Project Arts, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

For more than twenty years, the non-profit, Project Arts of Plymouth, has brought performers to Plymouth to provide free musical entertainment. From humble beginnings in the summer of 1996, today's scene includes ten waterfront performances in the beautiful Amphitheater at Pilgrim Memorial State Park adjacent to Plymouth Rock. Above, this night's lawn chair brigade is ready to enjoy some funky tunes on this beautiful summer evening - and that's just what they got from Johnny Drama and his Funky Entourage. Tattoo Cowboy was the opening act. (Click on an image for a higher resolution version if your device supports that action).



That's Johnny Drama in the white shirt and blue blazer.



It was a very popular event and brought large numbers of audience to the dance area in front of the stage. I must confess, when I was near the stage to take pictures, I did linger quite a while and move my feet with the dancing throng gathered up close. You could say I was dancing but, that would be a stretch.......













I love getting images from the performer's perspective. This is what they get to see while we watch them - all those happy and eager faces with bodies moving to the beat.








What a wonderful event to enjoy - live music on a beautiful New England summer evening, outdoors, under the stars. Led by Mike Landers, the eight-person team of Project Arts volunteers does an incredible job year after year making this event happen. Come out and support this wonderful free event in America's Hometown. Music and other performing arts enrich our lives immeasurably.

Sunset Beach Walk, White Horse Beach, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

A red shirt at the beach is a guarantee that I'm going to take a picture of it. It's almost Pavlovian.

So, here must be how this footprint was made: A barefoot beach runner landed heavily on her heel, (I imagine it's a her because the toes are perfectly arced across the tips), then in an instant she suspended time, gravity, and forward motion thus, barely making an indent at her foot arch, then resuming normal time and space rules, the front of her foot pressed deeply into the sand. Retirees have deep and fantastical thoughts sometimes.......

This is a section of the bluff above Priscilla Beach, reflected in a tidepool, and textured and filtered in post-processing.



The last bit of sun and golden light.....



.....enjoyable by humans and others.

Looking the other direction, the last bit of golden light is visible along the tip of Manomet Point in the distance. A beautiful walk, on a spectacular summer day, in the magical place called Manomet. Home of the beautiful beaches of Manomet Bluffs, White Horse Beach, Priscilla Beach, live outdoor summer music at the Barn Show, and best of all, the reborn Priscilla Beach Theatre offering world-class grown-up performances from May to October and a separate series of young people's shows also. Shhh - don't tell everyone how spectacular it is here. Let's just keep it our little secret...........

Sagamore Bridge, Cape Cod Canal, Bourne, Sagamore, Massachusetts, USA

The Sagamore Bridge is one of two highway bridges that connect the mainland to Cape Cod. I was particularly struck by the awesomeness of the clouds on this day.



It was built in 1933-35 by the Army Corps of Engineers. A bike/foot trail parallels the canal for recreational use. A great place for a walk - nearly flat and about 7 miles long from end to end.



The bridge was often shrouded in tenting over the past few years as a re-painting project was underway (and now complete).

Old Sandwich Road, Chiltonville, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

"Hey, get out of my face!"

I was walking along Old Sandwich Road enjoying the beauty of the breeze whispering through the towering pines and ran into this old guy - he was not happy having his picture taken. You know how ornery some old men can be sometimes.......

Elsewhere along the road ........

It is hard to beat the pastoral charms of new England.

The 2017 Solar Eclipse, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

This is not what I got to see.  This is a NASA file image. I am hundreds of miles north of the path of eclipse totality. But I dutifully walked out to the Manonet Bluffs area at the appointed time when we were expected to experience about 63% lunar coverage to see what I could see.



I don't know if I would have recognized anything was different if I hadn't known in advance it was occurring. Everything seemed kind of normal but not exactly.

It reminded me of my days living in the Los Angeles area when the smog was really bad and the light was diffuse and muted and not quite right for the middle of the afternoon.



But I did see something like this. A neighbor along the bluff was out in his yard and he had a welder's mask through which he was viewing the spectacle. He kindly let me use his mask for a moment to share the experience.

It was only a few seconds but, I believe that image will stay in my head for the rest of my life - go figure.

Red Ranger and the Mushroom, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

I am not the type of man who takes much care of his lawn. I don't really mind what grows in it as long as it's mostly green and not poisonous. So, when this mushroom started appearing, I just let it go - it is about 12 inches across. It grew fast and had an almost tree-trunk-like root. (The red hibiscus flower I placed beside it just for the color). The red color must have been some kind of trigger though because......



