We're in Ellsworth - the capital of Downeast, Maine and Kyle's hometown stomping grounds. Drive down memory lane, check out new music venues and hear why Ellsworth is the apex of art and adventure. Live music and interviews with Whoopy Kat, Fremont String Band and Beach Trash - a punk rock band fronted by a lobsterman by day and a Drag Queen by night.
Build your own music-centric itinerary:
Learn why music regenerates memories in a music therepy session in Surry
The apex of art and adventure starts at the Heart of Ellsworth
Park at the River
Get yourself a pair of Muck Boots or LL Bean Duck Boots
Coffee at Rooster Brothers
Breakfast at Flexit Cafe
Lunch at 86 This
Chic and Contemporary Shopping at KOT
Dinner at Provender or Serendib
History of the JB Atlantic Building
See a show at The Grand Theatre
Hire Wallace Events to bring your party to the next level
Rock out to Whoopy Kat - not your average cover band
Head to Fogtown Brewing Company - live music venue, community arts space and local beer maker
Live music By Fremont String Band
Beach Trash - Lobsterman by Day and Drag Queen by Night
Have a Muck Boot or LL Bean Duck Boot Good Time!
Learn about the Downeast Salmon Federation
And how to cook with Maine Sea Vegetables Sea Vegetables
Other music venues in Ellsworth : Chummies for Local Rock n Roll, Finns for accoustic performances and Tan Turtle for open Mic
Stay at Hampden Inn or B&B's
-- Ellsworth Really needs a boutique hotel --- Just saying :)
This has been a Good To Go Studios production created and hosted by Kyle Lamont and Made in Maine
Story Editor is Max Haupman
Songs in the Episode: Draninpipe Dreams and Young Love are by ROBERT OUYANG RUSLI
Listen to our Maine Music Playlist on Spotify
and Follow Lamont's venue ventures on Instagram
Thank you for joining and please subscribe on I-Tunes!
Announcer:
Your road tripping to America's best music venues with Kyle Lamont on this episode, we're in Ellsworth, the capital of Downeast, Maine, and the start of our salty venue venture through Lamont's hometown stomping grounds. Concertcast the podcast is an audio atlas filled with music, maps, conversations and discoveries to help you navigate America's soundscape and tune into every state's live music scene. Concert culture is travel centric and every venue has a voice. So let us go and listen.
This episode is powered by Flexit Cafe, located on Main Street in downtown Ellsworth Flexit, is more than great food and drinks. Its Ellsworth living room flexitcafe.com for more.
Kyle:
Music regenerates memories, and I believe that driving on hometown roads has the same effect.
Alan Wittenberg:
There's a great associative symbolic sense to music and sound in general and memory is connected to our emotive states.
Therefore, a certain music will trigger certain feelings or certain associations.
Kyle:
That’s Alan Wittenberg he's a music therapist from Surry, Maine, who helps me understand why listening to music while driving, can make you feel so nostalgic.
Alan Wittenberg:
It allows one to be more with themselves and find out new things about themselves. The fact that it can grab you by surprise is really hard to figure out intellectually
Kyle:
And sometimes when certain music is playing. It's as if time is suspended and I can mindfully move around these moments and continue my search for solace.
Alan Wittenberg:
Music is a great cathartic agent. It's also a great exploratory agent.
It helps us find a more complete or a deeper sense of what that time was.
Kyle:
I'm from a coastal town called Sullivan. It's 25 minutes from Ellsworth, which is our region's urban center.
So simply running errands into town stirs up sights from my past. For instance, there's a mom and pop general store down the street that's been around for years. And when I drive by it, I'll see a phantom of myself as a young girl pumping gas for my grandma as she sat in her wood paneled station wagon, puffing on Marb Reds and tuning the AM radio dial.
Alan Wittenberg:
So the music once again is that bridge. In this case, it's sort of a time bridge its a being bridge. If you're stuck in conflicts you had in that time, the music can help you reconnect with, retouch it and re-explore it.
Kyle:
Now that I'm back home, some places still look familiar, but I'm also finding new spaces, hearing new sounds and making new memories.
