Woody Sez Sings at American Repertory Theatre
Resonating Musical History of Iconic Folk Singer
Theatre
By: Mark Favermann - 05/10/2012
Woody Guthrie transformed folk music into a vehicle for social protest and evoked the restless spirit of the Dust Bowl and Depression Era generation. By using his own words and songs, Woody Sez brings this musical and cultural icon to passionate life. The various songs and characters transport the audience through Guthrie's life. Sometimes moving, poetic, and tragic, the production features many now classic Woody tunes. How can we not be touched by "This Land is Your Land" and "Bound for Glory" ?
Clark Art Institute Focuses on China
Unearthed: Recent Archaeological Discoveries from Northern China
Fine Arts
By: Clark - 05/11/2012
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute presents rare Chinese burial objects in an exclusive exhibition that considers both the discovery and the impact of modern Chinese archaeology, Unearthed: Recent Archaeological Discoveries from Northern China, open June 16 – October 21, 2012. The exhibition features objects recently excavated from sites in the Shanxi and Gansu provinces and never before seen outside of China.
Billy Budd, The Makropulos Case and Sex at the Met
Janacek and Britten Deliver the Real Goods Without Help
Word
By: Susan Hall - 05/12/2012
Since General Manager Gelb arrived at the Met, every production features a diva in a nightgown. Carmen is the exception, and she symbolizes sex. Productions that precede regnum Gelb were able to be sexy just because they were created to be sexy.
Xanadu a Hit at SpeakEasy Theatre Company
Dreams of Fame, Roller Disco and a Greek Muse
Theatre
By: Mark Favermann - 05/12/2012
Based on the 1980 cult film with Olivia Newton-John, this clever and witty new musical on skates that follows the efforts of the magical Greek muse Kira who descends to Earth to help a struggling artist achieve his dream of opening a roller disco. Featuring an ingenious sassy book by Douglas Carter Beane and a score full of chart-topping tunes (Magic, Suddenly, Evil Woman), Xanadu spins hilarity and campy fun on wheels.
Untitled by Gregory Crewdson at Montserrat
MCA Commencement Exhibition
Fine Arts
By: Shawn Hill - 05/12/2012
Gregory Crewdson will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Montserrat College of Art on May 22nd. Three large format photos from two ongoing series are on display in the Carol Schlossberg Alumni Gallery through May 25th.
A Conversation With Herb Gart - Part IV
Putting Programming Experience to Use
Music
By: David Wilson - 05/13/2012
The first thing I did was go to the New York folk managers and try to book their clients - Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins and others. However, for whatever reason, they turned me down flat. I then, out of necessity, had to prove that a few managers in New York didn’t ‘own’ the folk scene.
New York City Opera Triumphs with Orpheus
Rachel Taichman's Production is Perfect
Music
By: Susan Hall - 05/13/2012
The score for Telemann's Orpheus was finally found in 1978, 250 years after its premier in the Goosemarket Opera of Hamburg. Taichman gives it a delightful new twist.
Avenue Q Provocative At Lyric Stage Company
Puppets And People Interact To Show Growing Up Ain't So Easy
Theatre
By: Mark Favermann - 05/14/2012
Based more than a bit on Sesame Street, Avenue Q is a fun and funny adult musical that tells the story of a recent college grad Princeton who moves into a shabby New York apartment all the way down on gritty Avenue Q. Looking for his purpose in life, through a variety of characters, clever songs, jokes and situations, he eventually discovers it. The show contains bad language, puppet nudity and felt creature sex. This is not for the little ones, but teenagers will think that it is cool. It is selling out fast.
Boston Weekly Cultural & Artistic Picks
May 14 to May 20, 2012
Opinion
By: Nelida Nassar - 05/14/2012
Rethinking the calendar format starting this week. It will be called Boston Weekly Cultural & Artistic Picks. It will highlight events that I've attended and feel are worth experiencing. They will include cinema, music, theatre, opera, lectures and more. The column will be interactive during the week’s entire length, as some events will be brought to light as they take place and develop.
James Merrill on The Ring
One of America's Finest Poets Reminds Us of Golden Days
Opinion
By: Susan Hall/ James Merrill - 05/15/2012
The Ring is a defining experience for opera goers and other passionate members of the public. My brother and his wonderful poet wife pointed out this James Merrill poem to me.
Exploring New York Galleries
Simone Subal, On Stellar Rays, and Miguel Abreu
Fine Arts
By: Amanda Parmer - 05/14/2012
Welcoming our New York correspondent Amanda Parmer who will cover galleries and alternative arts events. Expect her to roam off the beaten track. Here she explores work in three galleries.
Casandra Speaks at Shakespeare & Company
Norman Plotkin World Premiere
Theatre
By: Bard - 05/16/2012
Artistic Director Tony Simotes and Shakespeare & Company are pleased to present the world premiere of Cassandra Speaks by Norman Plotkin. In a tour de force performance, the versatile Tod Randolph takes on the role of Dorothy Thompson.
Totally Tubular Seasonal Depression
Some TV Shows Terminal Others See You Next Year
Television
By: Charles Giuliano - 05/15/2012
For the past couple of weeks the ads have proclaimed "Watch the series finale of House or Desperate Housewives." Or the season's finale of Smash and Madmen. Now what? Endless reruns? Baseball? Video Games? Recreational drugs? TV is about not to be TV. Yikes.
Wynton Marsalis at Tanglewood August 20
Season Closes with Pops/ Michael Feinstein/ Christine Ebersole Sept. 2
Music
By: Charles Giuliano - 05/16/2012
While not exactly an overhaul, Mark Volpe appears to be tweaking the programming at Tanglewood. Sticking with the mantra of Tanglewood as the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra means facing the reality or an eroding, senior audience. The annual season ending Tanglewood Jazz Festival has been scrapped replaced by booking A list jazz artists Wynton Marsalis and Christain McBride in Ozawa Hall and Pops in the Shed for a boldy revamped Labor Day weekend. And that's not all.
Berkshire Salon Opens May 18
Fifth Annual Eclipse Mill Gallery Exhibition to June 10
Fine Arts
By: Charles Giuliano - 05/16/2012
The lively and much anticipated Fifth Annual Berkshire Salon 2012 is dedicated in memory of the recently deceased Eclipse Mill resident Norman Thomas. A grid of his Cubist/ Pop paintings is featured in the installation of works by some forty regional artists. The Salon is open on weekends in North Adams from May 18 through June 10.
Mass MoCA Brings Art to Downtown North Adams
New Bus Stop Open for Business June 28
Fine Arts
By: MoCA - 05/16/2012
On Thursday, June 28, 2012, Kidspace at MASS MoCA will open the Bus Stand, a public artwork by Queensbury, New York-based artist Victoria Palermo, who was inspired by her 2010 Kidspace artist-in-residency in the North Adams middle schools to create a colorful work of art on Main Street that would combine the functional with the aesthetic.
Mass MoCA Surveys Canadian Art
Oh Canada Opens May 26
Fine Arts
By: MoCA - 03/29/2012
A members' reception for the opening of Oh, Canada will be held on Saturday, May 26, from 5:30 - 7:30 PM. At 9:00 PM, Brandon Canning, co-founder of Broken Social Scene, will DJ a dance party interspersed with musical interludes by Oh, Canada artist/musicians to celebrate the opening. Other Canadian performing artists will grace MASS MoCA's stages and courtyards throughout the summer and fall.
A Conversation With Herb Gart - Part I
The Early Days
Music
By: David Wilson - 04/19/2012
Herb Gart had a hand in the careers of many entertainment icons including Bill Cosby, Janis Ian, The Youngbloods, Charlie Daniels, Don McLean and Ed Begly, Jr. Here he chats about how it all started.
The Dawn of Egyptian Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Through August 5
Fine Arts
By: Charles Giuliano - 04/19/2012
Beyond King Tut and Cleopatra most folks know little or nothing about the thirty dynasties and 3000 years of Ancient Egyptian Art. The Met's special exhibition The Dawn of Egyptian Art provides a tantalizing encounter with the esoteric era prior to and during the founding dynasties.
For The Love of the Music : The Club 47 Folk Revival
A film by Todd Kwait & Rob Stegman
Music
By: David Wilson - 04/25/2012
For The Love of the Music attempts to tell the story of the legendary Harvard Square coffeehouse and folk performance venue, Club 47, and its eventual successor, Club Passim over a ten plus year period from 1958 to 1968.
The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde
Americans in Paris Celebrated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Fine Arts
By: Charles Giuliano - 04/28/2012
None of the collections of Gertrude, Leo, Michael Stein and his wife Sarah remained intact. They sold and traded many masterpieces during their lifetimes. The collections were further dispersed by their heirs. In a definitive exhibition The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde 200 of these works have been brought together and are now on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A Conversation With Herb Gart – Part II
Back and Forth Twixt Philadelphia and NYC
Music
By: David Wilson - 04/28/2012
This continues the conversation started in Part I. Folk recordings are still a minor component of the recording industry, but that is on the verge of change as more established companies in the music industry begin to view it for its profit potential.
