Jeff Shaw

Six Cape Cod Concert Venues to Get Your Music On

Rocking at Nauset Beach, Orleans, MA. Photo credit: Hog Island Brewery.

by Jeff Shaw

According to the Weather Channel, the world’s most famous groundhog did not see his shadow on February 2 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Therefore, an early spring is on the way.

My reasoning for writing about outdoor concerts in freezing February is ground[hog]ed in this furry weather predictor. Early spring means summer is closer than it may appear. February is also, traditionally, the month where summer tour concert tickets go on sale. [And even if you’re more of a Potomac Phil kind of person, relax, he didn’t see his shadow either. Oh, and while we’re at it, Groundhog Day is the definition of a re-watchable movie!]

Cape Cod is known for what you see on-Cape – world class beaches, bustling harbors, iconic bluffs and lighthouses to name a few; though those smells are a close second, salty air, fried clams, steamy chowder, oh my!

A few rungs down the ‘why Cape Cod is amazing ladder’ is for what you hear – sounds. I give you the top venues to catch some good vibrations [Beach Boys pun] on Cape Cod!

Harwich Cranberry Arts & Music Festival, Harwich

The 2024 Cranberry Festival and [affectionately called] Cranjam return at the Community Center Fields on Saturday and Sunday, September 14 and 15, 2024.

This music festival is paired with a craft festival with over 180 vendors. Additionally, local brewery Devil’s Purse provides wine and local drafts. Food trucks are the main calorie option. With free parking and a laid-back bring your own chair/blanket type seating area, what’s not to like.

The two-day annual event started in the 1970s and is creeping up on a 50^th anniversary.

Cape Cod Melody Tent, Hyannis

As I wrote a few years ago, you have to catch a show at the Tent. With tandem parking on a gravel lot, the place reeks of old Cape Cod. And sure, so are some of the acts, but you may also be surprised at what tours make a “pit” stop [standing room only concert pun intended].

The current 2024 concert line-up features original acts, tribute bands and comedians. Headliners tend to be announced in the spring, so sign-up for their newsletter to learn about bookings.

Membership enables booking tickets one week before the public and provide express access into the venue on show nights.

Margaritaville Cape Cod, Hyannis

You read that right. Margaritaville Resort Cape Cod is coming for summer 2024—the first New England location for the popular Jimmy Buffet-inspired chain. Waa-hoo!

The resort will be a rebrand for the former Cape Codder Resort & Spa in Hyannis. The revitalized resort will have over 270 rooms in addition to an indoor water park, pool, spa and restaurants. While large scale concerts are not part of this rebrand, I’d guess plenty of live “trop-rock” acts will p[l]ay their respects to the late Jimmy Buffett during the inaugural season.

Outermost Roots & Blues Festival, Orleans

About a decade ago, Hog Island Beer Company, located in Orleans, billed itself as “the Outermost Brewery.” (At the time, that geographical self-description was accurate.) Naming their flagship beer, Outermost IPA, sealed it, no matter what Outer Cape breweries (we see you Ptown) would pop up down the road [yup, another subtle Route 6 pun].

So, it should not come as a surprise when the same brewery collaborated with local musicians to create an outdoor concert of the same theme – the Outermost Roots & Blues Festival. Located in the enormous parking lot of Nauset Beach (750 spaces), this fall event returned in 2023 after a brief hiatus due to the pandemic.

Part of what makes this event unique is that it was created locally, managed locally and even a portion of the proceeds from the festival support The Friends of Nauset Beach, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Make sure to add this concert to your shoulder season calendar.

Payomet Performing Arts Center, Truro

Tucked away down a long access road is Payomet Performing Arts Center, a nonprofit located at the Highlands Center in partnership with Cape Cod National Seashore.

Similarly to the Tent, bookings tend to be announced in the spring, so sign-up for their newsletter to learn when new acts are booked. Additionally, membership provides advanced notice to purchase tickets before going on sale to the public. Members also get a discount on tickets for most events.

Martha’s Vineyard Beach Road Weekend, TBA!

To be honest, the news of Beach Road Weekend moving off island/from Martha’s Vineyard, back to Cape Cod, inspired this post.

Certainly a bummer to some, the Vineyard Arts and Culture Foundation announced last month that the Beach Road Weekend music festival and Martha’s Vineyard Concert Series will not return to Martha’s Vineyard in 2024. Beach Road Weekend will relocate to a new home on Cape Cod in 2025.

