Soul gospel sensation Theresa Thomason and the rootsy Americana singers KC Sisters return to American Mural Project
Winsted, Conn.— On Saturday, August 10th at 8 p.m., Soul gospel sensation Theresa Thomason will join forces with rootsy Americana singers the KC Sisters for a performance at the American Mural Project (AMP.) The artists return after playing to a sold-out crowd last year. When Theresa Thomason and the KC Sisters get together, there is something for everyone. Soul, gospel, blues, and Motown—they do it all. The minute the music starts, the crowd erupts.
With exceptional vocal range and versatility, Theresa Thomason gets the audience up and moving the minute she starts to sing. She has been compared to Mahalia Jackson and Whitney Houston. Thomason has collaborated with Paul Winter, appeared on Broadway in Hot Feet, featuring the music of Earth Wind & Fire, recorded with producer Enrico Donner, and performed at the Harlem Jazz Shrines’ “Jazz A La Carte” at the Apollo Theater.
The four talented KC Sisters grip the audience no matter where they perform. They recreate classic pop songs from the 1960s, 1970s, and beyond in four-part harmony, and play all their instruments, including violin, guitar, bass, and piano. The KC Sisters have been featured in “America’s Most Musical Family.” They have collaborated with and performed on tour with singer Debbie Gibson and with Deke Sharon from “Sing Off” and the movie “Pitch Perfect.”
Though they are from seemingly disparate musical backgrounds, Theresa Thomason (gospel, jazz, and R&B) and the KC Sisters (Americana, folk, and pop) share a love of timeless songs that blend the genres. They will be joined on stage by Keith Fluitt, who has performed with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, and Patti LaBelle. There is no better place to see these performers than American Mural Project’s gallery, with three viewing levels and lots of dancing space — come be part of a memorable evening.
The concert is on Saturday, August 10th at 8 p.m. at American Mural Project at 90 Whiting Street in Winsted, Conn. The doors open at 7 p.m. There will be a cash/credit bar and a light fare menu by Colebrook General Store available for purchase. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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The Guthrie Center presents upcycled Celtic folk National touring act House of Hamill
Great Barrington— On Saturday, August 10th at 8 p.m., as part of their Troubadour series, The Guthrie Center presents national touring act House of Hamill.
House of Hamill’s music is described as “upcycled Celtic folk; vintage vibes with a modern message”. The band line-up includes Rose Baldino on fiddle and vocals, Brian Buchanan on fiddle, vocals, and guitar, and Caroline Browning on bass, mandolin, vocals and piano. The trio tours nationally, performing at festivals and established folk venues. All three members of House of Hamill also tour with the long-time Celtic rock band, “Enter the Haggis,” which means that House of Hamill is almost constantly on the road. Their recent schedule has led them to perform in at least 28 states and three countries, including hosting multiple bus tours through Ireland.
Of their latest song, Baldino, “We set out to write a song that might inspire women in the US and give them hope after a tough year. The song is meant for women in all phases of life. It’s about having the courage to strike out into new territory and find a community in which you’re valued.”
The concert is on Saturday, August 10th at 8 p.m. at The Guthrie Center at 2 Van Deusenville Road in Great Barrington. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Bidwell House Museum presents Banjo Pickin’ Gals with Paula Bradley and Mary Lou Ferrante
Monterey— On Saturday, August 10th at 2 p.m., Bidwell House Museum presents Banjo Pickin’ Gals with Paula Bradley and Mary Lou Ferrante.
Head to the Bidwell House Museum for a unique look at musical history with the show Banjo Pickin’ Gals. Paula Bradley and Marylou Ferrante, going by the name Banjo Blue, showcase the music of groundbreaking female banjo players from the 1920-1940’s, along with their stories, songs and struggles. Some known, some unknown, these women are a seminal part of America’s rich musical history. This is an entertaining, empowering, educational and fun-filled program for the whole family.
