Billsville House Concerts

I recently found a neat addition to Williamstown's music scene that I'm sure guests at the 1896 House Inn will enjoy after having a great meal at the 6" House Pub.

I came across Billsville House Concerts while checking out some of the Berkshire's local events listings. But what did I find? No location set? This peaked my interest and had a lovely back and forth with one of the organizers of the concerts. The idea being that not advertising the space in advance keeps lots of people  from showing up unexpectedly as the events are generally held at small venues.

This weekend Cuddle Magic - Saturday, March 31st

The shows this year have been uniformly excellent - ask anyone who has been what a treat it is to see this kind of talent in a small space. Don't miss another chance to see hand selected, hand crafted music at what is quickly becoming "The Berkshires Non-Premier, Non-Cultural, Non-Institution". You saw what we did there right? We put it in quotes - thus is it made so.

Billsville House Concerts present Cuddle Magic, a self described "avant pop" collective whose multi-instrumental talents include vocals, guitar, percussion, keyboards, horns, violin and whatever else they might find lying around. The band includes folks with New England Conservatory training who have recently toured with The David Wax Museum and Anais Mitchell.

Get tickets at http://www.billsvillehouseconcerts.com/tickets/

About Cuddle Magic:

Cuddle Magic is a band and songwriting collective from Brooklyn and Philadelphia that performs lush, playful songs with wide-ranging instrumentation including strings, percussion, vibraphone, trumpet, clarinet, keyboards, guitars, and many voices. Cuddle Magic balances folk timbres with surprising atonal harmonies, pop song-craft with Steve Reich-inspired rhythmic complexity, and direct emotional lyrics with dense wordplay. Conservatory-trained, yet folk musicians by temperament, the members of Cuddle Magic have collaborated with a diverse range of artists, including Beyonce, the David Wax Museum, Larkin Grimm, Mike & Ruthy (formerly of the Mammals), new music toy-piano virtuoso Phyllis Chen, the progressive string band Joy Kills Sorrow, guitarist and composer Fred Frith, and legendary “third-stream” pianist Ran Blake. Members of Cuddle Magic can also be seen performing with Anais Mitchell, Railbird, Baby States, Ronald Reagan, Bird Fly Yellow, Margaret Glaspy, The People’s Champs, Girls Guns and Glory, Lake Street Dive, Petal Shield, Split Red, Yapp!, The Superpowers Horns, and many, many others.

From the Billsville House website:

“Billsville” is our nickname for Williamstown. We’re in our first year of a house concert series – stay tuned for updates and bookings.

We book artists who we want to see and make them a deal that’s hard to turn down. A great spot to play in a great part of the county, a fine helping of our vegetarian cooking, a place to stay for the night – and 100% of the proceeds. It’s a deal that make sense to everyone involved. As a fan, you’ll get to see talented and passionate musicians without the distraction of bar noises or disinterested patrons. Plus, you’ll know that all of your money is going right back to the musicians.

As a musician – you’ll know that people are here to see you play and revel in the community spirit that a house concert offers.

After you make your reservations we’ll send you the exact time and location information a few days before the shows. In the meantime, if you have questions, send us an email.

Visit their website at http://www.billsvillehouseconcerts.com/ and check out their fan page at https://www.facebook.com/BillsvilleHouseConcerts  

Check out Chunky Move at Mass MoCA this weekend!

This coming weekend while you are visiting the 1896 House, check out the fantastic shows by Chunky Move at MASS MoCA. Have dinner Saturday night at the 6' House Pub before the show or catch lunch before the show on Sunday. Less then 15 minutes from the Inn, get directions at http://g.co/maps/5upp8

Combine your visit with a spin through the MASS MoCA galleries http://www.massmoca.org/. Special combo ticket Chunky Move + galleries just $32. Galleries open 11 - 7:30on Saturday and 11 - 5 on Sunday with lots of great art  

Australia’s leading contemporary dance company, Chunky Move, presents their newest work Connected, a collaboration of choreographer Gideon Obarzanek and visual artist Reuben Margolin who is known for large kinetic sculptures that move and morph. In Connected, the airborne sculpture made of wood, recycled plastic, paper, and steel is built in front of us as the dance unfolds, and has been described by dance critic Deborah Jowitt as “the most compelling presence onstage.”

On their last US tour under the direction of company founder and longtime artistic director Gideon Obarzanek, Chunky Move, Australia’s “biggest and most successful contemporary dance export” (Edinburgh International Festival) comes to MASS MoCA.

In 2008 Chunky Move received Best Dance Work for Glow and Best Visual or Physical Theatre Production for Mortal Engine at the Live Performance Australia Helpmann Awards. In 2009, Mortal Engine received an Honorary Mention in the Prix Ars Electronica awards in the Hybrid Arts category.

Buy tickets online http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?organ_val=2324&event_val=CHUN&schedule=list (show only)  $39 premium / $29 orchestra / $25 mezzanine at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, 87 Marshall Street. 413-662-2111 or call the Box Office at 413 664 4481.

