Hamptons Journal: Allman Betts Band at Guild Hall, Tony Oursler, Joel Grey at the Bay Street Theater Gala

Two decades ago, the legendary Allman Brothers Band swept through the Hamptons landing at Montauk’s Deep Hollow Ranch for an unforgettable outdoor concert, the audience poised on haystacks when the crowd wasn’t whooping it up to the great music. It was huge! On Saturday night, their kids, led by Devon Allman and Duane Betts, showed off their talents at Guild Hall. The genes don’t lie. Yes, the concert was part of Guild Hall’s popular guitar series; the rockers gave that big concert feeling inside the intimate East Hampton arts venue, where dancing in the aisles for the “Eat a Peach” classic, “Blue Skies” was irrepressible.

And the thrill of Nashville-based JD Simo joining them for “Purple Rain!” His trio opened the set, bringing down the house with “Mind Trouble,” and his cover of Joe Cocker’s “[High With] A Little Help From My Friends:” “What would you do if I sang out of tune?” he crooned. Trust me, he doesn’t.

During intermission, the audience could visit the galleries for Tony Oursler’s art: “Water Memory,” a meditation on the themes of water and “magical thinking.” A part-time resident of the North Fork, Tony Oursler works in ephemeral media, exploring, for example, a process of projection on mist. The art, dramatic and kinetic, presents a riot of color and shapes in perpetual flux.

Saturday was also a night for celebrating Bay Street Theater under a big tent at Wolffer Estate Vineyand. Tova Feldshuh who had just starred in Bay Street’s production of “The Prompter,” attended, and Richard Kind acted as comic auctioneer. Joel Grey was awarded for Lifetime Achievement. We all love him for his stage work, so memorable as the M. C. at Cabaret’s Kit Kat Klub, or just tapping in “Anything Goes,” but this was a special year featuring his direction of the Yiddish Fiddler on the Roof, and his spectacular flower photography now on display at the Staley-Wise Gallery. When asked how he manages to do so much, he brushed off my admiration for his genius: “I just wake up in the morning, brush my teeth, and do the best work that I can.”