The B: Summer Issue 2023

THE MUSIC ISSUE

The Berkshires’ Own

Billy Keane

Insiders’ Guide to the Best Summer Ever

Picnic Perfection: Where to Go, What to Bring

Profiled by Kim Taylor

of Bites, Cocktails, & Live Entertainment

SOUND AND SOUL The Berkshires

SPIRITS & LIVE MUSIC FOR ALL

from the publisher

“OVER THERE, IN THAT CORNER, that’s where James Taylor was introduced to Raquel Welch. She was in a Shakespeare & Company production and we had her over for a glass of wine,” says Nancy Fitzpatrick, pointing from her kitchen where she’s making pecan bars for her granddaughter Ayah. I take a seat in that corner, under souvenirs from Nancy’s walk across the U.S., and add this to the list of legends that paid a visit here.

The B had descended upon Nancy’s home in Stockbridge, known as the Potting Shed. It’s located on what was once the property of the Gilded Age Wheatleigh estate. Music fans of the ’60s and ’70s know those grounds as the site of the legendary Music Inn. Where better to find inspiration for The B’s Summer Music Issue? We walked where giants like Bob Marley and the Wailers, B.B. King, The Allman Brothers, and Emmylou Harris had all performed. Writer Seth Rogovoy chronicles the history and tales of this Berkshire touchstone on page 62 as part of The B’s extensive music package.

Music has long played an outsized role in our region and by the size of our calendar listings on page 103, it’s clear that it continues to grow. Last summer, my husband and I joined Dave and Gail Mixer at Mill Town’s Bousquet Mountain to hear local artist Billy Keane. I went back recently to watch the video of his electric performance, decked in his signature white suit, the fans on the lawn, and their picnics all around. Berkshire magic. A chorus of local music mavens all suggested Billy for The B’s cover, and we made it happen—with a little help from Kim Taylor (she and James discovered Billy, so it was only fitting).

Creating something new about a place so personal as where you live, spend your free time, or hold cherished memories is a heartfelt endeavor. Wherever we brought The B, from Hudson to North Adams to Salisbury, you told us the magazine felt authentic, inclusive, inspirational, and made you proud. We understood the assignment. Thank you for inviting us into your homes, sharing us with your friends, and supporting us.

MICHELLE THORPE PETRICCA mpetricca@berkshireeagle.com

MICHELLE, NANCY, MUSIC INN: BEN GARVER; GALA: PERRI PETRICCA

Amy Conway and I reunited with The B’s Premiere Issue cover subjects, Nathan Hanford and Jed Thompson, at The Red Lion Inn 250th Gala.

Nancy Fitzpatrick walking with her granddaughter Ayah Imani Khan-RothsteinFitzpatrick at the Potting Shed

This plaque highlights the many Music Inn artists; it hangs on one of the white pines by Nancy’s Potting Shed home (the landscape is said to have been originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted).

I said a quick hello to Billy before his show at the Dream Away Lodge in May. He is touring this summer (including a few local gigs) and has a new album, “Oh, These Days,” coming out in September. Keep up with him @billykeaneofficial and by following him on your favorite musicstreaming service.

from the editor

IT WAS ALMOST TOO EASY. When we were planning this issue, the name “Billy Keane” kept coming up—with his soulful indie folk music, the singer-songwriter is a true local favorite. We got in touch with him and he immediately said yes to our request for an interview. When we asked his old friend Kim Taylor if she would like to do the interview and write the profile, she immediately said yes (and promptly tracked down fun old photos of Kim, Billy, and James Taylor making music together). We were on deadline, of course, but they were miraculously both in town and managed to squeeze in an afternoon together. It was a warm reunion, and you can tell from the article on page 57 how openly Billy spoke with her (and thus, the rest of us) about his music and his life, and how much they enjoyed the conversation.

When we mentioned a cover shoot to photographer Ben Garver, he immediately said, “we’ll shoot Billy at Holiday Brook Farm,” and a few days later, we had an incredible portfolio of photos of Billy on that beautiful property. The only hard part was deciding which to use on our cover. It was so hard, in fact, that we went with two.

Many other people and places make up this issue. I myself met and interviewed everyone from David Rothstein, legendary owner of the 1970s Music Inn; to Michael Feinstein, who will perform at Tanglewood in July; to Alan Paul, starting his first season as artistic director of Barrington Stage Company; to designer extraordinaire Jess Cooney. Every last one of them was kind, talented, generous with their time, and excited to be part of this new magazine that’s all about our community. We could have filled several issues with everything we learned.

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It’s kind of like the Berkshires in the summer: Abundant. The hard part is choosing from among the many excellent and exciting offerings. I hope this issue will help you do just that, so you have a season filled with music, theater, art, dance, nature, and good food. And maybe some time spent doing nothing at all.

Which cover do you have? We liked both of these photos so much that we printed half of our issues with one and half with the other (everything else about the issue is the same).

On the cover: Billy Keane at Holiday Brook Farm in Dalton | PHOTO BY BEN GARVER, HAIR & MAKEUP BY SONYA HEIMANN

FROM $2 0

VOL. 1,

PUBLISHER

Michelle Thorpe Petricca | mpetricca@berkshireeagle.com

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Amy Conway | aconway@berkshireeagle.com

DESIGN DIRECTOR

Julie Hammill | julie@hammilldesign.com

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Ben Garver | bgarver@berkshireeagle.com

Stephanie Zollshan | szollshan@berkshireeagle.com

CONTRIBUTING STYLIST COPY EDITOR

Robin Tesoro Amy Krzanik

EDITOR-AT-LARGE PHOTO ASSISTANT

William Li Joanie Ciolfi

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Kate Abbott, Dave Ackerson, Jeffrey Borak, Tom Caraccioli, Felix Carroll, Alana Chernila, Tony Gervino, Jane Larkworthy, Courtney Maum, Francesca Olsen, Pops Peterson, Seth Rogovoy, George Schuller

AUG US

The Colonial Theatre Pittsfield, MA

The unbridled passion of this ageless tale has made it a favorite of audiences for over a centur y Join us for Puccini’s unforgettable romance. Sung in Italian with projected English translations.

Connect here to buy tickets and find out more about the season BERKSHIREOPERAFESTIVAL ORG

A jar of marinara sauce can’t be closer to homemade than this one.

The B is a publication of New England Newspapers Inc.

PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER

Fredric D. Rutberg | frutberg@berkshireeagle.com

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Kevin Moran | kmoran@berkshireeagle.com

CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER

Gary Lavariere | glavariere@berkshireeagle.com

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

John Supple | jsupple@berkshireeagle.com

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Chuck Danforth | cdanforth@berkshireeagle.com

DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING SERVICES

Kate Teutsch | kteutsch@berkshireeagle.com

DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING SALES

Cheryl Gajewski | cmcclusky@berkshireeagle.com

MULTIMEDIA ADVERTISING CONSULTANTS

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contributors:

The B's Saints & Eccentrics

KIM TAYLOR (“The Berkshires’ Own Billy Keane”) has worked for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Tanglewood for many decades and is currently a Trustee. A graduate of Smith College, Kim and her husband, James Taylor, have two sons who currently attend Williams and Amherst Colleges. She has written for The Boston Globe, Vanity Fair, and Town and Country Magazine. She also served on the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, appointed by President Barack Obama. She and her family have been permanent residents of the Berkshires for 25 years.

TONY GERVINO (“All the Right Notes”) is the editor-in-chief of the music streaming service TIDAL, managing the creation and programming of all content, including music, video series, podcasts, documentaries, and its digital magazine. Prior to TIDAL, he was editor-in-chief of Billboard, and has written for the New York Times and New York Times magazine, as well as Rolling Stone, GQ, and Business Week. He and his wife, Gina, split their time between Greenwich Village and South Egremont.

ROBIN TESORO (“Picnics that Pack a Punch”) is a photo stylist, business owner, and artist. She has lived in the Berkshires for almost 20 years after working for Martha Stewart Living magazine in New York City. In 2009 she and her husband, Michael, founded Ooma Tesoro’s Marinara Sauce, now handcrafted in North Adams. Robin lives in Windsor with her family and is a painter in her free time. Her artwork can be found at RobinHTesoro.com.

BEN GARVER is an award-winning photojournalist whose work has been published by nearly every major news outlet in the country. He has been a staff photojournalist for The Berkshire Eagle for almost 30 years. An avid hiker and biker, he rarely leaves home without a camera and we can all be thankful for that. He and his dog, Cheyenne, live in downtown Pittsfield.

STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN (“Picnics that Pack a Punch”) is an award-winning photojournalist whose work has been featured in publications around the world. Stephanie is a Boston University graduate and has been with The Berkshire Eagle since 2011.

SETH ROGOVOY (“Legends and Lore: The Music Inn”) was the editor of Berkshire Living magazine from 2004 through 2010 and was the Berkshire Eagle’s popular music critic from 1988 through 2004. He wrote “The Life and Times of Music Inn,” for the original Berkshire Magazine in summer 1995. Seth’s books include “Bob Dylan: Prophet Mystic Poet,” “The Essential Klezmer,” and the forthcoming “Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison.” Seth is a contributing editor at The Forward, and his Substack newsletters include The Rogovoy Report and Everything Is Broken.

JANE LARKWORTHY (“Screen Time”) was a beauty editor for more than 30 years, covering the category at various Condé Nast publications, most recently W Magazine. Currently a brand consultant, she also curates beauty and wellness at Scout House in Great Barrington. Originally New Marlborough weekenders, Larkworthy, her husband, and standard poodle have made the Berkshires their fulltime home, with no intentions of looking back.

SONYA HEIMANN (Hair and makeup stylist for “The Berkshires’ Own Billy Keane”) has been a Berkshire resident and hairstylist for over 20 years. Over the course of her career she has honed her skills as a bride whisperer and editorial stylist. Her work has been published in local magazines, as well as First and Town and Country Weddings. She is currently caring for her clientele in a cozy studio in Pittsfield, where she also lives.

Meet Our Design Director

JULIE HAMMILL runs her graphic design studio, Hammill Design, from her home base in Pittsfield, where she lives with her husband and two kids. With over twenty years experience designing around the Berkshires (and beyond), there’s a good chance you’ve seen her work... SoCo Creamery, anyone? Inspired by our “Off Duty” story on page 85, we asked Julie to share her summer Berkshire bucket list! 1: Seeing the artwork of Joanie Ciolfi at Hotel on North and Cynthia Wick at Berkshire Botanical Garden; 2: Taking my daughter to Hip Hop Across the Pillow at Jacob’s Pillow; 3: The Art of Brewing Festival at Norman Rockwell Museum; 4: Kayaking with the family on Stockbridge Bowl; 5: Tanglewood!

The Local Life

Exploring Our Towns for the Best of the Berkshires

Supreme Soft Serve

This “mobile dessert experience” offers creative flavors and toppings (and sprinkles, of course).

supremesoftserve.com

PHOTO: MEGAN KITSOCK

The Wait is Over— It’s Ice Cream Season

By Francesca Olsen

Megan Kitsock is deep into ice cream— she’s been learning about it since she was 14. It started when she got a job at SoCo Creamery in Great Barrington, eventually working her way up to a role as SoCo’s plant manager.

Now, after going through pandemic job changes and having two kids, Kitsock, who lives in Hudson, N.Y., has launched Supreme Soft Serve, a “mobile dessert experience” with high-quality homemade ice cream and customizable flavors.

Kitsock works with people to develop custom ice cream flavors for weddings, parties, and other events. She’ll show up with the Supreme truck and two bespoke flavors with lots of toppings. “Who doesn’t love ice cream at their wedding?” she said.

Supreme’s ice cream is made with dairy from Ronnybrook in Pine Plains, with homemade toppings and all-natural sprinkles. She’s helped her customers celebrate with flavors like goat cheese, pineapple, and vanilla maple creemee—

but the most-exotic-flavor award goes to the Berkshire Co-Op annual meeting, with vegan coconut curry. “It had an oat base, so it was oaty and kind of sweet, like a dessert version of curry, and the coconut played nicely,” she said. “It was delicious and unexpected.”

You don’t have to book the truck to try Supreme—you can find Kitsock at Cooper’s Daughter Spirits in Claverack, N.Y., on Fridays, or frequent weekends at Rose Hill Farm in Rhinebeck, where she doles out mostly vanilla and chocolate with toppings like blackberry habanero jam, crispy local bacon bits, and smoked maple bourbon caramel sauce. “The toppings are where I mix it up for the public events, and people seem to really respond well to the weird toppings,” she said.

Kitsock, right, samples some soft serve.

Ice Cream Adventures

We can’t list every great place to get a scoop or a swirl, but here are eight favorites, some classics and some surprises—all worth the trip.

Wells Provisions

Charlemont

This spot on Route 2 is a must-stop for New Orleansinspired food, fresh drinks and delicious baked goods, but in the summertime, there’s also an ice cream window. Wells Provisions is in the heart of Charlemont, and it’s easy to park and walk around the tiny downtown. wellsprovisions.com

The Farmstead Creamery Shop

High Lawn Farm, Lee

Meet the cows and eat the ice cream at the same time! High Lawn’s on-site creamery is in an idyllic spot in the southern Berkshires, and the farm’s ice cream, made with milk from Jersey cows, is unbelievably silky and creamy.

highlawnfarm.com/ the-farmstead-creamery

Lickety Split

Williamstown

and North Adams

Lickety has two locations, one ice cream-only at the bottom of Spring Street in Williamstown and one alongside a full-service cafe inside MASS MoCA (no museum pass needed). The ice cream is made at MASS MoCA and features flavors like burnt sugar and butter and lemon shortbread. licketysplitatmassmoca.com

Ayelada

Pittsfield

People are passionate about Ayelada. The name means “cow” in Greek and this frozen yogurt spot celebrates fresh dairy—although they offer vegan versions, too! They make the fro-yo from scratch every morning, and flavors change each week; hazelnut and creamsicle were two recent treats. ayelada.com

Cravins

Pittsfield

Cravins is a family business with an inspiring story— owner Ludwig Jean-Louis bought the place to help support his younger siblings after their mom died in 2021. A classic ice cream and frozen yogurt place, Cravins includes non-dairy options on its menu. cravinsicecream.com

Gardner’s Ice Cream and Coffee Shoppe

Stephentown, N.Y.

It’s got a mini-golf course! Gardner’s is at the intersection of Routes 43 and 22 and the mountain view is delightful, especially in the summer. They have the soft serve you’ve been thinking about all winter, plus a full diner menu. gardnerscoffeeshoppe.com

SoCo Creamery

Great Barrington

Don’t go to Great Barrington without stopping by SoCo—it is absolutely worth waiting in line. This ice cream is deeply beloved in Berkshire County, for good reason: it’s super high-quality, with tons of flavors, from top-notch Madagascar vanilla to lemon basil and cinnamon. sococreamery.com

Arethusa Farm

Bantam, C.T. This shop is in the rolling hills of Litchfield County, and makes “super premium” 16% butterfat ice cream with milk from its nearby farm. Expect fresh waffle cones and ice cream that’s smoother and more luscious from the higher fat content. You can also pick up farm-fresh cheeses and other dairy. arethusafarm.com/ ice-cream

HEATED

Nature Is Healing Walk This Way

As it turns out, I picked a perfect day to join Mindy Miraglia for a small-group guided walkabout through Stockbridge with her company, Berkshire Camino. Not because of the weather or the route per se—though those were good, too—but because I had a lot on my mind and Miraglia’s approach to her walks and hikes is to be in the moment and to take a break from your everyday life, and it served me well. She based her business around the idea of the Camino de Santiago, the Way of St. James—or, simply, The Way, as many know it. There are multiple variations of this pilgrimage across Europe but for Miraglia, who made her own journeys in 2018 and 2019, it was a 500-mile walk across Northern Spain. The experience changed and inspired her, and she wanted to share the benefits of what she calls walking with curiosity.

As we made our way through Stockbridge—walking along the familiar Main Street and also going off the beaten track, Miraglia shared some history, but didn’t talk nonstop. She encouraged us to be present, to hear the birdsong, to literally stop and smell the roses (or in our case, Korean spice viburnum). We noticed things we had never noticed before— despite driving by them almost daily. Walking does that. After a couple of hours, we reached the end of our journey, and Miraglia invited us to, “Turn around, and see how far we’ve come.”

In addition to the town walkabouts, Miraglia offers woodland hikes and multi-day journeys with overnights in boutique hotels/motels. And new this summer: a season pass/hiking challenge that encourages you to explore more.

—Amy Conway

berkshirecamino.com

Listen Up!

While I was out with Miraglia, she told me about the app Merlin—it IDs birds by song. Tap your phone to listen, and it tells you what feathered friends are singing. You can also use it visually, with photos.

Take It Outside FALLING FOR TANNERY FALLS

In warm weather, a hike by water is the best kind of hike. Berkshire County has many such places to go, whether you like streams, ponds, rivers, lakes, or waterfalls. There are also many fine waterfalls that are worth a visit.

The Tannery Falls area in Savoy Mt. State Forest offers a short, steep hike to an impressive collection of waterfalls. This includes the 80-foot Tannery Falls as well as 60-foot Parker Brook Falls, and many other small cascades. A day trip to this area offers a chance to rest next to a rushing mountain stream—and lots of photo ops.

To reach Tannery Falls take Rt. 2 east from North Adams. Just after Rt. 2 crosses the Cold River, turn right on Black Brook Rd. Drive steeply uphill for 2.5 miles to Tannery Rd. on the right. Tannery Rd. is a dirt road and an SUV might be a good choice but not essential. Drive downhill on Tannery Rd. to the parking lot, and head down the trail. Although you can probably reach the falls in 15 minutes, take your time and enjoy the hike.

Following blue blazes downhill, Ross Brook is on your left and several cascades are visible from the trail. The scenery is beautiful but for the safety of you and the environment please stay on the trails and behind the rails and fences. As you near the bottom of the stairs, Parker Brook Falls is visible through the trees to the right.

At the bottom of the trail Tannery Falls will be on your left. While the pool at the bottom is too shallow for swimming, the dense forest creates a cool and inviting place to relax and enjoy the scenery.

