What is Summer Song? It’s a free evening of entertainment, song, music and refreshments at the Sailing Camp Park in Oak Bluffs overlooking the Lagoon on Monday, August 16, from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in support of Island Theatre Workshop’s Children’s Theatre program and the Payne-Fierro Scholarship fund.
Were you that guy or gal Holding Back the Years while hoisting 99 Luftballoons at your White Wedding full of Karma Chameleons? Or maybe, instead, you were the Owner of a Lonely Heart because Sister Christian said Girls Just Want to Have Fun and then she started Dancing in the Dark with Mr. Roboto to the heat of St. Elmo’s Fire. Well, it Gives Love a Bad Name, right, all this Dancing on the Ceiling, but even if you do Blame It on the Rain, the sad fact is you miss doing the Wild Thing.
The Marafanyi beats go on, from Sunday, August 22, through Tuesday August 24: workshops where adults, children and families together can learn West African drum, dance and song will be held at the Chilmark Community Center. For details and registration, e-mail Mary Ambulos at mvmar@comcast.net or see online marafanyi.com.
Every August, Vineyarders flood the fair grounds at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society Hall in West Tisbury. Every fall, we are treated to the harvest festival to celebrate the season’s bounty, and every winter we have Island artisans’ fairs, community potlucks or most recently the winter farmers’ markets. The Vineyard is a place of tradition, and the Ag Hall is a beacon of that.
Island favorite Ben Taylor and John Forte, producer/performer for the Fugees, headline a benefit concert tonight, Sept. 3, from 9 p.m. at Nectar’s with proceeds going to Martha’s Vineyard Helping Homeless Animals (MVHHA) and RockHouse Foundation of Negril, Jamaica.
High-energy acoustic harmony duo Jackopierce is appearing Saturday, August 14 at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown. You can bank on hearing their song about the Island, titled Vineyard.
Get in shape while learning to move as if you’ve got undies full of earthworms. Yup, it’s salsa time again on the Vineyard.
The basic beginner course is on Tuesdays at the high school for the month of Oct. from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Learn basic steps and timing for salsa, merengue and Latin partner dancing.
At an annual Native American speaker series held at Tufts University last winter, Aquinnah Cultural Center program director Linda Coombs saw a performance by a women’s musical group that simply blew her away. Of course, she wasn’t yet the program director at the time, but when she took on the role in May of this year, she knew she wanted the group, Ulali, to be part of the cultural center’s summer season schedule.
Music lovers bound for the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society’s annual Thanksgiving concert this Saturday had best leave room for dessert. The evening will offer a wide-ranging menu of melodies — some light, some rich — all intended to linger sweetly on the palate.
Guest baritone Thomas Jones presents the first plate — the swaggering Toreador Song from the second act of Georges Bizet’s Carmen.
There’s a mixed plate of altruism and entertainment up for grabs at Nectar’s this weekend, and Islanders are invited unofficially to say goodbye to summer with a preview of things to come for the Edgartown nightclub.
