Originally published November 24, 2023
Fall Edition 2023 - Digital Edition
“I think we have the ability to continue to offer really quality recreational opportunities within the park. But we don’t feed and house people in the park. That happens in the towns. And that’s where we have to have, again, this ongoing conversation about what do we want our collective future to look like?”
By Jaiden van Bork
Doesn’t the air feel a little bit colder than it should this time of year? Isn’t it odd that the temperature has spent the last couple of months flip-flopping between hot and cold and hot and cold? Is it really October – no… NOVEMBER??? ALREADY???
If climate anxieties and the relentless progression of time have got you down this lovely New England autumn — fear not, for Payomet is here (tent-less as we may be) to provide you with consistent, unique programming. In fact, we have four incredible upcoming shows that we are just DYING to tell you about.
“We love the tent in Truro, it’s our home, but we also love taking shows on the road in the off-season,” says marketing director, Lara Henry, “There’s a certain level of camaraderie, or solidarity, we feel with our year-round patrons.”
The festivities kick off with KAT WRIGHT, an artist from Burlington, Vermont (where she owns the iconic music venue known as Radio Bean) who was named 2023’s “best soul/funk/R&B artist or group” by Seven Days, and has been described by critics as “a young Bonnie Raitt meets Amy Winehouse”. Wright has been a prominent figure in the New England roots music scene for a number of years and brings a unique blend of soul and country to our programming this fall.
I spend a great deal of time in Wright’s home base of Burlington, and every time I visit, her name is hard to avoid — on posters, in newspaper ads, and in conversation with music lovers across the city. It’s a reputation well-earned, thanks to Wright’s iconic voice and thoughtful lyricism, which carries her performances to a remarkable level.
Wright comes to Cape Cinema in Dennis THIS SUNDAY, the 26th – so don’t miss it.
As we move into December, Payomet is bringing another fantastic act to Wellfleet’s Preservation Hall — stunning bluegrass string quartet MR. SUN, who will be performing their interpretation of Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite.
The band released a taste of this performance earlier this month — a rendition of Ellington and Strayhorn’s “Sugar Rum Cherry (Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy)” — and it is truly impressive. The jazz composer’s legendary reinterpretation of Tchaikovsky’s magical ballet is groundbreaking enough as it is — but the members of Mr. Sun expand upon this confluence of musical genius even further, weaving careful attention to the original material with creative and expressive deviations from Ellington’s score.
In the spirit of the holidays, come see these phenomenal string players perform this composition live in Wellfleet on Tuesday, December 5th.
Next up is a familiar name in the Payomet world — the one and only JIMMY TINGLE — who comes to Cape Cinema in Dennis on December 10th. Few comedians are as synonymous with Massachusetts than Tingle, who was born and raised in Cambridge and continues to be a symbol of local talent throughout the state (while also captivating audiences outside of its borders).
In collaboration with Jimmy Tingle’s Humor for Humanity, Payomet will donate $5 from each ticket sold to The Family Pantry of Cape Cod, an impactful local organization who are currently on track to donating $7.5 million worth of food to Cape Cod residents in 2023.
As the winter season approaches, we also bring the renowned Swedish folk’apella group KONGERO to Thacher Hall in Yarmouth Port to share their mastery of traditional Nordic vocal music, with their icy harmonies and crystalline voices.
““There are a capella groups, and then there’s Kongero,” says Chris Nickson of RootsWorld Magazine, “The quartet of Swedish women create wonderfully crisp, pure music… On a mix of traditional and self-composed pieces, they shine with a crystalline brilliance.”
This performance is part of Payomet’s Open Arms to Open Arts Initiative, featuring programming
that brings music, language, and culture of different lands and indigenous peoples into performance spaces across Cape Cod– from the big-top tent to community centers, and schools– to foster meaningful connections between audiences and artists.
Kongero joins us in Yarmouth Port on December 12th!
But before we reach the New Year, there is still more music to be heard. In particular, the incredible blues ensemble ROOMFUL OF BLUES will be joining us for a show in the heart of Provincetown at Provincetown Town Hall. The legendary big band has been active since the late sixties and has not lost steam since then, playing shows internationally and releasing a catalog of 20 studio albums, ending with their 2020 record In a Roomful of Blues.
Having played with the likes of Count Basie, BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and more, Roomful of Blues has maintained some impressive chops over the years, despite many line-up changes. Come check the sound USA Today called “High-voltage swingin’ jump blues and R&B” on December 16th at Provincetown Town Hall.
Payomet Performing Arts Center looks forward to continuing its role in the New Year as a leading presenter of performing arts at the Highlands Center on Cape Cod in partnership with the National Park Service!
Blues-rock legend Walter Trout hit the stage at the Payomet Performing Arts Center on Saturday, September 23 for a truly unforgettable performance.
