And for those of us who have kids, the busy season has just begun what with all the extra-curricular activities that start up this month.
Music Club
The Ocracoke School Music Club and Pep Band will be holding try-outs this week for aspiring young musicians. Under the tutelage of Lou Castro and Kitty Mitchell, the after-school music program is continuing to develop the talents of our local youngens.
Over the past two years, what started out as a Pep Band to play at Ocracoke School home basketball games has morphed into a genuine rock and roll band who prefer to be called The last Rebels of Rock. They’ve moved out of the gym and onto stages at the Ocrafolk Festival, the 4th of July parade, and island fundraisers.
Recently, they took their show on the road and up the beach to perform at the 19th Annual Artrageous Festival at Dare County Recreation Park.
Casey Tolson and Kade Nagakane work their magic
Kitty reports that "a good time was had by all – everyone had their hair done in Artrageous colors including me and Lou, who was sporting an orange mohawk midst a mullet of lime green. All of the guitar players had massages as well. There was some fear that the mellowing effects of the massage would turn the band from hard-driving rock and roll to soft rock, but not to fear! They were just more limbered up!"
End of Season for Deepwater Theater Shows
Molasses Creek played their last Deepwater Theater show of the season on October 2. The show was free for island residents, and a small group of Girl Scouts took advantage of the offer even though it was a school night. The Ocracoke Junior Girl Scouts are working towards earning their "My Community" badge, which requires, among other things, that the girls learn about and attend some cultural happenings in their community.
The girls enjoyed the Molasses Creek show and thought Katy was "the best!" They also liked it when Ms. Kitty (their art teacher by day, and rock star by night) put down her bass and did some impromptu drawings of drunken rodents (you had to be there…) and when she had to do some quick thinking to make up the rhymes in "Jenny Jenkins."
The highlight was holding Ms. Kitty’s bass and posing for a picture with the band.
Left to right: Lou Castro, Caroline Temple, David Tweedie, Deana Seitz, Gary Mitchell, Karla Perez, Kitty Mitchell, Bricia Moreno, and Katy Mitchell
Katy’s Off To Seek Her Fortune!
Lil’ Miss Katy Mitchell will be leaving for parts west this week, joining Skye Zentz in Berkley, California where the plan to take the coffee-shop music scene by storm! (Katy’s gotten a lot of press lately for her soulful singing in "Nights in Rodanthe," but long before she was a movie star, she put out an album, Baby It's You with her dad’s Soundside Records. And, not coincidentally, Skye Zentz did, too with Legitimate Bohemia.
Well, you can’t leave Ocracoke without a proper send-off, so a bunch of folks gathered at the Friday night performance of Marcy, Lou, Gary and David (a.k.a. The Band With No Name) at Howard’s Pub to wish Katy all the best in her travels.
Besides annoying the management by commandeering the two tables closest to the band, the party organizers also brought their own rather large festive decoration – a good, old-fashioned Ocracoke Money Tree. Ocracoke Money Trees are a common sight at baby showers and weddings on the island, and are always made out of wax myrtle (pronounced "myrkle") branches. Judging by the mouths agape on folks passing by, the wax-myrtle-branches-stuck-in-a-beach-bucket-full-of-dirt-and/or-sand-with-legal-tender-of-all-denominations-(and one IOU)-paper-clipped-to-them has not caught on off the island. Howard’s Pub was packed that night and more than a few visitors felt compelled to comment "Money must grow on trees on Ocracoke!"
We hope Katy scored some good travel money and has a great time on her new adventure!
More Cute Kids on Fire Trucks
Not to outdone by Ocracoke Child Care, the pre-Kindergarten class at Ocracoke School celebrated Fire Safety Week with a trip to the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department to check out the cool fire truck.
Firemen Dick Jacoby (left) John Manning and Chief Albert O’Neal showed the kids around the truck and answered questions about the safety equipment. The little varmint in the middle (looking right at the camera) is none other than Fiddler Dave’s youngen Lachlan Howard
The Windfall Makes Sail for Chesapeake Bay
The schooner Windfall and crew are heading north to compete in the Great Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race on October 16–18. The race begins at Fells Point, in Baltimore, Maryland, and ends 127 nautical miles down the Chesapeake Bay in Portsmouth, Virginia. More than 50 schooners will be participating in the 19th annual race this year, and Windfall is the only one that hails from North Carolina.
Her skipper, Captain Rob Temple, is thrilled to be a part of the race. He entered once before in 1996, but weather conditions prevented him from getting Windfall to Baltimore and he was forced to drop out. A few years ago he signed onboard another schooner that needed crew, and was able to participate in the race, but it only increased his hankerin’ to get his own boat up there. We’re all hoping that the Clerk of the Weather is looking out for Rob, and that Windfall is as fast as she is pretty.
Ocracoke raconteur Philip Howard is part of the scurvy crew, as is Rob’s 13 year-old son, Emmet (who thinks the schooner race is a good excuse to miss a week of school). Old salts Frank Phelps of "little" Washington, NC and Steve Musil of Colington, NC are also lending a hand. Philip has promised to take pictures, so check back in a week or so...
Soundside Records Performer Highlights – Captain Rob Temple and Sundae Horn
Speaking of Captain Rob… he’s another one who’s made a CD at Soundside Studios. Along with his lovely wife, Sundae Horn, Rob has been a performer at the Ocrafolk Opry since its inception, and has developed a predilection for telling nautical tall tales of dubious integrity, which he turned into The Rumgagger show with Fiddler Dave.
But long before Rob was The Rumgagger, he was Daddy, and he and Sundae joined their voices in harmony every evening at bedtime for a command performance to the small, but demanding, audience of Emmet and Caroline. (Mariah Daisy came along later and will no doubt demand her own lullaby album in due time.) In 2004, Sundae and Rob decided to record their kids’ favorite lullabies, and that project led to their first CD, Home is an Island.
(Their second CD has yet to materialize, but Sundae’s got big plans…)
Captain Rob and his last mate Sundae Horn
The title track was written by Rob’s old friend, Leslie Clendening, and Sundae first heard (live) on the deck of the Windfall, anchored under a full moon, with baby Emmet in her arms. (Thinking about that night can make her cry, especially since Emmet is now 5’9".)
Some of the songs on the CD are nautically-inspired, and the sea chantey "Help Me, Bob" is not technically a lullaby – it’s not so much about falling asleep as passing out drunk – but it always worked on Emmet and Caroline.
"Home is an Island" is available at Ocracoke shops, on board the Windfall, and online at Soundside Records.
