Mark Rose performing August 7, 2009 at the main stage. Last year his band featured Lucas Carpenter on keys, and Darren Wilson of The Hush Sound on drums.

Why hello everyone in free concert land! We’ve got a big show for you all to enjoy this Saturday, July 24.

Mark Rose, frontman of  Spitalfield (Victory Records, rumored to be reuniting soon…) is on a US tour alongside Camera Can’t Lie, who were recently signed to Atlantic Records, which will release their debut album in the coming months.

Mark Rose is returning to the School’s Out stage, after performing last August along with Lucas Carpenter. This’ll be a great show, and we’re real excited to have these guys play.

Come check out some music you’ll probably be hearing on the radio soon – it’s your chance to say, “I saw them in Plymouth up close and personal (for free)!”

- Jon & the School’s Out team

Hello!

We had an incredible show this past Saturday night at the Main Stage with The Release, Bones & A Curtis Rhythm, and young newcomers 14th Union. The whole show was an awesome display of talented young musicians and songwriters, with nearly every song performed being an original. We were quite honored to have The Release – who were performing at School’s Out for the 3rd consecutive year – perform a set almost entirely filled with never-before-performed songs that they will be recording this fall. We’ve worked with, and been fans of, The Release for quite a while now and it was a great pleasure for us to help them debut some new material (check out their next show Thursday 7/22 at TT the Bear’s in Cambridge).

Bones have also played at our series for 3 years in a row now. They actually played one of the first few shows ever at the concert series, but under their original moniker “Brewster”, funnily enough. Then they briefly changed their name to Glasstronaut, and right before Schoolhouse Rock 2009, they adopted Bones & A Curtis Rhythm.

14th Union is a great young band with a ton of promise. These three 13 and 14 year olds busted out a 40-minute set of ALL originals. That’s hard for any band to do that’s only been together for around a year, let alone young kids. So kudos to those guys, I’m sure we’ll be seeing and hearing them for  years to come.

It was an all-around great show, and we can’t wait for the next one on Saturday July 24 at the main stage, which features Spitalfield frontman Mark Rose, and newly-signed-to-Atlantic-Records, Camera Can’t Lie. Stay tuned for a post on that – for now check the schedule!

Til next time, keep rockin’.
- Jon & the School’s Out Team

Hi everyone -

We regrettably must cancel this Friday’s show (7/9) at the Waterfront Main Stage with Brighterside.

The next concert will be Saturday July 17 at the Main State with THE RELEASE, Bones & A Curtis Rhythm, and 14th Union. It’ll be a great show, so come on down.

More info about the next show, and photos from the July 3 show will be up soon. Keep on rockin’ in the free world!

- Jon

3rd Left rocks the main stage at the very first School's Out concert series show, July 11, 2008.

We’ve been at this concert series thing for 3 years now, but we had yet to have a show on Plymouth’s (in)famous 2nd-biggest holiday, the Third of July….until now. Well folks, this is the year. And it’s a show of 3s, as luck would have it: This will be the 3rd year in a row we’ve had the big 3rd Left, Jake Hill, EHB show to kick off our stint at the main stage, and it happens to be on the 3rd of July. Crazy, huh? Let’s get to the details.

First off on this big weekend coming up is an incredible guy by the name of Sean P. Rogan on Friday 7/2 at the Hedge House. Up until a short time ago, he played guitar for Big D and the Kids Table (he also filled in on guitar for Streetlight Manifesto at last year’s Warped Tour, for those who think that’s the coolest thing ever). You’ve probably heard of them if you’re under the age of 30, and certainly if you’re from the Boston area. They’re a pretty popular nationally touring ska/punk band for those who don’t know them. Sean played a show with us at Sweetwater Cafe in Boston this past spring and he was incredible – you can download ALL of his songs for free (seriously!) at his web site: seanprogan.com.

Then of course, we have the big show on the 3rd of July, Plymouth’s lesser-known second-biggest holiday, ranking just behind the one with the big turkey dinner. 3rd Left, Jake Hill, The Eagle Hill Band, and Nate Cristofori will take the stage starting at 5pm at the Main Stage. Not much else to say except this is going to be a big, huge, fun, rockin’ show, and you would be very sad for the rest of the summer if you missed it.

See you at the shows, and don’t forget your dancin’ shoes!

- Jon & the School’s Out Crew

Lucas Carpenter at the main stage 8/7/09.

The charismatic and talented Lucas Carpenter will be bringing his infectious one-man-band pop to the School’s Out Summer Concert Series for the 2nd year in a row this AUGUST 25th at the Hedge House.

Last year he made a stop here on tour with Mark Rose (formerly of Spitalfield), and he’s back again during his own headlining US tour. It’s going to be an amazing time, and trust me, you really don’t want to miss a Lucas Carpenter show, djembes, fifes and all. Watch some videos of him on YouTube, and then come down to the Hedge House @ 6pm 8/25 for a special Wednesday night edition of the School’s Out Summer Concert Series. Openers to be announced soon.

LISTEN TO MORE: http://www.lucascarpenter.com

See you at the show!

- Jon

Brian Carroll, from Scituate/Boston, belts out his Bob Dylan-esque tunes Friday 6/4 @ the Hedge House Lawn.

