Our 4th year of the Schoolhouse Rock Festival went off pretty much without a hitch. There were a lot of highlights, including the punk-rocking of the Barroom Heroes, and the last minute surprise fill-in by Jake Hill for Doug Ratner. The raffle went really well, thanks to Thunderbolt Music who donated a guitar and music lessons. Check out the photos, just click on one and use your arrows to scroll through!

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

Big news from the Old Colony Memorial yesterday – the Town is in talks to give the Showmobile (the trailer stage aka “the main stage”) to the Chamber of Commerce, who will allow volunteers to open it. This means we might just be able to go on with our 4 big shows as originally planned (don’t worry, they’re happening either way). FROM THE OCM:

PLYMOUTH – Event organizers saddled with the added cost of overtime pay for public works employees to open and close the town’s portable stage, known as the showmobile, say they will be forced to cancel free summer concerts or at least seriously curtail them.

But there may be a solution.

Town Manager Mark Stankiewicz has pitched a plan to give the town-owned showmobile to the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce, which, in turn, would enlist volunteers to open and close the stage for free, or at very little cost.

READ MORE…

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

The Eagle Hill Band will open up the summer season with an acoustic show at the Hedge House Lawn May 28th.

We just had a great show last night at Sweetwater Cafe in Boston, which was somewhat of a mini preview of our big July 3rd show – the stage was graced by Hitch from 3rd Left, The Eagle Hill Band acoustic, and a surprise appearance by Jake Hill. We’re still gearing up for the concert series, and it’s just about upon us. Only just under a month to go, and we’ll be sitting on the Hedge House Lawn soaking in some great summer tunes.

So now for one of my favorite things to do, announce the first show of the season when it’s right around the corner:

THE EAGLE HILL BAND ACOUSTIC
w/ Doug Logan
6pm @ The Hedge House Lawn
Free + all ages

I haven’t got to say that in a while, “free and all ages”. Feels good. Well, we’ve got 29 days until the big night, and we’ve got great things in store for everyone. We absolutely can’t wait.

And while you’re here, go to the Old Colony Memorial site and read about the Plymouth DPW overtime issue: ‘Threat to Thursday concerts raises question of union control’ (I also did a cartoon about it in the OCM). Yes, it is going to end up costing us about $360 per main stage show because the DPW union forces the town to open the stage w/ two workers who must be paid overtime for a minimum of 3 hours each for opening then closing the stage. That means we must cover a total of 12 hours of DPW labor at $30/hr per show. That’s a lot of money. And no, we don’t have it, by the way. (And they won’t allow for volunteers to the job.)You’ll be hearing much more about this very soon.

Until then, get excited for the Hedge House shows, which are completely unaffected by all that nonsense – it’s all going to be an incredible time. SEE YOU AT SHOW #1!!

- Jon

Jeff Conley of the band Tin Can Tele will be performing on June 4th at the Hedge House. We've got a ton of new shows to announce every week so keep coming back.

Happy Saturday everyone,

Right now we’re sitting up on some big scaffolding, producing sound for the Nike Indoor Nationals track meet at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston, and Miley Cyrus is gracing the speakers. But the big news for the concert series right now, is that starting now for the next little while, we’ll be working like crazy on booking shows for the concert series, and preparing for the summer in general. SO, let’s get to the show announcements!

Here’s what we have so far for some Hedge House stage headliners: 1) June 4th: Jeff Conley, 2) June 11th: Nate Cristofori, 3) July 30th: Amy Mercier; and at the Main Stage: 1) July 3rd: A huge show with 3rd Left, Jake Hill and EHB, 2) July 9th: A send-off for The Empire State, who’s heading off to Warped Tour on the 13th. Remember, each of these shows still has some spots free for openers, so let us know if you want to play.

It’s going to be a great summer of all ages, free outdoor shows – just the kind we love. Make sure you keep checking back here, and on our SCHEDULE page for new updates every week until the summer. For real-time updates of when we book a new artist, check our Twitter.

Rock on.

- Jon

Hitch of 3rd Left, and Jake Hill, rock the waterfront last summer on July 18, 2009.

