Beat It: Sagaponack Drum Circle Snared in Southampton Town Politics

A crowd begins to form on the beach first in the dozens then hundreds and before long the sand is covered by a sea of more than 1,000 people. Some dance, others enjoy the water, and in the middle of it all, a group of a few dozen drummers fills the air with the sounds of samba. One man in the center of it all.

This is the Sagaponack Drum Circle, a free weekly event that has become a tradition over the past 20 years. But what started small with just a few dozen regulars has led to issues as many of the ever-growing number of attendees do not have the proper beach permit stickers. The Town of Southampton recently changed course on how it handles the longstanding issue, casting doubt in the minds of some drum circle fans on whether the beat will go on.

“In the past years, they were nice enough — the Town of Southampton — to give us permits that would allow us to park here, even though some of the people do not come from this area,” Richie Siegler, a Brazilian samba percussion guru who leads the drum circle, said. “So they gave us these permits that said you can park here, you know, for certain dates at certain times, which was fine for us. This year, the board wants to charge us for parking here.”

The reason? Former Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schniederman — a musician who also participates in the drum circle — no longer can use his influence to get the beach parking permit fees waived for participants not from the area.

“The group didn’t pay while Jay Schneiderman, a member of the group, was supervisor as he approved the fee waiver without ever bringing it to the board for a vote,” Southampton Town Councilperson Cyndi McNamara said. “The town is no longer giving this group a special exception and we are treating them the same as every other group that holds events at town facilities.”

Schneiderman countered that it wasn’t him who waived the fees, it was the parks director, who he said routinely waived fees for nonprofit events.

“After I left, Cindi asked her not to do that for our group and instead bring it in front of the town board,” Schneidermnan said. “The town board while Tommy John Schiavoni was there waived the fees. This town board would not even offer a resolution to waive the fees. They knew I would fill the room with supporters.”

Siegler noted that the fees add up.

“They don’t charge per car, they charge per night,” Siegler said. “It’s a special permit. And I think there were like 10 nights that we picked, starting like July Fourth weekend and then right through Labor Day. So we said, listen, it was like over $1,000, which is real money. So I said, we do this for free. When we have people come in and they want to learn how to play this, we don’t charge them. We have an instrument; we lend them the instrument. This is all about giving it away.”

This fee Siegler said was just too much for him and while he was sure that he could rally the community and get enough donations to pay for parking, he just didn’t want to go through the effort to do so.

McNamara countered that it’s not as bad as it seems.

“If you break down the $150 fee that we are charging this group for each event, 24 non-residents are being required to pay $6.25 to park at a town facility,” she said. “I don’t think that’s a big ask as they should never have been given complimentary passes to begin with.”

Schneiderman said McNamara is missing the point.

“They should not be making us pay to entertain the community,” he said. “Normally musicians are paid to perform. We have never charged anything. It’s one of the last free things in the Hamptons. But this year I had to lay out $1,200 personally so that we can continue doing what we’ve been doing for the past 20 years. Some of the drummers have contributed, but I’m still largely out of pocket.”

Henry Campbell, an 83-year-old Sag Harbor resident who regularly attends the drum circle, feared what it would mean to potentially lose the local tradition.

“I’ve traveled all around the United States, and there’s really nothing like this,” he said. “If you lose this, you’re never going to get it again.”

Nancy Frigand, a middle aged local and the head of Hub Hamptons who was also in attendance, agreed.

“It’s one of the most beautiful things,” she said. “Look at the families. And you have young kids come with their little drums. Everybody’s part of it. They’ve been going for so many years. It’s a testament of a tradition that carries on. Because the leader now is 81. And he’s still out there. I think it’s incredible.”

Campbell’s 26-year-old grandson Jazz Defreitas has made the drum circle a family affair for nearly a decade.

“It’s been really great, yeah. I’ve been doing the drumming for at least like eight years now,” he said. “I started out just like with some crappy drum my grandpa got me. And then I came up to them and they were like, you need a real drum. So then I came back with a real drum and I’ve been a great member of this great group ever since.”

As of now, the drum circle continues as it has for the past two decades while its fate remains up in the air.

“They can’t stop us from playing. All they could do was stop us from parking.” Siegler said optimistically, though he acknowledged that the town may force it to come to an end anyway.

“It will end because they’ll end it for us.”