Next October, a three-day music festival will be taking place on the Ocean City Boardwalk and in the Music Pier, in conjunction with the city's annual Fall Block Party, which features hundreds of crafters and food vendors.
The Fall Block Party was held Saturday, Oct. 6, 2010 in Ocean City. The warm weather drew thousands of people to what could have been the largest block party ever on Asbury Avenue.
The success of this past October's Ocean City Fall Block Party, which drew an estimated 30,000 people to the family resort on Oct. 9, has switched on a lightbulb above the head of Ocean City's Herb "Bubba" Birch.
Birch, known to many Ocean City and Atlantic City area locals as "Bubba Mac" — which is not really accurate as the "Mac" stands for Birch's son — from his days running the popular Somers Point seafood and live music venue the Bubba Mac Shack, has come up with a fantastic idea for next year's Ocean City Fall Block Party: The Ocean City Boardwalk Music Festival.
Birch says plans are underway to present the free music festival Oct. 7-9, 2011. It will feature three days of live music, covering everything from country and folk, to religious and gospel and of course, rock and blues.
Birch's own Bubba Mac Blues Band will perform during the festival as will about 15 other bands, Birch tells Atlantic City Weekly.
"We're going to have live music in the Music Pier as well as in front of it and on the Boardwalk," says Birch. "The festival is modeled after the diversity of music at the New Orleans Jazz Festival."
Running the Shack, which opened in 2000 and hosted the likes of blues legend James Cotton, Johnny Sansone, Levon Helm and the Barn Burners — and even had a folk singer-songwriter series in 2003 — for several years until it closed, Birch and his son carried on their restaurant business on the Ocean City Boardwalk where "Mac" operated a small food-only establishment for a year.
Since then, the Bubba Mac Blues Band has performed extensivley, including some national appearances as well as local appearances and residencies at venues such as Trump Marina and the Atlantic City Country Club.
More recently the band performed this past summer at the new 800 Bay restaurant in Somers Point.
In the fall of 2007, Birch held the two-day Mid-Atlantic Blues & Music Festival at Bernie Robbins Stadium in Atlantic City. The two-day concert event included an astonishing line-up featuring Tab Benoit, Bobby Rush, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Shemekia Copeland, Bob Margolin, Hubert Sumlin and more.
For the fall of 2011, working with the city of Ocean City and sponsors — which Birch says he is currently seeking — Birch plans to hold his second big music festival in the region. He says the right sponsors could make the event a huge success.
"The festival is going to be free," says Birch. "If 30,000 people came to the block party this year, imagine how many will come if there's a free three-day music festival as well."
Birch notes that aside from bringing in national acts and acts from several different genres — "Im thinking of Sunday being a gospel concert followed by the young Christian rock bands that are so popular," he says — the festival will certainly have a place for local musicians as well.
Birch also hopes to have a parade aspect during the festival with a Mummers-type feel.
"Wouldn't that be cool?" says Birch.
The festival will be produced by Bubba & Mac Enterprises. Contact Birch to find out more about sponsorship opportunties. There is contact information on the official Bubba Mac Blues Band Web site.
Watch video from this year's Ocean City Fall Block Party:
Among the gems designed to extend the shoulder season beyond Labor Day is an idea from musician, entrepreneur and long-time Ocean City resident Herb “Bubba” Birch — bolstering a 27-year-old fall block party weekend with what is being dubbed the inaugural Ocean City Boardwalk Music Festival.
Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes play Ocean City's Music Pier Saturday May 28.
Live music is a Deck staple every Saturday and Sunday afternoon and every night of the week in the summer, weather permitting, through Sept. 12. It then switches to a Friday-through-Sunday schedule leading up to the annual Deck Blowout Party on Sept. 26 before closing for the season.
“Somers Point has missed him, all South Jersey has missed him. He’s an icon in our community and the music industry. He’s entertaining and fun, and will be helping to bring the Somers Point music scene back to where it belongs."
Hosted by the Danny Eyer Band and produced by Tony Mart’s Presents, the All-Star Jam for Access One will include local musical mainstays Dr. Bobby Fingers, Bob Campanell, Billy Walton, Bubba Mac and more...
Once you’ve attended an event in the Tony Mart’s Presents series you’re likely to become a fan for life, and a prime opportunity for newcomers to get their proverbial feet wet will take place Sunday, June 13, at Sandi Pointe Coastal Bistro in Somers Point.
For about the last three years — beginning with a 25th anniversary show celebrating the storied Somers Point landmark called Tony Mart’s (1944-‘82) — the “Tony Mart’s Presents” series has been reviving the legacy of southern New Jersey rock ‘n’ roll with a diversity of excellent musicians. That trend will continue, and this year Carmen Marotta of Tony Mart’s Presents will also co-produce with Bob Koob a comedy series at Sandi Pointe Coastal Bistro.
A sepia-toned portrait of bluesman James Cotton hangs on a cluttered wall inside the Ocean City office of Herb "Bubba" Birch. Cotton, with a cap on his curly head and a harmonica clenched in his fist, is captured performing live at the former Bubba Mac Shack over the bridge in Somers Point. He was one of several renowned blues artists that Birch's popular joint brought in during its roughly four years of existence before it closed in the fall of 2004. "I have hundreds of these photos," says Birch, pointing to cardboard boxes piled on the floor. "I just don't have anywhere to hang them up anymore." One senses that Birch misses the music, camaraderie, and good times that his five-bar, three-stage Somers Point restaurant and nightspot used to offer the local community. Since it closed -- in part because of city restrictions pertaining to live music after 11pm, which didn't mesh with the indoor/outdoor layout of the former Bay Avenue venue -- Birch says he's hungered for the opportunity to provide some of the nation's heralded blues greats a southern New Jersey stage to play, as well as area audiences a chance to experience them live. "[At the Shack] we had music...
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1. JorgeNueman said... on Nov 19, 2010 at 04:34PM
“great idea”
2. Ashley Campolattaro said... on Nov 21, 2010 at 10:37AM
“Looking forward to it! We'll be there!”
3. Dario said... on Nov 21, 2010 at 12:40PM
“Very cool.”
4. Anonymous said... on Nov 23, 2010 at 11:57AM
“theres just one problem.ocean city does not allow any beer or spirits.for me,that's a slight problem..i enjoy a couple of drinks when i go to concerts. .i stopped going to appel farm because of that issue...good luck with it..atlantic city was great this year with their mardi gras shows..that i will be looking forward to again.”
5. "Mac" said... on Nov 23, 2010 at 02:34PM
“I look forward to working on the line-up and hearing some of my favorite acts. "Back in the Biz of Music...."Life is Gooood"”