A joyful snowy February morning to everyone,

Yes, it may still be 20 degrees outside and snowing, as people painfully push themselves through 40 miles-per-hour wind bundled up head to foot, but our minds are in warmer places, namely summer 2010 and the concert series.

As you’ve probably seen, we’ve got all our summer show dates lined up, but now we’ve got an actual show to announce. We’re keeping the tradition alive with a 3rd year in a row of our big 3rd Left / Jake Hill / Eagle Hill Band main stage kick off show…..but this time it’s even bigger. Why? Because it’s on the 3rd of July, which is, for all you you non-Plymoutheans out there, one of the biggest holidays of the year (along with the 4th and Thanksgiving). It’s going to be a huge musical bash on the waterfront this July 3rd, which means the whole 4th weekend will be HUGE.

3rd LEFT + JAKE HILL
w/ The Eagle Hill Band
6pm @ The Waterfront Main stage
July 3, 2010 – All ages, FREE

We’re real excited for this and all the rest of the shows this summer, so stay tuned to this site and our Twitter, for all sorts of updates year-round. You should also sign up for our e-mail list (to the right ->). Keep coming back, because we’ll be announcing stuff as we know it, and I know you want to be the first to know. Party on Garth. Party on Wayne.

- Jon

Again I’m tired from working all day, then recording all night, so I’ll keep it brief. Though I may not keep it subdued, because this weekend is going to be SO AWESOME. The shows will be ‘the bees knees’ as the kids say these days.

The chronologically backwards agenda:
1) HUUUUUGE SHOW: Saturday July 18
2) Smaller, but no less awesome, show: Friday July 17
3) Win tickets to the Dew Tour at the TD Banknorth Garden 7/24-25

1) Saturday 7/18: 3RD LEFT, JAKE HILL, & THE EAGLE HILL BAND at the waterfront mainstage!!!!! This will be our biggest show of the entire summer, and one of the biggest of the whole year in Plymouth. Popular regional act/local boys 3rd Left, plus nationally-touring Plymouthian Jake Hill will team up to rock the waterfront on Saturday night. Opening up the show is a little 3-piece from South Plymouth, the Eagle Hill Band (yes, it’s my band). This is the same exact lineup as the VERY FIRST show ever in the School’s Out series, and last year (7/11/08), it drew upwards of 400 people. We’re expecting more.

Here are some credentials: 3rd Left has played up and down the east coast, they raised $10,000 at a benefit concert last week, they were rated the #1 jam band on MySpace, and they’ve headlined the Middle East Upstairs. Jake Hill has toured across the country, he’s part of the Birds On A Wire musical collaborative, and he’s awesome. The Eagle Hill Band has played at Skidmore College, the Worcester Palladium, Copperfield’s Boston, the Duxbury Rock Revival fest, and our first show was at the Plymouth South Junior Prom in 2004 (under our former moniker, Saucy Seth & the Clams of Death). Also, Joe Perry (Aerosmith) saw us play once and said we rock. To our faces. It was awesome, and no I won’t stop talking about it.

2) Friday (7/17) we have Seth McFadyen (of the Eagle Hill Band), and Second Nature commanding the grassy acoustic stage at the Hedge House. If you’ve been keeping up, you’ll notice that this is the 4th time we’ve had the [patient] young men from Second Nature on the bill. Hopefully this time we won’t have to cancel on them due to rain. We feel so bad, and all we want is them to play a show, so God help us it will happen! The theory we’ve come up with is that Mother Nature doesn’t like the idea that there’s a “Second” one of her, so she gets pissed and rains on everyone. Just a thought.

Here are the lineups:
7/17 (Hedge House):
8pm – Seth McFadyen
7pm – Second Nature acoustic

7/18 (main stage):
8:30pm – 3rd Left
7:15pm – Jake Hill
6:15pm – The Eagle Hill Band

SO, long story short: I wasn’t brief like I said I would be because I’m so excited for this weekend of shows. Come on down, make a donation and get a free pin (new Brewster merch…). It’s going to be ‘uge. Trust me. Goodnight.

- Jon

PS – extra extra special thanks this week to our awesome sponsors because since the state requires liability insurance for the mainstage shows, we wouldn’t have been able to do it without the generous donations.