Samba Drums Told to Beat It At Sagg Main
Impromptu gatherings said to draw 1,500
By Molly Josephs and Jennifer Landes
 Emily Maniere
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(8/7/2008) Some carried drums, others carried picnic baskets, and still more arrived with nothing but a yearning to dance. For several years drummers and dancers have gathered informally at Sagg Main Beach on Monday nights in the summer, drawing a growing number of followers.
This week, however, at around 9:30 p.m., the tiki torches around the Brazilian and African drumming circles shed light on the faces of a Southampton fire marshal, John Rankin, and of several Southampton Town police officers, who broke up a crowd of what the police estimated to be 1,500 people.
The beach had been bumping about two hours earlier. The ocean was glassy, the sky was clear, and the sun was setting to the beat of tambourines, cowbells, and drums.
The parking lot was overflowing and cars were parked at least a mile up Sagg Main. Several women walked off the beach toward the public restrooms and found them padlocked. Attempting to gain access, they approached a Southampton Town policeman, Officer Thomas Schmidt, who explained that the restrooms closed at 7 p.m.
Hearing the drums, the officer followed them back to the sand, where he spotted the giant mass of drummers and dancers. “Whose party is this?” he asked.
The officer spoke into his radio. Time passed, and the sky darkened. The samba beat gave way to African rhythms. Daniel Bailey, a drumming teacher and musician who is one of the drumming circle leaders, guided the cadence.
A middle-aged man moved dramatically in the circle’s center and a woman in belly dancing attire jangled the gold coins adorning her small garments. Older women danced next to little kids near teenagers and the rest of the gathering.
Jill Musnicki
As night fell, a crowd gathered around the drummers at Sagg Main beach. |
From the perspective of County Legislator Jay Schneiderman of Montauk, who has been participating in drumming circles here for some two decades, “the crowd was really a shocker. I haven’t gone in a month.”
“Daniel had told me a lot of people were showing up. I thought 50, maybe 100. I had no idea.”
“At one point, Daniel turns to me and says, ‘Can you go talk to police?’ Like I might have influence because I’m a county legislator.”
“I said, we’re not breaking any laws, being here, drumming on the beach. But here’s where it gets interesting. Anything over a small group of people needs a permit. But we didn’t invite anybody.”
Mr. Rankin said on Tuesday that what had attracted the police officers in the first place were calls about an “altercation in the parking lot.” When officers arrived they realized that cars were parked as far away as Gibson Lane, according to some accounts, and creating a safety hazard.
With so many people in one place, and cars parked up both sides of the street, emergency vehicles would not have been able to get through, Mr. Rankin said. “They would have had to park the ambulance at Bridge Lane and walk the stretcher in.” There were also, he said, a number of “fires on the beach no one had permits for.”
“I spoke to the people playing drums and said stop playing and clear the beach. Everybody was cooperative.”
Although a few derogatory comments were made, he said, “the attitude of the crowd was very mellow. They had a lot of questions about how they could do this legally with alcohol, bonfires, vehicles on the beach, and how often.”
The beach was cleared by about 10:30 except for about 20 people cleaning it up.
The beach and its use are governed by the Southampton Town Parks and Recreation Department, provided that the gathering has fewer than 150 people. Allyn Jackson, the parks and recreation superintendent, said on Tuesday, “I don’t know if it can continue, not at the level it was last night. It was just too many people.”
He said he had known for some time that the beach was being used for drumming. “It’s allowed to go on between 6 to 9 without permits. It’s not amplified music. It has not required permits. It was not a problem.”
“What happened last night was a lot of people, open fires, alcohol. It was a huge crowd, not boisterous and out of control, but I can’t condone it.”
While free to the public, such gatherings do have their costs, including maintaining the one portable toilet that remains open after the bathrooms are locked at 7 and the overtime cost of dealing with all the garbage. If the bathrooms were to remain open, an additional crew would be needed to clean them.
When a gathering of more than 150 is planned, its organizers are expected to apply to the town board for special event authorization. The town will then allocate extra crews for trash and bathroom maintenance and charge that cost back to the host if it is a private individual or commercial concern.
Mr. Jackson said the town’s priority was to make the beach more “user-friendly” to small groups for casual gatherings at night, which is why it has been providing portable toilets and allowing access until 9 p.m. But a gathering of that size is “not allowed anywhere,” he said.
“When it gets warm, we like to play on the beach. The first warm day in early June we play at Sagaponack,” said Richard Siegler, the founder of Escola de Samba Boom, a musician who teaches samba drumming at the Hayground School and privately. He said the crowd had grown over the summer last year in a similar way.
Informed by the town police that he would need a permit, he said on Tuesday, “this is not an event — it’s just 15 to 20 drummers meeting up on the beach playing acoustical instruments.”
“It’s not planned. There’s no advertising. I’m not going to put my name on the permit. We’re not there to entertain people.”
While Mr. Siegler plans to take his drum session on the road, “maybe go to Ditch Plain or Crescent Beach on Shelter Island,” he does plan to play again on Monday at Sagg Main.
“I’m not looking for trouble, but we have the right to play drums on the beach. I want to see if a policeman will put a hand on my arm and say I cannot play drums.”
“If they show up Monday night they will be shut down,” Mr. Jackson said. As of Tuesday morning, no one had contacted his office to see how to acquire a permit.
Mr. Schneiderman said he hoped that some compromise might be reached. “Richie has never charged anybody, and for anybody who wants to learn, it has been open. That openness leads to people bringing food, sharing it. People were certainly having a good time. It not something we want to end, but it is a very intensive use.”
On the other hand, he wondered, “is it any more than a sunny day at the beach?”