JonGorey.com

Hello friends, happy summer! I'm excited to let you know that I'll be playing a free set of original tunes at the inaugural Friends Rock Music Festival at Quincy's beautiful Ruth Gordon Amphitheater on Sunday, August 11th!  There'll be a bunch of local musicians playing all day, plus beer and wine from Breakrock Brewing , tasty food from Black's Creek BBQ, Gangnam Spice, and South Shore Taco Guy, an ice cream truck, pop-up bookstore, henna tattoos, plus crafts, jewelry, and other vendors!  Kids and dogs are welcome — and let me know if you have any song requests! Show details:  Friends Rock Music Festival Ruth Gordon Amphitheater at Pageant Field One Merrymount Parkway in Quincy  12pm–8pm  | (Jon Gorey at 4pm) FREE

One day this spring, Gina heard an unbelievable rumor: Construction crews were getting ready to demolish and fill in the Ruth Gordon Amphitheater, a natural outdoor performance space at Quincy's Pageant Field.  Overlooking the Atlantic, Pageant Field is the crowning jewel of the city's parks system. It received some upgrades this spring, including a new water-view picnic pavilion and a half-mile walking path around the park. And, it turns out, the city was also getting ready to fill in the underused theater as part of the project — something we only learned about and confirmed after a friend at the Quincy Tree Alliance  spoke to a parks employee at the construction site days before demolition.   I was flabbergasted and furious. The amphitheater is built into the slope of a hill, with terraced rows of seating facing a large, stone-studded stage. It's kinda beautiful, and it was one of the things I remember loving about Quincy when we first decided to move here . ...

So, um, it looks like I haven't updated this site in a wee bit, eh? Funny how time does that! Well then, here are a few bits of news for you. Last week I learned that I won two awards from the North American Travel Journalists Association . If you had told me 20 years ago that anyone anywhere would actually pay me real American dollars to write about traveling — perhaps the single greatest pursuit of human kind outside of love, family, and music — and that I'd actually win an award for such a thing, well... I'd have laughed you right out of the pub. And yet, here we are. Here are the winning stories: Kid County, Ireland  (Gold Winner, Family Travel category) It’s no Orlando (and thank God for that), but Ireland doesn’t need the Disney touch to feel like a magical playground for your own little leprechauns. Road Trip, Meet Field Trip   (Honorable Mention, Family Travel category) Sometimes the best souvenir isn’t what you buy, but what you learn. I should probabl...

Well, that was some year, huh? Remarkably, we made it to the other side. Whew! In the spirit of reflection and hopefulness, I thought I'd share what I consider my best work of 2017 - the stuff that helped get me through an often dispiriting year and makes me excited to keep creating in 2018. As you might know, I've been writing more words than music lately (though the horrific shooting in Las Vegas all but demanded a rewrite of They Make Angels , five years and no gun laws later). Here are the 10 stories I enjoyed writing the most this year. Thank you if you've read any of these already -- and for supporting journalism in any form these days, whether it's a newspaper subscription or NPR membership. And thank you if you've listened to my music, or supported other independent artists this year. (If you're curious, my favorite new discovery of the year, courtesy of the Newport Folk Festival, were the  Wild Reeds . My God, I would let their harmonies lull me i...

I recorded this song on my phone yesterday, in memory of George Michael. I'll tell you why, and what it means to me, after the jump.   Those who know me will tell you, without hesitation, that I'm an optimistic person and always have been -- perhaps overly so. I walk around this world grinning like some kind of delusional madman because I really do love life and the people in it. I hope for the best, and unfailingly look for silver linings when the best doesn't happen. My wife would tell you this can be inspiring, but also wicked annoying. But either way, that's me. However, something happened to me after Nov. 8th, 2016 -- something that tossed me into a long, deep, and uncharacteristic depression -- and I only recently realized the true reason for my existential crisis.  

Some of you out there probably know that I find a lot of four-leaf clovers. I don't know why, I just do, and I always have. My wife thinks I'm part leprechaun (I do grin and giggle a lot - maybe there's something to it). I still feel extremely lucky and blessed when I find one -- even if it's probably just a matter of good eyesight, or patience, or being outdoors a lot, or synthetic fertilizers causing mutations. I think the first time I found a four-leaf clover, I actually found three - on the Syracuse University quad. And I gave each one to people on my floor who could use some luck at the time. That's what's so beautiful about it to me, that I'm able to share this little piece of good fortune with someone who might find hope or solace in it. But for the past couple of years, I've been finding like, just a ton of them. More than I can handle! I guess I'm getting better at spotting them? Plus I walk my kid to and from preschool most days, t...