New Molasses Creek Video is Out! Upcoming Tour to PA, Ocracoke Picking Parties, Singing for your Supper and more!

Howdy there Molasses Creek friends!


Right now we are sitting tight while Hurricane Hermine blows through. Overall it has been pretty mild here on Ocracoke . . . wind and lightning last night with gusts up around 60 mph, then calm in the morning as the eye came through. It is now noon, and the blustery gal is showing her colors again as the backside passes through. Aside from rain, there had been relatively little flooding until this morning. With high tide at 9:30 AM, islanders living right on the water have reported water coming up quickly and roads near Silver Lake and the sound getting flooded.  A DOT vehicle just passed by heading up Howard St, no doubt avoiding the flooding on Highway 12 around at the Fish House on Silver Lake.

Ocracoke Alive is hoping that Hermine will have blown through completely by tomorrow so that Capt. Rob can move the Skipjack Wilma Lee from her protective spot at the NPS Docks to over at her berth at the Community Square, all in preparation for the Annual Labor Day Sunday Gala Celebration. Tomorrow morning the organization will make the call on the event . . . if it is a go ahead, then we will be butterflying shrimp in the morning to get ready for Tom Pahl's special grilled seafood!

Molasses Creek tours to PA on Sept 23 & 24

Molasses Creek is very excited to be traveling north this month for two shows at the Bucks County Cabaret in New Hope, PA on September 23 & 24. We love playing in this area of the country and hope that you will spread the word amongst your compadres about the concerts. We will probably look to spend Sunday night (Sept 25) around the Philadelphia area to catch some sights, so if anyone wants to host a traveling band . . . just email us through the website at www.molassescreek.com/contact. We'll bring the fig preserves!

Molasses Creek's brand new video "You Go to Your Church & I'll go to Mine" is Live!

Our friends Andrea Tani of Florence Italy, and Matt Mitchell of NC have been hard a work completing the new Molasses Creek video that we shot right after the Ocrafolk Festival in June.  Now hot off the press you can see it above or by clicking this link. Thanks so much to them for all of their hard work. We had a great time!

The song is off our brand new album, People Get Ready, and should be going live on iTunes in about a week. Hard copies can be ordered through our website, and you can listen to samples of all the tracks at www.molassescreek.com/people-get-ready. Enjoy!

Deepwater Theater Shows Continue into the Fall on Ocracoke Island

On the eve of evacuation for Hurricane Hermine, we hold a mini concert at Deepwater Theater 

Traveling to Ocracoke this month? Come by and catch a live show at Deepwater Theater. Here are a list for the upcoming September dates for Molasses Creek, the Ocrafolk Opry, and Blackbeard: An (Historical/Hysterical) Account.

Blackbeard: An (Historical/Hysterical) Account. Monday, Sept 5 & 12. 7:30 PM
Ocrafolk Opry Show. Wednesdays 8:00 PM, Sept 7, 14, 21, 28. 8:00 OM
Molasses Creek. Thursdays, 8:00 PM. Sept 8, 15, 29.

Also, while on the island, come help Ocracoke Alive test new programming aboard the Skipjack Wilma Lee on Saturdays. Here is the schedule.

Saturday, September 11 & 24 ~ Skipjack Wilma Lee "Anatomy of a Sailboat" Workshop. 9:30 AM. Community Square Dock. Free. RSVP info@ocracokealive.org or 252-921-0260.
Saturday, September 17 & Oct 1 ~ Skipjack Wilma Lee "Buoy Bingo - Nautical Charts and Navigation" Workshop. 9:30 AM. Community Square Dock. Free. RSVP info@ocracokealive.org or 252-921-0260.

Gary Mitchell Gets the Movie Making Bug! 

Inspired by our recent Molasses Creek movie making activities, Gary has been working hard this last month, documenting band and Ocracoke activities so that you can find out a little more on our life on this small sandy spit. We have created a playlist entitled "Singing for your Supper." Here are some of the latest posts. Enjoy!

 Gary's wife, artist Kitty Mitchell, creates an Ocracoke Island Burning Woman Event.

 

Ocracoke Hermine Storm Party with special guests!

That's all for now. See you folks on down the road!
Gary, Fiddler Dave, Kim & Gerald
Molasses Creek.

Summertime is here on Ocracoke Island, in spite of Hurricane Arthur!

