As we turn the calendar page to September, our thoughts begin to stray a bit from summer fun. I’m always a bit resistant to this, which you know if you read last week’s column. Summer hangs on for a few more weeks and I, for one, am not in a rush to push her out the door, even if Mr. Orion has already appeared in the night sky. Pumpkins, mums, and apples can just all hold their horses, as my grandmother would hav...

On the 20 th anniversary of 9/11, we asked local residents to send us their recollections and thoughts on that day. What follows are edited versions of the responses.   I was on a ship traveling up the entire eastern coastline originating from Florida and bound for Europe three days before 9/11.  When we arrived in New York City on Sept. 9, I vividly remember how bright and sunny NYC had been and not...

How do you make sense of the senseless through art? Artist Pamela Chatterton-Purdy of Harwich is known for her 47 “Icons of the Civil Rights Movement.” But her first eight icons were created to “wrest meaning” from the terrible events of Sept. 11, “the day that changed everything.” Chatterton-Purdy is one of several Cape Cod artists and musicians who will exhibit her work or perform during a commemoration o...

Musicals are slowly reopening on Broadway to masked audiences after the long COVID hiatus, and Cape Cod has not been left behind.  The last musical staged by the Academy Playhouse in Orleans was in August 2019, and two years later a talented cast of five has returned and are singing and dancing their hearts out in a delightfully rollicking and welcome production of "Nunsense!" "Nunsense!" is propelled by a fan...

The author of an epic poem commemorating the horrific events of 9/11 in New York City will read from his work Saturday at the Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Junior Theatre. “It’s been 20 years since Sept. 11, 2001,” writes Thomas F. Flynn of Harwich and New York, author of “Bikeman: Commemorative Edition” (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2021). “So much has changed and some things remain the same.” Sept. 11, 2...

After the debut of their first album, “Mugshot,” in 2018, local band Canon Hill didn’t want to rush another music release. However, that didn’t mean a pause in their creative process. “We always knew we would do another album,” said lead guitarist Logan Tichnor. “We didn’t know when, though. That was our biggest unknown.” It turns out that inspiration and motivation came during the COVID-19 pandemic quarant...

Early morning walks on the beach are my favorite summer activity. I rarely see another person, but I do see lots of other things, and every day is a little different from the day before. As August winds down, many people are already talking about fall. Stores have fall items displayed already and you can buy pumpkin flavored anything if you so desire. I do not so desire. Not that I have anything against pumpkin o...

Restaurateur, TV personality and cookbook writer Chef Ming Tsai teamed up with Tom Woods, the executive chef at the Ocean House Restaurant in Dennis Port, for a benefit Monday the Family Reach program. Woods had worked for Tsai in two of his restaurants in the past, the Blue Ginger in Wellesley and the Blue Dragon in Boston. This was the first time in five years the two cooked together; both were thrilled to be w...

On Saturday, Sept. 4 at 9:30 a.m., The Sustainable Practices Film Series returns to the Chatham Orpheum with the documentary “The Divided Brain.” The Sustainable Practices Film Series is a monthly documentary film series created in the fall of 2017 through a partnership between the Chatham Orpheum Theater and Sustainable Practices, a Barnstable County focused environmental action group.  Sustainable Practices ...

Although he is best known for playing the Hammond B-3 organ alongside guitarist Trey Anastasio in the Phish frontman’s solo project, Trey Anastasio Band, Ray Paczkowski has always prided himself on being a pianist. “I was always a pianist and I still consider it my first instrument,” said Paczkowski. “Like in [recording] sessions, people will say, ‘OK, why don’t you put the Hammond on this track, or this and t...

Can a doll comprehend what we say to it? Can it understand how much it's loved? And if it can, does it care? Well if one believes that a doll has thoughts behind that painted-on face, how would we react if we found out it wasn’t very likable? In the Cape Rep’s production of “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane,” based on the book by Kate DiCamillo and adapted by Dwayne Hartford, we witness the love a child ha...

We all need a “secret garden” to escape to or to tend to, especially after the year or two we’ve had! Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved book “The Secret Garden” is a tale of change and how we deal with change when tragedy is its impetus. Some seek out a secret garden while others choose to ignore its existence. The Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Junior Theatre’s Susan Kosoff (book and lyrics) and Jane Staab ...