Weekend Preview Mar 25-27
HEAVY METAL TRIBUTE to the BEE GEES at MASS MoCA
Once they were a tragedy, now they’re the stuff of comedy. On Saturday, March 26, at MASS MoCA's Club B-10, the classic repertoire of disco giants the Bee Gees will be wildly amplified as Tragedy: All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees takes disco on a trip to the world of heavy metal. Cheekily proclaiming themselves as the “No. 1 Heavy Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees in the Tri-State Area,” the quintet, which consists of Barry Glibb, Mo'Royce Peterson, Robin Gibbens, Andy Gibbous Waning, and The Lord Gibbeth, are clearly setting out to take this classic body of music to Spinal Tap proportions. Best of all, the hair remains the same.
Why the Bee Gees? Singer Robin Gibbens explains, “The melodies were phenomenal. They just needed some crunch. They needed some distortion pedal.” The idea of turning the softer genres of music to something more “in your face” is not something new to this quintet. Prior to Tragedy, these masters of genre transformations performed as Hair Supply: A Metal Tribute to Air Supply. They have every detail covered from the aural (backup singers to hold down intricate harmonies, cowbell, and a wall of amps for wattage) to the visual (memorable costumes blending sequins, spandex and white satin, glitter galore, and most importantly bedazzled guitars).
HOUSATONIC POETS READ IN LENOX
Housatonic wife-and-husband poets Marie-Elizabeth Mali and Taylor Mali will read from and sign copies of their work, including Marie-Elizabeth’s terrific new poetry collection, Steady, My Gaze, at the Bookstore in Lenox, Mass., on Friday, March 25, at 7. Taylor Mali is a National Poetry Slam champion and the author of two books of poetry, The Last Time As We Are and What Learning Leaves. His New Teacher Project is more than halfway toward the goal of creating 1,000 new teachers through “poetry, persuasion, and perseverance.”
As co-curator for two popular poetry reading series in New York City, Marie-Elizabeth Mali understands the importance of crafting poems that have an immediate visceral impact on reader or listener, and this is reflected in her work, which is grounded in the music of language and at home being heard out loud as much as being read on the page.
A spiritual, sensual, funny, and personal poet, Mali draws from varied inspirations - from Jeffrey McDaniel to Frida Kahlo, from the Vedas to the circus, from sex to death - to make a distinctive sound in the world where it's easy to get lost in the din. Marie-Elizabeth Mali's work has appeared in Calyx, Poet Love, and RATTLE, among others. She and her husband, Taylor, divide their time between New York and the Berkshires.
THE FELICE BROTHERS at CLUB HELSINKI
Upstate New York’s hot new Americana roots-rock group, the Felice Brothers, returns to Club Helsinki in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday, March 26 at 9. Originally hailing from the Catskills town of Palenville, N.Y., the group, which has frequently drawn comparisons to The Band and has been endorsed by that group’s vocalist/drummer, Levon Helm, who has hosted them at his Midnight Ramble at his barn in Woodstock, N.Y., has performed at the Newport Folk Festival (to where they will return this summer) and opened shows for the Dave Matthews Band.
The Felice Brothers Catskill Mountains roots run deep, where a homegrown sound has been working its way through the bloodlines for generations. Their rambling journey so far has brought them from busking in New York City subway stations, to tours across the world that have included enthusiastically received performances at major music festivals including Bonnaroo, All Points West, Outside Lands, and Langerado.
The Felice Brothers' most recent album, Yonder Is The Clock, nods to all of the American ghosts that lend their narrative and characters to the Felice Brothers’ sound and vibe. Their studio was built from the remains of an abandoned chicken coop, and it was there over the summer and fall of 2008 that they wrote and recorded this new collection of songs. Yonder Is The Clock features tales of love, death, betrayal, baseball, train stations, phantoms, pandemics, jail cells, rolling rivers and frozen winter nights.
Club Helsinki Hudson
Hudson, N.Y.
DANNY BOYLE’s FRANKENSTEIN at the MAHAIWE
On Sunday, March 27, at 3, the Mahaiwe presents an encore broadcast of Danny Boyle’s Frankenstein from Live in HD from London’s National Theatre. The show has been running in London with lead actors Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch alternating the roles of Victor Frankenstein and The Creature; for Sunday’s performance, Miller will play the Creature. Based on the novel by Mary Shelley, this production -- a new play written by Nick Dear -- premiered on February 5. Estimated running time is 2.5 hours.
NT Live’s Frankenstein is directed by Oscar winning filmmaker Danny Boyle (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting). For music and sound design for the play, Boyle once again tapped frequent collaborators Underworld, the decades-old British electronica group that had previously worked on the film score for Boyle films including Trainspotting and Sunshine. Underworld released the soundtrack for Frankenstein in both digital and CD form through their website last week.
Perhaps best known as a former Mr. Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller’s best known film roles include his work with Boyle in the 1996 film Trainspotting and his featured role on the Showtime series Dexter as the fifth season's chief antagonist, Jordan Chase.
Benedict Cumberbatch’s film roles have included Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, War Horse, The Whistleblower, Wreckers, Four Lions, Creation, The Other Boleyn Girl, Atonement, Amazing Grace, Starter for Ten, To Kill a King, and Hills Like White Elephants.
COLONIAL PROGRAM REVIVES WARTIME SWING
The touring show In The Mood, at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Mass., on Friday, March 25 at 8, revives the music of the 1940s big-band era, featuring sounds popularized by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Erskine Hawkins, and the Andrews Sisters. Featuring a company of nineteen, including the In the Mood Singers and Dancers with the String of Pearls Big Band Orchestra, the show recreates the wartime era’s musical arrangements, costumes and choreography.
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