Check out their website at: http://www.chunkymove.com/

Find them on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/CHUNKY-MOVE/15467747194

March Farm Foods & Finds Special

Stay 2 midweek nights and receive 3 $10 Gift Certificates ($30) to spend at our local farm produce & gift shops.  Your farm adventure will take you to 3 active working farms:

Ioka Valley Farm, http://iokavalleyfarm.com/

Sweet Brook Farm, http://www.sweetbrookfarm.mybigcommerce.com/

Cricket Creek Farm, http://cricketcreekfarm.com/

You will witness live animals and the products derived from them, fresh foods being grown & harvested, and farm stores where you may purchase locally grown maple products, artisanal cheeses, breads & baked goods, dairy products, honey, alpaca clothing & products, and many other items.

Ioka Valley Farm has been named one of the 1000 best attractions in Massachusetts. The Great Places initiative celebrates what is unique about the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, its communities, and its people. It aims to boost visitation to Massachusetts as well as give local residents the opportunity to visit known and unknown historic sites, cultural venues, and natural landscapes. 

Check out their history page http://iokavalleyfarm.com/history/  for some background about this family farm.

Sweet Brook Farm is located in South Williamstown and is home to the Phelps family — Pete, Beth, Sarah, and Dan.  They built a new house and barn on a portion of the old Norris Phelps  farm (Pete’s dad) in 2005 – 2007.  Norris Phelps’ grandfather, Cassius Phelps, started Sweet Brook Farm long ago.  The Phelps’ dreamed of this homestead for 20 years before finally making their dream become a reality.

After the house and barn were constructed, the first alpacas took up residence in the barn in the fall of 2007.  Research on what type of livestock to raise led to the discovery of alpacas which were not used as meat animals but for their beautiful, soft fleece, docile nature, and manageable size and upkeep.

Check out their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SweetBrookFarm and their photo albums at https://www.facebook.com/SweetBrookFarm?sk=photos

Cricket Creek Farm is one of the oldest active dairy farms in the region. In 2001, the Phelps family put Cricket Creek Farm up for sale, and the Sabot family, concerned about the development of the largest farm in Williamstown, explored options for protecting the land. By 2002 the purchase was complete and work was started on a plan for moving forward. Since much of the land was in Agricultural Protection, it had to be maintained as a working farm. After visiting Shelburne Farms in Northern Vermont, a decision was made to continue with dairy farming, add cheese making and an educational component.

Check out their history page http://www.cricketcreekfarm.com/?page=history for some background about this family farm.

Make your reservations now to take advantage of this special. http://www.1896house.com/reservations.htm

Check Out North Adams 15th Annual Winterfest!

Saturday, February 25, 2012, 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. FREE

We haven't had much of a snowy winter so far, with days that are just short of balmy, but it's still fun to enjoy winter and the winter activities such as ice skating and watching people carve up enormous chunks of ice at the local winterfest. North Adams is less then 15 minutes from the 1896 House.

Early Morning, come see local artists and business owners try their hands at ice carving

The WinterFest Chowder Competition, 12 – 2 p.m.

Activities such as face painting, karaoke, hot chocolate, and horse drawn wagon rides. Children’s activities will be held at both MASS MoCA and Heritage State Park. MASS.

The North Adams Vietnam Memorial Skating Rink will host a Skating Dance Party from 7-9 p.m.. Admission is FREE and will feature a DJ, food and fun.

New events, performances and activities are being added all the time. Maps and schedules will be available the day of the event. For the most up-to-date information on North Adams’ WinterFest, call (413) 664-6180.

For more information please also check out

http://berkshires.org/bvb/files/2011/11/WinterFest.pdf

ALSO!!!

Come visit PRESS during the City of North Adams 15th Annual Winterfest Celebration

Take advantage of this surprisingly spring-like winter and take a walk downtown to experiment with letterpress by making your own type composition. Drop on in and choose from the large assortment of found wood type and bring your words to life! There is a suggested donation of $ 5 for printing.

PRESS

Date: February 25th

Time: 12-2

51 Main Street, North Adams, MA 01247

http://letterpressasapublicartproject.wordpress.com/

Susan B. Anthony Birthplace and a Special Concert Event

Plan a multi-day visit to Adams, MA while staying at the comfortable 1896 House Inn, on Saturday, visit the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum and then on Sunday, listen to a lovely concert honoring the "daughter of Adams".

If you are looking for some fun things to also do on Saturday, go Ice Skating! For more information about hours and rates, please visit http://northadams-ma.gov/index.php?cmd=content&nav_id=76. On Sunday have a leisurely relaxing lunch at the 6' House Pub and then go listen to some lovely music celebrating Susan B. Anthony.

Susan B. Anthony Birthday Concert to Feature “Only the Message Mattered,” Sunday February 19, 2011

The annual event for Susan B. Anthony will feature “an absolutely gorgeous piece of music” to honor the “daughter of Adams.” And will present the original music and narrative, “Only the Message Mattered,” by composer/musician Bob Warren.

