 Next Article | Previous Article | |
| Back |
by Seth Rogovoy
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Aug. 8, 1996 -- Richie Havens, Dave Van Ronk and Bill Staines, along with top regional folk artists, will be performing at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield in the coming months, as part of a new lineup in the Birch Tree Music series.
Folk-blues artist Van Ronk, the grizzly-voiced friend of Bob Dylan's who is known as "folk music's mayor of Greenwich Village," will kick off the '96-'97 series in the cafeteria at BCC this Friday, Aug. 9, at 8. All other shows in the series will be held in the small theater in room K111.
Van Ronk will be followed on Sept. 13 by singer-songwriter Bill Staines, making a return appearance to the Birch Tree series. Folk singer Richie Havens, best known for his performance at the original Woodstock festival and his versions of Bob Dylan songs and the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun," will perform on Sept. 19.
The monthly series will continue with a performer in October to be announced, followed by Northampton singer-songwriter Erica Wheeler on Nov. 15. There will also be a holiday show on Dec. 20.
Continuing into 1997, Birch Tree will bring Betty and the Baby Boomers to BCC on Jan. 17, followed by Kim Trusty on Feb. 21. Berkshire folk trio Wintergreen will perform on March 21, with Northampton singer-songwriter Dana Robinson celebrating the release of his new CD on April 18. The Bennington, Vt.-based, nationally- renowned, husband-and-wife folk duo Steve Gillette and Cindy Mangsen will conclude Birch Tree's spring 1997 series on May 16.
It will be a full-throttle plunge into soft-rock nostalgia this Sunday, Aug. 11, when '70s chartbusters Three Dog Night and America go back-to-back at the Night Shift Cafe in North Adams at 2:30 in the first concert of that venue's summertime "Courtyard Series" at Mass MoCA. The two groups together will be able to draw on a repertoire of over two dozen Top 20 hits, including such gems as Three Dog's "Joy To the World," "Black and White," "Shambala" and "The Show Must Go On" and America's "Tin Man," "A Horse With No Name," "Sister Golden Hair" and "Lonely People."
America today includes original members Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell. The third founding member, Dan Peek, left the group in 1977 when he became a born-again Christian. Three Dog Night, which first popularized songs by then-unknowns such as Randy Newman, Laura Nyro, Elton John and Harry Nilsson, also sports two of its original three vocalists, Cory Wells and Danny Hutton.
So many choices, so little time: While folk-blues fans will be at BCC listening to Dave Van Ronk tomorrow night, country fans will be flocking to Green Mountain Race Track in Pownal, Vt., to catch Waylon Jennings and Jessie Colter, and contemporary gospel lovers will be checking out CeCe Winans at the National Music Center in Lenox. Others will be on their way to Newport, R.I., for the kickoff of the three-day Ben and Jerry's Folk Festival, featuring the likes of Joan Armatrading, John Hiatt, Suzanne Vega, Ani DiFranco, Indigo Girls, Bruce Cockburn, Michelle Shocked, John Gorka and Patty Larkin, among others....
Fresh from her triumphant Main Stage performance at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival a few weeks back, hometown hero Vikki True headlines at St. Andrew's Chapel in the Town of Washington, in front of Bucksteep Manor, this Sunday, Aug. 11, at 4. Call (413) 623-5438 for more info....
| Next Article | Previous Article | |
| Back |
