6.2.10 - Sharks Come Cruisin’ Nick A Nees this Saturday
9.30.09 - SCC ships back to New Bedford Friday for a show w/ the O'Toole's at Kirby's Irish Pub SCC sails back to New Bedford this Friday (10/2) for a show with The O’Toole’s at Kirby’s Irish Pub. For anyone who’s never been to a New Bedford show with the O’Toole’s, it’s a guaranteed good time. Come out and sing some songs with us. Also, we’ve posted photos from our strolls ashore in Portsmouth NH and the New Bedford Working Waterfront Festival. Check them out here. 9.24.09 - SCC Working Waterfront Festival in New Bedford MA this Saturday Crew, This Saturday we sail east to the Working Waterfront Festival in the great whaling city of New Bedford, MA. This is a great festival, we played last year and it was tons of fun. To check out all the festival happenings, go to: http://www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org We’ll be playing two sets at 1 PM and 4PM. Then we stay ashore and play some shanties at the Bullpen (1825 Acushnet Ave, New Bedford, MA) w/ the Wrong Reason and the Blood Moons. Come out and sing some songs. 9.18.09 - SCC Sails to Portsmouth, NH Sat September 19th, Two new show added Crew, We sail north to Prescott Park in Portsmouth NH to play some shanties on Saturday September 19th. The festival is all day, we go on 3-4. Come out, eat some lobster and sing some songs with us. Also, we added 2 more ports o’ call to our busy fall. We’re playing with our good friends the O’Tooles on October 2 at Kirby’s in New Bedford, then we’ll stop in Worcester on October 16th to play at the Hotel Vernon ship room with our new friend James Keyes and The Boston and Maine String Band. Here’s how the fall is looking: 9.12.09 - Hope Street Fall Festival SUNDAY SEPT 13th 1PM, pulling into port all over New England this fall Crew, We’re singing songs of the sea on September 13th outside 782 Hope St. as part of the Hope Street Fall Festival. This will be a very quiet SCC show. Come hang out and sing a song with us. In other news, we’ve been invited back to Gainesville, FL to play Fest 8. It’s an amazing line-up this year, we are really excited to be part of Fest again this year. 8.21.09 - Sharks Come Cruisin Galway Bay Friday August 28th, Summer Update Crew, A few updates on what's been going on this month The votes were counted and we recorded Mingulay Boat Song, High Barbaree, the Diamond and John Kanaka. The recording sounds great! We will have 2 tracks available for download soon. The other two songs will hopefully appear on a split 7 inch in early 2010. More details to follow. Photos of our studio voyage have been posted on the site, check them out here. We sail ashore on August 28 to Galway Bay in Pawtucket with a few new songs and a few old songs. Three sets, music gets started at 9 and the show is free. Come out and sing along. 7.27.09 - SOS from SCC, buy a shirt, get a FREE pint glass and HELP SCC Crew, SCC sails into the studio this week and we could really use your help. Studio time costs money and we wrapped much of ours up in some handsome brandy new baseball t’s. So, here’s our sales pitch (read in your best NPR fundraiser voice) Buy a shirt, look great and support your local shanty band. As an added bonus, first 10 orders receive a FREE SCC pint glass. If you were planning on buying a shirt, doing it now would really help us out. You can buy one right here on the SCC website; paypal or credit cards accepted. Thanks and we hope to be shipping you a shirt (and a pint glass) soon. SCC 7.14.09 - Two Jerks THIS SATURDAY|| tell us what songs to record Crew, Thank you for showing up and singing along last weekend. Check out video and photo documentation of the debochary. Special thanks to Narragansett beer for inviting us to play the Sound Session parade and for the give aways at the Extravagansett 2 electric BBQ. Also a big THANK YOU to brother Bill for feeding us at the Extravagansett, as well as all the bands that played and the Box for putting up with grills and horseshoes on the sidewalk. THIS SATURDAY we sail to the uncharted waters of EP to play at Two Jerks Pub and Grill. This will be our last port o call for a month or so, so come out and sing along. 