Brewster Productions Highlight!: Talking with Jon Dorn
I don’t need to tell Jon Dorn how I feel about him and what Brewster Productions does…the guy knows I love and appreciate him like my own brother. BUT, in case you all didn’t know that, I love and appreciate this guy immensely. He has done so much with his Brewster Productions cohorts over the past (many) years that I think we all owe him a debt of gratitude. So, for all the internets to see: THANK YOU JON. You rock bud.
Anyway, Brewster is beginning to announce their annual showcases for the summer and I caught up with Jon to talk about what to expect, who he is digging on these days, and whats going on outside of the 90 hours a week he spends promoting local music in some fashion.
1) RLR: So another summer is nearly upon us as the last of this snow melts. What does Brewster have on the agenda for this summer as far as the summer music series goes?
JD: Yeah, I can’t believe we’re already so close to summer – as you can see by our videos this year so far, the snow made us a little crazy. I’m glad to see 60º in the weather forecast. So, this summer with Brewster, we’re working to really focusing our efforts on our 3 big events that showcase original music: The Acoustic Nights Summer Concert Series, The Barn Show Music Series, and the Plymouth Independent Music Festival (PIMF).
We’re very excited to be collaborating with Hayley Sabella on the Barn Show series, and the Plymouth Antiquarian Society for the Acoustic Nights series.
The Acoustic Nights dates were just announced today: June 27, July 11, August 15, August 29, September 5. Those shows are free and take place at the Hedge House Lawn on the Plymouth Waterfront.
We’ll be announcing the Barn Show dates soon, and the PIMF is going to be kind of a melding of the two series for a weekend. That’ll be announced soon too.
2) RLR: The Hedge House Lawn shows have been some of my favorite of the year and something I always look forward to seeing and playing at. What has it been like to see those grow and more and more people show up for the series for you and the BP folks?
JD: Way back in 2008, we were 21 years old and desperately wanted to help local artists around our age get shows – but there was really no place a kid could get a show in Plymouth. The previous year, we decided to start Brewster Productions and [co-owner] Scott McEwen dumped a couple paychecks into buying a sound system for us to work with. Once summer rolled around, we approached the Plymouth Antiquarian Society about producing acoustic shows on their lawn – they said yes, and we kicked off the series with a few scrappy August shows.
The whole thing’s been trial-and-error since we started, but we felt like we started to find our stride in 2012. It’s been incredible to see the series grow to the point where people show up with lawn chairs and blankets at each show – that means they PLANNED to come to the show, they didn’t just happen upon it. It took us a while to refine the series and for it to catch on with the community, but I think it’s really become an important summer event for people who appreciate new and original music in the area. This year we’re even collaborating with Plymouth Public Schools to showcase some artists from the high schools.
3) RLR: You really have your finger on the local music community pulse with work on Brewster Productions and also working at Passim. Who have been a handful of the stand out acts you have seen this year that you would turn folks onto/hope to make an appearance on the Hedge House or Barn Series or Plymouth Independent Music Fest?
JD: Being a Plymouthian at heart, I have to start with Billington Sea. The duo of Jake Hill & Hayley Sabella is the quintessential Plymouth folk act, all they way down to their name (they’re named after a big pond). I’ve pretty much been a Jake Hill fan since I was a freshman in high school and went to see his pop-punk band at Handlebar Harry’s. And Hayley’s music is wonderful, though I discovered it more recently. The two complement each other perfectly and write great music. Billington Sea will be playing one of the Hedge House shows – we’ll announce which one soon.
Only Jon Dorn makes the cajon look cool (photo by Matt Smith)
Then there’s Eva Walsh, who’s got her new album Kickstarter running right now. I get to see how hard she works each day playing violin with every artist ever, and I know how much she’s delayed recording her new songs because of other important time commitments. I find myself walking around the house with her melodies stuck in my head, and as an artist myself I know it can be frustrating when time/money delays putting your stuff out in the world. I hope everyone will pledge to her Kickstarter.
One more to mention: Clara Berry & Wooldog. These two are based in NH and play beautiful, haunting, and almost theatrical piano-and-percussion music. I’m hoping we can bring them down to Plymouth for a show this summer.
Oh and check out The Michael Character. He’s not playing at any of our shows this summer, but he writes great acoustic punk tunes and puts on sweet house shows in Quincy. He just released a new album this week.
4) RLR: What does the future hold for Brewster? Any big dreams for the next couple years?
JD: Oh man. Well, right now we’re working to make the Acoustic Nights series financially sustainable. I know that’s a super exciting answer… But really, we want the series to stick around and be better than ever for the big Plymouth 400th celebration in 2020. Being adults with responsibilities, we need to work extra hard to make sure the series pays for itself, and that we don’t throw our personal rent money into it (which has happened more than I’d care to admit). This means finding more sponsors and doing some extra fundraising. We’re confident we can do it, because the series has a seriously low budget – for real, if I told you the budget, you’d be like, “what seriously, that’s it??”. Also, we like to think it’s worth supporting.
Along with that we’re working to expand our film & video division, Four String Films. We’re building our client list, but also working on fun stuff like the Brewster promo videos and Sully For America. Andrew Carleen and I have even been working on the script for a feature film for a few years – producing that is probably our biggest artistic dream for the foreseeable future.
5) RLR: So what else is going on in your crazy busy life, aside from supporting, playing, promoting, and producing all things music?
JD: When not doing all this music stuff, I’m actually a cartoonist and visual artist. I have a comic called Cartland that’s been running online since 2011, and I post a new comic every Monday morning. I’ve got some other stuff in the works (some even music-related), so check out my facebook page and website.
Hit the website, check the schedules as they roll out, and thank Jon and the team if you see them around for being such huge advocates for musicians.