Trout cut his teeth on the Jersey Shore in the late 60’s before moving to L.A. where he emerged as a go-to session guitarist for the likes of John Lee Hooker, Percy Mayfield, Big Mama Thornton, Joe Tex and many others. In the early 80’s, he was the lead guitarist for a crazed, some would say unhinged, lineup of Canned Heat, and he toured with them extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Australia.
From 1984 to 1989 Walter was the lead guitarist for John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and his hard-driving, passion-fueled guitar style won him many fans and accolades worldwide. But Walter’s excesses during these chaotic and self-destructive years were epic, and those closest to him worried that his conscious altering forays were far darker than just a young rock star blowing off steam. Trout found sobriety toward the end of his tenure with the Bluesbreakers, and often credits a post-gig heart-to-heart with Carlos Santana for helping him to change paths.
Trout left the Bluesbreakers in 1989 and formed the Walter Trout Band which developed a cult-like following in Europe. The L.A. Times called his first solo album “Life in The Jungle” “…the greatest album in the history of the blues-rock genre.” Walter recorded and toured extensively with the band until 2013 when his health deteriorated significantly, ultimately requiring a liver transplant. His recovery from that procedure was long and arduous, but Trout never gave up on his family or his music, releasing in 2019 the highly acclaimed “Survivor Blues” and his most recent album, in 2022, entitled “Ride.”
Not surprisingly, the 12 songs on “Ride” are deep and grizzled reflections on childhood trauma, a life lived fast and close to the edge, and the possibilities and potential for redemption. In a recent interview with Robin Davey of Guitarist Magazine, Trout mused that “. . . sometimes I wish maybe I could escape a little bit from my past . . . But sometimes I just can’t help it—I’m still very affected by memories, you know? I can’t block them out and they affect me deeply. There’s a lot of people that I loved who are gone, and I’m like ‘What am I still doing here?’
Well, he’s ripping up stages from Boston to Brisbane, that’s what! Trout’s masterful technique and soulful singing style have not diminished in the least despite the long, hard road, and he still gets ultimate satisfaction in performing to live audiences. “I intend to go out as much as I can and keep doing this till I just can’t do it anymore,” he told Davey. “Being a musician, I consider that a very, very noble pursuit. That is a beautiful, higher spiritual endeavor that we try to do, to bring some joy into someone’s life. And I intend to keep doing that as long as I can, whatever the circumstances.”
Afro-Cuban jazz and funk fans please mark your calendars because the legendary percussionist Pedrito Martinez is bringing his Grammy nominated thwack to the Payomet tent on Saturday September 2nd at 7:00 p.m.
Born in Havana, Pedro Pablo “Pedrito” Martinez began playing as a child, banging out rhythms on the conga, cajon, timbale and bongo drums on the streets of Cayo Hueso, a neighborhood in Old Havana renowned for its African inspired rhumba music. He performed professionally in Cuba as a teenager, mastering first traditional folkloric music, and later the extraordinarily complex styles derived from Lukumi culture and the ceremonial bata drum.
Pedrito moved to New York in the late 90’s and was a founding member of the highly acclaimed Afro-Cuban/Afro Beat band “Yerba Buena.” He later founded The Pedrito Martinez Group and their self-titled debut album, released in 2013, was Grammy nominated for best Latin Jazz album, and featured guest appearances from jazz luminaries Wynton Marsalis, John Schofield and Steve Gadd.
The group has since released three more albums, and over the course of his career Pedrito has recorded or performed with musical giants ranging from Paquito D’Rivera, Chucho Valdez and Eddie Palmieri to Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews, Sting and Jackson Browne.
His most recent album, “Acertijos” (Riddles), was released in March and features performances by Eric Clapton, Jon Faddis and Isaac Delgado. This new release will undoubtedly take center stage at Pedrito’s Payomet performance and revels in African Yorumba, Cuban Rhumba and Timba, and New Orleans Jazz. Wow!
Pedrito’s percussive virtuosity and composing skill enables the group to bend and blend various musical styles to create a sound that is truly unique. This beat is infectious and will have you wriggling in your seat or jumping up to sway with this international master at the top of his craft!
From Deb:
First thing, I am happy to be newly working with so many talented people, both on staff and on the Board at Payomet. What an amazing organization!
I am especially thrilled to have been asked to join Lisa, whom I hold dear and admire a lot, in initiating a program for Payomet that feeds our longing for more racially and culturally diverse experiences here on the Outer Cape. This I see is in the service of the healing changes we long for in our larger body politic.
I grew up in Eastham, as did my dad and his grandparents. Eastham was all white then. My high school and college years were during the civil rights movement and I watched the injustice of segregation from confrontations in Alabama and Mississippi. This motivated me to join with others to change laws to protect the most vulnerable, the most marginalized among us. And we did that.
The young people who were arrested while protesting for an end to discrimination in the Children’s Crusade sparked an urgency in me then, as we watched them getting firehosed and attacked by police dogs.
