children ages 8-12 was added last year; any parent and child registering at the same time will receive a promotional discount. I find that incentive extra symbolic because a mother and daughter, Sarah Fraser Robbins and Sarah Robbins Evans, together with Philip Weld, Jr., got this all going! MassAudubon facilitated the annual swim the following year and many years after. More recently it’s been produced by the New England Ocean Water Swimming Association (NEOWSA). Many partners with the City of Gloucester continue to work hard for clean water. I’ll write more about the history of the swim in another post, but in this post I want to delve a bit into the biography of Sarah Fraser Robbins.
They swam for clean water because the Clean Water Act was not being enforced in the Harbor. Today participants swim to celebrate clean water.
There are 2.5 centuries of conservation efforts and notable naturalists in Gloucester. Sarah Fraser Robbins was one.
Sarah Fraser Robbins was 68 at the time of the first swim, a long time Gloucester resident, environmentalist, author, scholar and museum educator. She worked at the Peabody Essex Museum for 25 years. In 1961, she and others helped persuade the Raymond family to donate land to Mass Audubon, now Eastern Point Wildlife Sanctuary. Robbins was friends with Ivy LeMon who was active in banding monarchs to trace their migration wintering in Mexico–had to be with that wonderful name. I have heard that together they helped to secure habitat and urged people to garden using the plants butterflies liked. Kim Smith continues on that Gloucester path.
Robbins published articles in regional journals, the journal of the New England aquarium, and for close to 30 years a regular column- “The Curious Naturalist” -for Mass Audubon publications. The Sea Is All About Us: A Guide to Marine Environments of Cape Ann and Other Northern New England Waters, the 1973 book Robbins wrote with Clarice Yentsch, was an influential touchstone about wildlife at our shores. The lengthy title opens with a nod to the T.S. Eliot poem Four Quartets: The Dry Salvages. What other could it be? That glorious landmark seamark poem is all Water, art, legacy and nature. And the paradise that’s Cape Ann.
Read an excerpt with Robbin’s curator, scholar and naturalist’s eye in mind. (Her father was an amateur geologist.)
The river is within us, the sea is all about us; The sea is the land’s edge also, the granite Into which it reaches, the beaches where it tosses Its hints of earlier and other creation: The starfish, the horseshoe crab, the whale’s backbone; The pools where it offers to our curiosity The more delicate algae and the sea anemone. It tosses up our losses, the torn seine, The shattered lobsterpot, the broken oar And the gear of foreign dead men. The sea has many voices,
The ‘savage rocks’ are two groups of rocky ledge off our shores nearby Straightsmouth and Thacher Island. The bigger ‘Dry Salvages’ are a mile and a half out and the little salvages are a mile out. Growing up, including when he came home from Harvard, Eliot sailed from his family’s summer home on Eastern Point. He could clear the Dry Salvages or thread past Avery Ledge and Flat Ground and back home to Gloucester.
… the ragged rock in the restless waters, Waves wash over it, fogs conceal it; On a halcyon day it is merely a monument, In navigable weather it is always a seamark To lay a course by: but in the sombre season Or the sudden fury, is what it always was.
Check out who wrote the forward for the new edition of The Sea is All About Us:
None other than Deborah Cramer, author of The Narrow Edge, another Gloucester conservationist ( and still looking for horseshoe crab sightings)
The Peabody Essex Museum and Maritime Gloucester memorialized Sarah Fraser Robbins. Be inspired!
In 2003, Peabody Essex Museum established the Sarah Fraser Robbins Directorship for the Art & Nature Center, currently held by Jane Winchell.
In 2014 the Center was dedicated in memory of PEM honorary trustee, Dorothy “Dotty” Addams Brown, Sarah’s good friend and Eastern Point resident.
Maritime Gloucester’s education center was dedicated in 2008 as the Sarah Fraser Robbins Marine Science Center.
In 2014, Maritime Gloucester also established the Sarah Fraser Robbins Environmental Award.
Philip Weld’s father, Philip S. Weld Sr., was a newspaper publisher, editor, writer, environmentalist, veteran, and record breaking sailor. The year after the first harbor swim Phil Sr won a transatlantic race sailing “Moxie” and wrote about that crossing. He grew up in Manchester and raised his family in Gloucester.
You can see Sarah’s daughter, Sarah Robbins Evans, interviewed in a great 2010 GMG video by Manny Simoes. Make sure to watch his terrific mini doc overview of that 32nd Clean Harbor Swim run by Richie Martin. There are brief and peppy participant interviews. Swimmers came near and far- Tewksbury, Beverly, Boxford, Boston, Bedford NH, Essex, Portland ME, Falmouth ME, Swampscott…watch to find out more!
“Lucille Genovese gets into the spirit of the Chamber’s three-day sidewalk bazaar that started today.”
– Thursday, Aug 3, 1978, Gary Langer photo –above the fold– clipping from the Gloucester Daily Times.
Main Street’s 58th Annual Gloucester Sidewalk Bazaar opens today led by Gloucester Downtown Assoc. Sashay down Main Street while it’s closed to regular traffic for three special days.
