In the summer of 1992, a few friends from Connecticut College, Wesleyan University and Skidmore College who knew each other from high school had the idea to spend the summer on the Vineyard doing what they liked best: singing.
Jody Alford and friends each gathered a couple of members from their respective collegiate a cappella groups and headed to the Island, forming a group they called the Vineyard Sound.
You never know when that tap on your shoulder is going to come. We’ve been watching you for a while, they say, as you look around bewildered. No, this isn’t a Skull and Bones initiation. It’s a cappella.
The Vineyard Sound have been delighting Island ears since 1992. From June to August they can be found wearing their trademark look of shorts, oxford shirts, ties, and sandals or boat shoes at various churches and private events around the Vineyard.
Like everything else in the world today, the event was captured on a cell phone camera and posted almost immediately on YouTube. Watching it, you can’t help but think of Jack Ruby as the man charges out of the crowd toward his victim, except Jack Ruby wore a fedora and a suit and this guy wore a white T-shirt and plaid shorts slung low.
First it was Owen Bennion’s two front teeth vs. a steel basketball pole. Then it was Matt Ungaro’s left ear vs. a moth of undetermined species.
All Owen Bennion wanted for the first show of the summer was his two front teeth.
Unfortunately, as of about 11:35 a.m. Friday, he pretty much no longer had them.
Owen is the new musical director of the Vineyard Sound, a popular college a cappella group that sings a regular schedule of hourlong shows across the Island from the middle of June until the middle of August. On Friday evening, the 16th season of Vineyard Sound was scheduled to begin with two performances at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Edgartown.