I'm Kyle Lamont, and you're not about to meet my family, but rather drive round hometown roads with me to meet up with friends and colleagues, lobstermen and artists, musicians and music venue owners who are all part of making Downeast Maine more than just a beautiful place to visit, but a destination for live music.
[Bold Coast Bandit’s Play]
You're listening to Bold Coast Bandit's by Machias Maine songsters, Fremont String Band. Their album, Dirigo, named after our state's motto and means I Direct, is more like a colorful songbook rich with oral descriptions of our region known as Downeast, which is an old maritime term used by sailors traveling up Maine's eastern seaboard between Boston and Canada. Southwest winds propelled vessels forward, which meant you had to go downwind to get north. Ironic, right? Well, today that same mentality can be said about touring bands driving up Maine's rocky coastline in search of a place to play.
And Ellsworth has gone from a no name town to a notable stop. The band is headlining at Fogtown Brewing and Ellsworth, a new music venue and community Art space.
Michael:
They know what they're doing. They got all the the sound setup. They've got they've got the lights, they get the sound, they get the beer. They've got a really great space.
Kyle:
That's Michael. He's one of the guitarists in the band who will be hanging out with later.
[Music Continues]
Kyle:
Depending on stops you make along the way. It's about an hour drive from Belfast to Ellsworth on this stretch of Route 1. Roadside attractions are just a little bit more extra. So it's completely normal to point at and read out loud every single sign you see for a local business, boatyard or restaurant. Crossing the Union River onto Main Street in Ellsworth, you immediately notice how quaint this town is. Red brick and Victorian style houses. The spire at city hall visible on a hilltop. Take away the cars and you can almost picture how this town looked 100 years ago.
Cara Romano:
We have a really special relationship with this main street and that it needs to be and remain protected. It's really important that we don't demolish any of these buildings and that we're historically protecting the architecture that's here.
Kyle:
That's Cara Romano. She's the executive director of Heart of Ellsworth and also a bonafide jewelry designer and small business owner who will be chatting with more. Ellsworth has always been a place on the way to somewhere else. It's only a 30 minute drive to Mount Desert Island in the summer. You can spot travelers stopping for gas and groceries on their way to Acadia National Park or to make a pit stop before heading to Canada. But as of late. The city has turned a major cultural corner and is no longer a town to drive through. But now a hub for art and adventure in Hancock County.
Cara:
Downeast Maine can be very isolating. It can of.. houses, can be very few and far between. And Ellsworth is sort of that hub. And I feel that as we work to grow more and more as a community and more businesses start coming in and we start to increase the amount of activity here in downtown that this space is going to grow in population. And I do believe that in five years time that this downtown is going to look very full.
Kyle:
When you arrive in Ellsworth, take a right onto Water Street and head to the riverfront where you can park and explore, walk to Rooster Brothers for a fresh cup of coffee and then wander around to scope out all the cute stores. Make sure to check out the library and city hall. Both buildings boast beautiful New England architecture with great views of the river and town. You'll walk by The Grand Historic Theater built in 1938 with beautiful art deco architecture and an eye catching marquee. It's home to local theater productions, movies and occasional concerts. Across the street is a building known as J.B. Atlantic. The brick facade with enormous bay windows is a neck turner built in 1939, It was once a five and dime store. It's been unoccupied since 2016, but far from vacant. Today, it's being reclaimed as an event space and used more and more for live music.
Brian Spencer:
Well I grew up here in Ellsworth and my mom would take me down here when it was Jay-Jay new berries. It was like an old school department store kind of thing, and there was a soda fountain area on one side. We'd come down here and I was just a little guy in all five, six, seven, eight years old. She'd bring my brother and I down here. We'd eat root beer floats and have ice cream and stuff in here. While she did shopping, it was was pretty cool.
Kyle:
So did you ever think that you'd be rocking out in here?
Brian Spencer:
Never thought it in a million years. No, no. It's a whole different game, but it's kind of cool. Very happy to be doing it.
Kyle:
We just heard from Brian Spencer, owner of Wallace Events and the bassist in the band called Whoopy Kat. We'll be chatting with him as well to hear how he worked with the heart of Ellsworth to transform the building into a music venue for the night.
Kyle:
Keep it here. We'll be right back.