A West Virginia-born multi-instrumentalist (banjo, guitar, banjo-uke, harmonica and piano,) Paula Bradley has been involved in roots music for many years. Known for her strong, spirited vocals as well as her clogging, she has toured (on banjo) with old-time darlings “Uncle Earl,” with old-time powerhouse Bruce Molsky (on guitar and banjo uke,) and recorded and toured with Tony Trischka and Bruce as part of the acoustic roots trio “Jawbone.” She was also a founding member of the acclaimed old-time trio “The Rhythm Rats” as well as the popular New England honky tonk combo “Girl Howdy.” For the last 18 years, she performed with her late husband, Bill Dillof, in the old-time duet “Moonshine Holler” as well as their trio with VT fiddler Jim Burns, “Run Mountain. She currently leads her own juke joint honkytonk band “Miss Paula & The Twangbusters” in addition to playing vintage country with Berkshire-based “The Spurs USA.”
Mary Lou Ferrante is an multi-instrumentalist who sings and performs old blues, old time, country, and folk music on guitar, mandolin, dulcimer, and banjo. Her performances are filled with storytelling and history. She covers solo blues artists from the delta to east coast piedmont style players such as Charlie Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson as well as Memphis Minnie, Tampa Red, and mandolin greats like Charlie McCoy and Yank Rachell, as well as old time and country artists like The Carter Family, Cousin Emmy, and Elizabeth Cotten. Her numerous performances include opening for Maria Muldaur. Her passionate expression of these old songs comes from a love of the music and the arrangements themselves, as well as what she says is an appreciation for “the history of these folks and the difficult circumstances they endured.”
The concert is on Saturday, August 10th at 2 p.m. at the Bidwell House Museum at 100 Art School Road in Monterey. This program will take place outside under a tent. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center presents South Africa’s five-time Grammy Award winners, Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Great Barrington— On Friday, August 9th at 8 p.m., Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center presents Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
For 60 years, South Africa’s five-time Grammy Award winners, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has warmed the hearts of audiences worldwide with uplifting vocal harmonies, signature dance moves and charming onstage banter. It was Paul Simon’s 1987 Graceland album that introduced Ladysmith Black Mambazo to the world. The late former South African President Nelson Mandela designated the group “South Africa’s cultural ambassadors to the world,” a title the members carry with them with the highest honor. In 2018 the group received not one but two Grammy Award nominations for two separate albums, a first in the history of World Music. These two nominations brought their career total to 19 Grammy Award nominations. One of these albums, “Shaka Zulu Revisited,” won Best World Music Album. This was the group’s fifth Grammy Award win, the most for any World Music group.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo has performed for millions of people, singing a message of peace, love, and harmony. With their 2024 release, “Soothe My Soul…Songs From Our South African Church,” the group puts their own spin on gospel music.
The concert is on Friday, August 9th at 8 p.m. at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center at 14 Castle Street in Great Barrington. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Adams Theater presents a staged reading of ‘The Refuseniks’ by Alison Bendix
Adams— On August 9th, 10th, and 11th, Adams Theater presents a staged reading of “The Refuseniks,” a universal tale of courage in the face of authoritarianism and police brutality.
Written by Alison Bendix and directed by Tony Simotes, formerly Artistic Director at Shakespeare & Company, the play chronicles the struggle of a set of unlikely roommates in a six-family communal apartment in the Soviet Union, circa 1978. A world-class physicist turned heroic freedom-activist leader, Yuri Alexandrov battles the Soviet regime and his devious KGB handler in his quest for exit visas for Jewish dissidents to emigrate from Russia. He endangers his family and followers as his bold, courageous scheme leads him to an agonizing choice that causes him to face life imprisonment and death.
The play is the only dramatized story of the real Refuseniks, Russian Jews who were refused exit visas in the face of anti-semitism promoted by the Soviet government as a diversion from the country’s problems. Synagogues were closed and Jewish culture was suppressed, and Refusenik leaders were sentenced to long prison terms on bogus charges to dissuade others from following their path.
Every story of struggle needs romance, and two young comrades discover that even political opposites can find their way to love.
The reading is on August 9th, 10th, and 11th at the Adams Theater at 27 Park Street in Adams. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Rebel Town Productions presents ‘Rebel Town, The Boston Tea Party Musical’ at the Duffin Theater
Lenox— From August 9th through August 18th, Rebel Town Productions presents John Alan Segalla’s ‘Rebel Town, The Boston Tea Party Musical’ at the Duffin Theater.