2012 Norton Prize Winner William Kentridge
Animations at Harvard Film Archives
Film
By: Nelida Nassar - 04/30/2012
The Harvard Film Archives at the Carpenter Center presented nine of William Kentridge animated films – five from 9 Drawings for Projection, and four stand alone animations. Kentridge like the German neo-expressionists Anselm Kiefer and Jörg Immendorff, is capable of giving life to all that has never been admitted in art, embodying all the torment and the labor the creator draws upon to make a work of art. With significant compassion, humor, and willed innocence, Kentridge examines the external and internal forces that shape us as human beings.
Patrick Watson at Mass MoCA June 30
Canadian Pop Icon
Music
By: Charles Giuliano - 05/01/2012
Canadian icon Patrick Watson brings his unique blend of cabaret-pop and classically influenced indie rock to the Berkshires when he performs as part of MASS MoCA's Alt Cabaret series this summer on Saturday, June 30, at 8 PM. Raised in Quebec and now residing in Montreal, Watson comes to North Adams as part of Oh, Canada, MASS MoCA's year-long celebration of Canadian contemporary art.
Munch Is a Scream
Agita Sells for a Cool $120 Million
Fine Arts
By: Charles Giuliano - 05/03/2012
Between 1893 and 1895, Edvard Munch, 30 when he started the cycle, made four versions of "The Scream." It has proved to be one of the most iconic images of modern art. Three of the paintings are owned by museums in Norway. Two have been stolen and since recovered. The fourth, a pastel version from 1895, the last in private hands, set a new auction record this week at $120 million. That's a lot of cash for high anxiety.
Tanglewood Ticket Deals
$75 Season Lawn Pass for Berkshire Residents
Music
By: BSO - 05/03/2012
Tanglewood, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this season, June 22-September 2, is offering a number of ticket programs designed to give visitors and Berkshire residents a wide variety of options when planning their visit to the BSO’s summer home. Kripalu and the Clark Art Institute are each teaming up with the BSO this summer to offer three new ticket deals showcasing a variety of different Berkshire summer attractions.
Mass MoCA Season Highlights
Exhibition Oh Canada Opens May 26
Fine Arts
By: MoCA - 05/03/2012
On Saturday, May 26, 2012, MASS MoCA opens Oh, Canada, a massive exhibition featuring more than 100 works by 62 artists and collectives from the north, and kicks off the institution's 14th year with a celebratory dance party with music by DJ Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene. In addition to Canadian programming in the galleries and on stage, MASS MoCA's summer will include music from bands like Real Estate and the legendary Sweet Honey In The Rock.
Calendar of Events 5/9 - 5/13, 2012
Art, Film, Music, Theatre and more ....
Opinion
By: Nelida Nassar - 05/07/2012
The Boston Symphony Orchestra opens the Pops’ Season with Bernadette Peters. Boston Celebrity Series presents Emanuel Ax at Jordan Hall. The Museum of Fine Arts, The Institute of Contemporary Art team up to showcase the LGBT Festival. The American Repertory Theatre awaited Woody Sez’s opens this week while the ArtsEmerson continues with Hershey Felder in Maestro: Leonard Bernstein. Sergei Eisenstein’s retrospective of not to be missed classics that are seminal to the history of cinema at the Harvard film Archives. Happy Mothers’ Day!!!
Arnold Trachtman At Galatea Fine Art
Masterful Expressionist Memories of Lynn, Massachusetts
Fine Arts
By: Mark Favermann - 05/04/2012
Arnold Trachtman is an artist with a social message. At 82, he continues to ply his trade. Currently on view in Boston's SOWA at Galatea Fine Art Gallery are his very personal and compelling Memories of Lynn, Massachusetts exhibit. There is an expressionistic colorful vibrancy and joyfulness to the paintings. This show should become one of our fine memories as well.
The 2012 Whitney Biennial
Ennui of the New
Fine Arts
By: Charles Giuliano - 05/04/2012
Back in 1932 the first Whitney Annual was unique. Since 1973 it has been the Whitney Biennial. Now there are lots of global Biennials. In that context the Whitney tries it keep up and stay relevant. The current version curated by Elisabeth Sussman and Jay Sanders has fewer works displayed with more space. As a signifier of recent trends one floor is devoted to performances not necessarily by artists. The downsized project is easier to digest but also quicker to forget.
Patricia Hills, Letter #5 from Southern California
Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980
Fine Arts
By: Patricia Hills - 05/05/2012
Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981 at the Museum of Contemporary Art was curated by long-time MOCA Chief Curator Paul Schimmel. It was intended to be a prequel to Schimmel’s 1992 exhibition Helter Skelter: L.A. Art in the 1990s. But Schimmel knew many of the artists included in Under the Big Black Sun from an exhibition he did back in 1977 for the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston, called American Narrative/Story Art: 1967-1977.
A Conversation with Herb Gart - Part III
Establishing Credibility
Music
By: David Wilson - 05/06/2012
"The Earle Hotel was one of the few buildings in Manhattan still wired for DC current. I watched my tape recorder go up in smoke. " With the decision to move his base of operations permanently to NYC, Herb finds his path beset with unexpected pitfalls from the very start. Of course he is not alone in the struggle and it is not long before he finds others depending on him. He also finds himself going head to head with some of the most powerful people in the industry.
Monadnock Music Festival 2012
Opening Night July 6 Peterborough Town House
Music
By: Monadnock - 05/07/2012
As it closes in on a half century of presenting exceptional classical music to New England, the Monadnock Music Festival is already beginning a new era with the announcement of its 2012 season.
Boston Baroque Presents Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice
Lean Production Brings Out Opera's Beauties
Music
By: David Bonetti - 05/08/2012
Gluck attempted to strip baroque opera of its excesses. His major effort, based on the Orpheus myth, remains a singular work today. Is Gluck’s classic “reform” opera the most perfect work in the operatic repertory?
Karita Mattila in Janacek's Makropulos Case
Metropolitan Opera Offers the Elixir of Life
Music
By: Susan Hall - 05/09/2012
Janacek considered The Makropulos Case one of his finest operas. After fighting for the rights, composition went smoothly. With his 70th birthday approaching, he may well have been thinking about extended life. Surely in Europe after World War I, in which 6,000,000 young men had died, the subject of life was at the front of many minds. An elixir to add a few centuries?
Roger Kizik at Dedee Shattuck Gallery
Westport, Ma. Through June 3
Fine Arts
By: Dedee Shattuck - 05/09/2012
With Rick Harlow and John McNamara during the 1980s Roger Kizik was identified by Boston Globe art critic, Robert Taylor, as Epic Abstractionists. They were widely shown as a trio including the Institute of Contemporary Art. For many years Kizik was a member of the staff of the Rose Art Museum. He lives and works in New Bedford. The show at Dedee Shattuck Gallery features his quirky, epic scaled figuration.
Luis Miguel at Caesar's Palace September 13 to 15
That's Vegas Baby
Music
By: Caesar - 05/11/2012
Latin music superstar Luis Miguel will return to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace for a record sixth consecutive year during Las Vegas Mexican Independence Day weekend 2012 Thursday, Sept. 13 – Saturday, Sept. 15 at 9 p.m. The three night engagement is presented jointly by AEG Live and Caesars Palace.
Friend Me: Portraits and Projects, Carole Freeman
Unite the World by Painting Portraits
People
By: Astrid Hiemer - 01/22/2012
Facebook has given rise to 'Friend Me Projects,' which started publicly with an exhibition in Toronto and has expanded into different elements. In its entirety, 'Friend Me Projects' aim to engage 800,000,000 Facebook 'friends' and a global general population as well. "Every body wants to get involved" is the reaction Carole Freeman and partner Michael Bain are receiving.
Sanford Biggers at Mass Moca
The Cartographer's Conundrum Explores Afro-futurism
Fine Arts
By: Charles Giuliano - 02/05/2012
The Cartographer's Conundrum is a major multi-disciplinary installation By New York-based artist Sanford Biggers. This new work is inspired by the Houston, Texas based artist, scholar and Afro-futurist John Biggers (1924-2001). A cousin of his subject, Sanford Biggers' goal is to both study and expand the emerging genre of Afro-futurism, which engages science-fiction, cosmology and technology to create a new folklore of the African Diaspora.
Patssi Valdez of Asco Part Two
How a Mural Walked Through East LA
People
By: Patssi Valdez and Charles Giuliano - 03/11/2012
When Asco agreed to meet and create an event at a particular time and date Patssi Valdez states that she never knew what to expect. Gronk arrived at her home as a Christmas tree. Willie was a mural and Passi dressed as the Virgin Mary with glitter and platform shoes. They cavorted through East LA as A Walking Mural straight into the history books. Their friend Harry took the documentary photographs.
Joe Thompson Director of Mass MoCA
Reflecting on 25 Years
People
By: Joe Thompson and Charles Giuliano - 02/22/2012
On an unseasonably mild February afternoon, during the off season, we sat with Mass MoCA director, Joe Thompson, for an in depth overview of his 25 years of developing the largest contemporary art museum in North America. In this first installment we discussed the beginnings and mandates for the 17 acre campus and its 650,000 square feet of "developable" space. We spoke on the record for an hour and a half then another hour after that. It is most unusual to spend that much time with a busy museum director.
