Berkshire Magazine

11/08/2024

This image is from “Music Inn,” the feature story that appears in the August issue of Berkshire Magazine. Nearly 75 years after first opening, the legendary venue and its history come alive in this expansive article with photos of incredible musicians who performed there through the decades. Pictured here is Bruce Springsteen and Clarence Clemons at the Music Inn in 1975. TODAY, Sunday, August 11, The Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington is hosting an all-day celebration of the Music Inn (1950–1979) starting at 12:30 pm, about the legacy and history of the Inn. The lineup includes a series of panel discussions on the landmark Berkshire venue; two 90-minute documentaries and short videos about the Music Inn that include highlights of past reunions; live music; and more. Go to https://berkshiremag.com/august-24/9o58645fq7o3p4ccavf5zww63klen8 to read the feature story in Berkshire Magazine, written by Dan McCarthy, and come join us at the Triplex for this celebration! (Image: Jeff Albertson Photograph Collection, Robert S. Cox Special Collections and University Archives Research Center, UMass Amherst Libraries.)

10/08/2024

Emily Saliers sits comfortably in her home in Atlanta, completely content as she gazes at her dog on the couch, a stretch of concerts behind her and a rare summer break before her. She recently spent several days working on a musical in New York City, followed by a few days with friends after Saliers and her wife dropped off their 11-year-old daughter at camp. She can’t believe it’s been more than 40 years since she and music partner Amy Ray first played together. The folk-rock duo met in grade school in Decatur, Georgia, started making music together in high school, then formed the Indigo Girls while attending Emory University. Our conversation travels through the decades, lingering on moments like performing at the historic march for gay rights in Washington, D.C., in 1993, with 1 million people in attendance. We talk about her favorite Indigo Girls albums, her icons, her passion for creating music, and a certain concert she is really looking forward to—at Tanglewood on Friday, August 30, with Judy Collins, Rufus Wainwright, and Lucy Wainwright Roche.

“How beautiful the Berkshires are. How peaceful it is,” Saliers says. “We have friends there who have a couple of kids that our daughter plays with. We’re gonna go and hang out at their house. It’s a place that I like to go to find peace and beauty. When you add a show into that whole mix, it doesn’t get much better.”

It certainly doesn’t.

— From “The Power of Two,” in the August issue of Berkshire Magazine. The article can be found at https://berkshiremag.com/august-24/the-power-of-two ... First and last photos by Jeremy Cowart, article by Anastasia Stanmeyer.

08/08/2024

The Authors Guild Foundation’s WIT: Words, Ideas, and Thinkers Literary Festival returns to the Berkshires September 27-29! This year’s festival will explore the theme “The Power of Words: Why Writers Matter.” Visit authorsguild.org/witfestival for more information and to purchase tickets. The link also is in our profile. (sponsored)

03/08/2024

Crafted by Jack Miller Contractors and situated at the base of the highest mountain in Massachusetts, this newly built modern hideaway is designed for single-story living that maximizes connection to the changing light. The airy interior is punctuated with blocks of saturated materials and textures, with clean lines and open space bringing modern living and a fresh-air feel to the pastoral vistas of the surrounding farmland. For more info, visit www.jackmillercontractors.com (sponsored)

31/07/2024

Grammy Award-winning Samara Joy performs tomorrow night (Thursday) at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass., to a sold-out audience, and we are thrilled to welcome her to the Berkshires! Editor-in-Chief Anastasia Stanmeyer talked with Joy, and the interview became the cover story for Berkshires Magazine’s May/June cultural season preview issue. https://berkshiremag.com/mayjune-24/jazznbspsensation-samara-joy

From the interview:

What is it about jazz music that makes it unique for a singer?

I learned that you have to be your own musician, and you have to practice in the same way that any other musician would. It’s not just you up front and you’re singing the melody, and then the solos happen. You’re as integral to the music that’s happening as anybody else on stage. It requires you to train your ears and be open to receiving ideas and also giving ideas to other musicians around you in creating some sort of musical conversation.

You’ve said that jazz is a home for your voice. What do you mean by that?

