The Virginia Symphony assays ‘Nocturnes, Overtures & Cannons’

That’s right; “cannon” with three “n”s – as in “cannonballs,” not Pachelbel’s musical round. Enthusiastic Associate Conductor Benjamin Rous led the well-oiled orchestra through European and American music that featured martial airs in each half of the program at the First Flight High School Sunday afternoon. The final concert of the Outer Banks Forum’s 30th season began with the Europeans, including Franz von Suppé’s Overture to Light Cavalry and “music that strikes fear into the hearts of bachelors,” Mendelssohn’s Wedding March from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (not martial, especially, but marital music – difference?) and Brahms’ Hungarian Dances No. 4 and 1. Post-intermission the audience heard the Americans: John Williams’ The Cowboys Overture, Morton Gould’s American Symphonette No. 2 and his arrangement of the African-American spiritual “Deep River.” Martial music after the break was Jay Unger’s beautiful 1982 “Ashokan Farewell,” used in Ken Burns’ The Civil War television series and Peter Wilhousky’s version of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” (or “John Brown’s Body” if you will). Keep your eye on outerbanksforum.org for news of next season.

Guitar duo lights up the Forum with fireworks and fun

Master guitarists Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo visited the First Flight High School Saturday. Playing amplified acoustic instruments, they owned the audience after their first number, ‘It Might As Well Be Spring,’ when they stopped mid-song to pose comically for a photographer in the audience. The show continued apace, mixing virtuosic musicianship with comedy. The music ranged from ballet, as the pair managed to play Tschaikovsky’s Swan Lake Act One while assuming ballet positions and prancing about the stage, to beautiful jazzy versions of early to modern standards (‘Stardust,’ ‘I Shot the Sheriff’), with special emphasis given to past masters Les Paul (whom Vignola has played with) and Gypsy genius Django Reinhardt … not to mention Frank Zappa. Visit FrankVignola.com, VinnyRaniolo.com and OuterBanksForum.org for more. (Pete Hummers photo)

Sandy enervates the locals

Sandy is predicted to pivot around the Outer Banks before heading inland.

Hurricane Sandy, that is. At the Nags Head Pierhouse restaurant this morning, four minutes after opening found the usual breakfasting police officers and a few strange (to me) couples at the tables. The staff and clientele were as animated by the approaching storm as the Atlantic surging beneath the restaurant and the jokes and wisecracks were flying.

Sandy is predicted to just brush Nags Head, although for a while, as she is expected to turn inland using the Outer Banks as a pivot.

From the Pacific to the Atlantic by way of the Caribbean

Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Dore Coller (right), of Marin County, California, visited the Outer Banks recently and played gigs at Ocean Boulevard and the Nags Head Pier. A current member of The Hot Club of Marin, Savannah Blue, Trio Max and Unplugged, Dore specializes in playing Bermudagrass and Caribbean R&B, and has played with such artists as Big Brother, Jeffrey Cain, The David Grisman Quintet, Dan Hicks, Paul Mehling and the Hot Club of San Francisco, Van Morrison, The Youngbloods and many others. For the Nags Head Pier show he enlisted former high-school bandmate, local newspaperman Pete Hummers, on second guitar. The gracious audience was demonstrably appreciative. (JoAnn Hummers photo)