Berkshires 1998: The year in music
by Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Dec. 18, 1998) -- From the vantage point of one year ago, things looked promising for pop music in the Berkshires. In Pittsfield, a newly-elected city administration was thought to be in favor of supporting efforts to revitalize downtown nightlife, which boded well for the downtown nightclub The Studio. In Lenox, the National Music Foundation was coming off its first modestly successful year in terms of public programming. Elsewhere in the county, music series at smaller venues seemed to be sprouting like crocuses in the springtime. It was enough to make a fan believe that the cultural Berkshires were finally getting wise to the potential audience for pop music right here in the county.

The promise, as it turned out, failed to be delivered. No sooner did The Studio rev up last winter with a series of shows featuring the likes of The Band's Levon Helm, Buckwheat Zydeco, Irish rockers Black 47, folk-rock faves The Nields and 10,000 Maniacs, than did the city strike a deal with a local bank to demolish the old England Bros. building in which The Studio was housed. Thus were dashed any short-term hopes for a burgeoning, downtown music scene, to say nothing of Mort Cooperman's long-term plans to base a multi-media empire of sorts, featuring interactive and high-definition TV technology, at The Studio. The wrecking ball spelled the end, at least for the foreseeable future, of live music in downtown Pittsfield, which instead will get one new bank building and in return another empty one.

In terms of sheer numbers of performances, the National Music Center enjoyed a banner year, starting with the Berkshire Music Festival it hosted last May, featuring headliner Nanci Griffith, and continuing through its summer season of shows, which boasted such marquee names as Wynton Marsalis, Sonny Rollins, Travis Tritt and David Grisman.

The problem, as often is the case at the foundation, was that the series didn't make sense programatically. If it attempted to reflect the diversity of American music, it was a lopsided reflection lacking curatorial vision and focus. If that was not the intention, then it was not clear what was -- the foundation was unusually silent about just what its series set out to be, an odd fault for an institution that is supposed to help preserve and perpetuate what's best about American music.

Small efforts made to rectify the problem -- such as a new-artist series and a tribute to the Music Inn -- seemed to sputter out as soon as they were launched, and the foundation, at least from the outside, continues to lurch haphazardly from one event to the other.

Over at Tanglewood, the pop offerings were minimal, consisting only of a Ray Charles show on Independence Day and a deliriously-rocking Bonnie Raitt, joined by her old pal Jackson Browne, in late August. The annual Labor Day weekend jazz festival at Tanglewood continues to be a highlight of the musical year, with dynamic performances turned in by saxophonist Joe Lovano, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, vocalist Cassandra Wilson and that venerable warhorse of classic pop, Tony Bennett.

Otherwise, some of the best music continued to take place off-the-beaten-track. The Dream Away Lodge in Becket reopened under new management this summer, and hosted one of the most memorable musical evenings of the year in an August show featuring North Carolina folk-rock ensemble Milagro Saints and the Berkshires' own Robby Baier.

The Milagro Saints had been up to the Berkshires earlier in the summer, when they kicked off the Berkshire Mountain Music Festival at Noppet Hill Farm in Lanesboro in June. In spite of the efforts of some put the kibosh on it, the event -- which featured dozens of nationally-known acts on the burgeoning groove scene, as well as marquee names including Los Lobos, Loudon Wainwright III and the Meters -- went on as scheduled, but was plagued by one of the worst three-day rainfalls in recorded history.

One month later, however, the sun shone on the annual Noppet Hill Bluegrass Festival. In its third year, the festival, which featured top bluegrass performers including the Nashville Bluegrass Band, the Del McCoury Band and the Warrior River Boys, continues to draw growing crowds of fans from the thriving summer bluegrass circuit, many whom camp out for the duration on the gorgeous hillside at Steele's Farm.

Earlier in the year, the Clark Art Institute hosted its annual winter music series. Last March the theme was world-folk, and audiences enjoyed the diverse sampling of Celtic, African, Appalachian and Klezmer ensembles presented at the Clark. The Berkshire Museum also presented a series of concerts spread out from winter through spring, with performers from all over the musical map, including jazz, gospel, new-folk and Klezmer.

Some of the best music to be heard all summer was at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Becket. Several performances featured live jazz, most notably a dynamic collaboration between choreographer Dianne McIntyre and avant-jazz artist Lester Bowie and his Brass Fantasy ensemble. The Zaccho Dance Theatre's "Invisible Wings" was also infused with a potpourri of live music from the African-American tradition.

Finally, the music was the only memorable aspect of Dionne Warwick's one-woman show at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in October. Unfortunately, listeners had to sit for three hours while Warwick blathered on about nothing in particular. Fortunately, Warwick's ramblings were punctuated by some lively renditions of her greatest hits, so the evening wasn't a total loss.

Here's to a better 1999!

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[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Dec. 18, 1998. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1998. All rights reserved.]