Hudson Hall presents Lady Moon & The Eclipse
Hudson, N.Y.— On Saturday, March 23rd at 7 p.m., Hudson Hall presents Lady Moon & The Eclipse.
In conjunction with the “E(n)ternal Lighf: The Eternal Ecosystem Exposed” art exhibit, experience the celestial magic of Lady Moon & The Eclipse. Led by Ngonda Badila (whose name means ‘moon’ in Lingala) and featuring Hudson Hall artist and vocalist Ntangou Badila, Lady Moon & The Eclipse blend soaring vocal textures with R&B/afrobeat-influenced rhythms to create inspirational music with an emphasis on inclusivity and spiritual unity.

The concert is on Saturday, March 23rd at 7 p.m. at Hudson Hall on Warren Street in Hudson, N.Y. Tickets are $18 to $28. There will be a cash bar. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Race Brook Lodge presents Pulso de Barro
Sheffield— On Saturday, March 23rd from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., Race Brook Lodge presents Pulso de Barro.

Led by Mateo Cano and Maria Puente Flores, Pulso brings traditional Son Jarocho from Veracruz, México to Sheffield. Pulso de Barro merges poetry and music as ways of coexisting reciprocally with nature.Their band’s name Pulso de Barro translates as “pulse of the clay” referring to a unifying earth pulse that makes the building blocks of story and culture.

The musicians draw on their varied heritages (Mexican, Cuban, Venezuelan, and Puerto Rican) to create a synthesis that rises above the sum of its parts. Members play Jarana and Leona (stringed instruments), quijada, cajon, maracas, and marimba (percussive instruments), dance on the Tarima (percussive platform,) and sing folk and original compositions called Versadas.
The performance is on Saturday, March 23rd from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on the Pine Grove Porch at Race Brook Lodge on South Undermountain Road in Sheffield. Tickets are $15. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Berkshire Academy for Advanced Musical Studies presents Alex Foster and the BAAMS faculty band
North Adams— On Saturday, March 16th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Berkshire Academy for Advanced Musical Studies (BAAMS) presents Alex Foster and the BAAMS faculty band.

You’re invited to a mind-blowing night of music as BAAMS presents saxophonist Alex Foster, who has performed with the “Saturday Night Live” Band for over three decades, and is co-musical director of the Mingus Big Band in New York City.
Originally from Oakland, California, tenor and alto saxophonist Alex Foster has been part of many of the world’s most influential sounds. Foster has shared the stage with world-class performers including Jaco Pastorius, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Freddie Hubbard, Nat and Cannonball Adderley, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Gil Evans, John Scofield, Charles Mingus, Elvin Jones, Thad Jones, Tito Puente, Michael Brecker, Dizzy Gillespie, Aretha Franklin, Aerosmith, Stevie Wonder, Dr. John, Paul Simon, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Eddie Van Halen, The Village People, Sister Sledge, Al Green, Johnny Mathis, Diana Ross, and many others. Foster has had his work with the Mingus Big Band, Mingus Dynasty, and the Mingus Orchestra nominated for Grammy awards multiple times.
In the mid-80s he joined the house band on television’s Saturday Night Live. He continued to make studio sessions, including playing in bands supporting pop artists such as Paul Simon (playing on Graceland), and Paul McCartney. In the early 90s he recorded an album under his own name and also toured with the Gil Evans Orchestra, Mingus Dynasty, Steps Ahead with Mike Mainieri, and in mid-decade was again with the Saturday Night Live band as featured soloist. An exhilarating player with a fiery sound, Foster’s inventive playing marks him out as a musician to watch whenever he steps outside the relative anonymity of other people’s bands.
The concert is on Saturday, March 16th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $35. All proceeds will help support music education at BAAMS. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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The Guthrie Center presents ‘Spring Equinox and New Beginnings’ with Adam Phillips
Great Barrington— On Saturday, March 23rd from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., The Guthrie Center presents ‘Spring Equinox and New Beginnings’ with Adam Phillips.

In this ceremony-style event, you’re invited to celebrate spring and the process of renewal and transformation in nature, in human life, and elsewhere. Surprise speakers from many walks of life will engage the theme from their own perspectives. Music, poetry, meditation, and a ritual seed-planting will also be part of the mix.
Officiant and impresario Adam Phillips creates ceremonies keyed to sacred and humanistic themes and nature, honoring life’s milestones.
The all-ages event is on Saturday, March 23rd from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at The Guthrie Center on Van Deusenville Road in Great Barrington. The event is free with a $10 suggested donation. All are welcome. Registration is requested. Registration and more information can be found online. The rain date is March 30th.
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Jewish Federation of the Berkshires presents ‘Betty Friedan: Magnificent Disrupter,’ with Rachel Shteir
Pittsfield— On Monday, March 18th at 7 p.m., in recognition of Women’s History Month, as part of “Jewish Literary Voices: A Federation Series in Collaboration with The Jewish Book Council,”historian Rachel Shteir will give a virtual talk about her new book “Betty Friedan: Magnificent Disrupter.”

