Van Dykes

The Van Dykes, a popular Maryland rock 'n' roll group during the '50s and '60s, will make a comeback Saturday night at the Stanton Community Center in Annapolis.In its heyday, the group appeared on American Bandstand and its single "Stupidity" was a hit, said Joseph "Zastrow" Simms, who works for the county Drug and Alcohol Office."Everybody in Annapolis turned out for the Van Dykes," Simms said. "They brought people together."The event will be held from 6 to 10 p.m. at the West Washington Street community center.

Matthew VanDyke, the self-styled "Arab Spring Freedom Fighter" from Baltimore, was a friend of the two American journalists who were beheaded by Islamic State militants. VanDyke met James Foley and Steven Sotloff during his travels in Libya, and it was Foley to whom he first confided what we all later came to learn - that VanDyke was neither a journalist nor a filmmaker when he was captured and held in a Libyan prison for six months in 2011. Instead, he had gone there to fight with the rebels who eventually overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

The show was described as a Van Dykes reunion by the participants, but don't you believe it.Judging from the smooth, comfortable, tightly knit style of playing on display Saturday, either these guys never went away or we've all been in another room for the past 20 years.The locally based Van Dykes, one of the best rhythm-and-blues groups ever to play the Washington-Baltimore-Delaware region, performed a benefit show at the Stanton Community Center's gymnasium in Annapolis.Part of the proceeds from the event was slated to go to support youth activities at the Stanton Center.

Matthew VanDyke, the Baltimore man who was captured in Libya last year while fighting with the rebels who eventually overthrew dictator Moammar Gadhafi, says he is now raising money to travel to Syria and film a documentary about the uprising there. “I stand with the rebels,” VanDyke, 33, told the Canadian network CTV in an interview this week. “I'm going to make a film in support of the Syrian rebels with the idea of improving their international image and increasing the flow money and weapons to them.” Syrian President Bashar Assad responded to mostly peaceful protests last year with military force, turning the Arab Spring uprising into a civil war. The regime has used aircraft and tanks to pound rebels and civilians.

Some 30 years ago, a local rock 'n' roll band called the Van Dykes reigned at the Maidenchoice and Arbutus teen centers in Baltimore County.On those weekend nights, my crowd and other kids packed the centers. The dancing -- to songs like "Keep Searchin' " and "Shout" -- was frenetic, the apron of the stage was mobbed with fans, boys linedthe walls scouting for suitable dance partners, and girls converged in the bathrooms to apply more lipstick and compare notes about theirdates.When I heard in January that the band would be performing at TurfValley Country Club, I knew I had to go. My second thought was: "Howold are these guys anyway?"

The Van Dykes are back!Yes, those Van Dykes. The guys who used to play the Famous Ballroom and the Arbutus Teen Center. The guys whose music made a million memories in the years of doo-wop and horn-driven Atlantic soul.They haven't played in years. They have gone gray and started wearing glasses, retired from careers as barbers and mortgage collectors. Some are grandfathers. Yet here they are, crowded into a middle school band room, trying to shake the rust off their chops and turn a ragged sound into music.

The Loverde Family Community Fund thanks donors and sponsors of the 25th reunion dance of the legendary Annapolis-based band, the Van Dykes. The dance was attended by 500 followers from around the country. It raised funds for the Loverde Family Fund's annual Thanksgiving Day dinner for neighbors in need in greater Catonsville. The dance also collected 1,000 pounds of food for the CEFM Network to fill the gap in many local pantries. The fund is especially grateful to Scittino's Italian Market on Edmondson Avenue for discounting food year-round and making it possible to serve additional dinners on a monthly basis.

Matthew VanDyke, the Baltimore man who was captured in Libya last year while fighting with the rebels who eventually overthrew dictator Moammar Gadhafi, says he is now raising money to travel to Syria and film a documentary about the uprising there. “I stand with the rebels,” VanDyke, 33, told the Canadian network CTV in an interview this week. “I'm going to make a film in support of the Syrian rebels with the idea of improving their international image and increasing the flow money and weapons to them.” Syrian President Bashar Assad responded to mostly peaceful protests last year with military force, turning the Arab Spring uprising into a civil war. The regime has used aircraft and tanks to pound rebels and civilians.

Matthew VanDyke, the self-styled "Arab Spring Freedom Fighter" from Baltimore, was a friend of the two American journalists who were beheaded by Islamic State militants. VanDyke met James Foley and Steven Sotloff during his travels in Libya, and it was Foley to whom he first confided what we all later came to learn - that VanDyke was neither a journalist nor a filmmaker when he was captured and held in a Libyan prison for six months in 2011. Instead, he had gone there to fight with the rebels who eventually overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

ODDS 'N' ENDS OFF THE BROADCAST BEAMS:* In a fun reader's poll earlier this year, Media Monitor discovered that "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961-66 on CBS) was the series viewers would most like to see return to the rerun airways. But have you noticed many of that show's veterans are popping up on new shows?Take "The Fanelli Boys," NBC's sitcom about four grown Italian sons who move back in with momma (at 9 tonight, Channel 2). The mother in question is played by Ann Guilbert, and if she has seemed vaguely familiar it's because she played Millie Helper in "The Dick Van Dyke Show," next door neighbor to Rob and Laura Petrie (Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore)

