for the ARTS record
Glazer, Bullington and Wendelken Jazz Trio Interviewing the members of The Undergraduates last week for an article, we got off on a tangent about the number of people who play instruments - and play them well - on Nantucket. Mollie Glazer, Erik Wendelken and Andy Bullington fall squarely into that category. A nimble trio of cello, bass and guitar (respectively), they can go from entertaining a roomful of kids at the Coffin School on a Saturday morning with kidsongs to playing a well-rounded jazz concert for adults at The Atheneum this Friday.

Wendelken and Glazer had been playing together for years when Glazer spotted Bullington playing at the Point Breeze. She and Bullington began collaborating on jazz from the mid '40s and before. They then brought in Wendelken "as a terrific luxury," according to Bullington.

"I had been playing the bass line on the cello, so it freed me up to do more chordal things and lay out, same for Andy," Glazer said.

Today, the trio plays whenever and wherever anyone invites them - including parties, weddings and outdoor concerts. A typical jazz set list includes classic American songs - Cole Porter, Gershwin, Rodgers and Hart - and Latin jazz, especially that of Carlos Jobim.

The versatility Nantucket wants of its musicians has enabled Glazer, Bullington and Wendelken to become familiar with a wide range of styles, they said.

"I used to live in New York, and I would have never explored these other kinds of music," Glazer said. "I was just playing classical and classical baroque and Renaissance music, but I never went out and played folk music. I never played jazz then. I never even heard of bluegrass."

Bullington agreed. "I lived in Austin for 18 years, and whenever you tried to break into a different genre, there were always 17 people who'd been playing it better and longer than you. It was just an insurmountable obstacle," he said. "And here, people call you up on the phone and say, 'Can you play some Irish music? You've got a week to listen to it and learn it.' And you say, 'Sure!'"

Putting together this musical "closet full of hats," as Glazer called it, has made the trio more of a delight, able to get toes tapping - whether those toes are in booties or Blahniks. When: Friday, Nov. 24, 3 p.m. Where: Nantucket Atheneum (Great Hall),

1 India Street Cost: Free For more information, call 228-1110.

Holiday Small Works Opening Show The Artists Association of Nantucket wants to make your holiday gift buying that much easier with its annual Holiday Small Works Show. The exhibit will include "small" works by emerging and established Nantucket artists. That "small" size translates into affordably priced presents for gift buyers, but it's also an opportunity for the artists to branch out.

"It gives an artist used to doing bigger things an opportunity to try a small format," said 20-yearlong AAN member Helen Sharp Potter.

Because of the show, the AAN Gallery is a "holiday shopping pit stop," according to Kate Merlini Fraser, Development Director for the AAN. "Every year, people come into the gallery up until the last minute to get a gift. The show is hanging until Christmas Eve for that reason," she said.

It takes time to create a work of art - even a small work. For this reason, buying a piece of art, even at the last minute, makes you look like you've spent time in your gift buying. It's advanced planning by association - the Artists' Association, specifically. When: Opening, Friday, Nov. 24, 5-7 p.m. Where: Artists' Association of Nantucket, Joyce &

Seward Johnson Gallery, 19 Washington Street Cost: Free; Artwork starting at $50. For more information, call 228-0294.

Children's Christmas Theater, done in the British style Christmas tales told by a reliable British narrator are as much a part of American Christmas tradition as grade school wrapping paper fundraisers and magazine subscription drives. Because of this, having an astute Anglo-actor like John Knox- Johnston relate Dylan Thomas' "A Child's Christmas in Wales" (for free) is a real treat for the island this week. This classic short story narrates a traditional Welsh Christmas, but it contains elements as eternal as snow in winter - including the giddiness of children in love with the holiday and the challenges of packing many family members into one home to celebrate. The Theatre Workshop of Nantucket describes the tale as "heartwarming reminiscences from a child's-eye-view of the duties, delicacies and delights of Christmas traditions of old." Added TWN President Pam Murphy, "John's charming British accent and silver pate lend the perfect blend of wistfulness, whimsy and weight to the roughly 40-minute story."

When: Friday and Saturday, Nov. 24 and 25;

and Friday, Dec. 1; 5:30 p.m.

Where: Upstairs at the United Methodist Church,

2 Centre Street Cost: Free For more information, call 228-4305.

World Wide Women's Voices Book Discussion Group In this tumultuous time of geo-political affairs, it makes good heart sense to plug into the realities of women across the world. The Atheneum is offering a series of book discussions with this mission in mind, continuing this week with Marie Arana's memoir, "American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood." The book chronicles the author's youth spent in America and Peru, in the crease between individuality and tradition. The editor of the Washington Post Book World, Arana articulates the inarticulation of living between cultures and classes during the innocence of youth.

The Worldwide Women's Voices Book Discussion Group meets monthly through March. When: Tuesday, Nov. 28, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Where: Nantucket Atheneum (Kynett Room),

1 India Street Cost: Free To register, call 228-1110 ext 102.

Brigham Florals As the branches bid farewell to their leaves and flowers, the Brigham Galleries pay small homage to the passing color with a show dedicated to floral still lifes. The show features the work of Gundula Jacobs, Evelyn McFarlane, Joyce Washor and Jerry Weiss.

Resident of Anjou, France, German painter Jacobs made her American debut at the Brigham Galleries in the summer of 2005. "She has an exquisite ability to capture light, texture and color," said Brigham Galleries owner Sara Boyce. "Her favorite subjects are scenes you might find in your house: fruit, a vase of flowers, a simple countertop, a piece of pottery."

Washor's florals are "beautiful" and "jewellike," according to Boyce, and McFarlane's pieces rise to the challenge of color saturation inherent in every shapely bunch of flowers.

So if you're lamenting the drooping and wilting and passing away of flowers, remember that a floral portrait of beauty really is a joy forever, because those flowers never wilt and die. When: Thursday - Monday, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Where: 54 Centre Street For more information, call 825-2525.

Butsy Lovelace writes a book C. S. "Butsy" Lovelace has added another book to his Nantucket collection. Following up the success of his history of Monomoy - "A Nantucket Enclave: Monomoy Heights," published last year by Mill Hill Press - he has compiled his heretofore anonymous essays from Nantucket Journal and Nantucket Magazine (that ran under the byline "ASR," short for "A Summer Resident") in the just published "Memoirs of a Lost Island: Remembrances of a Lifetime of Nantucket Summers."

What Lovelace presents in this lovely little book is the Nantucket version of "Summer of '42," as he recalls the joys of many a summer idyll on the Faraway Island. His short pieces combine to lend insight into the vanishing times when families spent entire summers on the island, and just getting here was an overland, and overseas, adventure. With wonderful illustrations by Katie Trinkle Legge, "Memoirs of a Lost Island" is a testament to recent Nantucket history, and to one man's love of a magical place. The book is available at Mitchell's Book Corner and at Bookworks, or by sending $11.95 plus $1.50 to cover shipping and handling to: Beam Ends Press, 30 Bokum Road, Essex, Conn. 06426.

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