3 sets, music starts around 9. One last thing, we’re going into the studio at the end of July to record 4 songs. We want you to decide which songs to do. Go to the Facebook fan page and take the poll. See you accross the river Saturday. SCC 6.10.09 - Sharks Come Cruisin Worcester this Friday, Pawtucket 6/19, Old Port Pix Posted Crew, SCC sails up route 146 to Worcester this Friday to play at the Hotel Vernon's Ship Room. Never have we played a venue has such an appropriate name. This is our maiden voyage to Worcester so take the drive and spread the word to friends and family in the area to come out and sing along. We share the Ship Room with James Keyes and the Slik Family Orchestra. Doors at 9, it’s a free show. On Friday 6/19 we are homeward bound to Galway Bay in Pawtucket. This is a different port for SCC and our first time in Pawtucket, guaranteed to be a good time. Finally, we’ve posted a few pictures from this weekend at the Old Port Festival in Portland. Click here to see what happens when a two story pint of Guinness deflates. 6.3.09 - Sharks Come Cruisin Portland ME Old Port Festival w/ the PubCrawlers We are setting a course for the Old Port Festival in Portland ME this Sunday, June 7th. Well be sharing the stage with our friends The Pubcrawlers and the Claddagh Mhor Pipe and Drum Band. We start at 12:30, so set the alarm and get there early. 3.2.09 - Good Times and a good deed - 85 lbs of canned goods A big “THANK YOU” to everyone that showed up at The Box on Saturday, especially those of you who donated to the food drive. We collected 85 pounds of food for the RI Community Food Bank, and that’s awesome. Our next port o’ call will be on St. Pat’s at The Box. We’ll be joined by Three Sheets featuring Jon Cannon on fiddle. Music will start at 9PM, get there early. 2.26.09 - Join us this Saturday, February 28th, for A New England Celtic Punk Extrava-Gansett at The Box Sharks Come Cruisin’ will be pulling into port with our good friends the O’Toole’s from the Great Whaling City of New Bedford, MA and the Pubcrawlers, an 8 peice Celtic Punk band from Portland ME. Narragansett beer is providing us schwag to give away AND we will be holding a food drive for the RI Community Food Bank at the door. The $7 cover will be discounted to $5 if you bring a canned good. Remember to bring your cans. Also, new for 2009, designated drivers wiill be refunded their cover at SCC shows. If you are the designated driver for the evening, we applaud you for driving your tipsy friends home. At any show we play, see the person selling our merchandise during or after our set and, after quick sobriety test, we will fully refund your cover. 02.11.09 - Thanks Boston || SCC Video || more shows announced We want to thank everyone who made it out to the Midway Café Show. It was everything we expected from our first stroll ashore in Boston. We’ve included footage from the show in our first ever video for Bully in the Alley. You can watch on the "sights" page Take a look around at all the hard work James has put into the site. In addition to an overall facelift, we’ve added a “Shanties” page full of info on shanties and the chorus of many of the songs we perform. If you have any suggestions for other stuff to add to www.sharkscomecruisin.com, send them along to mark@sharkscomecruising.com, and we’ll see what we can do. Finally, our next show will be A New England Celtic Punk Extrava-Gansett (we can thank Jim for the catchy name). This is going to be a grand time with Sharks Come Cruisin, the Pubcrawlers (Celtic Punk’s from Portland ME with lots of members and interesting instruments) and our friends the O’Toole’s from the Great Whaling City of New Bedford. There will be Narragansett Givaways and a food drive for the RI Community Food Bank. It all takes place on Saturday February 28th at THE BOX. Mark your calendars and tell a friend. 01.25.09 - SCC Sails to Boston Saturday January 31st Saturday January 31st, Sharks Come Cruisin’ sails into the unfamiliar waters of Jamaica Plain MA. This will be SCC’s first trip up to Boston, we hope some crew members can join us. Show Starts at 9 PM and we’re playing with our friends The Wrong Reasons, The Resurrectionists and Samual James. Hope to see you there, SCC 01.09.09 - Sharks Come Cruisin’ New Bedford Friday January 16th SCC sails to New Bedford on Friday January 16th to join the O’Toole’s for a great show at Kirby’s Irish Pub. Hope to see you all there. 