Art Haven crew hiding in the buoy box

Click on the picture above to see a slideshow from the Art Haven buoy auction on Friday night!

This beautifully captured photo of flying geese was taken by Charlie Carroll of Gloucester. Charlie uses a Canon 60D and a Canon G-12.  He attended several Art Schools in Boston, ending up at the Museum School, concentrating solely on drawing, for the first 7 years and then moved onto Etching, Engraving and Stone Lithography for the last 2 years of formal schooling. Over the years he has shown at and has work in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, the DeCordiva, The Danforth, City of Boston Permanent Print Collection, The Republic of Ireland Permanent Collection and the Vatican Permanent Collection, as well as many Public and Private Collections.  About a year ago his work was included in the Permanent Collection of the Cape Ann Museum and is featured in the Rule of Four exhibit at the Cape Ann Museum through Spring 2012.   A couple of years ago he started concentrating solely on photography and became obsessed with it. To see more of Charlie’s photography, visit http://seasquared.viewbook.com/

E.J. Lefavour

The above photos were taken in Virginia at the beginning of the hummingbird’s annual southward migration; it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that we may see an albino hummingbird visiting our Cape Ann feeders and flowers as we are in the same migratory corridor.

A true albino hummingbird, as is the above bird, has snowy white plumage and it’s eyes, legs, and bill are pink. True albinos are extraordinarily rare. Leucistic hummingbirds are still rare but are seen more often than true albions. Like the common Ruby-throated Hummingbird, leucistic forms have black, feet, bills, and eyes, but their feathers are some version of white, gray, buffy, and tan; not the typical shades of green.

Leucistic form and common Ruby-throated Hummingbirds

Image courtesy Hilton Pond Center.

Thanks to Inge Berge’s vision, inspiration and all-night editing, we’ve got a treat for you this week.  He growls like Tom Waits and bangs on household implements in this bitter breakup video shot in his home studio.  Few songs express the pain we’ve all felt at one time or another as well as this one set to a catchy tune that will play in your head all day long.

Watch and listen carefully — you’ll see all the percussion in the song is from the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.

]]> http://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/01222012/feed/ 0 Paul F. Frontiero Jr. motif snow 1 motif snow 1 motif snow 4 motif snow 3 motif snow 2 motif snow 1 http://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/theres-so-many-fish-in-gloucester-theyre-jumping-over-the-rails-at-the-boulevard/ http://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/theres-so-many-fish-in-gloucester-theyre-jumping-over-the-rails-at-the-boulevard/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:31:18 +0000 Joey C https://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/?p=98515 ]]>

To see more Rockport photos, click here: Sharon Lowe Photography

Thanks!    ~Sharon

Linn Parisi forwards-

Hi Joey,

Laura Dow, owner of The Vista Motel in Gloucester sent this picture along of her representin’

in Switzerland. She’s there skiing and enjoying a much needed vacation.
It doesn’t suck.

Thanks, Joey! Have a blast, Laura!

Check out The Vista Motel Webcam which overlooks Good Harbor Beach on www.gloucesterwebcam.com

VISIT THE VISTA MOTEL WEBSITE

January 25, 2012|By AMANDA FALCONE, afalcone@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

Terry Oder says he’s willing to give the Patriots their football back.

If, he said Wednesday, Patriots fans can help him raise $50,000 for a scholarship fund before the Super Bowl on Feb. 5.

And if the football team wants to make a contribution, he said he’d accept.

"I’m not asking for any money from the Patriots," Oder said Wednesday, "but if they offered, I would take it."

Oder was in the stands for the AFC Championship Game Sunday when Baltimore Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff’s field goal attempt went wide left, sending the Pats to the Super Bowl. Oder, watching the game with some of his childhood friends, grabbed the errant ball.

It was a heart-warming end to a bittersweet story. Oder, a physician with a Hartford medical group, said he brought his buddies to the game for some fun after weeks of sadness associated with the death of one of their friends, who had died unexpectedly from a heart infection. The scholarship fund is for his friend Aran Patrican’s 1-year-old son.

