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.

Kids with Violins

It is time for cute kids with violins to hit the stage again. But it’s not just about the look, although it’s tough to beat the sight of more than 200 elementary school students playing their stringed hearts out. The kids have musical talent too, thanks to the strings program orchestrated by Nancy Jephcote.

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.

Bronx Boy Turns Cowboy Genius

When Linda Ronstadt tells of someone with “an incredible power of history and tradition in his vocals,” you don’t expect she’s talking about a man better known for playing fiddle, banjo and guitar than for his singing, a man who didn’t even play music for a living before the age of 40. But Bruce Molsky doesn’t fit the usual logic of things. I mean, would you expect a Bronx-born trained mechanical engineer to be called “the Rembrandt of Appalachian fiddle”?

By NICK MOORHEAD

Originally designed to be accommodated in a palace chamber, music under the heading of chamber music has over the years moved out of the palaces and into the hearts and minds of the masses. Well, masses may be a slight exaggeration when comparing chamber music lovers to the throngs flocking to Lady Gaga. But gather all the fans and all the audiences of the past few hundred years or so and this specialized art form rises to the top of the music charts.

Dancefloor Fireworks Just as Hot

“There have to be music festivals and someone has to do [organize] it. And I guess it has to be me.”

So says Rob Myers, also known as Deejay Jellybone Rivers, talking about his compulsion to provide the rest of us couch potatoes with a reason to get out of the house and get in the groove.

If the walls at Nectar’s could talk, or sing for that matter, they would share an intricate story of rock and roll, blues, folk, hip-hop, reggae and pop, but more than that, the story of the soulful music community on the Vineyard. Now, as the only remaining music club on the Island prepares to open for its third season, one thing remains true about the venue: No matter who’s in charge, the music continues to challenge a Vineyard audience.

By NICK MOORHEAD

Imagine Tom Petty crossed with Carly Simon and a dash of Jack Johnson and you have Erich Luening, rock artist and well-known Islander. And this weekend he will release Red Flags, his debut solo album. A decade in the making, the CD has a stellar guest list that includes Evan Dando of the Lemonheads, who is also Mr. Luening’s childhood Island friend.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens....Whether you sang the song in high school chorus, learned Do Re Mi from Julie Andrews or were introduced to the musical via a Gwen Stefani remix, the Sound of Music is fixed in the collective memory.

David Rhoderick, president of the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society, has announced the appointment of Jane Coakley as its new executive director. Ms. Coakley succeeds Rise Terney, who held the position from 2009 to April 2011.