A highly selective preview of cultural events taking place this weekend in the greater Hudson Valley region, including a reading, singing AND signing by debut novelist/singer-songwriter Robert Burke Warren; a mini-rockabilly festival at Club Helsinki Hudson; a blues-rock pioneer at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Mass.; and a reading of a one-woman show at the Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, N.Y.
Robert Burke Warren
ROBERT BURKE WARREN to READ and SING from DEBUT NOVEL at SPOTTY DOG
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Author and singer-songwriter Robert Burke Warren will read and play original songs from his debut novel, “Perfectly Broken,” at Spotty Dog Books & Ale on Friday, March 25, at 7pm. “Perfectly Broken” follows former rock star, now stay-at-home dad Grant Kelly, who after 9/11 has traded a New York City apartment for a Catskills farmhouse with his wife and their four-year-old son. Ghosts from the past, worries for the future, and temptations in the present converge to bring about drastic changes in their marriage, their friendships, and their family.
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Lara Hope and the Ark-Tones
MINI ROCKABILLY FESTIVAL at HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – A mini-festival of rockabilly music featuring regional stars The Lustre Kings and Lara Hope & the Ark-Tones takes place at Club Helsinki Hudson on Thursday, March 24, at 8pm. This date was originally featured to include Wanda Jackson, who had to withdraw from the evening for health reasons. The Lustre Kings dig deep into early rock and related styles, steering away from a greatest-hits oldies approach, preferring to connect the dots among such unlikely musical bedfellows as Conway Twitty, Peanuts Wilson, Link Wray and Duke Ellington (they even render a surf-guitar version of the Duke’s “Caravan”). The Ark-Tones pack the dance floor with their own original musical offerings in vintage style as well as re-workings of rockabilly, rock ‘n’ roll, and R&B classics and standards.
Bonita Jackson
BONITA JACKSON PERFORMS ONE-WOMAN SHOW at BRIDGE STREET THEATRE
(CATSKILL, N.Y.) – Bonita Jackson will perform a reading of her new, one-woman show, “Empty Valuables,” at Bridge Street Theatre on Saturday, March 26, at 2pm, in the BST Speakeasy (44 West Bridge St.). Jackson describes the new work as “A journey of a mother and three of her daughters who all never meet. All four dig through their separate journeys, but are linked in their struggle for self-value from the adversities they face.”
John Mayall
BRITISH BLUES-ROCK PIONEER JOHN MAYALL at COLONIAL
(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – John Mayall, the “Godfather of British Blues,” performs at the Colonial Theatre on Thursday, March 24, at 8pm. Mayall’s impressive musical career spans over 50 years. The English blues singer, pianist, harmonica player, guitarist, and songwriter founded the band, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, in the 1960s — a group that was a veritable finishing school for blues-rockers who went on to greater fame, including Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Peter Green, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, and Mick Taylor (in other words, Cream, Fleetwood Mac, and the Rolling Stones).