[Acoustic Guitar Music Plays]
Kyle:
It's a cold winter day in January when I pull up to the J.B. Atlantic building. Remnants of the holidays linger in the front windows. But more prominent now is a sign for rock n roll concert featuring a band called Whoopy Kat I see Romano inside and she's telling me to go around the back. When I walk in it's hard not to feel wowed by the space, mainly because it's a blank canvas full of possibility. There's original wood floor, gorgeous ceilings, and memories abound.
When I was a kid, this was a furniture and art store, and while my parents shopped, my sister and I would play hide and seek.
So let's talk about heart of Ellsworth.
Cara:
Our organization is somewhat in charge of working with the city, working with the Chamber of Commerce and other nonprofit entities in Downeast Maine to bolster downtown Ellsworth and to have this area be a vibrant, year-round community.
Kyle:
Romano grew up in a tiny town called Goldsboro, which is about 45 minutes from Ellsworth. She's lived and worked in Brooklyn and Philadelphia as a jewelry artist.
Cara:
my work is influenced by the quiet of of here and the the geometric influence that does happen in nature because there is a lot of that.
Kyle:
But came back home to support other artisans by opening a boutique store called Kot.
Cara:
And it's a really, really great nurturing place for artists to set up their studios and and to work.
Kyle:
She thoughtfully selects really cool crafts, HomeGoods jewelry and more. And her passion for the arts is what inspires her vision for the heart of Ellsworth, which is to bring the community together through culture and utilizing the J.B. Atlantic building for events like Taste of Ellsworth, a local foodie experience, Art of Ellsworth, an extension of the Maine craft weekend and a cider and cheese festival. She's able to do just that. The building also caught the attention of Brian Spencer.
Brian Spencer:
You know it's winter time. It's January. There's nothing to do in Ellsworth and this beautiful space is here. So let's all start selling some tickets and let's try to sell this thing out. And you've tried to care some great causes and give everyone a fun time. So it's taken us about a week to transform it. But it's all happening the things sold out. And that's a really cool night.
Kyle:
And when it comes to repurposing a space, he has a unique perspective.
Brian Spencer:
I see everything from a topical view tables, dance floors, drape bars, whatever is going to hardware would drop into that room to make it function for whatever kind of event in my head does that. Everywhere I go. So I'm I'm already seeing it. By time I get back to my office, I'm getting in a computer. I've already seen it.
Kyle:
When you walk into an old building, are you really mindful of a place having personality?
Sara Spencer:
Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, this this place to me has a lot of personality. And I feel it's better than just a white boxed in room. You know, we have the brick walls. We can create whatever lighting you want to have and you can basically make the room whatever you want. You got the old hardwood floors. I think it's very important to keep the personality of the building.
Kyle:
That's Brian's wife, business partner and lead singer of Whoopy Kat Sara Spencer. How would you describe DownEast Maine's music scene?
Brian Spencer:
Different eclectic things that are really great and amazing that are starting to really show their heads. It's the hard part is so many great musicians are here, but there is nowhere to play. You know, we need venues like this to give people a chance to play so they can get out and be seen.
Sara Spencer:
I feel like we've had a whole bunch of new, younger people that have moved to town, especially with the Jackson lab opening up and changing. And we need to do something to keep them here and not have them go to Bangalore, go to Bar Harbor every time just to find something to do.
Brian Spencer:
It would be so great if every single weekend you could come to Ellsworth and know you'd see music somewhere and you still can't every week. But we're working on it. We're working on it.
Kyle:
And the perks of owning an event company means that you're fully loaded with bells and whistles.
The room was completely overhauled into what felt like a rock club. There was a raised stage walls of martial amps, a lighting, trusts, lasers. Hayes Insane.
They even had an L.E.D. drum kit. I'm obsessed with that drum kit. I mean, if you're going to have a drum kit, you might as well have some lights in my day.
Brian Spencer:
You gotta have a lighted drum kit. Absolutely.
Cara:
One thing that is a constant and will probably always be this way is a Elsworth is the county seat. So you have people from all walks of life. We sort of know no boundaries when it comes to genre. We really want folks to come in and we want folks to be able to be who they are and to just play live great music.
Kyle:
Up next, we head to Fogtown Brewing Company, Ellsworth's newest music venue.
