Heard on Main Street: Save the whales. Collect the whole set.
Kids especially will appreciate a family-friendly concert with Brooklyn’s “kindie” rock band Rolie Polie Guacamole, at 3 pm on Tuesday, August 22, at the bandstand in Owen Park. This high-energy, interactive show is a mix of funk, rock, and folk music mashed into original tunes about eating healthy and staying active. This free event is offered by the Martha’s Vineyard Library Association.
The Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse is now presenting the world premiere of “The Outcasts of Penikese Island,” Penikese is in the Elizabeth Islands. This is the forgotten story of the Hansen’s disease patients quarantined against their will in the leprosarium on Penikese Island, and those who cared for them. The island was purchased in 1904 by Massachusetts for the state hospital, which was closed in 1921. Performances run through Saturday, August 26.
The Tisbury Senior Center has resumed offering meals on Thursdays at noon for seniors. You just call the COA at 508-696-4205 each week during the week before Friday. The meals are also being offered at West Tisbury. A donation of $4 a meal is asked at each center.
Aspiring musician Eric Campbell had a choice to make: Stay in his native Martha’s Vineyard and work as a landscaper, or leave for Los Angeles, where a record deal awaits. This semiautobiographical romantic comedy is directed by Islander Taylor Toole, and features Vineyard natives in cameo roles. “Mow Crew” is set on Martha’s Vineyard, was released in 2009, and runs about 90 minutes. The Vineyard Haven library invites you to see this feature film in the Program Room on Tuesday, August 22, at 6 pm. Nicole Galland’s review of this in the Vineyard Gazette said, “Finally, a Vineyard movie for Vineyarders.”
Our Vineyard Haven library also offers “Live Music at the Katharine Cornell Theater” at 7 pm on Thursday, August 24, featuring Naomi Westwater. She is a Black-multiracial singer-songwriter from Massachusetts whose work combines folk music, poetry, and spirituality. Her goal is that she can aid in the return of community, creativity, and collective joy through ritual and storytelling. This concert is free and open to the public.
Islanders will appreciate this special treat: “Enjoy an Evening with David Crohan” on Tuesday, August 22, at 8 pm at the Edgartown library. The renowned Island pianist will be performing on the Mason & Hamlin piano he generously donated to the library in August 2020. Light refreshments will be served.
“Mahjong for Beginners” will be held at the Edgartown library on Wednesdays from 10 to noon, Wednesdays August 23 and 30, and Sept. 6 and 13. Learn the fundamentals of American Mahjong, a social, challenging game that requires practice, strategy, and some luck. You will learn the National Mah Jongg League rules and gain an understanding of the basics, the tiles, reading the card, the Charleston, and game play. Meet new people and have fun learning this three- or four-player game. Registration is required for this four-part class.
Beach BeFrienders plan to clean up South Beach in Edgartown on Saturday, August 26, from 8 to 10 am. DQ ice cream coins are offered to participating children under 12. The Vineyard Conservation Society will be there, with gloves and bags. They will dispose of the waste you collect.
Take a historic Oak Bluffs cemetery tour with historian Tom Dresser on Saturday, August 19, from 9 to 10 am. Meet outside the Oak Bluffs library entrance facing the cemetery. You walk about a mile. (It’s weather-dependent.)
The Martha’s Vineyard Film Society offers an All-Access Festival Pass for the M.V. International Film Festival, the week after Labor Day. That includes the festival opening and closing plus four major films, and short films as well.
Big bunches of birthday balloon wishes go out to Jeff Damon Pratt and Alistair Rizza on Saturday.
Heard on Main Street: Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
If you have any Tisbury Town Column suggestions, email Kay Mayhew, tashmoorock@gmail.com.