Hello Molasses Creek friends,

Fiddler Dave's son Lachlan, with a tree downed from Hurricane Arthur on the Back Rd of Ocracoke

Summer has arrived on Ocracoke Island and we have jumped into our weekly shows at Deepwater Theater.  On Wednesdays, Molasses Creek presents the Ocrafolk Opry and on Thursdays we feature an all Molasses Creek concert. If you are planning on coming to a show while visiting this summer, we do recommend making reservations online at our Deepwater Theater page at www.molassescreek.com/deepwater-theater, or by putting your name on the Will Call list by calling Fiddler Dave at 252-921-0260.  June shows were almost completely sold out!

We had a most unusual 4th of July this year. Hurricane Arthur roared through on Friday morning, July 4th. Unfortunately, it drove away visitors, took down some trees, and snapped the boom in half of Ocracoke Alive's Skipjack Wilma Lee tore up the mainsail. Ocracoke Alive is currently having an Indiegogo Campaign to help raise funds for repairs.  There are some great Ocracoke rewards if you want to pitch in and lend a hand. Fortunately, the damage to the rest of the village was fairly minimal with little flooding. The village chipper is making its way around the island and tourists have returned. Time to come and see what shells the storm dredged up!

Howard St on Ocracoke after the storm

This year's Ocrafolk Festival, June 6-8, was a great success and we experienced some of the most perfect weather in festival history.

Molasses Creek and the Ocrafolk Festival were featured in the June edition of Our State magazine in an article on summer festivals. Read all about it by clicking here!

   

We loved seeing all our friends from years past, including the MacDonald Sisters, Caravan of Thieves, Jef the Mime, John Golden (this list could go on quite a while), and meeting some new folks like Mipso and the South Carolina Broadcasters.

This spring Molasses Creek toured out west and also to the North. We would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to all of the presenters, hosts, and worker bees who help us along the way!  Here are some pictures from our travels.

Winfield, Kansas, home of a fabulous festival!

Fiddler Dave's hometown of Stillwater, Oklahoma, next to the famed Eskimo Joes

Conway, Arkansas, home of Toad Suck Park!

At the beautiful First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh

With Kris Rust and students from Franklin Regional School

Hershey Area Playhouse in PA

Gerald tries on a new backstage persona under the guidance of our host and friend, Mark Cuddy

A visit to the Hershey School

Lou's quest for great tasting Ketchup is successful!

Of course, a visit to the original Martin Guitar Factory

On air with Wanda Fischer, host of WAMC's Hudson Valley Sampler out of Albany

On to New York City for a concert at the Holyrood Episcopal Church with the Hudson Cliffhangers!

Gary, Dave & Gerald visit the Cloisters, NYC

An afternoon concert and visit to the The Filomen M. D'Agostino Greenberg Music School, with director Dalia Sakas.

Add caption

Finishing out with a jam session with Neal Vorus and friends in Washington Heights.

Marcy and Gary onstage at the Tosco Music Party in Charlotte, NC

Stiltwalkers at the Lake Eden Arts Festival, Black Mountain, NC

Gary Mitchell peers out the Barn Stage window at the LEAF festival

Feasting at the lake at the LEAF Festival

Molasses Creek Fall Road Stories

Heading out on the early ferry on a fall morning.

Hello dear friends,

Although hurricane Sandy is barreling along our direction, the weather has been absolutely stunning these past two weeks.  Fiddler Dave neatened up the garden and put in the fall greens (lettuces, kale, spinach, garlic), Gary can see the cormorants making their daily flights to fishing grounds from his soundside home, Marcy has been focusing her creativity on her book, Louie has been whipping the Ocracoke Jazzcasters into shape, and Gerald Hampton has been catching up with his instrument repair projects when not driving back and forth to Ocracoke for performances (and to check up on grandbaby Issac).  This weekend, Molasses Creek will appear on Saturday, October 27 at an event at the Swan Quarter Courthouse from 12-1 PM, at 8 PM at the RA Fountain General Store in Fountain, NC, and then at 3 PM on Sunday, Oct 28 at a community concert series at Music at St Alban’s Church in Davidson, NC.

Also coming up next week . . . on Friday, Nov 2 we will be up in Pennsylvania for a concert and potluck with the Susquehanna Folk Music Society at the Fort Hunter Centennial Barn, and a Saturday evening performance at the Hershey Area Playhouse in Hershey, PA (Nov 3).  On Sunday, November 4th, we will be at Baldwin Station in Sykesville, MD for a performance with Uptown Concerts,.  The following week we are headed to the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference for an official showcase!

A baby peeper frog perched on a potato plant.

It's a small garden, but it's home!

Here's What Has Been Happening . . .