Announcer:
Carol Leonard's brave and beautiful memoir is now a podcast from Good to Go studios' Bad Beaver Tales Stories on Love and Life in Downeast Maine. Subscribe to Bad Beaver Tales, the podcast on iTunes and Spotify.
Kyle:
In addition to a lot of young scientists moving here to work at the Jackson lab, there's a digital take on the back to land movement or Homesteading 2.0 happening as well. Where nature conscious hipsters who thrive on solitude and who install Wi-Fi shortly after digging a new well are sprouting up, too. In his study for the M.I.T. Tech Review, titled The Hipster Effect, Jonathan Tubal found the efforts to reject the mainstream merely result in a new conformity, a counterintuitive phenomenon in which people who oppose mainstream culture all end up looking the same.
So when news broke that a microbrewery was opening up downtown, I was excited to know that I could go to Ellsworth for conversation and live music, not just for groceries. And even though I don't drink anymore, I can rely on knowing that a brewery for the most part is where you can go to conform with other non-conforming conformists.
John Stein:
You look around and you don't realize that maybe there have been 50 plus year olds in the tasting room like all week. And then you have a music event and you look around and there are people coming down from other towns, you know, 30, 40, 50 minutes away, down from Cherry Field, down east Maine, wherever. And you're like, wow, there's a bunch of 30 year olds here dancing to this music. And it's really cool. And the the older people who are regulars and are sitting at the bar also think it's great. And now tell us I'll say you've done a great thing here by making this space. And we didn't know there were so many young people in this area. Where did they all come from? I don't know. Some of them look like they've come out of the woods, but they they come here because they know they want that connection.
Kyle:
That's John Stein. He's the co owner, sound engineer and brewmaster, of Fogtown, Ellsworth's newest brewery and music venue. And in this saturated state of craft beer, their narrative, strong mission statement and commitment to using local ingredients is what makes them stand out.
Jon Stein:
The Downeast's Salmon Federation came in here the other day because we did a fundraiser from the last year and brought in a bag of smokes smelt. So we just caught these. I smoked em here, make these into a beer. And I was like, he had that's crazy idea. And I'm going to try it for smoked, fished stout. And it's just like kind of what we live for. It's like, will it be fun? Is it good? Does it fit with our mission? Is it like ethical and help the community? And hopefully it's also like cool and weird and people get into it in some way.
Kyle:
Would you say just, you know, to call a spade a spade? You saw a need for an awesome live music venue or space or brewery in Ellsworth and you just came in and filled it.
Ian Heyse:
Spade. Yeah. Spade.
Kyle:
That's Ian Heyse. He's the co-owner. A community activists, a local schoolteacher, and also the talent buyer for the venue.
Ian Heyse:
It's a lot of things as a community space for one. And so we knew that Ellsworth lacked a good place to see live music. There's also no brewery. So that helped. We make everything here in the same venue that we have, the live music, which we should talk about that remind me to ask that question, because I think that the music affects the beer. But we'll get into that later.
Kyle:
Music affects the beer.
Ian Heyse:
What were we just talking about? I feel like we were on a good train of like
Kyle:
this is a cool train. How have you noticed that the music has affected the beer?
Ian Heyse:
I mean, it’s not it’s nothing scientific. It's just an intuition thing. But I think that if we’re continuously playing good music to the yeast, they're going to be more efficient or the actual structure and the taste of the beer is going to be different.
Kyle:
Now for a lesson on Fogtown history.
Ian Heyse:
This building is it's been a lot of things, shipping and receiving building from the river to the railway. And I believe they've moved a lot of lumber and other building supplies out of it because Ellsworth, we're talking okay. So early. Nineteen hundreds of 1920s was still very much a logging and industrial town. A lot of lumber came out of Ellsworth. There's a printing press called Borealis Press that made greeting cards.
They used to build the sets from the grand theatre and then just walk them or track them down the street.
John:
Previous owners have come by one in particular, Matt Strong, who used to own this building when there was like a telephone parts, manufacturing, something going on in here. He's come in, sat at the bar, looked up at the ceiling and, you know, just said, huh? And I was like, what? What he's talking about is, what are you looking at? So we'll see those patches of of new spruce and pine that have patched up the old like a hundred year old hemlock. I put that in. There's a truck came in the loading dock and like busted through the floor on the on the floor above us. And the tires were hanging down through the ceiling and they had to winch it out somehow and then put in new wood to patch the holes up.
