Rogovoy Report: 11/6/15

This weekend our region boasts comedy, Celtic music, classical music with a folk tinge, the queen of fun, and a literary dynamic duo.

Chicago-bred standup comic Beth Stelling brings her razor-sharp wit combined with her girl-next-door aesthetic to Club B-10 at MASS MoCA in North Adams on Saturday at 8pm. A Beth Stelling gig is like chatting with your funniest friend as she delivers well-crafted jokes with conversational sincerity.

Celtic music sensation Natalie MacMaster brings her “Visions from Cape Breton and Beyond: A Celtic Family Celebration,” featuring her fiddler husband Donnell Leahy, to the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield on Saturday at 8pm. The evening will highlight the unique talents, influences, and stories of the first family of traditional fiddlers through dancing, singing, and world-class music-making.

Cellist Edward Arron, pianist Jeewon Park, violinist Jesse Mills, and violist Ara Gregorian will perform works by Haydn, Dvorak, Martinu and Turina at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown tonight at 7:30pm. The program features vivacious and warm pieces characterized by vibrantly colorful and rustic folk elements from each composer’s native land.

Indie-folk duo Tall Heights brings its unique harmonies and guitar/cello arrangements to Club Helsinki Hudson tonight at 9pm. Tim Harrington and Paul Wright are like a Simon and Garfunkel for the Bon Iver generation. Harrington and Wright, who grew up together in Sturbridge, Mass., will be performing songs from their brand-new album, “Holding On, Holding Out.”

Chaka Khan brings her classic, funky R&B sounds to the Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC) in Kingston on Sunday at 7pm. With 10 Grammy Awards, ten #1 Billboard hits, and a career spanning 40 years and influencing countless other singers, Khan truly is the "Queen of Funk." From her Stevie Wonder-penned breakout tune, “Tell Me Something Good” (with her group, Rufus) through hits including “I Feel for You,” Khan has been a global icon and an unstoppable musical force whose influence can be heard in everyone from Prince to The Weeknd.

Bestselling authors Neil Gaiman and ArmisteadMaupin will discuss their heroes, Charles Dickens and Christopher Isherwood, the craft of storytelling, and many other subjects in a public conversation in the Fisher Center at Bard College on Saturday at 7:30 pm. Maupin is the author of 11 novels, including the nine-volume “Tales of the City series.”