Listen: reverbnation.com/nancihobson

Amy Mercier performs at Hedge House Lawn tonight 7/30. Show starts at 6pm.

Howdy everyone,

We’ve had quite the hectic July, putting on 3 big main stage shows and running all over creation to make them happen, and now we’re back at the good ol’ Hedge House Lawn for the rest of the summer, except 1 show (the HUGE Schoolhouse Rock Music Festival at the main stage 8/14).

Molly Pope will open up the show tonight 7/30 at 6pm.

To welcome all of our loyal audience members back to the 200-year-old house’s lawn, we’ve got the talented pianist/singer Amy Mercier and singer/songwriter Molly Pope taking the stage tonight. Click on the links to take a listen to them, and then come on down to the show! I suggest grabbing some food, a blanket, and/or some lawn chairs and have a nice relaxing night of music and food. For free. Well, beside the food, unless it was a gift.

Also, since we like to be pretty open about how we run things around here, we have to be totally honest and say this past month has run us pretty dry as far as funds go. If you can, please come to the show and make a donation – it will help us make the last shows of the summer awesome.

Thanks for all the support and for coming out to the shows! See you tonight!

Jon & the School’s Out crew

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

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.

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

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

Have we got some great news for a cold February night: We’re officially announcing our 9 acoustic summer shows at the Hedge House Lawn! That’s right, that puts the 2010 School’s Out Summer Concert Series up to 14 shows, which is 1 more than we tried for last year (the weather was not our friend at many points), and 5 more than we actually pulled off. It’s going to be an incredible summer concert series, and we’re trying to raise some money to get some great names in there to play with the local guys – you can find out how to support the series with your donations here. So without further adieu, here they are, the 2010 ‘Acoustic Evenings On the Harbor’ shows @ the Hedge House Lawn (which was graciously donated as a venue by the Plymouth Antiquarian Society):

5/28/10

6/4/10

6/11/10

6/18/10

7/2/10

7/30/10

8/20/10

8/28/10 (saturday)

9/3/10

So that’s that. We’ll be announcing the performers in the coming months, which means if you want to play, send us an email. These shows are for ‘acoustic’ acts, which means pretty much any act with a few people and no drums. It’s more of an intimate coffeehouse sorta vibe going on. If you think you fit the bill, give us a holler. We love pianos and definitely want to get some different instruments up there too. Concert series booking info.

And please, DONATE! Thanks everyone, happy Groundhog Day!

- Jon