The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire & Hudson Valley Cultural Preview

Mar 21-28, 2024

Mar 20, 2024

With so much going on culturally speaking in our greater Berkshires/Hudson Valley region, this is my highly selective, curated snapshot of some of the most promising upcoming events …

Penny Arcade (photo Albie Mitchell/courtesy BST)

PENNY ARCADE CLOSES OUT BRIDGE STREET THEATRE’S SOLOFEST

Legendary downtown performance artist Penny Arcade brings the curtain down on Bridge Street Theatre’s 2024 SoloFest in Catskill, N.Y., with her one-woman show Longing Lasts Longer with three performances from Friday-Sunday, March 22-24. A unique blend of stand-up comedy and memoir set in a riveting rock-and-roll soundscape mixed live onstage, Longing Lasts Longer is a fierce, visionary, and ultimately forward-looking critique of the erasure of history, the rise of nostalgia, and the pervasiveness of cultural amnesia created by international gentrification. (Fri-Sun, Mar 22-24)

Nickel Creek (photo Josh Goleman/courtesy artists)

NICKEL CREEK BRINGS ROOTS-MUSIC SOUNDS to TROY

Grammy Award-winning roots-music trio Nickel Creek, featuring mandolinist Chris Thile, violinist Sara Watkins, and guitarist Sean Watkins, bring their blend of folk, bluegrass, and Americana to the Troy [N.Y.] Savings Bank Music Hallon Friday, March 22, at 8pm. The trio recently released the innovative, pathbreaking Celebrants — their fifth studio album and first release in nine years – which some have called the Sgt. Pepper’s of modern bluegrass. (Fri, Mar 22)

CRESCENDO BRINGS SACRED VOCAL MUSIC of the EARLY ITALIAN BAROQUE to REGION

Crescendo’s early music ensemble will perform sacred vocal music of the early Italian Baroque, featuring works by Giacomo Carissimi, at St. James Place in Great Barrington, Mass., on Saturday, March 23, at 4pm, and at Trinity Church in Lakeville, Conn., on Sunday, March 24, at 4pm. The program, featuring soprano Christina Kay, includes the oratorios Jephte and Missa L’Homme armé. (Sat-Sun, Mar 23-24)

BANJO LEGEND TONY TRISCHKA BRINGS BLUEGRASS to THE EGG

Innovative banjoist Tony Trischka, one of the pioneers of progressive bluegrass, brings his rootsy, vital sounds to the Egg in Albany, N.Y., on Saturday, March 23, at 7pm, in a concert devoted to the music of bluegrass pioneer Earl Scruggs. For more than 50 years, Trischka’s stylings have inspired a whole generation of bluegrass and acoustic musicians – everyone from Béla Fleck to Steve Martin – with the many voices he has brought to the instrument. (Sat, Mar 23)

TINSLEY ELLIS BRINGS ACOUSTIC BLUES to THE LINDA

Guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Tinsley Ellis will celebrate the release of his first-ever solo acoustic album, Naked Truth, swapping out the blistering, electric blues for which he is best known in favor of the folk blues traditions of Skip James, Son House, Robert Johnson, and Leo Kottke, with a live solo acoustic performance at The Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio, in Albany, N.Y., on Saturday, March 23, at 8pm. (Sat, Mar 23)

Talking Heads by Bobby Grossman (courtesy TSL)

BOBBY GROSSMAN PHOTOS of PUNK-ERA NYC at TSL in HUDSON

Bobby Grossman arrived on the New York scene in the mid-seventies with a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Grossman lived and worked from the Chelsea hotel, photographing the scenes at the Chelsea, at Warhol’s Factory, and C.B.G.B.’s, where his camera captured the likes of Blondie, David Byrne, Andy Warhol, Fab5Freddie, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, the Ramones, and Jean Michel Basquiat. The exhibition Low Fidelity featuring his images are on display at Time and Space in Hudson, N.Y., now through Sunday, March 31. (now-Mar 31)

Also of note:

Blueberry premieres songs off her new neo-soul-influenced album, Karma Clear, at the Colony in Woodstock, N.Y., on Thursday, March 21, at 8pm. Blueberry’s band will feature multi-instrumentalist Gail Ann Dorsey, best known for her work with David Bowie, Lenny Kravitz, and Gang of Four.

Masha Gessen, Mark Whitaker, Sophie Strand, Lucy Sante, Elissa Altman, Simi Stone, Sari Botton, and Nick Flynn will participate in the annual Woodstock Bookfest, based at Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, N.Y., running Thursday, March 21 through Sunday, March 24.

A Shayna Maidel, by Barbara Lebow, tells the story of the reunion of two sisters after World War II, one having survived the Nazi concentration camps. The play will be staged at the Copake Grange in Copake, N.Y., on Friday and Saturday, March 22-23, at 7:30pm, and on Sunday, March 24, at 3pm.

Trumpeter-vocalists Bria Skonberg and Benny Benack III will “reimagine” some of the classic partners in jazz and popular song, including Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland and Bing Crosby, and Dean Martin and Peggy Lee, performing songs by Gershwin, Ellington, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin, in “Sing & Swing” at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., on Saturday, March 23 at 8pm.

Acoustic folk duo Jay Ungar and Molly Mason bring their patented blend of original and traditional acoustic music to the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, N.Y., on Saturday, March 23, at 7pm.

The Feelies bring their guitar-driven indie-rock to the Colony in Woodstock, N.Y., on Saturday, March 23, at 8pm.

Montreal psych-rockers Elephant Stone, led by Rishi Dhir, bring their power-pop mixed with classical Indian touches to No Fun in Troy, N.Y., on Saturday, March 23, at 7pm.

The Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck presents a modern staging of Shakespeare’s Hamlet now through Sunday, March 24.

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Editor, The Rogovoy Report

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