Jeff Karoub and Connor Garvey are bringing their Motown and Maine town roots to the same stage on Sept. 10 at the Raven Cafe in downtown Port Huron.

Port Huron is a hike, no doubt, but we wanted to mention the gig here because Karoub lives in the Dearborn Hills with his wife, three daughters and dog.

It’s the first collaboration for the two and a first appearance for both at the Raven, a well-known, music-friendly venue in the port city’s quaint downtown district. But it’s a homecoming of sorts for Dearborn-native Karoub, who worked several years ago at the daily newspaper in Port Huron and met the woman there who became his wife.  He also played some gigs at a restaurant down the street.

Karoub has performed throughout his native Michigan, either solo or as part of the duo ‘jar.’ Gigs of note have included the Flint Folk Festival, Baseline Folk Society, Manchester’s Gazebo Concert Series, the Riverfolk Festival and AJ’s Cafe’s world-record-holding Assembly Line marathon concert. He’s also played many of the region’s finer caffeinated establishments in and around Detroit, Lansing, Flint, Ann Arbor.

Karoub’s pop-folk sensibility comes with some sonic extras, courtesy of his classical training and musical lineage. His father is a Detroit Symphony Orchestra veteran and Motown session man behind the killer French horn lick at the top of Marvin Gaye’s ‘I Heard it through the Grapevine.’ Jeff made sure that little history lesson made its way into ‘Made by Motown,’ a soulful homage he wrote that became a finalist in a theme-song competition for AJ’s Assembly Line concert in 2010. The singer, guitarist and fiddler is a professional journalist by day.

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The Dearborn High School Marching Band and Orchestra has been invited to march in the 2011 Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade but they need our help to try and get there.

To do that the band will be hosting a golf outing Sept. 12 at the Dearborn Hills Golf Course. Registration is at 10 a.m. and the four man scramble begins at 11 a.m., complete with golf cart. There will be plenty of food, beginning with coffee and sweet rolls in the morning, hot dog lunch and a nice steak dinner to cap the day’s eating.

There also is a 50/50 raffle and a silent auction.

The golf package is $90 per person or $350 for a foursome.

If you’d rather not golf but want to support the band, consider signing up for the dinner and silent auction, which is just $40 per person and includes two hours of “beverage service.”

Not just any high school band gets invited to perform in Dublin. You have to be good. And under the supervision of Dearborn High’s Music Director Jeff Oshnock, the Pioneers are outstanding. One proud parent tells us that Dearborn High School’s musicians score top rankings at solo/ensemble competitions and band reviews.

In 2008, the Dearborn High School Marching Band participated in the Memorial Day Parade in Washington, DC. It was that performance that helped the band secure a position to perform in the 2011 St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin.

There are some 119 people that will travel to Ireland, 18 of which are chaperons.

You can register and find more information http://dhs.dearbornschools.org/Music/Golf_Outing on the Band Aid Boosters link. So please consider sharing this story with your friends to help one of Dearborn’s great high school marching bands travel to Ireland.