The feminist writer and activist Betty Friedan (1921–2006,) pathbreaking author of “The Feminine Mystique” (1963,) was powerful and polarizing. In this biography, the first in more than 20 years, Rachel Shteir draws on Friedan’s papers and on interviews with family, colleagues, and friends to create a nuanced portrait.
Friedan, born Bettye Naomi Goldstein, chafed at society’s restrictions from a young age. As a journalist she covered racism, sexism, labor, class inequality, and anti-Semitism. As a wife and mother, she struggled to balance her work and homemaking. Her malaise as a housewife and her research into the feelings of other women resulted in “The Feminine Mystique” which made her a celebrity. Using her influence, Friedan cofounded the National Organization for Women (NOW), the National Women’s Political Caucus, and the National Association to Repeal Abortion Laws.
Shteir’s biography of the pioneering feminist is part of the acclaimed Jewish Lives series published by Yale University Press and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle for biography.
The free virtual presentation will be Monday, March 18th at 7 p.m. on Zoom. Registration and more information can be found online.
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Otis Historical Commission and Otis Preservation Trust, in collaboration with the Monterey Historical Society, present ‘Slaying the Dragons: The Liberation of Sue Moody,’ a history talk with author Gail Gelburd
Otis— On Thursday, March 21st at 7 p.m., the Otis Historical Commission and Otis Preservation Trust, in collaboration with the Monterey Historical Society, present ‘Slaying the Dragons: The Liberation of Sue Moody,’ a history talk with author Gail Gelburd.

In the corner of an abandoned house on the border of Monterey and Otis, sat dozens of cardboard boxes covered with cobwebs. Inside were extensive journals, thousands of letters and many manuscripts written by journalist, author, and poet Sue Moody. These documents were rescued by Gail Gelburd and preserved by the Otis Historical Commission, and Gelburd has spent several years researching and telling Sue Moody’s fascinating story.
During the 1930s and ‘40s, Sue Moody was a food editor for major media outlets in the U.S.A. and the International Herald in Paris. While there, she huddled with her young child as Hitler’s army marched down the boulevard beneath her window. Moody wrote about starvation, survival, and escaping German occupation. Primarily using Moody’s own words, Gail Gelburd gives insights into 1940s Paris, being a female journalist in the mid-twentieth century, and why Moody ultimately found refuge in the Berkshires.
The ephemera that she left behind reveals her personal and professional struggles. During the course of her career, she met the “Unsinkable Molly Brown” and many writers. She describes these people and places in surrealist fantasy, historic fiction and memoir. Moody writes about foods and their origin as well as writing poetry for the local Monterey paper.
The hybrid talk is on Thursday, March 21st at 7 p.m. at the Monterey Library on Main Road in Monterey and also on Zoom. A Q& A will follow the talk. The event is free, but donations are welcome. Registration and more information can be found online.
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Ukrainian Icon comes to Great Barrington
Great Barrington— On Wednesday, March 27th at 10 a.m., there will be a brief service to bless the Ukrainian Icon, “Our Lady with the Child” now hung on the wall of Grace Church’s chapel in Great Barrington.

The icon was written in Kyiv by Ukrainian artists Sofia Atlantova and Oleksandr Klymenko, who write traditional Orthodox Christian icons on the covers of actual ammunition boxes from the Ukrainian front lines, symbolically portraying life overcoming death.
The icon is written on the lid of an ammunition box from the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region (which was taken by the Russians on February 17th) with tempera and gold leaf, using centuries-old techniques, styles, and symbols. The slatted wooden lid used in Grace Church’s icon was collected by Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital (PFVMH) volunteers on one of their ambulance runs to the front, and brought to the artists in Kyiv. The finished icon gains some of its power through its transformation from an article of war and death into sacred art filled with beauty, peace, and hope.
The icon came to Great Barrington through the “Buy an Icon – Save a Life” project of the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital (PFVMH), a volunteer organization of civilian medics that provides medical aid to militants and civilians in Eastern Ukraine. As of January, the PFVMH had cared for over 30,000 patients in the bloody Ukrainian war.
The Rev. Tina Rathbone, Grace’s rector, proposed purchasing the icon in support of PFVMH to the congregation a year ago. She asked for donations of no more than $100, and within days, the $2,700 cost of the icon was raised and on its way to Ukraine. Grace Church has also committed to donate its Easter offering to PFVMH.
On Wednesday, March 27th at 10 a.m., the Right Rev. Douglas Fisher, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, will bless the icon at a brief service at the chapel at the Grace Church Office on 67 State Road in Great Barrington.
Grace Church encourages other organizations and individuals to consider supporting the excellent work of PFVMH by purchasing an icon of their own. More information can be found online.