| July 2008 News from NECC |
| (see archive for older e-news and our quarterly print newsletter) |
Contents:
Seventh Annual Family Arts Festival: Music, dancing, fun, Saturday, July 12th.
Millerton Farmers Market: Holiday Extravaganza, Saturday, July 5th!
The Family Arts Festival will mark its seventh year on July 12th with great performances from returning favorites, as well as newcomers.
Li'l Anne and Hot Cayenne, one of the most popular zydeco groups in the northeast U.S., is led by accordionist and vocalist Anne Stork, a former dancer who, she likes to say, “plays to the feet.” This irrepressible and irresistible band features the dynamic lead vocals of Phil Sanguedolce and lead guitar of Bob Halperin, while Rick Kline, Doug Chatman, and Lew Papenfuse nail down the signature Cajun sound on bass, drums, and rhythm guitar, respectively. As residents of New York State’s Hudson Valley, Two Dollar Goat can be found all over the region and beyond enthusiastically playing tunes new and old in the Bluegrass style. At parties, on porches, festival parking lots or at a venue near you, ‘The Goat’ share their unique sound and upbeat song interpretations at every available opportunity. With tight |
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David Grover and the Big Bear Band ask: Are you serious about the music your child listens to? So are we - we play original and traditional music for kids of all ages. We call it folk music, but the influences behind the music are the performers and writers we love. It's Pete Seeger and the Beach Boys … it's the Beatles … and Harry Belafonte. Paul Simon and Kermit the Frog. It's Broadway and the Carpenters, Peter Paul and Mary and the Grateful Dead. And it's Woody Guthrie and Martin Luther King. It's folk music of the 21st century. It's real people playing real instruments playing songs we love, to people we love. The David Grover Big Bear Band appears regularly in Great Barrington and around the Berkshires.
Eshu Bumpus is one of the most popular and beloved performers ever to appear at the Family Arts Festival. A renowned storyteller, and a master at physical characterization, he captivates his audience by telling a variety of African, African-American and World folktales leavened with music, humor and mystery. “I use my storytelling performances of Multicultural or African and African American Folktales…as a method of modeling principles of originality and non-violence.” He has performed on the Exchange Place stage at the National Festival (1998), and performed 36 sold out shows in 13 days at the Smithsonian (1997). After appearing at the 10 Annual Connecticut Storytelling Festival (1991), Eshu was acclaimed as," … a fresh, responsible and knowledgeable voice... distinct and compelling... the hit of the Festival.”
For the second year, children’s workshops will be offered at the festival. Classes in drumming, taught by Terry a la Berry (Terry Hall) of the Big Bear Band, and stilt-walking, taught by Mark Alexander of Mortal Beasts and Deities, will begin at 2 pm. Pre-registration is required. Call to sign up or for fee information.Another highlight of the festival will be street painting: Local artists will create large works in pastel on the South Center Street pavement. It’s not too late to enter as an artist or a sponsor — call NECC for more information.Food will be available at the festival, prepared by loving volunteers, and the town’s restaurants and shops will be just steps away from the festival stage at NECC. The festival is made possible through the generosity of major sponsors First Niagara Bank, the M&T Charitable Foundation, and the Dutchess County Arts Council. A donation of $10 per adult (children free) is suggested. There is an additional cost of $5 for children’s workshops. For more information, call us!
Farmers Market Holiday Extravaganza! A jazz trio from Baltimore, a pottery demonstration, and a new featured vendor offering lotions and potions made from fragrant herbs will usher in July at the Millerton Farmer’s Market.
- Jazz drummer Alan Munshower, recognized for both his light touch and imaginative playing, has performed at a variety of festivals including Jazz a Vienne (France), Canadian Music Week, and the All Good Festival, and at venues such as The Blue Note New York, the 55 Bar, the Knitting Factory, and Twins Jazz. His duet with pianist Nobu Stowe was a recently released on the Soul Note / Black Saint label, featuring tabla master, Badal Roy. As a sideman, Alan can be seen regularly with Eva Castillo, Satabdi Express, MacGregor Burns Band, and Sac Au Lait.
- Lily’s Garden will offer 100% natural aromatherapy products using pure essential oils. The line includes aromatherapy mineral bath salts, aroma massage oils, lip balms, salves, facial care products, hair serums and tea blends. Look for a few fairies in her display as well!
- One of the Market’s anchor vendors is Herondale Farm of Ancramdale, run by Jerry and Iva Peele and their children. Herondale Farm is a mixed livestock certified organic farm which the Peeles gradually transformed from an old dairy farm to accommodate the new inhabitants—British White and Murray Grey cattle, Berkshire and Berkshire cross pigs and Cornish cross rock chickens (along with a motley crew of guinea hens and laying chickens who patrol for flies and ticks). “We like to raise healthy and happy animals, who spend as much time as they want in the pastures,” says Peele. “Our chickens are a seasonal business, from spring through late fall, to ensure that they have grass as a big part of their diet. The pigs have access to the barn in the winter to stave off the cold, and they eat a lot of alfalfa baleage in the winter as well as an organic grain and soy mix. For the rest of the year they are rooting up marginal fields or woodlots. And the cows graze the fields as long as the grass grows, after which they enjoy the alfalfa baleage and hay that we put up for the winter.” In essence, say the Peeles, they are trying to turn back the clock—to produce meat and poultry that tastes as good as it did several decades ago before farms got turned into factories. “By raising the animals in their natural environment and with their natural diets we are simply letting nature dictate the quality of their lives and their meat.” A grass-fed diet ensures meat that is tender, tasty, high in omega-3s and hormone free, and since Herondale’s pastures are certified organic, the cows are eating grass completely free of herbicides and pesticides.
Coming up this month: July 12th - Tom Hanford, fiddler, July 19th - Conrad Gagnon, musician, July 26th - The Biocentrics, brass ensemble. The market runs from 10am-2pm on Saturdays just off Main Street at the Methodist Church, across from Herrington’s. For more information call 518-789-4259.
