NJ-based Ortolan will take the stage at 8:15pm August 14. They're hot off rave reviews at SXSW and a European tour.

First off, I must say congratulations to the newly-engaged Scott McEwen and Erin Hollenbeck. Scott founded the concerts and Brewster Productions with Harry and me several years back, and Erin is always helping out with the shows and being all around awesome. We’re all very happy for the two lovebirds, and you should be too.

Now onto the big FREE music festival we’re putting on this Saturday. When I say big, I mean real big. We’ve got 9 bands. The headliner Ortolan just finished their first European tour, and is hot of rave reviews at South By Southwest in Austin, TX this year. The eight local bands sharing the stage with them are an incredible bunch themselves, including: Emma Ate the Lion, Doug Ratner & the Watchmen, Boston & Bosco, The Okay Win, BarRoom Heroes, Pride of the Atlantic (with guys from the Widescreen Edition), One Way Karma, and The Hiding Spot. Go to the Schoolhouse Rock page for all the links and even more info: http://brewsterproductions.com/concertseries/schedule/schoolhouse-rock/

If the incredible amount of awesome independent music from cool young local bands wasn’t enough, there’s going to be a GUITAR RAFFLE! Yes, we’ll be raffling off a Takamine acoustic guitar, and 4 weeks of free guitar lessons, both courtesy of Thunderbolt Music. Buy your tickets for $1 early and often from our table – the more you buy the better chance you have to win.

You will also have an opportunity to donate to a great cause, Vh1 Save the Music. This foundation helps support music education programs throughout the county’s public schools.

A huge huge thank you goes out to our co-presenter this year, Tranzmission, the indie music blog by Ryan Wood. He’s helped us out a ton in bringing Ortolan to the show and putting the whole thing together. Also thank you to Thunderbolt Music on Main St. in Plymouth for donating a guitar and lessons.

See you at the festival! (don’t forget, it’s FREE!)

- Jon

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

NJ foursome Ortolan, fresh of rave reviews at SXSW, will hit the Plymouth Waterfront for Schoolhouse Rock August 14th.

They were just down in Austin, TX for South By Southwest, the gargantuan music and film festival, and get this: New Jersey folk quartet ORTOLAN will be rocking the stage in Plymouth this summer! Ortolan, a talented group of 3 sisters and 1 sister-in-law will bring their melodic folk music to the stage at this year’s SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK, thanks especially to Ryan Wood of the indie music blog TRANZMISSION. This will be the 4th year we’ve put on the show (the first on July 27, 2007 was the spark that started Brewster Productions). We’ll be taking donations for the Vh1 Save the Music Foundation in support of a very important cause: Music and arts education, especially in under-served urban and rural schools. In addition to Ortolan, the SHR10 stage will be rocked by Boston & Bosco, The Barroom Heroes (a punk band of middle school kids), and Doug Ratner & His Watchmen, plus a couple more to be announced.

Keep checking our Schedule page for near-constant updates. We’ve also just added The Eagle Hill Band acoustic on 5/28 to kick off the season, and Jesse Boncek, playing with Nate Cristofori on June 11 at the Hedge House.

Summer’s coming soon, and so are we. Get ready for School’s Out!! And while you’re at it, go to some Brewster Productions shows – we’ve got at least 1 a week up in Boston, and lots more at various places and times.

- Jon