Step into the world of Rebel Town, where American history comes alive in a new musical adventure celebrating the 250th Anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Rebel Town plunges you into the heart of Boston’s political crisis in 1773. The story begins on the bustling wharfs, three days before the Boston Tea Party as Parliament’s Tea Act and the unlawful tax on tea ignites a firestorm of resistance led by charismatic Sam Adams, who rallies a town meeting to confront tyranny with three tea ships anchored in Boston Harbor. With days to spare until the ships must be unloaded by law, the men and women of Boston make plans to deal with the tea in a manner that King George would never expect.
From lively gatherings and dance numbers at Liberty Tree to secretive schemes at the Bunches of Grapes Tavern, these passionate rebels grapple with the weight of their defiance, knowing they risk being branded traitors or worse, being hanged for treason if caught.
The production is directed by Segalla, with assistant direction by Tommy Towne with an ensemble cast of actors from Boston, New York, and the Berkshires. With Book, Music & Lyrics by John Alan Segalla, “Rebel Town” explores the enduring theme of standing for liberty and captures the enduring spirit of freedom and the birth of America, promising a captivating journey of defiance, unity, and triumph.
The performances run from August 9th through August 18th at the Duffin Theater at 197 East Street in Lenox. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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The Caterpillar Lab comes to the Berkshire Botanical Garden
Stockbridge— From August 9th through August 11th, the Berkshire Botanical Garden welcomes the Caterpillar Lab to the garden.
The Caterpillar Lab provides the opportunity for visitors to follow the ever-changing lives of these wondrous creatures. The Lab’s professional education staff will teach about caterpillar biology and help participants safely touch a caterpillar. Participants will witness the enormous diversity of native caterpillars as they explore the various sizes, colors and forms displayed in this exhibit. Behold the process of metamorphosis in real time, explore microscopic stories of hidden insect lives within leaves, and discuss the nested ecological connections between caterpillars, their host plants, their predators, and parasitoids.
The program runs from August 9th through August 11th at the Berkshire Botanical Garden at 5 West Stockbridge Road in Stockbridge. There will be a event Caterpillar Walk on Friday, August 9th from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and an evening moth event on Saturday, August 10th from 9 p.m to 11 p.m. More information can be found online.
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Highland Agricultural Society presents the 2024 Middlefield Fair
Middlefield— From August 9th through the 11th, the Highland Agricultural Society presents the 2024 Middlefield Fair.
The Middlefield Fair is one of the oldest fairs in the country and preserves many of the traditions of the old-time country fairs. The fair brings an opportunity for the community to come together and compete to be the best of the best in many categories while providing a learning opportunity for the younger generation. You’ll find our exhibitors’ hall full of entries from local hilltown residents in categories such as baking, canning, vegetables, quilting, needle work, photography and so much more.
On Friday evening, the noise level goes up in this typically quiet hilltown community as the Ken Boisseau Memorial Diesel Truck Pulls are featured in our mechanical pull track. On Saturday, the gas powered trucks have their turn on the track.
Other Saturday activities and events include oxen pulls, a State Police K-9 Demo, a kids zone full of children’s activities, Balloon Ben, free face painting, and the Middlefield Fair Car, Truck and Tractor Show. Above the Tree Line will perform at 5 p.m.
Sunday activities and events include the garden tractors, horses, a Cattle Show, State Police K-9 Demonstration, Balloon Ben, free face painting, and an apple pie contest. Skilled Fiddlers will perform from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Charlie Lask’s Neil Diamond Tribute will perform at 2 p.m.
A visit to the Middlefield Fair isn’t complete without a visit to the Exhibit Hall and Museum. The Exhibit Hall features all contest winners in crafts, cooking, arts, and produce. The Museum contains collections of antique farming and cooking tools to reflect on yesteryear. There will be free children’s activities throughout the fair and the Massachusetts National Guard returns with their amazing Obstacle Course. Each day ends with a free raffle for a new bike and helmet.
Bring your appetite as there is a great selection of food at the fair. From our traditional dinners (Ham on Sunday and Turkey on Sunday,) to fair food including fried dough, hot dogs, hamburgers, French fries, ice cream, sausage, corn dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, candy apples, kettle corn, and apple fritters. Sunday morning features the traditional all you can eat pancake breakfast with your choice plain or with Middlefield’s famous blueberries.
The fair is August 9th through the 11th at the Middlefield Fair Grounds at 7 Bell Road in Middlefield. More information can be found online.