I don’t feel like I have to change anything about myself or the way that I sing in order to fit into what people’s perception of jazz is. I can honestly and openly be myself and incorporate all of the musical elements that inspired me before jazz entered my life and freely express myself.

Photo: Ambe J. Williams

30/07/2024

Rosanne Cash has released 15 albums that have garnered two gold records and four Grammys. She is also the author of four books, including her bestselling memoir, “Composed.” Cash will be in conversation on Friday, August 2, at 5 p.m. with André Bernard at the Mount. She spoke with Berkshire Magazine Editor-in-Chief Anastasia Stanmeyer recently about songwriting, living through a debilitating illness, collaborating with other musicians, and more. Here are a few of the questions and answers. The entire interview was published in the July issue. https://berkshiremag.com/tmw/10-minutes-with-rosanne-cashnbsp

Why is writing important to you?

For me, that’s like asking, “Why is breathing important?” I love language, and I love using language to create atmosphere. I love narrative, and I love stories. Even nonfiction has a narrative arc in a way that makes it a story, at least in my mind. Also, prose has melody. When you’re reading James Joyce, you know it’s James Joyce. He has a particular cadence and melody, and I like finding my own melody in prose.

Can you tell me about your interest in physics and its commonality with music?

On the surface, I love the language of quantum physics, dark matter, mutual attraction, and the speed of light. The language is so very poetic, and I like the unknowingness of it all; the fact that it’s something bigger than I can understand. To me, creative work is also bigger than I can understand. That’s why it’s not predictable. It moves of its own course, and there’s an energy you can tap into, draw on, and filter through your own being to create something that’s uniquely yourself. I don’t understand much about quantum physics as a layperson, but there’s so much beauty in seeking and being comfortable with not having answers.

📷:

26/07/2024

The Authors Guild Foundation’s WIT: Words, Ideas, and Thinkers Literary Festival returns to the Berkshires September 27-29! This year’s festival will explore the theme The Power of Words: Why Writers Matter. Go to https://authorsguild.org/event/wit-festival/ for more information and to purchase tickets.

25/07/2024

Spectacular performance. Gorgeous night with Beck + Boston Pops. 📷: Hilary Scott, courtesy of the BSO

20/07/2024

Emanuel Ax is in the Berkshires for a series of performances—a highlight of the cultural season. Ax will showcase his talents at an open rehearsal and concert conducted by Andris Nelsons on Saturday, July 20, at 10:30 a.m. and Sunday, July 21, at 2:30 p.m., respectively; and treat audiences to two performances with The Knights on August 14 and 15 at 8 p.m. we talk to Ax in our July issue. An interview with Ax is in our July issue, and the link is https://berkshiremag.com/july-24/emanuel-ax

Here’s a peek:

Many artists have superstitious pre-performance rituals. Do you have any traditions or routines that you do before every performance?

Ax: Not really. I try to take a nap and eat a meal at the same time to prepare mentally so that I can try to be at my best. Maybe one wouldn’t call this a superstition, but I’m not much for buying clothing. I’ve used the same suit in my concerts since 1997, and I would probably be nervous about buying new suits at this point.

Photo by Hilary Scott

19/07/2024

This year is the 10th anniversary of The Whiskey Treat Roadshow—or “Treaty 10,” as the band refers to it. To mark this milestone, they are releasing ten new singles and will host a series of one-day festivals throughout the Northeast, including the third annual Mountain Day at Bousquet Mountain in Pittsfield on July 20. We couldn’t be more thrilled and are looking forward to Whiskey Treaty performing on Saturday at Mountain Day! Read “A Band of Brothers,” written by Mark Greenlaw, in the July issue of Berkshire Magazine. The link to the story is in our profile. See you at Bousquet on Saturday .. !

16/07/2024

Justin Hayward will be performing on Friday, July 19, at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington. Writer Dan McCarthy spoke to Hayward for the interview “Blues Traveler,” in the July issue of Berkshire Magazine. Here’s a peek. The link to the full piece is here: https://berkshiremag.com/july-24/blues-traveler

You must be reminded of so much while on the road, playing at venues from the Moodies days.

