My View of Life on the Dock
We’re here to help you choose. And we just added a couple more shows. You can always get the latest live music listings here.
Aren’t you glad you live in such a culturally rich area that you have to make choices?
Generally speaking, I’m not a conspiracy theorist. But now that we know the N.S.A. is reading our emails and listening to our phone calls, I’ve begun to look at things with a slightly more suspicious eye.
So when I go to the gimmesound live music listings for Cape Ann tomorrow and notice that the first 2 shows are both in Rockport — and both Free, it’s got me wondering, “Just what’s going on here?” They’ve got David Coffin at Shalin Liu at 1o am. And they’re not really pushing that show either. It’s buried on a page featuring a number of community concerts and events. To look at it you’d think Rockport Music was giving back to the community — being a good citizen.
But then I see the Rockport Farmer’s Market has local rock star Brad Byrd performing at 11:30. Now what’s that all about? What’s an award-winning indie rock star like Brad Byrd doing at a farmer’s market? You’re probably gonna say it’s because he’s from Rockport and he likes to give back to the community. But wait. Don’t you see a pattern here? Do see what I’m seeing?
Under the guise of appearing like good citizens, the “good people” of Rockport are really up to no good. They’re trying to steal the crowds away from Fiesta. They want you in Rockport early and think they’re gonna keep you all day so you can see Bob Allison on the Grand Piano at the Emerson at 6pm — also free . Don’t be fooled. It’s Fiesta. You live in Gloucester. Know what I mean?
Where else on Earth can you get this much musical variety on one small island? Plus it’s Fiesta. If you can’t have fun on Cape Ann this weekend, it’s time to move to New York City and start cheering for the Yankees!
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6:00 pm HONKY TONK WOMEN OF GLOUCESTER
Get Tickets @ schoonerardelle.com
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| 7:00 pm CLAY VENTRE
Singer Songwriter Shuffle w/ Peter Mercier
FREE SHOW
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7:00 pm  T MAX
Singer Songwriter Shuffle w/ Toni Ann Enes, Rick Gadbois, Kathy Comeau & Anthony Beaulieu
FREE SHOW
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| 8:00 pm GREASY POLE THE MUSICAL
8 Washington Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
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8:00 pm JON GOODHUE
with special guest
14 Rogers Street, Gloucester, MA
FREE SHOW
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| 8:00 pm BOSTON SYMPHONY CHAMBER PLAYERS
Consisting of the BSO’s principal players, BSChP is one of the world’s best chamber ensembles
37 Main Street, Rockport, MA 01966
Phone: 978-546-7391 |
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8:00 pm SPRING AWAKENING show tunes rock
267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
Phone: 978-281-4433 |
| 8:00 pm JACK LO PICCOLO
Youth Block Party ~ till 11:30pm
St. Peter Park, Gloucester, MA 01930
FREE SHOW
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| 8:30 pm BRIAN FINES
open mic
FREE SHOW
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| 8:30 pm DAVE SAG’S BLUES PARTY
w/ A-Train Orchestra
FREE SHOW
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| 9:00 pm EAST COAST SOUL
Cover $5 – proceeds benefiting the JJ Nicastro Foundation
FREE SHOW
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9:00 pm GROOVE THERAPY
FREE SHOW
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9:00 pm DJ VITO
“SHAKE IT THURSDAYS” 3rd Annual Fiesta Launch Party
FREE SHOW
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| 9:30 pm FIVE POINT BRASS GANG
FREE SHOW
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Block Party Head, Valerie Marcley, sent along the good news . . .
It’s Party Time Gloucester! Block Party Dates Announced
Will Hunt Accepts Artistic Director Position
The Downtown Gloucester Block Parties will be held July 20, August 17 and September 21 beginning at 6 pm. Main Street transforms into an entertainment mall with live performances, al fresco dining, stores open until 11 pm and Kids’ Town for the youngsters.
Block Party organizers are thrilled to announce Will Hunt as the new Artistic Director. Hunt is a skilled musician familiar with performers from Cape Ann and beyond. He has equipped and been technical director for Block Party stages. Hunt contributes innovative vitality to the Block Parties.
“I’m pleased to take on the role of artistic director this year. I’m planning some exciting new bands and performers as well as favorites from previous years.”
Chief Blockhead, Valerie Marcley states, “Will has the talent and knowledge we need to become an even better event.”
Lucinda Seigel has accepted the post of Merchant Liaison, helping the stores organize for the three parties. “Lucinda is very sharp, has international business experience and is a skilled organizer with wonderful enthusiasm!” states Marcley.
To take part in the dynamic Block Party Series please contact the following.