—Dave Ackerson

Another Reason to Visit Adams

New Kid in Town

If you’ve driven down Adams’ main drag recently, you’ve probably seen the bright new marquee on the Adams Theater. Founder and Executive Director Yina Moore is renovating the space (with the help of several state and local grants, as well as private fundraising). Its popup season is underway, and the theater aims to be a hub for cultural exchange, community performances, and the kind of “in between” artistic projects—residencies, immersive experience—that need time and space to develop before being presented to audiences. Head to the theater this summer for dance, comedy, blues, classical music, and more, including an installation and musical experience by Floating Tower with projections by Joe Wheaton. —Francesca Olsen

adamstheater.org

Hotel Refresh

SLEEP IN STYLE

North Adams is known for art, design, and a vibrant vibe—so the stylish, newly renovated Hotel Downstreet should fit right in. Works of art are displayed throughout the hotel—from guest rooms to gallery spaces—and community engagement is a priority. Even better? Rates are reasonable, making it easier (on the wallet) to plan a quick getaway or put up overflow guests.

hoteldownstreet.com

Where to Shop for Vinyl A New (Old) Spin

“There’s music on vinyl you can’t find online. I think a record store’s purpose is to turn people on to music they haven’t heard.”

—Wesley Nelson, co-owner of Belltower Records

Belltower Records | belltowerrex.com

Norad Mill, 60 Roberts Drive (off Route 2), North Adams | 413-398-5569

Berkshirecat Records | berkshirecatrecords.com

Stationery Factory

63 Flansburg Ave., Dalton | 413-212-3874

Rob’s Records | robsrecordstore.com

70 Railroad St., Great Barrington | 413-854-7972

Spotlight

Volunteers in Medicine

By Kate Abbott

When you walk into the waiting room, patients are talking together quietly. Staff and volunteers at the desk greet the next person in line in easy Spanish. A doctor, a mother, and a three-year-old boy are laughing in the hall. This is all happening at a completely free health care provider—right here in Great Barrington. And a new location in Pittsfield is on the way.

As Executive Director Ilana Steinhauer explains, at Volunteers in Medicine (VIM), patients can see a primary care physician and a psychologist, check their teeth and their eyes—all in the same building—and talk with a community health worker about wider concerns, such as school, rent, food, childcare, and more, in the language in which they are most comfortable.

We spoke with Steinhauer to learn more.

Who does VIM serve?

VIM provides healthcare for adults who are income-qualified and ineligible for health insurance—including newly arrived asylum seekers, essential workers who have lived here for decades, veterans who need dental care, and people in between jobs who’ve been dropped from their insurance. Ninety percent of the patients VIM serves are immigrants. Massachusetts has strong healthcare, but we have growing communities of Latinx, West African, and Asian families in the Berkshires, many of whom are ineligible for insurance.

Our patients increase the diversity of the area, and many of them support our small businesses and industries. VIM provides a way for them to stay healthy and find community.

VIM is opening a new care center in Pittsfield this fall, expanding its Great Barrington care center, and launching a campaign to sustain our work. On June 22 we’ll hold a Summer Fiesta at Balderdash Cellars that people can purchase tickets to, with drinks, dinner, and salsa dancing.

Why the expansion?

We serve 1,300 patients, and we saw 400 new patients in 2022 and 200 new patients already in the first quarter of 2023. More than half of our patients now live near Pittsfield. A central location will increase access and allow us to offer more programming: support groups, financial literacy, even cultural events. It also extends our reach to patients in Northern Berkshire County.

How does VIM provide care?

Our small staff includes nurse practitioners, medical assistants, and Community Health Workers who are part of the communities we serve and inform our care. We work with 60 volunteer medical providers—in nursing and medicine, psychology and psychiatry, optometrists and dentists. Many are retired,

others are practicing clinicians willing to give their time or learn a new model of care. We also work with dental students, nursing students, and medical residents; 100 more nonclinical volunteers help with translation, transportation, and clerical work.

What makes VIM’s approach to care unique?

We focus on our patients, we get to know them, and we create plans to treat not only immediate concerns but elements in their lives that can strongly influence their health—housing, food security, childcare, education. Our multicultural staff creates trust so that people can ask questions and tell us what their communities need, and we can help them navigate complex systems while empowering them so they can gain their footing. use the code to visit their website: vimberkshires.org/donate

To learn more or to support VIM,

This organization offers medical care and much more. The need is growing— so VIM is, too.

PHOTO: SARAH KENYON

Ilana Steinhauer (right) with a patient

The B o ston Glo be

Bu r n ha m Gold Rea l E st ate is a bout ique office t hat has been proud ly helping people buy and sel l rea l est ate in t he Berk sh ires of Massachusetts since 2011. Our int imate k nowledge of t he areas we ser ve as wel l as our commun it y involvement has a l lowed us to a id our cl ients in t he process of buy ing and sel l ing resident ia l, commercia l and invest ment rea l est ate.

Our va lues emphasize k ind ness and t r ust, pay ing close attent ion to t he det a i ls, and work ing harder t han any ot her rea l est ate fi r m to ensure t hat we exceed your ex pect at ions.

If you are interested in buy ing a home, sel l ing a home, or simply fi nd ing out how much your house may be wor t h, please don’t hesit ate to cont act us. One of our agents w i l l respond to you qu ick ly to answer any and a l l of your quest ions

“ I F A R T H A S A P U R P OS E , I T ’S T O MOV E YO U.”

EJ Hill: Br ake Run Helix

North Adams, Mass | massmoca.org

Not Just for History Buffs An Enduring Theme: WWII

By Kate Abbott

Stories about World War II continue to emerge and remain relevant, and this summer, directors, actors, and musicians are looking back while navigating contemporary currents. At Tanglewood, Mark Ludwig, violist emeritus with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and director of the Terezin Music Foundation, will probe with care into histories and lived experiences he finds timely today.

In Defiant Music (August 11 and 12), Ludwig will offer a two-part program, lifting up the voices of people who would not be silenced. On the first day, he will talk about artists and musicians targeted in Nazi “cultural cleansing” movements. And on the second day, he will share the experiences of composers in the camp at Terezin. They created music in the face of fear and grief and grim conditions, he explained. And many died. “They were writing music that fellow prisoners would hear,” he said, “and they were also writing and performing for future generations. With performances from BSO musicians, he will honor composers who wrote and performed while they were imprisoned in the camp.

Also Playing:

On a satirical note, Williamstown Theatre Festival looks to occupied Paris. Hamish Linklater will offer a work-in-progress performance of “Paris, ACTORS!” (July 22 and 23).

Barrington Stage Company’s season opens with a new work drawn from the memoir of Eddie Jaku, who was a teenager in 1938; he would live through capture and recapture and the loss of his family. He describes himself, at 100 years old, as “The Happiest Man on Earth” (through June 17).

Also at BSC, Alan Paul directs “Cabaret” (June 14 to July 8). A young British playwright struggles against the currents of 1930s Berlin, trying to find refuge in the nightlife at the KitKat Club. But the club becomes a microcosm for the changing world around it.

A Special Day The Joy of Juneteenth

This holiday, commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people, is not a new event. Black communities have long set aside June 19 as a day to honor their history and culture, and in recent years the broader American public has embraced the tradition. In 2021, Juneteenth became a federal holiday; here are three events in honor of the day.

The Resistance Revival Chorus Concert

PS21 presents this celebrated collective of over 60 women and non-binary singers fusing music and activism to inspire political and social change.

Promenade Hill Park, Hudson

Saturday, June 17, 7:30 p.m.

Juneteenth Celebration

Presented by NAACP Berkshires

Sunday, June 18, Pittsfield

Freedom Walk, Persip Park, 11:00 a.m. Festival, Durant Park, 12:00 p.m.

Juneteenth Concert with John Hughes

The Mount, Edith Wharton’s Home

Monday, June 19, 5:00 p.m. edithwharton.org

photo by Mark Grochowski

PHOTO: GILIAN JONES

Youth Alive shows off their moves during the Juneteenth celebration in Pittsfield in 2022.

NEW AT NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM A PASSION FOR PUPPETRY

You may not know his name, but you know his work: Tony Sarg is the mastermind behind the design of the inaugural Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon for Macy’s Department Store in 1927. He’s the original multihyphenate, and you can learn all about the charismatic illustrator-animator-puppeteer-designer-entrepreneurshowman this summer. The exhibit opens June 10.

Cheers! Celebrate with The Mount

Raise a glass to Edith Wharton on June 30 alongside award-winning biographers and historians at The Mount’s dinner under the stars—the party is just part of a special weekend celebrating 30 years of the popular Summer Lecture Series. Speakers from past years will be returning for panel discussions on June 30 and July 1 on timeless themes of Wharton, Women, and War. The eight-part annual lecture series begins on July 10. edithwharton.org

Norman Rockwell Museum | nrm.org

Tony Sarg in Macy’s Warehouse, 1928

happenings: The Scene

The Red Lion Inn 250th Anniversary Celebration

May 6 | The Red Lion Inn, Stockbridge

Berkshire Art Center Gala

April 1 | The Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield

Above: The Eustis, Fitzpatrick, Rothstein, and Russell families; Near right: Kate Maguire, Berkshire Theatre Group; Anne Oppermann, Red Lion Inn Historian; Far right: Sarah Eustis, Main Street Hospitality; Kate Morris, Hans Morris, NYCA Partners

“Metallic Couture Disco”

Left: Amy Conway, The B; Jennifer Bianco, Scout House; Tyler Weld, Tyler Weld Design; Below: Sarah Eustis, Main Street Hospitality; Lawrence Horwitz, Historic Hotels of America; and Nancy Fitzpatrick, Main Street Hospitality

The crowd on the dance floor

Above: Honorees Joe Wheaton and Vicki Bonnington; Left: BAC Executive Director Lucie Castaldo and Mary Nash

EDVARD MUNCH

TREMBLING EARTH

JUNE 10–OCTOBER 15, 2023

Featuring more than 80 works from international collections

WILLIAMSTOWN, MASSACHUSET TS CLARKART.EDU

Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth is co - organized by the Clark Ar t Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts; the Museum Barberini, Potsdam, Germany; and Munchmuseet, Oslo, Nor way. Generous funding for presentation at the Clark and Munchmuseet is provided by the Asbjorn Lunde Foundation, Inc. Trembling Ear th is made possible by Diane and Andreas Halvorsen. This exhibition is suppor ted by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Ar ts and the Humanities.

Edvard Munch, Beach (detail), 1904, oil on canvas. Munchmuseet, MM.M.00771, © Ar tists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Munchmuseet/Juri Kobayashi

The Frie n d s of the Be rkshire Athe n ae um

Summe r Book Sale i s scheduled .

Thursday, July 13, 3 – 7pm*

Friday, July 14, 10am – 4pm

Sat urday, July15, 10am – 3pm

Lobby Sale Ongoing

*Thursday’s sale is open to Friends Members only Not a member? Join at the door for as little as $10

The Fr iends lobby sale offers book s for quick pick up, half pr ice, at the Wendell Avenue ent rance On the 29th, 30th, and 31st of each month all L obby items are 50% off.

Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum 1 Wendell Ave , Pit tsfield, MA • 413 - 499 - 9493 w w w.pit tsfieldlibrar y.org/friends

ROAM Gallery Welcome Party

April 27 | Provisions Williamstown & Gramercy Bistro, Williamstown

Above: Peter MacGillivray, Provisions Williamstown; Xtina Parks, ROAM Gallery; Rebecca Gold Cellana, Burnham Gold Real Estate; Kim Burnham, Burnham Gold Real Estate; Brenda Fitzgerald, ROAM; James Parks, ROAM

Berkshire Music School Gala

April 29 | Holiday Inn, Pittsfield

Right: Co-producer and BMS Trustee

Karen Cellini, cast member

Justine Barile, and Co-producer

Joe Corcoran

STORTI; BERKSHIRE MUSIC SCHOOL: COURTESY OF BERKSHIRE MUSIC SCHOOL

“The Great Migration”

Above: Gerry Fultz, BMS Executive Director Natalie Johnsonius Neubert, and Claudia Perles

“Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding”

“Finding New Rhythms”

Community Access to the Arts Gala May 13 | Shakespeare & Company, Lenox

Above: Gala Co-Chairs Kip and Eva Sheridan, Senator Paul Mark, and Representative Lindsay N. Sabadosa; Right: State Representative Smitty Pignatelli and Margaret Keller, CATA Executive Director

Left: Gala Co-Chair Mitch Nash, Blue Q; CATA Board President Heather Wells Heim; and Joe Wheaton (co-designer of gala decor and installations); Below: Carrie Wright, Jan Perry Realty; Bill Wright, Blue Q; Susan Wrba; Andy Wrba, Mill Town Foundation; Mary and Ben Daire, Dare Bottle Shop & Provisions

PHOTOS: CHRISTINA LANE

Voices & Views

These Stories Can Only Come from the Berkshires

Tanglewood Lenox

George Schuller, on a break during his summer job circa 1980, checks out a Berkshire Music Center orchestra rehearsal.

PHOTO: WENDELL DAVIS, JR/COURTESY OF SCHULLDOG MUSIC

Growing Up at Tanglewood

Jazz drummer George Schuller spent 21 summers at Tanglewood; his father, Gunther Schuller, was the artistic director there for many years. Here are some of his memories of being—as he calls it—a Tanglewood brat.

By George Schuller

I was born in 1958 in Manhattan. We were in Lenox for the summers of ’59 and ’60 because of the Lenox School of Jazz and the Music Inn [see page 62 for more on the Music Inn]. My father was part of the faculty of the School of Jazz. The Brubecks were also there those summers. It was a huge family, and my brother played with Chris and Dan Brubeck, Darius was a bit older. I was way too young. Some of the other kids running around those summers included the families of Percy Heath, Bill Russo, and of course the Barbers, owners of Music Inn.

In 1963 my dad was hired, on the recommendation of Aaron Copland, to teach composition at Tanglewood. So that’s the first of many consecutive summers we spent while my father was employed by the Boston Symphony. We rented a house every summer for the next 21 years. My mother would pack the station wagon to the gills, and we’d do two or three trips from Boston to Tanglewood. She packed everything, even the plants. One of the trips was just for the plants.

Later on, when I got older and drove myself, I’d bring my own record collection, my LPs (1,000-plus)—I guess I wanted to impress those classical musicians with my jazz collection.

When I was 16, I wanted to get involved and they created a position for me as an assistant to the recording engineer (I worked under John Newton who was kind

of a mentor to me). I did that for the next seven summers—that’s why I call myself a Tanglewood brat. There were other sons and daughters of musicians and staff members who were working as guides or backstage crew for the theater or the Shed. I would see the Bernstein kids there, too.

During one of those summers I overlapped with Wynton Marsalis, who was one of the students of the Berkshire Music Center (now called the Tanglewood Music Center). I think the age requirement was 18 at that time but my father somehow wrangled a way to get him from New Orleans to Tanglewood at age 17. He was already an accomplished jazz musician but he could also play Brandenburg Concertos on the piccolo trumpet. My father just plucked him out and said, “You’ve got to come.”

I went to the New England Conservatory (1977-82) and while I was still trying to carve out my music career, I got to play with Wynton and bassist Chuck Israels and some local musicians around Tanglewood in those rare moments when we could put something together to play jazz. I was still working in the recording department those summers, and I would be there in the booth or hanging microphones above the stage. Sometimes I would get a chance to sit in the orchestra as they were

rehearsing. I remember times when Seiji Ozawa was there to rehearse “The Rite of Spring” with the students, and he would break down the orchestra and have each section play alone; this would be during one of those really dense moments. So you hear everything right there—the bare bones of this incredible piece, while sitting amongst the French horn players, or in back, in the percussion section. That was an amazing thing to experience. B

“Gunther was a big believer of what Serge Koussevitzky laid down back in the ’30s, that Tanglewood was supposed to be a center for training and nurturing young musicians in pursuit of a career in classical music.

Gunther Schuller with his two sons, Edwin and George (in stroller), at The Lenox School of Jazz, Music Inn, in August 1959. Is it any wonder they both became musicians?

For the Love of Theater

Jeffrey Borak began reviewing Berkshires theater 37 years ago, and remains just as taken today with the medium’s magic.

By Jeffrey Borak

Let the tsunami begin. That’s kind of the way I looked upon the coming of the summer cultural season in the Berkshires in the days when I was The Berkshire Eagle’s arts editor, as well as its theater reviewer and feature writer.

I’d sit at my desk in late April or early May, look ahead at the seemingly overwhelming schedule of events between now and Labor Day weekend that would require coverage, shudder at the thought of how it would all get done, and then take the plunge.

I’m no longer the Eagle’s arts editor, but I still write about and review shows at

theaters in and immediately around the Berkshires year round. Nothing, however, is like the summer season—its intensity, its compactness, its variety, its pace, its rhythm, its atmosphere. The demands can be formidable: writing reviews—sometimes six or seven a week during the height of the season—in ways that are insightful and fresh. How often I have found myself thinking, “How many times have I used that phrase, that imagery, that adjective, in previous reviews?”

I like to think of theatergoing, especially in the Berkshires and environs, as an

adventure: a voyage of discovery, a leap into the unknown, an acceptance of an invitation to suspend disbelief for a couple of hours in the company of strangers. That suspension of disbelief lies at the heart of the theatrical experience, irrespective of whether I’m working or in the theater as a “civilian.” Can I accept the terms and creative conditions of the world being created onstage? Does the production make sense in terms of character relationships, the interaction between performance and production elements, the integration and purpose of song and dance in a musical, the dynamics between

Borak in the Colonial Theatre

and among the performers onstage? If not, why not? The answers don’t always come readily or easily.

I like having a copy of the play I’m reviewing, especially if I’m interviewing someone connected with the production. It ensures the accuracy of quotes, character names, relationships, plot points. The script gives me a sense of the world the playwright has in mind. I remember one director telling me during an interview that it was obvious from the questions I was asking that I had read the play. He appreciated that but, at the same time, he was sorry I had because there would be no surprise for me when I saw the show, no discovery. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. A script is a blueprint, as more than one playwright has told me. A play truly doesn’t come alive until it is on stage, spoken out loud, interpreted, given color, nuance, and meaning.

I take notes—sometimes a lot, sometimes few. There have been times when I’ve been so moved by a show that I’ve simply stopped taking notes altogether. The memory clearly lingers on, takes on its own life to the point that I’m not always sure what’s going to show up on my computer screen when I start writing the next morning.