We were kind of like ghosts going through this business at first. We were never celebrities or personalities, and we were lucky enough to come to America. English groups did not want to come to the U.S. if they weren’t top of the bill. But we came because we were offered some gigs and took them, to play the Fillmore East in New York and then Fillmore West in San Francisco, about ten weeks apart. We just gigged our way across America. Most English bands really weren’t prepared to do that. They wanted to be top of the bill. They had hit records in England, and they wanted that same status in America. But not for us; there was never any focus on us as celebrities or personalities. We were always second or third on the bill. Eventually, we played Madison Square Garden in the early 1970s, and we played two shows in one day each time. I’ve got an award at home from those days called the “golden ticket” that Madison Square Garden gave us for selling more tickets than anybody else had ever done at the time. Me and Ray Thomas would go out to the pavement between the shows back then, and in the time of peace and love we’d say “peace man, you know, you need some tickets to see the Moodies, have a couple” to people walking down the street. Then Ray and I just looked up at this giant sign on that had our name on it and realized what those people that came to the show must have thought seeing the guys who gave them tickets to the show up on stage playing in the band!

14/07/2024

A bighlight every for us at Berkshire Magazine is The Berkshire 25, in which we honor 25 individuals from all walks of life and all ages who are the backbone of our community. Some are widely recognizable; many, perhaps, are not. All work tirelessly, selflessly, to make our Berkshires a one-of-a-kind place to live, to work, and to visit. Nominations close tomorrow, Monday, July 15, at 6 pm. The form is right here …

Nominations are open until 6 p.m, July 15, 2024.

11/07/2024

Join us for our annual Stockbridge Library Book Sale on July 11, 12, 13, and 14.

Thursday, July 11: 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ($10 early buyers fee all day)
Friday, July 12: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 
Saturday, July 13: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, July 14: 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

11/07/2024

Today!! https://circusarts.org/berkshires-arts-panel-discussion/?utm_campaign=1079998_Jul%2010%2024&utm_medium=email&utm_source=berkshiretheatregroup&dm_i=4CL8,N5BY,7ZHLXF,2O9RH,1

06/07/2024

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03/07/2024

In our cover story for the July issue, editor-in-chief Anastasia Stanmeyer spoke indepth with James and Kim Taylor weeks before tonight and tomorrow night’s performance at Tanglewood. The link to the entire interview is on our website, berkshiremag.com, and if you’re at the performances at Tanglewood, the print magazine is for sale in the gift shops there. This is an excerpt from the interview. The photo, taken by Josh Goleman, was from a little while back in James’s studio, TheBarn, with Ting by their side.

Anastasia: I have another question, this time from a co-worker about a lyric that she hears quoted again and again. Her high school drama teacher passed away during Covid, and when they later gathered for his memorial service, this quote was printed on the cards: “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.” That’s, of course, from The Secret O’ Life that appeared on your 1977 album, JT. It’s a simple yet profound statement. When or how did you come to that conclusion? And do you still feel that way?

James: It was a song that came very quickly. I was sitting in a patch of sunlight on some steps at a house on Martha’s Vineyard that I built largely myself. I was hungover. I had a musical sketch on the guitar, and that lyric just fell from the sky. It’s one of those songs where you channel it or receive it, not so much that you generate it. I didn’t figure out that philosophical position. As a matter of fact, it’s a bit embarrassing. It’s easy for me to say, “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.” Try enjoying the passage of time when you’re on your third round of chemotherapy. Try enjoying the passage of time when you’re being imprisoned for being a member of the wrong tribe in a despotic regime. Try enjoying the passage of time when your village is flooded. It’s a glib thing to say. But, nonetheless, the thing about it that is wise, is that we only live here, right here and now. And we live on this border of the present, this edge of the present that’s moving forward in time. I do still believe it in that way; it is a bit glib for someone like me to say because I’ve just been unbelievably lucky in this life.

03/07/2024

The line began to form this morning. Gates open at 4. Tonight and tomorrow night, Tanglewood is all yours, James Taylor. It’s been said and written and sung and shouted and whispered thousands of times here in the Berkshires and across the globe, and we will say it again: We ❤️ you, JT!! Welcome home. (And we will post a little later our cover story on James.)

