Musician

Sometimes the best live music clubs are tucked away in unlikely places. The Whiskey 1803 is one of these. Since last November, this intimate space above seafood restaurant B.F. Biggins in Annapolis has hosted some of the area's better bands. With plenty of free parking (always key in Annapolis) and rich acoustics, it's a welcome addition to the local music scene. Last year, local musician David Tieff proposed turning the banquet room upstairs into a live music venue. "I really saw this as an opportunity -- especially with owners that were willing -- right in our back yard to make a place that's not only band-friendly but music-fan friendly," Tieff said.

BOOTS RANDOLPH, 80 Top Nashville musician Boots Randolph, whose spirited saxophone-playing on songs like "Yakety Sax" made him one of Nashville's top musicians, died Tuesday in the Tennessee city. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage June 25 and had been hospitalized in a coma. Mr. Randolph played regularly in Nashville nightclubs for 30 years, becoming a tourist draw for the city much like Wayne Newton in Las Vegas and Pete Fountain in New Orleans. He recorded more than 40 albums and spent 15 years touring with the Festival of Music, teaming with fellow instrumentalists Chet Atkins and Floyd Cramer.

73 Ellis Marsalis Jazz musician 60 Buckwheat Zydeco Zydeco singer 53 Yanni Pianist 35 Josh Duhamel Actor 30 Shyheim Rapper

The question was inevitable.Bobby McFerrin was talking Tuesday to high school students who had just seen him rehearse the Baltimore Symphony for a series of concerts this weekend at the Meyerhoff.A girl raised her hand, hesitated and then asked:"Did you have trouble getting people [in orchestras] to see past `Don't Worry, Be Happy'? "McFerrin snorted with laughter."When I faced an orchestra for the first time, their notion of me was a little ambiguous to say the least," he said. "Every musician had to be thinking, `What can he tell us about Beethoven and Mozart?

Life moves at the speed of light in Baltimore's classical music world nowadays. Only two days ago, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra completed its final concert in its regular subscription season, and the orchestra rehearses today for the first concert of Summer MusicFest, which begins tomorrow in Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.Being a classical musician -- what kind of life is that? One day of summer vacation, and it's not even summer yet!Not to worry. The life of a BSO musician is not as bad as all that.

Many a musician has staked a claim that Martin guitars are out of this world. That boast turned to reality in March 1994 when astronaut Pierre Thuot ferried his customized Martin Backpacker guitar aboard a Columbia space shuttle flight.Thuot is one of a legion of celebrated players of the Stradivarius of acoustic guitars, which have been crafted in the rolling hills of eastern Pennsylvania since 1838. From Chet Atkins to Neil Young, the 166-year-old company based in Nazareth counts more than 200 stellar performers as loyal patrons.

Guitarist Charlie Byrd, a jazz and classical musician who was instrumental in popularizing the bossa nova, died of cancer early yesterday at his home in Annapolis. He was 74.A native of Virginia, Mr. Byrd had been playing guitar since childhood. He grew up playing a steel-string guitar and, after he made his professional debut on electric guitar, switched to the classical Spanish guitar in 1950. One of the first jazz musicians to make exclusive use of the nylon string instrument, Mr. Byrd brought new techniques and color to the jazz vocabulary, and would often include selections from the classical repertoire in his nightclub performances.

Jim Cullum is proud of his jazz band's old-fashioned virtues: its championship of classic repertory, its adherence to performing from memory and its definitive sound.The instrumentation makes the sound, but the finish comes from the fact that they're played without amplification."We are completely acoustic," says Cullum, whose San Antonio, Texas-based group will perform Saturday in Candlelight Concerts' Classic Jazz Series. "I believe that the music should come right off the strings or out of the bells, and not out of the cone of a speaker."

Only four days remain to see Center Stage's production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It," with its strong performances by Diana LaMar and Stephen Barker Turner as the play's central lovers, Rosalind and Orlando, and a hilarious turn by Robert Dorfman as Touchstone, the court jester.Director Irene Lewis' production features a number of delightful, unconventional touches, such as the inclusion of an on-stage musician (Karen Hansen), who walks through the action playing instruments ranging from Renaissance strings to bowed saw and accordion.

