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Wednesday afternoon, July 30, 2014

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Issue Number 1046

~ How Michael Gaillard's soft gallery opening saved my day (By Candy Bearman)

~ What You Need to Know About the

Nantucket Music Festival

~ Nantucket Arts & Social Calendar for Thursday

~ Photo Album: The Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum Baskets & Bubbly 7.20.14 by Gene Mahon

The Sweet Life à la Candy: How Michael Gaillard's soft gallery opening saved my day

Candy Bearman

I don't have a whole lot of free time. There are always things I should be doing: laundry or dishes (especially dishes) or cleaning something, and I always find something to do instead. Sometimes what I find to do instead is just a creative way to cheat on cleaning, and I end up making an even bigger mess than what I started with, only with sticky paints or muddy potting soil added to the mix.

It was on such a day that I found myself covered in smears of chalk pastels eating a powdered donut, wondering why they don't make the powder colored. Kids would love that - hell, I would too. Electric blue powdered donuts, and I looked like the frantic subject of a Saturday Night Live skit, my hair twirled up and held in place with a paint brush antennae, eyes glazed over because I literally cried when I thought about doing the dishes on my day off, which was why I was eating donuts for lunch anyway.

My natural response was to focus my energy and create something, not clean something, like any normal person would have done. If Mr. Clean commanded an army to fight kitchen goo and eccentric art people I would have been enemy number one. My smeared mascara made me look like a Tammy Faye/ Alice Cooper love child and there I was, standing in front of a mirror, tragically sure none of this art life would ever pay off. There were more tears and a crusty pot of old gravy looming in the background when salvation came in the form of a gallery opening and an interview for this article.

Michael Gaillard has it all together. I had never heard of this laid back but intensely intuitive guy until the opportunity to meet him came along. I had heard all about the restaurant his grandmother ran here on Nantucket, The Opera House, but I hadn't thought much more about it anymore than it was supposed to have been a legendary place, complete with lavish movie stars breezing in and out and a piano player people came from all over to hear. So I cleaned myself up in a jiffy and headed over to check out Michael's new gallery on North Water Street.

Michael Gaillard is an artist who is doing what so many of us artists dream of, hanging his shingle and making gravy a much more attractive way than myself.

One Nantucket piece of the Gaillard family legacy began while all the bigger, faster places like New York and Boston were busy rebuilding and reviving from the economic ravages left behind by the Great Depression and World War II. The island was plugging along and sustaining itself by the tried and true means of the sea's bounty and revenue generated by the local economy and tourism. Divas jetted away from the demands of Broadway and escaped to Nantucket, while scores of fishermen humbly made their way back to the comfort of home shores.

Not far from port on South Water Street was a place that welcomed all, celebrity and sea dog alike. It was a restaurant so legendary that when people mention it, speaking of tales both ordinary and extraordinary, they all add wistfully, "We'll never see a place like that again". Though the restaurant's doors have long since been closed, The Opera House remains an important part of island history, and in Michael, like his late grandmother/ Opera House proprietress Gwen, a family tradition of celebrating island beauty lives on.

Over on North Water Street, natural light spills into a front bay window that is raised from street level, and upon entering one notices the walls are so sharp a white they almost cease to exist. Observers are sucked into the super size large format photography that floats in midair. The impression in your mind of a room remains, yet the images Michael depicts in his photography are so precise, viewers are kidnapped away to exact moments in time. So much more than swaying beach grass and lonely paths, a feeling is invoked of standing in awe of the ocean as churning sediment claws apart waves, scooping at water that forces liquid diamonds between the webbing of sand and soil and the very fingers of the earth. Flashing imagery models memory and Michael explained to me that he strives to recreate the most finite and exact moments in time. What is left is like the fleeting glimpse of a dream revisited.

Peeling away the noise and mounted layers piled on by life and all it's complexities, Michael uses his 8x10 film camera to achieve purity. A small world this is, and I too have lived in the very same remote Central American village as Michael. His love of Costa Rica blossomed when he lived, surfed, and studied there, working to complete his educational goals. Though the world may be small, it's as wide as the expanse of our mind's eye, which is acutely displayed in Michael's work.

In his giclée print photographs of tropical subjects there are horses, lean and sinewy, grazing before a distant backdrop of lush Central American mountains. When I stand in front of his depiction, there I am again: arms squeezed tightly around my boyfriend's waist, sun freckling my forehead, so so in love (it's February and everyone else I know is freezing, which makes me devilishly happier), and he and I are rumbling on an all terrain vehicle over unrefined dusty roadways and around steep, blind, craggy bends that open into jungle vistas before powerful deep-emerald mountains. True to form there are remnants of a home-made salsa to take care of back at la casa, far behind.