Click here for the rest of the story

Thanks Ed Sawicki  for forwarding the story

Coming Saturday Febuary 11 — 2nd Annual Blue Shutters Beachside Chili Cook Off!

The Blue Shutters Beachside Inn will hold its 2nd annual Chili Cook Off on Saturday February 11 for guests of the inn.  Guests get a 25% discount if they bring a pot of chili for the competition.  Our judges will choose a winner that Saturday evening, and the chili champion gets a gift certificate for a free return visit!  Last year, our second and third place winners got prizes too, courtesy of guest judges from Topside Grill and Cape Ann Brewing Company (we’ve invited these judges back this year).  If you’d like to come and stay a night or two and just taste the chili, that’s OK too.  We think this could be a great way to spice up your Valentines Weekend (Valentine’s Day is just a few days later).  While we’ll be enjoying chili on Saturday night, there will be time for a cocktail by our fireplace after a romantic lunch or dinner downtown — or just a quiet walk on the beach with with your valentine.  Call (978-283-1198) or email (info@blueshuttersbeachside.com) for details — and to reserve a spot.

Tony & Patty Sapienza, Ed & AnnMarie Comer

Blue Shutters Beachside Inn

Last year we helped make Gloucester the number 3 Arts Destination In the Country in American Style Magazine.  This is something we already know obviously but really don’t we deserve to be number one?

With your help and vote it helps the entire community by supporting our local artisans and allowing them another feather in their marketing cap to come visit, check out our vibrant art community and leave some cheddar behind

Like the picture they used in the postcard announcing the contest?  You may recognize it as one of mine. Claire Higgins at seARTS did a bang up job with the design.

Anyway lets support our local artists by voting!

Click on the button below to go vote, and thank you for supporting Gloucester and the arts!

I just checked out the contest and it’s easy peasy lemon squeezy. Not to mention you could win five hundred dolla yo!

Let’s Do This!

Here’s the presser from seARTS who with Kristine Fisher and Jackie Ganim DeFalco have been responsible for putting this initiative into play from the beginning.

2012 American Style “Top Arts Destination” Campaign Kicks Off
In 2011 seARTS, working with the arts community, secured the nomination for Cape Ann/Gloucester as a Top 25 Arts Destination by American Style Magazine. Thanks to your votes, we won the #3 spot on the list for small U.S. cities. Voting time is here again, and this year, we want to aim for the #1 spot and increase our visibility as an arts destination.
Securing Gloucester/Cape Ann on this list again this year as one of America’s Top 25 Arts Destinations will elevate Cape Ann on the national stage. We have over 2,000 working artists on Cape Ann and a thriving community that celebrates the arts of all disciplines. After all, our Rocky Neck is the country’s oldest continuous working art colony in the U.S. while Rockport draws visitors all year long!

To achieve this distinction, seARTS is requesting the entire community’s help in spreading the word. This is a city-based ranking, but all of Cape Ann was included in the destination information submitted and the article in the magazine.

There are many ways to help before March 3. Here are some suggestions!
1. Go in right now and vote from your computer, your phone, and your laptop! http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3YYDSTL
2. Put the link and/or icon at the bottom of all your emails in the signature line!
3. Use the promotional postcard jpeg in your literature and emails: http://bit.ly/ypN3y0
4. Link to the voting icon http://bit.ly/A3MD3D
5. Blog & Tweet the Survey Link
6. Share with your employees
Having this designation gives all of the cultural organizations and artists and businesses a chance to embed the Award in all their literature and promotion around Cape Ann as a branded arts destination. Please contact seARTS to find out more about how you can do this. info@searts.org 978-281-1222.

4 glasses of wine and four courses for $40 bucks or so.

Toby Pett says-

Eric and his crew definitely "hit it out of the park" Thursday night…As Chili mentioned to me that in Boston, the quality of food, paired with the wines that he brought would be $ 100.00 per person, and I am sure that he is right…there is no place in Gloucester that offers that kind of deal for the money…it should be sold out every month

G. K. Chesterton 1874-1936

Often called “The Prince of Paradox,” Chesterton wrote 80 books, several hundred poems, 200 short stories, 4000 essays and several plays. His 1905 biography of Charles Dickens is often credited for reviving interest in Dickens’ then largely overlooked work. Though they differed strongly in their respective world views, George Bernard Shaw described him as a man of colossal genius. His life-long study of religion and theology culminated in his 1922 conversion to Roman Catholicism. Diverse writers and thinkers including Mohandas Gandhi, Ingmar Bergman, Jorge Luis Borges, Neil Gaiman and Hilaire Belloc cited Chesterton as an influence on their work.

