Music
Except for the baroque chirping from the rafters, the Tabernacle is empty and quiet enough to make one want to whisper. It is 40 minutes before the Island Community Chorus begins to rehearse for its July 6 summer concert. Music director Peter Boak arrives carrying a collapsible stepstool and music stand. He climbs to the stage to arrange and consider.
Jim Thomas and his Spirituals Choir will perform on Saturday, June 29, at 7:30 p.m. at the Katharine Cornell Theatre on Spring street in Vineyard Haven. The choir is in its ninth year and is the offspring of the Martha’s Vineyard NAACP. The performance is titled, Songs From the Field: The Underground Railroad.
The choir performs at many venues around the Island and is made up of summer residents and year-rounders. They perform sitting down as the slaves did, and only with percussion accompaniment.
If you’re looking for live music, you’ve come to the right Island. Martha’s Vineyard features a diverse selection of music venues, from dives to dancehalls and everything in between. If it’s local musicians you want to hear, check out some of the watering holes in Edgartown or Oak Bluffs. For big-name bands, visit Dreamland in Oak Bluffs or Flatbread at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport.
Award winning songwriter Kathy Moser performs a special concert at Alex’s Place on June 22 featuring music by and for people in recovery and their families and friends. Ms. Moser is a national touring artist who has performed and led songwriting workshops in alcohol and drug treatment facilities all over the U.S. Appearing with her will be Bethel Steel who was just chosen as a finalist for the Kerryville New Folk Competition.
The concert begins at 7 p.m. at Alex’s Place at the YMCA.
The stage at Flatbread was packed with instruments on Monday night and the dance floor filled with fans standing shoulder to shoulder. Deer Tick, an alternative rock band from Providence, R.I., was back in town after a two-year hiatus.
The band jumped feet-first into their set. Their style is shamelessly and classically authentic. The vintage whirl of a Hammond B-3 organ blended beautifully with a pair of rancorous guitars.
“When I say Barrington, you say Levy!” shouted a man onstage wearing gold-framed sunglasses. “Barrington!”
“Levy!” the crowd roared back at him.
The chant continued, ultimately dissolving into raucous cheering as Barrington Levy, reggae revolutionary, took the stage at Dreamland in Oak Bluffs on Friday night.