Reliving a decade's worth of concerts

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., April 24, 1998) -- A recent afternoon spent cleaning my office unintentionally led to a wholesale reorganization of my filing system. In the process of combing through old notes and articles, I revisited dozens of old concerts and interviews conducted for the Eagle over the past 10 years, during which time I've been your loyal correspondent, reporting on doings in popular music in and around the Berkshires.

I bring this up not as an exercise in self-congratulation, but in the realization that what I found in my files is very much a reflection of what a music fan in the Berkshires might have experienced over the past decade.

Without even considering concerts that took place just a short drive in either direction in the Capitol Region or Northampton, the list of performers that have been in the Berkshires proper over the last ten years is pretty impressive, giving the lie to those who insist that the Berkshires are a backwater when it comes to live music.

At the Berkshire Performing Arts Center in Lenox alone, an intrepid fan could have caught Phish, Cheap Trick, Peter Frampton, Hall and Oates, Taj Mahal, Leon Redbone, Richard Thompson, Sophie B. Hawkins, Chick Corea, David Bromberg, Buckwheat Zydeco, Bill Monroe, Jackson Browne, Laura Nyro, Gordon Lightfoot, John Hiatt, Melissa Etheridge, Tom Tom Club, Laurie Anderson, Jerry Seinfeld, Joan Armatrading, Buddy Guy, Shawn Colvin, Lucinda Williams, Los Lobos (coming to the Berkshire Mountain Music Festival in Lanesboro, June 12-14), Karla Bonoff, Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris, Poco, Bela Fleck, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, George Carlin, They Might Be Giants (coming to Williams College on May 9), Robert Fripp and Debbie Gibson. Those that stand out in memory include two by David Byrne, Fishbone's wild antics, and John McLaughlin's incredibly inspired guitar improvisations. Those that don't ever need repeating include Kenny Rogers, Jose Feliciano, Crosby and Nash and Meat Loaf.

In the last 10 years, Tanglewood has featured Anita Baker, Bob Dylan, Diana Ross, Natalie Cole, Neil Young, Warren Zevon, Steve Winwood, the Moody Blues, Crosby Stills and Nash, Whitney Houston, Joan Baez, Indigo Girls, Judy Collins, Ani DiFranco, Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lyle Lovett, Peter, Paul and Mary, Nanci Griffith (coming to the National Music Center on May 2), Bonnie Raitt (at Tanglewood again on Aug. 24), Mary Chapin Carpenter, B.B King, J. Geils Band, Liza Minnelli, and of course the nearly-perennial James Taylor.

In recent years, the Night Shift Cafe in North Adams and The Studio in Pittsfield have presented The Band, Black 47, Marshall Tucker, Little Feat and Blue Oyster Cult several times, as well as shows by the Fabulous Thunderbirds, James Cotton, Ani DiFranco, the Nields (at the Studio on May 1), Clarence Clemons, JGB, Jefferson Starship, Willie Nelson, Max Creek, America and Kansas (reportedly coming to Butternut Basin in Great Barrington the weekend of July 10), Three Dog Night, Bruce Cockburn, Arlo Guthrie, Delbert McClinton and the Roches (Suzzy Roche is at the Berkshire Museum on May 16).

It seems like every couple of years a new folk-music series crops up somewhere in the county, and over the years we've seen shows by all the top names in contemporary folk, including Patty Larkin, John Gorka, Bill Morrissey, Ellis Paul, The Story, Greg Brown, Cheryl Wheeler, Fred Koller, Brooks Williams and Jim Infantino (who returns to North Adams State College tomorrow night at 9). Most of those plus virtually everyone on anyone's list of top folkies has probably appeared at the annual Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in nearby Hillsdale, N.Y.

While area colleges don't always promote their shows off-campus, over the years we've caught college shows by Natalie Merchant, Luscious Jackson, the Smithereens, 3rd Bass, David Broza, Firehose, Dar Williams and A Tribe Called Quest. (Catch Buffalo Tom at North Adams State College next Thursday night.)

Lollapalooza '96 in nearby Pownal, Vt., packed nearly a summer's worth of acts into one day-long show, featuring Metallica, Soundgarden, the Ramones, Screaming Trees, Psychotica, Cornershop, Ben Folds Five, Girls Against Boys and several other acts. Lollapalooza's stock has fallen so hard in recent times that it was recently announced that there won't be a Lollapalooza tour this summer. Bring on the Lilith Fair!

Jazz greats old and new at Tanglewood and elsewhere have included McCoy Tyner, Sonny Rollins, Cecil Taylor, Marian McPartland, Joe Williams, Dave Brubeck, Joshua Redman, Wynton Marsalis, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Mel Torme, Christian McBride, Joe Lovano, T.S. Monk, Christopher Hollyday, John Pizzarelli, Abdullah Ibrahim, Ahmad Jamal, Craig Harris, Abbey Lincoln, Cassandra Wilson, Mark Whitfield, Shirley Horn and Betty Carter.

Assorted other acts at various venues and festivals in the region have included Four Men and a Dog, Kitty Wells, Don McLean, Alison Krauss, Rory Block, Northern Lights, Peter Rowan, Tiny Tim, Bim Skala Bim, the Wailers and other top reggae acts.

This list is by no means intended to be complete. (My files aren't that well-organized!) Rather, it is just to suggest that the Berkshires have a history of hosting top acts. When you combine this with what's available just an hour's drive in any direction, almost every kind of act is accessible. And it's been my great pleasure all these years to interview, write about and review so many of them. Here's to 10 more years, at least!

SUMMER WISH LIST: Given the above, what's left for a fan or a critic to see? Well, I'm glad you asked that. Acts I've never seen but wish I had include Lou Reed, Randy Newman, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Beck, Paula Cole, Sarah McLachlan, Madonna, Prince, Soul Coughing, Beastie Boys and John Zorn. Performers I'd love to see again include David Bowie, Cornershop, the Klezmatics, Elvis Costello, David Byrne, Patti Smith and, of course, Bob Dylan.

[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on April 24, 1998. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1998. All rights reserved.]