12.31.08 - Happy New Year A big THANK YOU to everyone who made it out to the winter sing-a-long spectacular at The Box. The snowy weather was no problem for you seasoned New England sailors. We’re very happy to say we raised $50 for the Special Olympics and we hope to have more raffles for good causes in 2009. We would also like to take a minute and thank everyone who helped to make 2008 a great year for Sharks Come Cruisin’. We released our first studio record, Four Years Before the Mast, on 75 or less records, and it has received some great reviews. We had the chance to pull into new ports and make some new friends, like the O’Toole’s, who have shown us a good time strolling ashore in New Bedford. Southeastern MA has become a favorite port o’ call for SCC and we look forward to playing there more in 2009. The Providence Roller Derby’s Sea Shanty Shakedown was another highlight, the crew did an amazing job shouting shanties for all of downtown Providence to hear. We also had a great time playing the Salem Maritime festival and the New Bedford Working Waterfront festival, despite getting rained on at both. We had fun setting sail far from our home port to share songs of the sea with new crew members in Virginia, North Carolina and especially The Fest in Gainesville, Florida. Finally, rounding out the year with all of you at Jake’s and The Box has been great. We look forward to a fun 2009 and wish you and yours a happy new year. 12.16.08 - Come pay homage to the patron saint of mariners by singing some song of the sea this Saturday at THE BOX We can all thank James for discovering this one..... Deeds and miracles attributed to Saint Nicholas - Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors and is often called upon by mariners who are in danger of drowning or being shipwrecked. In Germany survivors of shipwrecks traditionally brought patches of sailcloth to Saint Nicholas as votive offerings. 11.16.08 - SCC Thursday, Jakes Photos Posted Our good friends The O’Toole’s have invited us to play this Thursday at Hibernia in their home port of New Bedford. This will be a skeleton crew show as crewmember James has been shanghaied on a barn burning tour. We start at 9:30, come out to the great whaling city and sing along. Photos from our most recent stroll ashore at Jake’s have been posted. Check them out at www.sharkscomecruisin.com. While you're there check out even more photos from the fest including pix of Josh Small, drag the river, Jawsome and many more. See you Thursday. SCC 11.2.08 - Update from Gainesville We’ve safely navigated to Gainesville, pulling into port in Charlottesville VA and Wilmington NC along the way. The show have been tons of fun, the south has embraced the notion of singing along to songs of the sea. Our show at the Fest was amazing. We played with a bunch of great bands and when it came time to sing along, the crew gave it their all. At one point both easels were knocked over and the cue cards were folded into giant paper airplanes. They are very crafty here in Gainesville. We’re posted a bunch of photos to the site. Go check them out. We’re looking forward to returning home to Jakes on Saturday November 8th with the Resurrectionists and For What it’s Worth. 10.16.08 - SCC Sails South, Returns to Jake's November 8th Sharks Come Cruisin’ is setting sail to the uncharted waters of the southeastern U.S. In late October, early November SCC pulls into the ports of Charlottesville VA, Wilmington NC, Gainesville FL and Chapel Hill NC. Please do us a favor and spread the word to your friends and relations in these parts to come out and sing some songs of the sea with us. The highlight of the trip will be playing the Fest 7. The Fest is a yearly event hosted by the good folks at No Idea records and draws great bands and people from lands near and far. Over 270 bands will take over Gainesville FL on Halloween weekend and we’re stoked to be one of them and to have the opportunity to show the Fest crew what it’s like to sing along to songs of the sea. For more info, check out www.thefestfl.com. Our return voyage puts us back in the port of Providence for a long overdue stroll ashore at home. We’re happy announce will be playing on Saturday November 8th at the recently re-opened Jake’s Bar and Grille (Booze, Rock & Roll). Joining us will be The Resurrectionists from Boston and