A Day at WXPN

Spent a great day at WXPN seeing old friends and discussing our festival with some of the people who help make the station one of the best of its kind in the country, people like (Roger LaMay, Ali Castellini, Debby Zeitz, Michaela Majoun). Ran into Robert Berliner of Hoots & Hellmouth and manager Biff Kennedy who are excited about performing on Carmel Green. Many of the station's volunteers who annually make the journey to our festival and many other events in the region also love the lineup and look forward to spending a day in the Garden (State). Every artist in this years' lineup had fans today. The Philadelphia/South Jersey/Delaware areas will be well represented by Nik Everett, 61 North,  Nora Whittaker and Hoots & Hellmouth. Rising star Eilen Jewell had her share of admirers as well and some of the national radio folks in town for their conference said her CD is one of the  best  released on her label. The funky rock brass band Bonerama from New Orleans have a great reputation for their creative sound. Generating a great buzz is Grace Potter and the Nocturnals who have been the hit of many festivals across the country and even greater things are predicted for this band when their new Fall CD is released produced by T Bone Burnett. There is no one like 1960' s Folk Troubador Arlo Guthrie who always tells a great story between his own songs or those written by his father Woody or friend Steve Goodman. As you can tell it was a great day as the countdown has begun for Saturday, June 20.

Friday

Up early and working on more issues as the countdown begins to June 20. Off this am to Philadelphia to drop off more promotional materials to our radio station partner WXPN and other locations. In between coordinating interview requests for the media, still fine tuning schedule and performers for our New York City concert Tuesday, June 9 on Broadway at the Jersey Shore Store, working with our many volunteers and partners on multiple tasks such as our program book, souvenir shirts and hats, advancing various details with our artists, and with our production team. Anyway guess i should take a break from the blog and hit the streets.

Up and Down

Up and Down are the best three words to describe yesterday. Some confusion and other reasons have forced a few changes so there is a slight delay in announcing plans for NYC on June 9. Also playing phone tag with the news media and the waiting game for answers from potential sponsors and others. Yesterday was busy day dropping off more poster and flyers and more. Also working on our souvenir t shirt and hats for the fest and yes they will be colorful. Hard to believe that next Monday is June 1 so the final countdown is truly on.

Four Short Weeks to Go.

The countdown is on to tie down all loose ends to be ready for everyone on Saturday June 20 when we gather together on Carmel Green to enjoy the summer solstice and a great day of music with friends and family. We have all of our performers in place as well as our food vendors. However we do have room for some created souls who would like to rent space and sell their home made wares. We will again have some free activities for children to enjoy throughout the day. A few more confirmations and hopefully by days end we will announce the lineup for our New York City Jersey Shore Store scheduled for Tuesday June 9. As always organizing a festival presents a few bumps along the way but to quote an old friend, the late Rev. Matt Brown "Everything Will Be All Right". Coincidentally the Rev. performed at a few our festivals through the years and always brought the house down with his stirring voice. Anyway back to the present Memorial Day Weekend has come to an end and the month of June is around the corner and the area festival scene kicks into high gear. Thanks to the support of our sponsors, marketing and host partners we are able to make the Southern Shore Music Festival an affordable experience. As always children 12 and under are admitted free accompanied by an adult. On site parking is free and also handicap accessible. Advance tickets are $ 25 and even less if you are a member of WXPN or hold a Jersey Arts card. On the day of the festival all tickets are $ 35 and remember to bring cash for admission and to pay for any craft, food or artist merchandise you choose to purchase.

It's The Weekend

The first summer kickoff is this Memorial Day Weekend, the next one just around the corner is Saturday, June 20. We have a great lineup for this years' festival and we have now expanded it with our pre-fest concert which will be held in the city that never sleeps (new york, new york). This special SSMF preview concert will feature a variety of performers and some with very familiar names. This special event on Tuesday, June 9 will consist of a lunchtime concert 12 noon - 2 p.m. and an after work concert between 4-6 p.m.. The lineup will be announced Tuesday so still tune to the Bob Blog. The location 813 Broadway between 11th & 12th at the Jersey Shore Store.

FEST AROUND THE CORNER

Memorial Day weekend almost here. Five weeks to go for this years gathering on Carmel Green. Today was another busy day and it still is not over. Details are being worked out for our SSMF Road Trip to the Big Apple on Tuesday, June 9. NYC will be treated by some friends of the fest performing and there will be ticket giveaways including a Bed & BreakFEST package. Complete details will be released after the weekend. It was a busy day working the phones with current and potential sponsors (always room for more), artist management (must have those stage plots), volunteers (without them where would we be), suppliers (promo materials and more). Look for some great t-shirts at this years festival sporting our logo along with merchandise from our various artists. We also working on some new activities for the children who come to the festival and best of all they will be free of charge thanks in part to our sponsors. Anyway its getting late so I guess its time for Bob's Blog to say goodbye for now.

