Former Marin residents behind Mare Island’s first music festival
Kevin Frazier and Jeff Trager are like those thoroughbreds in the starting gate. Snorting, anxious, ready to run after being walked by the reigns from the stalls.
Since the two Vallejoans with extensive Marin County ties combined their talents and became Frazier Trager Presents music production in March 2020, it’s all been a slow walk around the stalls with the dark cloud of COVID-19.
“The hardest part of COVID was trying to deliver a ‘live’ performance on camera. We offered live-stream performances with interactive elements, artist interviews, meet and greets via chat, and special artist giveaways, but the one thing missing was the audience,” Frazier says. “Nothing can replace the energy an audience gives to the band and in return what the band gives to the audience. It is a personal experience and one that changes at every live performance. That is what makes it so special to see a band live.”
There is a light at the end of the tunnel and, finally, it’s not an oncoming train. On Saturday the duo are presenting the inaugural Mare Island Dock of Bay Festival. The eight-hour extravaganza features three-time Grammy winner Fantastic Negrito, Jackie Greene, Dumpstaphunk, Them Vibes, and Marin’s own New Monsoon in a waterfront event near the Mare Island Brewing Company at the Coal Sheds.
“It’s safe to say this is our biggest event as Frazier Trager Presents since our launch, but certainly not the biggest event we have been involved with individually,” Frazier says. “Jeff and I have been promoting music all our lives.”
Frazier spent his formative years growing up in San Anselmo, attending St. Rita’s School. He recalled his mother signing up all six Frazier kids to sing in the Winifred Baker Children’s Chorus at Dominican College.
“At 12, I was singing, conducting, and performing,” Frazier said, continuing his music interest at Sir Francis Drake High School, now Archie Williams High. And that’s fine with Frazier.
“Mr. Williams was my favorite teacher at Drake,” Frazier says. “He always made me feel like anything was possible.”
Frazier took up the saxophone at College of Marin and the instrument is never far from his lips.
“I owe all my early inspiration to growing up in Marin,” says Fraizer, grateful for “all the amazing lessons the musicians in the area taught me in music and in life.”
Frazier reached back to his Marin past by securing New Monsoon for the Mare Island festival, adding a Marin fixture, Eric Martin, for the festival’s after party at the Empress Theatre in downtown Vallejo.
Trager also did some extensive time in Marin County after relocating from San Francisco.
“My grandpa spent a lot of time on the boardwalk in Greenbrae and fell in love with Marin,” Trager says. “I would visit and eventually moved to Mill Valley and Corte Madera during the 1970s and ’80s at what I believe was the height of the music business explosion.”
Trager has been producing smaller shows at the nearby Vino Godfather Tasting Room on Mare Island for three years and all the four major shows two years ago sold out at 400 people.
After taking a peek of the waterfront area on the Mare Island side, Trager knew there was musical gold to be mined.
“It’s beautiful out there. It looks like Sausalito,” he says. “And Vallejo has great weather.”
The Dock of Bay is an important event for Vallejo, believes Frazier, as it will attract people from all over the Bay Area. “We are certain it is going to get a lot of news coverage as well given this is the first music festival on the Mare Island side featuring five headline bands, ferry service to and from the festival for attendees in San Francisco and Marin, and all the other amenities you would find at a major music festival, including a VIP experience. It is important to Frazier Trager Presents as we want to continue to produce and promote this festival on a yearly basis.”
Securing a deal with the ferry system was imperative, Frazier and Trager agree.
“People don’t have to drive over (Highway) 37,” says Trager.
It’s already been a three-month undertaking for the festival that arrives in four months.
“There is a lot to prepare for when doing an event of this size,” Frazier says. “Use permits, insurance, parking, staging, sound, lighting, video, medical, vendors, Porta Potties, food and beverage, merchandise, festival website, ticketing, marketing materials, and that is just the obvious details.”
Trager says it was not only important to secure artist fan bases from Northern California, but also those with national notoriety. Negrito is from Oakland, Greene from Sacramento, Dumpstaphunk is from New Orleans, Them Vibes from Nashville, and New Monsoon from Marin.
Trager was a major player in the music recording industry in Los Angeles and New York City for decades, having promoted everyone from Tina Turner to Ray Charles, the Rolling Stones, Kool & The Gang, and Luciano Pavarotti.
More importantly, says Trager, is the work he and Frazier have done in the area.
“I don’t think anyone knows this marketplace better than the two of us,” says Trager, emphasizing that it’s more important to “make everyone you can happy” in creating the first event.
“It would be crazy to try and do too much. We have to show we can put on a festival,” he says.
Excited?
“I just hope we can sleep the night before the festival,” Frazier says.
• Details: The Mare Island Dock of Bay Festival is from 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday at 850 Nimitz Ave. on Mare Island in Vallejo. Tickets are $75 to $150 at dockofbayfest.com or ftpresents.com.