Providence punks For What It’s Worth. Mark the calendar and come out to sing along. Fair winds and calm seas SCC 10.08.08 - SCC is shipping out and sailing south, we're fest bound. More details soon..... 9.25.08 - SCC will weather the storm this Saturday at the New Bedford working waterfront festival for two sets at noon and 4PM. The festival website states, "most activities are held under tents, come join the fun!" Let’s hope the Sharks Come Cruisin’ sets falls under “most activities”. If you’re tough, well see you Saturday. SCC 9.03.08 - SCC Sets Course for September Our course for September is set and we’ll be pulling into the ports of New Bedford and Providence. First stop will be Kirby’s Pub in New Bedford on Saturday September 13th with our friends the O’Tooles. SCC plays two sets at 5 and 10PM. For more info on the other bands playing, visit the port o’ call page on www.sharkscomecruisin.com. At the end of the month (September 27th) SCC will be performing at the New Bedford Working Waterfront Festival, a celebration of Commercial Fishing, America's Oldest Industry. We’re very excited to be a part of the festival and we’ll be looking for a crew to sing along. To check out the goings on at the festival, visit www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org. Finally, we’re pleased to announce SCC has been invited to play “the fest 7” in Gainesville FL on Halloween night. The Fest is a yearly event hosted by the folks at No Idea records that draws great bands and people from lands near and far. This year’s line up includes the bouncing soul, less than jake, leatherface, strike anywhere, drag the river and about 250 other bands. We’re ecstatic to be invited to play and to have the opportunity to show the Fest crew what it’s like to sing along to songs of the sea. For more info, check out www.thefestfl.com. That’s all for now. Hope to see you at the September shows. Fair winds and calm seas, SCC 7.27.08 - Thanks so much for making it out Friday, especially to those who made it to both shows. We couldn't ask for better crew. 7.21.08 - SCC goes to camp, 2 shows this Friday and check out this review…… Shipmates, First, I want to thank everyone who set sail to New Bedford last week to join us at Kirby’s Pub. We had a great time and really appreciate you making it out. We have quite a few updates here, so here goes: SCC GOES TO CAMP – Last week we set sail to Camp Massasoit in Johston RI to play a fundraiser for the World Service Fund, an organization that helps out people in 93 different countries. The fundraiser also benefitted the camp Massasoit Financial Assistance Campaign, which helps kids go to camp. If you want to see us with some of the kids, as well as loading our gear in a wheel barrel, go to the photo page on www.sharkscomecruisin.com. ONE NIGHT, TWO PORTS – This Friday SCC plays twice, first at Jerky’s opening for EVERBODY OUT! (ex-Dropkick Murphy’s). Show starts at 9PM and we’re playing first. Later that night I’ll be playing solo at the penalty box with brown bird, barn burning and ben pilgrim. Lastly, we got a nice review in The Noise (Boston music magazine). Among other nice words, it was said that “a million bands coulda fucked this up royally, but these guys sound like they're having more goddamned FUN than almost anyone I've heard this century.” For the entire review, click here. (bottom of the page, second to last review) That’s all for now, hope to see you sometime Friday night. SCC 7.14.08 - Sharks Come Cruisin New Bedford Friday at Kirby's Pub We set sail to the great whaling city of New Bedford this Friday night for another stroll ashore with the O’Tooles. You can find us at KIRBY'S IRISH PUB (Corner of Kempton & Reed Streets, New Bedford, MA, formerly the Irish Immigrant - and Completely Renovated) Take a trip over the Braga bridge and sing some shanties with us. Check out the our port o call page for other July Shows 7.1.08 - Sharks Come Cruisin' Thursday and Sunday Sharks Come Cruisin’ will be playing Thursday July 3rd at Jerky’s with The Loved Ones (Fat Wreck Chords), Lemuria and Senior Discount. Show starts at 8 and it’s all ages. We’ll also be pulling into the port of the Penalty Box Sunday July 6th with Your Black Star (KY) and Birds and Batteries (CA). This will be an early show being a Sunday and all. Music starts 8PM. 6.9.08 - Sharks Come Cruisin mending nets over in Fairhaven Saturday Night SCC is pleased to announce we’re shipping out to the shores of Southeastern Massachusetts this Saturday, June 14th, to play at Bridge Street Station (122 Main St. Fairhaven MA) with our friends the O’Tooles. We’ll go on around 10PM and would love to see the crew make it out to sing along. 