The RiverArts Music Tour will be in full swing on Saturday, June 4, from noon to 9 p.m., offering free performances by 280 artists in 32 locations.
Each venue — indoor and outdoor — may ask concertgoers to observe Covid protocols. Nevertheless, the tour will be a contrast to 2021, when the pandemic ruled out indoor performances. The tour was cancelled in 2020 following the outbreak of the coronavirus.
A venue map, performance schedules, and information about all of the artists are posted on the 2022musictour.riverarts.org website. RiverArts is experimenting with a more organized format for attendees: advance registration, which can be completed online or via a QR code, using a smartphone camera. Music lovers of any stripe are likely to find what they want to hear; every genre from Americana to world music is being played somewhere.
Adam Hart, the tour’s producer, pointed out, “We have Jon Riss, playing the organ, classical music, at Irvington Presbyterian Church. [Riss is director of choral groups at Hastings High School and Farragut Middle School.] An Irvington village trustee, Mitchell Bard, is playing drums in Dog Years, a rock band, at the Main Street School.”
Tarrytown is hosting former RiverArts board member James John Wilson, a singer-songwriter with a Southern sound, at 4 and 8 p.m., at 109 Franklin St. His voice may be familiar to Rivertowns residents, especially to frequent visitors to the Irvington Farmers’ Market, where he often performs. Hastings boasts unique attractions.
The Good Witch Coffee Bar on Southside Avenue has signed on as a new tour venue, where Introvertigo will perform. The trio play guitars, drums, electronics, “etc.,” and describe their repertoire as “psychedelic jazz garage punk electronic chamber music.”
Another artist covering a lot of bases is Hastings High School freshman Jasper Zimmerman, a jazz composer and keyboardist who’s scheduled to play at his school’s Jazz Picnic, then at the First Reformed Church at the Five Corners intersection, and later in the First Name Basis concert series at 40 Curry Road.
“This year a new site is going to be fabulous,” Hart enthused. “Amherst Drive will be a rock ‘n’ roll block party from 1-8:40 p.m.” One house, 37 Amherst, has booked back-to-back performances; neighbors have been informed about the potential noise level.
In contrast, Jenny Murphy, on guitar and vocals, will lead a family sing-along, with Concerned Families of Westchester, of songs of peace and justice, at VFW Plaza (at the top of Spring Street) at noon.
In Dobbs Ferry, the Keeper’s House on Walnut Street is for folkies: singer-song-writers Matt Turk and Tom Heany, and the trio Hudson Valley Sally, are scheduled to play at the 19th-century National Historic Landmark, which is home to the Friends of the Old Croton Aqueduct.
Those who want to “kick out the jams” will have the opportunity at Dobbs Ferry Waterfront Park, where Kofi Donkor, a master drummer from Ghana and director of the Kofi & Sankofa African Drum & Dance Ensemble, will lead a drum circle. “Bring your own drum and chair,” Hart advised. Donkor’s performance is followed by Heartwood, playing world music on African, Middle Eastern, Native American, Russian, and Hawaiian instruments. Anyone is welcome to drum — and dance.
Hart himself will be leading a noon “minimally structured” acoustic blues and folk jam session, for all levels of ability, at the gazebo in the Lenoir Nature Preserve, 19 Dudley St., in Yonkers. A member of the group Riverrun (with Ken Tuccillo and Kenny Kaufman), Hart has recorded original compositions and also teaches guitar.
With the new advance registration method, attendees will also need to check in at each venue, and will be given a badge. Indoor venue capacity is limited. Those who just show up at the door may encounter a full house, and be turned away.
Registering for outdoor events may seem unnecessary, but for a nonprofit organization that relies on grant money and donations, securing grants for the arts requires proof that an event is worth funding. “We’re giving it a shot,” Hart said.
“We’re going to see if we can get people to preregister. One of the ways we get funding for the event is, like all nonprofit organizations do, to count the people… If you don’t count people, you don’t get any money. This event has gotten lots of people over the years, but we didn’t count, with outdoor events. This year, with people getting a badge and having a QR code, we can.”
The Music Tour, in its seventh year, was the brainchild of former RiverArts artistic director Doug Coe. Despite interruptions caused by the pandemic, Hart’s positive energy for it hasn’t abated.
“I just love this event. I talk to all the musicians… and the fact that this tour offers opportunities to connect with the local community through the music — it’s something that everyone participating in can enjoy so much. People who are semi-professional finally have an opportunity to play in front of people, and people who are professional get to play for their own community. Everyone is on the same footing with this, and that’s the beauty of it. We have professionals playing, and we even have teenagers playing with them.”