One of the most challenging reviews I’ve written was of director Barry Edelstein’s 1996 production of Arthur Miller’s “All My

Sons” on Williamstown Theatre Festival’s Other Stage (now Nikos Stage). This is a play I thought I knew very well and, while I look forward to seeing and writing about a Miller play, I’ve regarded “All My Sons” as overly melodramatic and manipulative. This production, however, was absolutely astonishing, breathtaking. It was a revelatory stunner in every way imaginable, down to a set design by Kathleen Widomski that told volumes about the inner life of the play. When it was all done, I remained in my seat, gut-punched. I couldn’t even turn on my car radio during the drive home to Pittsfield. When I got home, my wife saw the sort of dazed, gobsmacked look on my face and, with a degree of alarm, said “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?” I replied, “I have just had the most incredible evening in the theater and I don’t know how I’m going to write about it.” Indeed, it wasn’t easy.

I am a creature of habit, routine. I like to get to my aisle seat just after the house opens—about half an hour before curtain. I may chat with a colleague or two beforehand but I like to settle into my seat, read the program, maybe take some preliminary notes about the set, even if it doesn’t come to life until the show actually is underway.

I’m not particularly sociable when I’m working. Sure, now and then, during intermission or even before

PHOTO: RICHARD FELDMAN

Angie Phillips, Stephen Barker Turner, and Michael Hayden in “All My Sons” at Williamstown Theatre Festival in 1996

the performance begins, I’ll get into a conversation with a colleague or friend I’ve not seen in a while. Mostly I’ll take a stretch and then return to my seat to jot down some notes. Occasionally I’ll get an, “Oh, are you a critic?” from a nearby theatergoer as they see me open my pad and do a bit of writing. I may grumble; I may say “yes” softly and reply “The Berkshire Eagle” when the next question, “Who do you write for?” inevitably is asked, and then I continue writing. My wife once told me that an acquaintance of hers complained to her that I seemed “removed” and “unpleasant” when she asked me during an intermission what I thought about whatever show we were at and I simply scowled at her and walked away.

I don’t stay for opening night receptions and I try to leave at the end of a performance as smoothly as possible. I won’t participate in a standing ovation—which seem to be

a dime a dozen these days. I will clap—to varying degrees of enthusiasm—during a curtain call and I certainly will laugh at something genuinely funny. By the same token, my wife would occasionally give me a gentle nudge when I would bury my face in my hand whenever I saw something grossly intolerable or inept onstage. In the four-plus years since her passing, I still anticipate that nudge and catch myself. She trained me well.

My colleagues and I see performances at designated opening nights, or within a day or two following. The official openings come after a brief period of preview performances, which allow the actors, director, and stage crew to “settle” into a show, work out some kinks, and get a sense of how audiences are responding. It’s not uncommon for me to get an inquiry from someone who’s seen a show at a preview and wondered why my review hasn’t yet appeared.

Even on an opening performance, a show rarely has found the layers and nuances it will—one hopes—find as a run progresses. When something isn’t working at an opening, my thinking centers around whether the “failing,” for want of a better word, is momentary and incidental or if it’s something fundamental that’s baked into the cake.

Theater is a dynamic and organic art. A production can mature, deepen in nuanced ways as a cast makes itself at home with a play over the course of its run.

I got a sublime reminder about the dynamics of theater from the late George Grizzard during my first summer at The Eagle. He appeared early that summer of 1986 in Berkshire Theatre Festival’s remarkably illuminating production of Edward Albee’s “A Delicate Balance.” Grizzard and I had spent nearly two hours in an interview/conversation in the courtyard of The Red Lion Inn. Later that season, as I was waiting in line at the box office for my ticket to a matinee performance of Gore Vidal’s “Visit to a Small Planet,” I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Grizzard. He graciously thanked me for my rave review. I was waiting for the “but.” He said, “I understand why you all have to see shows when you do, but I wish it had been possible for you to

come the final Friday [of what was only a two-week run]. It took us all that time to begin to understand what that play is about.” But on that opening night, they could have fooled us all. Actually, they did. Theater has been part of my life since the age of four when my parents took me to my first Broadway show (“Oklahoma!”). I’ve acted and directed in community theater. I’ve also been an avid moviegoer since I was a kid. I shared movie reviewing duties at The Eagle with former editorial page editor Bill Everhart for a couple of years. But for me, when it comes down to it, there is nothing like live theater—in person, in a space with others. It’s about immediacy: direct communication between the artists onstage and those of us in the audience.

I love seeing pure, unvarnished talent at work in all its intelligence and skill, leaving no tool in the box unused.

I love laughing. I love being entertained simply for the sake of being entertained. I love being emotionally moved, intellectually stimulated, and engaged. The most meaningful compliment I’ve ever received came during a conversation with a theater acquaintance who, at one point, paused, looked at me and said, “You really do love theater, don’t you?!”

Yes. I do. See you on the aisle! B

“A Delicate Balance,” Berkshire Theatre Festival, 1986

THEATRE FESTIVAL

Good to Go

Tips for leaving your house (and pets) in solid hands this summer season

By Courtney Maum

My husband and I moved from Windsor Terrace, N.Y., to Sandisfield, in April of 2007. We’d been so focused on gathering the materials and financing needed to close on the log cabin we’d fallen in love with that we hadn’t considered the social challenges (or rewards) of moving to a rural town. But when it snowed two days after our arrival and our neighbor Richard showed up—with a shovel, because he correctly imagined that the April storm had caught us unprepared— we understood how essential our neighbors would be to our happiness—nay, survival— in the microclimate that is 01255.

The importance of good neighborship only became clearer when we managed to get our fixer-upper into a stable enough condition that we could leave it occasionally. Vacation prep was easy enough

in our twenties: We had one key for the doors, and no offspring, plants, or pets. But things have changed a lot since 2007. With the exception of house keys (we still have just the one), we have numerous plants, one child, and an anxious Maine Coon cat that immediately defecates if you put him in a car. We’re lucky to have neighbors willing to check on our basement after a rainstorm or open a can of Whiskas, but it took us time and effort to build up these relationships—you can’t exactly pop by your neighbors’ and ask them to clean your turtle tank if you just closed on your house. If you’re new to the Berkshires and either don’t know your neighbors yet, or don’t even know where to find your neighbors because you have a lot of land, here are a few tips for summer travel.

Consider a housesitter for extended absences.

We’re lucky to live somewhere people want to vacation. Thanks to our region’s cachet, the short-term vacation rental market is a brisk one. But these rentals come with costs both figurative (the effect of frequent rentals on local residents’ quality of life, the decrease of affordable housing stock) and literal (taxes and fees). Not to mention the work that goes into getting your place renter-ready, which usually entails removing the personal touches that make your house a home. After years of living here, we’ve found that we don’t want to take down our daughter’s drawings from the refrigerator; we’ve become rather attached to the ice cream cutout that is taped—for a reason I can’t remember—to our kitchen backsplash; and we don’t have the stomach for four-star reviews about a house that’s five stars to us.

Accordingly, we like using housesitters. To date, we haven’t had to pay anyone nor have we engaged professionals. Many out-of-towners are willing to swap light plant and pet care for a free stay somewhere bucolic—though little extras, like covering the cost of travel or leaving a lake pass for your visitor, are always appreciated. While it’s a solid feeling— gifting someone with a needed change of scenery—reliable housesitters can be hard to find, and engaging one requires a leap of faith. (Do they know their way around a wood stove? Do they know that lily pollen is toxic to cats?)

If you’re considering the housesitting route, start by identifying city friends who would appreciate a country living trial. Next, move on to the college-aged folks in your social circle—I bet there’s a grad out there who would love nothing more than to contemplate their next life move while watering your ficus. After that, dip into your work, school, yoga, church or synagogue contacts—private chat groups and forums are a good place to ask around for tips, just make sure not to post your actual “away” dates if you don’t know and trust the group. (One of my favorite online forums is the Facebook group Sanity in

Motherhood, from Ilana Siegal of LifeWorks in Great Barrington—lots of resources there!)

Entrust your fur babies to the experts. If you’re leaving the animal children at home during your vacation, Rover.com connects you with local pet-sitting, dog-walking, and grooming services. If you decide to take Fluffy to a kennel, Pittsfield offers a veritable paw-palooza of offerings: Animal Inn of the Berkshires, Shaker Hill Pet Resort, and Love Us and Leave Us all come highly rated. Further south, Camp Wagalot in Stockbridge is a local favorite, and our first cat loved Sand Road’s Sit, Play, Stay resort in Falls Village. (Our second cat, as I established, refuses to leave our house.) Plan early if you go this route: most kennels require up-todate vaccinations, and sometimes a meet and greet before you can book.

Come home to a clean house. Regardless of where you’re going, you’ll want to come back to a tidy house. The familyowned services at Berkshire Family Cleaning in Lenox, GB Cleaning Services in Pittsfield, and K’s Cleaning in Hinsdale will make sure everything is shiny for your return.

Put all your eggs in one (gift) basket. We like to welcome our housesitters with maps of the region, information about local hikes, and a basket of tasty local treats. Bola Granola, Six Depot Coffee, farmstand eggs, chocolate bread from Berkshire Mountain Bakery, and fresh flowers from Sandisfield’s own Snow Farm make excellent basket stuffers. Add a list of emergency numbers, pet and home instructions, your Wi-Fi password, and a lake and/or transfer station pass if your town requires one, and both you and your housesitter should be good (for you) to go! B

Courtney Maum is the author of five books, including the publishing guide “Before and After the Book Deal” and memoir “The Year of the Horses,” chosen by the “Today” show as the best read for mental health awareness. She lives in Litchfield County.

Ripe for the Picking

Our berry season is fleeting—savor these juicy gems while you can.

By Alana Chernila

The wild black raspberry plant is a work of thorny genius. The New England native grows where it likes, with equal affinity toward home gardens, deep woods, and roadside plots. If it has grown in a spot you frequent (and I imagine it has, given its abundance here in the Berkshires) you’ve likely watched the plant come about slowly, with one terrifying cane that will take a small chunk out of your leg if you’re not paying attention. From there the blackcap plant (as it is also known) grows, multiplying its thorn-covered stalks until it resembles something between a bush and a tentacled

alien. It is not beautiful in any traditional sense, but its method of feeding those who seek its unparalleled fruit is perfect.

It starts in the weeks just after the summer solstice, a few berries ripening at a time. You will always find ripe and unripe berries on the same plant—the plant matures just enough berries to entice the picker (human, bird, or other creature) to pluck them, and that very action inspires more berries and more ripening. It’s a relationship between plant and picker that benefits both. The result is usually no more than a handful picked on the side of the road or along the path to a

favorite swimming hole—a few sweet bites for me, a few for you.

Years ago, I had a blackcap season different from all the rest. One summer night on my family’s after-dinner walk along the train tracks near our house, we discovered bush after bush heavy with berries. We braved the thorns and ate as many as we could, then returned with baskets over the next few weeks to pick so many berries that we made pies for us and pies for our neighbors and even batches of thick jam. It was only when I shared our triumph with a friend who lived near the tracks that I learned the railroad had been sending a small vehicle every day that summer, pumping out thick clouds of pesticides to eradicate the berry plants. From then on, we watched the berries ripen, heartbroken, feeling sad for ourselves and offended on the part of the plants.

Of course, there are less wild and sharp berries to pick. My now-grown children were toddlers the first year we went to Thompson-Finch Farm in Ancram, N.Y., to pick organic strawberries. I’d never had anything even close to as delicious as that first sun-drenched berry. As I worked to fill my box, my knees were stiff and itchy on the straw between the rows and my kids were covered in juice as they gorged on a fruit that had once seemed so precious and special, but was literally everywhere. My husband now goes to pick every year, as the season coincides with his break as a teacher. And the real work of strawberry picking happens when the berries sit on the counter demanding to be cut and put into freezer bags immediately, before they turn to mush. He knows he’ll spend the whole day chopping, and I reward him with an annual deep-dish strawberry pie.

It’s Pie Time!

When you have enough berries to make a pie, there is no choice but to make one. I like my pies not so sweet, with fruit that still holds its shape. Combine about 3 pints of berries with 1/2 to 2/3 cup sugar (depending on the tartness of your berries), the zest and juice of one lemon, a pinch of salt, and 1/4 cup cornstarch or arrowroot powder in a mixing bowl. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes, then scrape it into a prepared pie crust. (It can be your favorite trusted recipe or just a frozen store-bought crust—pie is pie.) Roll out a second crust, transfer it to the pan so it covers the filling, and trim it so it hangs about an inch over the sides. Crimp the edges together and cut a few steam vents in the top crust. Put the pie in the freezer while you preheat the oven to 375°F. Transfer the pie to a baking sheet and bake until the crust is golden and the juices bubble through the vents, about 1 hour. Cool before serving. Depending on the water content of your berries, the pie might be runny, but it’s nothing a little vanilla ice cream won’t fix.

Then there are the blueberries, sometimes low and wild and so often partnered by poison ivy, other times cultivated on idyllic farms with names like Blueberry Hill. My favorite blueberry patches always seem to have a view. I learned from a farmer friend to attach a string to an empty yogurt container and hang it around my neck so I can pick the plump, deep blue berries with both hands. This kind of blueberry picking is upright, civilized, and may even involve a nice sunset.

Of course, berries don’t have to be just a summer food now that we can get them in the supermarket all year long. Sometimes those off-season berries are okay and sometimes they’re even pretty good, but a container often seems to cost as many dollars as the number of berries it holds, taunting us as we take mediocre bites with a quiet chant of “What were you thinking eating a strawberry in January?” That berry is a shadow of its summer self. But now, in the summer, we store up as many sweet, sun-filled bites as we can. The memory will carry us through till we can repeat the cycle again next summer, when the berries will return with more sweetness and juice than ever. B

Alana Chernila is the author of three cookbooks, including “Eating from the Ground Up: Recipes for Simple, Perfect Vegetables;” her work has been published in Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, and other magazines. She lives in Great Barrington.

Screen Time

amps), but its floors have warped to a ridiculous state and its insulation skills are somewhat laughable. I think our real estate agent put it best when he delicately proclaimed, “It’s not exactly a hedge fund house…”

That was okay with us since we didn’t have hedge fund pockets. What we did have was a love of porches and a desire to own a house that had one.

We had noticed it ages before it went on the market. Situated at the foot of a steep road and steps from a beloved cafe, the white wood frame structure appeared vast to me, and its side porch, which wrapped around to the back, elevated its stature.

When its “For Sale” sign went up, I was pleasantly surprised that its price was near our budget, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to be in the middle of a village. That changed as soon as we stepped inside and were greeted by the roar of the backyard brook through the kitchen windows. I said an expletive to the agent (in a friendly, “we’re sunk” kind of way), then we headed out to the porch, which was even better from the inside. Sure, its screens were littered with holes and its floors were in dire need of a paint job, but that verdant backdrop, complete with a wooden bridge over the effusive brook, inclined us to make a bid that day.

By Jane Larkworthy

It’s 6:30 on a long-anticipated warm morning and the backyard is in hyper birdsong mode. If I were a watercolor painter, the only shade I’d need to capture the scene from our porch is green, leaving parts of my white canvas bare to recreate the rails through negative space. The dinner table is littered with tossed linen napkins, water and wine glasses, a bottle or two of Pellegrino, and an array of mismatched votive holders.

Only the food had been removed the night before, as we like leaving the rest for the next day. The porch does morningafter hangover well.

Our 1790s house has never received a major overhaul. Rather, it’s been somewhat maintained, albeit in minimal, necessary ways. The fireplace eventually relinquished its duties to the baseboard heaters and electricity was installed (though never more than 100

When friends come to dinner, there is usually some rubbernecking in the kitchen, which makes sense. Guests want to offer assistance and, well, it’s also where the wine is, but veteran guests will usher rookies to the porch where two wrought-iron sofas await near the set dinner table.

Nothing tickles me more than when I hear friends recall that they met each other on our porch. I suppose it’s a payit-forward type of thing. The weekend we moved in, a note was taped to our door inviting us to dinner down the street. Once we procured an outdoor table and had done a few practice runs, we reciprocated the invite and asked our new neighbors to bring a few friends. This has evolved into a gastronomic version of that old Fabergé Organics

What does our writer love more than napping on her porch? Having dinner there with friends and neighbors.

shampoo commercial (don’t know it? YouTube it). What better way to meet people—and acquire new friends—than through food, drink, and maybe even a nice breeze?

Dinner parties aside, the porch is equally magical for the solitude it offers. With its posterior positioning, I can take naps in privacy while being lulled to sleep by a distant dog bark or neighbors chatting as they walk up our road. And more than a few times, my husband and I have found ourselves competing for the spot in which to join our respective Zoom meetings. But its most favored function seems to be the Saturday evening meal.

The luxury of this is not lost on us, and perhaps that’s why we host so many meals here. But one doesn’t need a porch to gather. We have friends who host a bonfire every full moon; others organize group hikes. Another sends out a vast email thread when volunteers are needed for a charity event with which she’s involved. What matters is showing up.

Now, as an avid subscriber to “the best plans are canceled plans” theory, I’m the first to sigh with relief when this occurs. But recently, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy announced that loneliness is a health crisis. In his report, Murthy listed six foundational pillars that outline the framework of a new national strategy, the last of which called out to me: Cultivate a culture of connection.

A culture of connection. Show me four words that more aptly describe this area. B

It Takes Our Village:

Four Simple Tips for Delightful Dinners

1Ask for help:

Of course, the well-mannered guest will ask “What can I bring?” If you’re having a big group, consider asking those who love to cook for help with the sides. If you’re a control freak (like I am), send them the recipe. Guests love guidance, but it also takes the pressure off. If they’re following your recipe and the dish bombs, it’s not their fault.

2 Originality is so overrated:

A firm believer that everything is derivative, I find no shame in blatantly stealing others’ ideas, be it the recipe I asked Maria for, the candlestick holders from Sett that Holly turned me on to, or Hope’s aforementioned “ask for help” suggestion. And shouting out the source seems to also be appreciated.

3 Stay warm:

If the weather is meh, we’ll often take an “inside or the porch?” guest poll. Since the porch always wins, I’ll drape a throw blanket on the back of every chair.

4 Get the message out:

At a recent dinner, instead of place cards, I wrote guests’ names on save-the-date cards for an upcoming benefit with which I was involved. Subtle? Not exactly, but most were intrigued to ask more about the organization, and I subsequently proved my subtlety by not following up afterwards.

by Anna Ziegler directed by David Auburn featuring David Adkins and Rebecca Brooksher

LEE LEWIS and CARL PERKINS

and choreography by Greg Santos

direction by Colin Summers

Pedal, Paddle, and Run

The Great Josh Billings RunAground is a proud Berkshires tradition, now in its 47th year. If you want to be part of the spirited competition, now’s the time to get training.

By Tom Caraccioli

Were he still alive, 19th-century American humorist and Lanesborough native Henry Wheeler Shaw might be amused to learn how his words are being used today—and that his pseudonym, Josh Billings, has become a household name in the world of triathlon racing.

Shaw was born on April 21, 1818, and was arguably the second most famous American humorist behind Samuel L. Clemens (aka Mark Twain). Shaw was the son of United States Congressman Henry Shaw, as well as the grandson and nephew of two other members of the House of Representatives. The future writer and

humorist, who also was a prankster, attended Hamilton College (in Clinton, New York) before being expelled for removing the clapper from the school bell. He returned to Western Massachusetts where he worked as a farmer, coal miner, explorer, and auctioneer before finding his calling as a journalist in the upstate New York town of Poughkeepsie.

In 1867, under the pseudonym Josh Billings, Shaw began making a name for himself, writing in a folksy voice, full of slang and eccentricities, in the New York Weekly. His work made him famous and a national idol.

So, those words he might be surprised to learn are being used to describe the bike-paddle-run triathlon, The Great Josh Billings RunAground?

“To finish is to win.”

“That was the inspiration the organizers used to begin the race,” said president of the Josh Billings Committee, Larry Lane. “It’s as true today as it was back then because the race is very inclusive. What made The Josh an institution in the Berkshires is that it attracts recreational athletes.”

New race director Abby Chaput— overseeing her first Josh this year after returning home to her roots in western

PHOTO: CAROLINE BONNIVIER SNYDER

The start of The Great Josh Billings RunAground, 2019.

Fred Rutberg’s One and Only Josh

Berkshire Eagle publisher Fred Rutberg remembers when The Josh was just a seedling of an idea. Rutberg was a lawyer in Stockbridge, doing some work for the Berkshire Hills Conference, the local agency focused on tourism. The Conference was planning an event, a triathlon, slated for spring 1977.

“A good friend’s mother had passed away and I went to visit the house. We were sitting around, talking, and I mentioned the race [The Josh] that was going to be taking place, with cycling, paddling, and running.

“My friend’s brother said, ‘I’ll cycle.’ My friend said, ‘I’ll run.’ And my former law partner’s wife said, ‘We can man a canoe together.’ So, we made a team and honored my friend’s mother by naming our team after her former health food store, The Golden Sheaf.

“We didn’t have a canoe and I hadn’t been in one for 20 years, so we borrowed one,” Rutberg continued. “It was huge, like the Queen Mary of canoes. We carried it down to the boat launch, and then we saw these guys—much more fit than us—carrying these Teflon canoes and we knew we were in trouble. It was a very cold and choppy day on the lake, but my law partner’s wife brought a flask of Jack Daniels with her, so we were able to stay warm while paddling.”

Was that the first of many for Rutberg?

“No one has ever invited me to be on a team again,” he said with a laugh, “and I haven’t been in a canoe since.”

Patty Spector shared some of her memorabilia from 21 years as race director, including photos, programs, and posters.

PHOTOS: PATTY SPECTOR

Massachusetts—agrees. “We have our winners and awards at the end of the race, and that’s important. But this is an event where your family can come and watch you run and hang out at the Bash afterwards, a celebration with food and a kids’ race.”

But make no mistake: While the race welcomes all wanting to participate, it also includes serious triathletes testing their grit.

The first event took place in spring of 1977, while others were slated for the fall. “The idea was to take advantage of the summer season with Tanglewood to promote the event and then come back in the fall during the foliage season,” Lane said. There were 49 teams—196 total participants—running, biking, and canoeing that first year. It was a cold, rainy day. But the event was a hit.

The original course started with the running portion held in North Berkshire County at Mount Greylock High School. Participants exchanged their running shoes for bikes at the Brodie Mountain ski area and rode through Lanesborough, Pittsfield, and into Lenox, then on to the Stockbridge Bowl where the final leg—canoeing—took place.

Today, there’s a South County starting point in Great Barrington, with a 27-mile bike ride to Stockbridge Bowl for a 5-mile paddle (the introduction of kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding as an alternative to canoeing was a new twist in 2012), and then a 6.4mile run—all followed by the Bash at Camp Mah-Kee-Nac. These days, up to 1,500 people regularly participate.

While athletes come from all over, this is very much a community event, and several local sponsors have indeed been part of The Josh for years, said Lane, pointing out the support of The Berkshire Eagle, Arcadian Shop, Berkshire Outfitters, Berkshire Bank, and Price Chopper/Market 32. To date, The Great Josh Billings RunAground has donated more than $100,000 to the Berkshire United Way, and given to other organizations, as well.

While we can only guess what the race’s namesake would think of the event, his words seem to apply to every participant and the community as a whole. To finish is to win. B

Tom Caraccioli, along with his identical twin brother, Jerry, has coauthored two books, “Striking Silver: The Untold Story of America’s Forgotten Hockey Team” and “BOYCOTT: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.” He writes a column for USA HOCKEY magazine with his brother, “In the Corners with Tom & Jerry.”

And the Winner Is...

Former Hinsdale resident Steve Dudziak may never have crossed the finish line in first place in The Great Josh Billings RunAground. But he wins in terms of the number of consecutive races: He participated every year from 1977 to 2021.

Dudziak fondly remembers how he got involved in the “crazy little race.”

“I was at a neighbor’s house, who was a teacher at North Adams State College, and he asked me if I knew how to paddle a canoe,” Dudziak remembered. “I said, ‘Sure I do.’ He asked because there was a race coming up and it sounded like fun. We were in a 1920s canvas and wood canoe that we had to tape to keep from leaking. That was how I started the race.”

Dudziak went on to race in 45 consecutive “Joshes.” “Racers that did 10 years in a row were honored, then 15, then 20,” Dudziak said. “When I got to the 30th, there were only three of us. When we got to the 40th, there were two of us—Dick Billetter and myself.” Billetter passed away in the months following that race.

“I like The Josh Billings because of the family aspect of it,” Dudiak said. “All the way through, my team was called Four for Fun. I got my son and daughter involved with it; through the years my brothers and sisters all got involved, too.”

And while Dudziak stays active by canoeing, kayaking, bicycling, and walking near his Venice, Florida, home, any thought of him returning to participate in another Josh should be quickly dispelled.

“No, in spite of COVID and the virtual race, my goal was to do 45, and I did,” Dudziak said with pride.

Looking good: Steve Dudziak’s collection of Josh t-shirts spans years.

“What made The Josh an institution in the Berkshires is that it attracts recreational athletes.”

Creativity and Collaboration

Two local talents—our columnist and photographer Stephen G. Donaldson— explain that when artists support one another, their work flourishes.

By Pops Peterson

by Stephen G. Donaldson

Among the 100,000 photos in my camera roll, there is none more special than the picture of me air-kissing my dearly departed friend Joan Rivers. I was 14 when I met Joanie. She hired me, my brother, and a few other stage-door groupies to clap and scream at her debut performance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” on May 22, 1966. She paid us all a huge $20 bill (a week’s grocery money for a family of four!) and called us back for her second appearance and a Carson show. It was so much fun I soon volunteered to claque for free, and for the rest of her life, whenever I called, there was a comped pair of tickets waiting for me. Sitting in the first row or two, I gave Joan the courage of knowing there was at least one person there on her side. In return, she ushered me into a world of glamour and excitement. Never in my life have I known anyone more generous and kind-hearted. I could never recount all the laughter, joy, inspiration, and encouragement Joanie gave me throughout our lifelong friendship.

But of all these gifts, none has been more valuable than bringing me to photographer Stephen G. Donaldson.

Steve shot this photo when Joan appeared in Great Barrington at the Mahaiwe in 2011. He’d set up his portable studio in a backstage hallway and I was blown away by how fabulous the photos came out. There was a line of Berkshire dignitaries waiting for their own moment with an icon, but Steve stayed calm and in control. Six years later (after Joan’s sudden passing in 2014), when I needed someone to

help me in the studio, I reached out to Steve. Although I had begun this series on my own, shooting on my iPhone, I needed studio help as the setups became larger and more complex. Luckily, Steve was available.

Proprietor of Gallery SGD (in the Great Barrington Flying Church building), Steve is a photographer of our cherished landscapes, as well as a corporate gun for hire, real estate photographer, and tutor of photo techniques. I never needed help more than on our first shoot together, when I had to take 45 individual portraits in one day for my first epic composition, “I’m With Her, (Freedom of Assembly).”

You can imagine the pressure we were under, hosting 45 models in the small studio, all waiting their turn, some of them rocking period costumes. I’d

never attempted anything so ambitious, and there were a thousand ways for the shoot to fall apart. But just as I was there for Joan when she needed confidence, Steve was there for me, and I felt Joan with us in the room. The shoot went off without a hitch—and the resulting image is being featured this summer at my solo exhibition in the Massachusetts State House.

Steve came to the Berkshires via Grosse Pointe, Michigan, where he was born; Coventry, England, where he spent grade school; Michigan again for high school; Ohio for college; and then New York City. With such an itinerant upbringing, it was natural for him to set off around the world on a mission to build a body of work that could serve as the foundation for a photography career. He craftily financed the journey by bartering with airlines and equipment manufacturers for the licensing rights to the photos he would take on the trip.

Photographs

Pops with lifelong friend Joan Rivers

Pops and Steve in Gallery SGD

With two cameras and a backpack—and lots of film—Steve said “so long” to his college sweetheart, Sarah, and trekked through all six inhabited continents. “Once I returned to the U.S., in 1997,” he told me, “I cold called and networked like a maniac and built a client base for a very broad range of work that included stock photography licensing, journalism, corporate assignment work, and public speaking. The business I have now evolved from those roots.”

Steve also called Sarah, then a corporate financial manager and now working as a certified health coach, and moved to Great Barrington in 1998 where Sarah resided with her young daughter. His business flourished with corporate, advertising, travel, aerial, sports, and wedding gigs. He published three successful photo books, “Along Route 7: A Journey Through Western New England;” “Barns of the Berkshires;” and “The Berkshires.”

With camera phones now more powerful than the most exotic professional cameras available 10 years ago, and AI tools at everyone’s fingertips to edit and stylize photos, the demand for professional photogs is being impacted more and more. In the face of this upheaval in photography and the downturn in retail shops, Steve has taken the brave step of opening his own space.

“I opened Gallery SGD in December 2020, right in the heart of the second wave of COVID-19. I had wanted to have my own permanent gallery for years, but had struggled to find a location that I thought was right for me. In late 2020, real estate in the Berkshires was on fire. It was clear that there was going to be a sustained demand for home furnishings and decorations, and that there would probably never be another opportunity like this to sell fine art in my lifetime.”

Perhaps anyone can take a good picture nowadays, but great pictures are created by artists. Steve’s work in Gallery SGD shows the glory of the Berkshire landscapes with joy, reverence, and a persistence of vision that is the hallmark of a true artist.

Pops Peterson is the owner of SEVEN salon.spa in Stockbridge. He’s also an award-winning artist whose solo exhibition, REINVENTING ROCKWELL and BEYOND, opens June 27 at the Massachusetts State House in Boston; it is set to run throughout the summer.

Our store offers a deli, ice cream, floral shop, Berkshire made artisan gifts, wine & beer and groceries

The Blue Light Collection at Gallery SGD

Unusual footprint sightings indicate tr avelling sea monster has arrived

By Clio Hill The New York Prospect

Reports of enormous footprints and piles of unidentified scales continue to come in from across Massachusetts, confirming the belief of time-travelling experts that Morton the Sea Monster has been lurking in the region

Most recently, evidence appeared at the birthplace of another famous sea beast, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick . Staff at Arrowhead, Melville’s home in Pittsfield, discovered distinctive footprints around the historic property While delighted, Executive Director Lesley Herzberg was not necessarily surprised that Morton may have stopped by for a visit.

“Herman Melville was inspired to write his epic

tale of the sea right here in the Berkshires Arrowhead provided him with the perfect view of Mt. Greylock in the distance. During the winter of 1850, he looked out at the profile of Mt. Greylock, the profile appearing like that of a great white whale – one of the inspirations for Moby Dick,” Herzberg said. “ We are excited to hear that Morton has visited Arrowhead – perhaps he was looking for a companion in Moby Dick?”

UPDATE : Morton the Sea Monster is said to now have taken up residence at Norman Rockwell Museum- where its father, creator Tony Sarg , is being celebrated with a new exhibition. Rumor has it, Morton may make a surprise appearance elsewhere. Follow him at #FindingMorton or visit NRM.org/ FindingMorton

Recent Morton the Sea Monster sightings, clockwise from top left: at the gates of Tanglewood, Lenox ; at Olivia’s Overlook above Stockbridge Bowl, West Stockbridge ; in illustrator David Hagen’s Great Barring ton backyard ; in front of the Shaw Memorial and outside the Massachusetts State House, Boston; and in front of Greylock Federal Credit Union, Pittsfield

Summer

Dandelions

Cynthia Wick, Lenox

Acrylic, flashe, painted paper collage, and glitter on board

Floraborealis | June 30—August 27

Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge @cynthiawick.art

ALL THE RIGHT NOTES

BY TONY GERVINO

A quick story: It was a late June evening a few years ago and singer-songwriter Aimee Mann had just paused midway through her 90-minute set at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington.

As is customary in the Berkshires, the capacity audience was raucously appreciative between songs but deathly silent during them, showcasing Mann’s exquisite songwriting and the nearperfect acoustics in the turn-of-the20th-century gem of a theater.

Mann finished a song, then peered out into the audience and asked, “So… where IS this place?”

She was not referring to coordinates on a map. Instead, Mann posed the rhetorical question, with a mixture of awe and admiration: how could a venue from a bygone era offer such state-of-the-art sound and a politely enthusiastic audience?

My wife and I were at that gig, and regularly attend performances all over the Berkshires. In 2016, we put down roots in South Egremont and have been shuttling between our home here and an apartment in Greenwich Village. We’re both fervent supporters of live music.

The Berkshires has always laid out a welcome mat for a steady influx of musicians— and it’s why they continue to make the pilgrimage to present their live creations to packed houses in our myriad theaters, bars, barns, and art museums. In the following pages, take a glimpse into our harmonious past and present.

The Roots performed at MASS MoCA in 2022.

PHOTO: DOUGLAS MASON *

(I’ve been interviewing—and gushing over—musicians since I ran my college radio station in the ’80s, and I currently manage music and original content for a global music streaming service.) Music has really been a throughline in our relationship since we first began dating, over two decades ago. Whoever said that music is the soundtrack to the best and worst moments of our lives may as well have been writing about us.

So, when we weighed the pros and cons of a home in the Berkshires, I was initially resistant, frankly, for wholly ridiculous reasons. I was nervous that the area’s rich cultural history would make it resistant to new sounds and non-mainstream musical acts. I was concerned that I would be bouncing off the walls, unable to experience the same thrills and discovery that I was accustomed to at New York City gigs. (I literally said these exact words. Sadly.)

Going in, I did know this much: James Taylor, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and composer and conductor extraordinaire John Williams have homes in Berkshire county, and alt-rock giants Wilco have established their de facto headquarters here. I just wasn’t considering what drew them to the

area and what impact they’d have on its overall culture. (I know, I know.)

During our first summer here, Dolly Parton performed two blazing sets at Tanglewood and Marshall Crenshaw dropped in to play his hits at The Egremont Barn, just up the road from us. That summer we also welcomed blues great Charles Bradley, country music stars Ricky Skaggs and Rosanne Cash, and rockerturned-children’s music writer Dan Zanes to the area. I was then, and remain, hooked.

This summer we’re going to see Elvis Costello & the Imposters and Robert Plant and Alison Krauss perform within a few days of each other at Tanglewood.

The area’s most visible association with live, contemporary music may be Taylor’s annual July 4th residency at Tanglewood; however, more areas and venues are raising their musical profile. North Adams’ MASS MoCA is the setting for three music festivals Wilco’s Solid Sound, Bang on a Can, and FreshGrass North Adams and has become the beating heart of the Berkshires’ experimental music scene.

Although the biannual Solid Sound Festival is off this year, indie rock legends The Pixies and Modest Mouse will be

performing at MASS MoCA in August. And a month later, the FreshGrass North Adams festival (September 22-24) will feature a lineup headlined by Dropkick Murphys, playing an acoustic set—a development that I wasn’t aware was actually possible.

Clearly, there’s an anti-establishment ethos and cultural defiance tucked in here amid the natural beauty. It’s not as if Berkshire residents don’t care what is popular elsewhere; it just has no bearing on what we choose to spend our money on, or how we choose to live. It’s presumably why Arlo Guthrie chose to base his anti-war folk opus “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” on his friend’s Stockbridge restaurant.

Today, our New York City friends who spend their weekends out in the Hamptons or down the Jersey shore will ask what it is about the Berkshires that is so captivating for us. Is it the natural beauty, the welcoming locals, or simply, the availability of an oversize spectrum of culture at our fingertips?

Singer-songwriter and best-selling author Josh Ritter probably answered this question best, just prior to his show at the Mahaiwe last summer, when he told me: “Man, this place is beautiful.”

In more ways than one. B

AIMEE MANN: MICHAEL LAVIN FLOWER; JAMES TAYLOR: GILLIAN JONES

Aimee Mann (left) at Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in 2018 and James Taylor (above) at Tanglewood in 2022

The Berkshires’ Own

BILLY KEANE

BY KIM TAYLOR

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BEN GARVER

Kim and James Taylor may have discovered singersongwriter Billy Keane, but his music—a soulful blend of folk, rock, and country—is for all of us. He has a new album coming out this fall, and after not seeing each other for a decade, Kim and Billy caught up to talk about that, and so much more. She shares the story here.

On a recent barely-there spring day in the heart of Lenox, I was caught in a cloudburst. I was searching for Billy Keane’s self-described cottage, but it was eluding me—hence, I was careening up and down the street in figure eight U-turns.

As if on cue, the rain stopped and Billy appeared, smiling and waving from his porch. It had been more than a decade since I’d seen him and there he stood: six-foot and change, slim, blond—exactly the same.