The concert series debuted in 2019, but then was canceled for two years due to the pandemic. In 2022, the concert returned featuring 30 bands, including the Avett Brothers, Beck and Wilco, with Mumford and Sons headlining the 2023 line-up.

Ultimately, costs associated with these high profile acts, enormous crowds, insurance, transporting equipment (ferrying literally tons of equipment), etc., made it unprofitable/unsustainable/unworkable.

So, the promoters are going to give it another go on-Cape in 2025. Looking forward to sea [coastal pun intended] how the next chapter unfolds.

Until then, Fins Up! [JB]

February 7, 2024

Movie Review: A Cape Cod Christmas

by Jeff Shaw

Last month, the Chatham Orpheum Theater held a screening of the 2021 holiday film, A Cape Cod Christmas, including a meet and greet with the Cape Cod-based director, John Stimpson. Somehow [perhaps in the midst of pandemic chaos] I missed this movie announcement all together, and just the other night, watched it.

As Jennifer Sexton-Riley wrote in The Chronicle, “A Cape Cod Christmas,” promises an opportunity to rediscover romance with an ocean view. Margot, a children’s book author, comes down to Cape Cod for one last Christmas dinner with her disagreeable siblings before they have to sell their family beach house – a home base of family tradition while their parents were alive. Margot doesn’t want to sell, the other two siblings do. Further, her sister Meredith is in a tough financial situation faced with a looming college tuition bill for her son. A plan is devised to try and get the sister and brother to change their minds as well as a childhood romance is rekindled.

The film was shot in Falmouth during the pandemic, and features many prominent locations throughout town.

I am not a movie critic, in fact, I don’t recall ever reviewing one, but a few observations stood out. Please feel free to agree or disagree:

Props

A reindeer-themed throw blanket on the couch was a little too Green, White or Rocky Mountains. I would bet 9/10 beach house homeowners have a marine-themed holiday throw.

B-Roll Shots

The brief aerial shots of the people walking the beach* was so Cape Cod. Same for the (quiet) shots of the harbor. Nailed it.

Storyline(s)

While the story circled back around to the original premise neatly, I cannot help but think a secondary plot line should have been established, about Meredith, the sister. Her character was underdeveloped, but you could see a path where she, not Margot, was even more torn between the emotions tied to losing a connection with your late parents/happy beach house memories and the practical reality of using a third of the house’s sale price to pay for your child’s college tuition.

It wasn’t clear where Meredith and her family were currently living, but she recalled not being at the family beach house in two years, so that seed of longing was planted early. Since the painting ended up being for Meredith, not Tom, the older brother, or somehow split among both siblings, this would have made the painting unveiling scene twice as powerful as well as the second-to-last scene, a bit more joyful [Spoiler alert…knowing that Meredith could have it both ways].

A Little Life Advice

I love the in-your-face message Christian delivers during the sunrise walk along the beach…to paraphase…put down your friggin’ phone and look around and actually see, dare I say appreciate, the natural beauty that surrounds many of us! Indeed, we’re the lucky ones.

Word Play

Later in that scene, Margot and Christian run to the dock where their initials were carved and…to paraphrase…he says something to the effect of, after all these years, it’s still there. “It” being their love/connection, which gets a bit lost as Margot recoils at his advance.

Bottomline

If you have a soft spot for Cape Cod, it is going to be hard to turn off the movie once started. The brief b-roll shots of coastline, downtown shops, and holiday decorations, especially of a cozy, waterfront beach house, are satisfying. Like all Hallmark- or Lifetime-esque movies, there is plenty of cheesiness, but endless coffee runs keeps you grounded [coffee bean pun intended].

While far from a holiday classic, it may be sniffing the rewatchable conversation. Regardless, there is an important lesson, hard to ignore, for many families who will find themselves in a similar situation – what to do when multiple children inherit a family [or beach] house and do not agree with what to do with it [keep or sell]. For that reason alone, the film may be worth watching.

*I know of no one who wakes up before sunrise regularly to walk the beach. Do you?