Friday night’s show may have ended earlier than usual, but it was a great time. After Jeff Conley unfortunately had to cancel (he’ll be back June 18), Brian Carroll stepped up and brought his friend Ward Hayden. They played some great folk music with a bit of country twang. Check out the photos – unfortunately we didn’t have the camera until Brian started playing, so there aren’t any photos of Ward. Check out both of their music here:

Brian Carroll: myspace.com/briancarrollmusic

Ward Hayden: myspace.com/wardhayden

THIS WEEK: Friday, June 11 – Nate Cristofori, Jesse Boncek, and Willie Dinardo! 6pm!

- Jon

The Eagle Hill Band capped off the show on Friday 5/28 at the Hedge House, kicking off a summer of great tunes.

Friday night was a great success and kicked off what is sure to be an amazing summer of music. We got a bit of a late start (Hedge House shows will regularly run til about 9pm), but the crowd stuck around and we all had a great time. Check out the photos and get ready for the next show: June 4 @ the Hedge House with Jeff Conley and Brian Carroll.

Also a huge thank you to everyone who came out and donated! We’re also excited to announce the return of a great sponsor from last year: Seabreeze Inn Bed & Breakfast!

Happy Memorial Day!
- Jon

Thanks to Alex Dorn for most of the photos.

There are only a few days til opening night of the School’s Out Summer Concert Series 2010, and obviously we’re quite excited. I’m going to keep this one short. First, the the show is Friday May 28 at 6pm, featuring The Eagle Hill Band, Doug Logan, and (just added today) our great friend Ben Carter. Check out the rest of the shows and get your lawn chairs and blankets ready!

The Eagle Hill Band
w/ Doug Logan + Ben Carter
6pm @ The Hedge House Lawn
126 Water St.
FREE, all ages, outdoors

FOR RAIN AND CANCELLATION UPDATES, FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! That is in all caps because it’s very important. The only way you’ll know the show is cancelled the second we decide is to follow us on Twitter – as soon as we call a show because of rain (hopefully this won’t happen at all!), we use our cell phones to update Twitter. Otherwise, you’ll just get there are see no concert. Who wants that? I certainly wouldn’t.

Also, please pledge some money to help support the concert series! Click here to find out what cool things we’re giving away for donations, like CDs, backstage tours, and autographed posters.

See you at the show! Rock & roll!

- Jon

Emma Ate the Lion will be performing at Schoolhouse Rock, a benefit for Vh1 Save the Music on 8/14.

I believe more than one of us said, way back on September 4, 2009, the last show of last summer’s series, that we can’t wait to get started again. It’s hard to believe, but it’s only 10 days until the 3rd year of the School’s Out Summer Concert Series starts.

At precisely 6pm on Friday, May 28, 2010, Memorial Day Weekend in America’s Hometown, Plymouth, Massachusetts, we will kick off the 2010 concert series with acoustic sets from Doug Logan and The Eagle Hill Band. Then after that, all the way until September 3rd, we’re going to keep the music flowing. Here’s the schedule.

We’ve managed to get some really cool supporters and sponsors so far this year – check out the links to the right and support these great champions of local music. But don’t think they’re the only ones who can support us…no, no, my friend, YOU can too! We were lucky enough to be given a page on a cool site called Kickstarter, that helps fund creative projects through a system of pledging in exchange for cool things. For pledging, you can get free CDs, autographed posters, behind the scenes tours, and even a song written and performed about you; it all depends on how much you donate.

We can’t wait to see you at the show May 28th, and all summer long. See you real soon!

- Jon

You can help support the series by clicking on this picture and pledging any amount of money at our Kickstarter page. Thank you in advance!

Our big opening night is just a couple weeks away (May 28th @ the Hedge House), and once again we’re asking you for some money to help us keep these concerts going. And this year we have a really cool new way to donate – it’s called Kickstarter, and we were lucky enough to have our project approved for a page on their site.

As you may or may not know, the School’s Out Summer Concert Series is a non-profit organization that is funded 100% by donations (questions? Check out the FAQ). And on top of that, none of the people who run it, or the musicians, make any money from it. It’s all volunteer, all the time.

The money you donate goes to a few vital things, without which we quite simply wouldn’t have a concert series: 1) Equipment and maintenance – pretty crucial, and this stuff gets worn down and broken pretty quickly; 2) State-required liability insurance – yeah, it’s not our favorite thing to pay, but the Department of Conservation and Recreation requires it to use the main stage, so we have to do it; 3) New this year, DPW fees – we’re not too happy about this one, and neither are other concert producers (read the OCM editorial and Jam Session) – we’re still working on a way around it (stay tuned); 4) Promotion! – we need to get the word out about these shows, and the web and word of mouth are great, but we also need to print fliers, get some online advertising, and we’d love to get an ad in the paper.

So how can you toss us a few dollars? (really ANY amount is incredible.) You can go over to our Kickstarter page and pledge some money. Kickstarter is a really cool new site that helps people get creative projects off the ground (e.g. indie films, albums, books, concerts, etc.) by asking people to pledge money in exchange for cool rewards. You pledge a certain amount of money and you get some cool stuff depending on how much you pledge. The only thing is, we have to reach our goal in pledges, or we get no money! It’s a cool no-risk way for us and donors to get the funding flowing. Please help us out, it would really mean a lot – click here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/jondorn/the-schools-out-summer-concert-series

Remember there are a bunch of benefits to donating besides feeling really good about helping a great cause (the cause = helping young musicians get shows and exposure), so please help out. And if you are a business, you can do it too! The Internet’s great isn’t it?

So of course, start coming to the shows May 28, and follow us on Twitter for a special Concert Series Countdown – everyday til 5/28 we’ll give you a new reason why you don’t want to miss the shows.

Keep on rockin’ in the free world.
- Jon & the Brewster Crew