Sevenings: CCE Nightlife in Essex County

About Turn It Up Edition

Sevening (v.): the act of showing up after seven(ish), for your people, your community, and honestly yourself in Essex County. The definition’s turned all the way up this week. In need of the original? It’s still keeping it down in our About Time Edition.

Oh hey there, Essex County. I’m baaaaack, honeys, and the volume’s already cranked way past what the neighbors agreed to. That totally tracks. Well, I’m not turning it back down now. 

Yuppers, honeys, it is me, (un)forever yeong. That’s right, I have clawed my way out of the paperwork pile, glitter pen still stuck to fingers, and have told Cole Edge and Stu Dent to grab all the speakers and I mean all of them. I got the mic and the volume knobs, and already turning the dials past ten before the first paragraph is even done!

Last week Essex County was getting schooled and doing a sound check for this week with songs from the heart, a table full of board games, post-punk goth yoga, a lawn full of Princess Bride fans, a sound healing, a Muppet burlesque gone rogue, and more sevenings.

This week has one setting for volume and I mean that in every possible way the word can mean something. Some nights it’s decibels. Some nights it’s a full shelf of it. Either way, honeys, I did not climb out of that paperwork to whisper. Let’s see what’s turning it up for the week and let’s amp it up.

September 15, 2026

Geya Jenda’s Birthday Read N’ Roast at 7:30 PM

First sevening of the week and (un)forever yeong is already grinning, because nothing turns up the volume in a room faster than a roast. Gulu-Gulu Cafe hosts Salem’s own Geya Jenda for a birthday celebration that David Harnch, Maxine Harrison, Lydia, Dylicious, Dick Kayin, Ria Lystic, and Peewee Vermin are treating as an open mic for the truth. Rumor has it the guest of honor gives as good as she gets, so expect gasps to get louder than the punchlines. I’m definitely doing a Bill and Bob Boilermaker, honeys. Bring your loudest laugh, shiniest sparkles and your thickest skin, in that order.

September 16, 2026

Trivia with Joseph Marino at 7:00 PM

Turn up for one of the best kinds of loud, the kind where nobody agrees on the answer until somebody shouts it right. Gentile Brewing welcomes Joseph Marino to Beverly on a brand new night, so update the calendar and update your volume, because a bar full of confident wrong answers gets rowdy fast. My strategy has always been “answer fast and with conviction,” results vary. No sign-ups, no pressure, just a room of yellers trying to out-yell each other into a win. Grab three friends who peaked in a specific decade of trivia knowledge and let it rip. For extra volume, order Kevin’s Funky Cask Tea Time for Lady Grey that just dropped this week, right in time for sevenings.

September 17, 2026

WICKCRAFT: Pour Your Own Halloween Candle at 7:00 PM

Get ready for a different kind of volume, the kind measured in ounces. French Press Candle Co sets up at Jenni Stuart Fine Jewelry in downtown Salem for an evening of blending and pouring your own scent into a reusable Halloween cocktail glass, filled right up to the line. Honeys, of course, I’ma choose a fragrance loud enough to announce me before I enter a room. A portion of every fee helps animal rescue efforts at Northeast Animal Shelter, so this pour turns up the volume twice over. Witching season is here, honeys, fill your glass and light it proud.

Kingston Carnival, September 17 through 20

Who got volume? Kingston Carnival! Um, hellur! A carnival is volume with a midway attached. Fiesta Shows sets up at the Kingston Collection with fifteen-plus rides, discount ride days, and a soundtrack of screams, bells, and generators that never quite turns off. I’m going on all the twirly rides and not splitting my cotton candy, caramel apples, and popcorn. This one runs the full four days, so pack the whole crew, honeys, and let the midway do what a midway does best, get loud, get bright, get roller coastered.

