Cabin Fever Cure: Winter 2000 Concert Preview
by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Jan. 23, 1999) - Are you starting to get a little antsy? Have snow and freezing temperatures got you down? There's no better cure for cabin fever than getting out and joining the crowd at a concert or hitting the dance floor at a nightclub with a live band infusing the room with electric energy and heat.

The problem, of course, is that winter tends to be a down time in the club and concert business. Fortunately, a few innovative presenters have begun thinking outside the box and are specifically programming events in the winter to take advantage of what has typically been a famine situation. Thus, concertgoers will have plenty of chances in the next few weeks and months to catch some good shows in and around the Berkshires.

Just as the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams has transformed the summer cultural landscape with its eclectic menu of performance-based art, so too has Mass MoCA made winter seem a lot more lively around here. Last weekend the cultural laboratory kicked off the season with the hot Cape Verdean sounds of Fantcha. Tomorrow night at 7:30, MoCA keeps things moving with "Poetry and Motion," a unique event featuring spoken-word artist Everton Sylvester with his combo, Searching for Banjo, and choreographer Andrea Woods, who will perform two original dances, including a tribute to female blues singers.

In his original "dub poetry," alternately humorous, cutting, and racy, the Jamaican-born Sylvester meditates on relationships, love and the immigrant experience. A former high school teacher, optician and New York City cab driver, as well as the lead poet of the Brooklyn Funk Essentials, Sylvester was a 1993 James Michener Fellow. He recently appeared on the lead track of avant-klezmer composer Frank London's recording, "Shekhina."

Other events coming to MoCA include another in its series of silent films accompanied by live music on Feb. 19 at 3, when the Stuntmen will perform their original score to James M. Barrie's "Peter Pan." MoCA's dance party series continues on Feb. 26 with Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys. Playing the wildly popular and infectious, accordion-driven dance rhythms of Southern Louisiana, Ledet's ensemble will cap an evening that begins at 5:30 with the spicy hot dinner recipes of MoCA's own "queen of hot," Jennifer Trainer.

Zydeco fans take note: that February weekend will see not one but two zydeco concerts in Northern Berkshire, the other taking place on Sunday, Feb. 27, when Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas perform for free at Williams College's Chapin Hall in Williamstown. The two events are unrelated, so depending on your point of view this is either an extremely unfortunate case of bad planning or a serendipitous bit of thematic programming waiting to happen. And if you live in South County, take heart: Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas will perform at Club Helsinki in Great Barrington on March 2 at 8:30; see below for more information.

Dancing at MoCA continues on March 11 at 7:30 when the Gerard Carelli Orchestra will provide the soundtrack for an evening of ballroom dancing, with instruction arranged by Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. On April 9, at 2, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, led by Wynton Marsalis, performs a program called "For Dancers Only" as part of Northern Berkshire's "JazzTown" programming. For more information on Mass MoCA events call 662-2111.

Other "JazzTown" events include a concert on April 7 by the Boyer Brothers, a gospel group, at St. John's Church in Williamstown at 6:30. Later that night, at 9, the Billy Taylor Trio with vocalist Sheila Jordan will hold forth at Williams College's Chapin Hall, in a concert to be taped for future broadcast on National Public Radio. The Tom Harrell Quintet will appear in Chapin Hall at 9:30 on April 8, and various alumni ensembles will perform throughout the weekend at on- and off-campus venues. For more JazzTown details call 458-9077.

Elsewhere in North County, the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, which paved the way for wintertime programming with its annual winter music series begun four years ago, presents modern Irish folk sounds this winter in its "Celtic Music for the Millennium" series, which continues next Saturday, Feb. 5, with fiddler Kevin Burke and guitar/fiddle duo Ged Foley and Sandy Jones, at 8, followed by progressive Irish ensembles Anam on March 11 and Kila on March 25. The Clark concerts typically sell out ahead of time, so be sure to call 458-2302, ext. 324, and reserve tickets far in advance.

There are a few events of note headed for Pittsfield, where the Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum are presenting a concert series including free performances by jazz vocalist Laurel Masse, formerly of the Manhattan Transfer (Feb. 14), jazz pianist Jim Argiro (March 6), and jazz-rocker Mark Morris (April 10).

Also in Pittsfield, on Sunday, Feb. 20, at 7, the Crowne Plaza Hotel will be the site of what Galaxy Entertainment is calling the "first" Pittsfield FolkFest, featuring Jonathan Edwards, best known for his 1971 Top 5 hit "Sunshine," with support from two of the Berkshires' best, Bernice Lewis and Robby Baier.