Those who wish to perform contact Will Hunt at:whuntrock@gmail.com
Main Street Merchants contact Lucinda Seigel:lseigel1@gmail.com
Restaurants contact Mark McDonough:northshorerestaurantgroup@gmail.com
Sponsor and donation inquiries to Judith Brackley:jbrackley2@comcast.net
Press, Vendors, Suggestions & all other inquiries contact: glostablockpahty@gmail.com
The Block Party welcomes performers in all genres including theater, comedy, music and dance. Street performers are also invited.
The Downtown Gloucester Block Party Series is a project of
the non-profit Cape Ann Business Incubator.
The deck is open. We eat outside because Cape Ann Brew Pub is full inside. People had come to hear Chelsea Berry and her friends and to support Boston Strong.
After dinner, there’s room to stand inside to see the music. It’s a relaxed, fun, lively atmosphere. But it’s loud. People are talking over the music. You’ve been there right? The band turns up. The crowd talks louder. It begins to feel like a contest. Most musicians hate this. They’d rather be playing to a listening crowd.
Chelsea sings her song, “Blues House”, which is about this very problem. From the back, it’s hard to hear her over the crowd. But it’s too loud in there to carry on a conversation either. I’ve always puzzled about this singer vs. crowd phenomenon.
Then something magical happens. Chelsea sings her signature a cappella song, “King of Rome” and does something unexpected. She leaves the mic. Chelsea’s powerful voice is still heard over the din. And the sheer power of her presence and performance begins to quiet the crowd. Finally all you can hear is Chelsea’s soaring song about Charlie and his racing pigeon accompanied by the clanging of pots and pans in the kitchen as if it were an off-stage percussion section.
Singer vs. crowd. Singer wins. But so does the crowd. Live music takes you to a place you simply cannot experience any other way.
BTW: This is the 100th anniversary of the 1001 mile race from Rome to England that Charlie Hudson’s racing pigeon, The King of Rome, won in 1913.
You know you’ve won over Joey when he starts a podcast with a joke about how much we love Chelsea Berry (listen to podcast here) and then within a week he’s promoting one of her events (see that post here).
Chelsea has a way of channeling what we’re all feeling through her music and tonight will be one of those magical moments when you’ll get to witness Gloucester’s top talent find hope in tragedy and do some real, tangible good in the process. Come down to Cape Ann Brewing tonight at 5pm and experience the transformative power of music.
To get you in the mood, here’s a wonderful video by another one of Gloucester’s rising stars, Inge Berge. How lucky we are to live in a community filled with such talented people who enrich our lives every day! Let’s vow never to take them for granted.
We see one of our roles, here at GMG, as making sure you know who’s on the way to making it big. Rockport native, Brad Byrd is one of those local musicians. Some day, when Brad’s playing stadiums and you can’t get a ticket for under 200 bucks, you’ll be saying, “I saw him at the Dog Bar in Gloucester, Mass!” But only if you get down to the Dog Bar tomorrow (THURSDAY) where he’s on at 9pm.
Tonight you can see Brad on Local Music Seen with Allen Estes, which airs at 6:30 on Cape Ann TV Channel 12. In this show, Brad’s hypnotic voice draws you into his world where you’ll notice that every one of his lyrics is perfectly placed and there isn’t a single extra word. This is some of the best songwriting you’ll hear.
When this show premiered last June, Allen introduced an excellent new song, “The Trouble with Me”. Here’s a taste:
Almost exactly a year ago, Brad shot a music video for his hit, Zero to the 101 at Minglewood. Here’s some behind-the-scenes footage from that video shoot.
More behind-the-scenes footage here. And more Brad Byrd videos here.
Bob Hastings, co-producer of the Gloucester Blues Festival, sent me an email this morning saying they just signed Lydia Warren. We saw her open for Savoy Brown at the Bull Run on December 1 (see post about that concert here). Alone on stage with her strat, she captured the crowd with her soulful vitality. At the Blues Fest, she’ll have her full band!
From Lydia’s website:
“Changing the face of the blues” – NBC’s Today Show
Lydia Warren tours internationally from Brooklyn to Beirut, whipping audiences into a frenzy at each stop. A versatile singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer, the Boston-based performer tours and records as a solo act and with her band. The Lydia Warren Band has been nominated for a Boston Music Award, appeared on NBC’s Today Show and has released five albums.
Complete Blues Fest Lineup (see videos of the rest of the Blues Fest linuep in this post):
Lydia Warren
Johnny Rawls
Biscuit Miller
Anthony Gomes
Anna Popovic
Tommy Castro
As I pointed out in this post, non-violent defiance is the best weapon against tyranny. This weekend we all have a chance to defy the terrorists by going out as planned. If you haven’t yet made plans, there’s even more going on than we knew about when we posted yesterday. Tonight alone, you’ve got a choice of 10 shows starting at 6pm. See the full live music schedule here. Plus it’s Earth Day Weekend with over 20 Cape Ann events planned and nicely mapped out for you by our boy Joey here.
