Plymouth Lobster Crawl Scheduled For November

We headed for Plymouth to warm up for November's Lobster Crawl...

The Lobster Crawl visits most of the 29 lobsters on the Plymouth Lobster Trail.

Most of the lobbies are in the waterfront section of downtown Plymouth, some are on Main Street and one is way the hell down off Exit 3.

The crutch doesn't seem to fit the legs, but that's how ish goes down on the Lobster Crawl, player...

This one, which is down by Plymouth Rock, was just returned after a miscreant borrowed it for a few weeks.

Let's see when I run out of caption material and start pasting directly from the Plymouth Lobster Crawl website.

When this doctor gets ready for that COUGH part of the exam, run from the room.

The Lobster Crawl doesn't touch all of the lobsters, just the ones located near pubs and taverns.

"Natty Dread Rides Again..."

This is the Redbrook lobster, located way off of the Crawl Trail. He's down in the woods between Plymouth and Wareham, in the new housing development.

I don't know how Brockton (check his left claw) got into this, but it gives me an excuse to post this article in the 50,000 member Brockton Hub group.

College Lobby, hanging around the Plymouth campus of Quincy College.

I can't tell you how much time I spent sitting here trying to think of lobster takes on the names of famous guitarists. If he were outside the bookstore, we could call him Jimmy Page. If he were near the lumber yard, he could be Ron Wood. He's neither.

A few cones sure did screw up my lobster shot.

Sorry, Charlie...

Somebody borrowed Miss Clawmerce before Cranberry County showed up...

The Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce and Benchmark Mortgage present the First Annual Lobster Pub Crawl. The Crawl is designed to incorporate Chamber member businesses with the Chamber's public art display; The Plymouth Lobster Crawl. 

The event has planned to follow a timeline with 45-minute stops at each location (8-10 bars) and visit fifteen of the twenty-nine lobsters along the way.

Pub-Crawlers will sip on local beers and signature cocktails while viewing the largest public art display in Plymouth. At each lobster participants will receive raffle tickets and be entered into main raffle at the the last stop. 

All pub-crawlers will receive the official t-shirt, bag, wristband and koozie with registration. This event is limited to 100 people and pricing applies to Members and Non Members.

All Participants must be 21 or up to participate, IDs will be checked when you sign in.

Ticket Cost:

$28 Group/Corporate Rate (4 or more people)

$30 Early Bird Rate (August 15th-September 30th)

$35 After September 30th

All Pub-Crawlers should plan to meet starting at 2:30 on the Plymouth Waterfront at the Amphitheater. Registered participants my join or leave the crawl at any point. Shirts and bags are limited.

Disclaimer:

The Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce(PACC), Benchmark Mortgage as well as all Plymouth Lobster Crawl Sponsors takes no responsibility for harm or injury received by participants of this event.

This release extends and applies to, and also covers and includes, all unknown, unforeseen, unanticipated and unsuspected injuries, damages, loss and liability and the consequences thereof, as well as those now disclosed and known to exist.

I further understand and agree that my participation in the Pub Crawl is not to be construed as an admission of any liability of and acceptance of assumption of responsibility by the PACC Lobster Crawl, Benchmark Mortgage, its officers, board, and employees, jointly and severally, for all damages and expenses for PACC Lobster Crawl, its officers, board and employees, become liable as a result of any alleged act by me. I understand that I am encouraged by PACC or Benchmark Mortgage to drink responsibly and I am encouraged to not drink to excess. 

 I agree not to drive during or after the PACC Lobster Crawl after consuming alcoholic beverages. All attendees will be provided transportation contact information at the beginning of the crawl. 

All Participants must be 21 or up to participate, IDs will be checked when you sign in. 

Sat, November 4, 2017

3:00 PM – 9:30 PM EDT

Duxbury Beach Free Of Evil Red Seaweed... For Now

Duxbury Beach attacked the red seaweed problem on the residential beach today. The town beach by the bridge had already been done, and the Beach Park handled it privately. (M.E. Federici on the camera)

A smelly red seaweed from Japan has been all over South Shore beaches this summer. Duxbury buried it, but Marshfield, with her rockier beaches, is letting it rot in place. Given the tenacity of this seaweed, Duxbury may have just planted a new batch for all I know. Hopefully, everything works out.

The pictures with the seaweed are from less-responsive Nantasket Beach in Hull.

Heterosiphonia japonica was first identified off of Rhode Island in 2009. It looks like other red kelp swishing around, but it is smellier and more persistent. It can outcompete other seaweed and squeeze out life on any beach it hits. "The beach looks like cranberry sauce" and "It's like swimming in oil" are complaints we've heard.

Good riddance!

Humarock July 3rd Shutdown Has Ominous Implications

Humarock will be closed to revelers on July 3rd. Citing "historical" cycles of drinking and teen rabble-rousing, the Scituate selectmen voted to nix the holiday revelry.

Nothing says "Happy Birthday America" like radically curtailing personal freedoms, right?

