Music
The annual Barn Raisers’ Ball is this Saturday, Nov. 3, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury. The event is a celebration harkening back to when the hall was built and the whole community pitched in to help. Bring a dessert to share. Otherwise, the night is free,
Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish provide the music and the dancing goes until 10 p.m.
For more details, call 508-693-9549.
Tristan Israel and Nancy Jephcote will perform next Friday evening, Nov. 9, at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven. They will be performing original songs and will be joined by musicians Paul Thurlow and Brian Weiland. Mr. Israel, aka the Singing Selectman, recently put out a new CD entitled The Sound After the Flash. His songwriting echoes the best of the 1960s folk revival. Ms. Jephcote’s music is usually associated with her fiddle playing and country style. Her songwriting, however, lends itself to more of a modern folk/pop style.
The Long Point 5 rocks the music of Scott Joplin, Argentine tangos, the big band sound of Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, George Gershwin, Stephen Foster, even Bach and Debussy.
Breast is the word for Saturday night. On Oct. 13, from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. a bounty of local and regional female singer-songwriters will perform at Dreamland in Oak Bluffs for the first ever Breast Fest Ball, with all proceeds from the benefit going towards the Martha’s Vineyard Breast Cancer Support Group.
Larry Laverdure, the main brain behind the event, plays the bass in Larbear (“that’s me,” he said) and the Lazy B band which consists of Emily Hunsaker and Andrea Dello Russo. Also on the evening’s lineup are Carly Simon, Nina Violet and many more.
On Saturday Oct. 6, the Watoto Children’s Choir from Africa begins their five-month Beautiful Africa tour with a free performance in Oak Bluffs at Union Chapel. The event begins at 4 p.m. and is hosted by Vineyard Assembly of God.
The Watoto Children’s Choir helps raise awareness for orphaned children of Africa through their stories, music and dance. All of the children in the choir have suffered the loss of one or both parents and live in Watoto Children’s Villages. Since its inception, 55 choirs have toured the world.
There are many moving parts to Tristan Israel. For 23 years he has served as a selectman for the town of Tisbury. For seven years he has worked as a county commissioner. He is a landscaper by trade and in the Vineyard music community, he is a nearly constant presence.
At seven o’clock this Sunday evening, Oct. 7, Mr. Israel will have a release party at the Pit Stop in Oak Bluffs for his new CD, The Sound After the Flash. The CD includes numerous contributions from Paul Thurlow and violinist Nancy Jephcote.