A Bar Harbor Live Music Festival

The Annex Plans to Make It a Yearly Thing

Oct 18, 2023

BAR HARBOR—When Ben Chute was a little boy, his mom would go into his bedroom to wake him up or fix his covers, the way moms do, but when she pulled back the blankets she’d see something a little bit different: Ben would be there, eyes closed, breathing deeply, tiny arms wrapped around his guitar.

That kind of love? It helps make a great musician, and Ben Chute’s persistence and passion and skill leads him to stages all across Maine with the band Cryin Out Loud. Sunday it led him to the Annex.

While the Bar Harbor Town Council mulled over whether or not to continue outdoor amplified music licenses and where at its meeting October 17, the town was still humming from the first Annex Live Music Festival at the Annex on Rodick Street.

The festival, the brain child of Bo Jennings was supported by the Annex staff and owners Jeff and Jena Young. It brought ten hours of live music to the restaurant that serves craft cocktails and Side Street Café food from noon until 10 p.m. on Sunday, October 15, immediately after the Mount Desert Island Marathon.

“I have a good idea every once in a while,” Jennings said, laughing. Part of that idea was to honor the local bands that have played at the Annex all season long. But, he said, it’s also great to know that there are so many more acts that can play the venue if they do the festival again, next year, which he says the Annex will.

“Now,” Jennings said, “we can dream.”

Those dreams might not be exactly the same as Chute’s when he was little and clutching his guitar, but they might be close. Jennings grew up in a house of music, too. As a boy just in high school, Bo’s father and namesake, Gary Jennings Sr., would play gigs almost every weekday with his band director. On the weekends, Gary would play in church. The music didn’t stop when Bo’s dad raised his own household.

Music was always there. It brought family together. It brought community together. It becomes, as Jamie Ward said at the Town Council meeting Tuesday night, part of a town’s culture.

Bringing music to the Annex is part of Jennings’ passion. Places like the Annex, Reel Pizza, and others, are opportunities, he thinks, to think out of the box and still create events and music that coexist with the Bar Harbor community’s wants and needs.

“It’s been a really fun day,” he said during the festival as he sat on the patio with his dad for a moment. “I’ve seen locals coming out that I haven’t seen all season.”

Those locals mingled with runners from the marathons and fans of the bands.

Bar Manager Jasmine Burne said,

“From my experience, I see live music definitely impacting the vibe during a shift in a positive way. It brings an extra layer of life to the whole building that every person feels, both the staff and the customers. Waiting an extra three minutes for that margarita from that bartender who just got slammed with a dozen drink tickets doesn’t seem so bad when you're both crooning along to the same Beatles song from both sides of the bar. I often have bar guests jokingly quip, "you guys must really hate your job, it looks like NO fun!" when they catch me and another bartender shimmying in tandem while we both belt out the same Taylor Swift lyric between shaking cocktails and pouring beer.”

THE ARTS AND THE ECONOMY

Having those extra hours of music, he said, helps support the Annex, but also the musicians and the staff who are getting in extra hours before the season ends.

Last week, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and the National Endowment for the Arts reported that the arts are 4.2 percent of the US GDP, contributing $763.6 billion to the economy. That’s more than agriculture. That’s more than transportation.

The arts economy employs 4.9 million across the United States for earnings of $370 billion. Some of that is linked with the service industry and tourism. In Maine, the arts accounts for 2.5% of the state’s GDP and over 16,500 jobs.

“Ten hours of life music was weird, wonderful, AND wild. I honestly didn't know what to expect,” Burne said. “Was anyone going to show up for early afternoon tunes? Would people get tired of listening after a while? Will it be too much to host the MDI marathon after party AND a music festival?”

It turned out that it wasn’t too much at all.

“At the end of it, I couldn't have been more thrilled with how it all went for our first try at an all-day music experience like this. The race party and the music festival seemed to perfectly compliment each other. The musical groups leapt through the transitions flawlessly, and the staff never missed a beat as people kept pouring in. There was almost no break in the deluge of people tumbling through the door, the orders flying across the bar, the smiles and laughter,” Burne said. “It was such carefully balanced chaos that several times teetered on the brink of overwhelm, but never actually tipped over the edge. It was a great idea and was truly amazing to witness and to be a part of. It makes me even more excited to see what next year will bring.”

It also fostered a lot of pride in the staff and organization for both Jennings and Burne.

“I couldn't have been more proud of the staff who kept that event moving forward that day. The bartenders were obviously the most visible staff members during the event but we had food runners, support staff, managers, and others behind the scene who played such an important role,” Burne said. “Service staff from the other side of the restaurant would check in voluntarily to see if there was anything they could do to help, no role or task or job too minute for them.”

Community, connection, empathy all came together for the team.

“They just wanted a way to help their fellow staff members who were battling their way through a beast of a shift. It was all hands on deck in the most wonderfully heartwarming way,” Burne said.

“I was also so impressed with the musicians, who were given incredibly short windows of time between sets to transition and absolutely nailed it. The goal was to have the music as continuous as possible and keep the momentum up, and each and every one of them rose to the occasion,” Burne said after the event.

“This,” Jennings said with a smile as the bands played and tips were sent via Venmo and people sang along, ate, and danced, “is the launch of something.”

Given the turn-out? It seems like it’s the launch of something a lot of Bar Harbor wants.

Annex Music Festival’s Line-Up

The festival began at noon with Rob Reid III, a guy who studied international politics, but also greeted everyone as they came in the door, not missing a beat as he flowed through songs seemingly effortlessly. There was an ache that underscored his covers and his outgoing smile, that authentic undertone commanded the audience.

Quiet for Sue’s took the stage next. The band’s Instagram encapsulates so much about the local cover band. There was joy there, support, friendship. Their stylings reachede out and pudll you right in. Things started getting packed.

Em & Co’s contemporary stylings brought Em’s clean upper tone and precise notes to the Annex stage. Emily and Kip had a seamless vibe and charisma that drew everyone in.

Cryin Out Loud with Brandon Stallard shifted the stage to a bluesy feel at 3 p.m. The guitar skill, the gorgeous intricacies inspired a couple of marathoners to dance over to the side despite all their aches and pains. That’s a lot of inspiration.

The Dan Lorey Trio’s full command of blues and jive took full command of the venue before

Nathan Grant and Guests four piece took over before the final act with a pizazz that’s hard to duplicate. Banned from Eden, closed down the Annex stage for the season with a mastery of joy, community, rhythm that makes the band a much-deserved local favorite. Playing in pocket, they could potentially make an entire community come together and dance. And maybe, if Jennings gets his wish, they will.