Tupper Arts announces another exciting summer of good music from Sunset Stage

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by Dan McClelland

Tupper Arts this month released its line-up of talented performers in its summer-long Summer Sunset Series at the village’s Flanders Park bandshell.

The event is again sponsored by the Village of Tupper Lake, a number of generous business and corporate sponsors and the many folks who attend the performances and who donate to them. All performances are free but donations are encouraged to support the special musical event in Tupper Lake.

For the second time in as many years, the series features performances on most Monday and Wednesday evenings at 7p.m.

The summer performances at the bandshell open on on a festive noted on Friday, July 4 with a late afternoon performance (4:30p.m.) by “Moment’s Notice”, a local band that performs jazz, Latin and more. The pre-fireworks second concert on Independence Day is by a well known Tupper Lake band, “Legend,” the skilled performers of classic rock. “Legend” starts at 7p.m. and concludes just before the aerial show explodes over the park.

On Monday, July 7 the players of the Larry Hamm/Paul Myers Quartet, who specialize in popular jazz tunes, will entertain the crowd that evening that will be relaxing on their blankets and lawn chairs.

The Atkinson Family Band and its bluegrass melodies and rapid runs will be the featured entertainers two nights later on July 9.

It’s the Big Band and swing music that was so popular during the 30s, 40s and 50s that will be at the Sunset Stage of the band shell on Monday, July 14 when the New Horizons Swing Ambassadors come to town.

Later that week on Wednesday evening there’s more good rock and roll tunes from another able Tupper Lake band. They are from Tupper Lake’s Junction, and appropriately called “Junction Jam.”

Fans of the rock and roll of the 1950s and early 1960s will want to hear “Frankie & The Moonlighters” when they perform their classic hit on the Sunset Stage. They are set to play on Monday, July 21.

“Organ Fairchild,” a jam band, will be on stage in Flanders Park two nights later on July 23.

The lone Saturday evening performance in the series will happen on July 26 when “Danny Lipsitz and the Brass Tacks” will light the stage with its diversified must of swing, rock and roll and vintage pop.

George and Liz Cordes and their High Peaks Opera Company, which has brought great Shakespeare tales to the park each of the seven summers the popular series has been running here, is back again this year. The performance by the great playwright this summer will be a favorite, “As You Like It.” That performance is Monday, July 28.

“The Big Takeover,” a Reggae and soul band, which wowed a packed audience last summer is returning to the series on Wednesday, July 30.

Four performance are set right now for the first of August.

The traditional Celtic rock of the British Isles and Ireland in particular will be served loudly and enthusiastically by “Knotty Paddy on the first date in August- the 4th.

Two nights later on Wednesday, August 6 a local band, “Spring Street,” featuring Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake performers, including a strong female vocalist, Valerie, “ is back and guaranteed to delight the crowd in the park again this year.

The music described as “Americana,” will be served a’plenty by the “Bob Stump Band” again this year on Monday, August 11.

The final evening of the series will be devoted to a program called “Sunset Showcase,” a mix of music of some of our town’s best talent.

For more information about the “Summer Sunset Series,” visit tupperarts.org.