Joe Thompson Director of Mass MoCA Two
Space is the Place
People
By: Joe Thompson and Charles Giuliano - 02/23/2012
During the twelve years of developing Mass MoCA, before it opened in 1999, Joe Thompson and his wife Jennifer cooked and sold hot sauce to help pay their bills. Twenty five years later in further developing the vast museum complex Thompson discussed the once unthinkable notion of running out of vacant real estate.
Joe Thompson Director of Mass MoCA Three
Buchel and a Peck
People
By: Joe Thompson and Charles Giuliano - 02/24/2012
Helping artists to fabricate and install new works entails trust, commitment and risk taking. All of those elements went terribly wrong in a project with the artist Christoph Buchel. Ever escalating demands resulted in legal action that brought Mass MoCA to a standstill. Eventually a judge found in favor of the museum. It is painful even now to revisit the incident from which Joe Thompson and the museum have moved on.
Mass MoCA's Joe Thompson 4
Impact of Wilco's Solid Sound Festival
People
By: Joe Thompson and Charles Giuliano - 03/01/2012
With the Wilco Solid Sound Festival taking a hiatus and the Clark Art Institute in the midst of construction and renovation it may prove to be a challenging summer for Mass MoCA. We discussed with Thompson how best to continue to grow cultural tourism through synergy among the arts organizations of the Berkshires. In the past two years the 6,000 visitors for the Wilco weekends brought much needed revenue to the region. We need more such initiatives. This is the final chapter of the dialogue with Thompson.
Claude Gosselin Curator of La Biennale de Montréal
Starting with Aurora Borealis in 1985
People
By: Claude Gosselin and Charles Giuliano - 03/05/2012
This summer Mass MoCA will present a survey of 65 Canadian artists curated by Denise Markonish. Recently we spoke at length with the leading Canadian curator Claude Gosselin who has organized major thematic exhibitions combining Canadian and international artists since 1985. His 2011 La Biennale de Montréal may have been his last. He plans to continue Centre international d'art contemporain de Montréal (CIAC) with a refocused program.
Canadian Curator Claude Gosselin 2
Designing Biennials for Younger Audiences
People
By: Claude Gosselin and Charles Giuliano - 03/08/2012
Claude Gosselin has been the artistic director for La Biennale de Montreal. His recent projects have focused on new and digital media attracting a younger audience. As an authority on contemporary Canadian art he is skeptical about the survey of 65 Canadian artists planned for Mass MoCA this summer. He also sees paradigm shifts for museums scrambling to attract declining audiences for the visual arts.
Canadian Curator Claude Gosselin 3
Reviving the Canadian Biennial
People
By: Claude Gosselin and Charles Giuliano - 03/08/2012
The Canadian Biennal was staged in 1989 at the National Gallery in Ottowa and shelved for lack of funding after that. Under Marc Mayer it has been revived. But rather than a true biennial the 2011 incarnation was an overview of recent acquisitions.
Berkshire Theatre Group 2012
Season Program
Theatre
By: BTG - 03/08/2012
Berkshire Theatre Group announces programming for Summer 2012. BTG’s Summer of 2012 boasts a full assortment of theatrical productions, concerts, comedy, Friday Series play readings, Musical Mondays, Made in the Berkshires and more.
Berkshire Actor’s Theatre 2012 Season
Auditions for Doubt Slated for March 17
Theatre
By: BAT - 03/10/2012
The Berkshire Actors Theatre (BAT) 2012 summer season will pair two shows by John Patrick Shanley, both performed at Berkshire Museum. The season will open June 21 with Doubt: A Parable, Shanley’s Pulitzer and Tony award-winning play. Opening one week later will be a remount of last season’s successful production of Four Dogs and a Bone, which will be performed in repertory with Doubt: A Parable.
Patssi Valdez of Asco Part One
Bi-Coastal Exhibition at Williams College Museum of Art.
People
By: Patssi Valdez and Charles Giuliano - 03/11/2012
During the opening weekend and seminar associated with the bi-coastal exhibition "Asco Elite of the Obscure a Retrospective 1972-1987 " at the Williams College Museum of Art we met and spoke briefly with one of the four artists, Patssi Valdez. Later we spoke at length by phone when she returned home to LA. She spoke of the drive early on to make it into the art history books. Due to this major exhibition, catalogue, seminar and this coverage, that dream has become a reality. This is the first segment of a dialogue with a charming art star,
Invisible Cities at Mass Moca
Exhibition opening April 15 Includes Four New Commissions
Fine Arts
By: MoCA - 03/16/2012
Invisible Cities features works by Lee Bul, Carlos Garaicoa, Liz Glynn, Mary Lum, Emeka Ogboh, and Sopheap Pich, with new commissions by Diana Al-Hadid, Kim Faler, Francesco Simeti, and Miha Strukelj.
Boston Lyric Opera's Barber of Seville
Rossini's Masterpiece Finds Human Truths
Music
By: David Bonetti - 03/16/2012
Cast, led by Sarah Coburn's Rosina, is uniformly excellent. Production, with borrowed elements, pulled together in the vigorous direction of choreographer Doug Varone
Letter from Southern California
Exhibitions: Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980
Fine Arts
By: Patricia Hills - 03/19/2012
At Boston University Professor Particia Hills teaches American Art. She is the author of books on Alice Neel and Jacob Lawrence among others. She has curated exhibitions for the Whitney Museum of American Art accompanied by catalogues. She arrived early for the annual meeting of the College Art Association to view a series of exhibitions assembled as “Pacific Standard Time: Los Angeles Art, 1945-1980.” This is the first of her reports.
Cosi Fan Tutte at the New York City Opera
Christopher Alden Directs the Opera for Today
Music
By: Susan Hall - 03/19/2012
George Steel, general manager of City Opera, remarked that Mozart works best in medium-size theaters. Certainly in the Lynch Theater the current production of Cosi Fan Tutte thrives. Across the boards, it is terrific.
Patssi Valdez of Asco Part Three
From No Movies to Carlos Castaneda
People
By: Patssi Valdez and Charles Giuliano - 03/21/2012
Decades later the art world has caught up with the LA based, four person, Asco. Patssi Valdez, the only woman in the group, insists that all four voices be heard. Until now she has rarely talked about this legacy with the media. She had long since moved on from that period and work. Troubled by chronic migraines in the 1980s she worked with the healer Howard Lee and then for two years joined a group led by the legendary Carlos Castaneda.
Reflections on a Friendship: Don Shambroom and Martin Mugar
Heidegger, Entropy and DeKooning
Opinion
By: Martin Mugar - 03/21/2012
A luncheon with Boston artists and a dealer recreates Charles Giuliano's "Beer and Burgers" upped a notch to Pinot Noir and foie gras and leads to reconnecting with well-known Boston artist and erstwhile friend Don Shambroom.
Ric Haynes: Children of the Empire
Exhibition at Boston's Hall Space
Fine Arts
By: Charles Giuliano - 03/23/2012
The current exhibition at Boston's alternative gallery, Hall Space, is a selction of prolific, narrative paintings produced in the past year by Ric Haynes. He is an artist whom we have followed, appreciated, curated and reviewed over several decades. For me Haynes has been a guru and shaman of which this evocative and absorbing work is a rich manifestation.
FreshGrass Festival at Mass MoCA
No Wilco But Fiddle Music September 21-23
Music
By: MoCA - 03/26/2012
With the Wilco Solid Sound Festival on hiatus Mass MoCA is beefing up its now annual FreshGrass Festival. The three day event will occur from September 21-23 with a lively mix of known and emerging bluegrass artists. This is a step in the right direction for extending the shoulder season in Northern Berkshire county. Order early and save on weekend passes on sale April 11.
Aston Magna Celebrates 40th Season
Gala June 9 at Tanglewood's Ozawa Hall
Music
By: Aston Magna - 03/27/2012
Aston Magna Music Festival (Daniel Stepner, Artistic Director) America’s oldest annual summer festival in America devoted to music performed on period instruments, celebrates its 40th Anniversary Season in the Berkshires. This summer’s concert series from June 8 through July 7 is devoted to music spanning from the 17th to the 20th centuries.
Barrington Stage Company Calendar
Performances and Events Day by Day Through October
Theatre
By: Barrington - 03/27/2012
The season of Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield kicks off on May 23 and stretches through October. This is a cheat sheet to mark your calendar. Here is a day by day break down of the entire theatre season.
Berkshire Museum Calendar
Exhibitions and Events Through July 15
Fine Arts
By: Berkshire Museum - 03/27/2012
In addition to exhibitions the Berkshire museum features an aquarium and the renowned Little Cinema. Here is a break down of exhibitions and events through mid July.
Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Schedule of Summer Program
Theatre
By: Mahaiwe - 03/29/2012
Highlights include comedic evenings with the Sing-a-Long-a Sound of Music (July 14) and Freddie Roman's Friars Club Comedy Festival (July 15), performances by legendary modern dance troupes MOMIX (July 6 and 7) and Paul Taylor Dance Company (July 26, 27, and 28), musical concerts by Tony winner Faith Prince (July 21), Kennedy Center Honors recipient Barbara Cook and Grammy nominee John Pizzarelli (August 4), and by Grammy Award winners Judy Collins and Jimmy Webb (August 26)
Opera Notes: Peter Gelb Controlling the Message
Does the Met Deserve Great Divas Dessay, Mattila, Blythe?