Humarock's beach, along with other coastal villages like Green Harbor and Duxbury Beach, have for decades been host to massive Independence Day celebrations on July 3rd (the 4th, in these parts, are reserved for fireworks shows in other towns like Plymouth). These celebrations feature family parties, heroic drinking, Gettysburg-style gunpowder expenditure, roving gangs of teenagers, Dresden-like bonfires and twelve hour adult drunks. It tends to get a bit rowdy, even for the Irish Riviera.

Police naturally tire of the annual Night Of Action on these beaches, and the simple solution is to shut the party down. Seems like a good idea, no?

Most bad ideas usually do at the time they are thought up. Very few people who aren't in Congress, think "That sounds like it will backfire catastrophically, let's try it out."

The upside of the beach closure is instantly apparent. A giant, wild party will be shut down.

Let's examine the downside, shall we?

Humarock is setting a precedent that will be adopted all along the coast. A century worth of tradition can be erased by a mere wet blanket of a selectmen group... especially if they own property in the former party zone. Something that many people take for granted can be snatched away with a private vote of five people or so.

The gentrification of the Irish Riviera is never more apparent than it will be tonight in the Riviera's capital of Humarock. It's not like today's people party harder than yesteryear's. I'd take some 1968 LSD gang of student radicals over today's millennial kids in a Gettin' Rowdy contest, and I'd also wager on my own kegs-and-kegs-of-beer 1980s compatriots.

It's the people who have changed, as well as the demographics and the style of governing. Many of the cottages we remember from 1950-1990 are now 3 story beach mansions that only a wealthy person could afford. The elite, even in a town like Duxbury where the ceiling is high but the floor isn't that low, tend to not reflect the will of the people. However, they do have disproportionate influence in government. The mick with the shanty cottage won't be hosting the next campaign fundraiser, if you catch my drift.

Lacking that connection with the people and certainly not about to go forth and mingle with the rabble, the pols and elite lose touch with some of the things that make living in town special.

The beach closure won't aid public safety that much. If they were serious about this being a public safety issue, maybe they would order the bars to stop serving alcohol on a night when many people will be walking down dark roads with no sidewalks or streetlights. I'd wager that Scituate's many taverns and bars have a higher body count than her July 3rd revelry.

Somehow, I don't see the need for public safety being THAT important to the people who make laws these days. Business is business, after all.

I don't think that it will lower arrests, or even curtail the teen presence. Many teens don't peruse the news every day, and will be unaware of the ban. Many will be lying to their parents about where they are headed, and will simply get dropped off down the road some before wandering into the party area.

Police will stop the first wave, but it takes time to chase off (and especially arrest) a gang of kids. It takes less time for another gaggle to pop up just around the corner. Police resources are finite, and the law could soon be overwhelmed.

This is especially true in that kids who aren't allowed in Humarock are going to turn up somewhere else, leaving police with a choice of "Let two cops try to control Humarock while we respond to kids turning up in large numbers in other parts of town" or the far more ominous "In order to protect Humarock, we're going to abandon policing of other beaches in town. Make your own law on Scituate Neck, folks!"

Kids who are turned away will be free to choose a new spot, in parts of town that will hardly be policed at all. Kids who wander into Humarock will get nonsense trespassing arrests, at the expense of chaos in other parts of town.

If the town does manage to cover all of the real estate, it  seems logical to assume that the same amount of kids will be arrested, just in different parts of town. We're left with a ceiling of "we arrest people in other parts of town now" and a floor of "white riot.' Neither of these seem like a benefit worth gutting a cherished holiday celebration over.

This closure could even hurt property values and rental rates. July 4th is the peak week for renting cottages, and the block party is the engine that drives it. "The town square has a barbershop quartet tonight" doesn't pull the same weight as "Relive your childhood for $3000 a week."

Again, if you are an elite not dependent on rental income to maintain your property, this tradition matters little to you. The ban may actually squeeze some of the rabble out of the neighborhood, in favor of the more acceptable rich man who will snatch up his property.

As we said before, you can't fault the police for wanting to control a ZooMass-style block party, but this beach closure sounds a lot like the downside always expressed in giant asteroid impact movies when someone mentions exploding the asteroid with a nuclear weapon... rather than a million ton asteroid hitting the planet all at once, we instead get the same weight hitting the planet in a buckshot-like manner. You get just as much damage, at least in a F=MA sense.

Humarock seems to be headed in this direction. After them, Marshfield, Duxbury, Plymouth, Cape Cod... it can only happen if you let it happen, people.

The Jetty Presents: Ranch House Revival

The Ranch House is no longer in business (and may fall into the marsh like the infamous Swamp Castle), but you can still live the dream just down the road a bit.

"The dog is dead, but the tail still wags."

The Jetty, located at 278 Ocean Street in Brant Rock, is finishing up their month-long Ranch House Revival. They did it last year, too. It may become an annual event-style tradition.

Draw The Line is an Aerosmith tribute band, and The Stompers played the 1986 Duxbury High School prom for $3000. They are the anchormen in this year's RHR. It seems that Jim Plunkett had prior commitments, and it's nice to see that Cats Ass are still getting work. I should have gone to the King Jeremy show, I know a couple of those dudes.

Below, we have The Jetty. What, did you think that Draw The Line was playing on a rock pile? You might know it as the former Breakers or even the former Lobster Tale, depending on how old you are.

Hope to see you there!