Bits & Bytes: DA candidate forum; ‘Senior Prom’; Carole Owens on ‘Remarkable Women’; Weber on ecological economics; ‘Catch the Fever’ at the Colonial

Berkshire County district attorney candidates to participate in forum

Pittsfield — The Berkshire Democratic Brigades will present a Berkshire County district attorney candidate forum Wednesday, May 16, at 6:30 p.m. at the American Legion hall, 41 Wendell Ave. Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, D-Pittsfield, will serve as moderator.

This year’s Berkshire County District Attorney election is the first contested district attorney race in over a decade. All three certified candidates for the position — Paul Caccaviello, Andrea Harrington and Judith Knight — will participate. All three are Democrats. Because no Republican or independent district attorney candidates qualified for the ballot, the de facto Election Day will be the primary election date of Tuesday, Sept. 4.

The forum is free and open to all. For more information, contact Berkshire Democratic Brigades at (413) 637-1613 or berkshiredemocraticbrigades@gmail.com.

–E.E.

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Claire Teague Senior Center to host senior prom for senior citizens

Great Barrington — Students from Monument Mountain Regional High School’s Pathway Program invite area senior citizens to attend a “Senior Prom” Friday, May 18, from noon to 2 p.m. at the Claire Teague Senior Center, 917 Main St. Lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m. followed by music from the MMRHS jazz band, desserts and finger foods. A king and queen will also be crowned. Dress may be casual or dressy.

The event is free and open to all, young or old. The cost of the preceding lunch is $2. RSVPs are requested by Thursday, May 17. For more information or to RSVP, call the Claire Teague Senior Center at (413) 528-1881.

–E.E.

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Carole Owens to discuss ‘Remarkable Women of New England’

Great Barrington — The Great Barrington Historical Society will present local historian and Berkshire Edge columnist Carole Owens Wednesday, May 16, at 7 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 251 Main St., in a lecture titled “Remarkable Women of New England.”

Owens grew up in Minnesota, where her mother took her to view open houses on Saturday afternoons. She first came to the Berkshires as a weekender from New York City, where she had been a social work therapist, and relocated permanently in 1990. Curious about the former owners of the many local historic homes she had seen boarded up and deteriorating, she penned “Berkshire Cottages” in 1984, one of seven titles she has written. As the first director of Ventfort Hall in Lenox, Owens developed the Museum of the Gilded Age and worked to get the building on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2016, Preservation Massachusetts honored Owens with the Paul and Niki Tsongas Award, which “celebrates the success, leadership and accomplishments of Women in Preservation… who have played an extraordinary role in promoting the Commonwealth’s past for the benefit of the future.”

The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Great Barrington Historical Society at (413) 591-8702 or info@gbhistory.org.

–E.E.

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Andreas Weber to discuss economics and the environment

Andreas Weber

Great Barrington — The Schumacher Center for a New Economics will present German biologist and eco-philosopher Andreas Weber Friday, May 18, at 7:30 p.m. at Saint James Place. The talk, which is part of the Schumacher Center’s Reinventing the Commons program, will be followed by a question-and-answer session and book signing.

Weber’s talk, titled “Aliveness as the Heart of Economics, Ecology and Commoning,” will discuss the question: “Why is our economy still destroying the environment and creating inequality?” Weber believes that the culprit might rest on an image of life in which the strongest wins and fitness grants success. Weber argues that only when humans understand that the desire for mutuality is inherent in the living world will they be able to tailor an economic culture that does not destroy life and, instead, mimics ecology, enacting what may be seen as a practice of love.

Berlin, Germany-based Weber is a writer and independent scholar who holds degrees in marine biology and cultural studies. He has put forth his ideas in several books and contributes to major German magazines and journals such as GEO, National Geographic, Die Zeit and Greenpeace Magazine. He teaches at Leuphana University and at the University of Fine Arts Berlin, and is part of the staff of und.Institute for Art, Culture and Sustainability. His books include “Matter and Desire” and “The Biology of Wonder.”

The talk is free and open to the public. For more information or to register, contact the Schumacher Center at (413) 528-1737 or schumacher@centerforneweconomics.org.

–E.E.

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‘Catch the Fever’ to raise funds for Berkshire Theatre Group scholarships

Pinedrop. Photo courtesy Pinedrop

Pittsfield — Berkshire Theatre Group will present “Catch the Fever: An Evening with Fabrizio and the Fever” at the Colonial Theatre Friday, May 18, at 7 p.m. The evening will also include performances by “Berkshire County’s Got Talent!” winner Madelyn Gardner, Pinedrop and Carl Wockner. All proceeds will go toward sending children to BTG PLAYS! summer camp through the Richie duPont Scholarship Fund.

Musician, songwriter and Berkshire native Michael Fabrizio started Fabrizio and the Fever after moving to Nashville. The band features Mark Lonsway on backing vocals and acoustic guitar, Matt Zehr on electric guitar, Christine Moad on bass and Steve Wolfe on drums. The band has opened for acts such as Sleeper Agent, Trigger Hippy, Robert Randolph and others. The band’s songs have been heard on dozens of radio stations across the country including Nashville’s Lightning 100.1, and boasts numerous performances nationwide.

Tickets are $15–$50. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or contact the Colonial ticket office at (413) 997-4444.

–E.E.