January 1, 2024

Amazing Heritage Museum and Gardens Sandwich

Gardens in bloom with an administrative building in the background. Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

By Jeff Shaw

I’ve always noticed a large brown ‘historic attraction’ sign along Route 6 – the Mid-Cape Highway near [former] Exit 2. It reads Heritage Museums & Gardens and that sign should probably have blinking lights, a spotlight or one of those inflatable air dancers to emphasize the joy that is the Heritage campus.

Heritage Museums and Gardens is bustling in the summer, shoulder seasons (Halloween Spooktacular!), and even the winter. Their annual Gardens Aglow – light displays throughout the gardens, festive seasonal decor and fun activities for all – sold out in mid-November.

A map of the grounds. Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

It is no wonder this celebration of lights has become a treasured holiday tradition, just listen to this event description: “…visit with Santa in the 1913 Ford Model T…take a ride on the 1908 Looff carousel and view winter scenes from the Currier and Ives collection…roast marshmallows…go on a reindeer scavenger hunt…enjoy seasonal treats from Lily’s Café and Cape Cod Donut Truck…warn up at a fire table…view the expanded model train display.” Talk about a good time.

But I’m not here to talk about Gardens Aglow [frankly, it speaks for itself]. Heritage Museums and Gardens is great choice on overcast days, as most of the attractions are outside, so some protection from the sun is welcome.

A replica train coach of the railroad display in the Special Exhibitions Gallery.
Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

The gardens are impressive, with interesting features mixed-in, such as artwork, windmills, a labyrinth, a garden maze (think corn maze), fountains, a legit tree house, and of course, buildings with exhibits. The indoor, turn of the 20^th century historic carousel ride is also a must.

The museums are quite engaging on their own. The two-level classic car showroom; the history of Cape Cod becoming a tourist destination, and more importantly, how to protect it given the massive influx of people, traffic, pollution, development, etc., that accompanies such success.

A wooden bridge near the Maze Garden. Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

The Hundred Acre School is one of their featured programs. “The Hundred Acre School was created to cultivate young minds using STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as a springboard to multidisciplinary learning.” Full or half day programs are available for Pre-K, Kindergarten, and Grades 1 and 2.

Accessibility is noteworthy. In addition to regular shuttles, the main pathways are paved, with ramps into the buildings. Even the trails, seashell, stone, dirt, gravel, are in good condition for strollers (walkers, not so much).

The labyrinth near the historic carousel.
Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

Oddly, one super random thing caught my eye in the parking lot. Spray paint on the pavement which reads, “Joggers start,” and then twenty yards away, “Walkers start”. It seems a road race begins in the parking lot. I don’t know what it entails, so I’ll have to return to find out.

The markings of a road race in the parking lot.
Photo credit: Jeff Shaw

Another sign this is the place to be – Shawme Pond is part of the grounds!

December 1, 2023

Homemade All the Way at Good Friends Cafe West Dennis

The Good Friends Cafe in West Dennis. Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

by Jeff Shaw

I don’t know how many times the term, “best breakfast on Cape Cod,” has been typed into a search engine, but if I had to guess, Good Friends Café, West Dennis, would be a top result. (Actually, I just typed that search and guess what, Good Friends Café was #3 on Google.)

To be clear, Good Friends Café has plenty of ~~company~~ friends [restaurant name pun intended] in the category of best breakfast, which, quite frankly, is too broad a category. Breakfast options range from grab and go bakeries to sit-down restaurants to five-star brunches.

Plus, geography on Cape Cod makes long drives for breakfast unlikely. If you live in Sandwich, you’re probably not going to Grumpy’s for breakfast; similarly, if you live in East Dennis, you’re probably not going to Marshland for breakfast. The ~~key~~ joy is checking out these places when you happen to be in the area.

But Good Friends Café has a few unique features which separate itself, enough to warrant special attention.

The menu has some fun creations. Beware, the homemade grilled breads and muffins sell out! Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

Indoor and outdoor seating (seasonal). Many restaurants expanded outdoor seating during the pandemic, and most have kept it as customers like an open air dining option. It was raining on my visit, but the front patio has a clean, sleek look that is welcoming and comfortable.

Homemade grilled breads. The self-described, “Famous, thick sliced” homemade grilled breads are delicious. My version of eggs benny came with a foundation of homemade grilled cornbread, and I could not get enough of it.

Eggs Benedict on cornbread. Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

Name board. If your first name happens to be written on the chalk board hanging from the dining room ceiling, free coffee is headed your way. It’s the little things, right?

