Local bands bring music to the park to ignite celebration of Fourth
Dan McClelland
Two local bands- Night School and Spring Street- treated a local and visiting audience assembled on lawn chairs and blankets across the spacious grounds of Flanders Park- to a late afternoon and evening of excellent tunes on Independence Day. There were big crowds for both performances, among the biggest in the concert series' four-year history.
The free concerts by the local and area musicians were The July Fourth gift to the community from Tupper Arts and the Village of Tupper Lake and was the opening event of this summer's concert in the park series. First to perform was Night School, featuring Ben and Andrew McClelland, Jay Martin, Ryan Gillis and Micah Tyo, whose collection of tunes from the 1970s and 1980s brought many to the dance floor in front of the bandshell during those two hours. The boys had the place rocking.
Andrew and Ben produced very strong vocals and an incredible range, which complimented nicely the shredding and strong guitar playing of Jay Martin and solid performances by bassist Micah and drummer Ryan.
More rock and roll and some blues kept the party going when Spring Street came on stage at 7p.m. The band produced some amazing vocal harmonies in their performance of more crowd favorites. The Spring Street performers were the very versatile and very talented musician, Wayne Davison on bass and vocals, Tupper Lake drummer Josh Pratt, who plays with a number of local and area bands, Vocalist Val Rogers and Tupper Lake's Ed Schaum, a very accomplished guitarist, who with Wayne harmonized well with the bombastic lead singer. Earlier in his career Ed played often in the New York City area. Joining the three and his dad that evening to play guitar and also join in the vocals was guest Bryce Davison, who back in high school here was a familiar face on the high school stage.
The summer concert series continues tonight at 7p.m. with a band called On 3- which will perform harmonic hits from the 1970s to now. On Monday, July 11 Ursa and The Major Key will be on the Sunset Stage, performing Indie and Psychedelic Rock.
Across the park at the baseball stadium shortly after 5p.m. Monday, baseball fans were treated to an exciting game of baseball between Tupper's Riverpigs and rivals, the Plattsburgh Thunderbirds, an event which also drew a good crowd.
The evening was capped off in style by the explosion of fireworks over the park after dusk. The annual show was another gift to the community and its many visitors over the holiday from the village and town governments and the Tupper Lake Chamber of Commerce.