You can feel the majesty in Michael's mountains and oceans, he doesn't glamorize anything, but allows every space to be as it is. Maybe that's why his photos work so well in large format. There is a lot to tell and that deserves a big canvas. Michael speaks of his inherent need to represent exactly what is found in nature and the control it takes to remove all extraneous influence so what remains is an accurate representation of reality.

Michael says the opening of his gallery, blocks away from the Opera House and legendary piece of Gaillard history, is a dream come true. He says he feels like it's all a bit surreal. Though as an artist Michael's stepped a bit away from his restaurant roots, he's still a man who loves surf, and turf (he's an avid golfer), and sharing what grace he can.

So what's next for Michael? He and his wife have recently welcomed a baby boy. The Gaillard legend continues. . .

The Gaillard Gallery is now open to the public. Take an escape and forget about the dishes, you never know where his photography may take you.

Michael Gaillard Gallery Grand Opening Reception
Friday, August 1, 2014 | 7:00pm - 10:00pm
2 South Beach St (beneath Oran Mor)

In 2005 Candy Bearman took a one year leave of absence from her position as a special assignment international flight attendant - where she served the NFL, NBA, and the US Military - to chill out on Nantucket. When the Fed Ex envelope arrived with return-to-duty instructions in 2006, Candy promptly deposited the envelope directly into the garbage can. A twenty year veteran of the service industry, both on the surface of the Earth and above it, Candy's travel and food and beverage experience leave her with plenty to write about. She enjoys most pondering "the one" - the one in every crowd - and writing developed character study.

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What You Need to Know About the

Nantucket Music Festival

THE FESTIVAL

Saturday Daytime 10 - 4

Dispatch, Steel Pulse, Donavon Frankenreiter, Ben Taylor, Freddy Clarke, ECliff and the Swing Dogs, Earth Got the Blues

Sunday Daytime 10 - 4

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Guster, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Crash, Ayla Brown, Entrain, You Scream I Scream, Sonar

Saturday Evening BBQ Party 6 - 9

Chuck Colley, Harrison Roach + SURPRISE BAND. Ticket includes seated, catered dinner by Simply with Style, musical performances during and after dinner, beer and wine, 6:00 PM parking at site. This ticket does not include Daytime Festival.

Sunday Evening Bruce Hornsby Dinner 6 - 9

Ticket includes seated, catered dinner by Simply with Style, musical performances during and after dinner, beer and wine, and parking at site at 5:30 p.m. This ticket does not include Daytime Festival Doors 6:00.

TICKET PRICES

Note: Want to win a Cabana and VIP Upgrade for 8 people? Buy a general admission or dinner event ticket online before Friday at 5 pm for a chance to win.

Daytime General Admission

Saturday: $85

Sunday: $85

Both days: $160

Daytime VIP

VIP ticket includes VIP Pavilion with catering, refreshments, VIP restrooms, VIP gate entry, and special VIP viewing area

Saturday: $200

Sunday: Sold Out

Evenings

Saturday Evening BBQ Party: $275

Sunday Evening Bruce Hornsby Dinner: $500 or $750 for premium seating

TICKET SALES

http://www.ticketfly.com/venue/11923-tom-nevers-field/?utm_medium=bks

MUSIC LINE-UP
Saturday Schedule:

11 am: Earth Got the Blues

11:30: ECliff and the Swingdogs

12:15: Donavon Frankenreiter

1:00: Freddy Clarke

1:30: Steel Pulse

2:15: Ben Taylor

3:00: Dispatch

Sunday Schedule

11 am: SoNar

11:20: I Scream You Scream

11:45: Crash

12:15: Lukas Nelson & P.O.T.R.

1:00: Entrain

1:30: Guster

2:15: Ayla Brown

3:00: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

Saturday Evening Dinner Performances

6 pm: Chuck Colley

7 pm: Harrison Roach

8:15 pm: All Star Jam

Sunday Evening Dinner Performances

6 pm: Coq au Vin

7 pm: George Young

8:15 pm: Bruce Hornsby

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VENDOR VILLAGE

Opens at 10 am. Vendors and locations could change.