5.23.08 - Sharks Come Cruisin May 30th at Roller Derby, HELP MAKE IT EPIC Take the sing along to the next level, perform with us at the Derby! At last year’s roller derby, a devil of a gale caused terrible cue card malfunction resulting in easels and poster board all over the derby track. Despite this misfortune, the derby girls have asked us back this Friday, May 30th, doors open at 7PM. This year we want to be prepared, I’m proposing we bring a built in crew to sing along with us. Here’s the deal, we need your help to make this performance one of EPIC proportions, as EPIC as SCC can be at a roller derby bout in the heart of the greatest city on the planet. We are inviting anyone who is up for it to join in the show. Think what U2 did with the gospel choir singing “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” in the film Rattle and Hum and you’ll start to get the picture (see below). You guys are part of the band and we want you in the proper place, with us shouting along. We will give away free ticket to the bout for the first 10 crew members. Let me know, via email, by Wednesday (5/28) if you’re interested and we’ll work out the details. 5.13.08 - Sharks Come Cruisin’ Saturday at Jake’s Bar and Grille We’ll be pulling into Port at Jake’s this Saturday with our good friends Barn Burning. Stop by and sing along. 4.29.08 - Vote SCC Motif Music Awards || Interviewed by www.theplaylist.net SCC has been nominated in the best live act and best album categories for this years Motif music awards. Do us a favor click this link and cast a vote. You'll find us in the "Alt-Rock" section: http://www.vmassociates.com/motifmusicawards08.htm Also, the playlist.net has posted an interview conducted at the record release show. If you’ve ever wondered what record I would recommend everyone have in their collection, go here to read all about it: http://theplaylist.net/interviews/sharkscomecruisin.htm Finally, our next show will be a Providence Roller Derby bout on Friday May 30th . Downtown Providence, roller derby, beer and sea shanties. It’s a sailors dream. Last year was amazing, you don’t want to miss it. 4.07.08 - Sharks Come Cruisin' this Saturday at Patrick's Pub We return to Patrick’s this Saturday (4/12) for a night of sea song sing-alongs. We will be joined by some new crew members, the O’Tooles from the great whaling city of New Bedford. Music starts around 9:00. See you there. 3.23.08 - St Pat’s Photo’s Posted / April 12th @ Patrick’s Pub Thanks for getting out for St. Pat’s. Photos have been posted. Our next show will be Saturday April 12th at Patrick’s. We’re playing with the O’Tooles from New Bedford. Mark your calendars, it’s going to be a great time. 3.16.08 - Cast a vote for SCC / St. Pat's at the Penalty Box We’ve been nominated for best “category-defying act” in the Providence Phoenix best music poll. Click on the below link and cast a vote for SCC. http://thephoenix.com/bmp/Providence 3.12.08 - Celebrate St. Pat's w/ Sharks Come Cruisin' and the Penalty Box SCC docks at the port of the Penalty Box on Monday March 17th to celebrate St. Patrick’s day. We’re gonna make it an early night so everyone can go to work Tuesday well rested and hung over. We’re playing with Rum Row and music starts around 8PM. Check out the first review of Four Years Before the Mast on the press page and pick up a copy while you're there. See you at the show, SCC 3.2.08 - Thanks for great CD Release, Photos Posted, St Pat’s @ the Penalty Box If spilt beer is any measure of a good time, we had a great one at Jakes on Saturday. Photos of our last stroll ashore have been posted at www.sharkscomecruisin.com Four Years Before the Mast is now available for purchase on the site. You can download or order a CD. We have also made the SCC pint glasses available for purchase thru the site. For anyone who got a pint glass, keep them out of the dishwasher. Sailors shouldn’t concern themselves with clean glassware, plus we received reports that the printing fades if not washed by hand. Our next port o’ call will be the Penalty Box on St. Pat’s, March 17th. This will be an early show being it falls on a Monday this year. More details to follow. 