The cultural highlights in our region this weekend include Indian music, Irish music, Greek and Yiddish music, modern dance … plus a whole lot more.

CRASH TEST DUMMIES in DALTON

Left-of-center alternative rock group Crash Test Dummies — best known for lead singer Brad Robert’s impossibly low bass-baritone voice and hits including “Superman’s Song,” “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm,” and “God Shuffled His Feet” — bring their 30^th anniversary tour to the Stationery Factory in Dalton tonight at 8pm. (Friday, March 11)

 

 

 

HINDUSTANI MUSIC at SIMON’S ROCK COLLEGE

Veena Chandra, sitarist and vocalist, and Devesh Chandra, table player, will perform classical Hindustani music at Simon’s Rock College in Great Barrington, Mass., on Sunday at 7pm in the Daniel Arts Center.  (March 13)

 

 

 

ELEVATOR REPAIR SERVICE REVISITS BALDWIN and BUCKLEY at CAMBRIDGE (at WILLIAMS)

Experimental theater company Elevator Repair Service brings its program, Baldwin and Buckley at Cambridge, to the ’62 Center at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., tonight and Saturday nights at 7pm. The innovative performance re-stages the historic 1965 debate between James Baldwin and William F. Buckley, Jr., verbatim. (March 11-12)

 

 

NIKI JACOBS BRINGS GREEK-YIDDISH FUSION to REGION

One of my all-time favorite vocalists will be performing one of my all-time favorite compositions in and around our region for the next 10 days or so, in a fusion of Greek and Yiddish culture. Performing with her classical/klezmer ensemble, internationally acclaimed Dutch Yiddish singer Niki Jacobs will bring her Yiddish version of Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis’s “Mauthausen Cycle” to Joe’s Pub at the Public Theatre in Manhattan on Thursday, March 17, at 9:30pm; Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., next Friday, March 18, at 8pm; and to Bombyx in Florence, Mass., on Sunday, March 20, at 7:30pm. Jacobs has had the original work, written by Greek poet Iakovos Kambanellis, a survivor of the Nazi slave labor camp in Mauthausen, translated into Yiddish, which is the language that would have been spoken by most of the Jewish prisoners in the Mauthausen death camp. The music is both stark and gorgeous, astringent and mellifluous, and is one of the great song cycles of the 20^th century, now made even more urgent in the 21^st.

 

 

MARK MORRIS DANCE at THE EGG in ALBANY

The Mark Morris Dance Group, one of the world’s premiere and most influential modern dance companies, will perform “Words,” with music by Felix Mendelssohn, “Jenn & Spencer,” danced to music by Henry Cowell, and “Gloria,” scored by Vivaldi, at the Egg in Albany tonight at 8pm. (Friday, March 11)

 

 

 

DIANA BURCO BRINGS COLOMBIAN MUSIC to MAHAIWE

Diana Burco is a charismatic rising star on the Colombian music scene. The singer-songwriter and accordion player, who is also a two-time Latin Grammy nominee, performs at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., on Sunday at 4pm. (March 13)

 

 

 

 

P-FURS LOOK PRETTY IN ALBANY

The Psychedelic Furs – perhaps best known for the title track to the movie “Pretty in Pink” — bring their vintage New Wave/postpunk sounds to Empire Live in Albany on Saturday at 8pm. (March 12)

 

JOE JENCKS BRINGS IRISH MUSIC to SCHENECTADY

In honor of St Patrick’s Day, award winning, Irish American singer- songwriter Joe Jencks brings his Roots & Wings program, a concert of traditional and original songs and stories, to the Eighth Step at Proctors in Schenectady tonight at 7:30pm. (March 11)

 

HARVEY FIERSTEIN at BARD COLLEGE

The cultural icon, gay rights activist, and four-time Tony Award-winning actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein will be joined on stage by another icon, Justin Vivian Bond, tonight at 8pm at the Fisher Center at Bard College. The two will have a lively conversation about Fierstein’s new memoir, “I Was Better Last Night.” (March 11)

 

 

 

ALEXIS P. SUTER BRINGS SOUL, GOSPEL and BLUES to THE FALCON

Alexis P. Suter brings her hard-hitting blend of gospel and blues and her six-piece band to the Falcon in Marlboro, N.Y., tonight at 7pm. (Friday, March 11)