This weekend’s cultural highlights in the greater region include an original avant-jazz score being performed live to a classic Italian silent film; an exhibition of luminous landscapes by a Berkshire artist; a string trio; a cabaret-rock show; a public conversation between two contemporary cultural icons; and the premiere of a new dance work by a top Israeli choreographer.
For years, the avant-jazz party band Sex Mob has been one of my favorite groups, led by Steven Bernstein, one of my all-time favorite musicians. Sex Mob performs its brand-new original score to a live screening of “Maciste in Hell,” a seminal film of the Italian silent era, in Club B-10 at MASS MoCA in North Adams on Saturday at 8pm. The movie stars BartolomeoPagano as Maciste, a Herculean strongman whose physical prowess and matching virtue are tested when the Devil and his minions capture him and drag him to hell. Fellini cites the film as one that inspired him to lead a life in cinema. And Sex Mob and Bernstein have become full fledged masters of this genre.
Speaking of favorites, a new exhibition of vibrant landscapes by one of my favorite Berkshire artists, Jim Schantz, is on view at Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield now through Sunday, May 10. Known for his spectacular depictions of the Berkshire Hills, the Housatonic River, and other compelling outdoor scenes from farther afield, Schantz finds inspiration for his paintings and pastels in nature. His work, especially the light in his skies, glows and pulsates, as if he’s a modern day Hudson River School landscape artist.
The Gryphon Trio performs works by Haydn, Shostakovich, and Schubert in a free concert at Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall on the Williams College campus on Tuesday at 8pm. The Gryphon Trio has firmly established itself as one of the world’s preeminent trios, with a repertoire that ranges from the traditional to the contemporary and from European classicism to modern-day multimedia.
Cabaret-rock singer-songwriter Nellie McKay brings her uniquely eccentric blend of pop, rock, jazz and hip-hop to Club Helsinki Hudson on Sunday at 8pm. Her performance comes just a week after the release of her new album, “My Weekly Reader,” on which she revisits some of the melodies born out of the fertile, conflicted climate of the 1960s, covering songs by the likes of Frank Zappa, Ray Davies, Steve Miller, the Beatles, Country Joe McDonald, and others on the album. Her shows at Helsinki are always festive and entertaining affairs.
Bestselling author Neil Gaiman will engage legendary multimedia artist Laurie Anderson in a public conversation on the topics of “Story Structure” and “Fiction vs. Autobiography” at the Fisher Center at Bard College in Annandale on Hudson tonight at 7:30 p.m. Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned and daring creative pioneers, best known for her multimedia presentations and innovative use of technology.
ZviDance concludes its residency at Kaatsbaan International Dance Center on Saturday at 7:30pm with a work-in-progress showing of "Escher/Bacon/Rothko," set to premiere at New York Live Arts in Manhattan in June. ZviDance, a company comprised of athletic and lyrical dancers, blends contemporary aesthetics with lush, full-bodied movement. A world-class dance company, ZviDance exists to share with audiences the choreographic vision and movement vocabulary of Israeli-born artistic director ZviGotheiner.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of Berkishire Daily and the Rogovoy Report, available online at rogovoyreport.com.
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