When jazz crooner Jerri Wells is finally coaxed up to the front of Oak Bluffs’ Offshore Ale by Eddie (Pepé Caron) Larkosh for a rendition of Do You Know What It Is to Miss New Orleans? she does not stick to the script for long. She delivers a few bars of the prescribed number then, like some sort of thief sidling past a security guard, hums her own improvised segue and ducks into the second verse of A ll Of Me, the Billie Holiday version, leaving the band to scramble after her.

Vineyard Haven artist Marston Clough is exhibiting original prints at Island Art Gallery-Kennedy Studios in Vineyard Haven. The works include etchings, linocuts, woodcuts and lithographs. Each print is an original, done by hand, and the artist prints very limited editions, numbering fewer than 10, all with strong Vineyard themes — lobstermen and fishermen at work and boats at rest.

The artist studied drawing at the Massachusetts College of Art and etching and printmaking at the Worcester Art Museum.

Little String Stars Twinkle

The All Island Winter String Concert for students in grades one through 12 is set for Tuesday, Jan. 15th from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. Admission is free.

One of the high points of this concert will be the combined elementary, junior high and high school orchestras performing Kings of Stone, a piece for mixed level ensemble inspired by Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings. The high school and junior high groups also will perform independently.

The Vineyard Conservation Society Winter Walks Program will feature a guided walk at Thimble Farm in Tisbury on Sunday, Jan. 13 at 1:30 pm. Andrew Woodruff, an Island farmer with 25 years’ experience, will lead the walk.

Martin Luther King Walk

A walk to commemorate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will start Monday, Jan. 21 at 9:30 a.m. Participants will meet in front of the Court House in Edgartown. The walk will start on Main street and end at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on North Summer street. There will be a brief talk, followed by a video of Dr. King. Refreshments will be served.

More information is available by calling Lori Sue Herman at 508- 627-9088 or Maureen McManus Hill at 508-627-9241.

Sail Martha’s Vineyard will present a fireside dinner and slide presentation at the Black Dog Tavern on Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 6 p.m. Capt. Peter Arenstam of Plimoth Plantation will speak on the unique history of the Mayflower II.

The ship, built in England in 1957, crossed the Atlantic in 55 days with a crew of sailors, schoolteachers and its mascot, a small kitten named Felix. There was a great deal of speculation whether this oddly shaped ship, such as had not been seen on the ocean since the 17th century, would make it safely to America.

THE UNNATURAL HISTORY OF THE SEA. By Callum Roberts. Island Press/Shearwater Books, Washington, D.C. 2007. 436 pages. Hardcover, $28.

Last spring when the herring started showing up in Island coastal ponds, I got a call from a fisherman asking, “Where are the mackerel?”

Film critic Roger Ebert called The Great World of Sound, “a confident, sure-handed exercise focusing on the American Dream, turned nightmare.” This eccentric, awardwinning film screens this Saturday, Jan. 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre on Spring street in Vineyard Haven.

Charter School

Monday, Jan. 14: Macaroni with broccoli and garlic, meatballs in tomato sauce, garlic bread, applesauce and milk.

Tuesday, Jan. 15: Mexican chicken or vegetable soup, tortilla chips, salsa con queso, fruit smoothie and milk

Wednesday, Jan. 16: Sloppy Joes, chicken salad sandwich or hummus and veggie wrap, Greek salad, pineapple and milk.

Thursday, Jan. 17: Pizza (plain cheese, pepperoni or roasted veggie), tossed salad, fresh fruit and milk.

Sometimes a story just drops into your lap, or more accurately into your e-mail box.

That was the case last October when I received an inquiry about a mystery creature. But since I believe in saving for a rainy day, the story has waited until now.

I received a well-written, humorous, and descriptive inquiry from Jamie Katz, who even did some of the research for me.