Music
The music sounds so sweet these days at the Chilmark Community Church, thanks to the addition of a new pipe organ. It is not only a lovely instrument to hear, its pipes singing, it is a sight to see. The church organ, custom made by Stephen J. Russell, arrived this summer and its lyrical sounds, under the hands of a talented musician, is already a source of inspiration to many.
The Irish are coming and they are related. On Friday, Oct. 5, the brothers Vallely, Niall and Cillian, are playing a concert at the Katharine Cornell Theatre in Vineyard Haven. Nial plays the concertina and Cillian rocks the uilliann pipes and low whistle. Usually they play in their own bands, Buille and Lunasa, respectively, but for one night only for Vineyard audiences the boys will share the measure of their genes together.
The United States Air Force Liberty Jazz Band is holding a free concert beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 14, at the Ocean Park bandstand. The musicians are part of the United States Air Force Band of Liberty from Hanscom Air Force Base outside Boston.
The band has been performing for 25 years, paying homage to the big band sounds of Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, along with modern composers such as Maria Schneider, Mike Crotty and Sandy Megas.
In the case of bad weather, the concert will take place at Dreamland, 9 Oak Bluffs avenue.
To become an All-Ireland music champion is no easy feat. Ireland may be a small country, but it takes its traditional music very seriously. Throw a rock, or better yet an empty pint of Guiness, and surely you will hit a musician, and not just a part-time dabbler, but a real pro. Now gather this large assortment of musicians in your head, filter out the merely good and great to pit the outstanding against the outstanding, and finally, crown the best of the best.
The Vineyard Haven Library is stepping into the great fall void with a full list of programs.
On Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. James Sullivan, author of Island Cup: Two Teams, Twelve Miles of Ocean, and Fifty Years of Football, will be at the library to discuss his book and give the inside scoop behind the story.
It was the summer of 1962 and young David Crohan had just graduated from high school. His aunt and uncle owned a house in the Camp Ground and David had come to visit. They went out to dinner at Munroe’s Restaurant on Circuit avenue (today the site of Seasons). There was a piano bar but no pianist. David sat down to play. The restaurant owner wanted to hire him on the spot, but his mother wouldn’t allow it.
Two years later David began playing professionally on Circuit avenue — and the rest is by now well-known history.