Longtime drummer honored

ORANGE — The Orange Community Band ended its summer concert season by honoring longtime drummer Marty Picard with a memory book of photos and a drummer shadowbox created by bandmate Jerry Hageman.

Picard, 93, joined the band in the early 1980s, filling in on occasion, then playing along with his son, Jim. He is the whole drum section at many rehearsals. In addition to his work with community bands, Picard has performed with several other groups, including Legacy, most recently performing at the Orange Historical Society and at Third Thursday events in Orange. For many years he performed with his own groups, the Rhythm Kings and Sounds of Music. His love of big band music and a donation of boxes of old sheet music combined to encourage the formation of Picard’s Reminisce orchestra, most recently performing at the Revival Wheeler Mansion’s Garden Gala.

Picard is also a performer and entertainer without his drum set. For many years he was a performer in the Elks Minstrel Shows, then he performed in and sometimes directed the Athol YMCA Minstrel Shows for at least 20 years. He has also performed in the veterans show for the Athol Veterans’ Park Development and he has entertained at the Petersham Minstrel Show. In various capacities as a performer, he has appeared in Concerts on the Porch at the Orange Historical Society, and he directed the Mal Hall Tribute Show at Orange’s Unitarian Universalist Church.

Picard has also performed for other local benefits such as the Warwick Trinitarian Congregational Church music nights, Warwick dinner theater and Warwick ice cream social. He was chosen as the Greenfield Recorder’s Citizen of the Year in 2011.

Orange Community Band presents scholarships

ORANGE — The Orange Community Band recently presented six scholarships.

The first recipient, Siobhan Davis, is studying education and community development and planning at Clark University. Jaylynn Eady attends Salem State University and is working toward a master’s degree in the mental health counseling program with the goal of working in music therapy. Cathal Davis is going to the University of Massachusetts Amherst to study physical therapy. Lucien Roski is attending Salem State University. Royal Kane will be attending Northeastern University in Boston studying biomedical engineering. Michael Ploof plans to study music at UMass Amherst.

The band had planned to present the awards at the Aug. 2 concert that was rained out. The students received notice by mail and phone, and their names were announced at the back-to-school concert, since they were already beginning their studies.

Susan TandySonger, the band’s treasurer whose late husband John Tandy is the scholarships’ honoree, explained that scholarship applicants were asked to write about the influence of music in their lives. A consistent theme from these essays is that music helps the mental health of the participants.

Since the first Tandy Scholarship was given in 2002, the band has doled out at least $21,000 in scholarship money to area graduates and post-graduates who have shown an appreciation for music.

Dorsey to be honored with two events

WENDELL — At 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 9, Gail Mason will convene the fifth event in the 2024 “Honoring Elders” series at the Wendell Meetinghouse, this time featuring actor, musician, mediator and activist Court Dorsey. Community members are invited to share stories, memories and an appreciation of his contributions to the region.

A second event featuring Dorsey will take place at 4 p.m. at the Wendell Meetinghouse on Sunday, Sept. 15. “Arts and Activism: Conversations with Court Dorsey” will include an exhibit of posters and memorabilia from Dorsey’s art and activism, and stories from his varied life path.

Both the “Honoring Elders” and “Arts and Activism” events are free and open to the public, sponsored in part by a grant from the Wendell Cultural Council. Support for the Honoring Elders event was also received from the Wendell Council on Aging. After expenses, donations will go to the Wendell Meetinghouse to support ongoing renovations and programming.

A Wendell resident since 1984, Dorsey is currently president of the Friends of the Wendell Meetinghouse.

Dorsey grew up in a Chicago suburb, acting and playing in rock ’n’ roll bands. He later teamed up with John Scott Sherrill (a Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member) to offer folk songs at Illinois Wesleyan University, where he studied theater and minored in philosophy, literature and voice. Turning down a professional theater role after college, Dorsey opted instead to pursue the spiritual life, studying in India with Swami Aseshananda. He has written hundreds of poems based on his integration of diverse spiritual practices.

Upon returning to the U.S. from India, Dorsey embraced life as a performer. He played banjo for Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign and eventually became part of the folk cabaret ensemble Bright Morning Star, which toured nationally for 16 years in support of progressive causes. He is scheduled to perform his blend of original poems and songs in Detroit in October.

As an actor, Dorsey has performed with at least 30 ensembles across the United States, Canada and Europe. A lifelong activist, Dorsey organized for the Clamshell Alliance and occupied the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant. He was a founder of the Veterans Education project seeking to balance the messaging of military recruiters in schools, and was staff and Steering Committee member of the War Tax Refusers Support Committee during the IRS’ seizures of tax resisters’ homes in Colrain.