Open kitchen bar top seating. Not exactly unique, but that section of the dining room is decorated to resemble your friends’ kitchen. The bar top seating is clean, bright and somewhat secluded, so has a neighborhood hangout feel.

The bar top seating and name board that provides free coffee to all Bettys. Photo credit: Jeff Shaw

Excellent service. Despite a brief wait, customers are welcomed to self-serve coffee while waiting. Similarly, once seated, the wait staff was friendly, answered questions they’ve probably been asked hundreds of times politely, regularly checked on coffee refills and provided updates on when the food would be out. I’m a little disappointed not to be briefed on the staffing schedule the following week, nor the upcoming kitchen deliveries.

It is said that time flies when you’re having fun. That’s pretty much how I felt upon leaving the Good Friends Café.

November 9, 2023

Lesser Known Landings of Chatham

Cotchpinicut Landing. Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

by Jeff Shaw

Chatham boasts 60 miles of scenic shoreline, waterways, harbors and ocean open. Unfortunately, access to all that beach is usually limited given privately owned shoreline. Fortunately, designated landings give the public specific areas to access the water (put-in/out).

While I’m working on a more comprehensive project to highlight these areas, below are a handful worth visiting.

Cotchpinicut Landing, 156 Cotchpinicut Road

Let’s start with my favorite, Cotchpinicut Landing, in North Chatham. This quiet neighborhood provides access to an interesting shoreline down a narrow road (looks more like a private driveway). A small parking lot consisting of concrete blocks provides space for a few vehicles. The shoreline is beachcomber’s dream, with plenty of (intact) scallop and oyster shells. Rows of equally spaced pilings are evidence of a former dock and a collection of kayaks, sailboats, and paddleboards rest neatly on dry sand suggest a popular put-in spot. The landing has a great view of Strong Island the barrier beach.

Trailhead to Stage Harbor Point Landing. Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

Stage Harbor Point, Next to 326 Morris Island Road

A close second in my book is Stage Harbor Point, located off Morris Island Road. This barely visible sandy path snakes through a surprisingly thickly wooded area in the middle of multiple private homes. The path ends with a stunning view of sailboats moored in the calm waters of Stage Harbor. You can walk along the shoreline to the Morris Island Dyke area, popular for clamming and photographs.

Historic marker at Strong Island Landing. Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

Strong Island Landing, Next to 197 Strong Island Road

The view of Strong Island is obviously good (it is a short paddle away), but the history of the area makes this landing special. Over 100 years ago, it was part of a former World War I United States Naval Airstation. The patrol base was in operation from 1917-1922 and a stone marker located in a grassy area next to the parking lot provides a brief history.

Parking lot of Taylor’s Ponding Landing. Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

Taylor’s Pond Landing, Across from 37 Taylor’s Pond Road

A South Chatham hidden gem, Taylor’s Pond provides calm waters to start a paddle into Mill Creek (pass Mill Creek Landing) and onto Nantucket Sound. The large parking area gives way to a wooden bridge to put-in your floatation device of choice. A memorial stone bench reinforces the “hidden gem” theme.

Hidden driveway to Vineyard Avenue Landing.
Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

Vineyard Avenue Landing, Next to 238 Vineyard Avenue

Even I didn’t know about Vineyard Landing until noticing a yellow “no beach access” sign on the actual green street sign and pole off Route 28. While it is true there is no beach access, there sure is put-in access to Oyster Pond. The landing also provides a wonderful view of downtown Chatham (most people don’t see downtown from that vantage point) as well as the Chatham Yacht Basin. Even the broken seashell driveway to the landing is mostly hidden behind a set of tall pine trees.

Water Street East Landing stairway and informational sign. Photo credit: Jeff Shaw.

Water Street East, Next to 144 Water Street

The story of this location is shifting sands (erosion) and development (modern day downtown). As the informational sign will explain, Water Street use to be the center of Chatham (in the 1800s), connecting packet ships in Nantucket Sound and related commerce in Mill Pond. When you hear the term Chatham’s “Old Village,” think Water Street and the surrounding neighborhood. Nowadays, the public right of way offers side street parking for a handful of vehicles. A metal staircase brings you down to the sandy shoreline of Lighthouse Beach.

The Port Fortune Landing is also a fun access point. I will explain why through my Chatham Landings Trail project. Stay tuned!

October 5, 2023