The 2009 Summer Concert Series is set to return to Stage Fort Park this Sunday at 7 p.m., with the Compaq Big Band.
The free outdoor concert featuring the internationally acclaimed authentic 20-piece big band is at the Antonio Gentile Bandstand in the park overlooking picturesque Gloucester Harbor. Ample free parking is available.
"These free concerts are a terrific evening out for all ages. And of course an affordable evening of entertainment offering great music in a beautiful setting," concert organizer David Benjamin said. "Many concert goers bring picnic dinners and blankets and lawn chairs to enjoy the concert in comfort. We are really getting off to a strong start with the exciting jazz sounds of the Compaq Big Band."
Two of the concerts are of special importance to Cape Ann audiences as they salute two Cape Ann-based music legends: Herb Pomeroy and Robert Puff.
The Herb Pomeroy Tribute Concert, featuring Donna Byrne and the Herb Pomeroy Band with Greg Hopkins, is set for Sunday, Aug. 9, at 7 p.m.
A special Saturday concert on Aug. 15 at 7 p.m. features the Cape Ann Community Band in a tribute concert to Puff, Gloucester High School Band's longtime director.
The Community Band is still accepting members to play in this tribute concert.
"I would like to encourage players to join the Community Band," said Benjamin. "We welcome players of all ages. It is such a thrill to play on the Bandstand and to play in tribute to Robert Puff, a man who guided the musical education of so many Gloucester young people."
Musicians interested in performing should contact Benjamin at 978-281-0543. For further information about the shows, call 978-281-0543 or visit davidlbenjamin.com.
Father Gariboldi on TV
A well-known Gloucester priest enjoyed some time in the TV spotlight yesterday.
The Rev. Ronald Gariboldi of Holy Family Parish presided over Mass in CatholicTV's studios in Watertown. The daily Mass is broadcast nationally via Sky Angel, and is available on numerous cable networks, including Comcast and streams live at CatholicTV.com.
In Father Gariboldi's homily, he spoke about doubt, fear, and real-world concerns that believers face. The Mass is on demand online by going to http://www.catholictv.com/shows/default.aspx?seriesID=29.
Founded more than 50 years ago, CatholicTV features more than 60 shows, 40 percent of which are produced in the Watertown studio and provides family-friendly, religious news and educational programming 24 hours daily.
Transplant honored
The former Gloucester woman and lifelong environmentalist who moved South and became the acknowledged "Bird Lady of the Gulf Coast," has been honored with a special highway dedication.
The late Judith Toups, daughter of Edna Hodgdon Perry and Desmond Perry and the sister of Jean Peloquin, who now lives in Manchester, passed away in 2007 at age 77. But her legacy as an environmental activist and an acclaimed "champion of all feathered species" was immortalized last month with the dedication of the Judith Toups Least Tern Highway in Gulfport, Miss.
The dedication came in a ceremony headed by Wayne Brown, Mississippi's Southern District transportation commissioner; the dedicated highway is a section of U.S. Route 90 — a major Mississippi thoroughfare, though not connected in any way to the Interstate 90 that begins as the Massachusetts Turnpike and crosses the nation much farther north.
"For three decades, Judith Toups inspired her family, friends, readers and students to find joy in the natural abundance of coastal Mississippi," the dedication program reads. "She always believed herself a student," the program continued — "despite a resume that included two books, 35 years of weekly columns in the Sun Herald (of Gulfport), and hundreds of articles for publications from the Smithsonian to Reader's Digest."
Toups regularly visited Cape Ann after moving to the Gulf Coast region. She died Feb. 27, 2007, in Decatur Ala.
Filming of 'The Painter'
While Adam Sandler, Salma Hayek and other big names of Hollywood continue to work on the set of "The Grown Ups," which is being filmed in Essex through much of the summer, they won't be the only ones filming in the area a week from today.
Ed Carfano, who now lives in East Gloucester, and presented a series of dinner-dance programs last winter with his band Stardust, will be heading up a project filming a 10-minute theatrical short next Saturday at the River Boat Works of Ferry Street and on the Annisquam River. And he says the set will be open for spectators to watch the filming throughout much of the day.
The Stardust Films piece, for which Carfano is serving as director and producer, is being called "The Painter," and will be a spoof of abstract modern art, Carfano said. It will also follow, by nearly 40 years, Carfano's short film "The Day of the Painter," which earned an Academy Award in the category for Best Theatrical Short in 1961.
Carfano says he's set to debut the new film in three movie houses in Los Angeles in December, with an eye toward entering it for a potential Academy Award in 2010.
Despite the acclaimed success of his 1961 piece, Carfano's best-known piece may still be an ad he directed and produced in 1967 as the first nationally-run, anti-smoking public service announcement. The ad, titled "Like Father, Like Son," portrayed a young boy following his father's lead as they washed the car and carried out other upbeat chores, then turned dark in tone when the father lit up a cigarette, and the son gazed in his direction while a screen graphic flashed "Like father, like son?"
Carfano said "The Painter" is set to begin filming next Saturday, July 18, around 9 a.m., with work expected to carry throughout the day. Another half-day of filming is planned for Aug. 8, he said.
Honored veteran
The flag at the Veterans' Center will fly this week in honor of World War II veteran Earland Ralph Worthley. Born July 1, 1924, he entered the U.S. Navy on June 7, 1942. The signalman first class served on the seaplane tender USS Albemarle (AV-5) and the submarine chaser USS PC 1182. He served in the American Theatre and South America.
He was discharged Oct. 1, 1945, and served the city of Gloucester as the chief of police from 1978 to 1989. He died Jan. 29, 2000.
The flag was requested to fly in his honor by his son, Earl Worthley and family.
Anyone wishing to fly a flag in honor of a deceased veteran can call the Office of Veterans' Services at 978-281-9740.
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