Jimmy Tingle In Lynn, Jimmy Tingle's American Dream

Jimmy Tingle play the Lynn Community
Coffee House Friday

Having moved to Lynn in 2006, I like to promote shows going on in my own backyard. Friday, Jimmy Tingle will be kicking off the Lynn Community Coffee House at St. Stephen’s Church on Common Street. There is a heavy community angle to the show, which will also feature works from local artists and a silent auction to benefit ECCO, an organization that helps to create jobs for Lynn youth.

Jocelyn Almy-Testa, one of the organizers of the event, hopes will help the city develop more of an arts and entertainment scene. “I think events like this, and also other things going on in the city, like The Lynn Auditorium programming, events being held at LynnArts, Walnut Street, and Arts After Hours, are all contributing to an environment in which people see Lynn as a place to go to have meaningful experiences, and quality entertainment options,” she says. “It helps commerce, helps our quality of life, gives people a chance to enjoy themselves, and overall brings the community together in a positive way.”

Tingle ran Jimmy Tingle’s Off-Broadway Theater for five years in Somerville, and he knows what a good venue or show can do for the local economy. “It helps the performers, it helps the local community, it helps the church, it helps all the people who benefit from the church, and it helps the local economy in a big way,” he says. “For every one dollar that is spent on an entertainment ticket, three dollars is spent in the surrounding neighborhood.”

Don White, one of the other organizers of the event, will host the show.

Tingle’s documentary, Jimmy Tingle’s American Dream, just won best documentary at the Independent Film Quarterly Film and New Media Festival last month. He’s looking to tour more festivals with the film this year. Here’s a quick preview: