Enjoy some virtual lectures from other Massachusetts libraries this month!

These are Zoom lectures put on by other libraries, who have shared the registration links with us, so our patrons can attend!

There are two at the same time on Tuesday night, August 1st at 7 pm:

White House By The Sea — A Century Of The Kennedys At Hyannis Port, offered by the Tewksbury Public Library-click here for more details and registration! You will also receive a link to the recording after the event.

“Author Kate Storey will discuss her brand new book, “White House by the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port,” in this ZOOM webinar. The book provides a sweeping history of an American dynasty that has left an indelible mark on our nation’s politics and culture.”

7 Scientific Reasons to Meditate Now, by the Shrewsbury Public Library-click here to register on their site!

“Join the Shrewsbury Public Library with Manish Saggar, PhD and Assistant Professor in Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, for a virtual presentation of data from recent neuroscientific studies on how regular meditation practices improve our physical, mental, and emotional health. He will also discuss how, by focusing one’s attention during meditation, we can gain happiness and harmony.”

Later in the month, on Monday, August 28th at 7 pm:

An Evening with Bestselling Authors Lisa Jackson & Nancy Bush, also from Tewksbury Library; click here for details and registration!

“Bestselling authors (and sisters!) Lisa Jackson and and Nancy Bush will discuss their latest books in this ZOOM webinar. Jackson will discuss The Last Sinner, a gripping novel of suspense featuring two veteran homicide detectives matching wits with a twisted serial killer lurking in the shadows of New Orleans. Bush will discuss The Camp, a chilling novel of suspense where a diabolical modern twist on Friday the 13th meets Yellowjackets at a summer sleepaway camp isolated in the woods of Oregon.”

 

 

Live Outdoor Music with Matt York-Johnny Cash Songs!

We are excited to welcome back longtime New England musician/author for another live, outdoor acoustical performance on the lawn on Wednesday evening, August 30th, from 5:30-7 pm (rescheduled from Aug 15th). Bring your chair or blanket! The concert will be canceled in the event of rain.

 Matt will perform the songs of Johnny Cash and tell stories about Cash’s career spanning from the 1950’s to his passing in 2003. He’ll discuss Cash’s emergence as a groundbreaking artist in the 1950’s, his marriage to June Carter and many other career highlights. He’ll also perform some songs by the many artists Cash collaborated with during his career. 

In 2022, he was nominated for the Boston Music Award for Best Country Artist and his album Gently Used was just named one of Worcester Magazine’s best albums of 2022. He has four albums and a recent single. Matt’s music explores a cross-section of everything from straight-up rock and roll to hints of country. Check out his site at mattyorkmusic.com!

The Boston Globe named his album “Bruisable Heart” on of their top albums of 2019, and he has been nominated twice as Best Male Artist by the New England Music Awards.  The Boston Herald said of his album, “Boston, Texas”, that the singer-songwriter uses basic building blocks-Buddy Holly’s chords, Hank Williams’ swagger, Steve Earle’s boozy wisdom, Paul Westerberg’s straight-up drunk wisdom-to construct an album of beauty, optimism and heartbreak”.

We thank the Trustees of the Falmouth Public Library for sponsoring this concert.

Author Sarah DiGregorio, Taking Care

Come hear Falmouth native Sarah DiGregorio discuss her new work, Taking Care: The Story of Nursing and Its Power to Change Our World, on Tuesday evening, August 8th, at 6:30 p.m. in the Hermann Room.  She will read from her book and take questions from the audience-light refreshments will be served! The book will be available to buy from Eight Cousins Books. Registration is requested-click here!

From the New York Times: “The author explores the history, culture and crucial importance of nurses…DiGregorio’s storytelling is pitch-perfect ….this is a brilliant book, and DiGregorio is a beautiful writer. Taking Care deserves to be on the reading list for nursing and medical schools, and on the bedside table of all politicians.” 

 Sarah grew up in Falmouth, and her mother was a children’s librarian at Falmouth Public Library! She is also the author of Adventures in Slow Cooking: 120 Slow-Cooker Recipes for People Who Love Food and Early: An Intimate History of Premature Birth and What It Teaches Us about Being Human.  She is a journalist who has written on health care and other topics for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Slate and Insider, among others. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her daughter and husband. For more information, click here for her website.

This event is free.  Registration is requested; go to falmouthpubliclibrary.org/events or call the reference department at 508-457-2555 x 7.

Jazz Guitarist Abe Ovadia, live on the lawn!

We are excited to welcome Abe Ovadia for a live, outdoor performance on the lawn on Tuesday afternoon, August 1st, from 1-2 (he will play inside in case of rain).  Bring your chair or blanket!