Music
By: Susan Hall - 03/29/2012
Diva after diva arrives at the Met this spring. Their quality is uneven, but if they are thin and pretty, the General Manager., Peter Gelb, hopes can sell tickets. Even if they can't sing, or when they do, occasionally, they are off pitch.
Homage to Helmut Newton
The ‘Porno Chic’ Photographer
Photography
By: Nelida Nassar - 03/29/2012
The first retrospective of the German born photographer Helmut Newton at the Grand Palais, Paris gathers the most provocative, sometimes shocking of his images. “The work tries to capture the beauty, eroticism, humor – and sometimes violence – that he sensed in the social interaction within the familiar worlds of fashion, luxury, money and power” states Jérôme Neutres co-curator of the exhibition.
Architect Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe At 126
A Modernism Founder Reconsidered
Architecture
By: Mark Favermann - 03/29/2012
Considered one of the true pioneers and early practitioners of Modernism or the International Style, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe has influenced several generations of architects and designers. Mies work was ridiculed and reacted against. At the worst, it was soulless design; at the best, it was corporate American architecture, the sleek style of the establishment. Today, Mies work is being reassessed. Perhaps less is sometimes more?
Face the World - Global Portrait Party: Eclipse Mill Edition
Invitation to Sign Up for Event of May 6, 2-5 PM
Projects
By: Astrid Hiemer - 04/01/2012
Facebook Fans and Non Facebook Friends alike, you are invited to participate in the Eclipse Mill portrait party. Please sign up, bring a photo of a friend; we supply everything else and assistance during the painting process. Prior experience is not required, but we count on participants and visitors with lots of good will to make this event a celebration of global friendships.
Berkshire Actors Theatre's 2012 Summer Season
Features Two John Patrick Shanley Plays
Theatre
By: Brian Mastroianni - 04/02/2012
Heading into the 2012 Summer Season, the Berkshire's newest theatre company, Berkshire Actors Theatre will stage productions of two John Patrick Shanley plays. With Shanley on board as a creative consultant, and an exciting cast list of local actors lined up, BAT is looking to further solidify itself in the local theatre scene. BAT also just released a dynamic promo video for its season.
ArtsEmerson Film Program May 4 to 26
Gotta Dance: The American Movie Musical 1929-1953
Film
By: ArtsEmerson - 04/02/2012
ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage closes its second season of adventurous, independent and repertory films with the final entry in Gotta Dance, an ambitious five-month survey of the American film musical; late-period Renoir and the second annual Festival Focus showcase. Films are screened at Emerson College’s Paramount Center (559 Washington St., Boston), in the Bright Family Screening Room.
Hancock Shaker Village
2012 Calendar of Events
Projects
By: Shaker - 04/04/2012
Hancock Shaker Village (HSV) announces the living history museum’s 2012 plans at a press conference today. The 52nd season will run from April 7 through October 28. It includes a major new exhibition titled A Promising Venture: Shaker Photographs from the WPA, which features the work of photographer Noel Vicentini, who was hired as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project in 1936 to document the Shaker villages in upstate New York and western Massachusetts for the newly-formed Index of American Design.
Boston Pops Season Starts May 9
Previews with Video Clips
Music
By: BSO Pops - 04/05/2012
The Boston Pops 2012 season under the direction of Keith Lockhart, opens in style on May 9 with Broadway sensation Bernadette Peters performing many of the signature songs that have made her one of this country’s legendary stars of the stage and screen. The Boston Pops 2012 unifying theme, Visions of America, inspires a season dedicated to celebrating many of this country’s greatest musical traditions, culminating in a multimedia “Visions of America Photo Symphony” program to end the season on June 14, 15, and 16. These special concerts will feature R&B sensation Patti Austin, jazz vocalist Steve Tyrell, photographs by Joseph Sohm, music by Roger Kellaway, and lyrics by the unrivaled team of Alan and Marilyn Bergman, with a recorded narration provided by Clint Eastwood.
The Mount Launches Spring Programming
Hildegard Hoeller Lecture on Wharton April 21
Music
By: Mount - 04/05/2012
The Mount will kick-start its 2012 season with two programs planned for late April. On Saturday, April 21 at 3:00 PM, Berkshire resident, Wharton scholar and Professor of English, Hildegard Hoeller will give a informative talk on Edith Wharton and her changing views of New York, entitled Edith Wharton: Old and New New York. On Sunday, April 22, The Mount will present Music in the Drawing Room with an afternoon performance by Elizabeth Morse, principle harpist of the Berkshire Symphony.
Letter #2 from Southern California
Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980
Fine Arts
By: Patricia Hills - 04/05/2012
Boston University professor Patricia Hills continues coverage of the ambitious, multi venue project Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980. We pick up the dialogue with Day Two starting with The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, with its exhibition MEX/L.A.: “Mexican” Modernism(s) in Los Angeles, 1930-1985.
ICA Announces Summer 2012 Programs
Performance, Events and Talks
Theatre
By: ICA - 04/10/2012
The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) presents performing arts programming at its Boston Harbor location for Summer 2012. Programming includes perennial summer favorites Talking Taste, Harborwalk Sounds, and DJs on the Harbor, plus dance performances and the return of Experiment, bringing 50 writers, dancers, actors, and performers to the museum for an immersive theatrical experience.
Ear Say II - Bearfoot and Joy Kills Sorrow
Ongoing Thoughts About Appealing CDs
Music
By: David Wilson - 04/12/2012
Bluegrass, Old timey, Mountain Music, Hillbilly, all cloaked these days as Roots or Americana. Here are two superb examples
Berkshire Playwrights Lab Announces 2012 Season
June 9 Gala: Mamet Play with Jay Thomas and Treat Williams
Theatre
By: Charles Giuliano - 04/17/2012
Berkshire Playwrights Lab will present the Berkshire Playwrights Lab 5th Season Gala Celebration on June 9 and staged readings of new plays on July 11, July 23, August 8, and August 22 at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center (14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, Mass.). In addition to a new short piece by David Mamet and performances by actors Jay Thomas, Treat Williams, and other plays and actors TBA, the Gala will include the premiere of Food for Thought, a short film.
Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
There Goes the Neighborhood
Theatre
By: Charles Giuliano - 04/18/2012
Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris arrives on Broadway with a distinguished provenance. Since opening Off Broadway in 2010 the drama/ comedy has earned the 2011 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play and the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is likely that the edgy play about racial changes in a Chicago neighborhood will be nominated for multiple Tony Awards.
Williamstown Theatre Festival Adds Shows
David Byrne Musical at Mass MoCA and Bradley Cooper in Elephant Man
Theatre
By: WTF - 04/17/2012
The final details have been completed for the 2012 season of the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Elephant Man starring uber hunk Bradley Cooper and Patricia Clarkson has been slated for the Nikos Stage. In partnership with Mass Moca and ambitious musical by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim will be workshopped at the Hunter Center.
SpeakEasy 2011-2012 Schedule
Broadway Hits Boston Bound
Theatre
By: SpeakEasy - 04/19/2012
The explosive family drama OTHER DESERT CITIES, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play CLYBOURNE PARK, and the Tony Award-winning musical IN THE HEIGHTS are among the five acclaimed shows that SpeakEasy Stage will present in its 2012-2013 Season, the company’s Producing Artistic Director Paul Daigneault announced today.
Huntington Theatre 2011-2012 Season
Southie Themed Good People Opens September 14
Theatre
By: Huntington - 04/19/2012
Subscribing is the only way to guarantee tickets to MacArthur "Genius" David Cromer's groundbreaking and critically acclaimed new production of Our Town. Our Town is not part of any subscription series, but Huntington subscribers have exclusive access and are first in line to purchase tickets to this extraordinary theatrical event. We expect this limited engagement to sell out! Subscribe today and buy your Our Town tickets now while they are still available.
Letter #3 from Southern California
Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980
Fine Arts
By: Patricia Hills - 04/19/2012
Professor Hills continues coverage of the multi venue project. "The Pacific Standard Time exhibitions—Phenomenal: California Light, Space, Surface— were split between two locations, in downtown San Diego and in La Jolla, which we saw on Saturday, January 7. "
Bernadette Peters Opens Pops May 9
Visions of America Inspires a season
Music
By: Pops - 04/19/2012
The Boston Pops 2012 “Visions of America” season under the direction of Keith Lockhart, opens in style on May 9 at 8 p.m. with Broadway sensation Bernadette Peters performing showstoppers such as There Is Nothing Like a Dame and Being Alive as well as her signature Not a Day Goes By and other tunes that have made the diva one of this country’s legendary stars of the stage and screen.
Gore Vidal's The Best Man
All Star Updating of a 1960 Political Chestnut
Fine Arts
By: Charles Giuliano - 04/19/2012
In the fast moving world of media and politics Gore Vidal's 1960s political comedy The Best Man clearly belongs to another era. It is being trotted out as relevant during an election year. An all star cast of Angela Lansbury, James Earl Jone, Candice Bergen, John Larroquette, and Eric McCormack gamely breathe new life into a long dormant chestnut.
Letter #4 from Southern California
Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980
Fine Arts
By: Patricia Hills - 04/20/2012
In this installment Professor Hills visited Newport Beach to see the PST exhibition “State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970” held at the Orange County Museum of Art. Organized by both the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) in Southern California and, in Northern California, the UC/Berkeley Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA), the curators are Constance M. Lewallen from BAM/PFA and Karen Moss at OCMA.
