On Tour, Sidra Dumont Sings With Choir in Europe

Sidra Dumont of West Tisbury, a 2011 graduate of Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, is currently touring Europe with the Sound of America Honor Band and Chorus. The tour began July 1 and wraps tomorrow, July 23. It has included St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.

She was chosen to join other select student musicians from across the nation after auditioning and passing a rigid character and musical evaluation. Sidra has been selected to sing two solos during the performances.

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One Way Ticket, Yeah

One Way Ticket, Yeah

On Oct. 23 the Beatles are coming to the Vineyard. And you thought their debut at Shea Stadium was monumental.

For those worried, or excited, about ghostly visages, the folks playing the music will not be the Fab Four but rather local Island musicians who call themselves the Daytrippers. But close your eyes and it may truly be John, George, Paul and Ringo you hear.

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Genre-Bending Troubadour Citizen Cope Grows Roots
Holly Gleason

With a voice that embodies a dusty road at the moment when day surrenders to evening, Citizen Cope found the intersection of sensual and earthly. The Memphis-born, D.C.-raised post modern troubadour blends reggae, jazz, folk and various strains of roots music as if there are no lines dividing music — and it shows on his dusky The RainWater LP on his own RainWater Records.

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Musical Treasure, David Crohan’s Special Gift an Island Institution
Mike Seccombe

There are very few musicians in David Crohan’s league. He says so himself.

But he says it modestly as if, after more than 60 years of playing, he is still surprised by the fact.

“I was given an extraordinary gift. I can hear a popular song, and I can learn it in five or six minutes, and immediately put together an arrangement of it,” said Mr. Crohan.

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Oooh La La! Glamorous Grace Potter And Her Nocturnals to Rock the Rock
Holly Gleason

Did you hear that hold music?” Grace Potter spurts as she’s patched through for an interview. “Disney’s flavor-of-the-day hold music Some weird reggae macho music! Wow!”

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Young in Years, Old in Talent

Young in Years, Old in Talent

Check out sibling rivalry at its most harmonic when Liz and Yvonne Kane take the stage on Wednesday, July 27 at 7 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven.

The Kane sisters both play the fiddle and they play it extraordinarily well. They cut their chops with their grandfather, Jimmy Mullen, a local fiddle player from Letterfrack, Ireland. For the American equivalent, think of it as being schooled by his majesty Robert Johnson down at the crossroads.

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Thanksgiving Over, Chamber Society Plays On
Holly Nadler

C lose your eyes and you’ll think you’re at Carnegie Hall. Open your wallet and you’ll find you’re still solvent.

This Saturday, Nov. 26, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at the Old Whaling Church, the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society will present an eclectic mix of classic and contemporary music performed by a quartet of world-class musicians, and the tickets will cost only $20 at the door.

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Music Policy Snags on Sand Bar, Oak Bluffs Harbor Unplugged
Peter Brannen

It’s been an on-again, off-again summer for amplified music on the Oak Bluffs harbor and this weekend the bars on the water will go quiet after selectmen voted to reverse their music policy on Tuesday. Again.

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Kid Natured

Kid Natured

Mr. G. is coming. And who is Mr. G. you ask? He is the man your children want to see.

Performing songs like Sneaky Chihuahua, Lost Your Teach and Pizza for Breakfast, the man born Ben Gundersheimer is like a pied piper of sorts. He has won 10 ASCAP awards and toured internationally, appearing with Dan Zanes, Lunch Money and Secret Agent 23 Skiddoo. Don’t pretend you don’t know what those names mean and that you don’t sneak some listens even after the kids have gone to bed.

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Hot Tin Roof Fired Up Again, Next Generation Leads the Way
Remy Tumin

For musician Ben Taylor, the Hot Tin Roof legacy is an unfinished song. The lyrics tell a story — since 1979 so many rock and roll, blues, funk, hip-hop, bluegrass, and folk greats have walked through the doors of the Vineyard nightclub at the airport.

Now Mr. Taylor and the current owners of the nightclub, which is now named Nectar’s, say there is one more verse to write.

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