By NICK MOORHEAD
An endless summer is a dream of mine, and there are bright, hot days in mid-July when this dream appears attainable. The sun is powerful and blinding, the sands on the beach comfortable enough to sink into, and there is this pervasive sense that the season could be infinite.
Singer-songwriter Michele Zaccone and drummer/keyboardist J.B. Lamont of the band Tethered are tied together by a host of similarities. They were born on the same day three years apart, they are Geminis, and they have both been burned; Mr. Lamont by the music business, Ms. Zaccone by love.
By NICK MOORHEAD
Deer Tick is not just a really nasty strain of insect you could find attached to your leg after too much time spent at South Beach. It is also the name of John McCauley’s folk/punk/blues band playing at Nectar’s this Saturday night.
Mr. McCauley has carved out a reputation for his band within the crowded genre of indie rock bands with the prefix Deer (see: Deerhunter, Deerhoof) through raucous live shows.
Chiddy Bang, the rap duo currently in possession of a Guinness Book World Record for the longest freestyle rap coming in at nine hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds, played, alas, a somewhat shorter set at the Stars and Stripes festival held at Nectar’s on Saturday night.
The event was a benefit for the YMCA and produced by Neon Gold Records, a record company run by Chilmark summer residents Derek Davies and Lizzy Plapinger. The evening also featured The Knocks, French Horn Rebellion and Savoir Adore.
When jazz goes on vacation, it goes to Martha’s Vineyard. So trumpets the tag line of the inaugural 2011 Martha’s Vineyard Jazz Festival, which officially takes place August 6-13, but enjoyed an unofficial kickoff at Lola’s in Oak Bluffs this past weekend. Throughout the summer, you can find jazz all over the Island leading to the weeklong festival in August.
By NICK MOORHEAD
Originally designed to be accommodated in a palace chamber, music under the heading of chamber music has over the years moved out of the palaces and into the hearts and minds of the masses. Well, masses may be a slight exaggeration when comparing chamber music lovers to the throngs flocking to Lady Gaga. But gather all the fans and all the audiences of the past few hundred years or so and this specialized art form rises to the top of the music charts.
