It was all Beck, Billy Strings, and Bully at Beach Road Weekend in August, a summer of music that brought more local talent, like the Dock Dance Band, Jaywalkers, Phil da Rosa, Cape Cod’s own Crooked Coast, and many more familiar to us to the stage at the Loft. In 2022 we also had a visit from the Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra, and Jim Kweskin with his Americana Jug Band. We talked to Island-raised, now New Yorker, musician Charlotte Benjamin, and to the ladies behind Ladyfest.
Brooks Robards wrote all about the stellar films that played at the M.V. Film Center, including highlights of all the festivals — Spectrum, Environmental, FilMusic, Documentary, International, and Women in Film. She liked “The Tender Bar,” “The Velvet Queen,” and “Drive My Car,” among others. We also had the fantastic efforts of the newly formed and Grange Hall–based Circuit Arts bringing us the M.V. Film Festival, Cinema Circus, the seasonal Drive-In at the YMCA, and their own Circuit Films.
We had more film coverage when Lucas Thors wrote about Tyler Perry, and I was lucky enough to see and write about Viola Davis this past summer, both part of the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, which by the way gets better and better every year. Eunki Seonwoo took off his news hat to write about racial inequality at the Oscars, and Thors wrote about the more recent screening of Will Smith in “Emancipation.”
We also started a new series in the Calendar section called “What Are You Watching?” in response to our pandemic obsession with binge watching. I took a deep dive into British detective shows with “Happy Valley” and “Line of Duty,” while Eunki Seonwoo gave us some insight with “A Nation of Broth” and “Wild Babies.”
The MV Times hosted Islanders Write 2022, which was filled with writers with an Island connection, including Geraldine Brooks, Marc Brown, Gregory Mone, Callie Crossley, John Hough, Jr., Frank Bergon, James Lapine, and Misan Sagay, just to call out a few. Kate Feiffer wrote extensively about books and writing this past year, starting a series she calls “Around the Writer’s Table.” Our pages were filled with book reviews in 2022, so many that it felt like our “Year of Books.” We had Philip Weinstein’s “Soul-Error,” Nancy Slonim Aronie’s “Memoir as Medicine,” and of course, Geraldine Brooks’ bestselling “Horse,” as well as numerous other reviews.
Gwyn McAllister wrote about the Island art world extensively, as well as Abby Remer and Brooks Robards. The war in Ukraine was front and center for many artists this year, with galleries offering a focus on projects connected to the Eastern European country. Artists Richard Limber and Old Sculpin and Knowhere galleries, as well as Featherstone and others, offered artists’ interpretations of the war.
On our table, Times staff came up with some interesting recipes to share with you — from Lucas Thors’ Marry Me Chicken to Dave Plath’s Chili, to Nicole Jackson’s Lime Freeze. We enjoyed Island Grown Schools’ Harvest of the Month recipes, as well as a look at what’s on the menu at Island restaurants.
All in all, this was one heck of a year for all of us. We bounced back from the pandemic with a vengeance, and we enjoyed the creative side of Island life all around us. Here’s to an even better 2023!