We met Billy in 2009; he was hired by our assistant, Ellyn Kusmin, to help out around James’ studio. Billy said the last thing he remembered doing for us was sorting photos from the archives and finding a series of images of James and Joni Mitchell shooting pool.

Back then, it didn’t take long for us to figure out he was a singer—and a good one—which led to a series of gigs (see next page). One was an impromptu preChristmas gig at The Lion’s Den; Billy said a highlight was hanging out in the makeshift dressing room upstairs in a Red Lion room and having one of our twins, then 9, take a flying leap onto an antique four-poster bed which then crashed to the floor.

“I have the kettle on,” Billy said, cheerfully, as our reminiscences poured out.

“Chamomile?”

He knew how to welcome a soggy, shivering friend from the past and graciously ignored her muddy footprints on his pristine floor. Billy Keane is now happily ensconced in a quintessential country cottage surrounded by green and red buds on the threshold of blossoming. It’s a simple, spare but inviting habitat: original hardwood floors, white walls, a piano, a dark sunburst-designed Telecaster, a small instrument case as an end table, and his beloved Martin.

“Yeah, I was so lucky,” something he says a lot. “I was visiting a guitar store in Nashville and this guy came lumbering out of the back with a 00-18 Martin. It had a big old crack, but that doesn’t affect the sound,” he explained. And then apologized to me for sounding like a “guitar nerd.”

We settled into a pair of vintage Danish falcon-back chairs and drank our tea with ice cubes. “I’m really a chicken now— burned my mouth too many times before a show,” he offered, shyly.

He spoke about the importance his surroundings have on his work, specifically his upcoming record, “Oh, These Days,” due out in September. “This place is everything I could want or need. A friend of mine—who’s also a contractor— and I worked on it during the pandemic. The environment where I write is part of the creative process,” he said. “I like to curate the whole experience of writing and recording, to know where it springs from,” he said. “Oh, These Days” is a beautiful collection of songs, written in his cottage during the pandemic. It features the members of his touring band, The Waking Dream: Brian Kantor, Miles Lally, and David Tanklefsky.

“They’re such cool guys,” he said. “We pile in the van after each gig. I like to drive and they each have their own captain’s chair,” he explained, gesturing to the gray 2011 Sienna minivan in his driveway. Besides his busy touring and recording schedule, Billy has remarkable energy he directs toward other pursuits and worthy causes.

He’s currently enrolled online with a full course load at Boulder, Colorado’s Naropa

Kim and Billy, May 2023, at Billy’s house in Lenox

University. “I never actually received my BA and I’m determined to do it,” he explained. Naropa is a Buddhist inspired, nonsectarian institution; Billy’s studies are focused on Buddhist psychology.

In addition, Billy has worked with the Berkshire Community Action Council, which provided thousands of meals for people out of work from COVID. He has also helped host an Afghan refugee family as well as a young man from Ukraine, who stayed with him for five weeks. Billy is a fan of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, admiring her willingness to take on Eversource and Aspen Dental, and he has an idea of working toward creating subsidized housing for Berkshire-based artists.

Although he is restrained in discussing it, he counts getting sober as one of the main blessings of his life. “I recently had a guy come up to me after a show. I didn’t know him. He just looked at me

“THE ENVIRONMENT WHERE I WRITE IS PART OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS.”

These portraits were shot for The B at Holiday Brook Farm, in Dalton. holidaybrookfarm.com

Singing Together

In 2010, James, Billy, and I tag-teamed for the national anthem and “America the Beautiful” at Wahconah Park’s opening day for the Pittsfield Colonials. We also did a track for the television show “House” —a cover of the song “Games People Play” for a pivotal scene involving House being stood up by his love interest, Cuddy, for Thanksgiving dinner; here we are recording the song together in TheBarn, James’ studio.

and said ‘You learned early,’ referring to my sobriety. It doesn’t seem like I made this decision that early,” he mused. “I was in a very dark and destructive place. Maybe that’s why I feel I have to make up for lost time—in everything I do.”

His life is full to the brim. He is preparing to head to Arkansas, where he’ll participate in a songwriting festival. Then he returns to record a live, acoustic version of the new record at Studio 9 at Porches, followed by a summer tour. After the album comes out, there will be a fall tour.

Even though he contemplates moving to a city with a bigger music scene, like Nashville, he’s adamant that he’ll never entirely leave the Berkshires. “I hope I can always hold on to this little place,”

he said, gesturing to what is now a room dappled with light streaming through the trees, the sun having prevailed after days of rain.

“I do worry about the darkness of our world. It’s impossible not to be affected by it and to feel so much being torn apart. As a musician, I think about protecting each other’s hearts. I think that’s a responsibility, actually.”

When asked about a significant other, he looked down at the cup of tea in his lap. “I’m up for dating but I travel so much, it’s difficult to be in a relationship. But you know, in the end, music is such a romantic partner…” His voice trailed off, leaving that hallmark twinkle in his indigo eyes. B

“AS A MUSICIAN, I THINK ABOUT PEOPLE PROTECTING EACH OTHER’S HEARTS.”

Playing at Mountain Day at Bousquet Mountain, 2022, above and opposite. Billy and The Whisky Treaty Roadshow will be back for the festival this year, on July 22.

THAT WAS THEN...

Legends and Lore: The Music Inn

By Seth Rogovoy

Once upon a time, giants roamed these hills. Specifically, musical giants. We still get our fair share of them at Tanglewood, MASS MoCA, and other venues. It takes nothing away from these awesome performers—who bring out the stars and the crowds each summer—to say that the Berkshires may not have become a destination for big names in rock, folk, jazz, and roots music had it not been for a tradition established in the mid-20th century. Right down the road from Tanglewood, a place called Music Inn provided a kind of alternative to what was being played at the Shed.

About a half-century ago, in the rich, fertile days of the 1960s and 1970s, a wide range of musicians held forth in a kind of annual gathering of counterculture vibes. Among them were Dizzy Gillespie, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Odetta, the Rev. Gary Davis, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Weather Report, Ravi Shankar, Dave Brubeck, Taj Mahal, Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley, Muddy Waters, Hot Tuna, Don McLean, Carly Simon, the Kinks, the Byrds, America, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Steve Miller, Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, and The Allman Brothers.

Music Inn was founded by cultureloving New Yorkers Philip and Stephanie Barber, who in 1950 bought a cluster of outbuildings—including a carriage house, icehouse, potting shed, and several smaller structures—that once belonged to the summer estate of the Countess de Heredia. (The estate’s main building is a Gilded Age mansion called Wheatleigh, now a luxury hotel.) The Barbers’ plan was to re-create in this rural oasis the cultural milieu they had left behind by making their new home a magnet for the sort of company, conversation, and conviviality they had come to treasure in the city. With about 20 rooms and a small dormitory, the inn could house as many as 75 people, although this number fluctuated quite a bit over the years. They called the place Music Inn.

One of their first offerings, created along with their friend, jazz critic and historian Marshall Stearns, was the annual Folk and Jazz Roundtable, a quasi-academic summer retreat that included lectures and performances by legends of blues, jazz, and folk music. Music Inn had the rare distinction of housing musicians, critics, and scholars in one place, in a casual atmosphere that encouraged give-and-take among the honored guests. The famed jazz critic Nat Hentoff, who attended the roundtables, once likened it to a jazz cruise. “There were really no delimitations as to hours or place, in terms of when you could talk to musicians and when they could talk to each other,” he once told me. “It was a continuous flow, extraordinarily relaxed, and that’s what made it different.” The annual roundtables evolved into the Lenox School of Jazz,

which flourished there briefly in the late ’50s. And the musical scope expanded in the ’60s under the stewardship of a jet-setting entrepreneur named Don Soviero.

But it was under the ownership of David Rothstein in the ’70s that Music Inn gained its reputation as a premier presenter of the hippest rock acts of the day, featuring the kind of artists who performed in legendary venues like the Fillmore East and the Fillmore West, Winterland, and the Cow Palace. More than that, Music Inn became ground zero for the post-Sixties generation. “It was like renting a hotel room at Woodstock,” Vera LeCocq, who lived at and ran the inn for Rothstein for much of the decade, once told me. Kenny Aronoff—at the time a young,

7,500 people attended the The Allman Brothers’ concert at the Music Inn on August 26, 1979.

Listening and Learning: The Lenox School of Jazz

By Jeremy Yudkin

In 1957, famous jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie made his way through the Harvard Club in New York City, stopping at the bar. So the story goes, he said, “Oh, you have a very nice selection [of liqueurs]. I’ll have one of each. Just send them to the next room.” In that next room was a meeting to form the Board of Trustees for the brand-new Lenox School of Jazz.

Gillespie would become very active in the Lenox School of Jazz, teaching piano, composition, trumpet, and ensemble playing to students from around the country and abroad. And he was not the only jazz great to teach (and perform) at this significant but short-lived institution.

How did this Berkshire venture—vital in the history of American jazz yet hardly known today—get started? The Lenox School of Jazz was one of the programs of Music Inn. From the beginning, the Inn’s founders, Philip and Stephanie Barber, intended to dedicate their organization both to music making and musical investigation, with particular emphasis on folk music and jazz. The Barbers recruited John Lewis— composer, pianist, and leader of the Modern Jazz Quartet—as executive director, and attracted students from all over with scholarship funds provided by local and national companies. The schedule was rigorous, with private lessons, ensemble classes, and history and composition classes during the day, and performances in the evenings. Lewis made sure that everybody knew the place was for serious study: 9 a.m. classes began at 9 a.m., and there was no alcohol permitted in the rooms or smoking in the practice studios. “The atmosphere should at all times represent its purposes of intensive, creative study,” Lewis insisted.

Stephanie Barber was also determined to create a place where the focus was on music, not race or politics. At that time, in the Berkshires, African-Americans (and Jews, for that matter) were not welcome in many hotels. Yet at the Lenox School of Jazz, a reversal of American cultural norms was taking place, with (mostly) white students learning from (mostly) black teachers. While silent prejudice at best and outright racism at worst were ingrained in American culture, this reversal was powerfully significant.

The last year of this notable institution was 1960—sufficient funds simply could not be raised to keep it going. But for four years, a musical and cultural revolution was quietly taking place in the heart of the Berkshires. B

Jeremy Yudkin is professor of music and founding director of the Beethoven Research Center at Boston University. He is the author of “The Lenox School of Jazz: A Vital Chapter in the History of American Music and Race Relations,” available from the Lenox Library or the author (yudkinjaf@gmail.com). Throughout the Tanglewood season, he gives free pre-concert Tanglewood Talks at the Lenox Town Hall.

And just down the road...

This was in the 1950s, when jazz was only just starting its long journey to respectability, and when, at Tanglewood, women ushers wore white only (and handed out wraps to cover legs), men sported jackets and ties, and a newspaper editor wrote that the basic atmosphere of the Berkshires “conferred dignity on visitors.”

Dizzy Gillespie shared his talents with students at The Lenox School of Jazz.

DIZZY GILESPIE: AP PHOTO/FRANK C. CURTIN; TANGLEWOOD: BERKSHIRE EAGLE ARCHIVES

aspiring musician from Stockbridge who attended dozens of shows, worked the ticket booth, and played with bands in the on-site pub—has called it “a real hippie hangout.” (Aronoff would go on to play drums with John Mellencamp, Melissa Etheridge, John Fogerty, and Bonnie Raitt, whom he saw perform at the Inn).

It was, in the language of its time, a happening scene. Crowds would gather hours, or even days, beforehand in the leadup to concerts by some of the biggest acts. Rothstein, himself an architect, expanded the property’s offerings to include an art gallery, head shop, music shop, movie theater, and a couple of bars. More than a music venue, it was a lifestyle.

Nancy Fitzpatrick, who attended countless shows at Music Inn during the ‘60s and ‘70s,

had a front-row seat to the shenanigans—she literally lived on the property starting in 1973. Fitzpatrick, who later took over her family’s businesses, including The Red Lion Inn, once told me that Music Inn “was a real wellspring of counterculture, with everything about that that people love and hate, including the town fathers and all of our parents... Tanglewood was kind of the establishment; Music Inn was the renegade concert venue. Everybody’s parents worried about what went on here. They would have probably been disappointed to find out how innocent it all was.”

Cue Don Henley (who performed at Music Inn with his band, the Eagles). The end of the innocence arrived in late summer of 1979, when The Allman Brothers attracted an unruly crowd—many of whom arrived on motorcycles and crashed the gates—and with them the remaining vestiges of idealism, musical and otherwise, that remained of the ’60s. Rothstein saw the writing on the wall, and he had a new vision for the Music Inn property: a beautiful condominium complex that exists to this day. Some say if you close your eyes and listen closely, you can hear the faint traces of music echoing from the surrounding woodland. B

The Music Inn hosted performances by Emmylou Harris (above), Levon Helm of The Band (right) and Pete Seeger (below).

MUSIC INN MEMORIES

Rothstein

David Rothstein

Rothstein is renowned for running Music Inn in the 1970s. Today, he is an owner of Race Brook Lodge.

In 1968, I came up from Philadelphia as an architect— invited by my cousins Bob and Olga Weiss, who were restoring Blantyre in Lenox—to look at a property on the Stockbridge Bowl that had been the Music Inn. It was now abandoned, and could anything be done to save it? There were these amazing structures— incredible barns, stables, icehouses, and potting sheds—designed by architects and landscaped by Frederick Olmsted. My mission was to save the buildings and bring life back into them.

What made that happen? Alice Brock, of Alice’s Restaurant fame, was living next door. She was driving around in her white Cadillac convertible, with a gang of hippie kids riding in the back seat. They said, “Well, hey, we can do some shows on the lawn.” “We can do movies in the carriage barn.” “We can have rock bands in the basement.” “How about a restaurant, Alice?” “Yeah, let’s get going!” And that’s how it happened. It was “Woodstockbridge” happening. Arlo was the opening act. And a kid named Taylor, who wrote a song about Stockbridge, showed up, too.

We were not as big a thorn in the side of the town as some may remember. Over the years, many people in town were happy because their kids had a place of their own in Stockbridge, rather than wandering the country. Town official Dave Gunn and selectman George

Emerson were supportive, too. We invented the Twilight Concerts on the lawn—concerts started at 5:30 so that everybody could get home at a reasonable hour, and it alleviated sound and traffic conflicts with Tanglewood. But the one problem we had was the last Allman Brothers’ concert in ’79. It got a little out of hand. Had I been there, I would have let “the trouble” in the back door. But the music had changed, the culture vibe had changed, and the time had come to think again about saving the buildings. With the town’s help, especially selectwoman Mary Flynn, we were able to renovate and remodel the buildings into residences. Now the village of White Pines is secure, very stable—and quiet.

Arlo Guthrie

Guthrie attended a 2017 Music Inn celebration in Lenox and shared this thought:

Pete [Seeger] was the one who reminded me years ago of what I just realized here, that folk music and jazz were the original social media… But it occurred to me that in order for that kind of social media to actually function as social media, it has to function in a place, unlike today. There has to be a physical place where people actually get to share…what’s going on, what’s happening, what’s changing, what’s important…I was reminded of how important it was to have a place like that.

Terry A La Berry

A La Berry played drums with Arlo Guthrie for 45 years, and is now a children’s musician (look for his performances at the Lenox Library) and author of “Just a Berkshires Kid.” Everyone wanted to play there because the venue was extraordinary. The way it was set up, everybody had a good view and the sound just stayed in that bowl.

So much happened at the Music Inn. There was a theater company [called Lenox Arts Center] there for a while. I played for a musical based on the life of Houdini. The star, playing Houdini, was a total unknown actor from New York named Christopher Walken. He was a great song and dance man.

Patrick White

White grew up as a neighbor to the Music Inn. Today he is a member of Stockbridge’s Select Board.

I was born in late 1962, and when I was three or four and my brother was five, we’d go over and play with Don Soviero’s kid. Initially, the driveway to the Music Inn went directly through the center of my front yard. They moved the road over about 50 yards so that we would have a front yard. But you could still see the [old] road bed and people in the 1960s would drive straight through the front yard to get to the Music Inn. So my dad planted a pine tree, a quick-growing pine tree, in the middle of the road bed so that people couldn’t drive through the front yard.

Encore! For more Music Inn history and news about meet-ups—Rothstein has something in the works for this summer— visit rblodge.com and musicinnarchives.org.

“ALICE OF ALICE’S RESTAURANT FAME WAS DRIVING AROUND IN A WHITE CADILLAC CONVERTIBLE WITH A GANG OF HIPPIE KIDS IN THE BACK SEAT.”

—David

THIS IS NOW.

Music at the Museum: MASS MoCA

By Amy Conway

There’s no shortage of places to see live music in the Berkshires, but MASS MoCA has become a destination unto itself, drawing thousands every summer for its three signature festivals. And it didn’t happen by accident: Offering performing arts was always part of the plan. We spoke with Sue Killam, Director of Performing Arts at MASS MoCA, and Olli Chanoff, Associate Curator of Performing Arts and Film for The Office (which collaborates with MASS MoCA), to learn more.

SUE: We’ve had performing arts since the beginning. Even on our opening weekend we had Los Lobos, so we put that out there as part of our mission right away. So many of the artists that are in the galleries and presenting in our exhibitions are thinking about the culture in similar ways that performing artists are, whether that’s musicians, dance, theater, all of it. So there’s this continuity between things that you’re seeing in the visual arts and hearing in the performing arts.

Solid Sound was our first entree into big music festivals. It challenged us to think creatively about all of our spaces. Wilco is our partner in that. They really curate it with artists that they are interested in and inspired by. *

PHOTO: STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN

The band Mr. Sun plays to a huge crowd at Joe’s Field during the FreshGrass bluegrass festival at MASS MoCA in 2016.

July 27 to 29 Gallery concerts on selected weekdays July 12 to July 27

OLLI: If you are a Wilco fan, it’s like Wilco telling you all the things that they love, that they want you to know about.

One thing that’s really interesting when you’re looking at those three festivals is how specific each one is. They each have their own identity. Bang on a Can is this very specific, very deep dive into the contemporary classical world right now.

SUE: The musicianship is so high and so mind expanding.

OLLI: FreshGrass is co-produced with the FreshGrass Foundation, which is a non-profit, mission-driven organization.

It’s a bluegrass and roots music festival that goes beyond that, as well, in terms of the genres that are presented. It really does speak to the mission of this organization, which is to create platforms for artists to be supported in different ways. It gives artists opportunities to reach new audiences.

