BOB DYLAN CELEBRATION with AUTHOR/SINGER SETH ROGOVOY and PHOTOGRAPHER KEN REGAN
(NEW MARLBOROUGH, Mass.) – Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday will be celebrated in words, music, and pictures with a talk and performance by Dylan author Seth Rogovoy and an exhibition of rarely seen photographs by Ken Regan, one of very few photographers given behind-the-scenes access to Dylan since 1966, as part of the Music & More Series at the Meeting House in New Marlborough on Saturday, September 24, at 4:30 p.m.
Rogovoy, an award-winning music critic, will present a multimedia program based on his book, Bob Dylan: Prophet Mystic Poet, followed by a Dylan tribute concert with his band, the Rolling Rogovoy Revue, featuring fiddler/vocalist Alicia Jo Rabins, guitarist Rob Sanzone, and bass guitarist Miles Lally.
Immediately following the concert is a reception in the Meeting House Art Gallery with photographer Ken Regan, who has photographed Dylan over the course of three decades – including the fateful day in 1975 that Dylan and company spent at the Dream Away Lodge in Becket, Mass., with Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, and others.
DEL MCCOURY, YONDER MOUNTAIN HEADLINE 2-DAY BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL at MASS MOCA
(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Bluegrass legend Del McCoury and progressive bluegrass/jam-band Yonder Mountain String Band headline FreshGrass: A Festival of Bluegrass + Art, MASS MoCA’s first-ever bluegrass festival, on Saturday, September 24, 2011, from 6 to 11 p.m. and Sunday, September 25 from 11 to 6 in MASS MoCA’s Hunter Center and Courtyard C. FreshGrass will include seven scheduled acts, pop-up concerts, gallery admission, exhibition openings and the debut of MASS MoCA’s campus expansion
Other performers include young multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz; the Hackensaw Boys, an Americana band inspired by punk, bluegrass, and old time music; ethereal vocalist Aoife O’Donovan of the alternative bluegrass band Crooked Still; and Grammy-nominated musician and producer David Mayfield.
In addition to non-stop music, festival tickets include gallery admission, where festival-goers will find pop up concerts as well as half a dozen visually stunning and thought-provoking exhibitions.
ILLUSTRATOR DAVID MACAULAY HONORED AS NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM’S 2011-2012 ARTIST LAUREATE
(STOCKBRIDGE, Mass.) – Norman Rockwell Museum has named illustrator David Macaulay as 2011-2012 Artist Laureate. An award-winning author and artist whose work has helped readers better understand the workings of everything from simple gadgets to monumental structures, Macaulay employs pictures and words to reveal the secret lives of buildings, the wonders of the human body, and the common sense in the design of everyday things. Coincidentally, Macaulay’s work is on display in this week’s cover of the New Yorker magazine. The award will be presented to the artist during a special ceremony to be held at the museum on Saturday, September 24, 2011, at 5:30 p.m, followed by a special award dinner. A collection of Macaulay’s work is currently on display at the museum, including the New Yorker cover.
DOCUMENTARY EXPOSES UNSEEN WAR ON FAMILY FARMS
(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – A new documentary film exposing how misguided government policy favors industrial agriculture at the expense of small family farms will screen at the Beacon Cinema in Pittsfield on Thursday, September 22, 2011, at 7pm. Tickets are only $5. The special screening of Farmageddon: The Unseen War on American Family Farms, is presented by Berkshire Organics, is a local, family-owned business that brings area residents and local farms together through a weekly delivery service of produce from regional farms and a farm store on the Pittsfield-Dalton line.
Americans’ right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack. Farmageddon tells the story of small, family farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent action, by agents of misguided government bureaucracies.
GRAMMY AWARD-WINNER AMANDA MCBROOM RETURNS TO BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY
(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – Grammy Award-winner Amanda McBroom makes an encore engagement with Michael Brourman at Barrington Stage Company for two performances Friday, September 23 and Saturday, September 24, 2011, at 8pm at BSC Stage 2 (36 Linden Street, Downtown Pittsfield).
McBroom first came to the attention of the music public when Bette Midler’s version of Amanda’s song “The Rose” hit number one all over the world in 1979. But it was McBroom’s performance of her own song on the Golden Globes (she won), the Grammys (she didn’t) and The Tonight Show that launched her career as a singer as well as songwriter.