Block Island Times

Music returns to Common Ground

After a winter of showing films, Common Ground Coffeehouse welcomes spring with the beginning of music season. 
Fingerstyle guitarist and folk singer Allysen Callery returns on Friday, May 11.
The Coffeehouse will host the kickoff of NAMI-Block Island’s Spring Conference on May 18, showing the one-hour film “Every Brilliant Thing,” followed by music from Celtic-bluegrass-roots musician and counselor Ed McGuirl. On Memorial Day Weekend, the coffeehouse will welcome the candidate for the next pastor of Harbor Church, Peter Preiser, with a performance by his wife, Carrie Johnson, a veteran professional singer-songwriter.
Friday, June 1 will bring Krista Baroni, whose CD, “Alabaster Girl,” has won wide acclaim.
The duo Cardboard Ox will bring their delightful harmonies to the coffeehouse on June 8; the group is composed of Steve Allain and Tracey Potochnik, who both write tunes. Local keyboard genius Cameron Greenlee will perform in the sanctuary on June 15; his music ranges from jazz to reggae to classical. Will Houlihan — who performs under the name Haunt the House — returns June 22 with his heartfelt and evocative Americana songs. Kala Farnham, the petite powerhouse who has won several songwriting awards, will sing June 29, accompanying herself on guitar, mandolin, harp, and piano.
In July, soul and gospel singer Kim Trusty will perform a mix of personalized covers and her own pop compositions on July 6. One of the stalwarts of the Rhode Island rock and pop scene for three decades, Mark Cutler, will make an appearance on July 13. Our local chanteuse Virginia Dare, who is in the process of moving away, will give one last show on July 20.
The climax of the summer will come on Sunday, July 29, at the Farewell Folk Festival, a benefit concert to say goodbye to pastor Steve Hollaway who is retiring at the end of the month (and to raise funds for moving costs). The Sunday afternoon event, 4 to 6 p.m., is expected to be held on the re-landscaped front lawn of the church (to be finished in June) under a planned 32-foot pergola. Musicians lined up include (in alphabetical order) Allysen Callery, Mark Cutler, Virginia Dare, Jake Douglas with Mac Brown and André Miller, John Fuzek, Cameron Greenlee, Ed McGuirl, Ken Totushek, and Kim Trusty. John Fuzek is the producer. After the show, the church will host a farewell reception with refreshments. Everyone on the island is invited.

 

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