An interview with Nick Regine
by Carmen Marotta
As we celebrate the anniversary of the AtlantiCare Concerts on the Beach in Somers Point. We are joined by the founder of The best small town concert series anywhere, Nick Regine, on whose shoulders we stand every week at this beloved concert series.
CM: Nick you have a very interesting and unique story about the origin of the Somers Point Beach Concerts. Would you share that with us?
Nick Regine: The beach series, came about as a result of my job as Community Education and Recreation Director in Somers Point. One aspect of this job was to develop various community programs and activities. Such events as the Good Old Days Festival and Bayfest among others were the outgrowth of this effort. One of the ideas I had was doing a concert series at Kennedy Park during the summer. I thought it would be the perfect venue for this activity. Boy was I wrong. I think I tried for about 3 years to stage a small 3 concerts series that would take place in Kennedy Park. I had an eclectic mix of music: folk, classical, and rock. The crowds were sort of underwhelming and I was both disappointed and confused. I could not figure out why the turnout was so poor given that it was a free event being held at a beautiful outdoor setting. Anyway I was about to give up on the idea completely until back in the early 80’s when I was walking by the beach on the Fourth of July. There were like 300 people sitting on a beach waiting for the fireworks to go off from Ocean City and I said “forget Kennedy Park, I’m gonna put a band down here when the 4th comes around next year”. Next year came and I stuck a band down here and it was so well received I decided to make the switch. The beach is a venue in the center of a busy summer thoroughfare, hundreds of cars just passing by, people out for a stroll; it was alive and active and it was the perfect fit for the concert series. Even as lovely as Kennedy Park is you had to be going there to get there.
CM: There’s no question that you created something with a magical ambience. It is such a gorgeous venue that the world class roots rock, classic rock and R&B artists that come in and play the venue want to come back just because they love the venue so much. When you started how did that start happen? How did the chemistry become apparent that you had put something together that was incredibly charming and wonderful and everybody was enjoying it so much?
Nick Regine: As in real state, the three most important things are, location, location, location. The beach is such a draw in and of itself. When you add music into the mix it creates magic. You have a beautiful backdrop of the bay with boats cruising by and a big summer moon accenting it all. It became a part of a happening event. Some people came for the music, but many just came to hang on the beach with their families and take in a Somers Point summer vibe. You could feel the excitement each Friday as crowds showed up earlier and grew bigger with each passing week. There was an unmistakable buzz that grew louder from one year to the next.
Carmen Marotta: There’s something really special and magical about Somers Point as a place where people can enjoy themselves and experience the true feeling of the South Jersey Shore. You have told me that even before my father opened Tony Mart’s, actually the little café in 1945 that grew into Tony Mart’s, there was a very vibrant history of musical performance and conviviality in Somers Point. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Nick Regine: Carmen, Somers Point has always had the reputation as a music hub. Back in the 40’s and 50’s clubs like Orsatti’s Gateway Casino would host all the nationally known Big Bands, including Harry James, Benny Goodman and others, Rosemary Clooney got her start there. You also had venues like Vaughn Comforts that featured singer waiters and groups like the Four Keys, Then in the late 50’s through the early 80’s places like your father’s place, Bayshores, Steele’s Ship Bar and others had music almost nightly and would become world famous for some of the Rock and Roll artists that graced their stages ..
Carmen Marotta: It was at a time when there wasn’t very much in live music going on that you started to do the Beach Concerts back in the 80’s after Tony Mart’s closed and the nightclub scene kind of diminished in Somers Point. The Mediterranean Lounge was continuing but there was very little in the old town area. And like New Orleans the old town bayfront area of Somers Point is the magical place and it has the ambience like the French Quarter.
But the most important compelling factor in terms of economics and the resort element is what happens in Ocean City. That is clearly the elephant in the room here. The dry city with beautiful beaches and Boardwalk and amenities for families attracted so many, especially in my father’s day. The collegiate crowd, the college student spending the summer in Ocean City on the beach during the day and Somers Point at night, that was part of the catalyst for people like Arnold Orsati to do what he did.
There are so many things happening that make Somers Point as exciting as it is in the summer season. That is part of our living legacy. You are responsible for most of those. Certainly the ones on the public sector and community side of the equation in addition to what’s happening inside the bars and nightclubs.
Nick Regine: My motivation behind it simply stated is I love this town; I really do. This town is so special and I wish more people would recognize this uniqueness as a little city that has everything anyone wants and all. You know, it’s multicultural, it’s as diverse as any in many different ways. There’s a buzz here, things are exciting here like a major city with the public appreciation of music. I think it’s so important to actually feel the soul of the city for this to continue happening and it’s a labor of love and it’s been great and I still continue to do it in different ways but for the same reason.
Carmen just to get back to the concert series, you know the growth of It as series was phenomenal in it’s early stages and once I retired and it was turned over to somebody else and you stepped in and you actually took it up to another level. There are more people on the beach now than I could ever have envisioned and it’s just a testament to you.
Carmen Marotta: Well you are involved in ongoing community based organizations, the Somers Point Unique experiences and the South Jersey Jazz Society. With those vehicles you continue to provide year round live entertainment in Somers Point.
Nick Regine: I have. It’s something I do because I wanted the town to be alive year round. I think it’s so important for my own sense of well being to be able to continue promoting live music locally. I am able to do this through the South Jersey Jazz Society. It’s really has blossomed over the last for 20 years. For a town like Somers Point, with a population of maybe 10,000 to be able to boast that it has an active and vibrant jazz society that stages 25 to 30 events annually is rare indeed. As far as the Somers Point Unique Experiences Club we just try to do things quirky and different. We put on a Christmas performance every year. We have staged a week and half long event “April in Paris”, and help celebrate our historic bar area by offering tours. Again the idea is to keep the vibrancy of the community in the forefront and put smiles on people’s faces.
I’d like to end on a thought. Over the years it has been great to be a small part of making the music scene in Somers Point a bit special. I cannot say enough about how much your efforts in this area have been a tremendous force in the same direction. Over the years I think it is noteworthy that although we occasionally worked together, we always seem to work with the same goal in mind, never view the other as competition but someone who added to the overall fabric of what makes this town so great.
Carmen Marotta: What we do is the result of so many things that you have done as the first Community and Education and Recreation Director of the city, a position you created, as well as the Beach Concerts, the Good Old Days Festival at the end of the summer season, the South Jersey Jazz Society, the Somers Point Unique Experiences Society and countless other things that you do every day, week after week month after month, in your own way. You were as much of a giant in the history of this musical cultural history of the city as my father. We are so proud to be able to stand on your shoulders and continue to carry the torch.
It is a fabulous legacy and on behalf of everyone who loves it so much I thank you for who you are and what you have done.
The key is the positivity. We are both such positive forward-looking individuals. We don’t go to the negative aspects of situations. We try our best to do what is right for everyone’s benefit and as a result of that we produce positive, wonderful, warm experiences for large numbers of people.
Nick Regine: Accentuate the positive
The Somers Point Beach Concert Committee and South Jersey Jazz Society are collaborating to produce the Tito Puente, Jr Big Band concert at the William Morrow Beach in Somers Point, Wednesday, June 8, 2022 7PM.