Down in Great Barrington, the Berkshire's only real jazz bar at the Castle Street Café continues to present live music several nights a week this winter. The Mike Musillani Trio performs tonight and the Jay Messer Trio plays tomorrow night; both groups are led by guitarists.

In Stockbridge, the Lion's Den hosts performers seven nights a week with no cover charge. Tom Savoy performs tonight, the Reformers play tomorrow night, and the Randy Kaye Trio brings a rare bit of jazz to the Den this Sunday night at 8. A highlight of the Den's schedule in February is a reunion of the much-beloved Berkshire R&B/swing outfit the Bluestars, featuring Charlie Tokarz, Steve Ide, Rob Putnam and Billy Voiers. These and other veterans of the Berkshire scene will regroup and see if the sparks still fly on Friday, Feb. 11.

As is too often the case with local venues, it's hard to get accurate, timely information regarding what's happening at Club Helsinki in Great Barrington, which is doubly unfortunate because this nightclub has been presenting some great, Iron Horse-style performers. We can report, however, that the gospel-soul group the Holmes Brothers will be there tomorrow night at 9, and blues diva Toni Lynn Washington will come for a two-night stay on Feb. 11-12.

The club is introducing a new series of Thursday night shows, with reggae from Mentos and the New Horizon on Feb. 3, Gruvis Malt's R&B/funk on Feb. 10, Playscape's funk on Feb. 17, and Jim K and Company's blues on Feb. 24. Look for the aforementioned Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas on March 2, and other weekend headliners, including Larry Baeder's blues-funk trio, with drummer Horatio "El Negro" Hernandez, on Feb. 26. Tickets for the club's shows tend to sell out, so reserve in advance by calling 528-3394.

Venues to the east and west of the Berkshires are offering an equally enticing array of performers over the next few months. The Troy (N.Y.) Savings Bank Music Hall heats up the winter music season with the Afro-Cuban jazz stylings of trumpeter Arturo Sandoval on Feb. 4 at 8, followed by the elaborate vocal harmonies of South Africa's Ladysmith Black Mambazo, on Feb. 19 at 8. Jazz violinist Regina Carter brings her quintet to Troy on Feb. 25 at 8, followed by jazz guitarist Pat Metheny's trio on March 3 and folk-rocker Gordon Lightfoot on March 5.

Jazz pianist/vocalist Diana Krall brings her trio to Troy on March 31 at 8, followed by venerable Appalachian guitarist Doc Watson and folk/bluegrass duo Tony Rice and Norman Blake on April 1 at 8. Mick Moloney's Irish Music and Dance Celebration, with fiddler Kevin Burke and Greenfire, are at Troy on April 9 at 3. African-American a capella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock perform on April 15 at 8, and David Grisman brings his jazz/bluegrass quintet to Troy on April 22 at 8. Jazz saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins returns to Troy on April 29 at 8.

Merl Saunders brings his funk-jazz duo to the Van Dyck in Schenectady, N.Y., tonight for two shows at 7 and 9:30. Coming soon to the Van Dyck are folksinger Tom Rush (Feb. 4), blues guitarist/vocalist Geoff Muldaur (Feb. 11), the Cindy Blackman Quartet (Feb. 12), folksinger Richie Havens (Feb. 25), blues guitarist John Hammond Jr. (March 9-10), jazz mouth harpist Toots Thielemans and pianist Kenny Werner (March 11), and the Clancy Brothers (March 25).

"Weird" Al Yankovic performs his rock 'n' roll parodies at the Palace Theater in Albany on Feb. 4, while the Backstreet Boys stop by for a two-night stint at the Pepsi Arena on Feb. 14-15. Teen-pop sensation Britney Spears follows the Boys into the Pepsi on March 27.

Over in Northampton, highlights of the upcoming schedule at the Iron Horse Music Hall include singer-songwriters James McMurtry (Feb 1), Jill Sobule (Feb. 3), Andy Stochansky (Feb. 8), Suzanne Vega (Feb. 24), and The Nields (Feb. 26). Reggae pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry will be at Pearl Street on Feb. 13, followed by alternative-country rockers the Cowboy Junkies on March 3.

Among those scheduled to appear at the Calvin Theater in Northampton are the Bacon Brothers and Jeffrey Gaines (Feb. 12), the Smothers Brothers (Feb. 25), jam-rock group Moe (Feb. 26), the Pat Metheny Trio (March 4), Gordon Lightfoot (March 10), and a triple-bill of outlaw country talent, featuring Guy Clark, Nanci Griffith and Rodney Crowell (March 12). The eternally youthful pop sensation Tom Jones is at the Calvin on March 17.

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[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Jan. 28, 2000. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2000. All rights reserved.]