Volume 11 Issue 31
July 31 - August 6, 2003

On Our Cover
Still Swinging After All These Years
photo by Gary Pendleton
At 80, Bill Marquess still loves his fiddle. Looking back, he says, “I think I did okay. I wanted to play that western swing music, and I got in with some guys who showed me and I was able to do it. You had to be right. But if you could handle it, it was a good job.”


Chesapeake Destination
Governor’s Cup: Start in Annapolis, Finish in St. Mary’s
by James Clemenko


Still Swinging After All These Years
by Gary Pendleton
At 80, American Musical Pioneer Bill Marquess Recounts His Life Playing the Fiddle: The year was 1934. The Great Depression was in full swing. The words rock ‘n’ roll and bluegrass had not yet been applied to music. It would be 20 years before Elvis Presley would make his first hit record. In Southern Maryland, 11-year-old Bill Marquess listened to the radio. He heard Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys playing the Grand Ol’ Opry, broadcast on WSM all the way from Nashville, Tennessee. He heard the music and he felt the music in him. From North Beach across America and back, Marquess has been fiddling ever since.

  • Crackin’ Crabs for a Cause
    Help Annapolis Rotary raise its second million for charity’s sake
    by M.L. Faunce
  • Liquefied Natural Gas Returns to Chesapeake Bay
    22 million gallons dock at Cove Point
    by John L. Guerra
  • Take a Bite to Feed Cancer Research
    Celebrate life at Rod ‘n’ Reel’s 22nd annual gala
    by Lauren Silver
  • Way Downstream
    • On the Eastern Shore, Swimmers, a movie about watermen, to be filmed in Oxford…
    • In London, vegetarian ex-Beatle Paul McCartney teams up with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to fight Kentucky Fried Chicken…
    • This week’s Creature Feature: In India, where elephants have jobs to do, they’re wearing rear reflectors to warn away traffic.