Arts & Entertainment
In this serialized novel set on the Vineyard in real time, a native Islander (“Call me Becca”) returns home after many years to help her eccentric Uncle Abe keep his landscaping business, Pequot, afloat. Abe has a paranoid hatred of Richard Moby, the CEO of an off-Island wholesale nursery. He is convinced that Moby wants to destroy Abe personally, as well as all Island-based landscaping/nursery businesses. Abe is now obsessed with “taking down” Moby before Moby can damage Pequot or any other Island grower.
25 years marks a silver anniversary. But after spending nearly a quarter century at the microphone, Barbara Dacey’s memories are colored gold. “She was dressed beautifully. She was wearing this big hat and walked into the door in a way that was very dramatic,” said Ms. Dacey, the curly-haired woman who first knocked on the Vineyard Haven doors of radio station 92.7 FM herself in 1981.
Alison Shaw Gallery Fine are photography of Alison Shaw. Open Wednesday through Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m., or by appointment at 88 Dukes County avenue, Oak Bluffs, tel. 508-696-7429 or alisonshaw.com.
Current exhibit: Blue continues through August 22.
Abode Gallery and Shop Paintings, photography and sculpture. Open by appointment at 224 Oak Lane, West Tisbury, tel. 914-830-9288 or vineyardabode.com.
In a one-day-only literary event Sunday, Elizabeth Dembrowsky will read from her forthcoming novel, My Monk in Garamond, soon to be published by Heliotrope Books, and Fran Sommers will read from her new play, Space, at 2 and again at 6 p.m. at Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven.
This inaugural reading August 17 will mark the beginning of Ms. Dembrowsky’s book tour and allow the audience the opportunity to hear from the debut novel of an innovative new writer. After each reading, Ms. Dembrowsky will take questions and discussion with the audience.
Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., a renowned African American literary and history scholar, will be the featured speaker for the eighth annual summer signature event sponsored by the Martha’s Vineyard Branch of The Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
The event will be August 17, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Performing Arts Center.
African American Lives will be the focus of Dr. Gates’s illustrated presentation.
Anyone who’s ever stumbled upon a hidden gem in the Thrift Shop has experienced the thrill of finding treasure amid the stacks of books, games, clothing, kitchen utensils and other odds and ends. The annual Chicken Alley Art Show, set for this Sunday afternoon and now in its sixth season, offers customers the opportunity to purchase the finest art and craft items culled from the shelves over the past year. The proceeds from the event have grown from $3,000 to $40,000 in five years, with all earnings benefitting Martha’s Vineyard Community Services.