Abe has been hailed by Musicvox Guitars as a “jazz virtuoso” and “one of the most innovative guitarists of our time.” His reputation as one of New York City’s premier jazz guitarists has been cemented by Times Square NYC, who lauds him as a reliable purveyor of world-class jazz. Click here for his website, to learn more about Abe and watch concert videos!

Abe holds a bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music and a master’s degree from New York University’s prestigious jazz performance program. His dedication to honing his craft and pursuing excellence in his musical pursuits has earned him numerous accolades, including the prestigious title of Best Guitarist of 2016, as awarded by Hot House Jazz Magazine.

We thank the Board of Library Trustees for sponsoring this concert!

George Gritzbach Band – Concert on the Lawn

We are excited to welcome Falmouth’s longtime favorite roots and blues legend, George Gritzbach and his band for a live, outdoor performance on the lawn on Tuesday evening, July 25th, from 6-8, (canceled for rain). Bring your chair or blanket!

George is known for his innovative original songs. The Boston Globe called him a “sizzling hot, no-holds barred electric bluesman” and “one of the finest guitar players in America.” 

The band now includes a seasoned rhythm section including Scott Lariviere on bass and backing vocals, Johnny Menezes on keyboards and Christian McCarthy on drums, percussion and backing vocals, and is rounded out by Peter Murray on the sax! They have opened for such musical greats at B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Dr. John, John Lee Hooker, and played in a variety venues: nightclubs, performing arts centers, festivals, and more. They continue to be in demand as a high-energy R&B dance band strongly rooted in blues, funk and New Orleans styles.

We thank the Board of Library Trustees for sponsoring this concert!

Entomologist Larry Dapsis: 2 Upcoming Talks!

We are thrilled to have Larry back for not one, but TWO, informative talks on things many of us need to know!

On Thursday afternoon, July 20th at 1:30 PM, he will present “Ticks: Educate and Protect Yourself” (click here to register).

Lyme disease is the most prevalent tick-borne disease in Massachusetts, and is now considered a public health crisis.  In addition to Lyme, deer ticks can carry the pathogens that cause other illnesses. 

This program will review the basic life cycle and ecology of deer, dog and lone star ticks. He will present a three-point protection plan:  Protect Yourself, Protect Your Yard and Protect your Pet.  Tick-Borne diseases are preventable! An update on a new invasive species, Asian Longhorn Tick will be provided as well as information about a candidate Lyme vaccine. 

On Wednesday morning, July 26th at 11 AM, the talk will be “The Good, the Bad and the Bugly” (click here to register).

Gardening can be quite a challenge. Not every insect in a garden is a potential pest. We will review the common pests of fruits and vegetables, in addition to the fascinating natural enemy complex that helps keep them in check!

Larry Dapsis has been an entomologist since age 5.  He has a B.S. in Environmental Science & Biology from Fitchburg State University and an M.S. in entomology from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst.  He has forty years of professional pest management experience, for vegetables, cranberries and households.  He joined Cape Cod Cooperative Extension in 2011 as the Deer Tick Project Coordinator and Entomologist.

These events are free and appropriate for adults and teens.  Please register by clicking the links above, or call the reference department at 508-457-2555 x 7.

A Day in the Life of a Whaler

We are excited to welcome 2 docents from the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Captain Michael HM Taylor and Nancy Gentile, on Wednesday, May 24th at 2 pm, for a talk at the Falmouth Public Library! Register by clicking here

They will present “A Day in the Life of a Whaler” – with in depth descriptions of life onboard a typical New Bedford whaler, captain and crew, the whale hunt, whale processing and intrepid wives who accompanied their husbands. Added features will include a real baleen and spermaceti candle demonstration!

Mr. Taylor spent the first half of his career in the British Merchant Navy, starting as Apprentice in 1958 and rising to Ships Master. He has sailed in all classes of vessels and to ports all over the world. In 1978, he came to the United States to manage vessels trading with project cargoes to N. Africa and the Middle East. Later he was a Vice President at Maritime International New Bedford, with responsibility for sales and developing refrigerated ocean cargoes. After retiring, he farmed in S. America before returning to Massachusetts where he now volunteers as a docent at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Nancy Gentile spent 39 years as a research librarian in various capacities in private and public libraries. After stints at the Newton Public Library and Millipore Corporation, her longest tenure was as Head of Adult Services at the Robbins Library in Arlington, Ma. She also managed the Robbins Print Collection. Nancy has been a docent at the New Bedford Whaling Museum since 2017. She enjoys giving tours to student groups and to visiting adults weekly. Nancy resides in Mattapoisett with her husband Mark.

