The Ailey II dance company performs at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., tonight at 8pm, and Saturday at 3pm, as part of the Du Bois Freedom Center’s series “Democracy, Education, and the Arts.” Ailey II will perform Mystery at Sky Square; Down the Rabbit Hole; and Streams (1970), choreographed by Alvin Ailey himself. Both performances will be followed by a post-show Q&A with the dancers, moderated by Sandra L. Burton, Williams College Lipp Family Director of Dance and Senior Lecturer in Dance. (Fri-Sat, Oct 25-26)
Composer-instrumentalist Larry Chernicoff leads his 8-piece ensemble, Higher Octave, in two concerts this weekend: at the First Reformed Church in Catskill, N.Y., tonight at 7pm (presented by Beattie-Powers Place); and at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, N.Y., on Saturday at 7pm. Chernicoff’s music transcends boundaries, combining the free spirit of jazz improvisation with classical elements and orchestral instruments. Chernicoff and his ensemble create atmospheres of kinetic energy and moments of meditative calm. (Fri, Oct 25; Sat, Oct 26)
Composer-guitarist Gary Lucas will perform his original score to the Danish/German film classic Vampyr at Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield, Mass., on Saturday at 8pm. Lucas’s creative guitar style – an original musical language incorporating influences from avant-garde, jazz, rock, and 1930s Chinese pop music – is the perfect complement to Carl Dreyer’s visionary 1932 masterpiece with modern dreamy, ethereal touches that help create a cinematic tension that spans a century of spooky storytelling. (Sat, Oct 26)
Legendary film director Godfrey Reggio (Koyaanisqatsi) brings Once Within a Time, a new experimental film with a score by Philip Glass -- with additional vocals from Sussan Deyhim and co-directed by veteran editor and filmmaker Jon Kane -- to Club B10 at MASS MoCA on Saturday at 4pm. The film is described as “a bardic fairy tale about the end of the world and the beginning of a new one, tinged with apocalyptic comedy, rapturous cinematography, unforgettable vistas, and the innocence and hopes of a new generation.” The screening will be followed by a conversation among Godfrey Reggio (joining remotely and streamed to Club B10), Jon Kane, and Hugh McGrory of Kinetek, an immersive art company based at MASS MoCA. (Sat, Oct 26)
The Dresden Dolls, featuring provocative indie singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer and multi-instrumentalist Brian Viglione, bring their self-styled “Brechtian punk cabaret” to Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, N.Y., for two consecutive evenings, Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 8pm. (Sat-Sun, Oct 26-27)
Also of note:
Trad-rad folk ensemble The Mammals, featuring Ruth Ungar and Mike Merenda, bring their updated take on rootsy indie-folk to the Egremont Barn in South Egremont, Mass., tonight at 7:30pm.
Authors Laura Marris, Emma Copley Eisenberg, and Laurie Stone will read from their work at Spotty Dog Books & Ale in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday at 7pm, as part of the That Time of Year reading series.
And finally, you can come see me read from and sign copies of my new book, Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison, at The Bookstore in Lenox, Mass., on Sunday at 4pm (Sun, Oct 27)