2.26.08 - Sharks Come Cruisin RECORD RELEASE Saturday 3/1 @ Jakes Please join us this Saturday, March 1st at Jakes and celebrate the release of our new EP “Four Years before the Mast”. First 50 crewmembers thru the door will receive a complimentary SCC/Four Years pint glass (pictured below). These quality glasses were specially designed for enjoying the Famous Narragansett, however, they are guaranteed to add a touch of class to whatever you find yourself drinking. If that’s not enough excitement, we will also be navigating this performance with a full crew, including a rare appearance from accordion Paul. The 6 of us packed on the Jakes stage will be a sight you won’t want to miss. We’ll be sharing the evening with local favorites RUM ROW and BEN PILGRIM. If you haven’t seen one or both get there early, you won’t be disappointed. Show starts at 10 PM. We’ll have plenty of CD’s on hand so separate out 6 bucks so you don’t spend it on beer and go home with a copy. We’re looking forward to it. SCC 2.7.08 - Four Years Before the Mast songs posted || Penalty Box Feb 16th We are pleased to report our new EP, Four Years Before the Mast, will be available March 1st . We have posted a couple new songs to www.sharkscomecruisin.com. Go check them out! Also, we will be playing the Penalty Box on Saturday February 16th with Your Black Star from Kentucky. Come out and sing along. 1.27.08 - Jake's Photos Posted Thanks for another great sing-along at Jake's. Go to the photo page to see me wearing a very warm winter hat. Also, be on the look out for new songs from the EP, we'll be posting soon. 1.8.08 - Happy New Year || Sharks Come Cruisin' Jakes Saturday January 19th Here’s quick note to thank everyone who came aboard in 2007, we had a great year of shows thanks to all of you. A special thanks to the crewmembers who made it out to the December 28th Patrick’s show, we were down a few players, but you made up for it with all the beautiful hollering. We’re looking forward to 2008. We’ll have a new EP the first part of the year and a few shows leading up to the release. Our next port o’ call will be at Jake’s on Saturday January 19th with our good friends Barn Burning and their good friends Fancy Trash. Come out and brings some friends to sing along. We’ve posted some new photos of the crew singing along in the studio, check them out 12.01.07 - Here's a quick update on what we're up to: First, SCC sails to Liberty & Union Recording Company in the upcoming weeks to record a handful of shanties. We hope to be releasing a new EP in early 08, we’ll keep you posted as details become available. Second, SCC Shop is liquidating inventory just in time for the gift giving season. All shirts are $8 (while they last) and the Live at Jakes CD can be yours for $5. Order a shirt and CD for just $10. With every order we’ll send you more stickers than you’ll know what to do with. Go to the SCC Shop to find the perfect gift for the SCC fan on your list. Finally, we're booked at Patrick’s on Friday December 28th. It will be a very special night of “acoustic” Sharks Come Cruisin’, complete with guitar, bass, and banjo. It will be a perfect night for the crew to be as loud as the insturments. Bring a friend, drink some cheer and sing along to songs of sinking. Enjoy the holidays and see you on December 28th. 10.28.07 - SCC Friday November 2nd - Patrick's Pub Smith St Providence || Friggin in the Riggin' Photos Posted Two set's of shanties this Friday, show starts 10 PM 10.19.07 - SCC Sails to Jerky's Bar Thursday 10/25 || Patrick's Pub show added 11/2 A skeleton crew of SCC members will be performing at the RI Pirate Players "Friggin’ in the Riggin’” pirate party on Thursday October 25th. For those who don't know, SCC started with me, my acoustic guitar and a hearty crew singing along. Thursday night we'll be returning to that format to entertain the pirates. The party is open to the public, hope to see you there. Also, we've added a Patrick's Pub show on Friday 11/2. Two Set's of Shanties and sing-alongs. Mark your calendars and spread the word to the rest of the crew! 10.2.07 - Thanks for making Saturday a good night ashore at the Penalty Box. I’ve posted a few photos from the evening. Sailing to deep water with no shows in sight. 