01/07/2024

What a performance. Thank you, … Come back soon. 💙

29/06/2024

From “Hettie and Audrey” in the July issue of Berkshire Magazine: Thin steel cylinders are stacked just so, shaped and formed by the weight of each onto the next, and by their pressure on the ground or the trees that they lean upon. That is the work of Colgate professor DeWitt Godfrey, one of seven sculptors whose work is exhibited in Birth of a Shadow, the 46th Annual Contemporary Outdoor Sculpture Show at Chesterwood curated by gallerist Lauren Clark. Godfrey has two pieces in the show. His custom is to name his work after the place they are installed, and so he named them Hettie and Audrey, after Daniel Chester French’s principal models. The opening reception at Chesterwood in Stockbridge is TODAY, June 29, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. ✍🏻: Laura Mars 📷:

27/06/2024

Last October, we held our 10th annual Berkshire 25 awards ceremony at the Colonial Theatre, in which 25 individuals were honored for all they do in the community. James Taylor was one of the honorees but wasn’t able to make it. We finally had the chance to give him his award, when editor-in-chief Anastasia Stanmeyer interviewed him at home for the July issue of Berkshire Magazine. The award is a framed mock cover—not to mention James is on the cover of our July issue! Congratulations for being one of our Berkshire 25, James, and congrats on 50 years at Tanglewood! We can’t wait for your performances on July 3 and 4! 🎶 🏆 ✨ 😍

27/06/2024

CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper, who will be co-moderating the Biden/Trump debate today (Thursday) at 9 p.m. ET, is featured in the July issue of Berkshire Magazine. Tapper is the best-selling author of six books, most recently “All The Demons Are Here,” which will be released in paperback on July 2. His debut novel, “The Hellfire Club,” and its sequel, “The Devil May Dance,” were New York Times best-sellers. And among his nonfiction books is the 2012 bestseller “The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor,” which was adapted into a film in 2019. Tapper will be in conversation with Berkshire Magazine Editor-in-Chief Anastasia Stanmeyer by Zoom on Tuesday, July 9, for the Berkshire OLLI Distinguished Speaker Series. Leading up to the talk, Anastasia chatted with Tapper about his books and more. Read the interview in “Fiction with a Dose of Reality,” in the July issue. Read rhetorical story here, too: https://berkshiremag.com/july-24/fiction-with-a-dose-of-reality

22/06/2024

Have you seen the just-released July of Berkshire Magazine? This one is for the books. Inside is a close-up conversation with James Taylor at his home studio in the Berkshires, as well as articles on dancer/choreographer Camille A. Brown, CNN’s Jake Tapper, the Whiskey Treaty Roadshow, playwright David Ives, musician and author Rosanne Cash, pianist Emanuel Ax, actor/director James Warwick, and much more. On newsstands and in mailboxes now. Cover photo:

21/06/2024

So much fun! Yesterday, Hancock Shaker Village hosted the United States Postal Service as they officially release a series of 12 beautifully curated Forever stamps featuring iconic Shaker Design images—four of which originate from Hancock’s site. It was a momentous occasion for the First Day of Issue of the Shaker Design stamps. Pictured here, Pittsfield Postmaster Stefanie Curry in the iconic Round Stone Barn. 📷:

12/06/2024

Five-time Grammy-winning Keb’ Mo’ will bring his talents to the Mahaiwe this Saturday evening. In the May/June issue of Berkshire Magazine, writer Benjamin Lerner asked the blues artist what he thought was the key to making honest and powerful music. Keb’s answer: “There’s only one you, and there’s only one me through all of time. We’re all having a life experience, and we’re all one body of life. I lean on that idea that my experience is possibly a lot of people’s experience, and I just have fun. If I share what I know and share my experience in the most positive way, hopefully that’ll give people some comfort and relief. My job is to give people something that helps them feel like they’re part of something and they’re not alone in this world.” Read more in 10 Minutes with Keb’ Mo’. The link is in our profile. And don’t miss Keb’ at the Mahaiwe on Saturday at 8 p.m.. 📷: