To Provincetown, With Love
New York City-based singer-musician David Raleigh first came to Provincetown 20 years ago. Raleigh and his then-boyfriend (now husband) fell in love with the town, which eventually became their home for two months each year.
At first, Raleigh didn’t seek gigs here: he jokes that he wanted his partner “to have his own summer vacation when he didn’t have to come to a show of mine.” But after playing piano at the bar at Tin Pan Alley last summer, Raleigh had the opportunity to create “Love Abounds,” his own show at the Red Room. The theme is how much this town has meant to him.
With a band led by Mike Flanagan, the self-described “crooner” performs songs about love, and his set draws from the Great American Songbook along with contemporary pop songs and originals from his four albums.
The show’s title also reflects the kindnesses he says he regularly witnesses around town and the reception he’s gotten as one of the growing number of entertainers of color here.
“The theme is my experience, and the love, acceptance, and joy that we all feel here,” Raleigh says. “And we can’t just come for that experience. We have to give that experience back.”
In addition to Raleigh’s singing and storytelling, the show includes photos and videos as a backdrop to his performance. (There’s also a red cape involved, but saying more would be a spoiler.)
Raleigh has performed at Joe’s Pub and Birdland in New York as well as in Australia and Germany. He often uses his music to support LGBTQ efforts and causes, particularly fundraising for New York’s Ali Forney Center, which provides shelter, care, and advocacy for homeless queer youth.
“Love Abounds” is at the Red Room (258 Commercial St., Provincetown) on Monday, Aug. 26 and Monday, Sept. 2 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $35 ($45 for V.I.P. seating) at redroom.club. —Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll
Michael Lyons at Woodman/Shimko Gallery
At Woodman/Shimko Gallery (346 Commercial St.) in Provincetown, painter Michael Lyons’s new show, “High Summer,” features six oil paintings of saturated summer scenes along with figurative watercolor works.
Lyons focuses on the light that falls on bodies rather than the identity of the people in his paintings, which often show subjects’ backs as they’re riding away from the viewer or tugging a kayak up the beach. “The people are a kind of a stand-in” for exploring effects of light, says Lyons, pointing to the faint shadow on the side of a man’s yellow fishing bucket in one of the paintings.
In Beach Cruisers, Lyons paints the shadows of trees on Bradford Street Extension in shades of deep purple. The shadows and the storm gray of the road surface complement the double yellow line in the center of the road and spots of sunlight on the pavement. The two bicyclists are more compositional elements than the subjects of the painting.
A native of Denville, N.J., Lyons studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design and moved to Provincetown in 2006, later moving to New York City. He met his husband in New York and then moved to Providence to teach at RISD, where he has taught watercolor in the continuing education program since 2016. In addition to showing at Woodman/Shimko, Lyons has had five dune shack residencies in Provincetown.
“High Summer” has an opening reception on Friday, Aug. 23 at 6 p.m. The show is on view until Aug. 29. See woodmanshimkogallery.com for information. —Pat Kearns
Two Ways of Seeing at the Commons
On the surface, there doesn’t seem to be much in common in the work of photographers Rebecca Bruyn and Emory Petrack, currently featured in concurrent shows at the Commons (46 Bradford St., Provincetown). Petrack’s expansive beachscapes and nature images contrast both conceptually and formally with Bruyn’s more intimate multimedia studies of historical architecture and interior spaces.
But aside from the fact that both artists use the Outer Cape as their subjects, Bruyn and Petrack also share an emphasis on light, detail, and temporality in their photographs.
In Petrack’s forthright sunset views, raking light emphasizes the details, textures, and contours in the sand on the beach at Herring Cove and the fencing that surrounds it, just as the softer light in Bruyn’s more delicate images, some of which are printed on vellum and adorned with silver leaf gilding, draws attention to the intricate patterns created by the cracked paint and weathered wood of architectural surfaces.
Time also plays a central if contrasting role in each body of work. Petrack’s images convey the timeless and enduring quality of sea and sky, while Bruyn’s interiors, devoid of human presence and activity, impart a sense of gradual decay and impermanence — a notion captured in the title of one of the most evocative images in her show: Time Is of the Essence.
An opening reception for the exhibitions is on Sunday, Aug. 25 at 3 p.m.; the shows are on view until Sunday, Sept. 1. See provincetowncommons.org for information. —John D’Addario
Mixing Memory, Fiction, and History
Samuél Lopez-Barrantes is what Jeff Peters of East End Books in Provincetown calls a “sort of Renaissance man.” Raised in North Carolina, Lopez-Barrantes has lived since 2010 in Paris, where he teaches creative writing and leads historical walking tours on modernism, existentialism, and the Nazi occupation. He is the author of the 2015 novel Slim & the Beast and the recently published “historical metafiction” The Requisitions. Lopez-Barrantes will discuss his new book at East End Books on Tuesday, Aug. 27 with floral designer Sophie Yingling.
Lopez-Barrantes first came to Provincetown in 2018 while on tour with his indie rock band — named, like his first novel, Slim & the Beast — which he formed with his twin brother, Aaron, and their friend, songwriter Aurelien Amzallag. It was Amzallag who steered the brothers to Provincetown, where his friend Yingling might invite them to perform. They were looking for places to play during their visit,” says Yingling. “We hosted them at Bubala’s and let them busk on the Spiritus patio at night. I knew right away that they were interesting and smart.”
Set in Nazi-occupied Poland, The Requisitions is about a disillusioned professor caught in a deadly relationship triangle. The character is inspired by Austrian philosopher Viktor Frankl. The novel reflects Lopez-Barrantes’s childhood fascination with the history of World War II, which led to undergraduate work in Holocaust studies and a master’s thesis in social theory. He calls the novel “the culmination of a big chunk of my intellectual life.”
Tickets for the reading and discussion are $5. Free tickets are also available. Visit eastendbooksptown.com for more information. —Hazel Everett
New Voices at Wellfleet Porchfest
The organizers of the ninth annual Wellfleet Porchfest — happeniong on Saturday, Aug. 24 — decided to try something new this year: six students from Monica Rizzio’s Orleans-based Washashore Music program will perform — some for the first time — alongside dozens of veteran musicians.
Rizzio hopes that people who come to Porchfest feel inspired by her students, who range in age from 10 to their late 60s. “I want them to say, ‘You know what? I’m an adult, and I’ve always wanted to do something like that. If that lady is doing it, maybe I can, too!’ ” A child might recognize a classmate among the younger students, she says, or their friend.
And Porchfest provides her students with a goal to work toward, says Rizzio, particularly the younger ones. “The kids are really excited,” she says.
As in previous iterations of the festival, musicians will perform on porches and lawns in locations throughout the center of Wellfleet including Main Street, Commercial Street, Holbrook Avenue, Baker Avenue, and Railroad Avenue. More than 52 bands will participate, playing in genres from traditional Celtic to jazz to Americana to rock. The festival, which runs from 1:30 to 5 p.m. is divided into two sets, with a half hour break at 3 p.m.
Both performing and listening are community-building activities, says Rizzio. “Music is magical. It’s therapeutic. And it’s an incredible way to meet wonderful people.” See wellfleetporchfest.org for a complete schedule and more information. —Dorothea Samaha