This event is free and sponsor by the Library Trustees.  Please register by clicking here, or contact the reference department at 508-457-2555 x 7 or info@falmouthpubliclibrary.org.

The Power of the Protest Song

The Power of the Protest Song

 We are excited to welcome Pamela Means on Wednesday, May 10th at 6:00 pm, for a concert at the Falmouth Public Library! You can register by clicking here, or contact us at 508-457-2555 x 7 or info@falmouthpubliclibrary.org.

 Equal parts performance and mini-presentation, this family-friendly concert will explore the origin stories and lineages of protest songs, how their meanings and effects continue to transform through time and space, and how they continue to inspire movements and cultural shifts within the realms of racial and social justice. Pamela will perform an assortment of original songs and select, recognizable covers to show how grounding, unifying, and mobilizing protest songs can be, and share her own journey as a biracial, queer, feminist, political songwriter. 

Pamela Means is an Easthampton MA-based artist whose unique guitar style and punchy provocative songs have won her acclaim. Her razor wit, “stark, defiant songs” (New York Times), timing, engaging presence, elegant poetry, and irresistible charm have set the status quo and the stage afire.

Pamela relocated to Boston in earlier years, busked in the city subway and Harvard Square, founded her own record label and began touring. She has performed on three continents, gaining fans and rave reviews, breaking albums sales records at national festivals. She has shared stages with Pete Seeger, Neil Young, Joan Baez, Holly Near and the Violent Femmes. She has received several nominations and music awards in multiple categories. Learn more about her, and listen to her music, at pamelameans.com!

This program is free, supported in part by a grant from Falmouth Cultural Council, a local agency that is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. 

Dancemeditation

We are pleased to welcome back Woods Hole native and resident Dunya Dianne McPherson, for a Dancemeditation session on Thursday morning, March 30th at 10:30 AM. “Dancemeditation™ is a unique moving meditation system for self-discovery, healing, & evolution. It helps us be present in our body in the Moment. We use a wide variety of breathing and movement techniques to quiet an over-active, distracted mind identity and invite intuitive, inspired embodiment.” Click here to register!

Dunya has published two books, Skin of Glass: Finding Spirit in the Flesh and Sojourn the Inner Heaven: Movement Meditations for Awakening.  She received her early dance training with Falmouth dance legend Klara Koenig, and moved to New York City in 1972 to attend the Juilliard School. After graduation, she became a critically acclaimed dancer and choreographer, lauded by the New York Times, the Village Voice and Dance Magazine. The National Endowment for the Arts named her a Choreography Fellow, and she received numerous grants and commissions while holding academic positions at Barnard, Swarthmore, Hunter, Oberlin, and Princeton.

A decade later, healing from a serious injury, she turned away from her time as a dance educator and retreated to a monastic mountaintop community directed by an Iraqi Sufi Master, where she trained in movement meditation and Whirling. This two decades-long journey opened a new inner world, and an understanding of dance as moving prayer. Her path became Dancemeditation. Dunya has presented Dancemeditation workshops at major healing arts centers, including Kripalu as well as universities and institutes across the US and abroad.

Come join us for Dancemeditation! 

Joy of Learning classes in April!

Come join us in April for our ever-popular “Joy of Learning” series! We will have six classes this April, World War II in the Far East, History of the Musical, Falmouth Master Gardeners Series, Crisis in Ukraine, American Revolutionary Decisions and Closet Criminology: keep reading for times, descriptions and registration!

We have offered Joy of Learning classes for many years, in April and October. They are taught by educators and other experts on a volunteer basis, for adults and for teens at a high school/college learning level.  

Come learn something new and have fun!  This program is free, sponsored by the Friends of the Falmouth Public Library. Registration is required, please do so by clicking the links below, or call us at 508-457-2555 x 7!

World War II in the Far East with Michael McNaught
Mondays, 4/3, 4/10, 4/24 and 5/1, 11:00 am—12:00 pm (does not meet Patriots’ Day 4/17)
Register by clicking here.

This course will trace the evolution of Japanese expansionism from the Meiji Restoration (1898), the “insult” to the officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, to the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, the subsequent naval and land war in Asia and the Pacific, and the emergence of China as a World Power.

Michael McNaught has B.A. and M.A. degrees in history from Oxford University, where he specialized in Military History and the Theory of War. The son and grandson of British army officers, he came to the U.S. in 1961. He retired to Falmouth in 2004 after a 44-year career in education.  In retirement, he has lectured extensively at the Falmouth Historical Society, Falmouth Academy, the public libraries of Falmouth, Chatham and Orleans, and other venues.