Jeff Goldblum Stars in Seminar
Recasting Smashing's Therese Rebeck's Broadway Hit
Theatre
By: Charles Giuliano - 04/20/2012
This has been a breakout season for Theresa Rebeck one of the most highly regarded playwrights of her generation. Her TV series Smash has been exactly that. Now confirmed for another season with Rebeck in a less that pivotal role. That leaves more time for theatre like the current Broadway hit Seminar. There has been a cast change with the lead handed from Alan Rickman to Jeff Goldblum. Its second coming is simply fabulous.
Peter Gelb Extends the Metropolitan Opera's Domain
The Great White Way is a New Model
Opinion
By: Susan Hall - 04/22/2012
Marketing into the Hollywood style and also Broadway musicals, Peter Gelb may have happened upon a solution to developing a new opera audience. Maybe.
Cosima Spender's Documentary Without Gorky
More Like Getting Over Gorky
Film
By: Martin Mugar - 04/22/2012
“Without Gorky” a documentary about the family of Arshile Gorky made by his granddaughter Cosima Spender was shown this past Thursday at The Wasserman cinematheque at Brandeis to a large crowd mostly of Boston Armenians. Cosima was present and did a Q&A after the film.
Bascomb Lodge on Mount Greylock
Opens June 1 Season Schedule
Fine Arts
By: Peter4 Dudek - 04/23/2012
Bascom Lodge will open its 2012 season on Friday, June 1 and will offer breakfast, lunch, dinner and lodging, 7 days a week, until the last day of its season, on Sunday, October 21. There is also a full schedule of weekly events.
Edith Wharton's The Mount Opens May 5
Highlights of the 2012 season
Word
By: The Mount - 04/23/2012
This past January, Edith Wharton turned 150 and The Mount has been celebrating this important milestone all year long. That is why we are excited to announce our 2012 season, Edith Wharton: 21st Century Muse. We hope you will join us as we pay tribute to The Mount's remarkable creator with programming highlighting Wharton's life, work, and achievements. The Mount's opening day is May 5th.
Controversial Design By Maya Lin For Newport, RI
Park Memorial to Doris Duke Sparks Heated Debate
Architecture
By: Mark Favermann - 04/24/2012
The most famous memorial designer of our time, Maya Lin, was commissioned to create a place to celebrate the contributions of philanthropist Doris Duke in traditional Newport, RI. The Queen Anne Square project has brought criticism and upset to several prominent members of the Newport community. The controversy and tension among the old guard has shaken up the notion of what fits and does not fit in venerable Newport. Last December (2011), the Newport City Council approved the $3.6 million privately funded design. It will be completed by early summer.
Diane Keaton, Christopher Plummer and Zac Efron in Dog Movies
Hollywood Finds Dogs Irresistible
Film
By: Susan Hall - 04/24/2012
Apparently film producers perk up their ears when they hear the word 'dog' in a pitch, but dogs in films do not guarantee a good film. In one week I saw three dogs: My Dog Tulip, Darling Companion and The Lucky One. Or is that movies about dogs?
Berkshire International Film Festival 7th Season
Schedule of Events May 31 to June 3
Film
By: Kelley Vickery - 04/25/2012
The 7th Annual season of The Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) will celebrate this year with the latest in independent feature, documentary, short and family films. The festival runs from May 31 – June 3, 2012 in Great Barrington and June 1 – June 3rd in Pittsfield, MA and will be showcasing over 70 films in independent filmmaking.
Two Exhibits Open Aug 1 at ICA/Boston
Brazilian Os Gêmeos and Dianna Molzan Show New Work
Fine Arts
By: ICA - 04/25/2012
Two new exhibitions open Aug. 1 at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. The ICA is presenting the first solo U.S. museum exhibition of Brazilian street artists Os Gêmeos and work by Dianna Molzan who is creating an all new body of work for ICA exhibition
Cindy Sherman at MoMA
Girls Just Want to Have Fun
Photography
By: Charles Giuliano - 04/25/2012
The Cindy Sherman restrospective at MoMA is a must see knockout. It demonstrates why she is among the most successful and widely appreciated artists of her generation. While following the simple premise of photographing herself in a range of setting and personas there has been a remarkable ongoing evolution theough the work.
The Emotion of Design
Why Does the Best Design Viscerally Connect To Us?
Design
By: Mark Favermann - 04/26/2012
Why do we "like" even "love" certain objects? And others we do not? Is it somehow in our DNA? How did Apple (Steven Jobs) connect so well with our wants despite what our needs are? Our objects of desire strike emotional chords. It isn't just about aesthetics, but certainly that is a major aspect of what the resonance of desire and ownership are. Designers wrestle constantly with an element's functional form. Getting it just right has less to do with science than art. This is true of a structure, object or fashion statement.
PBS to Broadcast Tanglewood 75th Gala
All Star Concer to Air on August 10
Television
By: PBS - 04/26/2012
PBS announced today that the Tanglewood 75th anniversary gala concert, featuring many of the iconic artists identified with the fete, has been added to the line-up of the PBS Arts Summer Festival and will air nationally on Friday, August 10 at 9 p.m. ET as part of GREAT PERFORMANCES.
American Repertory Theatre 2012-2013 Season
World Premiere of Marie Antoinette
Theatre
By: Charles Giuliano - 04/27/2012
The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), under the Artistic Direction of Diane Paulus, announces the 2012/13 subscription season, which includes the previously announced world premiere of Marie Antoinette and a bold new staging of Pippin.
Hershey Felder Solos Gershwin and Bernstein
Arts Emerson April 28 to June 10
Theatre
By: Emerson - 04/27/2012
ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage presents Hershey Felder’s George Gershwin Alone. Hot on the heels of the Boston premiere of his Maestro: Leonard Bernstein, Felder will reprise his one-man George Gershwin show. Performances will take place May 30 – June 10, 2012 at the Paramount Center (559 Washington Street, in Boston’s Theatre District).
Handel and Haydn Society: Jubilant Coronations!
Soprano Teresa Wakim’s Triumphant Debut at Symphony Hall
Music
By: Nelida Nassar - 04/30/2012
The Handel and Haydn Society concluded their season with a program of King and Queen’s Coronations Music from Handel’s “The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, from Salomon” and “Coronation Anthem No. 1, Zadok the Priest,” Hayden’s “Symphony No. 85 La reine,” “Exsultate, Jubilate, K. 165” and “Mass in C Major, K. 317, Coronation” by Mozart. Maestro Harry Christophers received accolades for an exceptional season of direction and the silver-voiced soprano, Ms. Teresa Wakim, enjoyed a triumphant debut.
Tony Awards 2012 On Tap June 12
Tough Competition in Many Categories
Theatre
By: Charles Giuliano - 05/01/2012
When the awards are handed out will Nina Ariadne get what she deserves; a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role? Or will be be edged out by Stockard Channing for the role of a lifetime in Other Desert Cities. It is assumed to be a no brainer that Philip Seymour Hoffman will be Best Actor for “Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.” There is likely to be a lot of suspense during this year's Tony Awards ceremony.
A View from the Interior of Nazi Hell
Victor Klemperer’s Editor At Brandeis University
Word
By: George Abbott White - 05/02/2012
A life-long diarist, Jewish-born Professor Victor Klemperer documented the Nazi Regime from his hellish nightmare in the City of Dresden. His records of how one man and his family were humiliated and tortured by the Gestapo, how the very German language was distorted for Nazi use and the lies and degradation of an intensely evil regime are now historical evidence of what the Third Reich really was. In a lecture at Brandeis University, his former student Walter Nowojski told the story of finding and publishing Klemperer's voluminous writings. It took Nowojski 16 years, and it is a gift to civilization.
Peter Lipsitt at Boston Sculptors Gallery
Natured and Nurtured May 23 to June 24
Fine Arts
By: BSG - 05/04/2012
Peter Lipsitt is a founding member of the artist run Boston Sculptors Gallery. His latesr exhibition Natured and Nurtured explores the unique use of materials. Some include elements of wood prepared for him by "studio assistants" including beavers gnawing on sections of birch trees. His work is included in numerous public and private collections.
Kioi Sinfonietta Tokyo at Alice Tully Hall
Thierry Fischer Leads a Celebration of Cherry Blossoms
Music
By: Susan Hall - 05/04/2012
The Japanese group of fabulous musicians is debuting in the US as they raise money for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami.
New Media Art At Boston's Paramount Center
ArtsEmerson Presents Artist Created LED Windows
Fine Arts
By: ArtsEmerson - 05/08/2012
ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage announces a second round of curated programming for the Paramount LED Windows on the façade of 559 Washington Street. The old Arcade Building LED Wall, first programmed last fall, now features a new show of work by three contemporary artists.
WIlliamstown Theatre Festival Casting
Old and New Friends
Theatre
By: WTF - 05/11/2012
That opening night for the 2012 season, June 26, at the Williamstown Theatre Festival is inching ever closer. In her second season as artistic director Jenny Gersten is finalizing casting for a lively mix of classics and new works. Many WTF alumni like Blythe Danner and Brooks Ashmanskas are on board as well as last season's Lily Taylor. We are excited to see Tyne Daly penciled in. As a sidebar to the 62 Center for the first time Mass Moca is in the mix hosting a new work by rock star David Byrne.