SUE: [At FreshGrass] we have one stage that’s dedicated to emerging and local musicians. It’s the hardest-working stage at the festival because it is open from gates open to gates closed. It never stops. It is filled with local talent and people who are exploring this kind of music. In addition to coming to a festival, people want to see beauty and be in nature. And the festivals provide this idyllic place to come and explore. B

“THE MUSICIANSHIP IS SO HIGH AND SO MIND EXPANDING.”

BANG ON A CAN: LOUD WEEKEND

Bang on a Can (left) at MASS MoCA in 2019

SOLID SOUND

The biannual festival returns in 2024 Wilco (left) performs on the main stage at the opening night of the Solid Sound Festival in 2015. The Wilco sign welcomes festival goers to MASS MoCA (below).

FRESHGRASS 2023

September 22 to 24

The band Upstate (above) performs in 2018 and Balsam Range (left) in 2019.

TOM MAJOR

TIME KEEPER

Written and Photographed By Felix Carroll

The hero of this story is named Tom Major, and he has not eaten in six days. The villain of this story is time itself, that lunkhead lurking in its loathsome den.

Among the many devious endeavors on its to-do list is to turn rock and rollers into geriatric has-beens and then cackle about it. But so far, it’s having little success on Major, a 68-year-old drummer going on 16. He’s the long-haired tempo setter and groove warden for about half a dozen Berkshire bands and others in the greater beyond.

This particular story ends with Major playing a Led Zeppelin tribute gig on an empty stomach to a sweat-soaked crowd at The Barn, in Egremont. He’ll wake up the following morning with sore hands and finally break his seven-day fast with a cup of

red lentil soup. He’ll have vanquished time itself for yet another day.

Long live rock!

Let’s back up. It’s a Saturday in April, and Major’s daily calendar reflects a regrettable confluence. He’s made it to the final 24 hours of an uncompromising, week-long fast, and his Led Zeppelin tribute band, Four Sticks, is scheduled to do what it does—blow the roof off a venerable live music venue—at 7:30 p.m.

“I didn’t think this one through,” said Major, referring to his scheduling, as he relaxes on his living room couch, in the

cabin in the woods of Stockbridge that he’s rented for the past eight years.

Somehow, beginning five hours from now and fortified merely with herbal tea and Vitamin C, he will summon the energy to replicate some of rock music’s most forcible, intricate, orchestral, and sophisticated drumming, much of it played with the speed and grandeur of a racehorse.

It’s true he’s feeling a bit protein-starved now, his headspace altered by hunger pangs and monk-like mystical clarity, neither of which will serve any use in tonight’s task.

What he has on his side are six decades of drumming experience. He has gigged with artists including Blood, Sweat & Tears, Carly Simon, and Chuck Berry. For six years Major was the guy playing the Boom-Boom-Boom-da-Boom-Boom the Bo Diddley beat—with Bo Diddley himself. He’s the featured drummer on

Diddley’s 1996 album, “A Man Amongst Men,” playing alongside Keith Richards, Ron Wood and others. He’s played at The Apollo, and on “The Conan O’Brien Show” and the “Today” show.

The son of a jazz drummer, Major grew up on Long Island surrounded by music. His first aural thrill ride—the event that made him first want to pound those drums that his father kept in the house—was hearing a band who had just arrived in the United States, called The Beatles.

“I never looked back,” he said.

He spent much of his adolescence in musty basements, providing backbeats against the sounds of fuzz guitars and sump pumps. He endeavored to master a vast musical vocabulary—jazz, rock, reggae, blues, everything—with his four limbs engaging in four independent tasks. He was accepted into Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where he sharpened his skills

such that he became one of Boston’s go-to session drummers.

Eight years later, he packed up his car and steered it toward Manhattan where he had been summoned to audition with Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes. The band hired him on the spot. He spent two years recording with them and touring the U.S., Europe, and Australia. Then, he was summoned again. This time by legendary rock-and-roller Bo Diddley, “the Originator” himself, whose rollicking rhythms decades prior had led America’s transition from blues to rock and roll.

“I was like, ‘Let me think. We’d fly to all the gigs instead of getting on a bus with 12 other guys,” Major recalled. “I’d get my own room. I’d play with a music legend, a super fun, nice guy.” He took the gig.

In 1993, in between Bo Diddley tours, Major settled on Martha’s Vineyard. There, he founded the celebrated world beat/

jam band Entrain, which continues to this day. Following a divorce, he moved to the Berkshires, in 2014, to help raise the two children he and his former wife share.

Here in the Berkshires, he reestablished musical connections with Will Schillinger, of Pilot Recording Studios in Housatonic. The two had worked together years prior in New York at Schillinger’s former studio. Through Shillinger, Major met the Berkshires’ great musical talents.

“You have players here who are as great as anyone you’d find in New York,” said Major.

The feeling has been mutual.

“He is an absolute professional and has the incredible ability to adapt his playing to suit a vast range of musical genres,” said Schillinger. “Tom also has an innate finesse and command of the drums. We hire him on records whenever possible. Just an incredible player.”

Major has a travel trailer parked in his yard that he has transformed into a practice studio. He keeps a full kit in there. When he plays, the trailer shakes like a giant clothes dryer filled with work boots.

Major has since remarried. He and his wife Kelly have two boys, aged 3 and 5. “They’re not my grandkids,” he said with a laugh. He calls himself “a crazy health nut”—a vegan, a hiker, an occasional hardcore practitioner of fasting—“because I have a reason to live a long life.” He points out the window to his two boys playing in the yard.

In the Berkshires, he has built a vibrant constellation of bands that allow him to make a living mostly locally. Have you seen Hot Sauce? The Rejuvenators? Dead Man’s Waltz? The Grateful Dread? The Eggmen?

That’s him on drums. Are there others? He’s trying to think. But he hasn’t eaten food in six days, and so thinking is not coming easily for him. Four Sticks?

“Jeez, yes: Four Sticks!” he exclaimed. He’s due for a soundcheck at 7 p.m. For this gig, he’ll use a huge, 26-inch bass drum, similar to the one famously played by Led Zeppelin’s innovative rhythmist John Bonham. At full power, that bass drum can serve as a force capable of changing one’s immediate outlook on life, much like the fist of a landlord who’s banging upon a door demanding the rent.

Major, driving a gray minivan large enough for both children and drums, pulls into The Barn’s dirt lot at dusk. Inside, he meets up with his Four Sticks bandmates, Nunzio Signore, Chris Merenda, and Glenn Douglass Jubilee.

“This might get loud,” he predicts just before the band takes the stage.

First, they launch into “Good Times Bad Times,” with Major’s surgically placed sextuplets burying the beater into that bombastic bass drum. By 8:45, he has flawlessly made it through a 15-minute rendition of the marathon drum solo “Moby Dick.” By 9:45, giddy and exhausted, Four Sticks has closed with a thunderous rendition of “Kashmir,” after which Major stands, takes a bow, hugs his bandmates, and graciously accepts the admiring crowd’s accolades for the keeper and tamer of time.

“I feel fine,” Major said, moments later, wiping the sweat off his face, “and I’ll tell you what: I saved a lot of money on food this week.” B

Felix Carroll has twice been named Writer of the Year by the New York Press Association. He lives in Housatonic, is a South County firefighter, and plays a gold sparkle drum kit.

FIRST, THEY LAUNCH INTO “GOOD TIMES BAD TIMES,” WITH MAJOR’S SURGICALLY PLACED SEXTUPLETS BURYING THE BEATER INTO THAT BOMBASTIC BASS DRUM. BY 8:45, HE HAS FLAWLESSLY MADE IT THROUGH A 15-MINUTE RENDITION OF THE MARATHON DRUM SOLO “MOBY DICK.”

PICNICS THAT PACK A PUNCH

We take our picnics seriously in the Berkshires. When you have, say, Bartholomew’s Cobble as the setting or the BSO as the soundtrack, a sandwich and a bag of chips just won’t do. So we asked six of our favorite purveyors to put together portable feasts—and suggest their top spots to enjoy them al fresco.

CREATED BY ROBIN TESORO

PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN

The Classic Big Y World Class Market |

Multiple Locations

The secret is out—the fried chicken at Big Y is fantastic. And with branches in Great Barrington, Lee, Pittsfield, North Adams, and more, the store is never far away. Pair it with favorite summer sides: potato salad, coleslaw, and watermelon. Add more local flavor with Kitchen Garden Farm Sriracha (from Sunderland, MA) and small batch Green Bee honey-sweetened soda. If you need to up your picnic game, stop into The Shop Around The Corner at The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge for a basket, quilt, and more stylish accessories. @theshop.aroundthecorner

“My favorite picnic spot is Bartholomew’s Cobble in Sheffield!”

Sarah Steven, Big Y bigy.com

The Indulgence Provisions Williamstown | Williamstown

Celebrate a special occasion—or just a sunny day—with a lavish spread procured at Provisions. Caviar, anyone? Pick out some local cheeses and butter from Cricket Creek and High Lawn Farm to have with fresh baguette, and then add whatever calls to you. For us, that was tinned fish: smoked salmon (Fishwife x Fly by Jing ), chargrilled sardine tails (Güeyu Mar), pickled red onion, and, yes, Lombardy Siberian Sturgeon caviar. To drink, raise a glass of cider (Berkshire Cider Project), or toast the convenience and fun of red wine in cans (Defio). Maple cream caramels (Big Picture Farm) are a sweet way to end a fine meal. The shop also has supplies—like this gorgeous board from Hemphill Woodworking.

“The top of Sheep Hill off Bee Hill Road in Williamstown is breathtaking.”

Peter MacGillivray, Provisions provisionswilliamstown.com

The Ciao Bella Guido’s Fresh Marketplace | Great Barrington & Pittsfield

A Berkshires’ institution, Guido’s makes a signature sandwich (with soppressata, pepperoni, salami, mortadella, asiago cheese, and roasted peppers on ciabatta) that seems made to be enjoyed al fresco. Add their Caprese and kale salads and hummus, and for dessert, keep it simple with juicy berries and Berkshire Bark local chocolate. Culture POP soda is refreshing alongside it all. A spin through Bella Flora, the florist and home store in each branch of Guido’s, lets you pick up any supplies you might need (or, let’s face it, don’t need, but just fall in love with). bellafloraberkshires.com

“I love the gardens at The Mount. There are so many good spots there, each with its own gorgeous view.”

Alana Chernila, Guido’s guidosfreshmarketplace.com

The Symphony of Flavors

“Favorite picnic spot? That’s easy: Olana! Their grounds overlook the Hudson and the Catskills. It’s six minutes from our shop!”

Kara Chadbourne, Talbott & Arding talbottandarding.com

Talbott & Arding | Hudson, N.Y.

This sleek shop is right at home in Hudson and it will inspire with its selection of cheese, charcuterie, and distinctive house-made fare. We put together a harmonious mix of spelt crackers, curried chicken salad, spicy carrot dip, and their outstanding trout rillettes. It all went into their “Out of the Woods” sustainable cooler bag, along with gorgeous linen napkins and an Opinel cheese knife.

The Ultimate Charcuterie Spirited | Lenox

“I have two bests: Olivia’s Overlook (amazing view, picnic sitting on the stone wall) and, of course, the beautiful Tanglewood lawn.”

Jim Nejaime, Spirited | spirited-wines.com

Four Fat Fowl St. Stephen Triple Cream (Stephentown, N.Y.)

Iberico (Spain)

St. Agur (France)

Plymouth Red Wax Cheddar (Plymouth, VT)

Prosciutto di Parma (Italy )

Dalmatia Sour Cherry Spread

Marcona Almonds

Divina Pepperoncini

Create an artful assortment for your guests—or let Spirited do it for you. (Tip: Give them your own board to work with!) Striped cloth: Bella Flora

Domaine

Raimbault-Pineau 2022

Sancerre

Country

Dried Apricots

Rustic Bakery Crackers

Thomas Farm & Dairy Goat Cheese (Sunderland)

Beemster 18 Month Gouda (Holland)

Vermont Salumi Fennel (Barre, V.T.)

Mix Olives

Blanc (Loire Valley, France)

Ca’ di Pesa Chianti Classico 2018 DOGC (Tuscany, Italy)

The Boozy Brunch

White Hart Provisions | Salisbury, C.T.

Why wait? Get a jump on a beautiful day with a picnic morning meal. Stop by White Hart Provisions at The White Hart for their muffins, scones, and croissants, as well as bagels however you like them—this one has cream cheese, smoked salmon, capers, and onion. Don’t forget to grab some bottled Cipriani Bellini (prosecco with peach puree) and fresh juices from their fridge. Pair it all with items from Hammertown (they have locations in Great Barrington and Pine Plains and Rhinebeck, N.Y.). They have endless beautiful linens, flatware, and accessories for a memorable outing. hammertown.com

“Besides Lions Head in Salisbury and Kent Falls, our lawn is a great spot to relax and enjoy a meal!”

Emma Osborne, The White Hart whitehartinn.com

We asked eight of the Berkshires’ hard-working creative leaders what they’re dreaming of doing this season when they have some time off. Here are their wish lists. Consider this your insiders’ guide to summer 2023.

OFF DUTY OFF DUTY OFF DUTY

BY AMY CONWAY PHOTOGRAPHS BY BEN GARVER

Lisa Dent

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROGRAMS

MASS M o CA

NORTH ADAMS

Dent has been in her role—as the museum’s first-ever director of public programs—for just a few months, having brought years of leadership experience in arts management and advocacy to the team in North Adams. As a newcomer, she is excited to continue exploring the area. And at work, she’s exploring too, looking at what’s ahead. “MASS MoCA will soon celebrate its 25th anniversary,” she said. “It’s exciting to think about how we can make the next 25 even more special.”

Walking the River Trails

I love long walks with my dog, Sister Rosetta, so I’m excited to try all of the river trails in the area, starting with the one along the Green River off Water Street in Williamstown.

Danielle Ponder

MASS MOCA, NORTH ADAMS

AUGUST 18

When her concert was announced, I was so excited. I’d heard her single, “Be Gentle,” years ago but didn’t realize her album, “Some of Us Are Brave,” had come out. It’s amazing.

Dunham Legacy Project Performance

JACOB’S PILLOW, BECKET JULY 29

I learned about Katherine Dunham and her technique when I was an undergrad at Howard University. Since 2002, Jacob’s Pillow has honored her legacy with a special performance but I’ve never been able to make it. This year will be different!

W.E.B. Du Bois Homesite Tours

GREAT BARRINGTON

After curating an exhibition of Du Bois’ Data Portraits in 2021, I became even more inspired by his use of science fiction and drawing to help us imagine a world without racism, but I’d never made it to his hometown of Great Barrington. I’m happy that there is a way to connect to his legacy.

The Research & Development Store

MASS MOCA, NORTH ADAMS

There is nothing I love more than a great museum store experience, and MASS MoCA will be taking it up a notch this summer. The new R&D Store combines gallery and retail space focused on exhibiting, producing, and procuring affordable contemporary artist editions and books of the highest quality. A soft launch of MASS MoCA’s new Research and Development Store begins the week of July 24.

Mark Firth

OWNER, THE PRAIRIE WHALE

On warm weekend evenings, the lawn in front of the Prairie Whale feels like the kind of casual party you never want to leave. The restaurant is a buzzy hub for food lovers who appreciate the truly farm-to-table fare, seasonal cocktails, and the relaxed vibe. Having decamped from Brooklyn with his family more than a decade ago, Firth enjoys being surrounded by nature and the varied Berkshire offerings: “You can forage for morels, be in a very social environment, or go to incredible cultural events.”

Pixies and Modest Mouse

MASS MOCA, NORTH ADAMS, AUGUST 26

We have tickets to the Pixies and Modest Mouse concert. We may stay at Tourists, a beautifully designed hotel on the border of Williamstown and North Adams. With trails and a pool, it’s perfect for getaways and close to The Clark Museum and MASS MoCA.

Hiking

Two favorite hikes: Alander Mountain, a day hike that is close to six miles roundtrip and so rewarding. For a mellower trail, the beautiful loop around Benedict Pond in Beartown State Forest is fun for all ages and especially great with young kids.

Great Barrington Farmers’ Market

I’ll be making regular visits on Saturday mornings and then cooking my haul over the fire in my backyard.

Boondocks Film Society Events

Our friend Jeff Palfini organizes carefully curated showings of classic and cult films, with dinner, at amazing locations throughout the area.

Cycling on Quiet Gravel Roads

In particular, taking the back roads to the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store in Ghent for a delicious lunch, or riding on Alford Road to West Stockbridge for coffee and a snack at No. Six Depot.

Yard Sales and Estate Sales

There are so many every weekend, all summer long. If it’s a rainy day but your heart is set on vintage finds, The Antique Warehouse in Hudson, New York, will entertain for hours.

Pamela Tatge

EXECUTIVE AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, JACOB’S PILLOW BECKET

As she plans for dance magic every season, Tatge appreciates what has come before her. “I love the feeling of walking the grounds of the Pillow, the rich history and the generative energy of that stunning landscape. Standing at the back of the Leir Stage, looking out at the stage, the mountains—a place of such possibility and creativity.” Not many people could describe their work that way, but then Jacob’s Pillow—America’s longest-running international dance festival—is not just any place to work.

Coffee in Great Barrington

I’ll go with a friend for coffee and a pastry at Patisserie Lenox in Great Barrington (I know, it’s confusing) then walk up and down Main Street and go into all the shops. And on the weekends, there’s Berkshire Busk!

Lunch in Lenox

After lunch at one of the truly excellent restaurants in Lenox, I like to stop in at Nejaime’s Wine Cellars to pick up some cheese, wine, French mustard, and good olive oil.

MASS MoCA

NORTH ADAMS

This is one of my favorite places to see contemporary art in the world—you just never know what you’re going to discover when you go around a corner. I’m excited to see the collaboration between the otherworldly vocal group Roomful of Teeth and Pamela Z, on August 17.

Kayaking

BECKET TOWN BEACH OR GOOSE POND

I’m looking forward to putting my kayak in the water and feeling that peace of mind when you pull up your oars and just float.

And, of course, Jacob’s Pillow

TUESDAYS THROUGH SUNDAYS

In addition to seeing worldclass dance performances, including the Pillow debuts of Dutch National Ballet (The Netherlands), Oona Doherty (Northern Ireland), and Decidedly Jazz Danceworks (Canada), you can celebrate the 50th Anniversary of hip hop at Hip Hop Across the Pillow. Or just visit any time to walk the grounds and see the archives and exhibitions.

