Poppa Chubby to open Rhythm Room Afternoon Concerts in Plymouth, MA
John Hall has been busy since March putting together his Rhythm Room Afternoon Concert Series. Scheduled to begin this Sunday, June13th, featuring Poppa Chubby with Jeffery Allen Shaw and Company, the series offers many of the finest local and national blues act. Hall, a long time booking agent, talent buyer, and festival organizers in the New England blues scene, had a simple but personal reason for his efforts.
“There’s a multitude of reason but to bring entertainment back to the south shore,” Hall said. “I had thought around March that the vaccine was going to be working and by June venues would start opening up again, but it would still take a while for things to get back on track. The musicians and sound people and even the venues are desperately trying to reopen and recoup from the losses that they’ve incurred for the last 18 months.”
Hall reports that the venue hosting his outdoor concerts were negatively impacted by the pandemic. It was not difficult to get the John Alden Sports Center in Plymouth, Massachusetts interested in hosting this weekly series which will run until September. John Alden Sports Center was losing 8,000 per month
Jim Countryman, Erin Harpe; Erin Harpe Country Blues Duo will be performing in this series
“They’re an event venue and there’s been no events,” Hall explained. “Everyone in this whole industry has been hurt. I know this is a small effort, all in all, but it’s an effort to have people feel safe in an outdoor setting because there are still Covid concerns. This venue can hold about 1,200 people. It’s a huge area. We’re only going to use 25% of that and, ideally, we’ll have about 350 people there for a show.”
The John Alden Sports Center features an all natural setting, surrounded by trees, on conservation land.
“The place itself is clean and spacious and comfortable. It has a bar outside,” Hall said. “There’s a shade pavilion there that can hold over 200 people. We’re going to allow shade shelters in the back area where the volleyball court and the horseshow area is. If people want to have shade shelters, they can put them back there. There are picnic tables in the shade pavilion “
John Alden Sports Center has two restrooms that will be used as ladies rooms. Porta Potties will used as men’s room. This series will not be like the “drive in” concert series we’ve been seeing in Derry, New Hampshire or Beverly, Massachusetts.
“You don’t have to sit in your car,” Hall said. “You’re paying for a parking spot in a parking lot. You leave your car, take your chairs, and some personal items like suntan lotion. There’s a bar there, a cash bar. There’s a barbeque. There’s going to be some food trucks there and ice cream.”
Hall compares going to his Sunday concerts to going to the Bull Run in Shirley, Massachusetts or Chan’s Egg Roll And Jazz in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The only difference is that The John Alden Sports Center is outdoors. “You buy the tickets and when you come in, there’s food and beverage available for purchase,” Hall said.
Hall has been receiving negative push back for the series’ price tag, a $100.00 per car admission fee. Parking spaces are limited because the bands need parking, the staff needs parking. Hall needs to have staffers checking the cars in and handing out wrists band to drivers and passengers whose vehicles have already paid the 100.00 admission for each car.
“People are having a hard time understanding the concept,” Hall said. “I’ve had comments where people said to me ‘It’s going to cost $50 each for me and my girlfriend and I?’” Hall explained that he only has 55 parking spaces. So, he has to charge the 100 bucks to be able to cover costs for this event..
“The only way to do it and make it affordable and hope people can do a little planning,” Hall said. “The Park & Ride parking lot on Route 3, Exit 13 is nine minutes away from the venue. So, if people can meet there, leave their car there. It’s a free public parking lot. So, if you come in four, five, six people in a car, it ranges from $25 to $15 each, depending on how many people a blues fan has in the car. It’s up to seven people (allowed) in one vehicle for the 100.00 parking fee.”
Johnny Hoy And The Bluefish to perform in Plymouth series
Hall feels that the push back on the hundred dollar parking fee is because his intended audience has not had enough experience carpooling into an outdoor concert series.
“I go with people to festival all the time,” Hall said. “Tonight, there were four of us who went to New London, Connecticut. We paid thirty dollars each for the tickets. So, thirty dollars times four is a hundred and 20 dollars. It would have been cheaper for us to go to Plymouth for the day than it was to go to New London today.”
Hall said that his Rhythm Room Afternoon Concert Series on Sundays in Plymouth, Massachusetts will become more popular as people realize how easily they can defray the 100 dollar costs by carpooling from the Exit 13 Park & Ride. After they park with the Eventbrite ticket, Hall’s staff will give the driver and each occupant a wrist band that allows them to remain at the event.
After Poppa Chubby with Jeffrey Allan Shaw and Company open this Sunday,. Hall will continue presenting popular local blues acts as well as some national acts. Hall specifically booked acts that they were coming through New England. Poppa Chubby has a gig at Chan’s the night before. Albert Castiglia will be playing the Gloucester Blues Festival the day before he appears at the Rhythm Room Afternoon Concert Series. No mean feat for even a booker with Hall’s decades of experience.
“It’s a hard thing to do because there’s not a lot of club dates,” Hall said.
John Hall; booker, talent buyer, festival organizer
National acts can also help bring more attention to this series. “I want to have as best quality of music as possible,” Hall said. “Poppa Chubby has a lot of fans. If I have a good show in the beginning, it’s going to sell itself through the rest of the summer.”
Popular local acts like Erin Harpe’s Country Blues Duo are also scheduled to perform this Plymouth Series. If attendees can work together to defray the hundred dollar parking fee, Hall believes this series will out last our pandemic era.
“Hopefully,“ the organizer said, “when people see how comfortable the place is, the apprehension about the cars, the hundred dollars, and the people think they have to sit in a parking lot like a move, it’s not like that at all. If the fans can remember what it was like when they were kids, sharing rides. It’s not that tough. It’s a little bit of planning. Everybody will love the venue.”
www.rhythmroomentertainment.com/rhythm-room-afternoons.html