9.19.07 - SCC wants to say thank you to all the pirates who made it out to the Patrick’s show. We had a great time and hope to make Patrick’s Pub a frequent port o’ call. We were lucky enough to have Richard McCaffrey there and he took some great shots of the crew. Check out the photos page. If you haven’t seen Richard’s other work, go to www.richardmccaffrey.com, it’s amazing stuff. SCC will be anchoring in the familiar port of The Penalty Box on Saturday September 29th . We will be playing two sets of shanties starting around 10 PM. For those who missed the last show, we’ve shanghaied a couple new crew members and with any luck you’ll be hearing some fiddle and banjo accompaniment. See you at the show – SCC We’re looking forward to it. |
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3.24.10 - The difference a week can make…..
As a follow-up to the last blog post, we would like to express our sincere thanks the House of Blues in Boston, the Dropkick Murphys and the Swingin’ Utters for the amazing treatment we received on 3/14. It was as though everyone involved read the previous post and made a point make good on the suggestions we made to bands and club owners. The greatest part of the night they did NOT read it, it is just what they do. The HOB in Boston runs their venue with a mutual respect for bands and music fans. It was a refreshing change.
From the moment SCC stepped foot in the club, the DKM Crew and HOB staff went out of their way to make us feel comfortable. Ken from the Dropkicks made a point to introduce himself to SCC and to make sure we knew who to go to with questions. The Swingin’ Utters were the easiest guys to share a room with backstage and, again, the staff was just out of this world. I also need to mention that we had a great week of shows at the Penatly Box and Galway Bay. Ray and Sean are great to deal with, thanks guys I like to find the positive side in things and I think I, personally, would not have been able to fully appreciate the night with the Dropkicks without the unfortunate circumstances of the previous weekend. Gearing up for recording, checking the logbook to see who sings crew……… Talk soon, Mark & SCC 3.7.10 - What happened to Sharks Come Cruisin at McCaffrey's pub on March 6th, 2010The Bright Side March 6th, 2010, SCC got to hang out with two new friends, Roy and T, in a hotel room in West Springfield, MA, where we sang songs and had great, positive conversations about sailing and teaching and being passionate about what you do. It’s great to meet people in this world that believe in what they do and work hard to make it a reality. The Facts McCaffrey’s Public House contacted SCC in the fall of 2009 about booking the band for dates in 2010. At that time, we had played at the pub twice before (once with the Pubcrawlers and once on our own). McCaffrey’s was familiar with SCC’s sound, liked what they heard, and Robbie booked us for the entire weekend of March 5th and 6th as well as March 20th. We verbally agreed on a price for the weekend, then SCC booked hotel rooms because Springfield is an hour and a half from Providence and to drive back and forth when we were playing consecutive nights just didn’t make sense. I mailed fliers to McCaffrey’s in advance for the staff to hang up to promote the shows. Those flyers were not posted. SCC played three sets of music on Friday March 5th. The crowd seemed thin , but we had a couple folks that specifically came to the bar to see us. We played a solid show and even caught some patrons dancing in the back of the bar during the final set. I had a conversation with at least one local at the bar that was enjoying what he was hearing. We got paid and left the bar, without any indication that the McCaffrey’s staff or patrons were unhappy with the evening. SCC killed time on Saturday hanging out with our friend Jim in Northampton. We ate some food and went record shopping, then returned to the hotel to rest up before the show. When E.Shimps and I returned to McCaffrey’s at 8:30 PM on Saturday night to set up, one of the staff approached us and asked who was in charge of the band. She proceeded to tell me that a few of the patrons the night before had complained about