Rappahannock at the Beach
Kaye and I know the editor of the local Ocracoke, NC paper, Peter Vankevich, and ran into him Monday morning at the coffee shop after a sunrise beach walk.
He also happens to be a part time DJ at the island’s nonprofit radio station. The founders (along with 15,000 others) applied for a grant and got one — perhaps they were less competitive for airwaves space, being an island. WOVV. rocks, if interested.
Peter graciously offered a guest spot on the station for a little talk and asked me to bring a short playlist, suggesting I think about the flow of songs. No problem with flow. He did the introductions and we talked about Rappahannock County and 30 years of coming to Ocracoke. My wife Kaye and I call it Rappahannock at the Beach. It’s a favorite place for us and we attend the Ocra folk Festival at this time each year.
The first song was dedicated to Kaye. Noting the wonderful and loving a person she is, I can only hope this song represents how she feels about me . . . Billie Holiday: “The Man I Love.”
As Diana Ross played Billie Holiday in the powerful movie Lady Sings The Blues, we moved into the Supremes, “Love is Like An Aching in my Heart.” I saw the Supremes when with my dad at Saratoga Performing Arts Center. I loved the Supremes. As for the opening act that night? Stevie Wonder, wouldn’t you know, with a big orchestra behind him. He would bounce and move as he sang — and the conductor would run over if he got too close to the edge of the stage and bring him center.
We moved on to the legendary Nobel Prize-winning (too busy to accept the award) Bob Dylan, an
interesting man. “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight.” Starting to get the theme here?
It was time to step it up a bit, so I spun the first song I ever requested on the radio, about age 16 when trapped in boarding school. “Gimme Some Lovin” written by Steve Winwood and performed by The Spencer Davis Group.
Well, my temperature's rising and my feet hit the floor
Twenty people knocking 'cos they’re wanting some more
Let me in baby, I don't know what you’ve got But you’d better take it easy, this place is hot
And I'm so glad we made it . . .
Easing the pedal back, segue into one of Kaye’s newest favorite artists, Brandy Clark, “Hold My Hand.” A great love song. A beautiful woman, raven hair, bluest eyes and a red dress she knows how to wear, walks up. “She said hello, it’s been a while. Don’t think I didn’t notice the nervous in your smile . . . This would be a real good time to hold my hand.”
We had unfortunate technical difficulties playing several songs of Ocracoke musicians Kaye and I enjoy, so had to skip. A shout out to April Trueblood, who among other love songs performs “I Heard That You’re Leaving,” with lyrics: “I’d rather rip out all my molars with a fork and I’d rather clean all the bathrooms down at the ferry docks with my face, than to spend one more minute with you.” Such is unrequited love. April now has an 80’s band called Raygun Ruby, with a fabulous local guitarist Lou Castro, also a friend. They entertained us greatly Thursday night.
Kaye and I recently brought the artist Lipbone Redding to Quiévremont Winery. Such an entertainer. He writes, sings, plays guitar and does throat calling, a technique of making trumpet and trombone sounds without moving his lips. Between verses he accompanies himself! Kaye loves his song “Repo Girl,” so it made the list. A man falls in love with a woman he sees through his window. Unfortunately, she is repossessing his truck.
Improvising on the fly for the loss of earlier songs, another Lipbone number “Esmerelda and finishing with Brandy Clark’s “Stripes,” a clever song about a woman ready to shoot her cheating husband but “there’s no crime of passion worth a crime of fashion, the only thing saving your life is I hate stripes, and orange ain’t my color.” From the great album “12 Stories.”
Well, I’d like to say that was it, but I did throw in one totally off-theme song for fun and public edification. Andy M. Stewart performing “Dinny The Piper.” A Scottish tale. Check it out.
It was a great hour of fun. Peter said I made Rock Jock. But I prefer to think of myself as a Soul Man.
It was a great hour of fun. Peter said I made Rock Jock. But I prefer to think of myself as a Soul Man.