So but he was fascinating. You like remember the whole project? And I showed him the brewery and he gave me some really good tips for improving some of our electrical work. He's kind of like an all around electrical genius. So that was that was great.
Kyle:
Once John and Ian connected with the owners of the building, it was game on to redesign and remodel the place.
Ian:
When I saw the space that I knows, the perfect spot for Fogtown that I just now as I know is a basement was filled with crap. Shit. Can I say shit? Not on the radio. Right. Cool. That's fun.
Finding contractors that could work with us because this is especially in this area. This is stuff that people don't do. So asking a plumber to wire up, you know, large dairy tank repurposed through Renai so that it recirculate and heats up overnight and then put like seven valves on it so I can send that water to seven different tanks if I want to. We went through three or four plumbers in this space before we found one that was like, yeah, I've never done that before. And if you'd asked me to just do normal plumbing, I would probably say no, but this is exciting. So I want to take the job. So finding people who wanted to try to create new systems and get creative with their skills for for the stuff that we couldn't do,
Kyle:
Everything about this operation has been communal.
Jon:
Immediately when you come in here, it has that Maine feel, which is like, you know, people's dooryards. So we like collect things and use them and fix it ourselves. And then the collaboration between all of these different people who might give us ingredients, that that's a very Maine thing for me as well. People coming up to the bar, having a couple beers, have a conversation with me or Ian. And before you know, we're talking about like the seaweed history of Maine and how people used to use it. And, oh, by the way, like we work at Maine Cost Sea vegetables and here's two pounds of dried kelp. Can you brew with this? And then us saying, yeah, why not? You're here, we're here. Let's do it.That's a very Maine thing.
Kyle:
And a special shout out to Sarah Baldyga, a local graphic designer who has given this place a wicked cool logo.
The room is quite minimal. There are succulents in every corner. A red octopus painted on one wall, two large handmade tables, a chalkboard with a beer menu, a rug laid out in front of the garage doors. And there's a drum kit on top of a big closet. But it's not where the drummer plays.
Do bands come in here and think that they're playing on top of that riser or that loft space?
Jon:
No band has ever asked. Is that where the drummer plays?
Bands get here and they know that they're playing right down there, but customers always ask. I think some of them to be cheeky, but then some of them are really concerned that the drummer might play up there.
Kyle:
And one of these days we're going to get someone up there just a.
John:
Yeah, we'll get somebody up there
Kyle:
and make a night of it.
[Beach Trash plays]
You’re listening to Beach Trash. A punk band from Jonesport, a town that's practically halfway up the coast to Canada. From here, it's fronted by a lobsterman turned drag queen. And we're heading to their live show at Fogtown next.
Despite it being a brutally cold January night, people have come out to celebrate Fogtown turning one year old.
Locals are dancing on picnic tables and hanging out around heat lamps and fire pits while Beach trash performs through fogged up garage door windows.
The forty nine person capacity venue is maxed out.
So Ian is taking names at the door and adding them to a waiting list.
But that isn't stopping people like Corey Chandler, a local photographer who also owns a boutique marketing company from enjoying the vibe outside.
Corey Chandler:
Downtown Ellsworth like it kind of feels like a real downtown with the food truck and the lights and like a little fire pits and the live music, You know?
Kyle:
I mean, growing up here, we would not expect this.
Corey Chandler:
Never.
Kyle:
We would have to go to Bangor or Portland.
Corey Chandler:
Exactly. Or the dirt roads, backroads.
