“The Lost Boys of Montauk”

In March of 1984, the commercial fishing boat Wind Blown left Montauk Harbor on what should have been a routine offshore voyage. Its captain, a married father of three young boys, was the boat’s owner and leader of the fourman crew, which included two locals and the blue-blooded son of a well-todo summer family. After a week at sea, the weather suddenly turned, and the foursome collided with a nor’easter. They soon found themselves in the fight of their lives. Tragically, it was a fight they lost. Neither the boat nor the bodies of the men were ever recovered.

Back then, on the easternmost tip of Long Island, before Wall Street and hedge fund money stormed into town, commercial fishing was the area’s economic lifeblood. The fate of the Wind Blown - the second-worst nautical disaster suffered by a Montaukbased fishing vessel in over a hundred years - has become interwoven with the local folklore of the East End’s yearround population.

Amanda M. Fairbanks examines the profound shift of Montauk from a working-class village - “a drinking town with a fishing problem” - to a playground for the ultra-wealthy, seeking out the reasons that an event more than three decades old remains so startlingly vivid in people’s minds. She explores the ways in which deep, lasting grief can alter people’s memories. And she shines a light on the powerful and sometimes painful dynamics between fathers and sons, as well as the secrets that can haunt families from beyond the grave.

The story itself is a universal tale of family and brotherhood; it’s about what happens when the dreams and ambitions of affluent and working-class families collide. Captivating and powerful, The Lost Boys of Montauk explores one of the most important questions we face as humans: how do memories of the dead inform the lives of those left behind?

An immersive account of a tragedy at sea whose repercussions haunt its survivors to this day, it will be discussed at the February 21, 6:30pm Book Club Meeting at the Josephine-Louise Public Library, 5 Scofield Street, Walden.

See the ad on page 15 for another Josephine-Louise Public Library event.

University. The concert will feature a combination of romantic classics and instruments that form a perfect preview for Valentine’s Day: quartets with harp accompaniment by Mozart, Debussy and Tournier, and string quartets by Beethoven (Opus 18, no. 2) and Ravel, arguably the most beloved quartet in the repertoire, if based on the number of performances given in Orange County since 2004. (Ravel’s String Quartet is often considered his first masterpiece, and continues to be one of the most widely performed chamber music works in the classical repertoire.)

Marcel Lucien Tournier (1879-1951) was a French harpist, composer, and teacher who composed important solo repertory for the harp that expanded the technical and harmonic possibilities of the instrument. His works are regularly performed in concert and recorded by professional harpists, and they are often test pieces for harp-performance competitions.

Mozart’s Adagio and Rondo, K. 617 is a quintet composed for glass harmonica, flute, oboe, viola and cello. It was written for Marianne Kirchgessner, a blind glass harmonica virtuoso.

The equally subdued tone of Claude Debussy’s Sacred and Profane Dances combines echoes of medieval chant with the colorful chromatics of the harp.

The program, presented by Newburgh Chamber Music, is on February 12 at 3:00pm in St George’s Church, 105 Grand Street, Newburgh. Plenty of parking in the lot across the street. Tickets at the door (cash or check only) or at newburghchambermusic.org.

The audience is invited to meet the performers at a cider and champagne reception after the concert.

Masks are optional. See ad on pg. 4.

Audience members are invited to bring instruments that they wish to donate to Valentina’s Instrument Donation Bank, to be repaired, if necessary, and given to area schools and music students. For further information regarding this program, or to donate at another time, contact Dr Joël Evans at evansj@newpaltz.edu or visit: www.newburghchambermusic.org