Nick Kraus said he received a phone call from East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larson as Mr. Kraus recalls, “He said, Nick how can we make East Hampton Village fun again? I said I am all about it and asked me to book the bands, so I did that, we both could not be more thrilled about the idea.” That was genesis of the new Tuesday Night Live Music at Main Beach.
Mr. Kraus then went through the anxiety of the very first concert. It was caused by the weather. “I was upset about the fact that we had a zillion people come that Tuesday and we were worried it was going to rain and it did rain like crazy at 7:15 pm. I was actually happy that it did rain because we postponed it and on Thursday, I was afraid it was going to rain again yet we still had over two hundred people show up. Th next week on the Tuesday even more than that, it has been a huge success so far everybody loves it.” The bands scheduled for the rest of the summer are: July 13: LHT (Little Head Thinks) then July 20 with Inner Roots on July 27
The August line up starts on August 3 with Inda Eaton. On August 10 will be Gene Casey and the Lone Sharks. The following Tuesday August 17, it will be Jetty Koon and on August 24, Congo Cartel. Tuesday August 31will feature the Holiday Ramblers and the last scheduled concert will be on September 7 featuring the music of Winston Irie.
All shows start at 6:30 and the Main Beach food concession is open serving their wonderful choice of fine foods, ice creams, and cold drinks. They even have great Lobster Rolls.
The initial concert featured the Nancy Atlas Project. Originally scheduled for Tuesday it was rescheduled for Thursday. The audience was very enthusiastic as Nancy played many original from her song book including many from her CD, “Cut and Run.” She took requests and bantered with the crowd; it was a very neighborhood cozy type of show.
Nick Kraus after talking about the success of the new concert series was asked about the 2021 Soldier Ride that had just concluded he said, “Last year we didn’t do it at all, so it was a big loss. Just like everything in 2020 it was a lost year. I think I speak for the whole entire town; they were always honored to be hosting the event for the Wounded Warriors. It means a lot for us to give something back to those who give so much. We are happy we were able to do it again this year. This is the 18th year but the 17th ride due to the COVId-19 pause.”
When asked about how the Soldier Ride started Mr. Kraus said, “Technically it was Peter Honerkamp, Chris Carney and myself but there are so many other people who have made this happen over the years it is almost embarrassing that the three of us often only get the credit. This year unlike the other years we weren’t able to a community event. We just didn’t have enough time due to covid. We just went into town we had a lot of volunteer support we had over 31 warriors participate. To see them when they arrived on Wednesday in New York and then to see them on Sunday morning when they left, you can see the changes that a four day experience like this makes.”
