In the summer of 1963, America was on the brink of being split apart by the tumult of the Viet Nam War, the Civil Rights movement and Bob Dylan going electric.

The folk music revival was in full swing and was making a big impact in the popular culture. Martha’s Vineyard got caught up in the folk music movement that summer when David Lyman, the manager of a coffeehouse in Boston, and Philip Metcalf, a college student with a car and knowledge of the Vineyard, opened a coffeehouse called the Moon-Cusser.

Chiddy Bang, the rap duo currently in possession of a Guinness Book World Record for the longest freestyle rap coming in at nine hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds, played, alas, a somewhat shorter set at the Stars and Stripes festival held at Nectar’s on Saturday night.

The event was a benefit for the YMCA and produced by Neon Gold Records, a record company run by Chilmark summer residents Derek Davies and Lizzy Plapinger. The evening also featured The Knocks, French Horn Rebellion and Savoir Adore.

Not to start on too bossy a note, but do go out and catch all five plays and musical productions of the African American Theatre Festival being performed, mostly, at the Vineyard Playhouse and running this week through early September.

The festival began this past Wednesday with Root, a one-woman play written and performed by Vanessa German and directed by Heather Arnet. The play travels from 1980s Los Angeles to the Civil Rights marches of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to drug-saturated Juarez, Mexico to a battered and drenched New Orleans.

Every Tuesday a group calling itself Grateful Dread plays at Nectar’s. The group is made up of various Island musicians, many of whom can be seen all year long playing in various other bands. But it may be tough to recognize them amidst the trappings of the Dread. They dress like rasta dudes and play a musical mash-up of reggae and Grateful Dead music. It’s not just a brilliant concept. The effect is pure Redemption Song meets Sugaree.

Quartet of Greek Love

The Tempus Continuum Ensemble presents The Four Loves at the Chappy Community Center on Saturday, August 27, at 7 p.m.

The event features four performers from the Manhattan School of Music presenting a repertory of pieces chosen to reflect the four different loves of Greek ideology, love in the form of friendship, romance, affection and unconditional love.

Senior Music Camp

Camps, camps and more camps for kids. All well and good, but what about the rest of us? Particularly those no longer spry enough to pogo stick but not willing to go gently into that good night, either. Hmm, is that a mandolin I hear in the distance.

Each Wednesday in July and running through August, the Tisbury Senior Center is hosting a music camp for seniors. It’s a jam session, a sharing of tunes, and a class for beginners all rolled into one and hosted by instructor and conductor Sally Flood.

KCT Concerts is whistling an Irish tune to ring in Memorial Day Weekend.

Laurence Nugent, a flute and whistle playing demigod from Ireland, kicks off the summer season.

Tiny Dancers

Having a hard time getting your four-year-old to sleep, what with the summer hours of daylight stretching into the wee hours? Starting Wednesday, June 29 help is on the way.

Whether playing to a boisterous crowd of hundreds in New York or to a more intimate crowd here on the Vineyard, deejay Josh Tucker knows how to show people a good time.

By NINA TARNAWSKY

Welcome robot overlords. The Island’s own Tim Laursen, known on Friday night as Robot Drummer, took the stage at Nectar’s in a giant pink owl’s head with bright, lit-up yellow eyes, and four metal, retractable arms all connected to various instruments.

The smoke combined with the stage lights created a surreal atmosphere, though it was less take-me-to-your-leader and more I-come-in-peace.