The Loverde Family Community Fund thanks donors and sponsors of the 25th reunion dance of the legendary Annapolis-based band, the Van Dykes. The dance was attended by 500 followers from around the country. It raised funds for the Loverde Family Fund's annual Thanksgiving Day dinner for neighbors in need in greater Catonsville. The dance also collected 1,000 pounds of food for the CEFM Network to fill the gap in many local pantries. The fund is especially grateful to Scittino's Italian Market on Edmondson Avenue for discounting food year-round and making it possible to serve additional dinners on a monthly basis.

The Baltimore man who traveled to Libya in February at the start of a political uprising there said he was never in the country as a journalist but as a supporter of the revolutionaries. "I was supporting the revolution when I got captured. My mother didn't know, my girlfriend didn't know [the real reason for going]," Matthew VanDyke said Saturday night on his return to Baltimore. "I wasn't going to sit back and let this happen to people I care about. " Dressed in fatigues, VanDyke, 32, arrived at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport around 9 p.m. He was greeted by his mother, Sharon VanDyke, a retired principal of Federal Hill Preparatory School who lives in South Baltimore, as well as members of his church and friends.

Matthew VanDyke — the Baltimore writer and filmmaker who was jailed in Libya for nearly six months and then remained to aid rebels seeking to overthrow dictator Moammar Gadhafi — is scheduled to return home Saturday. VanDyke, 32, is set to arrive about 7 p.m. at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, said his mother, Sharon VanDyke. He will leave Cairo on Saturday morning and fly to John F. Kennedy International Airport before coming to Baltimore, she said.

Matthew VanDyke - the 32-year-old Baltimorean who was jailed in Libya for nearly six months and then stayed on to join the rebels seeking to overthrow dictator Moammar Gadhafi - plans to come home "in a couple of weeks," said his mother, Sharon VanDyke, who lives in South Baltimore. She said that she spoke with her son for a few minutes around 9:45 a.m. Sunday, which was 3:45 in the afternoon in Tripoli, the Libyan capital. "They were having a big celebration today in Martyrs' Square," she said.

Matthew VanDyke, the Baltimore man who went missing in Libya more than five months ago, re-emerged in Tripoli on Wednesday and told his family that he had been held captive by Moammar Gadhafi's government in one of the country's most notorious prisons. The 32-year-old VanDyke, who traveled to Libya in March to witness the then-fledging revolution for a book he is writing about the region, borrowed a cellphone and called his mother Wednesday afternoon. It was Sharon VanDyke's first contact with her son since he sent GPS coordinates March 13 that placed him near Brega.

Sharon VanDyke's phone rang Monday afternoon, but after quickly dispensing with the call, she said, sadly, "Well, it wasn't Matthew. " The wait continues for the retired principal, who has searched for the past five months for her son, a 32-year-old writer and photographer who went to Libya to chronicle the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi but is believed to have been imprisoned with rebel forces. Now, with those insurgents on the brink of toppling Gadhafi, VanDyke is bracing for whatever that means for her son. "I've been more worried in the last 24 to 48 hours than ever," she said Monday, after a mostly sleepless several days of monitoring the events in Libya from her South Baltimore rowhouse.

Eugene Curtis Van Dyke, a retired TV and electronics repairman, died of complications from an infection Aug. 30 at Cross Keys Village Brethren Home Community in New Oxford, Pa. The former longtime Sykesville resident was 70. Mr. Van Dyke was born in Catonsville and raised in Pasadena and Glen Burnie. After graduating from Glen Burnie High School in 1955, he was an Army paratrooper and radio specialist. During the 1950s and 1960s, Mr. Van Dyke worked for Himmelfarb Bros., then for Liberty TV, where he was a repairman and later manager.

What's up tonight? Not much.* "General Hospital" (3-4 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- Beginning today, Anthony Geary and Genie Francis are reunited as their old famous and familiar characters, Luke and Laura.* "Diagnosis: Murder" (8-9 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11) -- This new Dick Van Dyke series opens with a memorable line of dialogue: A man in a confessional says ominously to the priest, "Forgive me, father, for YOU have sinned." Then it slips into more forgettable territory, casting Dick Van Dyke as a doctor who is equally passionate about medicine and mysteries -- and, somehow, equally devoted to both in terms of time and resources.

The mother of a Maryland man missing in Libya since March said Thursday that he is being held in a prison in Tripoli. Sharon VanDyke said she could not divulge details of how she learned the whereabouts of her son Matthew VanDyke, who was in Libya to work on a book, but she has been told he is in good health. "I am trying to get more information, but I will do nothing to jeopardize Matthew," she said. "The most important part of this information is that he is in good health. He is tall and thin and didn't have 20 pounds he could lose.