Jake Manzi: Forest Park Concert Series
Forest Park Amphitheater and Carriage House
Thursdays, June 6 – 27 at 6:30 p.m.
Springfield’s Parks, Buildings, and Recreation is excited to launch their June series of family-friendly concerts. Jake Manzi and his band will offer their singular take on what contemporary pop-rock can be. Hear richly layered vocal, guitar, and keyboard harmonies impressed on thumping and elastic grooves from locked in drums and bass.
Grief… A Comedy
Barrington Stage Company, Pittsfield
Thursday, June 6 – Sunday, June 9
Berkshire resident, writer/comedian Alison Larkin presents five preview performances of Grief… A Comedy before embarking on a world tour, kicking off at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Alison Larkin found true love for the first time in her 50s with an Indian climate scientist who had also immigrated to the US. Then he died. Then something wildly unexpected happened. Instead of wanting to hide under the bed and never come out, Alison found herself wanting to live and love more fully than ever before.
Springfield Public Forum: George Stephanopoulos
The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis
NEW VENUE: The Basketball Hall of Fame, Springfield
Thursday, June 6 at 6 p.m.
George Stephanopoulos, former senior advisor to President Clinton and for more than 20 years anchor of This Week and co-anchor of Good Morning America, will recount some of the crises that have decided the course of history, from the place 12 presidents made their highest-pressure decisions: the White House Situation Room.
The Fawns and Gentle Hen
Bands on Brewster, Northampton
Free Concerts Thursdays from 6 – 8 p.m.
Bands on Brewster debuted last year. It was a resounding success, so it’s back! The City of Northampton and Northampton Brewery are presenting live concerts with world-class artists on stage at Brewster Court, the walkway between the E.J. Gare Parking Garage and the back entrance of the Northampton Brewery. This Thursday, The Fawns and Gentle Hen take the stage.
Marla BB's Tales from the Trail across Alaska
Bombyx, Florence
Thursday, June 6 at 6:30 p.m.
Here’s something unique: an interactive book reading with a Hilltown sled dog meet & greet. Local author Marla BB will read from her book while its illustrations are projected on the big screen for the audience to follow along and enjoy. A question-and-answer session will follow. Then, meet the Hilltown Sled Dogs team in the Rainbow Room after the reading.
Jacob’s Pillow On The Road
First Fridays at Five, Downtown Pittsfield
Friday, June 7, at 5 p.m.
Jacob’s Pillow On The Road launches at First Fridays at Five! In Pittsfield featuring KR3Ts Dance Company, with a Wandering Dance Society dance circle open to all. This is the first of several free outdoor dance performances across the Berkshires, featuring touring and Berkshire-region dance artists. Pack a blanket or outdoor chair and enjoy this free pop-up performance with family and friends.
Tony Trischka – Earl Jam: A Tribute to Earl Scruggs
The Drake, Amherst
Friday, June 7 at 8 p.m.
When banjo extraordinaire Tony Trischka opened his mail one day, he wasn’t expecting to get a visit from his old pal, the late great Earl Scruggs. Of course, it wasn’t Earl at the door, but a mysterious thumb drive full of rare recordings of Scruggs jamming with John Hartford, mostly taken from private gatherings at Earl’s house during the 80s and 90s. Trischka began poring over the more than 200 songs, transcribing the solos, tones, and tricks from the man he’d been studying for over half a century, and it wasn’t long before a new album came to be.
Berkshire Bach: A Baroque Spring Posy
Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Great Barrington
Saturday, June 8 at 4 p.m.
For its final concert of the season, Berkshire Bach presents music for violin and harpsichord by J.S. Bach and G.F Handel on period instruments with The Berkshire Bach Ensemble’s Laura Lutzke and Mariken Palmboom. Laura Lutzke will play a Klotz Violin from 1743, giving you the chance to hear a Baroque Violin made when Bach and Handel were alive!
Tiny Glass Tavern: Falling Asleep of Reason
Friday June 7 at 7 p.m. at the Adams Theatre, in Adams (with a singing workshop at 5 p.m.)
Saturday June 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Edwards Church, Northampton
Tiny Glass Tavern is a cross-genre music ensemble that offers tastes of different styles of music to curious audiences in an intimate concert setting. The musicians bring their different expertise — and instruments — to perform early, folk, romantic, pop, and new music. Falling Asleep of Reason will include an eclectic selection of music by Claudio Monteverdi, Connie Converse, Paul Holmes Morton, Fiona Gillespie, Adam Simon, Barbara Strozzi, and more.
Ashuelot Concerts: Piano Quartets by Mahler, Schumann & Brahms
Friday, June 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Stonewall Farm in Keene, New Hampshire
Sunday, June 9 at 4 p.m. at the Park Theatre in Jaffrey, New Hampshire
Mahler’s Piano Quartet is a hidden gem in the classical chamber music repertoire. Composed when Mahler was still a teenager, this piece showcases the unlimited potential of youth. Schumann’s Piano Quartet was written in 1842 and stands as one of his most beloved and enduring chamber music creations. Brahms’s Piano Quartet in C minor is often viewed as an ode to unrequited love with most of the work’s themes featuring a tribute to his beloved, Clara Schumann.
What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine
Norman Rockwell Museum
Opens Saturday, June 8
This exhibition explores the unforgettable art and satire of MAD, from its beginnings in 1952 as a popular humor comic book to its emergence as a beloved magazine that spoke truth to power and attracted generations of devoted readers through the decades. This landmark installation, features iconic original illustrations and cartoons created by the magazine’s Usual Gang of Idiots — the many artists and writers who have been the publication’s mainstays for decades.
The Suitcase Junket
The Iron Horse, Northampton
Saturday, June 8 at 7 p.m.
Matt Lorenz's vision, manifest in The Suitcase Junket, developed in the tension between the grand and the solitary. What instruments he requires, Lorenz builds from scratch and salvage. What parts five players would perform, he performs alone. NPR calls him, “A living, breathing, throat-singing, road-tested, avant-garde, one-man-band who is in a state of perpetual motion… gutsy, fuzzed-out, groove-laden psych rock.” Tune in to The Fabulous 413 on Friday at 3 pm. to hear what it’s all about.
I Just Keep Talking: Nell Irvin Painter In Conversation with Lisa Baskin
Bombyx, Florence
Sunday, June 9 at 2 p.m.
Professor Emerita of American History at Princeton University, Nell Irvin Painter and Ms. Lisa Baskin will discuss issues ranging from race in America, to Sojourner Truth in Florence, to making art in later life. Ms. Painter will also sign copies of her new collection of essays entitled, “I Just Keep Talking.” After the talk there will be refreshments at the David Ruggles Center in Florence.
Wednesday Folk Traditions Season Opener
The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, Hadley
Wednesday, June 12 at 6:30 p.m.
Find a spot in the sunken garden for the opening of the Wednesday Folk Traditions at The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum. Featured artist Tim Eriksen, leader in the “shape-note” tradition, experimentalist and ethnomusicologist, and frequent Fabulous 413 guest will perform traditional ballads from the Appalachians to the Pioneer Valley.
Frida Kahlo, Her Photos
Springfield Museums
On View Through September 8
This profoundly moving and intimate exhibition reveals a series of images belonging to Frida’s personal collection, which were locked up in a bathroom at the artist’s residence, La Casa Azul (now Museo Frida Kahlo), for more than 50 years. It was only in 2003 that the archive was opened and that all hidden documents and objects were studied. By 2009 Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, Mexican photographer and photo historian, as the curator of this exhibition, selected 241 of the newly found photographs to compose it.