2012 Drama Desk Awards
The Best of Broadway
Theatre
By: Awards - 05/13/2012
There is some overlap between the nominees for the Tony Awards and the list for the Drama Desk Awards. Bernadette Peters was passed over for Follies but appears here. Nina Ariadna a front runner for her role in Venus in Fur is snubbed. Chinglish, ignored by the Tonys is listed. During awards season it is interesting to compare and contrast.
Barrington Stage Company Announces 2012 Season
Fiddler, Arthur Miller, Mark St. Germain Headline
Theatre
By: Barrington - 01/26/2012
It would be difficult to match the success of the 2011 season of Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield. The company set records with its productions of Guys and Doll and a riveting new work by Mark. St. Germain, Best of Enemies. But in a press conference Julianne Boyd, artistic director of BSC, stated that she doesn't want to repeat herself. Opening with a musical, Fiddler on the Roof, Arthur Miller and a farce directed by John Rando, however, looks sure to run the table on the Main Stage. With St. Germain's new Dr. Ruth among the tricks up her sleeve for Stage 2.
Ear Say: Ana Popovic and Candye Kane.
Recent CDs By Women Blues Singers
Music
By: David Wilson - 01/31/2012
Here are two contemporary releases by women with whom the blues have had their way, Ana Popovic and Candye Kane.
Guggenheim Museum Schedule Through 2013
John Chamberlain: Choices Feb 24 to May 13
Fine Arts
By: Guggenheim - 02/14/2012
The sculptor John Chamberlain passed away recently. On February 24 the Guggenheim Museum opens a retrospective of his work John Chamberlain: Choices. It will remain on view through May 13. The New York museum has posted its schedule through May, 2013.
The Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival
Scheduled for June 30 to July 1
Music
By: SPAC - 02/20/2012
The Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival, one of the most celebrated and longest-running jazz events in the world, will celebrate its landmark 35th Anniversary at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, June 30 and July 1, with a dynamic lineup of more than 20 acclaimed artists and ensembles on two stages.
Asco at Williams College Museum of Art
Where’s Gronk?
Fine Arts
By: Charles Giuliano - 03/04/2012
After high school in East LA four Chicano friends- Harry Gamboa, Jr,, Gronk, Willie F. Herron III, and Patssi Valdez- hung out and made conceptual, graphic and performance art together. The initial reactions of their community were expressed by the Spanish work Asco- disgust, vomit, revulsion. They liked the word which stuck with them. It was used for the movement which was active, under the art world radar from 1972-1987. Now the ephemera and documents of that transient expression are the subject of a bi coastal project between the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Williams College Museum of Art.
David Henderson: A Brief History of Aviation
Berkshire Museum March 10 to May 13
Fine Arts
By: Charles Giuliano - 03/09/2012
The artist David Henderson was inspired by the light and strong, elaborate patterning of the fan vaults of late Gothic British cathedrals. A secularized version of this cathedral design is on view in a large, gallery filling installation at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield. We met with the Brooklyn based artist while he was working on final details prior to the opening.
Wayne Hopkins and Cathy Wysocki at Gallery 51
Strange Soup Exhibition Through April 22
Fine Arts
By: Charles Giuliano - 03/31/2012
Since their move to North Adams from New Mexico the work of Wayne Hopkins and Cathy Wysocki has been included in several group shows. The exhibition Strange Soup at Gallery 51 presents their emotionally charged, visceral work in depth. During the opening we spoke with Wysocki about the origin and meaning of her Lumplanders.
Vermont Open Studios May 26 and 27
20th Year of the Annual Event
Fine Arts
By: Vermont - 04/04/2012
Yellow signs will once again dot the Vermont landscape over Memorial Day Weekend, leading locals and tourists alike to the workspaces of 259 artists and craftspeople who will open their studios to the public for Vermont Open Studio Weekend's landmark 20th year.
Roaring Twenties at Ozawa Hall June 2
Presented by Close Encounters with Music
Music
By: Close Encounters - 04/05/2012
The cabaret beckons at Ozawa Hall Saturday, June 2, 6 pm as Close Encounters With Music ushers in the summer season in the Berkshires. In a performance that evokes the twenties of the last century—a time exemplified by Art Deco, Prohibition, the loosening of social restraints, Jazz, the Charleston and flappers—“Roaring Twenties” offers a panorama of composers and styles that defined and shaped the era: Gershwin, Kurt Weill, Alexander Zemlinsky, Hanns Eisler, Cole Porter, Poulenc, Schoenberg, and Erwin Schulhoff provide a bi-continental glimpse into a decade that still looms colorful, mythical and seductive in cultural history.
Barrington Stage Acquires Lt. John L. Truden V.F.W. Post
Renamed Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center
Theatre
By: Charles Giuliano - 04/20/2012
Barrington Stage Company was founded in 1995. In 2005, with seed money from the city, the company moved from rented facilities in Sheffield to a permanent home in Pittsfield. Three years later it transformed rented space in the nearby V.F.W. Post as a Second Stage. Now that building has been gifted and Renamed Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center. With no additional debt beyond renovation BSC has now completed its Pittsfield campus.
Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz
Reloading for a Tony Run
Theatre
By: Charles Giuliano - 04/24/2012
Other Desert Cities opened Off Broadway to rave reviews and awards. It opened on Broadway in November and was scheduled to end in early January. While numbers are off there are cast changes and retooling for the upcoming Tony nominations which should breathe new life in a production which is scheduled to transfer to LA in the fall.
Berkshire Theatre Group Auditions
Casting for Oliver Starts May 14
Theatre
By: BTG - 04/25/2012
Berkshire Theatre Group seeks child and adult actors, musicians, backstage crew, technical support, usher staff and parent volunteers to participate in its upcoming community production of the musical Oliver!, book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart, based on Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist. The production will be directed by Travis G. Daly.
American Rep to Host Post-Show Hootenannies
Songfest After Selected Performances of WOODY SEZ
Theatre
By: ART - 04/26/2012
In the spirit of composer/balladeer Woody Guthrie, as the nation celebrates the 100th anniversary of his birth, the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is hosting post-show hootenannies after select performances led by cast members and other local artists. The audience is invited to bring their own instruments and join in a free-form musical celebration in the Loeb Drama Center’s West Lobby and Patio, following selected performances.
Private Lives at Huntington Theatre
Anchors Season May 25 – June 24, 2012
Theatre
By: Huntington - 05/03/2012
The Huntington Theatre Company completes its 30th Anniversary Season , May 25 – June 24, 2012, with the perfect play for springtime: Lifetime Tony Award-winning playwright Noël Coward’s beloved sparkling comedy Private Lives. Tony Award-nominated Maria Aitken, director of the Huntington’s acclaimed productions of Educating Rita and the Olivier and Tony Award-winning Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps and director of the upcoming Betrayal (November 2012) helms.
Barrington Stage Company Updates
Coplete Season Listings
Theatre
By: Barrington - 05/05/2012
May 23 – June 10. LUNGS, by Duncan Macmillan. Directed by Aaron Posner. New England premiere. St. Germain Stage (formerly Stage 2) at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. An intimate drama about a young couple contemplating whether or not to have a child in a time of global anxiety. And that's not all.
Boston Philharmonic Plays Mahler Symphony No. 7 in E minor
Jordan Hall and Sanders Theatre
Music
By: Nelida Nassar - 05/07/2012
Mahler’s seventh symphony is the most challenging piece in the cycle of any conductor. It is an epic journey of darkness to overwhelming joyous affirmation. Maestro Zander conducted the Philharmonic Orchestra at both Jordan Hall and Sanders Theatre. With an enthusiastic orchestra, he achieved the Seventh’s nervousness and disquieting atmosphere, individual instruments’ dynamics, formal clarity, directness, and crisp orchestration textures confirming Schoenberg’s comments after hearing the Seventh: “Everything seemed so transparent.”
The Iconic Dreamer Maurice Sendak
An Homage to the Beloved Children's Book Author & Illustrator
People
By: Nelida Nassar - 05/08/2012
The beloved author and illustrator of children books, Maurice Sendak left us yesterday. Re-known for his book “Where the Wild Things Are” and his other fifty books, Mr. Sendak had the genius of provoking lavish fantasies and creating exotic landscapes through the power of imagination. Imagination is Sendak’s gift of genius to children and adults across America and the world.
Tanglewood 2012
Summer Schedule Released by BSO
Music
By: BSO - 11/17/2011
Tanglewood, one of the world’s most beloved music festivals and the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra located in the beautiful Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, celebrates its 75th anniversary season, June 22-September 2, with a spectacular lineup of musical guests and programs that spotlight Tanglewood’s rich tradition of presenting summertime concerts at their best since 1937.
Denise Markonish Part One
Mass MoCA Curator
People
By: Denise Markonish and Charles Giuliano - 12/15/2011
In May Mass MoCA curator, Denise Markonish, will present the result of a three year long survey of contemporary art in Canada. From some 400 studio visits she has selected roughly sixty artists. During an in depth dialogue we explored our common roots as alumni of Brandeis University and its troubled Rose Art Museum. In this first installment we explore her education and career as a young curator prior to joining the staff of Mass MoCA.