Greg Bover (Plus ca change…..)

Rhythm of the Tide

There are places, like the Goose Cove Causeway, where

the tide rushes into the cove, sounding like a

marathon runner sucking air during the

last kick before reaching the finish line.

The water foams and the buoys bend and the

tidal current rips under the bridge with just

a brief pause at slack to catch its breath before

reversing direction and roaring out.

Viewing the tide at such places can be

exhilarating and fascinating, but

I prefer to do my tide watching at the

calm pools and rivulets of Jones Creek.

In peaceful weather, through the afternoon into

the evening, I stand there listening to the

serene, quiet breath of the earth as the pool

gently rises and falls – a giant liquid Buddha.

It’s easy, in times such as those, to become

part of the pool, like the mist that sometimes forms

on the surface on a cool, still evening and

stays attached as the breath goes in and out.

My body is the body of the earth;

the rhythm of the tide governs my breath and the

flow of the creek, pumped by the heart of the ocean,

nourishes me and cleanses me.

I will stare, listen and I will breathe with the tide

and receive renewed life blood from its flow

and be one with this wondrous world until

the tide runs no more and the creek  is finally dry.

Marty Luster

On one of those rare days this winter when it has been cold enough for ice on Niles Pond.  Haven’t we been lucky so far this winter.

E.J. Lefavour

We were again transported to another time and place—three fabulous and current films, in three weekends. Our wonderfully transportive film nights began with My Week with Marilyn, which takes place in 1956 and was shot in and around the outskirts of London, The Descendants, filmed in present day Honolulu, and last night we saw The Artist, which takes place in Hollywood, from 1927 to 1932. The Artist is a comedy and drama about George Valentin (Jean Dejardin), a silent film star, and Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo), a rising “talkie” star, who meet just as the silent film industry is collapsing. The film is partially silent and filmed to look like a black and white silent film. The costumes are to die for, the interior set designs are predominately Hollywood Regency, and the acting charming and sweet and utterly engaging. Uggie, the terrier, will steal your heart.

From an interview with Michael Hazavanicius, director and writer of The Artist, “I had many deep motivations for wanting to make a silent film. As a member of the audience, I absolutely love the way stories are told to me in a silent movie. It’s not a cerebral response. It’s more a child-like response. Because there’s no spoken language, the way the story engages your heart is special. It’s hypnotic, sensual, not at all cerebral, and I love that sensation as an audience member. My motivations as a director were much more selfish. For me, it was a great experience. It’s what cinema is about, in my opinion. I’m telling a story with images and music. With images, you have the actors, you have the sets, you have the costumes, the lights, everything, and that’s how you’re telling the story. You don’t need words for that. It’s the ultimate experience for a director to make a silent movie. I really wanted to try to do it.”   Link to the full interview with Hazavanicius. 

Jean Dujardin and Uggie 

Techno notes for Joey and Marty: The Artist was made in the 1.33:1 screen ratio commonly used in the silent film era. Though presented in black-and-white, it was shot in color. All the technical details, including lenses, lighting and camera moves, were calibrated to get the look just right. To recreate the slightly sped-up look of 1920s silent films, the film was shot at a slightly lower frame rate of 22 fps as opposed to the standard 24 fps. Courtesy wiki.

Images courtesy Google search.

This is a must see — composed by Cape Ann’s very own Robert J. Bradshaw.

QWERTY is the story of a question and whether or not it will ever be asked.  Joe and Ella have to find the strength to put down their phones and speak directly to each other, rather than through the fast-paced and abbreviated world of text messaging.  Can they do it?  Can they ignore the ceaseless draw of the cellphone?  Or in this world of constant connectivity, will they never connect?  Join us to find out how the story ends!