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by Seth Rogovoy
WILLIAMSTOWN -- May 3, 1996
With the announcement earlier this week of a 15-concert series at the National Music Foundation's Berkshire Performing Arts Theatre in Lenox featuring such acts as Paul Anka, Jose Feliciano, Johnny Rivers and Bela Fleck, coupled with the promise of a summer-long series of indoor and outdoor shows at the Night Shift Cafe in North Adams, plus the usual array of pop concerts at Tanglewood and the annual folk and bluegrass festivals that pepper the region -- to say nothing of Lollapalooza coming to nearby Pownal, Vt., which looks as good as done according to insiders -- the summer of '96 is shaping up as a banner season for pop fans in the region.
This comes as good news to those fans who were virtually shut out of the arena, so to speak, for the last two years while the National Music Center got its act together. Now with that venue back in the running -- albeit on a somewhat scaled-back level compared to its heyday in the early-'90s -- and the Night Shift talking about a series of courtyard concerts, it looks like concertgoers will have a full plate from which to choose without having to travel to the Saratoga (N.Y.) Performing Arts Center or Great Woods in Mansfield.
And in addition to the already announced Noppet Hill Bluegrass Festival in Lanesboro on July 26-28, the debut effort at Steele Farm featuring the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Bob Paisley and Southern Grass, the Warrior River Boys and a host of others, Winterhawk and Falcon Ridge -- both located just over the border in New York State yet both claiming "the Berkshires" as their locations -- recently announced the lineups for this summer's festivals.
The Winterhawk Bluegrass Family Festival will take place once again at the Rothvoss Farm in Ancramdale, N.Y., on July 18-July 21. Winterhawk will present such bluegrass greats as Riders In the Sky, Sam Bush, David Grisman, John Hartford, Peter Rowan, Jerry Douglas, the Seldom Scene, Del McCoury, the Austin Lounge Lizards, Robin and Linda Williams and Ralph Stanley. Winterhawk also includes camping, workshops and children's activities. Call (513) 390-6211 for more information, or check out Winterhawk's Web page
Main stage artists at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, on July 26-28 at the Long Hill Farm in Hillsdale, N.Y., will include Greg Brown, John Gorka, Jonathan Edwards, Patty Larkin, Christine Lavin (who is at the Empire Center at the Egg in Albany tomorrow night at 8), The Nields, Martin Sexton, Pete and Maura Kennedy and Vance Gilbert.
The Berkshires proper will be represented at Falcon Ridge this year with two local performers. South County's Roger the Jester will be on hand throughout the weekend, as will Vikki True and the Sweet Sisters of Mercy. In a survey of nearly 1,000 festival attendees last summer, True and her group were named the "Number One Most Wanted Artist of the 1995 Falcon Ridge New Artist Showcase." Falcon Ridge also includes camping, workshops, folk dancing and children's activities. For more information call (860) 350-7472 or E-mail inquiries to FalcRidge@aol.com.
Northampton singer-songwriter Lynn Saner has been at Derek Studios in Dalton recently recording her next album, "Helium Wings," with producer Adam Rothberg, a native of Pittsfield and member of the Big Waagh Scratch Band whose production credits include Dar Williams and Bernice Lewis among others. A preview of three tracks off the upcoming CD suggest that Saner could be the biggest thing to hit the new-folk scene since Jonatha Brooke and The Story. Catch Saner Tuesday night at 8 and Wednesday at noon at North Adams State College.
"Ruby Shoes," Louise Taylor's new CD on Signature Sounds, features a dozen gorgeously recorded new songs by the Vermont singer-songwriter. Produced by Windham Hill Records' founder William Ackerman, the album suggests that Taylor is a cross between Nanci Griffith and The Story. She uses her bluesy, somewhat country-ish voice in the jazzy manner of Jonatha Brooke, on mostly acoustic, art-folk arrangements of songs about family, home and people she has known and loved. She is also a dynamic guitarist, but ultimately it's her seductive, sensuous vocals that command a listener's attention. Taylor warms up the crowd for Ellis Paul at the Iron Horse tomorrow night at 7.
Anyone who missed them opening for Mary Chapin Carpenter last summer at Tanglewood should check out The Mavericks at John M. Greene Hall at Smith College in Northampton on Tuesday night.
The "Doc" who Mort Cooperman referred to in his touchingly affectionate introduction of his friend Dr. John at the Night Shift Cafe last Friday night was the late Doc Pomus, the great R&B songwriter who penned such hits as "Young Blood," "Save the Last Dance For Me" and "This Magic Moment" for groups like the Coasters and the Drifters (who, incidentally, will perform next Friday night at the Night Shift). It was their mutual pal Pomus who introduced Mac Rebennack and Cooperman, and the two were overheard reminiscing and swapping stories about their salty old friend before the show.
Attention vocalists: the rock band Genesis has announced that they will finally hold auditions to replace lead singer and founding member Peter Gabriel, who left the English progressive- rock group in 1975. For the last 20 years, as it turns out, drummer Phil Collins has merely been "temping" as singer, according to a press release issued by the group's label, Atlantic Records. With Collins leaving to pursue other projects, including his successful solo career, the group now consists of Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks. According to Rutherford, an album in the works "will be much heavier and darker" without Collins' input. Maybe someone ought to give him Peter Gabriel's phone number.
(This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on May 3, 1996. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1996. All rights reserved.)
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