Salem CritterFest, September 17 through 20

Now here’s a fun twist, my favorite kind of volume this week doesn’t make a sound. Cinema Salem hosts Salem Screens’ latest festival, and it’s less about how loud the room gets and more about how much gets shown, a whole volume’s worth of films exploring the bond between humans and the animal kingdom. I mean volume like a bookshelf, stacked, packed, four days deep. All animals. Sit, snack, watch close, and let the lineup have all the volume. Consider this the one sevening this week where turning it up means turning up instead.

September 18, 2026

Dead to the Core, September Show at 8:00 PM

Back to decibels, and nope, not sorry about it. The Cut in Gloucester hosts its resident band for another night of Grateful Dead devotion, amps up, jams long, volume knobs apparently welded past 11. My fave part of a jam band is the part where nobody knows when the song ends, least of all the band. This is a monthly residency running through a year-end finale, so tonight is only the opening act of a much longer set. 21+, ID required, no exceptions. Come stand close to the speakers, honeys, let that volume speak to you and feel it in your chest.

Friday Night Karaoke at 8:00 PM

The mic doesn’t care if you can sing, only if you’re willing to be heard. The Babe hands it over again, hosted by ND Productions, wireless mics and weekly themes included. I’m coming for the power ballad, not apologizing for it, and fully expects the room to sing along whether they know the words or not. Kitchen stays open until 11 for scratch-made bar food, so nobody has to belt on an empty stomach. Grab the mic, honeys, and let the volume carry whatever the pitch can’t.

September 19, 2026

Comedy in the Taproom at 8:00 PM

Laughter has a volume too, and per’s here to help the room hit it. Granite Coast Brewing in Peabody welcomes KDA Live Productions for a night of stand-up featuring Kaity Tessier, Nathan Long, Ms. Laddy Sosa, and Jason Fishman, with Kevin D’Ambrosio hosting. I’m timing my own laugh for maximum disruption, it’s a bit, I swearsy. Teeheehee. Seating is first come, doors open at 3, tickets $15 in advance or $20 at the door. It’s me, it’s a Seraphine, it’s you, and a cranberry shandy in your future. A room laughing at full volume is one of the best sounds Essex County makes, so show up and help make it.

Venus in Fury Burlesque at 9:00 PM

Some nights the volume isn’t sound at all, it’s intensity, and this is that night. Produced by Ivana Bendova and Dick Kayin at Koto in Salem, this drag and burlesque show turns rage all the way up, examining what it means to carry that feeling inside the femme and female experience in a world running hot on AI and overconsumption. Let’s be bringing our whole chests to this one. Doors at 9, show at 9:30, 21+, tickets $20 at the door. This is volume with a message behind it, honeys, so come ready to feel it, not just hear it.

September 20, 2026

Irish Night Underground, Halfway to St. Paddy’s Day at 5:00 PM

We’re ending the week the way we started it, outloud. The Bell Inn & Tavern in Peabody welcomes back comedian Allie DelFranco and her leprechauns for step lessons, Guinness, and Shepherd’s Pie, all ages welcome until the room tips fully adult. Consider yourself already warned that I have two left feet and zero rhythm, and showing up anyway. Doors open at 5, dancing runs until 8. Stomping feet on a wood floor might be the most honest kind of volume there is, honeys, so lace up and let it thunder.

Consider this your speaker system, fully cranked, for the week, honeys. We turned all the way up and then some. No volume cap, always at full blast.

That’s just this week’s sevening lineup, honeys. There’s always more sevening than fits in one week, so go check the full calendar. CC members, if your event needs to be blasted, submit a member marketing request and let’s get turn up the volume.

Not on the newsletter yet? That’s just an unplugged chord, plug yourself into the newsletter. And follow us on the socials, @creativecollectivema and @creativecollectiveexplores, yes both, honeys, and no exceptions.

Until next week, Essex County. Stay sevening. You know where to find us. We’re everywhere.

– (un)forever yeong, back at full volume, with Cole Edge and Stu Dent still hovering by the speakers, from the (s)evening shift, out. Welcome back, honeys. What? What? I have noise cancelling headphones on. I can’t hear you…

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