Alan Paul

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY PITTSFIELD

Paul was a fan of the local performing arts scene before becoming part of it. “I came here in the summer for the last five years because I loved the theater,” he said. And now, as the new artistic director of Barrington Stage Company, he is looking forward to producing shows for the Berkshires audience. “Everyone has been incredibly welcoming,” he said. “What’s clear is that people just love the arts. They’re excited and opinionated and they really care that the theater succeeds.” This may be his list, but it seems a safe bet to guess that his production of “Cabaret”

(June 14 to July 8) will be on everyone else’s.

A New Brain

BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY

AUGUST 16–SEPTEMBER 10

Bill Finn [who wrote the music and lyrics and cowrote the book] is a resident of the Berkshires. I love the music so much that I wanted to put it front and center in my first season. We’re producing it in association with Williamstown Theatre Festival, and it’s cool to have our two theaters join forces on a really interesting piece.

Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert

TANGLEWOOD, LENOX

JULY 8

“Ragtime” is just one of the most glorious musicals there is. And to hear it played with that orchestra, with that cast, is going to be spectacular.

Deepwater

MASS MOCA, NORTH ADAMS THROUGH THE SUMMER

To see an exhibition that celebrates [Black jazz and blues musicians from the 1950s and ’60s] will be really cool. And, it’s happening at the same time that we are producing a play about the Harlem Renaissance called “Blues for an Alabama Sky.”

Hip Hop Across the Pillow

JACOB’S PILLOW, BECKET AUGUST 2–6

I’m so excited to see the work of Rennie Harris Puremovement—one of the most dynamic dance companies today.

Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth

THE CLARK, WILLIAMSTOWN

JUNE 10–OCTOBER 15

This is a side of the artist that most of us have never seen. I have the image of “The Scream” in my mind, [but this focuses on] his vision of nature and what that meant to him. And The Clark is just a wonderful place.

Nat Silver

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CEO, HANCOCK SHAKER VILLAGE

PITTSFIELD

Talk to Silver about Hancock Shaker Village, and you won’t just want to visit—you’ll want to move in. His enthusiasm for everything from the 20 historic buildings and the Shaker furniture to the hiking trails, goat yoga, and the CSA shares with heirloom vegetables from the garden is infectious. Silver took on this role last year (he was previously at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston), moving with his wife and two young children to Williamstown. They’re enjoying the hiking, swimming, and other outdoor pursuits. “They love being outside as much as we do,” he said of the kids. “To share this with them is amazing.”

Rubi’s Coffee and Sandwiches

GREAT BARRINGTON

This is in the back of Rubiner’s cheese shop, and it’s not for your average grilled cheese—they take it to a whole new level.

The Mount

LENOX

Being relatively new to the Berkshires, there are things that I just haven’t done, and one of the most obvious is visit The Mount, Edith Wharton’s home. I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time—Edith Wharton and Isabella Stewart Gardner were contemporaries.

Hancock Shaker Village Gala

PITTSFIELD

AUGUST 12

We have the best gala of the summer—and I’ve never actually been before!

Querencia Dance Company; waheedworks

JACOB’S PILLOW, BECKET

JULY 6 AND 7

They just have such a fabulous program for the summer. I’d love to see waheedworks, urban and contemporary dance, or Querencia, a salsa troupe coming from Boston—I’d heard of them there but never had a chance to see them.

Green River, Mount Hope Park

WILLIAMSTOWN

In the summer when the weather gets warm, we’re able to swim again. And one of the best places to do that is the Green River at Mount Hope Park. There’s a little waterfall there. I take my kids and it’s awesome.

Hannah Wong

EXECUTIVE CHEF, THE AVIARY KINDERHOOK AND MORNINGBIRD KINDERHOOK,

N.Y.

“I moved to Kinderhook in the summer of 2021 after living and working in New York City for 10 years,” said Wong, who ran the kitchen at the celebrated Vietnameseinspired restaurant Van Da in Manhattan. At The Aviary, she creates a menu of Dutch and Indonesian-influenced dishes featuring products from their Hudson Valley farm partners; Morningbird offers breakfast pastries and casual Southeast Asian dishes for lunch. Both are in the Kinderhook Knitting Mill, a community-minded space that brings together food, art, and design. Speaking of community, “the tight-knit Kinderhook Knitting Mill community and working closely with our incredible Hudson Valley farmers” are just two things Wong loves about what she does.

Biking the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail

This is one of the best ways to experience this area, in my opinion. The trail runs along a former trolley rail corridor from Rensselaer to Hudson, straight through Kinderhook. The section along Wild’s Mill in Valatie is stunning.

South Egremont Spirit Shoppe

Stop here for a phenomenal natural wine and spirits selection, along with local cheese and other provisions.

Samascott’s Garden Market and Orchards

KINDERHOOK, N.Y.

This farm and orchard supplies all my basic grocery needs, as well as fantastic ice cream and soft serve, many of which feature their homegrown fruits.

Big Thief

PINES THEATER AT LOOK PARK, NORTHAMPTON

JULY 18

Big Thief [an indie folk group] is one of my favorite bands!

The School, Jack Shainman Gallery

KINDERHOOK, N.Y.

Jack is a world-class gallerist whose shows always blow me away. This summer I’ll go see “Michael Snow: A Life Survey (1955-2020).”

Cook & Larder

This delightful cafe and lunch spot in Hillsdale (get the pressed turkey sandwich) also has accoutrements for lastminute dinner needs.

Scott Edward Cole & Frank Muytjens

OWNERS OF THE INN AT KENMORE HALL RICHMOND

After doing a respectful top-to-bottom renovation on the 1792 Georgian building (nine chimneys needed to be repaired!), Scott and Frank opened The Inn in 2018. Their goal: For visitors to have the feeling that they’re houseguests at a friend’s country place. And what a good friend that would be—with 20 acres to explore, beautiful mountain views, and proximity to Tanglewood, a stay here is what Scott calls the “quintessential Berkshire experience.” In addition to the list here, this summer they are looking forward to tending to their vegetable/cut flower garden at sunrise, what they call the most magical time of the day.

Floraborealis

by Cynthia Wick

BERKSHIRE BOTANICAL GARDEN

JUNE 30–AUGUST 27

Cynthia is a dear friend and I’m a huge fan of her paintings. To see the riotous color that she has been experimenting with in her work for the last few years, it’s just really such a tonic. We’re excited to see those pieces in person and to celebrate her.

—Scott

Chesterwood

STOCKBRIDGE

This is the studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French; he spent time at Kenmore Hall when it served as a summer arts colony in the 1880s.—Scott You can sense the creative energy here. —Frank

Dutch National Ballet at Jacob’s Pillow

BECKET

JULY 5–9

Frank is from Holland. We’re excited that they’re coming here and we just love going to Jacob’s Pillow in general.—Scott

The Annual Garden Party at Naumkeag

STOCKBRIDGE

JULY 22

This is just a wonderful afternoon party in a gorgeous location. We admire everything that The Trustees do.—Scott

Music Nights at Dream Away Lodge

BECKET

It’s been closed for a number of years; it just reopened and we couldn’t be happier about it. It’s an icon. It feels like coming home. —Frank

Long Hikes with Our Dog, Dutch

The trails that wrap around Guilder Pond are a favorite. The surroundings are beautiful and so quiet. You can walk around the whole lake without running into anyone.—Frank

LAKE LIFE

Jess Cooney’s serene second home on Lake Garfield makes a splash with her family and friends.

By Amy Conway

Photographs by John Gruen

The house’s dark green stain helps it blend in with its surroundings. A large deck has plenty of room for lounging; fencing hides kayaks, canoes, and rafts. The lake is fun for all: Cooney and her nieces and nephews enjoy (jumping off) the dock.

If you were to buy another house to use as a getaway, would you choose something 20 minutes away from home? Most people would not, which is a shame. Because that’s what Jess Cooney did, which means it’s a very good idea.

Cooney knows houses. She is the principal and founder of Jess Cooney Interiors, a fullservice interior design and build firm based in Great Barrington, and her ideas can seem counterintuitive—for example, the mud room is often at the top of her list when she plans a renovation. She simply has an instinct for what a house needs to be beautiful, tranquil, and above all, liveable.

And when she walked into the 1950s cottage on Lake Garfield, with its main room offering a view out to the water, she knew it would be the perfect place for her and her family of five—not to mention their large extended family and many friends—to spend time by the water. That is, once she moved and expanded the kitchen, reconfigured the upstairs and the downstairs, replaced the flooring, added all new finishes and siding…the list goes on. But to Jess, all that is the easy part. The hard part is finding the right location, but she did that, too, with this spot on the water at the end of a cul-de-sac.

Many of her projects for clients are second homes, and she has her strategy down for that. “The biggest thing for a second home, always, is that the person who lives there can relax.” Back to the mud room idea: Storage and organization are a big part of what make a vacation home work. “If the guests can get their own towels and sunscreen, and help put the towels in the wash, you’ll relax a lot more than if you’re just waiting on them all weekend,” she said. Similarly, she always advises clients to think about a private space for themselves. “Of course you love your guests, but where do you go during that weekend when you have 10 people in your house?”

For Cooney and her husband—Dr. Joseph Cooney, owner of Berkshire Whole Health medical practice— that’s the primary suite, which has a comfortable sitting area. On the lower level of the house, there’s a teen hangout room, which means there are three living spaces in the house of 2,200 square feet. “It feels much bigger,” said Cooney. (Its compact size also makes it easy to tidy up, which she appreciates.)

And perhaps best of all: The quick trip from their full-time family home in Great Barrington makes spending time here a breeze. B

Above: “We only have the essentials out here so the space is clutter-free, which makes me very happy,” said Cooney.

Right: A Stûv woodstove keeps the house toasty in winter.

This was the view that immediately sold the house to Cooney. She ran 12-inch shiplap around the whole room, which plays up the lake-house feel. She avoided the expected blues for a quiet palette with some green, pink, and touches of black. Furnishings are a mix of vintage, found, and new items.

Near

items— behind these chic doors are cans of seltzer and rolls of paper towels.

Far left: Local cabinetmaker Nathaniel Bossi of Bossi-Friedman made the oak kitchen cabinets.

left: Black-stained mahogany floor-to-ceiling cabinets were added in the vestibule for overflow

Below: It includes a living space for reading, relaxing, and working when the house is full of guests.

Left: The primary suite has a feeling of tranquility.

(Frankie and Roxie like it, too.)

Near right: Twin beds just fit in this snug space. Cooney packed in the beds for friends and family to visit as much as possible.

Far right: “I don’t think there’s anything as wholesome in life as being on a lake, for a kid,” said Cooney

Left: Oak slatting runs from the ceiling down along the vanity wall in this vaulted bath, creating a soft, organic space to relax in the tub. The slatted design element repeats in other areas of the house.

See page 105 for shows she’s looking forward to this summer.

Happenings

Gina Coleman Misty Blues

Preview This Summer’s Music Scene

THE SOUNDS OF SUMMER

Don’t Miss a Thing!

For more events and summer fun, visit our new sister site, Berkshires Week, from The Berkshire Eagle!

BERKSHIRE GATEWAY

JAZZ FESTIVAL

Park Place, Lee berkshiregatewayjazz.org

June 9-11: Concerts, jazz, food vendors and more.

BERKSHIRE LYRIC

413-298-5365, BerkshireLyric.org

& The Criminal Hearts, 8 p.m.;

June 17: Galvanizer, 8 p.m.;

June 18: The Guthrie Girls w/ The Rear Defrosters, 8 p.m.;

June 21: The Wildwoods, 8 p.m.;

June 22: The Riverboat Gamblers, 8 p.m.; June 23: Ruth Garbus / Big Blood, 8/9:30 p.m.; June 24: Rick Maguire (of Pile), 8 p.m.;

July 1: Country Party Band, 8 p.m.;

It’s time for Berkshire Busk! Scan to view the lineup of these free outdoor performances.

ADAMS THEATER

27 Park St., Adams adamstheater.org/upcoming

July 1 and 2: Floating Tower: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors; July 6: Ruckus featuring Emi Ferguson, flute, and Rachell Ellen Wong, violin, 7:30 p.m.

ASTON MAGNA

All events at Saint James Place, unless noted 352 Main St., Great Barrington 888-492-1283 | astonmagna.org

July 24: “The Devil’s in the Tales,” 6 p.m.; July 1: Robert Levin’s Mozart. 6 p.m.; July 8: The Art of Dominique Labelle. 6 p.m.; July 15: Baroque Celebration I, 6 p.m.; July 21: Baroque Celebration II, 7 p.m., at Hudson Hall, 327 Warren St., Hudson, N.Y.; July 22: Baroque Celebration II, 6 p.m.

BASCOM LODGE

3 Summit Road, Adams Reservations: 917-680-0079

Jazz Dinner Series: June 24, July 22, Aug. 26, Sept 23, Oct. 28: The Michael Benedict Trio; June 3, July 1, Aug. 5, Sept. 9, Oct. 7: The Michael Junkins Quartet; June 10, July 8, Aug. 12, Sept. 9, Oct. 14: The Jeanine Ouderkirk Trio; June 17, July 15, Aug. 19, Sept. 16, Oct. 21: The Wes Brown Trio with Jill Connolly; July 29, Sept. 30: TBA

June 4: 60th anniversary, a performance of Brahms’ A German Requiem, 3 p.m.; July 31: Berkshire Lyric Kids Choral Camp, 9 a.m. to noon, Monday thru Friday; Aug. 6: Ubi Caritas choral concert to benefit food pantry ministry, 3 p.m.

BERKSHIRE OPERA FESTIVAL berkshireoperafestival.org

July 22: “Breaking the Mold: Baroque, Bel Canto, and Beyond,” 2 p.m.

B’SHALOM CHORALE

RSVP: 413-418-1836 or email: BShalomChorale@gmail.com

June 7: Conducted by Jack Brown, accompanied by Joe Rose; 7 to 8:30 p.m.

CHESTERWOOD

4 Williamsville Road, Stockbridge 413-298-2023 | chesterwood.org

July 22: Arts Alive! presents Close Encounters with Music, 5 p.m.; July 29: Arts Alive! presents HEARD world jazz, 5:30 p.m.; Aug. 19: Arts Alive! presents Amity Brass Quintet, 5 p.m.

DREAM AWAY LODGE

1342 County Road, Becket 413-623-8725 thedreamawaylodge.com

June 1: David Nagler/ Bridget

St. John, 8/9:30 p.m.; June 2: Misty Blues, 8 p.m.; June 3: Home Body, 8 p.m.; June 4: Stella Kola, 8 p.m.; June 8: Daniel Moreno, 8 p.m.; June 9: Colwell, 8 p.m.;

June 10: John Brodeur, 8 p.m.;

June 15: Riverside Brothers, 8 p.m.;

Friday, June 16: Jack Waldheim

July 7: The Good Times Band/ Lisa Michelle Anderson, 8/9:30 p.m.;

July 9: Misty Blues, 8/9:30 p.m.;

July 14: The Lentils / Lina Tullgren, 8/9:30 p.m.; July 15: Damn Tall Buildings, 8 p.m.; Sunday, Aug. 6: The Huntress and Holder of Hands (Morganeve Swain of Brown Bird) / Footings, 8/10 p.m.

EGREMONT BARN

17 Main St., South Egremont 413-528-1570

theegremontbarn.com

June 1: Lexi Weege & JJ Slater, 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.; June 2: Elizabeth & The Catapult and Jenna Nicholls, 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.; June 3: Jeffrey Foucault, 7:30 to 10:30 p.m.; June 4: Joy Askew/ Lauren Balthrop/Oropendola, 7 to 10 p.m.; June 22: Cantrip, 7:30 to 10 p.m.

THE FOUNDRY

2 Harris St., West Stockbridge 413-232-5222 | thefoundryws.com

June 9: Coral Moons, 7:30 p.m.; June 10: Boston Typewriter Orchestra, 7:30 p.m.; June 25: New Orleans-based singer/ songwriter Dayna Kurtz, 7 p.m.; July 7: Rob Flax’s Boom Chick Trio, 7:30 p.m.; July 14: Duo Nouveau, 7:30 p.m.; July 22: Richard Stanmeyer Trio, 7:30 p.m.

Darlingside at The Clark

It’s a homecoming for local favorites Darlingside, formed in the early 2000s when the band members were students at Williams College.

July 19 | Clarkart.edu

GUTHRIE CENTER

2 Van Deusenville Road, Great Barrington guthriecenter.org

Troubadour Series All events 8 to 10 p.m. Tickets at theguthriecenter.simpletix.com.

June 3: Matt Nakoa; June 10: Eric Andersen; July 1: Lucy Kaplansky; July 8: Vance Gilbert; July 15: The Slambovian Circus of Dreams; July 22: Kate Taylor; July 29: Don White; Aug. 5: Urban Renewal; Aug. 12: TBA; Aug. 19: Joe Crookston; Aug. 26: Seth Glier; Sept. 2: TBA; Sept. 9: Billy Keane; Sept. 16: Tom Chapin; Sept. 23: TBA; Sept. 30: Misty Blues

HANCOCK SHAKER VILLAGE

1843 W. Housatonic St., Pittsfield 413-443-0188

hancockshakervillage.org

July 7: Back Porch Music: CJ Fields, 7 to 9 p.m.; Aug. 18: Back Porch Music, 7 to 9 p.m.; Sept. 1: Back Porch Music: Jake Klar, 7 to 9 p.m.

HUDSON HALL

327 Warren St., Hudson, N.Y. 518-822-1438, hudsonhall.org

June 3: “Vocal Movements” with David Sytkowski and Pretty Lamé, 7 p.m.; July 21: Aston Magna presents “Baroque Celebration II,” 7 p.m.; Aug. 13: Hudson Jazz Workshop concert, 4 p.m.

JEWISH FEDERATION OF THE BERKSHIRES

413-442-4360

jewishberkshires.org

Aug. 6: Annual Community Concert, 7:30 p.m.

happenings: Summer Music Guide

KIDS 4 HARMONY SUMMER GALA CONCERT

Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Lenox 413-448-8281 | 18degreesma.org

June 27: Students perform as well as pianist Emanuel Ax and the Elayne P. Bernstein Ensemble, 5:30 p.m.