On September 14, Molasses Creek traveled to play for the Wilson Council of the Arts in Wilson, NC.  The performance was held downtown at the Edna Boykin Cultural Arts Center.  What an incredible space!  The community of Wilson has obviously put a lot of love into restoring the old vaudeville theatre (originally built in 1919).  Thanks so much to all the friendly folks who helped to put on the show.  We had a great time!

Would you let her in? I don't know if I would . . .

Louie discovered that they moved the Hatteras Lighthouse to Wilson!

The rest of September we spent focused on Ocracoke Island activities and zipping off to play private events in the Raleigh area and up the beach.  October 10th, we took a mini-tour up to Richmond area to play the Ashland Coffee & Tea, and then over to Easton, MD on the eastern shore for some residencies and concerts with the Avalon Theatre.

Gerald takes a hot break!

At the Ashland concert we were beset by pirates!

Thanks to Suzanne Keller for the photos and for engineering the best ever concert attire in the history of Molasses Creek.  Wow! Did we ever feel at home . . .

Fiddler Dave had to try on a swashbuckling hat.

After an evening stop over with our dear friends, Ed & Lynda Leslie, we snaked up around DC and over the bridge to the eastern shore of Maryland where we spent Thursday afternoon at school residencies for 2nd graders at St. Michaels and Tilghman Island.  Friday morning we performed for our biggest ever 2nd grade audience (300-400 at the Avalon Theatre in Easton), and then in the afternoon we snuck in one more residence performance (hunting down mighty fine homegrown ice cream at the Scottish Highland Creamery in Oxford, MD) and finished out the day with an evening concert at Avalon's Stoltz Listening Room. Easton is a beautiful town filled with wonderful restaurants, galleries, coffee shops, and a phenomenal farmer's market.  Hunt this town down!

Schooners, in Oxford, MD (home of the Scottish Highland Creamery)

Not to be missed!  This ice cream was awesome!

Avalon Theatre in Easton, MD

 Also performing on Friday evening at the Avalon was Mike Foley, WWE wrestling star.  We caught an aftershow photo with with him down in the lobby.

Notice the authentic glowing eyes of fury!

We arrived back home on Saturday night, just in time to dive into Ocracoke Alive's Ocrafolk School on Sunday.  Gary is the director of the school, Marcy an secretary, and Fiddler Dave the assistant for the Cooking Class.  We spent a wonderful week with Ocracoke historians, wood carvers, healing arts specialists, musicians, and chefs.  Here are a few photos. 

Capt. Rob Temple takes the Ocrafolk School for a sail on Ocracoke Alive's new Skipjack, Wilma Lee

Tom Payne with some Old Drum caught fresh from the Ocracoke Working Waterman's Seafood Store!

John Ivey cleans it.

And instructs us on how to turn it into Old Drum Dinner and Fish cakes

In the carving class, Frank Boyd instructed John Golden in the carving of a dancing man.  John crafted a mini "Philip Howard" for Philip to demonstrate at the end of the week.  Philip is an island historian, Fiddler Dave's father-in-law, and a storyteller/performer at the Ocrafolk Opry.  Excellent work, John!

Finally, this last weekend Molasses Creek traveled up to Nags head to perform at the first annual Outer Banks Seafood Festival.  The event featured locally caught seafood, served by a multitude of local restaurants, as well as performances by Outer Banks bands.

Lou and Dave warm up on the Hatteras Ferry.

About 8000 folks came out!  (Photo by Joann Hummers)

That's all for this blog!  Hope to see you folks on the road or on Ocracoke if you are headed this way!

Gary, Fiddler Dave, Marcy, Lou & Gerald.
Your Molasses Creek crew.

 

Molasses Creek's Fall Touring Schedule in a Nutshell

Saturday, Oct 27, 8 PM ~ RA Fountain General Store, Fountain, NC

Sunday, Oct 28, 3:00 PM ~ Music at St. Albans, Davidson, NC

Friday, Nov 2, 6:00 Potluck, 7:30 Concert ~ Susquehanna Folk Music Society, New Cumberland,PA

Saturday, Nov 3, 7:30 ~ Hersey Area Playhouse, Hershey, PA
Sunday, Nov 4, 8:00 PM ~ Baldwin Station, Sykesville, MD
Monday, December 31 ~ First Night Williamsburg, Williamsburg, VA

If you are interested in helping to promote any shows in your region, please visit our Street Team page at http://www.molassescreek.com/streetteam.cfm.  We'll send you at least 10 posters to put up and the new album as a thank you!

***If you are traveling to Ocracoke Island, NC June-Sept, Molasses Creek performs every Thursday night at their own Deepwater Theater ***