The 1960s saw a pivotal moment when I witnessed and participated in making large changes happen. The power of people coming together with a shared purpose is not a performance to be watched. It is a process to take part in. And the music carried the message of that moment. It burns still. The music bound us together then and music still does.
Payomet has been bringing us together, with world-class concerts and performances for lo these many years.
The call to take ever more explicit shared leadership in building diverse community relationships is a thing we can do here. Music is one tool, and Payomet is the platform.
As a Gestalt Therapist and Trainer, I am engaged with colleagues in developing other useful tools to bring people together and generate the seeds of change.
The story of the near annihilation of the people native to this land, and the heinous and profitable system of kidnapping people from Africa and enslaving them to do the labor — these are ways the US became the materially wealthy nation we are. But the consequences of these brutal systems from US history are still unfolding and serve to divide us from one another.
The time is now and the place is here for practicing shared ever more diverse community leadership as we realign with our innate human capacity for compassion, curiosity, and collaboration.
As Lisa says, we are lucky to be part of an interested and educated public here. We hope to find a few neighbors who want to work with us to help diversify our cultural leadership with their experiences and ideas. We are looking for people who would like
to volunteer their time and expertise in helping to bring more musically and culturally reflective diversity to our organization. Are you interested? Email one of us to talk. You might be right for Payomet’s sub-committee on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging
From Lisa:
I have recently retired, but have been teaching at Nauset Regional High School (where I graduated from in 1976) as a diversity educator since 2000. Because of our isola- tion from the “real world” and our homogeneity here on the outer Cape, I created a course entitled Exploring & Respecting Differences, which was based on historic and current human rights events and social justice, and included units on conflict resolution; gender; morals, values and ethics; and issues of cultural diversity. I also taught World Music, a class that studied music through the lens of culture and ethnicity.
I took students to LaGonave, Haiti for 17 years as part of a cultural immersion & humanitarian effort, which culminated in a deep and lasting partnership and friendship between a small mountain village, our Outer Cape community, and Nauset High School. I led trips to The International Human Rights Summit at The Hague and in Berlin with students from Nauset in 2016, and again this past summer focusing on Human Rights and sustainability issues.
I was the semi-finalist for Massachusetts Teacher of The Year 2018, and have been recognized by the NAACP, the United Nations Human Rights Office, International Church Women United, the Cape & Islands Community Development Partnership, the Barnstable County Human Rights Commission, and our State and National Legislature for championing social justice initiatives. I served on the Department of Elementary & Secondary Education’s Teacher Advisory Cabinet on policy development for the state, where I aided in developing a statewide, high school cultural diversity curriculum rubric.
I was invited to join the Board of Directors at Payomet three years ago. As a musician myself (I am a percussionist), I recognize the efficacy of music in carrying a message to the listener and in bringing people together for a common cause. We have a unique opportunity at Payomet to serve as a reflection of our changing demographics and to expose our listeners to more culturally and ethnically diverse music by inviting musi- cians from all over the world to perform under our tent.
We are fortunate to have an interested and educated public who welcome such magical and mystical forays into new musical experience. Reflecting our strength through the var- ied differences from which we come, music has the power to bind us together in common experience. Payomet is a joyous place and I am proud to be a small part of an ever-diver- sifying foray into musical parts unknown!
A Note from the Editor
Greetings again from the Truro Tent — and happy Thanksgiving to all who cele- brate! We’ve been away momentarily, but we are back with the Fall Edition of this newspaper, just in time for America’s favorite holiday.
This particular occasion is riddled with complexities and means many different things to different people. For some, it’s an opportunity to express gratitude, indulge in fantastic food, and reflect on our American values. For others, it is a reminder of the legacy of violence and oppression that has enabled so many white, upper-middle-class Americans to feel so “thankful” for what they have today. For some (such as myself), it may be both
When reflecting on all that we possess, many questions arise. What are we thankful for? Why must we be thankful? Why are we more thankful for some things than others? How did we come by what wealth we have? Is it even enough to just be thankful?
In this issue, we have intentionally set our sights on the idea of equity — a particu- larly relevant concept given all of these questions (not to mention world events in general). As we reflect on our many assets, we must consider how to use them in order to further the well-being of the diverse range of people who make up our communities. On page 4, you’ll find some insider info from board members Lisa Brown and Deb Ullman — who have both spent their lives as activists in pursuit of equity — on how Payomet seeks to practice prin- ciples of diversity, equity, and inclusion as a community-focused organization. After all, our great asset that we are blessed to have is the arts — and it is of the utmost importance that we share this gift with as many people as possible, in hopes that it can enrich the lives of many.
I encourage you to be thoughtful as you celebrate this holiday season and reflect on this commitment we all must make to confronting oppression and exploitation worldwide — whatever form it takes. Be thankful for, and recognize the value in your individuality, your freedom, your rights, and your home.
And, dear reader, know how thankful we are for you.
– Jaiden van Bork, Editor, the Truro Tent