Kyle:
Beach trash is along mainly because of Sandy River, who stands 6 5, and that includes his black beehive weg. He's wearing a poke, a dot bikini made out of bottle caps and aqua marine blue skirts so tight. I'm afraid if he sneezes, it will rip black fishnets and strappy silver heels. The band's persona is a departure from regional roots music, and they sound like Joy Division meets the doors moody and poetic. At first you do feel like gawking a spectator of sorts. Sure, you've seen drag queens on TV or in the city, but not one from rural Maine who looks like he's been rolling around in a foamy heap of knotted rope. Mountain Dew bottles and discarded bait bags. He's crafted a persona that, like many artists in the region, mirrors our surroundings. Rugged and beautiful. But the talent of the band and strong lyricism brings you back to musicianship as a whole, and you shift from spectator to group camaraderie. Cheering for progression in our rural region to be traditionals with a twist. And before long, you're a groupie. The crowd is going nuts for this band. And when Sandy gets on top of the barn wood tables, which are nailed to the floor because of a fire code. Definitely a drawback of the venue. But I digress. The crowd loses it. Cabin fever has found an outlet after their rowdy set. I head outside to cool down and taken the scene. People are still waiting to get in. But it's less of a line and more of a lounge. I see Sandy smoking a cigarette on the outskirts and talking to a mutual friend.
What does it feel like after a performance like that?
Sandy:
I'm really sweaty. But I feel really good and tired. I need to take all this shit off.
Kyle:
Do you use baby wipes?
Sandy:
No. I use Dawn dishwashing detergent literally. And moisturizer. We got to moisturize. You got to moisturize.
Kyle:
Do you like just feel it like I need to get up on this table or is it like, you know, you're gonna get on the table? It's just a matter of when.
Sandy:
Yeah, it's that it's I I am that bitch and I own it. When I get up on a table, I get up on a table.
[Beach Trash Plays]
Kyle:
He excuses himself to change clothes and take off his makeup. And I roam around the yard and get to talking to Aaron, the basest of beach trash who's standing near heat lamp.
Kyle:
I love your bass
Aaron:
Oh, thanks. Thanks a lot.
Kyle:
It’s like a teardrop shape.
Aaron:
Yeah. I like to I like the semi hollow body of the violin shape. A lot of resignation in it really projects.You know?
Kyle:
You’re having so much fun!
Aaron:
Right? That's what we try and do.
Kyle:
I'm wondering, like how the whole drag thing came up.
Aaron:
I think it's always been something it's played with. But certainly this gives him the avenue to do that on the stage to do it on. Yeah.
Kyle:
And everyone's so welcoming and fired up about it. No one's like weird.
Aaron:
Yeah! Even Downeast! Yeah, surprisingly, the fact that he is also a lobster fisherman, you know, with his father by trade like that just adds a whole new cork to the whole thing. And that's a that's cool. I think it's a great time.
Kyle:
In part four of our Downeast Road trip, Aaron and I will continue our conversation about being a musician. In Machias is a town where the headliners are from.
What do you think of a string band?
Aaron:
I love them, actually. Yeah. You know, it’s Machias taking over Fogtown tonight and actually I currently live in the house where all these guys started playing. So there's you know, I'm around those seasoned walls all the time. And, you know, it's come full circle now. We've made it as far as Ellsworth.
Amy:
Amy plus one! Amy plus one!!
Kyle:
I love that.
Amy:
I’m in!!!!! i’m in!!! Yeah you did it!
Kyle:
I squeeze inside and head towards the back of the venue while switching out batteries. I hear gentle harmony coming from in between two steel barrels. It's the Fremont's String band warming up for their set. I get Gooseys because the vibe is so tender, yet charged with creative energy.
[String band plays]
Kyle:
So do you guys do sound checks normally like this? in a huddle in the back of a brewery?
Band:
The breweries help us. We help them. They send us to other breweries it’s a good it’s a good relationship.
Kyle:
What do you guys think of Fogtown?
Band:
Love Fogtown. It’s quite a place. Yeah, they've been good to good partners to work with. We we I think we've got a list of like our top places to play. And I think fighting for like the top place on our list is Fogtown and Lubec Brewing Company. Both of them are wonderful to play at. Lots of great crowds, lots of local local color. It's just a lot of fun. We really enjoy them. Both of them feel like home.
Kyle:
The four piece band Matt while going to college at the University of Maine at Machias a smaller town known for its grit and charm.
Landen:
I grew up in southern Maine and I moved to Down East's man. I was so enamored with the culture and the people and the lifestyle and the places.
Kyle:
That's Landen Guptill. He's the guitarist and songwriter.