Stella and Dot

Live off the Sand Jewelry

Glasses on the Road

Sunny Wood Designs

Rock & Roll Memorabilia

La Matera Men's Belts

Lauren M DiFerdinando Art

Chubbies Shorts

Sarah Campbell

Skar Jewelry

Sustainable Nantucket

Extra Life Boston

Nantucket Community Music Center

Jack Wills

92.5 the River

Nantucket Magazine

FOOD VENDOR VILLAGE
Note: Vendors and locations could change

PARKING

There will be no parking for the general public at the festival site.

RIDE THE WAVE

Leaves from The Nantucket Greenhound at 10 Washington Street $2.00 on the quarter to the hour. Route: Sconset Bus via Milestone Road, Bus Stop at Nobadeer Farm Road & Milestone Road, Follow signs to Nobadeer Farm Rd Athletic Field for the free bus to Nantucket Music Festival

REMOTE PARKING LOTS

Blue Lot: New South Road off Milestone Road

Green Lot: VFW on New South Road off Milestone Road

Parking $15.00 per car - Purchase with Tickets

Take free shuttle to Tom Nevers Field

FINE PRINT

The Nantucket Music Festival will be held rain or shine. All sales final. No refunds or exchanges. The NMF is not responsible for lost, stolen or misplaced tickets. No re-entry or exceptions.

Do not bring coolers, alcohol, fireworks, umbrellas, illegal substances, pets, audio or visual recording devices.

SITE PLAN (not final version)

Click to see detailed pdf blow-up at high resolution

THURSDAY

BENEFITS
NHA Antiques & Design Show: Opening Night Party
Thursday, July 31, 6:30pm: Bartlett's Farm
The 37th annual, featuring the Sultans of Swing. Guests will dance the night away while enjoying cocktails and nibbles, and get a sneak-peek at fine art, rugs, books and Nantucket memorabilia from over 40 antique dealers - prior to the show's official opening. Opens to the public on Friday, August 1, 2014, at 10 A.M. For information, visit www.nha.org/specialevents or call (508) 228-1894. $200/person http://nha.org/tickets/

THEATER
Rodgers & Hammerstein's: Oklahoma!
Thursday, July 31, 6:00pm: Bennett Hall
This Pulitzer Prize winning musical tells the love story of Laurey, a spirited farm girl, and Curly, the cowboy who loves her. Oklahoma tackles class issues between farmers and cowmen in the old west as the characters struggle to find hope, love and the fulfillment of the "American Dream." The show contains many popular songs such as O, What a Beautiful Morning, Kansas City and I Can't Say No. Oklahoma is the first collaboration written by composer Richard Rogers and lyricist, Oscar Hammerstein II. It is one of their most popular musicals and is guaranteed to raise the spirits of those who see it.

Directed and Choreographed by TWN's Resident Artistic Director Justin Cerne With orchestrations and musical direction by Chris Meredith and Diane Lehman And a cast of actors from Nantucket, NY, LA, Providence, Boston etc.

Tickets

AR Gurney's: Black Tie
Thursday, July 31, 7:30pm: Theatre Workshop of Nantucket Centre Stage
Father of the groom, Curtis, simply wants to make a memorable toast at his son's rehearsal dinner. But before he is able to raise his glass, he must defend the time-honored ways of his past, including his attire. Cultures clash when a surprise guest is announced, threatening to throw convention out the window. Curtis finds that balancing the standards of his late father and the needs of his future family may prove too messy for a black tie affair.

Set Design by Eric Schultz Costumes by Anne Breeding

Family Furniture
Thursday, July 31, 7:30pm: White Heron Theatre Company
By A.R. Gurney. Directed by Lynne Bolton. The first prduction of A.R. Gurney's newest play after its New York premiere last fall. The action takes place at the family's summer home and as with so many of this masterful playwright's work, Family Furniture is about what is quietly underlying in our lives - the "underpinning" of all that holds us together. Funny, fun and reminiscent of summers long ago, Gurney paints a warm and sometimes touching picture of family life and the choices we make for love. Purchase tickets here

MOVIES
NFF Now: An Honest Liar
Thursday, July 31, 6:30pm: Dreamland Theater
An audience favorite at NFF19, Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom's entertaining documentary follows magician-turned-paranormal-skeptic James "The Amazing" Randi who has debunked claims of the supernatural for more than four decades. Skype Q&A with filmmaker to follow screening. $15 at box office or online www.nantucketdreamland.org

And So It Goes (PG-13)
Thursday, July 31, 9:00pm: Dreamland Theater
There are a million reasons not to like realtor Oren Little, and that's just the way he likes it. Willfully obnoxious to anyone who might cross his path, he wants nothing more than to sell one last house and retire in peace and quiet -- until his estranged son suddenly drops off a granddaughter he never knew existed and turns his life upside-down. Clueless about how to care for a sweet, abandoned nine-year-old, he pawns her off on his determined and lovable neighbor Leah and tries to resume his life uninterrupted. But little by little, Oren stubbornly learns to open his heart - to his family, to Leah, and to life itself.

