Downtown Pittsfield, MA has scheduled dozens of winter holiday events for the weekend of Dec. 2, 3, 4, including the city of Pittsfield’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony at 6pm Friday. Dec. 2. View and/or download the entire Holiday Pittsfield schedule.
If you’re looking for apartment rentals in the heart of the Berkshires, Sunny Bank Apartments is located at 140 Housatonic St., near the center of historic Lenox village and convenient to shopping, fine dining, parks, and historic buildings such as the Lenox Library and the Lenox Academy. Rentals available; see video, photos, and details: SunnyBankLenox.com.
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November 18, 2011 performance reviewed by Philip McTigue
The show started off with a tune called Soul Pride. Pee Wee Ellis, the bandleader and MC for the night, is a living legend. He is described as the man who invented FUNK. His work with James Brown and others has led to his stellar reputation. He wrote Cold Sweat, arguably the first pure modern funk song, and according to my research, as many as 25 other James Brown songs.
The next couple of songs were a little disjointed. The sound was off and it seemed like the musicians were having a hard time finding their rhythm. In a funk show or any other show, this not the way you want to begin. It almost seemed or felt like the band had not played together a lot. Although the band changes members frequently it has been doing this Tribute for quite some time. Many of the band members seemed out of place.
The band members were Pee Wee Ellis, band leader and sax, Maceo Parker, sax, Vushi Mahalasela, vocals, Fred Ross, vocals, John Mader, drums, Marc van Waneningen, bass, Ray Obiedo, guitar, Peter Madsen, keyboards, Pap Assane M’Baye, percussion, Chad Berstien, trombone, and Gary Winters, trumpet.
Maceo was the first guest performer of the evening. His presence was welcomed and his vibe was, as always, cool. His style and confidence is synonymous with funky music. His pedigree is impeccable. He has played with every leader of the funk movement from James to George Clinton and Bootsy Collins to name a few. He connects the history of funk in one thread.
The second guest performer was Vushi Mahalasela. His energy was very uplifting. When the musicians in Africa first heard funk they were blown away. Typically most music has its roots in either African or Celtic origin. Funk turned the tables with this influencing a number of African Musicians. Vushi was one of them and his performance was delightful. Combining funk with African rhythms caused the Boston Globe to call Still Black and Still Proud “a pancontinetal funk-soul supergroup.”
As the show progressed the audience started to loosen up as well as the performers. The song Soul Power
got everyone grooving. Say it Loud was a stand out. It was interesting to get the New England crowd to sing the response I’m Black and I’m Proud. But they did and it worked. The encore of Cold Sweat and Pass the Peas were great. The show ended and everyone felt FUNKY.
If you haven’t been to the Mahaiwe since its renovation, please go. It is by far one of the premier venues in the Northeast. Having watched this great theatre go through many changes over the last 20 years, I can say that the current offerings, while quite eclectic, make it a something-for-everyone kind of place. From the Metropolitan Opera in HD to the Mark Morris Dance Troupe to Roseanne Cash, the current management has done an outstanding job of bringing top-notch entertainment to South County. BRAVO!
Christmas and the concommitant commercial holiday gifting season are recognized by some Berkshires towns and organizations with special events, such as:
(Events at The Garage run from 9pm – Midnight and are free unless noted otherwise.)
English conductor Bramwell Tovey, who made a memorable Tanglewood debut in 2011 leading an acclaimed concert performance of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, returns to the Berkshires Friday, August 17, to conduct Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and two favorites by American composers. Augustin Hadelich takes the lead in Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, and the concert opens with Aaron Copland’s Suite from Appalachian Spring. On Saturday, August 18, Tanglewood celebrates a truly significant occasion as the Boston Pops and a host of renowned guests celebrate John Williams‘ 80th birthday. Among the artists who will make an appearance are Yo-Yo Ma, Jessye Norman, Anthony McGill, and Gabriela Montero.
For the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert on Sunday, August 19, one of the BSO’s and the festival’s most familiar and respected conductors leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in two of the repertoire’s most familiar and respected works when Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos once again takes the podium, leading Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and collaborating with soloist Gil Shaham in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. Shaham has been performing at Tanglewood history for almost twenty years.
The collective virtuosity of the BSO’s principal players is once again on display Wednesday, August 22, as the Boston Symphony Chamber Players take the Ozawa Hall stage for a wide-ranging program including music of Lukas Foss, J.S. Bach, Hindemith, and Mozart. As a tribute to Serge Koussevitszky, BSO principal double bass player, Edwin Barker, performs Bruch’s Kol nidrei in a transcription for bass and piano.
Nov. 19, 2011 concert reviewed by Dave Read
On the eve of his centennary, Woody Guthrie’s musical legacy seems to be expanding at a rate even greater than the growth of his progeny, thanks to the family archive work of Arlo’s sister Norah Guthrie, who has enlisted a variety of musicians to create musical settings for heretofore unknown poems and songs found in Woody Guthrie’s notebooks. The best known examples would be the Mermaid Avenue albums by Billy Bragg and Wilco.
Explaining his father’s methodology, Arlo called him a “song-stealer,” which may be another way of describing the “folk method,” where known material is there to be modified and repurposed. By way of illustration, Arlo told a story of how Woody came up with a new song in answer to a complaint from a woman that a union anthem failed to pay adequate tribute to the contributions of the ladies auxiliary.
The concert’s comedy high point arrived just ahead of Arlo’s Woddstock era hit Coming into Los Angeles; in a fresh introduction, which had to deal with, among other things (as all Arlo stories do) a new shortcut from the Guthrie home in Washington to Bradley airport where wife Jackie was arrested when a little container of “a certain horticultural substance” was discovered in luggage labeled Arlo Guthrie, which was searched because the luggage checkers knew Arlo wasn’t in the boarding line, he had only dropped Jackie off and was driving back home when she phoned and then the Connecticut state police phoned with the particulars of where to retrieve his wife, who couldn’t be un-arrested but would be released. We were left to surmise that Ms. Guthrie’s legal woes ended there and then; no clue as to what became of the reefer!
It was on … Los Angeles that Abe took a lead on keyboards that stunned the old man, and which would’ve felt at home in Muscle Shoals; his son Krishna’s blues chops highlighted a couple later songs. Perhaps the most affecting segment of the show was when the sisters came together to form a vocal trio for a few songs including Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie and Alabama Bound, favorites of their grandfather’s friend Lead Belly.
On a more humorous note were a couple “inappropriate” songs by Cathy, who tours and records with Willie Nelson’s daughter Amy as Folk Uke. In addition to being hilarious, she sings beautifully, reminding me of Iris Dement.
Official honorary Guthrie family member Terry A La Berry (nee Hall) kept the generations on time with his artful drumming. In the audience were his mother, playwright and teacher Frances Benn Hall, who has been reviewing plays here for eleven years.
More about Arlo Guthrie – concert reviews, photos and an interview.