Immediately following an end-of-summer squall, ‘Shead Ahead’, a quartet comprised of two father/son pairs, kicked off Eastport Pirate Festival celebrations with a high energy set of jazz, funk and rock tunes. The fathers are Robert Sánchez, guitar, and Heron Weston, bass. Sons are Kieran Weston, drums, age 15, and Ellis Zipperer-Sánchez, age 12.
After a rapid setup, with pop-up shelter at the ready in case the rain continued, the four opened with Sánchez’s own Bossa arrangement of Gershwin’s “Summertime,” and continued for an hour of tunes in many flavors.
EAC Video was delighted to make the scene, and shares here the group’s rendition of “Summertime” plus “Autumn Leaves,” written by Joseph Kosma; “Satin Doll,” written by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, and “Chameleon,” written by Herbie Hancock, Paul Jackson, Bennie Maupin and Harvey Mason.
Robert and Ellis are shown in the 2015 YPC. 
Kieran drums with Quoddy Voices, 2019.
All four players have longtime connections to EAC, through their music, volunteer efforts and service on the EAC Board. The sons have made many notable performances on the EAC stage, with Children’s Theater Workshop (remember Kieran as John Lennon? or Justin Trudeau? How about Ellis as Banquo’s ghost?), in the Moose Island Follies and as part of the Center’s annual Young Persons’ Concert (YPC), traditionally held as the finale of the summer Concert Series.
Scroll down for a few photo memories of these performances over the years, and find more stories and videos in the YPC tradition here, including Robert and Ellis collaborating for the 2019 Moose Island Follies and Kieran drumming with Quoddy Voices for their June 2019 ‘Round the World concert finale, “Sisi Ni Moja.”
Please note too—Shead Ahead will appear Sunday, October 3 at noon in Stockford Park, Lubec, as part of LAMPS Summer Concert Series, alongside Thunderheart Lion.
Ellis, with mother Amy Zipperer, takes in a PBSO show in 2014. 
Heron Weston (second from left) sings barbershop with Bill Mullins, Alan Gore, Steve Koenig and Bill Johnson at a Quoddy Voices show in 2016. 
Ellis appears again on the YPC stage, 2016. 
Ellis, as Banquo, is in Macbeth with Children’s Theater Workshop cronies Jesse Calame, Nikoh Nickerson and Roy Duffy, 2018. 
In a 2015 Moose Island Follies production number, Ellis (counter clockwise from left), Roy Duffy, Kieran, Wren Fraser, Art Ingalls, Duane Ingalls and Robert create an “Octopus’ Garden.”
The work of Eastport Arts Center is funded in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.