On a bright, seasonably warm Saturday afternoon during Memorial Day weekend, musician Sarah Burrill starts strumming her guitar to a familiar tune — Tracey Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason” — in front of the Orleans Community Center and The Old Firehouse.
“I love this because it’s a blues tune, but her progression,” Burrill says, stopping to educate a packed crowd enjoying the weather (and music) at Parish Park. “Your standard blues tune is eight measures of E and A and it is 12-bar blues, but she turns it, sort of, on its ear because of where she chooses to put the chords, which I love.”
Over the course of an hour, Burrill entertains, waxes poetic about how every song tells a story, and plays several original pieces, including one she wrote during a bout with breast cancer.
Since the fall of 2021, these free concerts have become a staple of this Lower Cape community with popular acts performing as part of the Orleans Cultural District’s weekly Pop-Up Practices.
The series, held annually in the spring and the fall, began by happenstance, spurred by Thomas (Tom) Leidenfrost, who would play his accordion in the park during his lunch hour when working nearby at the Orleans Whole Food Store.
Frank Poranski (from left), musician Sarah Burrill, and Karen Pierson of the Orleans Cultural District.
One day, JoAnna Keeley, a board member of the Orleans Cultural District, heard him playing. “I asked if he would ever do this on a scheduled basis because it was really great to hear,” she recalled. “He told me he was leaving town, but he gave me two names of musicians who live right here in Orleans. One was Frank Poranski, who is now our music director, and Larry Chaplin, who is a violinist with the Cape Symphony.”
If it were not for Leidenfrost practicing his accordion – and Keeley moved enough by the performance to strike up a conversation with the musician – then this addition to Orleans’ arts scene may never have taken on a life of its own.
“The first year we did it, we would maybe get 40 people who would come by and watch,” said Poranski. “I started booking better known acts the second year and we started getting more press, and now we get between 75 and 90 people every week.”
Along with Burrill, this spring has welcomed Tim Sweeney (“the ukulele guy”), the always popular Chandler Travis, singer-songwriter-guitarist Stephen Russell, and the Wellfleet band Rising Tide to Parish Park.
The series concludes with two final concerts – Pavia this Saturday, June 22, 1-2 pm, and Michael Holt on Saturday, June 29, 1-2 pm – as part of the spring lineup. During inclement weather, performances move inside to The Old Firehouse.
Sarah Burrill performs a free concert last month. Concerts are held in the spring and fall, from 1-2 pm, in Parish Park or inside The Old Firehouse on Main Street in Orleans.
The series is purposefully intimate with “small listening audiences,” said Poranski. “We call it Pop-Up Practices to emphasize to the audience the musicians will try new things they may not be used to. …People love playing here. You’re pretty vulnerable with an audience that is listening that intently. Musicians love it because we like to be heard.”
And the concerts have strengthened the community. Poranski references an elderly couple that travel all the way from the Upper Cape to watch the free shows. The husband, who was recently sick and in the hospital, attended last Saturday’s concert featuring the Bitter and Broken Men’s Chorus. “He is not doing really well and has had some real mobility issues,” Poranski said. “He couldn’t get out of the car so they parked their car in front of the park and rolled their windows down so they could listen.”
It is a striking example of how music – and art – can mean so much to us, individually and collectively.
Since the practices started, there have been “lots of amazing moments,” like this, said Karen Pierson, who sits on the board of the Orleans Cultural District. “Giving musicians a place to practice outdoors – that’s where some of the magic happens.”
Along with support from the town, the weekly performances have been backed by both the Mass Cultural Council as well as the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod. “It has really helped us be able to pay musicians for one thing,” said Poranski. “And it feels good to know we have that support. It makes us feel validated and that we’re doing something that is recognized by organizations like the Mass Cultural Council and Arts Foundation.”
As to what’s next for Pop-Up Practices, all involved want it to continue to attract audiences from throughout the Cape and beyond. And they want to continue to give musicians a fun, relaxed, welcoming setting for them to offer joy and connection to the public through their art.
“It is almost a bit of theater,” said Keeley. “I think part of the miracle is it is an empty park and suddenly it is full with musicians and an audience. And then the chairs and people disappear. If you were there at 3:30, you would never have known it happened.
“A little bit of that subliminally influences people to be a part of it,” Keeley said. “They want to be a part of this special moment in time.”
To view a list of upcoming shows as part of the Orleans Cultural District’s Pop-Up Practices, click this link. You can follow the Cultural District on Facebook here.