Assorted ramblings from the world of entertainment:

• It all started when Dr. Robert Walton was at a meeting at the old Ground Round on Elm Road NE and a friend talked the reluctant dentist into sticking around to hear a woman sing karaoke.

Walton doesn’t like karaoke, but decided to stay. He was impressed by what he heard from Ellie Kovell.

“We had both been in musical endeavors, and we didn’t like it, and we just started working together,” Walton said.

The duo, known as Take II, will celebrate its 30th anniversary together with a performance from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Hartford Hill Winery.

Over the decades, Walton and Kovell played countless bars and restaurants together. They’ve played for baptisms, and they played for a woman’s pre-funeral.

They were regulars at the annual Ghoulardifests at different Cleveland-area venues that celebrated the legacy of the late-night movie host and the ones that followed Ernie “Ghoulardi” Anderson — Hoolihan and Big Chuck, Big Chuck and Li’l John.

“We’ve played all kinds of weird gigs,” Walton said.

When Walton and Kovell first started out playing gigs, they had a repertoire of 20-some songs. They’ve played about 1,700 different songs together now.

“It evolved from what we wanted to play and what people requested,” Walton said. “If they requested, we just kept adding and adding and adding.”

Songs by groups like The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac have been setlist staples since they started, but they’re frequently surprised by what songs get a reaction and which ones are requested.

When Walton and Kovell do songs from the ’60s and ’70s, especially those poppy, one-hit wonder tunes, it’s the audience members in their 30s and 40s, who weren’t alive when they were on the charts, that react the loudest.

“We did ‘Sugar, Sugar,’ and those are the ones who get up and dance to it,” Walton said. “They sing their lungs out to it. That one and ‘Daydream Believer’ by Davy Jones and the Monkees. I’m just amazed.”

For Sunday’s show, there will be a cake, and Take II will have its scrapbook on display. They also want to do something to remember some longtime supporters who are now deceased.

Thirty years together doesn’t mean they are inching toward retirement. Kovell flipped through their schedule and said they had 19 gigs in August and 20 in July. Walton said their total number of performances over three decades is around 3,700.

“As long as the jobs keep coming, we’re going to try to do it,” he said. “Our fans are always there to support us or we always create new fans. We make new friends every time.

• Marlene Menaldi Strollo was active in the local theater community when she lived in Canfield.

During her time in the Mahoning Valley, she founded Move Over Broadway Productions and directed, assistant directed, performed, stage managed and / or costumed at the Hopewell Theatre, Youngstown Playhouse, Stage Left Players, Salem Community Theatre and Trumbull New Theatre.

Strollo also served as drama director at four area high schools as well as general manager of the Playhouse, theater manager for Youngstown Symphony Orchestra and managing director for Hopewell.

She now lives in Bonita Springs, Fla., and her involvement in the theater continues. Strollo sent an email this week that she directed the world premiere of “The Mogul, the Missionary and the Mustang,” which was written by Naples, Fla., playwright Carole Fenstermacher. Several of Fenstermacher’s plays have been produced, and she co-wrote “Laugh, Cry, Pee, Repeat?,” which was staged last year at Hopewell in a co-production with the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.

It’s being staged by Studio Players in Naples and runs through Sunday. Since heading south five years ago, Strollo also has worked with Marco Arts Centre Theatre, the Naples Players and the Center for the Performing Arts in Bonita Springs.

Andy Gray is the entertainment editor of Ticket. Write to him at agray@tribtoday.com.