Arts & Entertainment
Radio station WMVY officially went on the air 30 years ago. Though block programming and automation had existed on the signal for some time, 1983 was the year that “we basically signed on as WMVY in the format of mixing rock and blues and folk rock,” director of worldwide programming Barbara Dacey said this week.
Each week the Vineyard Artisans gather at the Grange Hall in West Tisbury on Thursdays and Sundays during the summer and shoulder seasons. A stroll through the aisles can feel at times like a tour down Diagon Alley. Who knows what one will encounter around the next corner? There are homemade brooms, jewelry, alpaca fleece and blackmith fashions. The materials range from leather to clay, reclaimed wood to wool, whelk to sheepskin.
Six years ago when Flatbread Company founder Jay Gould called Tina Miller to ask if he should open a restaurant at the former home of The Hot Tin Roof, she advised him against it. She didn’t think there was enough of a market for casual family dining at the airport location.
For the past five summers John Cruz has been coming to the Vineyard to sing on the schooner Alabama for three nights in August. The day after one of the cruises this year, John talked about his work, his music, his life and deep connections to the Vineyard. “The two things I love most to do are making music and cooking,” he said while preparing a lunch of striped bass for friends in the ramshackle red farmhouse across from Alley’s General Store in West Tisbury.

