BELLOWS FALLS — It's taken a lot of work, but as the crew that pulled together the first concert in the Ray Massucco Memorial Concert Series readies for its second show, “things are starting to fall into place,” according to production manager Ezra Veitch.
On Friday, April 7, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m., Rays the Roof Productions brings back to the Bellows Falls Opera House two acts: Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Peter Mulvey, who has been doing concerts in Bellows Falls for decades is the opener, with headliner Americana roots rock band, Steel Wheels.
Rays the Roof is essentially the same small crew that worked for years with Bellows Falls artist and musical entrepreneur Charlie Hunter, who founded the Roots on the River music festival, and with Ray Massucco, who took over the festival until it ended in 2019.
Massucco died unexpectedly last September. A local attorney and concert promoter, he was also a tireless booster of the greater Bellows Falls community. In addition to the Roots festival, Massucco also presented dozens of other concerts, often at the renovated Bellows Falls Opera House. The renovation was one of many community projects Massucco was involved with.
The art deco theater, renovated in 2006 and 2007, seats 550 and offers a main floor, large balcony, and state-of-the-art sound system. Behind a drop-down movie screen - one of the biggest in New England - is a stage large enough for a Broadway-sized theater performance or for seating a full symphony orchestra.
Rays the Roof Productions developed the Ray Massucco Memorial Concert Series in his memory, with a well-received inaugural concert on Feb. 4 featuring Kris Mathews and Dar Williams.
Maridee Serebrov, a central founder of Rays the Roof, described that initial concert as an emotional release for all the people in Massucco's wide circle.
“This was something so important for us to do,” Serebrov said. “Ray meant so much to us.”
Serebrov said Massucco gave her both a wedding shower and a baby shower. Her first child was born in 2000 when the first Roots on the River Festival happened. That child, Izzy, has become a talented performer in his own right, and opened the last two Roots Festivals.
“Ray was so special,” Serebov said. “How do you lose someone like that? How do you grieve? Rays the Roof was a way to keep his spirit and memory alive.”
With help from friends
Serebov also noted that the production company team has worked with Hunter and Massucco, putting on concerts and festivals for over 20 years. “We know how to do this,” she said.
With Hunter serving as mentor and advisor and, in addition to Production Manager Veitch, Rays the Roof's core staff includes Serebrov, who has been focused on developing the company's website and social media presence.
While Veitch said that the production crew team is at the moment “really fluid,” also involved are Patrick LeBlanc as stage manager; Aimee Putnam, handling merchandise; and Crystal Powers overseeing the performers' greenroom. Brattleboro-based sound engineer Dan Richardson, of concert sound and recording company Not Too Loud, will again handle the concert's sound.
Though part of the live music scene for decades, this is Veitch's first time running the show.
“This is a lot different for me,” he said. “It's been eye-opening. I didn't realize how much work is involved.”
He credits support from Hunter for making things run as smoothly as possible. The former musical promoter for many years has represented artists and has founded and staged festivals and music events, including music trains and cruises, but has focused mostly on a successful career for the last 20 years as a fine artist (or, as Hunter would put it, “a fairly fine artist”).
“Charlie has been a great support,” Veitch said. “He wants this to succeed. He wants to get regular, great live music back in Bellows Falls again.”
Hunter helped the production company connect with Putney's performance center Next Stage Arts, which has been instrumental in helping Rays the Roof with promotion and advertising. The concert is also presented with support from the Rockingham Arts and Museum Project and Great Eastern Radio.
“Charlie is very organized,” Veitch said. “With all the concerts and events he's done, he's set up a pattern that works. For example, six weeks out, we go through a punch list of what needs to be done. After that, he checks in regularly to help out.”
Hunter has extensive contacts in the music industry, and has been doing the artist negotiations and contracts.
Keith Marks, the executive director of Next Stage Arts, has built what Veitch describes as “a beautiful website.”
Veitch said that Marks has helped him appreciate that a vital priority in starting any kind of musical endeavor is “getting people to come in the door for the first time.”
Then, he said, “once they see what it is, and how great it is, and that they will hear great music,” it's easier to get them to come back.
Veitch said that Next Stage Arts has made that happen by focusing on world music and ethnic performers. “That's different from Bellows Falls,” he said. “They've got their niche, they know it, and they are good at it. We've always been in the singer-songwriter world, and we understand that world very well.”
That has been true going back many years to when the former Oona's, the Windham Hotel, and Popolo restaurant would host regular, often-weekly, live music featuring nationally known Americana artists.
“We're fortunate that we have people in Bellows Falls who have such connections to great musicians,” said Veitch. “And the Bellows Falls Opera House is such a viable theater. It's a gift that this community has it.”
Building the concert series through the rest of 2023 and into 2024 is the focus of the production company at the moment, and “there's a lot of work left to be done. We need to build the series for a year to make sure that we can do it,” Veitch said.
Rays the Roof will offer two more concerts in the fall: Chris Smither, with The Suitcase Junket opening, and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, with Kat Wright. Massucco had traditionally brought the VSO to the Opera House in years past, and Rays the Roof is hoping to continue this tradition.
Veitch said that he is now starting to focus on 2024. “That's when I'm really going to have to start working,” he said. “Our goal is to have a much more regular series of shows at the Opera House.”
He noted that, after growing up in the Bellows Falls area in his younger days, he traveled around the country extensively in search of a good music scene. When he returned to the area, he said, he was happy and surprised to find a really vibrant live music scene in his home town, spearheaded by Hunter and (1)Gary Smith of Fort Apache Studios, who had also moved to the area. Smith's death in January has been another blow to the local music community.
One advantage: “I know a lot of people, and I know a lot of people who will step up to help out if we need them,” Veitch said.
Serebrov agreed.
“It takes a community being involved to keep this alive,” she said. “It's super important, and this is a way for us to keep Ray at the center of that. To keep his spirit and memory alive.”