Whether it’s music, movies, eco-scavenger-hunting, shredding, clean-up, planting … whatever … don’t be shy — defy! Let Music & Mother Nature cleanse your soul.
Even Yankee fans are showing us love by singing our tune …
36 performers on Cape Ann this weekend — remember, by my definition, the weekend starts on Thursdays. Tonight we’ve got the Singer/Songwriter Shuffle starting at 7, featuring some of the area’s best, including Inge Berge, whose new children’s album (see this post for more info) was featured in today’s Gloucester Times (see article here).
After the shuffle, you can catch award winning Indie Rocker, Bray Byrd at Dog Bar starting at 9. Music starts at 7pm tomorrow, 10:30 AM on Saturday and 11:30 AM on Sunday, so plenty of opportunities to get the kids out to listen. See the full schedule here.
To get you in the weekend mood, here’s a video Brad shot at Minglewood about a year ago of one of my favorite songs from his award-winning album Mental Photograph.
More Brad Byrd videos here.
More than likely you know someone who was at the Marathon. Here’s a small-world example: Vickie’s brother-in-law works for a medical device company in Cedar Falls, Iowa and his boss is the father of the eight-year-old boy who died. Even if you don’t know someone who was there, you’re probably reeling from the shock that terrorism has struck so close to home. I know I am.
Music has a way of healing wounds of all kinds. And musicians have known this since humans began making music (when ever that was).
I was Speaking with T Max today about this and he gave me a quote perfect for this week from Leonard Bernstein, one of my musical heroes — I watched his Young People’s Concerts on TV as a kid (see them on YouTube here). He says,
“This will be our reply to violence:
to make music more intensely,
more beautifully,
more devotedly than ever before.”
Maestro Bernstein’s healing words ring true as local musicians carry his reply to over a dozen venues in Gloucester and Cape Ann this week. See the complete live music schedule here.
Tonight T Max is Fly Amero’s guest at The Rhumb Line. (Fly’s on the cover of T Max’s Noise Magazine this month — read the story here). Both T Max and Fly are tuned into the power of music to heal (here’s one example of how Fly transformed a dark day).
Tomorrow there’s another Singer/Songwriter Shuffle at Giuseppe’s with top local stars, including Inge Berge, Satch Kerans, Steve Caraway, Will Hunt, Randy Black, Brian O’Connor & Jake Pardee. And just like last week you will still have time to catch rising star Brad Byrd at The Dog Bar after the Shuffle. Currently I’m under an intense deadline that is forcing me to work late, but one way or the other, we’ll try to get to at least one local live music show over the next week or so. And I’m sure it will help us heal.
Here’s a video that may seem a bit idealistic and hippy-dippy-trippy, but I find wisdom appropriate for our time in it’s simple, haunting lyrics especially this stanza:
Nothing you can know that isn’t known.
Nothing you can see that isn’t shown.
Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be.
It’s easy.
Something’s up in Gloucester. Only 2 weeks ago, Dennis Brennan played The Rhumb Line with Dave Sag (see post about that here).
Tonight he’s back in Gloucester @ Jalapenos with Dave Brown, Wolf Ginandes & Dave Mattacks. Could it be the tremendous musical talent resident in Boston is attracting yet another great musician? That’s what we think. So we’ve selected a series of Dennis Brennan videos to feature on gimmesound. See them here.
You might want to call Jalapenos at 978-283-8228 to reserve a table for tonight. The room is usually full.
Here’s a video of Dennis when he was a bit younger.
The season has started. Summer music venues are opening up and Seaport Grill is having music on Tuesday starting at 6pm (plenty early to bring the kids). Let’s show them some support and maybe they’ll make live music a regular thing!
See this week’s complete live music lineup here.
Swing back in time with songs like “My Way,” “Summer Wind,” and ”Strangers in The Night” with one of the finest Frank Sinatra impressionists in the country, Michael Dutra. Dutra has performed his tribute to ‘Ol Blue Eyes around the world since 2002, taking the stage more than 300 nights per year and stunning audiences with his dead-on renditions of Sinatra classics.
Ok, so you know summer is coming Captain Carlo’s is open. Great lineup of music this weekend at over 15 different venues from a little bit of country to rock-n-roll. See full lineup here.
