Singing for the Beauty of the World
When Melanie DeMore comes to the Island she doesn’t just perform. She gets us all to perform. No, this isn’t one of those uncomfortable moments when you attend a performance and are plucked from the crowd to go center stage. Melanie spends the week before her performance hosting singing classes around the Island. And, if so moved after attending a workshop, you are invited to display your chops at her official performance.
For the Jim Thomas Spirituals Choir, the history is as much a part of the experience as the music. Tracing the evolution of American music through the Underground Railroad and the Middle Passage, Jim Thomas and his chorus sing a story of our cultural past.
“Listen Local” might be the theme of the evening on Monday, July 18. That’s when Jemima James hosts her third annual Variety Show at Featherstone Center for the Arts, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The show is part of Featherstone’s Musical Mondays concert series.
For musician Ben Taylor, the Hot Tin Roof legacy is an unfinished song. The lyrics tell a story — since 1979 so many rock and roll, blues, funk, hip-hop, bluegrass, and folk greats have walked through the doors of the Vineyard nightclub at the airport.
Now Mr. Taylor and the current owners of the nightclub, which is now named Nectar’s, say there is one more verse to write.
There are very few musicians in David Crohan’s league. He says so himself.
But he says it modestly as if, after more than 60 years of playing, he is still surprised by the fact.
“I was given an extraordinary gift. I can hear a popular song, and I can learn it in five or six minutes, and immediately put together an arrangement of it,” said Mr. Crohan.
You never know when that tap on your shoulder is going to come. We’ve been watching you for a while, they say, as you look around bewildered. No, this isn’t a Skull and Bones initiation. It’s a cappella.
The Vineyard Sound have been delighting Island ears since 1992. From June to August they can be found wearing their trademark look of shorts, oxford shirts, ties, and sandals or boat shoes at various churches and private events around the Vineyard.