KNESSET ISRAEL

16 Colt Road, Pittsfield 413-445-4872 | knessetisrael.org/RSVP

Aug. 21: Aaron Kula and the Klezmer Company Jazz Orchestra. 7:15 p.m.

LEE CONCERTS IN THE PARK Park Place, Lee

Sundays, July 9-Aug. 13: Concerts in the Park, 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.

LENOX JAZZ STROLL

Sept. 14-16: Gateways Inn, Roche Reading Park (Lenox Library) and Lilac Park, Lenox

Music at The Red Lion Inn and Lion’s Den

Scan to view the lineup!

LENOX LOVES MUSIC!

Lilac Park, Main Street, Lenox lenox.org/lenoxlovesmusic

June 4: Jason Ennis and Natalia Bernal, 3:30 p.m.; June 18: Wintergreen, 3:30 p.m.; June 25, Sept. 3, 24, Oct. 1 and 8: Artists TBA, 3:30 p.m.

MAHAIWE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

14 Castle St., Great Barrington 413-528-0100, mahaiwe.org

June 23: Boston Early Music Festival: Francesca Caccini’s “Alcina,”

8 p.m.; June 24: Boston Early Music Festival: Francesca Caccini’s “Alcina,” 3 p.m.; July 13: Chris Botti, 8 p.m.; July 15: 2023 Gala: Brian Stokes Mitchell, 8 p.m.; July 20: Cécile McLorin Salvant, 8 p.m.; July 29: Jesse Cook, 8 p.m.; Aug. 4: Béla Fleck — My Bluegrass Heart Band, 8 p.m.; Aug. 6: Sonic Era Touring presents Glenn Miller Orchestra, 4 p.m.; Aug. 9: Devon Allman and Donavon Frankenreiter, 7:30 p.m.

MASS MOCA

1040 Mass MoCA WAY, North Adams 413-662-2111 | massmoca.org

June 9: Rina Sawayama, 7 p.m.;

June 17: Raiche presented by the Berkshire Black Economic Council;

June 29-Aug. 31: The Chalet. 6 to 10 p.m.; July 1: Oscar Jerome, 8 p.m.; July 11-27: Bang on a Can: Gallery Concerts. Most weekdays at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m.; July 15: BLKBOK, 8 p.m.; July 27-29: LOUD Weekend;

Aug. 18: Danielle Ponder, 8 p.m.;

Aug. 17: Roomful of Teeth, 8 p.m.;

Aug. 26: Pixies and Modest Mouse with Cat Power, 7 p.m.

THE MOUNT

Edith Wharton’s Home

2 Plunkett St., Lenox 413-551-5111 | edithwharton.org

June 4: Pride Month Concert, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.; June 19: Juneteenth

Concert in the Forecourt with John Hughes, 5 to 6 p.m.

Tanglewood in the City

Produced by the Mill Town Foundation, this is the fifth annual free concert broadcast featuring the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

July 29 | Pittsfield Common

MAY 26 – JULY 30

Directed by Christopher V. Edwards

JULY 22 – AUGUST 27

Tina Packer Playhouse

Tickets Available at 413.637.3353

by William Shakespeare

Directed by Tina Packer

Associate Directors Kate Kohler Amory and Sheila Bandyopadhyay

JUNE 17 – JULY 15

Tina Packer Playhouse

by William Shakespeare

Directed by Allyn Burrows

Associate Director Nicole Ricciardi

AUGUST 1 – SEPTEMBER 10

Outdoors at The New Spruce Theatre

GINA COLEMAN

Lead singer of contemporary blues band Misty Blues, on making music in the Berkshires:

“There’s a history of incredible music here and a great respect for live music. At its core, what makes the Berkshires such a wonderful place to be a musician is that it is just full of incredible musicians.” <laughs>

Just a few local shows she’s looking forward to playing this summer (when Misty Blues isn’t touring the UK):

Dream Away Lodge, Becket June 2; July 9

“Such an iconic venue, just magic. People sit on the floor and listen by the fireplace. It’s something so unique to the Berkshires.”

Balderdash Cellars, Richmond July 16; August 12

“Musicians can play outside and it’s like a natural amphitheater they’ve created out there. It’s just absolutely gorgeous.”

Sevenars Concerts

“one of the best small music festivals in the USA.”

TimeMagazine

15 Ireland Street (off Rte. 112) Worthington, MA. world-renowned artists prize-winning newcomers www.sevenars.org

413-238-5854

Admission on First ComeFirst Served basis No Tickets ~ Donations welcome (suggested $20 per person)

Sundays at 4pm, July 9 - August 20

Thurs-Sun August 24-27

For four days every August our historic buildings showcase livestock, crops, and handicrafts. We host multiple activities, from music to competitions to parades.

happenings: Summer Music Guide

Featuring three brilliant women-led bands. July 15 | Shakespeare.org

RACE BROOK LODGE

864 Undermountain Road, Sheffield 413-229-2916 | rblodge.com

June 4: Barnspace Concert: Club d’Elf, door open at 7 p.m.; June 8: Down County Social Club: Glori Wilder, 7 to 10 p.m.; June 22: Barnspace Concert: Sarah Lee Guthrie, doors open at 7 p.m.; June 29: Barnspace Concert: Vieux Farka Touré, doors open at 7 p.m.

SEVENARS CONCERTS

The Academy

15 Ireland St., South Worthington 413-238-5854 | sevenars.org

July 9: “Family and Friends” season opening concert, 4 p.m.; July 16: Violist Ron Gorevic plays Bach’s Cello Suites, 4 p.m.; July 23: MOSSO (Musicians of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra), 4 p.m.; July 30: Liana Paniyeva, 4 p.m.; Aug. 6: Eroica Trio cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio joins pianist Judith Lynn Stillman, 4 p.m.; Aug. 13: “Queen of the Flute” Carol Wincenc, 4 p.m.; Aug. 20: Rorianne Schrade celebrates Rachmaninoff’s 150th birthday, 4 p.m.

TAMARACK HOLLOW NATURE & CULTURAL

CENTER

1515 Savoy Hollow Road, Windsor tamarackhollow.com

Mondays: Tamarack Hollow and Gaia Roots World Music present West African and Caribbean drum and song classes with Aimee Gelinas, 5:30 p.m. beginners, 6:30 p.m. advanced class

WILLIAMSTOWN THEATER FESTIVAL

’62 Center for Theatre and Dance 1000 Main St., Williamstown 413-458-3253, wtfestival.org

July 16: Laura Benanti, 3 p.m.; WTF Cabaret

Performances by Festival artists you know and love: July 20-22: Cabaret 1, 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 p.m. Saturday; July 27-19: Cabaret 2, 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 p.m. Saturday; Aug. 3-5: Cabaret 3, 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 p.m. Saturday.

Ambrosia

Enjoy timeless hits as the legendary band Ambrosia takes the stage at Berkshire Theatre Group’s Colonial Theatre. Aug. 4 | berkshiretheatregroup.org

MICHAEL FEINSTEIN

Michael Feinstein on his return to Tanglewood with Two Pianos: Who Could Ask for Anything More?

Michael Feinstein and Jean-Yves Thibaudet—two of today’s top talents—have been wanting to collaborate ever since they met for the first time. It’s finally happening.

“When we started going through music, we decided that the unified factor would be George Gershwin,” said Feinstein. “Two pianos were a favorite sound of his—he featured them in the pits of his Broadway musicals in the 1920s. There’s a certain style and sound that comes from that combination that is unique and utterly delicious.”

He’s looking forward to performing at Tanglewood: “The audience is so attuned to music and has such a deep and faithful appreciation for the venue, it’s palpable.”

Fans might remember his performance in 2012, when Feinstein’s friend Liza Minnelli made a surprise appearance. “She just came for the weekend, for fun, to hang out,” he said. But she also joined him on stage to sing “New York, New York.”

“It’s something I’ll never forget,” he said, “because of the screams of the audience. When I introduced her and she came on stage, it was sheer pandemonium, in the best possible way.”

Tanglewood | July 14

“Utterly Unique and Delicious”

FEINSTEIN: COURTNEY LINDBERG PHOTOGRAPHY; TWO PIANOS: MICHAEL BLANK

at The Colonial Theatre

Lulu-Fest Lenox Jazz Festival at Shakespeare & Company

... AND FINALLY, TANGLEWOOD

TANGLEWOOD, KOUSSEVITZKY MUSIC SHED

297 West St., Lenox

617-266-1200

Tickets: bso.org/tanglewood

June 22: Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me!, 8 p.m.; June 23: The Steve Miller Band, 7 p.m.; July 1: Elvis Costello & The Imposters, 7 p.m.; July 2: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, 7:30 p.m.; July 3: James Taylor, 8 p.m. July 4: Fireworks to follow the July 4 James Taylor concert, 8 p.m.; July 7: Opening night at Tanglewood with BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons and pianist Daniil Trifonov, 8 p.m.; July 8: Open rehearsal with Andris Nelsons, Julia Bullock and Hilary Hahn, 10:30 a.m. ; July 8: The Boston Pops performs Ragtime: The Symphonic Concert, 8 p.m.; July 9: Andris

Nelsons leads Brahms, Habibi and Montgomery featuring Julia Bullock and Hilary Hahn, 2:30 p.m.; July 10: Andris Nelsons and the TMC conducting fellows conduct Ravel, Stravinsky and Debussy, 8 p.m.; July 14: Pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Michael Feinstein, 8 p.m.; July 15: Open Rehearsal with Andris Nelsons including Beethoven and Orff’s “Carmina burana,” 10:30 a.m.; July 15: Andris Nelsons conducts Mozart’s “Così fan tutte,” 8 p.m.; July 16: Andris Nelsons conducts Beethoven and Orff’s “Carmina burana,”; 2:30 p.m.; July 17: Andris Nelsons and the TMC conducting fellows conduct Bacewicz, Kodály and Mahler, 8 p.m.; July 21: Xian Zhang conducts Copland and Dvořák, featuring Nimbus Dance, 8 p.m.; July 22:

Boston Symphony Orchestra Family Concert: May I Have Your Attention Please, conducted by Thomas Wilkins, 10:30 a.m.;

July 22: David Afkham conducts Mozart and Wagner, featuring pianist Martin Helmchen, 8 p.m.;

Sunday, July 23: Thomas Wilkins conducts Coleridge-Taylor, Ellington and Midkiff, featuring mandolinist Jeff Midkiff, 2:30 p.m.; July 28: Giancarlo Guerrero conducts Mahler and Wolfe, featuring the Lorelei Ensemble, 8 p.m.; July 29: Open rehearsal with Anna Rakitina conducting Paganini, Reid and Prokofiev, featuring violinist Joshua Bell, 10:30 a.m.; July 29: From the Festival of Contemporary Music, Dima Slobodeniouk conducts Messiaen, Ravel and Zubel, 8 p.m.;

July 30: Anna Rakitina conducts Paganini, Reid, and Prokofiev featuring violinist Joshua Bell, 2:30 p.m.; Aug. 4: Dima Slobodeniouk conducts Adams and Brahms, featuring pianist Emanuel Ax, 8 p.m.; Aug. 5: Open rehearsal with conductor Kazuki Yamada and pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen, 10:30 a.m.; Aug. 5: John Williams’ Film Night returns with the Boston Pops, conducted by Williams and Newman, 8 p.m.; Aug. 6: Kazuki Yamada conducts Mendelssohn and Berlioz, featuring pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen, 2:30 p.m.; Aug. 8: Tanglewood on Parade with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra (fireworks follow the concert), 2 p.m.; Aug. 11: Andris Nelsons conducts Williams,

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Strauss and Ravel, featuring violinist AnneSophie Mutter, 8 p.m.; Aug. 12: Open rehearsal with BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, 10:30 a.m. ; Aug. 12: Susanna Mälkki conducts Mozart and Bartok, featuring pianist Seong-Jin Cho, 8 p.m.; Aug.13: Andris Nelsons conducts Adolphe, Shostakovich and Stravinsky, featuring cellist Yo-Yo Ma, 2:30 p.m.; Friday, Aug. 18: BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons leads Saint-Saëns, Simon and Gershwin, featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, 8 p.m.; Aug. 19: Open rehearsal with BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons and violinist Leonidas Kavakos, 10:30 a.m.; Aug.19: Andris Nelsons conducts Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev, featuring violinist Leonidas Kavakos,

8 p.m.; Aug. 20: The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra performs Tippett and Beethoven, conducted by James Burton and Susanna Mälkki, including the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, 2:30 p.m.; Aug. 24: Train with very special guest Parmalee, 7 p.m.; Aug. 25: AllBeethoven program with pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, 8 p.m.; Aug. 26: Open rehearsal: “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone™ In Concert,” 10:30 a.m.; Aug. 26: “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone™ In Concert” with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra conducted by Keith Lockhart, 8 p.m.; Aug. 27: “Star Wars: The Story in Music.” Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops, 2:30 p.m.

Looking Ahead: Fall Galas for Your Calendar

September 9 Millay Arts 50th Anniversary Gala | millayarts.org

September 9 Literacy Network of Southern Berkshires Annual Gala | litnetsb.org

September 10 Berkshire Theatre Group Moonlight Sonata Gala | berkshiretheatregroup.org

The Beginner’s Guide to Cannabis in the Berkshires

By Kimberly Kirchner

It doesn’t get much better than good music on a beautiful summer night in the Berkshires—unless, of course, you opt to add a little extra something to the experience. After all, the region’s topnotch pot has become almost as much of a draw as its worldclass musical offerings. It seems like there’s a dispensary around every corner these days, and recreational marijuana use is practically mainstream. How hard can it be to get your hands on a little legal weed, right?

If you’ve never done it before, stepping into a dispensary can be a decidedly intimidating undertaking. For all the progress advocates and retailers have made in dispelling the stigma around marijuana use, decades of “Just Say No” have left their mark on the American subconscious. Since cannabis products can’t be visible from outside the store, most shops can’t offer the welcoming, window-filled storefronts of other retail outlets. And nobody gets in without presenting I.D. proving they are 21 or older.

Then, once you’ve made it through security, there’s a whole menu’s worth of choices with which to contend. Pre-rolls or edibles, indica or sativa, which strain, what potency—you don’t know, you just want to buy some pot, okay?

In praise of budtenders

First, some reassurance: you are not the only person to experience some pre-purchase anxiety. “I find that our guests are surprised by the vast variety of cannabis products and possibilities that we offer,” said Tamara Carter, senior director of retail operations at Berkshire Roots in Pittsfield. “We know it’s

easy to feel overwhelmed and it’s our job to help you shop. We do this by caring for your concerns and taking the time that you need to work through the cannabis options at a pace you’re comfortable with.”

Budtenders—the specially trained salespeople who work the dispensary floor— are there to guide your decision, whether you’re a seasoned user or a total beginner. Before you visit, consider exactly what you want out of your purchase.

“I think a great place to start with guests who are new to cannabis is to inquire about the desired effects that they’re looking for,” Carter said.

Do you want to mellow out and relax, or are you looking for a bubbly, energetic high? Is your goal to ease anxiety? Increase creativity? Maybe you want a little help falling to sleep after a particularly rousing concert.

“Our budtenders are trained to work alongside you,” Carter said, “helping you feel supported and answering questions that will lead to the best option for you.”

If you have a cannabis-savvy friend on hand or know what you want already, you can speed up the process by pre-ordering

online. All of Berkshire County’s currently operating dispensaries offer online sales, so if you’re feeling especially apprehensive about the process, you can shop at your own pace before taking the trip to pick up your order.

Money matters

Due to legal issues with handling money, dispensaries are limited in the payment types they can take. At this point, most dispensaries will take cash and debit cards, and many have an ATM on premises just in case, but it’s never a bad idea to check beforehand.

Also, be forewarned that taxes on cannabis are high, even by Massachusetts standards, adding a hefty 20% to your final cost.

Time to enjoy

Once you have your first purchase in hand, you’ll need to rein in your excitement long enough to get home before you break into your newly acquired goodies. Open containers of marijuana products in the car are a big no-no. Public consumption is also prohibited per Massachusetts law, so if you plan to enhance your concert-going experience with a little THC, you’ll need to partake before you go.

Another note: driving under the influence of cannabis is driving under the influence, full stop. So if you’ll be traveling to the venue and back by car, make sure that at least one member of your party keeps their head (figuratively and literally) out of the clouds for the night.

There’s plenty of music to hear in the Berkshires, after all. Maybe they can partake the next time around. B

Canna Provisions, Lee PHOTO: STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN

Berkshire County Cannabis Guide

Williamstown

1 Silver Therapeutics silver-therapeutics.com

238 Main St. 413-458-6244

North Adams

2 Clear Sky Cannabis clearskycannabis.com

221 State Rd. 888-540-2343

Lanesborough

3 Liberty Market lm420.com

25 North Main St. 413-496-3153

Pittsfield

4 Berkshire Roots berkshireroots.com

501 Dalton Ave. 413-553-9333

5 Bloom Brothers bloombrothersma.com

2 Larch St. 413-464-7443

6 Budhaus budha.us

239 West St. 413-281-7394

7 HiBrid hibridco.com

1317 East St. 413-344-4020

8 Jack’s Cannabis jackscannabisco.com

1021 South St. 413-464-9673

9 Potency potencyma.com

1450 East St. 413-464-0503

10 Temescal Wellness temescalwellness.com

10 Callahan Dr. 413-464-8044

Lenox

11 Kapha Cannabis kaphacannabis.com

439 Pittsfield Rd. 413-464-7286

Lee

12 Canna Provisions cannaprovisionsgroup.com

220 Housatonic St. 413-394-5055

Great Barrington

13 Calyx Berkshire Dispensary calyxberkshire.com

307 Main St. 413-717-6277

14 Farnsworth Fine Cannabis farnsworthfinecannabis.com

126 Main St. 413-717-4102

15 Great Barrington Dispensary greatbarringtondispensary.com

454 Main St. 413-717-7745

16 Rebelle letsrebelle.com

783 South Main St. 413-258-3958

17 Theory Wellness theorywellness.org

394 Stockbridge Rd. 413-650-5527

Egremont

18 Devine devineberkshires.com

71 North Main St. 413-429-4400

Sheffield

19 The Pass thepass.co

1375 Main St. 413-644-6892

last look: Summer Fun

Deep Dive

We found this shot in The Berkshire Eagle’s archives. It was taken at Pontoosuc Lake in Pittsfield in 1961, and not much has changed (other than the swim attire!).

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