Denise Markonish Part Two
Projects for Mass MoCA
People
By: Denise Markonish and Charles Giuliano - 12/15/2011
The concept of Mass MoCA was initiated more than twenty years ago by Tom Krens then the director of the Williams College Museum of Art. When he departed for the Guggenheim Joe Thompson took over. The museum opened some eleven years ago with Laura Heon as chief curator and her associate Nato Thompson. Both have since parted. The team of curators Susan Cross and Denise Markonish accentuate Chapter Two of the museum's evolving history. When Markonish was hired the museum was in the midst of an ugly conflict over a later abandoned project by Christoph Buchel in the vast Building Five.
Denise Markonish Part Three
Curating a Survey of Canadian Art for Mass MoCA
People
By: Denise Markonish and Charles Giuliano - 12/16/2011
For the past three years Mass MoCA curator, Denise Markonish, has trekked across Canada making hundreds of studio visits. When not on the road she has researched exhibitions and catalogues. Few American curators and critics are as broadly informed on the vast and complex topic of contemporary art in Canada. It is a project she took on almost by default given the general lack of interest and commitment. In June the museum will exhibit the work of 64 artists in what should prove to be an eye opening and ground breaking overview. This is the third and final segment of a critical dialogue.
Shakespeare & Company 35th Season
Olympia Dukakis and John Douglas Thompson
Theatre
By: The Bard - 01/10/2012
For the 35th season of Shakespeare & Company there is a stunning contrast between the old- King Lear and the Tempest- and the new Satchmo at the Waldorf. Olympia Dukakis will play Prospero in The Tempest. In a play being written and developed by Wall Street Journal drama critic, Terry teachout, John Douglas Thompson returns to Lenox in a one man show focusing on jazz legend Louis Armstrong and his mobbed up manager Joe Glaser
Mark St.Germain to Premiere Dr. Ruth
A New Works Initiative for Barrington Stage Company
Theatre
By: Charles Giuliano - 01/27/2012
The playwright Mark St.Germain has a long relationship with Julianne Boyd and BSC. He is a board member and artistic associate. Now he is the first recipient of a New Work initiative and program which, this season, will see the world premiere of Dr. Ruth.
The Esplanade Vision Unveiled
Vision To Make Esplanade Best Park in The World
Architecture
By: Mark Favermann - 02/13/2012
It is where the Boston Pops play on July 4th each year. The 101 year old beautiful 2.5 mile linear waterside park hugging the Charles River has been in part loved, if not to death, then to decrepitude. It needs to be enhanced-- refreshed, refurbished and restored. With this in mind, a number of like-minded designers led by The Esplanade Association decided to do something about it. After 25 months and countless hours of research, design and meetings, the Esplanade 20/20 vision is finally unveiled.
Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC)
Announces 2012 Season
Opinion
By: SPAC - 02/13/2012
New York City Ballet (NYCB) will bring a dazzling, diverse repertory of 16 stunning ballets from its unparalleled repertory to its summer stage at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) July 10 - 21, including the July 14 World Premiere of a new ballet by NYCB dancer Justin Peck at the annual Ballet Gala. Other major highlights include the Saratoga premieres of new ballets by Christopher Wheeldon and Benjamin Millepied; Peter Martins’ dramatic, full-length production of Romeo + Juliet; Balanchine classics including Firebird, Symphony in C and Kammermusik No. 2 and first-ever Saratoga performances of Peter Martins’ The Waltz Project and Wheeldon’s DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse.
Williamstown Theatre Festival 2012
Oscar Wilde in Witness Protection
Theatre
By: WTF - 02/28/2012
Yes, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, as announced today, will open its season on the Main Stage with a perennially witty The Importance of Being Earnest. But no, this comedy will not play on the current mania for all things Downton Abbey. Rather, think Sopranos. Seems some Joisey boys are on the lam in the Berkshires. It will run head to head with Blythe Danner in a new work in the smaller Nikos Stage. The fun begins on June 26.
Boston Speakers Series at Symphony Hall
Bill Clinton Launches Program October 3
Opinion
By: Speakers - 03/30/2012
Like its inaugural season that sold out before the first lecture, The Boston Speakers Series sophomore season features some of the country’s most respected thinkers over seven Wednesday evenings, approximately once a month, beginning with President Bill Clinton in October.
Rock Drummer Levon Helm at 71
Performed at Mass MoCA's Solid Sound Festival
People
By: Charles Giuliano - 04/19/2012
Last summer Levon Helm fronted a big band delivering a two hour concert that anchored the Sunday afternoon of the weekend long Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA. Wilco joined Helm on stage to end the festival. The legendary drummer who died today was born on May 26, 1940. He was 71.
John Chamberlain Choices at the Guggenheim Museum
Crashed and Crushed as Art and Metaphor
Fine Arts
By: Charles Giuliano - 04/25/2012
There is an immediacy of impact. A violent visual assault that obviates thoughtful meditation as we went crashing and smashing down the spiral of the Guggenheim Museum careening off the smashing impact of a retrospective of polychromed crumpled metal sculptures by John Chamberlain.
Juilliard Presents Don Giovanni
Stephen Wadsworth at the Helm
Music
By: Susan Hall - 04/29/2012
The opera of all operas Don Giovanni is among other things the perfect vehicle to display up and coming talent. Stephen Wadsworth, a man of many hats who directed this production as the head of the Opera Studies department at the Juilliard School of Music.
Wagner Rings the Met
Live in HD Starts May 7
Music
By: Met - 05/02/2012
The mounting of Wagner's epic Ring Cycle by the Metropolitan Opera has provoked debate and controversy. Through global Live in HD broadcasts the controversial productions will be coming soon to a theatre near you. The cycle begins on May 7 with a screening of the Susan Froemke documentary Wagner's Dream.
Mark Dion's Phantoms of the Clark Expedition
NY's Explorer'c Club Exhibition with Clark Art Institute
Fine Arts
By: Clark - 05/01/2012
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute presents a new installation by artist Mark Dion, Phantoms of the Clark Expedition, reflecting on the history of exploration and on an expedition to North China that the Institute’s founder Sterling Clark undertook in 1908. On view May 9 to August 3, 2012, the installation consists of a series of dioramas and sculptures representing objects and specimens that would have been used or collected during expeditions that occurred in that era. The installation is being presented at The Explorers Club at 46 East 70thStreet in New York.
Turner Prize 2012 Shortlist Announced
Most Prestigious Fine Arts Award
Fine Arts
By: Tate - 05/01/2012
Tate Britain today announced the four artists who have been shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2012. The artists are Spartacus Chetwynd, Luke Fowler, Paul Noble and Elizabeth Price.
Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks at TCAN
Delightful 1960s Reset Thrills Natick Audience
Music
By: David Wilson - 05/02/2012
Dan first came to our attention during the mid ‘60s as the drummer and then guitarist /vocalist for the under rewarded though widely acknowledged Charlatans. The Lickettes, Roberta Donnay and Daria, tarted up as floozies but unmistakably accomplished Jazz vocalists on their own, offered their backup vocals, instrumental percussion, hand gesture accompaniments, and playful body language commentary.
Charles Giuliano Romanian Photo Exhibition
Festivalul International de Jazz Garana, Romania July 21-24
Photography
By: Charles Giuliano - 07/04/2011
Jazz on a Summer's Day. The German/ Romanian artist, Elisabeth Ochsenfeld, has curated an exhibition of vintage, black and white photographs of leading American musicians by Charles Giuliano. The portraits have been enlarged and laminated for outdoor display during the Festivalul International de Jazz Garana, Romania July 21-24. Following the event the images will be donated to a museum in Garana.
Jacob's Pillow Tickets Now on Sale
Highlights of 80th Anniversary Festival
Dance
By: Pillow - 04/27/2012
The 80th Anniversary Season includes an impressive blend of world premieres, U.S. premieres, live music, company debuts, legendary dance companies, emerging choreographers, and more than 300 ticketed and free events, talks, performances, classes, exhibits, and tours hosted at the Pillow’s 163-acre National Historic Landmark site.
Boston Symphony Orchestra
2011-2012 Schedule of Performances
Music
By: BSO - 05/06/2011
The Opening Night concert of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2011-12 season will give music fans an extraordinary opportunity to hear Anne-Sophie Mutter in a program of Mozart Violin Concertos Nos. 3 and 5, when she returns to the Symphony Hall stage on Friday, September 30, to make her first BSO appearances in the dual role of conductor and soloist.
Jacobs Pillow Announces 2012 Season
Highlights of 80th Year of World Class Dance
Dance
By: Pillow - 12/19/2011
January 2012 will kick off the momentous 80th Anniversary of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, a National Historic Landmark, National Medal of Arts honoree, and America’s longest-running international dance festival. Founded in 1933 by modern dance pioneer Ted Shawn as a retreat for his company of Men Dancers, Jacob’s Pillow has been a mecca of dance for eight decades.
Former ICA and Whitney Director David A. Ross
Part One of a Feisty Dialogue
Fine Arts
By: David Ross and Charles Giuliano - 11/18/2011
In 2001 David A. Ross, after a four year "honeymoon" was fired as the director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Prior to that he served as director of Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Since departing as a museum director Ross has been a chameleon after decades in the art world with more than nine lives. Today he performs as lead singer with the band Red. His day gig is running a graduate program for the School of Visual Arts in New York.
