One of Chelsea’s popular summer events is the weekly Sounds & Sights on Thursday Nights. It brings live music and other performances to downtown Chelsea every Thursday evening from June through August. Thursday marked the first Sounds & Sights of 2013, so I wandered into town to see what was happening.

My first stop was at the library because the Chelsea Library is great and I always like saying hi to the wonderful people there. In June the library hosts its Comedy Showcase on the library lawn as a part of Sounds & Sights. Here you can see Kevin Kramis looking as friendly as he really is.

I would have liked to stay at the library, but I had to hear the other sounds and see the other sights, so I moved on. Of course, before I did anything else I had to stop at the front of the library to get a photo of the banner that features a picture of mine:

If you’re keeping track, that’s two giant library banners that have featured a picture of mine. That’s two more than I ever expected!

In the alley by Vogels & Fosters I found Dave Boutette.

He might have considered playing under the name Men With Hats, except then people might have expected a cover of The Safety Dance. (If you’re reading this, Dave, I wouldn’t mind hearing you do a cover of The Safety Dance…please?)

Up the street was a group that should be very familiar to Sounds & Sights regulars: Annie & Rod Capps, with Jason Dennie. If you were reading this blog two years ago you might remember a photo of this same group playing on the library lawn. This week they were in a different spot. They always manage to put a smile on my face. In fact, I might have caught myself singing along at one point…but I can neither confirm nor deny that allegation. (They’ll be playing the library lawn later in the summer.)

Here’s a closer look at Jason:

I’ve known Jason for a while now, and I’m a huge fan of his music. You can find his solo guitar work here. I cannot recommend his work strongly enough.

Here’s Annie doing what Annie does:

The Modern Day Drifters were near the railroad tracks. That’s a good place for country music, right?

Every week there’s a place for kids to get balloon animals. Did you know kids love balloon animals? They do. There’s always a crowd in that spot, and there are plenty of smiles from the kids. Like this one:

In front of Merkel’s there was a dancer named Poppet.

I found my way back to the library, where Norm Stulz was in the middle of his set.

Norm is a very expressive comedian.

As you can see in this next photo, Norm is also a funny comedian.

My last stop of the evening was outside the courthouse.

Those folks were clapping for Cold Tone Harvest.

If you’d like to join the fun, Sounds & Sights happens every Thursday evening from 6:30pm-8:30pm in downtown Chelsea from June through mid-August.