the music, but that there were some people at the bar tonight, who had traveled to see the band. She asked if we would be OK with cutting the night short, if the crowd wasn’t “feeling it”. I said I was OK with cutting the night short, it had already been two long days for the band. Then she added that we would only be paid half of what was originally agreed on. I said I was not OK with that. I explained that we had traveled a long way and paid for a hotel for both nights and we would not take a cut in the agreed price. She said she would call Robbie to get his thoughts. The waitress returned with Robbie’s business partner, who explained that the prior night’s crowd wasn’t “feeling it” and that they would not pay us for a full night. He gave us the choice to either play at half the previously agreed price or leave with nothing. Since we had not requested this show, but had been invited by Robbie to play for two nights at an agreed upon fee, SCC chose to leave with nothing. We packed up the gear, found our out-of-town fans, and invited them to come back to our hotel room so we could play them some songs. We spent the rest of the evening with Roy and T from the NYC Harbor School, sharing songs, stories and drinks. My Commentary We do what we do because we love music and we love sharing our music with others. It works well because we have an amazing crew to share it with. We believe in our music enough that we make careful choices about which shows we agree to play. Although we’re not in this for the money, we do have to make decisions about which shows are worth the time and expense to the band. We make these decisions based on the information we are given in advance. Expenses for the Springfield weekend included gas, food, and hotel rooms, not to mention time. However, Robbie was eager to book us for two nights and because we’re in the process of recording a new record, the opportunity to spread our music and make some cash was a good decision. I have been playing in bands for a long time (going on 20 years). I could write a book about how fucked-up the economics of playing independent music, and maybe someday I will, but until then, here are some general suggestions for bands and club owners: Respect each other. If either party is going to make a decision that will affect the other, communicate that as early as possible so everyone has chance to do what’s best for them. Be honest. If you’re going to run your live music business like an episode of American Idol, let the band know that ahead of time. They will probably pass on the opportunity to play. If the fee is contingent on anything other than showing up and performing your music for the specified period of time, let the band know in advance. Promote shows. This includes you club owners! Putting ads in local papers goes a long way. Promoting through social networking is free. Putting up fliers that the band has provided should be the bare minimum to let your patrons know who you’ve hired to entertain them. If you’ve hired a band to play live music, turn off the televisions. It’s distracting both for the band and their fans. It should go without saying that you should also turn off the house music. If you want to be a live music venue, consider buying a PA. Understand that a PA is a significant investment for a band and requires additional space for storage, transport, and time for set-up. If you’re a band supplying the PA, recognize the value of that to the bar and make sure you are compensated accordingly. A bar doing live music without a house sound system is no different than a VFW hall or friends basement except that the bar is making money off the band and their friends’ drinking. I think we got the word out early enough that no one showed up to McCaffrey’s expecting to see us, but if you did go to McCaffrey’s Saturday night, please get in touch and we’ll make it up to you with a T-Shirt or some pint glasses. If you live in Springfield and would still like to see us, get in touch, maybe we can play in your living room or basement and avoid the clubs all together. We have our own PA can easily play as loud or as quiet as you like. Now I’ll get off my soapbox. We have a really exciting couple of weeks coming up, can’t wait to see you all soon. Mark and SCC 
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