A glimpse into the world of Maine mariners

Voices of Sea 2014 expands to two cities
Bath, Maine - Voices of the Sea, a performance event coordinated by Maine Maritime Museum that showcases the talents of Maine poets and musicians who earn their living from the sea casts a wider net this year with performances on two consecutive nights on the waterfronts of two different cities.

            On Friday, March 14, the program will be held at the museum in Bath to kick off the city’s Blarney Days, a celebration of all things Irish. Fittingly, Maine’s storyteller John McDonald emcees the evening, which will include offerings by poets Sally Woolf-Wade and Stefanie Alley and musicians Bob Bowman and Lauren Crosby. Doors open at 6:30, performances begin at 7, and a cash bar will be available until 8:30.

            The following evening, Saturday, March 15, the second performance will take place on the Portland waterfront at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, 350 Commercial St. Maine folk musician Gordon Bok emcees the program that includes the talents of poets Stefanie Alley, Jack Merrill and Sally Woolf-Wade, and musicians Bob Bowman and Frank Gotwals. Doors open at 6, with a reception and cash bar until 7 p.m., when the show begins.

            “Feedback from both attendees and performers in the two previous years was extremely positive,” says Jason Morin, the museum’s director of Public Programs.  “A recurring comment was that the event should be expanded to reach a broader audience in more locations.  That’s our goal this year and in years to come.”

            In addition, Morin points out that both events will coincide with larger community celebrations and in facilities with incredible water views.

            The Bath show will help launch Bath Blarney Days, a four-day celebration of Irish culture, a nation recognized for its poetic and musical artistry, as well as its maritime heritage. Voices of the Sea will be held in the museum’s Long Reach Hall which overlooks the historic Kennebec River where thousands of Maine built ships set sail for voyages to all corners of the world.

            Saturday night’s performance in Portland occurs during the Maine Boatbuilders Show weekend in GMRI’s Cohen Center auditorium surrounded by Portland’s fleet of working fishing boats.

            “We’re very excited to be working with GMRI,” says Morin. “Their auditorium has incredible seating, as well as a video system that will allow us to incorporate images of Maine fisheries and the maritime life into the performances.”

            To purchase tickets or for more information, visit the museum’s website at www.MaineMaritimeMuseum.org or call 443-1316, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m            Support for the 3rd annual Voices of the Sea series comes from the Maine Lobstermen’s Community Alliance, Maine Boatbuilders Show, Maine Coastal News, the Hampton Inn Bath and The INN at Brunswick Station.

Second annual ‘Voices of the Sea’ event slated for March 28

Bath, Maine - This spring, commercial fishermen from Maine will gather once again, not to haul traps or mend nets, but to share poetry, songs and stories about life on the water.

On Thursday, March 28, Maine Maritime Museum will host the second annual Voices of the Sea: The Poetry and Song of Maine’s Fishermen and Those Who Work on the Water at DiMillo’s On the Water, Commercial Street in Portland, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Following in the tradition of ever popular cowboy poetry events, Voices of the Sea features professionals from the maritime world who use their art to illuminate the hard and often invisible work they do.

            Hosting this year’s event will be Maine storyteller, writer and radio host John McDonald. He will be joined by commercial fishermen and mariners cum poets and songwriters, including singer/songwriter/lobsterman Frank Gotwals from Stonington, as well as Jack Merrill from Little Cranberry Island, who also lobsters and serves on the Board of the Maine Lobstermen's Association. Also sharing her experiences and impressions of the sea will be well-known Maine poet Sarah Woolf-Wade.

            Fishermen Poetry is a genre that is growing in interest and practitioners. The form is modeled on the cowboy poetry that began around campfires in the 19th century and continues today, written and performed mainly by those who work in traditional cowboy occupations.  The maritime world, too, has always inspired literary endeavors, from Herman Melville to John Masefield, and the fishermen poets continue to build on that tradition.

“Astoria, Oregon, hosts the Fisher Poets Gathering, the biggest fisherman poetry event in the country,” says Maine Maritime Museum’s Education Coordinator Jim Nelson. “They get fishermen from all over, including, this year, Maine’s own Jack Merrill. Their event goes on for days and is spread out over a number of venues.”

Voices of the Sea will be more limited – just one evening – but organizers hope to see it expand. “It would be great to see this keep growing,” says Nelson. “Someday I would love to see Voices of the Sea become the East Coast version of the Astoria Gathering.”

Once again, DiMillo’s On the Water will host Voices of the Sea, which Jason Morin, director of Public Programing at Maine Maritime Museum, points out, “…is the perfect venue.

“You can see the fishing fleet right out the windows. What’s more, restaurants such as this are the end users of the fishing industry,” he says.

Doors for the event open at 6 p.m. Admission is $12 for MMM members, $15 for nonmembers.  A cash bar will be open before and during the event, and dinner is available in the dining room downstairs, including DiMillo’s famous Early Dinner Special from 4 to 6 p.m.

 “This is a really unique event,” Morin adds, “and a unique celebration of Maine’s commercial fishermen. One that highlights the many talents of those who earn a living working on the water.”