Leonard Williman: In Sunday's editions of The Sun, an incorrect time was given for a memorial service for Leonard Williman, a retired department store buyer and musician who died Wednesday of bone cancer at his Linthicum home. Services for Mr. Williman, who was 87, will be held at 11 a.m. Saturdayat St. John Lutheran Church in Linthicum. The Sun regrets the error.Donald 'Biscuit' Messick, 75, former Denton mayorDonald "Biscuit" Messick, a retired power company manager and former Denton mayor, died Friday of complications from a stroke at his home in Delmar.

Guy Graham Babylon, a Grammy Award-winning musician and former New Windsor resident, who was a keyboardist with Elton John's band for more than 20 years, died of arrhythmia Sept. 2 at Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif. He was 52. Mr. Babylon, who had been a member of the North Baltimore Aquatic Club when in high school and still enjoyed competitive swimming, was stricken while swimming and was pronounced dead later at the nearby hospital. Elton John, who was unable to attend Mr. Babylon's funeral that was held Sept.

William M. Reid, a former educator and musician, died of multiple organ failure Thursday at Sinai Hospital. The Columbia resident was 84. Mr.Reid was born and raised in Hampton, Va., where he graduated from George P. Phenix Elementary-High School. His college studies at Hampton Institute were interrupted when he was drafted into the Army in 1943. After serving for three years in the Army Band, he continued his college education at Hampton, where he earned a bachelor's degree in music in 1950.

The hipsters and geeks milling expectantly in the dim lounge reach one by one into a hat. The slip of paper they pull out holds not only the theme for their weekend but, possibly, a chance to earn some celluloid swagger. Superhero. Fantasy. Drama. Romance. Each of the 50-some teams competing in Baltimore's 48 Hour Film Project randomly pulls a genre with the expectation that the team members will return 48 hours later, short movie in hand. It's a frenetic artistic exercise of scripting, shooting, editing and scoring that leaves the city's would-be Spielbergs, Coppolas, Hitchcocks and Scorseses in an adrenaline-fueled creative countdown.

DAVY GRAHAM, 68 British folk musician Virtuoso guitarist Davy Graham, a leading figure in Britain's 1960s folk music revival, died after suffering a seizure in his London home Monday, his former manager Mark Pavey said Wednesday. The musician had long suffered from lung cancer, he said. Mr. Graham's innovative tuning and dexterity on the acoustic guitar inspired a range of artists. His 1962 song "Angi" became a folk classic and was covered, among others, by Simon and Garfunkel on their 1966 album Sounds of Silence.

Jonathan J. Gorrie, a furniture restorer and musician, died of a heart attack June 3 at Union Memorial Hospital. The Hampden resident was 38. Mr. Gorrie was born in Prospect Park, Pa. He was raised there and in Oxford, Maine, where he graduated from high school. He attended the University of Maine at Portland, and at the time of his death he had nearly completed the requirements for a bachelor's degree in English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Mr. Gorrie moved to Baltimore and took a job at the Charles Theater.

The letter arrived, mayor to mayor, wishing the newly elected Sheila Dixon the usual "cordial congratulations" and wishes of "great success" on the "demanding and challenging" task she faced. Then the note veered from boilerplate municipal correspondence into far stranger territory: The mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, wanted to send his Baltimore counterpart a statue of someone he considered among the greatest artists of the 20th century, someone with ties to both their cities, someone who would unite the citizens of two otherwise far-flung towns in a lasting bond.

Herbert W. Ambrose, a retired auto mechanic, musician and powerboat racing enthusiast, died of cancer Wednesday at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. The Northwood resident was 65. Born in Baltimore and raised in Gardenville, he was a 1962 Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School graduate. As a young man, he worked as an automobile mechanic before joining the Army and being stationed in Germany and at Aberdeen Proving Ground. He completed his military service in 1970 as an ordnance specialist.

Laid-back R&B musician Dwele has three albums and a list of collaborations to his credit. Growing up in Detroit gave Dwele a Motown-infused style that has brought him work with the likes of Slum Village and Kanye West. Dwele brings these accomplishments, and the release of his new album, to the Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, Va., at 7:30 p.m. today. Tickets are $35. Call 703-549-7500 or go to birchmere.com.

82 Sir George Martin Record producer 62 John Paul Jones Rock musician 52 Mel Gibson Actor-director 33 Jason Marsden Actor 33 Danica McKellar Actress 30 Kimberley Locke Singer

67 Phil Spector Record producer 62 John Walsh TV host 44 Lars Ulrich Rock musician 36 Jared Leto Actor 28 Chris Daughtry Rock singer