FLORIDA KEYS BREWBQ AND CRAFT BEER FESTIVAL SET

TO READ OR NOT TO READ ( SHEET MUSIC, THAT IS )

I’ve had the opportunity this week to play guitar with a group of talented professionals at the Waterfront Playhouse for the play “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” I find the show both weird and wonderful, but the unique part for me is this is a gig reading music. It’s not difficult music, fortunately. It’s straight rock-n-roll.

There have been two schools of thought about needing to read music to be a musician, ever since one caveman taught another how to beat two rocks together twice in a row. Jimi Hendrix, Paul McCartney, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eddie Van Halen are all on the list of Hall of Famers who don’t find note-reading fundamental to music.

Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Zappa, Chicago’s horn section – all read music the way I read titles of YouTube videos. There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to both. A main difference is the way we learn to play. Many musicians play by ear. They learn by listening. We often learn chords and scales by diagrams, letters and numbers. We listen and change what we know to fit what we hear. Some musicians are very adept at listening, so much so that the chords they play are not the same ones I learned, but they sound a little better, a little fresher. These folks can listen to a song and pick the lines out within minutes. Most of us walk the line in between, using everything we can to learn more about what we love.

Another group of musicians has learned to play by reading sheet music, which, in some regards, is an instruction manual, but written by lawyers. It breaks down every bit of the music into hundreds of sym-

Ray West

... a professional musician, singer, actor and executive director of the Key West Music Awards, is known to sacrifice his comfort for that of his cat.

bols, on dozens of lines, with accents, tied to other notes, with letters above it in a language you don’t understand. But the guy down the street reads it like a magazine. It differs from lawyer speak in that it is designed to actually be understood, and that knowledge is absolutely attainable for nearly everyone.

While the ability to read anything put in front of you would seem most advantageous, the ability to write by listening, without having to name or number anything, has led to some of the most creative and groundbreaking sounds we have ever heard.

There’s a meme that says if you want to shut up a loud rock guitarist, put sheet music in front of him; another says if you want to shut up a snobby, classical guitarist, take his sheet music away.

Personally, it has come time to do both. I have been both envious of those who can read, and dizzied by the confusion brought about by a complicated-looking piece of sheet music. It seems best to have both skills, not unlike the busiest and most sought-after musicians in town. Besides, the older I get, the more I like to find those things that used to intimidate me — and crush them.

The third annual Florida Keys BrewBQ festival will take place Friday evening and all day Saturday, July 14 and 15, in celebration of great craft beer and barbecue.

Organized by the Marathon Chamber of Commerce, the popular festival will take advantage of cooler summer evenings by opening from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Staged at the open-air Marathon Community Park, MM 49, the barbecue and craft beer festival boasts taste-tempting meaty goodness, live music, games for kids, retail vendors and barbecue and other food vendors.

Teams of amateur pitmasters will vie for cash prizes and top honors from a panel of judges scoring their entries in two categories – Best Pork Belly Burnt Ends, with judging announced Friday at 8 p.m., and Best Pulled Pork, with judging announced Saturday at 7 p.m.

The competition includes a “People’s Choice” division to encourage hungry meat lovers to cast their votes.

Tickets for beer and barbecue, including People’s Choice taste “tokens” for the amateur competition, will be available for purchase. Individuals can vote for their favorite bites by dropping one or more tokens in a team’s ballot box. An- nouncement of the People’s Choice and Best Overall award winners takes place Saturday at 7:30 and 7:45 p.m., respectively.

In addition to the People’s Choice tastings, food will be available for purchase from Battle Rig BBQ, Lazy Days South, Brutus Seafood, Sweet Savannah’s, Marathon Youth Sports Burgers & Dogs, and the Greater Marathon Chamber of Commerce smoker slinging barbecue pulled-pork sandwiches.

To wash down all the great barbecue, the latest lagers, hard ciders and hoppy beers will be offered by the Keys’ own craft brewers: Florida Keys Brewing Co., Islamorada Beer Company, Hard Bottom Brewing and Waterfront Brewery, as well as other Florida brewers. Frozen drinks and cocktails will be available for purchase from Ultra Beverages.

Live musical performances begin Friday at 5 p.m. with the 79th Street Band, followed at 7 p.m. by Abstract Radio. Saturday’s music lineup includes John Bartus and Adrienne Z, the Lady A Band and, to close out the festival, the popular six-piece classic rock party band Apache Dragon.

Festival tickets are $5 per person each day; children under 12 accompanied by a paying adult are admitted free.