NORTHAMPTON — The summer months bring a revived energy to downtown Northampton coinciding with a plethora of outdoor concerts and events like Bands on Brewster and Parties in the Park adding more life to the streets of Paradise City.
Bands on Brewster kicked back off for another summer weekly series of free live concerts on June 6 and will ongoing Thursday nights until the end of August in downtown Northampton.
Located between the E.J. Gare Parking Garage and the Northampton Brewery, each week brings a new high-energy performance from some of the best local and regional talents.
Northampton Arts Council Events Producer Steve Sanderson told Reminder Publishing that Bands on Brewster brings an element of nostalgia for him as a longtime resident of the city and added it is important for the community to have events like this.
“It’s been great. It feels like Northampton in the ‘90s, which was my heyday in Northampton,” said Sanderson. “I prefer to be surrounded by freaks of all sizes, shapes and colors. I want to see the color and the vibrancy of the city. I want to see the weirdos and the different takes and the different thoughts, and nothing brings people together quicker than live music. You put a live band in the middle of the city, and it draws everybody in. Everybody comes in and hangs out, and that’s when really cool things happen, is when people who don’t normally hang out with one another start interacting. That’s community building.”
Sanderson added that with the Iron Horse’s recent stretch of being closed, it created a void in spaces for bands to get opportunities. Bands on Brewster has created a space during the summer months to help add to the potential opportunities for live performing artists in the area.
“It was kind of rough pickings for bands who don’t have an incredibly large draw to find a place to play and develop. Or older bands that have been playing around forever,” said Sanderson of venues closing and the impacts from the coronavirus pandemic to the city’s entertainment scene. “A lot of new people have moved to this area, and they don’t have the same recollection that some of us that have been here for 30 years do in that this was ground zero. This was mecca for live original music.”
Sanderson continued, “We had Pearl Street. We had the Calvin. We had the Academy and the Iron Horse all just cranking here. Pearl Street had a club room where you could get a gig. There’s always been someone trying to feed this local scene, but the thing is, in order to have a vibrant music scene, you need what I call an incubator. You need a club where anybody can play regardless of draw.”
Bands on Brewster’s next date is Thursday, July 17 and will feature performances from Hannah Mohan and Stefan Weiner. The remaining dates will feature performances by Lucia Dostal, the Hendersons Blues Band, Temporary Friends and Jeff Coyne, Gold Dust, Ruby Lou and closing out the summer series of performances will be Prewn on Aug. 28.
All shows are weather dependent. For updates on rain delays or cancelations, follow @nohoarts on Instagram as updates will be posted by 10 a.m. on the day of each show.
“If music and dancing doesn’t make you happy, you want to take a good look in the mirror because there is something else going on,” Sanderson said with a laugh. “For the rest of us, it’s bringing us together. It’s making us exchange ideas and become friends and forge relationships and become a stronger community.”
Party in the Park shares a lot of the same values that Bands on Brewster and other ongoing city public events have in terms of creating a community gathering around music during these summer months.
Sanderson said Northampton Arts Council counterparts Executive Director Brian Foote and Assistant Producer Peter McQuillan grew up with DJ culture, different from his punk rock and three-chords cowboy country songs background and this was their idea.
“They’ve always been passionate about that. We’ve befriended many, many DJs in Western Mass. now through everything,” said Sanderson.
After collaborating with local DJ Studebaker Hawk, the new series was born and will feature a rotating cast of DJs of various genre backgrounds. Whether you’re a seasoned dancer or just want to groove with the beat, the event welcomes the community to gather downtown and enjoy the vibes.
The series started on July 9 with a Queer Dance Party theme and will continue every Wednesday until Aug. 27, from 6 to 9 p.m. at Pulaski Park. The July 16 theme will be Caribbean Vibes with DJ Trends, with Reggae and Rare Groove being the following themes to close out the month of July hosted by DeeJay Theory and DJ Malik Abdul-Rahmaan.
In August, themes will feature Boogie with DJ Keat Sweat, Wooly Bully Soul with DH Cashman and Snack Attack, Breaks with DJ Rec1ne, and Disco to close out the series with DJ’s Just Hoan and Studebaker Hawk.
“People can come and dance and we just do free music at Pulaski Park. We should be using Pulaski Park, it’s a public park. It’s the people’s park. Everyone should feel like they belong in the park,” said Sanderson.
All performances are weather dependent. In case of questionable weather, updates will be posted by 10 a.m. on the day of the show via @nohoarts on Instagram and on the city of Northampton’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Sanderson added events like these aren’t possible without the community that is Northampton.
“Living in this city since 1994, I’ve developed a lot of strong and long-term relationships and it’s impossible to do this sort of work without those. Like our friends at the Northampton Brewery, if they weren’t interested in supporting live original music, I don’t know that Bands on Brewster happens,” said Sanderson. “The city, our local elected officials understanding how Northampton works and that at its core we are an arts community and that’s one of the reasons we’re here, and one of the reasons people come or used to come here. We are an arts community and if you don’t nurture the arts, you’re just going to have a bunch of condos full of people from other places, and no flavor, no character. Don’t be afraid of your neighbors, get to know your neighbors. You don’t have to like them or hangout with them, but you should at least know them because maybe you would like them.”