SATURDAY JUNE 20 MORE THAN A FESTIVAL....IT'S A MOVEMENT

In five weeks, we will gather on Carmel Green to celebrate the summer solstice and enjoy this year's rendition of the Southern Shore Music Festival. Eight great acts will share the stage and perform continuous music starting at 11 a.m. and go non-stop to 8 p.m..  Nik Everett will start things off and we look forward to hearing this 20 year veteran on the music scene, whom just completed co-writing the music for the new documentary of Asbury Park which I watched last night on PBS. Nik always keeps everyone informed through his emails and facebook comments and we are sure he will keep you posted.  Our second artist for the day will be 61 North who in a very short time have developed a great following in the Southern New  Jersey/Delaware region. The band are high energy and have been busy promoting the festival at their live gigs and in fact are busy selling  festival tickets to their fans. Philadelphia based performer Nora Whittaker who opened for the Boss last Fall in Philadelphia on the Parkway will perform with her band and will demonstrate her blue-eyed soul style of music. Eilen Jewell has been delighting audiences up and down the east coast and her country laced blues-infused music has been compared to Lucinda Williams. This Boston based artist is touring behind her latest cd release "Sea of Tears".  Fifth on stage at this years festival will be the taste of New Orleans that has become a signature of both the Bridgeton Folk Festival and the Southern Shore Music Festival.  The rock oriented brass funk band Bonerama is guaranteed to have the audience up and dancing during their high energy set.   Hoots & Hellmouth will be fresh off their end of May CD release party and hear why their material has been described as New Music for Old Souls. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals grew up in the roots of  rock and roll the old fashion way and their brand of organic American rock n roll  music has been wowing audiences throughout the country. Look for them to rev up the crowd like they did at Wiggins Park at the XPN festival.   What a great way to end this years' festival which falls on the summer solstice during the 40th anniversary summer of Woodstock, then with 1960's folk troubador the legendary Arlo Guthrie.  His music helped spark a movement and he is a not to be missed. It has been a long time since he performed outside in Southern New Jersey so don't miss this event of the summer

Good Morning America

Woke up singing the great song City of New Orleans written by the late Steve Goodman and performed and associated with Arlo Guthrie. Guess its only fitting to end a 2 day birthday celebration reflecting. Steve Goodman headlined the first Bridgeton Folk Festival in 1984 and Arlo performed there in the past as well. Now its time to look forward to this years Southern Shore Music Festival which Arlo headlines. So now we have five weeks to go and many details to finalize to produce a festival and provide a great experience for all of our volunteers, performers, vendors and most of all our guests.

6 weeks and counting

Up early must have more issues to resolve for this years' southern shore music festival. 6 weeks to go so its time for those who wish to be a vendor (craft or food) to sign up.  All performers are set and excited to play for this years' audience.  One of our committee members met with our host site to discuss some facility updates to complement those made last year. Details are being worked out for our upcoming NYC promotion in cooperation with New Jersey Travel & Tourism scheduled for Tuesday June 9 when will stage a mini-indoor festival preview.  We are working with our great host radio station WXPN and began ticket giveaways yesterday including a bed and breakFEST package.  Another great marketing partner is the Jersey Arts Program and they will begin making their annoucements shortly.  Yesterday was a busy day and there are more to come but its always worth on festival day.

Mother's Day

As everyone enjoys today's Mother's Day celebration, remember its not to early to think of the month of June and Father's Day.  This is an easy day to remember since it falls one day after the annual Southern Shore Music Festival.  So there's still time to remember Mom and also Dad by buying tickets today for the June 20 event of the summer season.

on broadway

new york new york will are coming to you soon.  that's right the southern shore music festival will be in town soon to give you a preview of this years'  festival.  

Stay Tuned !

In addition to this years June 20 Southern Shore Music Festival we plan a few surprises along the way.  Some of our performers and others who are friends of the fest may appear soon in your town spreading the news of the fest so stay tuned.

ARLO & PETE

Arlo Guthrie looked and sounded great last night at Pete Seeger's 90th birthday party at the garden and now i can't wait to see him close this years' Southern Shore Music Festival. MSG was a great indoor musical party for Pete and it was great to see so many people and enjoy so many creative musicians.  The musicians that will gather on Carmel Green on June 20 are a diverse creative group of performers and they will put on one great show.   So go to our web site and click on the links to each great artist and get a musical sample of what you will hear live in june.

MAY DAY

yes its May Day which means June 20 is not that far away.  i can't believe that we will be gathering on carmel green for a great day of music.  make sure to check our  website and the artist links and give a listen to the great music you will hear live on saturday june 2o. i cannot wait to see which artist blows you away with their performance or which one you will hear for the first time and you will walk away and say Wow !