Rogovoy Report for July 10, 2015

With the summer cultural season in full expression, I can only touch upon some of the highlights that I think you should know about. Here’s a little sketch to help you decide what you might do this weekend and early next week:

At PS21’s performance tent in Chatham, singer and multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons, a founding member of the Grammy Award-winning black folk ensemble Carolina Chocolate Drops, will perform old-time string band music with his trio on Saturday at 8pm. Flemons will be joined by Brian Farrow on bass and fiddlem and Mike Johnson on drums. Dom Flemons is widely lauded for reintroducing old-time African-American string band music to a new generation.

I saw Toshi Reagon last weekend perform as part of the spectacular “Blues Project” at Jacob’s Pillow, along with Michelle Dorrance and Dorrance Dance. Reagon returns to the Berkshires this weekend with her voice, guitar, and an all-star lineup of instrumentalists and vocalists to bring “The Love Session: Michael Jackson vs. Prince,” a deep dive into the songbooks of two American soul-pop icons, to Courtyard C at MASS MoCA in North Adams on Saturday at 8pm.

For years I’ve been hearing talk of legendary concerts by rock singer-songwriter Alejandro Escovedo, but I’ve never had the chance to see him. I watched a YouTube video of him the other day, and I thought to myself, wow, this guy could be the Mexican-American Bruce Springsteen. And then I watched ANOTHER video of him, and sure enough, there was Bruce Springsteen showing up unannounced and performing with him. Turns out Springsteen is such a huge fan that Escovedo is now managed by the same team that manages Bruce Springsteen. I’m not saying that Springsteen is going to show up at Escovedo’s show tonight at 9 at Club Helsinki Hudson. But I AM betting that this will be one of the most memorable, rocking concerts I’ve seen in quite awhile. See you there.

Also coming to Helsinki Hudson this weekend, Eilen Jewell, self-styled “queen of the minor key,” brings her blend of noirish rockabilly, surf-tinged country, retro-rock and jazzy folk to the nightclub on Saturday at 9pm.

Over at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, NederlandsDans Theater 2 (ND2) returns with a program of diverse works by Israel’s Sharon Eyal and GaiBehar, Swedish choreographer Johan Inger, and two U.S. premieres by NDT house choreographers Paul Lightfoot and Sol León, tonight through Sunday. Also at the Pillow this weekend, genre-fusing Big Dance Theater returns with the evening-length work Alan Smithee Directed This Play: Triple Feature, in the Doris Duke Theatre through Sunday.

The classic Tony Award-winning musical “Bells Are Ringing,” with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, music by JuleStyne, and original production, staging and choreography by Jerome Robbins and Bob Fosse, is being staged at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield now through Sunday, July 26.

Not to be overlooked in all the hoopla surrounding concerts by the masterful Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, on Monday night at 8, in Ozawa Hall, the Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra will offer the world premiere of a new work for French horn and string orchestra by the dynamic contemporary composer OsvaldoGolijov, one of my most favorite living composers. The next night, jazz great WyntonMarsalis leads the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at Ozawa Hall.

Looking ahead to mid next week, Yidstock, the festival of new Yiddish music, featuring some of the greatest klezmer bands in North America and Europe, kicks off on Thursday night with the Klezmatics and runs throughout the weekend at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass. Saturday night’s concert features SOCalled from Montreal, who has singlehandedly dragged klezmer and Yiddish music kicking and screaming into the hip-hop era. More information about that and everything else I’ve spoken about here today is available on my website at rogovoyreport.com.