Landen:
It's like the best place on that I know of to fill up my creative time just because it's the real estate place that I know.
Kyle:
I can sense their anticipation and notice their eyes darting around looking for the go ahead from Stein that it's their turn to play. Three of the guys start making their way to the front of the house. But I stay back with Ryan French, the upright bassist. I want to see how he's going to maneuver this massive instrument.
Kyle:
What is this badboy called?
Ryan:
It's Engelhardt from Germany. And I got it when I was like 14 years old and has managed to live that long.
Kyle:
So has it molded into you?
Ryan:
Yeah, I would say so. It's hard playing other I've played other bases over the years. And this is this is the one that feels like mine. But the neck is broken off three times, actually. And most people would have quit after the first break. And I just keep hammering it back together and gluing it.
Kyle:
Oh, this is going to be so fun watching you try and get through the crowd with this.
Ryan:
I just I just keep walking and wait for people to get out of my way. They usually work.
Kyle:
So we're walking behind him. He has his big upright bass and his parting.
The band is a Muck Boot or L.L.Bean duck boot stomping good time, a legit crowd pleaser and a perfect way to close out fog towns. Birthday bash.
Since their inception, Ian and John have brought in some eclectic bands that are on the Americana folk roots, rock and reggae side of the spectrum, almost off the bat that we wanted to focus on original music.
Jon:
It's not really about bringing people in and getting music that they want to dance to and and making us money. It's about supporting the arts.
Kyle:
At any venue the role as a talent buyer or program director is a way to give identity to a place where people can expect a certain type of experience based on patterns of previous events. According to David Byrne in his book How Music Works, this is how a scene can develop where people come to the venue just to hang out. Even if you don't know who's playing and I think this is what's happening at Fogtown, where people are driving out of their way for a night because they can expect a good time based on its reputation. And when you look at the bigger picture between heart of Ellsworth and Fog towns intentional efforts, Ellsworth is shifting
Ian
Maine in general is, I think, a really exciting place. And live music in Ellsworth. It's I'm hoping it's on its way.
JON
We've always been focused on taking care of the musicians that come in and having them be sort of the main event of that night. They're not just background noise. They're they're an interesting piece of art to appreciate while you're here.
Kyle:
What do you love most about your job and role and position in the community?
IAN:
I love a lot of things about it, but I think what I love most is that it's always it's always different.
Kyle:
And that's what I like about Ellsworth. It's different. And because of that, outliers are stopping here, not just driving through.
Walking into a music venue, whether it's a concert hall or an old department store or a brewery, has always been an emotional experience, one that brings out the best in me and like being home. It's something that can't be described, just felt.
Alan Wittenberg:
Oh yeah. It just grabs you by everything you got. I mean, when it happens and you don't want to be anywhere else and you feel more integrated, you feel more you and you feel more connected. And I think we live for moments like that, I think from the time we're born to the time we die, we all want to be heard and understood and music really is a gift. You know, in the end, it's just a gift in our life experience.
Announcer:
Other great places in town for live music include Chummies for open mic and rock and roll, Finn’s for dinner and acoustic songs and New to town Tan Turtle grab dinner at Serendib for authentic Sri Lankan food or Provender for a taste of what you might get in a big city. As for places to stay. Stalwarts like Ramada Inn, Hampton Inn are in town and a handful of B&Bs and Airbnbs. But we see a great opportunity for a boutique hotel to open up downtown just saying
On Downeast part two we head down to Mount Desert Island and rock out on Rodick Street in Bar Harbor a.k.a. Music Row.
The only place we get to get some good real rock and roll
Type in Concertcast.live to build your own music centric itinerary and find us on Spotify to listen to our Maine music playlist. This has been a Good To Go studios production created by Kyle Lamont. Special thanks to Mark Tekushan in our resident mastermind, Robert Ouyang Rusli for his songs during Pipe Dreams and Young Love. Max Hauptman, our story editor, Flexit Cafe, Heart of Ellsworth, Wallace Events Fogtown Brewing Company Beach Trash Fremont String Band and to Pepper Little, Abbey Rock Jessiman, Corey Chandler, Amy Charley, Kaili Rose, Cara Romano, Jesse Couto. And thank you for listening.