History of the Musical with Mark Pearson from the College Light Opera
4 Mondays, 4/3, 4/10, 4/24 and 5/1,  3-4:30 pm (does not meet Patriots’ Day 4/17). Click here to register.

This class will cover many aspects of the history of the musical, including operas and operettas, the evolution of comic operas, music halls of the early 20th century, the beginning of the American musical, and finally, contemporary musicals.

Mark Pearson received his MFA in Theatre Design from Boston University and completed the young artist apprenticeship at the National Opera in DC under Plácido Domingo. In addition to being the Executive and Artistic Director of Falmouth’s own College Light Opera Company, Mark has had an extensive career in theater, both in the United States and abroad. 

Falmouth Master Gardeners series

4 Tuesdays, 4/4, 4/11, 4/18 and 4/25, 1– 2:00 pm, Click here to register.

4/4 Designing your Landscape with Mary Pat MacKenzie
4/11 Soil 101: What Every Gardener Needs to Know with Cathy Ceta
4/18 Native Plants in Your Backyard with Mary Pat Barry
4/25 Sustainable Turf with Kate Eldred

The Master Gardeners of Cape Cod are volunteers trained by Barnstable County Extension staff to provide science-based horticultural information to the public. In line with their motto of “helping others learn to grow” they are offering presentations on four different gardening topics during the month of April.

Crisis in Ukraine with John J. Davidson

4 Wednesdays 4/12, 4/19, 4/26 and 5/3, 1-2 pm (starts the second week of April)
Register by clicking here.

April 12, 1 pm: The History of Russia and Ukraine, an Introduction to the Current Crisis
April 19, 1 pm: The Roots of the Current Crisis in the History of East-West Relations
April 26, 1 pm: The Events Since the Russian Invasion of February of Last Year Up to the Present
May 3, 1 pm: Possible Outcomes to the Current Crisis, Peace as a Possibility as well as Ukrainian Victory

John J. Davidson has a B.A. in history from Yale University and a M.A. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins with a specialization in Russian Studies and Security Studies. He also completed a J.D. at the College of William and Mary School of Law. Over the last three decades, he has worked in many of the Russian-speaking countries on foreign aid and reform projects for the US government and the EU, living in Kazakhstan and Armenia for several years. He also worked on projects dealing with democracy and law in Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar. He is fluent in Russian and can read Ukrainian well. Having worked in Ukraine in 2014 and conducted many interviews with government leaders there, he established strong sympathy for the Ukrainian cause.

American Revolutionary Decisions with Tamsen George

4 Thursdays, 4/6, 4/20, 4/27 and 5/4 10:30 —11:30 am (does not meet on 4/13), click here to register.

  1. What Happened in Boston? A close examination of the events in Boston, from the Massacre to Concord and Lexington to Bunker Hill to Dorchester Heights. Was anyone in charge?
  2. Traitors, Rebels and Spies: Who were they? What was loyalty? Wy did it always seem a shock when spies were discovered? It was a fluid time when no one was sure of neighbors, even leaders.
  3. A Woman’s Work is never done: Running a household, all skills needed to keep the families afloat while being severely limited to the role determined for the “fair sex.” What if your husband is gone for months at a time, and you must have male supervision or accompaniment in business matters?
  4. Political Parties: First appearing in Washington’s administration and becoming flagrant by his second term. What did they believe and how did they go about forming a government? Where was Jefferson in all this? Or Adams?

Tamsen George, author of Allegiance: The Life and Times of William Eustis, has ten years of experience in research in the formative years of our nation, 1750 to 1825. She was the president of the Falmouth Historical Society for 8 years, a member of the Falmouth Historical Commission and the Falmouth Community Preservation Committee. Her career was in historic preservation and arts administration.  A former West Falmouth summer resident, she moved to Falmouth full-time from Sandwich 18 years ago.

Closet Criminology with Deb Harrington

4 Fridays, 4/7, 4/21, 4/28 and 5/5, 11 am –12 pm (does not meet on 4/14), register by clicking here.

Since the days of Cain and Abel, there has been curiosity about why people commit crimes. Couch Criminology will delve into the historic and current theories to help explain criminal trends and behaviors.

Sessions 1 & 2: “Nature vs nurture” theories in Criminology.
Session 3 Fun with forensic fingerprinting, etc.
Session 4: Breaking the Myths and True Crime examples

Deb Harrington, MEd (license in Behavioral Sciences) has taught Criminology in person and online and is currently the founder and Ex Director of A Place to Breathe… a 501(c)3 nonprofit in Falmouth.