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The 2016 Salem Maritime Festival will be hosted on the weekend of August 5th, 6th and 7th! Celebrate ships, sailors, and song at this annual free family festival! Hosted by the National Park Service, which is celebrating its Centennial Anniversary, the festival features live music, historical reenactors, harbor cruises, demonstrations, interactive programs, arts, crafts, and more! Join us for Free family fun! (Schedule subject to change.) Festivities will begin Friday evening and will extend through Sunday afternoon! The Salem Maritime Festival is hosted by Salem Maritime National Historic Site in cooperation with the Essex National Heritage Commission.
Event Contact Information
Salem Visitor Center (978) 740-1650
Festival Hours:
Friday, August 5: 3 PM to 8 PM (Dockside Vessels and Live Music)
Saturday, August 6: 10 AM to 7 PM (Exhibitors and Demonstrators 10 AM to 5 PM)
Sunday, August 7: 11 AM to 5 PM
Harbor Cruises
One of the most popular features of the Salem Maritime Festival is the free 90-minute boat rides around Salem Harbor. On Saturday, August 6, festival goers can enter a series of raffles for a chance to set sail in Salem’s harbor. We will start taking lottery entries at around 10:30 AM. Participants can set sail on the following vessels:
– Schooner Adventure, built in 1926 and located at Maritime Gloucester (Sail time 2:15 PM)
– SchoonerArdelle, an authentic Cape Ann Vessel from Gloucester (Sail times 12:15 PM and 1:45 PM)
– Sea Shuttle’s Endeavour, learn about marine science of Salem Sound (Sail times 12:30 PM and 2:15 PM) – Schooner Fame, a full-scale replica of a War of 1812 Privateer (Sail times 12:00 PM and 1:15 PM)
In addition to the harbor cruises, Coast to Coast Paddle will guide participants on paddleboarding and kayaking adventures in Salem Harbor!
As always, for a more comprehensive list of family activities, please visit our friends at North Shore Kid
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Everyday when I come in to the cemetery off Centennial the piles of dog poop are growing in number and size. Evidently cleaning up the First Parish and Clark cemeteries has opened up a new dog park as well as a short cut and easy access to the party center in the back corner of Clark.
I was cleaning marble fragments in hopes of finding the missing pieces of our Douglass family graves. Didn’t find any new engravings, just blank pieces. I sat on the ground next to our cousin William who gave his life as a Union Soldier. There was a fresh pile of dog poop on his grave.
A lady walked into the cemetery with two dogs. I asked her if she had bags to pick up after her dogs who were clearly in the cemetery to do their job. She took offense and said there were bags in her satchel. She let the dogs off the leash to run all over the place. Then a lady came in from Oval Park and let her three dogs go. I watched one of the dogs poop. After some time I decided to walk over to Clark. I passed the nice fresh poop from lady number two.
As I neared the wall to go into Clark. The women came out with all five dogs on the loose. Lady number two practically ran for the Oval Park exit, calling Rufus and Nellie as she went. Lady number one headed back to Centennial, all the while muttering about me being crazy and mocking the way I was standing with my hands on my hips. (Sorry lady, my back was hurting from weed chopping.)
Thus, the tears. I am not asking for thanks for what I do, but I don’t like being disrespected and treated like some kind of weirdo.
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A place where non-profit Cape Ann organizations can post press releases directly and then those press releases will be reposted to http://www.goodmorninggloucester.com . This is not an advertising space for businesses, fitness or wellness organizations, or music listings.
Willie Alexander and the Raztones in Free Concert, Friday, August 5, 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Corner of Middle and Church Streets, Gloucester, MA
From the Lost, a 60′s garage-band that made a couple of records for Capitol, to the psychedelic late-60′s Bagatelle, to a brief stint in the post-Lou Reed Velvet Underground, the Boom Boom Band in the punk 70′s, which recorded for MCA, to an introspective take on the 80′s recording for the French label New Rose, and renewed band energy in the 90′s with the Persistence of Memory Orchestra, Willie has maintained a consistently high level of emotional and artistic integrity.
This is concert five in a series of nine free outdoor concerts presented by the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation. The family-friendly concert begins at 6 pm. Bring a picnic, folding chairs or blankets. In case of rain, the event will take place inside the Meetinghouse (no food or drink permitted inside.)
The Angel Opioid Program (P.A.A.R.I.) is the nationally acclaimed program started in Gloucester by Chief of Police Leonard Campanello. Donations to this innovative and courageous program to help combat the epidemic of drug addiction will be gratefully accepted during the concert.
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So many people telling me they can’t find the link.
So here it is- The worlds greatest invention that everyone I know who got one absolutely loves theirs and can’t believe they’ve lived this long without-
They are just like the YETI ones that sell for three times as much and only give you the one non-locking lid. $17.95 is like stealing this 30 oz tumbler!
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Anna Solomon gave a reading of Leaving Lucy Pear to a rapt audience last night. A mad dash for chairs was had to accommodate the crowd of friends, fans, and family and by evening’s end, the well wishers were overflowing out the front door of the cultural center. Anna grew up in Gloucester and the historical novel is set on Cape Ann during the 1920s. Congratulations and best wishes to Anna for wonderful success with her beautiful book! Read more abut Leaving Lucy Pear here.
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Aurelia Nelson and the crew from North Shore 104.9 are in front of Cape Ann Savings Bank with their Prize Wheel RIGHT NOW. And they’ll be there all day today! Tomorrow you can enter your name to win prizes instead of spinning the wheel. Either way, you’ll want to go down to the Sidewalk Bazaar and try your luck!
Good Morning Gloucester 