This just in from Natalia Carollo ~ Cafe Shalom @ Temple Ahavat Achim:
Saturday, April 20th at 8:30 pm at the Temple Ahavat Achim (86 Middle St., Gloucester)
The Backwoods Ramblers are a group of multi-talented musicians featuring lead and harmony vocals with Barry Michaud on guitar, Pat Conlon on mandolin and harmonica, and Jack Schwartz on bass and banjo. The group plays a memorable blend of folk-rock, country, and bluegrass.
Alberta Hill (also known as Fozzie), one of the best kept secrets on the North Shore music scene, will sing songs both written and borrowed about life, love, and landscape.
All are welcome! $10 donation is suggested.
Annisquam Village Church is hosting an Earth Day concert next Saturday, April 20 at 7:30pm featuring jazz/world music singer/songwriter Greta Bro. Check it out:
Only in Gloucester.
Tomorrow (Thursday) the Singer / Songwriter Shuffle at Giuseppe’s features a number of local favorites including Noise Magazine founder T Max, Joe Wilkins and Andy Pratt, who’s hit “Avenging Annie” reached #15 on Boston’s WRKO. Here’s a video of the original:
After the shuffle, you can shuffle on down to the Dog Bar to see Brad Byrd, another local about to make it big. Here’s his latest video:
More Brad Byrd videos here.
Vickie got hold of an exclusive presale email for Rolling Stones tickets. Check out these outrageous prices! Tickets go on sale Monday 4/15 and it looks like you have to buy them in pairs.
By contrast, there’s lots of excellent music in Gloucester for a bit less money. See the full schedule here.
ROLLING STONES TICKETS & PACKAGES
Lower Level Seating (100 Level) US $450.00 – US $600.00
US $450.00 Ticket +US $19.64 Fees/Additional Taxes = US $469.64
US $600.00 Ticket +US $22.95 Fees/Additional Taxes = US $622.95
Main Floor Seating US $600.00
US $600.00 Ticket +US $22.95 Fees/Additional Taxes = US $622.95
Club Level Seating (200 Level) US $450.00 – US $600.00
US $450.00 Ticket +US $19.64 Fees/Additional Taxes = US $469.64
US $600.00 Ticket +US $22.95 Fees/Additional Taxes = US $622.95
Upper Level Seating (300 Level) US $150.00 – US $250.00
US $150.00 Ticket +US $13.02 Fees/Additional Taxes = US $163.02
US $250.00 Ticket +US $15.23 Fees/Additional Taxes = US $265.23
HOSPITALITY PACKAGE $2000.00
– One premium reserved Price Level 1 Floor ticket
– VIP entrance
– Pre-show buffet dinner – specially selected menu, bar (wine, beer, beverages), wait staff service
– Exclusive merchandise item
– Official tour program
– Collectible laminate
– Onsite check-in staff
TONGUE PIT PACKAGE $1500.00
– One General Admission Tongue Pit ticket with early entry before general public
– Exclusive merchandise item
– Official tour program
– Collectible laminate
– Onsite check-in staff
GOLD HOT SEAT PACKAGE $1200.00
– One premium reserved Price Level 1 ticket
– Exclusive merchandise item
– Official tour program
– Collectible laminate
You know how we love to promote taking your kids to see live music. Well for all of you who say, “Yeah, yeah, Ok. Someday we’ll do that,” this Wednesday & Thursday are your some-days. Lisa Smith sent the following video preview and a little note about it:
Here is a sneak peek of the musical “Oliver” a 5th Grade production at Beeman Memorial School Performances are on April 10 & 11 at 7PM. Heidi Dallin directs this production, Beth Goldberg is musical director.
OK, this is not your grandmother’s children’s CD. It’s real! Real music by one of my favorite local artists, Inge Berge. It’s billed as Songs for Young Children to Jump, Dance and Move, but don’t be fooled by the little-kid-friendly title, this record has soul. Not only will it get your kids moving, it also introduces plenty of genres, including rock, disco, country & latin.
In one bluesy rocker, Inge growls these lyrics:
Can you rock rock and roll?
Can you rock your soul?
Can you rock rock rock and roll?
Then in a Latin Baby Snakes, with a hint of bossa nova, his clear deep voice croons:
Baby snakes slither on their belly
Baby snakes feel a bit like jelly
The promo for the CD says, CD comes in a deluxe cardboard case and a foldout with lyrics and instructions! I’d love to see those instructions. Maybe they show us how to slither. You don’t even have to have little kids to want this CD. But if you do, it’s a no-brainer. Get it here.
And while you’re at it, get this song too. It’s got a perfect beat for getting your kids up and jumpin’ around 😉
You can see Inge on Sunday at Rhumb Line. When you go, maybe you can request Baby Snakes.
Over 2 dozen excellent live shows all over Cape Ann this weekend. See full schedule here.
Good Morning Gloucester 