Cast: Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton, Sterling Jerins, Paloma Guzm◊ën, Frances Sternhagen Director: Rob Reiner

GALLERY OPENINGS
Artist Reception: Kate Kova
Thursday, July 31, 6:00pm - 9:00pm: A Taste of Nantucket
Info: artkatekova@gmail.com

Glass of Friendship & Art
Thursday, July 31, 6:00pm - 8:00pm: 'Sconset Gallery & William Welch Gallery
New works by William Welch, Whitney Kreb, Margaret Fox, Ilya Kagan, Julija Mostykanova, and more.

For the latest complete list of open restaurants and take-out food, as compiled by David Sharpe at Nantucket Visitor Services, with hours, addresses, and phone numbers, click here.

TALK
Under the Tent with Dr. Timothy Lepore "Tick Talk"
Thursday, July 31, 12:00pm: Nantucket Cottage Hospital
Exploring awareness, prevention and new trends in tick-borne diseases. Open to the public and free of charge. Courtesy valet parking avail. Iced tea, lemonade, water, and cookies will be provided.

Worry-free Nantucket Interiors with Barbara Halstead
Thursday, July 31, 4:00pm - 5:00pm: Audrey Sterk Color & Design Studio, 18 Broad Street
Sand, salt, children, dogs, wet beach towels... these are some of the best things about living on Nantucket. Barbara Halsted creates interiors that hold up to the joys of island life. "My clients tell me that they don't want to worry while they're here," she says. In the latest Ampersand Series, Halsted will illuminate the many ways a Nantucket interior can be as carefree and beautiful as the island itself.

Refreshments served by Ambrosia Chocolate Shop Limited Seating. Please call 508-325-7050 to reserve a seat

NIGHTLIFE & LIVE MUSIC
Earth Got the Blues
Thursdays, 7:30pm - 10:00pm: Rose & Crown

Karaoke
Thursdays, 10:00pm - 1:00am: Rose & Crown

Back Deck Party with DJ Julie
Thursdays, 4:00pm - 7:00pm: Muse
Throwback "Twisted Tea" Thursdays

4 EZ Payments
Thursday, July 31, 3 - 5, Starlight Cafe

Tony Lee Thomas Band
Thursday, July 31, 4:30pm - 7:00pm: Cisco Brewers

Chuck Collie Trio
Thursday, July 31, 5-7, Starlight Cafe

Jamie Howarth
Thursdays, 7:30pm: Summer House Restaurant

Andrea Marie & The Magnolia Band
Thursday, July 31, 7:30-9:30, Starlight Cafe

Cabaret with Diane & Bob Lehman
Thursdays, 8:00pm - 10:00pm: Breeze Bar and Cafe at the Nantucket Hotel

Coq au Vin
Thursday, July 31, 9:30pm: Pazzo

Jacob Butler
Thursday, July 31, 9:30pm - 11:30pm: Met on Main

#Balkan Night
Thursdays, 10:00pm - 1:00am: Muse

Tony Lee Thomas & Friends
Thursday, July 31, 10-1, Starlight Cafe

Deep Dive Decompression Chamber with Billy Voss
Thursdays, 10:00pm - 1:00am: Corazon del Mar
Billy Voss with a set from Afro Cuban to Ethereal House.

Dub Apocalypse
Thursday, July 31, 10:00pm - 1:00am: Chicken Box

Bold type indicates a current Mahon About Town advertiser. Additional details on these events and the full calendar of arts and social events from 2008 through 2014 are here.

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The Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum Baskets & Bubbly event took place on Sunday, July 20, 2014 at the Great Harbor Yacht Club, with a Champagne brunch and auction, featuring one of kind baskets and other luxury items auctioned by local favorite, Rafael Osona. Photos by Gene Mahon, assisted by Amanda Morgan. More events at MahonAboutTown.com.

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Click on the calendar graphic above for the most complete and up to date listing of Nantucket arts and social events, updated daily when necessary. Bookmark this site for quick and easy access.

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For more details about any event, click on the title of the event.

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All event dates and times are subject to change.

This calendar is now used by all island non-profits and event planners to schedule their major fundraisers and avoid date conflicts with other major events. If you're planning an event and the date is set, please email me with your information to get it on the calendar. It may prevent someone else from booking a similar event on the same date.

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