......as I tried to dig it up, the Red Ranger rode up onto part of it to command me to cease my shoveling. Who would have guessed? I dug it up anyway.

Barn Show, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

The Barn Show Music Series is now in its fourth summer season of providing live music on the rolling hills of Holmes Farm in Manomet. It was another perfect summer evening to enjoy the outstanding musicians that promoter/organizer/musician Hayley Sabella booked for the event.

(Click on an image for a slightly higher resolution view if your device supports that action).

You may wonder what the name "Barn Show" means in this setting. I remember a few years ago, Hayley gathered some musician friends and locals together and crowded into this barn building. There were musty old couches, rickety old chairs, wooden boxes, and other barn accouterments - folks crowded in wherever a foothold could be placed. It didn't matter - it was music, it was live, it was real, and it was happening right here in Manomet. And it grew.



There is a big rock right under me. I climbed it, held my camera far over my head, and rotated in place to capture this panorama from 10-12 feet off the ground. (Probably not such a smart move for an old man).

Here's a link to my blogs from many of the previous shows if you'd like a trip down memory lane.



Holmes Farm is a working farm, and the sunflowers were in glorious bloom tonight.



The bees were busy as they could be bagging buckets of pollen. Some might say this image is overexposed but, I'd prefer to say it is a "high-key" technique. Yep, that sounds much better than overexposed......

But on to the music - lead-off solo performer, Eva Walsh......



.....followed by the duo, The Promise is Hope.



The last rays of sun before.....



...it disappeared in the west........



...and the Mallett Brothers Band took the stage.

I think I'd describe the Mallett Brothers Band sound as rousing, upbeat, driving rock, with a Maine and French Canadian flavor enhanced by the addition of fiddle and mandolin to complement the traditional guitars and drums. They had the happy crowd hootin' and hollerin' and on their feet filling the dance area in front of the stage.



I have seen/heard them a few times over the recent years and they never disappoint. They were just such great performers and the audience really connected strongly.

The Barn Show is an amazing place and creates a magical feeling sitting here in the middle of Holmes Farm with its rolling hills folding away towards the ocean, the gardens brimming with flowers and vegetables, the beautiful music rising out of the silence normally only punctuated by bugs and critters of the night. (Whew, nice run-on sentence).



It is a quintessential New England summer experience - live music, outdoors, on a warm evening, darkness gently enveloping the rolling hills, the stars filling the clear night sky.

It is extraordinary and a reflection of the underlying thirst for and spirit of creativity in Manomet that the Barn Show series has been so wonderfully successful.

In addition to the breathtakingly beautiful beaches of Priscilla, White Horse, and Manomet, artistic musical creative expression is finding a warm reception here in Manomet, a village in the town of Plymouth - "America's Hometown."

September 3rd is the final Barn Show this year. Come on down! Schedule and tickets at this link.

"The Wizard of Oz," Dress Rehearsal - (Director Justin), Priscilla Beach Theatre, Priscilla Beach, Manomet, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

Priscilla Beach Theatre (PBT) recently completed the fifth and final young people's show of the 2017 summer workshop season with two performances of "The Wizard of Oz - Young Performer's Edition." There were two separate casts and productions, one of which was directed by Justin Baret  (pictured above introducing the show), and the other directed by Matt Kurzyniec (at this link).  Both of these talented young men were concurrently appearing in the sold-out success of "The Producers," on PBT's Barn Stage. You think you have a busy life,  these directors spent their days directing the young folks and their evenings performing in "The Producers." 

Of course, everyone knows the storyline of "The Wizard of Oz" as "the classic tale of a young girl from Kansas and her journey to and from Oz." (Source: PBT)

Owners, Guardians, and Producers: Bob and Sandy Malone
Director: Justin Baret
Production Manager: Joshua Patino
Stage Manager: Megan Mistretta
Lighting Designer: Ellie Rogers
Costumes: Kristen Haynes
Production Assistant: Christopher Peterkin

The following images were captured during the final dress rehearsal and are in order of occurrence in the performance. (Click on an image to view a higher resolution version if your device supports that action).






















































































































































Although this show concluded the summer season of young people's workshops, "The Lion King," has recently been announced for the fall! Come out to PBT and support this valuable resource in our community.