Provincetown Magazine

The Provincetown Music Festival: The Start of Something New

By Nicholas Messing

September 13, 2007

The season for music lovers will be extended into fall with the vibrant sounds of the first Provincetown Music Festival. Organizer Bart Weisman has been a presence on the Provincetown music scene for years, playing jazz percussion everywhere from PAAM to the Provincetown Theatre, Clem & Ursie’s to Bubala’s by the Bay, and he has brought the community together by organizing popular events like the Provincetown Jazz Festival, which returned for its third year this past summer. Following the success of the Provincetown Jazz Festival, Weisman spoke with local businesses that loved the festival and wanted to do something similar in the off-season, and he eventually settled on September as the jumping off point for a new music festival.

The Provincetown Music Festival will spotlight all kinds of music, from pop to rock to folk to classical to gospel to blues. Bart Weisman recently produced Provincetown Stars, a compilation CD featuring 13 musical acts known on the local scene, and so when the idea for the Provincetown Music Festival came about, he went back to invite these artists to perform. Among the musicians from the disc that Weisman enlisted for the new festival are blues, gospel and jazz singer Ptah (pronounced “Tah”) Brown, jazz and pop singer Dane Vannatter, rock band The Grab Brothers, singer-songwriter Peter Donnelly, and jazz vocalist Carol Wyeth. Two dynamic duos will bring their musical stylings to the festival: Denise Parks and Casey Sanderson, a cabaret act frequently performing at the Crown & Anchor, and Jon Arterton and James Mack, known from “Just Married! The Musical” and the Great Music on Sundays @ 5 concert series.

The first concert of the Provincetown Music Festival will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House, a space where Weisman has always wanted to put a concert together, and the second will be at the Pilgrim Monument, a fortuitous location for the new festival since it is celebrating its centennial anniversary this year. The opening concert at the UU Meeting House will be a more acoustic, “unplugged” performance suitable for the intimate space. Ptah Brown will be performing gospel within the church setting Jon Arterton and James Mack will be backed up by John Thomas, and Peter Donnelly will be joined by guitarist Alex Pashoian and viola player Alicia Mickenberg. Filling out the bill, Denise Parks and Casey Sanderson will represent the cabaret side of things, and The Grab Brothers will bring their classic rock sound. The MC for the afternoon will be Ron Robin of Dunes 102 FM, the new Cape Cod Oldies radio station that is also a proud sponsor of the festival.

The evening concert at the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum will round out the festival with a fuller sound from a backing trio of piano, bass and drums. In contrast to the more reserved musical styles of the afternoon, Ptah Brown will sing blues and swing, and Peter Donnelly will perform a more rock- and pop-oriented set. The daughter of legendary trumpeter Lou Colombo, Lori Colombo will entertain with her sophisticated jazz-pop sound, and Carol Wyeth will bring her brand of classic jazz and blues. The backing band for the evening will consist of Steve Hershman on the keys, Laird Boles (of Tripping Lily) on bass, and Bart Weisman on drums keeping the beat swinging.

Since the festival features many artists from the Provincetown Stars compilation, many of the artists will be performing their selections from the disc in the festival— Dane Vannatter will sing “In A Mellow Tone,” Ptah Brown will bust out “Standin’ on the Sand Dunes,” and The Grab Brothers will rock out on “Tropical Gypsy.” The Provincetown Stars CD will be available for a special price at both events, and 100% of the profits from the album go to the Provincetown Fireworks Gift Fund, supporting the Fourth of July display the community enjoys each year. A portion of the proceeds from the Provincetown Music Festival will be donated to Helping Our Women (HOW) and the Carrie A. Seaman Animal Shelter (CASAS).

A Provincetown Stars Volume II is planned for next year and the Provincetown Music Festival will return as an annual fall happening. As Bart Weisman says, “We’re doing an off-season event that will bring people to town and feature all kinds of music.”