Clyfford Still Unfolds in the Rockies
A Stand Alone Museum for Still Opens in Denver
Fine Arts
By: Susan Hall - 11/18/2011
Ninety-four percent of Clyfford Still's output is now housed in a new museum in Denver. The hush hanging over his work has been broken and all the early excitement and praise he received from his peers and critics is proven correct in the paintings exhibited in this extraordinary viewing space.
David A. Ross Two
Critical Remarks on the MFA and Rose
Fine Arts
By: David Ross and Charles Giuliano - 11/19/2011
David Ross is less than impressed by the installation of the Museum of Fine Arts's new Linde Family Wing of Contemporary Art. He also expressed impatience with the lack of fundraising acumen by Carl Belz during his directorship of the Rose Art Museum. But Ted Stebbins of the MFA was a gentleman whom everyone loved.
David A. Ross Part Three
Hits and Misses of a Former Museum Director
Fine Arts
By: David Ross and Charles Giuliano - 11/22/2011
David A. Ross started a career in museums at 20 while still an undergraduate. He became curator of video art for the Everson Museum of Syracuse. His career as a museum director ended abruptly, at 53, in 2001 when he was fired just short of four years at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Currently he lives in Beacn, New York and commutes as chair of the MFA in Art Practice program at New York's School of Visual Arts.
David A. Ross Four
Edifice Complex of Mega Museums
Fine Arts
By: David Ross and Charles Giuliano - 11/25/2011
In this fourth and final installment David Ross discusses the phenomenon of museum expansions and the creation of global satellites by the Guggenheim. He applauds Adam Weinberg for moving the Whitney to the Meatmarket. Surprisingly, he says that as the Whitney's director he would have lacked the guts for such a bold decision.
Painting Marathon by James Aponovich: One
A Painting a Week for a Year Then a Show at Clark Gallery
People
By: James Aponovich and Charles Giuliano - 12/11/2011
James Aponovich is regarded as among the foremost American realist painters. He is in the midst of a conceptual project to finish a painting a week for a year. It was the subject of a broadcast on Chronicle this past week. In May the entire series of 52 paintings will be shown at Clark Gallery in Lincoln, Mass. This was an occasion to catch up with a superb artist and old friend.
Sneak Preview of the Met 2012-2013
The Met Opera Announces the New Season
Music
By: Susan Hall - 02/21/2012
While wonderful singing is planned some singers who haven't been popular at the Met are returning. Good news. Sondra Radvanovsky returns for seven performances as Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlo. Marina Poplyskaya is gone. Ferruccio Furlanetto returns as Philip and Dmitri Hvorostovsky will sing Rodrigo. This is so promising.
Tanzania: Part One
Kilimanjaro Foothills
Travel
By: Zeren Earls - 03/12/2012
Camping within the Masai's 45,000-acre game reserve that runs along Tanzania's and Kenya's shared border was an unforgettable experience. Here, below the impressive landscape of mountains, genuinely primitive people and animals share the boundless wilderness.
Tanzania: Part Two
Arusha and Tarangire National Park
Travel
By: Zeren Earls - 03/16/2012
Arusha, the major city in northeastern Tanzania, is base camp for most safaris in the region's famous game reserves and tribal communities. Tarangire National Park, named after the shallow river, which passes through it, attracts huge numbers of game sustained by the river, as well as an impressive number and diversity of birds.
Tanzania: Part Three
Olduvai Gorge and Serengeti National Park
Travel
By: Zeren Earls - 03/23/2012
Man's first footsteps were printed in Olduvai's volcanic ash. This weathered land extends to the Serengeti Plains, which with its multitude and diversity of wildlife against a spectacular African landscape is a feast for the eye.
Tanzania: Part Four
Ngorongoro Crater and Karatu
Travel
By: Zeren Earls - 03/29/2012
A volcanic bowl, Ngorongoro is a wildlife refuge, where over 20,000 animals live year-round. The Crater's floor of open grassland, dotted with animals big and small against a backdrop of mountains, is a sight to behold. Karatu is the major village in the Highlands, which provides fantastic views of the crater, along with an array of lodges for visitors.
Mad Jacks BBQ in Pittsfield
Launching the Barbecue Project
Food
By: The Pit Bulls - 05/11/2011
This is the launch of the Barbecue Project. The mandate is to seek out, taste, and report on ever restaurant and pit in the Berkshires. Of which there are now quite a few. We will focus on ribs and pulled pork as well as evaluate sides and the all important variety of sauces. We got off to a great start with Mad Jacks in Pittsfield. With a promise to return to JackJack's Soul Food, also in Pittsfield, when Terrell serves barbecue on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
JackJack’s Soul Food in Pittsfield
Searching for Elusive Barbecue
Food
By: The Pit Bulls - 08/04/2011
Both together and separately the Pitt Bulls (Cisco and Pancho) have visited JackJack's Soul Food in Pittsfield. The one man operation of chef Terrell Ortiz has demonstrated flashes of brilliance and inspiration. But without extra help for prep a general lack of consistency. The full menu has not been available during our several visits. This is the second in an ongoing series surveying barbecue and soul food in the Berkshires.
Barbecue in the Berkshires
Asian Ribs at Flavours in Pittsfield
Food
By: Pit Bulls - 08/22/2011
Flavours, a basement restaurant at 75 North Street in Pittsfield is not what comes to mind when seeking out neighborhood rib joints. It is just an aspect of the diverse menu of the Malaysian born chef Sabrina Tan. Not just in the Berkshires, however, her Asian style barbecue is in a class by itself.
99 in Pittsfield
Not Exactly a Rib Joint
Food
By: Pit Bulls - 09/28/2011
For a chain the barbecue at 99 was surprisingly good. The full rack of St. Louis style rubs was cooked perfectly. But finished with a generic barbecue sauce. No matter how they are done the steak tips at 99 are always terrific.
Bounti Fare BBQ
All You Can Eat in Adams
Food
By: Pit Bulls - 09/30/2011
Pancho took a pass on the BBQ buffet at Bounti Fare in Adams. He didn't miss much. If you are looking for a bargain and tons of food then check it out. But if you really deeply care about BBQ, well, that's another matter.
La Fogata in Pittsfield
Miguel Gomez Serves the Taste of Colombia
Food
By: Pit Bulls - 11/12/2011
For those seeking authentic Colombian cuisine La Fogata in Pittsfield has become an essential destination. It is readily accessible on a main route into the downtown. It has been a favorite restaurant of Pancho's for several years. We compared notes of multiple visits to give an in depth report on the full range of an extensive menu. The chef and owner Miguel Gomez brings family food of the other to the starving Berkshires.
Tex Mex in Lenox
Too Far North of the Border
Food
By: Pit Bulls - 12/04/2011
This vast restaurant on the main drag between Pittsfield and Lenox changes hands and food themes every couple of years. Tex Mex attracts drive by tourists during high season but is on life support during the winter months. In order to survive restaurants must attract a local audience to sustain year round. Significantly, during our disappointing visit the cavernous space was virtually empty.
Panchos Mexican Restaurant in Pittsfield
Numbingly Mediocre Tex Mex
Food
By: Pit Bulls - 01/19/2012
In the heart of Pittsfield driving or walking by Panchos Mexican Restaurant looks lively and enticing for those hungry for flavorful, affordable ethnic food. The cuisine however did not match the colorful decor.
Desperados in North Adams
Lunch with Los Amigos
Food
By: Pit Bulls - 01/21/2012
Hands down, Desperados is the best Mexican restaurant in North Adams. Since it opened a year or so ago it has been a popular destination with a combo of affordable, not very spicy food, in a tight space that makes for noisy evenings.
Easy Ersatz Paella
Spanish Saffron and Seafood Essential
Food
By: Cisco - 02/25/2012
For a recent dinner party we made a deep dish version of seafood paella. While not exactly like what we have enjoyed in Spain it was a great success. It is easy and quick to prepare. But not cheap as it calls for the essential ingredient saffron. Definitely do try this at home.
Mission Bar and Tapas
A Hot Spot in Pittsfield
Food
By: Pit Bulls - 02/04/2012
The Mission Bar and Tapas in Pittsfield has become a popular destination for live music and light dining. It will participate in 10x10 on North Street from February 16 to 26. Recently the Pit Bulls stopped by for lunch.
Coyote Flaco in Williamstown
Mexican Food for a Winter Night
Food
By: Pit Bulls - 02/14/2012
On Route 7 between Williamstown and Pittsfield Coyote Flaco is one of several restaurants clustered not far from Williamstown. It is one of seven restaurants in a chain. Overall the food is good for the price. On a busy Saturday night we were lucky to be seated promptly without a reservation.
Sweet Cheeks Serves Designer Barbecue
Top Chef Finalist Tiffani Faison Opens Hot Boston Eatery
Food
By: Pit Bulls - 03/22/2012
In Sweet Cheeks Boston touts a contender for first team, All American Barbecue. At a price. This is an upscale designer rib joint pretending to have rustic charm in a densely seated noisy ambiance. The meat is awesome but some of the sides just suck big time. Former Top Chef finalist Tiffani Faison needs to step up her game.