The concert, at 3:00 pm, Sunday, February 19, Adams Free Library, 92 Park Street, will honor  one of the world’s greatest human rights leaders and “daughter of Adams,” Susan B. Anthony. The public is invited to attend free of charge.

The event is co-hosted by the Adams Historical Society and funded in part from a grant from Mass Humanities. Bob Warren wrote the piece in 2010 with a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts for an ensemble of three singers/narrators and two instrumentalists. Performing in Adams on February 19, in simple Quaker dress, will be singer/narrators Brittany Rivers, Barbara Skiff, Rebecca Rogers, cellist Demetria Koninis and Bob Warren on piano.

For more information, contact the Adams Free Library, 413-743-8345, or the Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, 413-743-7121.

Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum (20 minutes from the 1896 House)

67 East Road

Adams, MA 01220

413-743-7121

http://www.susanbanthonybirthplace.com

The Susan B. Anthony Birthplace Museum, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation, dedicated to preserving the birthplace and raising public awareness of the wide-ranging legacy of the great social reformer, Susan B. Anthony, who was a pioneering feminist and suffragist as well as a noteworthy figure in the abolitionist, opposition to Restellism, and temperance movements of the 19th century.  As part of its mission, the Museum will highlight the familial and regional influences which shaped Ms. Anthony’s early life, by displaying the textiles and furnishings of that period, as well as the literature and other memorabilia associated with her later career.

Museum’s hours and schedule:

October 14, 2010 - May 28, 2011

Thursday, Friday & Saturday 10am - 4pm

- or - Call the Birthplace office and request a special tour.

One can tour the five room home in less than an hour.

Admission is $5 for adults

$3 for seniors and children

Free for children under 6 years of age.

This rural, Federal-style home was the birthplace and childhood home of Susan Brownell Anthony, an advocate for temperance and the rights of women. She was born in 1820 and lived in the house until the age of seven. She later returned here several times throughout her life. Anthony’s family had a long tradition in the Quaker Society of Friends, and she was raised to value the precepts of society, humility, simplicity, and in particular, equality. Anthony received a broad education and undoubtedly incorporated the instruction she received in this rural home into her later career. As an adult, Anthony went on to be educated as a teacher in Philadelphia and taught in various schools from 1835 to 1860, earning 1/3 of the salary paid to her male cohorts. Frustrated by the restrictions placed on her because of her gender, Anthony moved to her family’s home in New York in 1849. There, she became an associate of Fredrick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, leaders in the anti-slavery movement before the Civil War. Already an advocate of temperance and a good friend of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she also endorsed rights for women and in 1869 helped found the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. Anthony cast a ballot in the 1872 presidential election and was arrested and fined $100 by a judge who directed the jury to find her guilty. She refused to pay, but because the judgment was never enforced, she could not appeal to the Supreme Court.

In 1892, she became the National Woman’s Suffrage Association’s president. Susan B. Anthony did not live to see women get the right to vote, for she died in 1906, 13 years before the 19th amendment was passed.

Information courtesy of: http://www.susanbanthonybirthplace.com

Love is in the Art

February is the month for romance and what better way to spend a chilly day with your sweetheart then touring a local art gallery.

Love is in the Art – A Group Show. Mon-Sat 10am – 5:30pm. Sun. 11am-4pm.

At The Harrison Gallery (less then 5 minutes from the 1896 House)

February 4 - 29, 2012

39 Spring Street

Williamstown MA 01267

413-458-1700

Website: www.theharrisongallery.com

The Harrison Gallery specializes in contemporary American artists, with a focus on landscapes. The works are created by traditional New England painters, American Impressionists, photographers, watercolorists, and mixed media artists. The Harrison Gallery prides itself in representing a wide variety of styles to serve diverse tastes. The gallery's collection also includes etchings, sculpture, pottery, jewelry, and fine art ceramics. With both local pride and an international scope, our artists range from Williamstown talent to Berkshire residents, the New York School to the California School , and a handful of international artists.

Artists featured in the Love is in the Art Show

Brother Thomas Bezanson

portfolio at http://www.theharrisongallery.com/artistDetail_2773_Brother%20Thomas-Bezanson.htm

Susan Read Cronin

portfolio at http://www.theharrisongallery.com/artistDetail_974_Susan%20Read-Cronin.htm

Stanley Bielen

portfolio at http://www.theharrisongallery.com/artistDetail_7859_Stanley-Bielen.htm

John Traynor

portfolio at http://www.theharrisongallery.com/artistDetail_11715_John-Traynor.htm

While your visiting the Williamstown area, stop by and check out the The Williamstown Art Conservation Center at Stone Hill Center.

The Conservation Center is a unique facility for art conservation. It offers spacious labs for paintings, works on paper, photography, objects, textiles, furniture and picture frames, each space brightly illuminated with natural light and built to meet the specific needs of its specialty. Stone Hill Center also houses Clark exhibition galleries and features sweeping vistas of the Berkshires and Green Mountains. Visitors may experience the conservation process via a viewing platform and windows that look in on the labs.

227 South Street

Williamstown, MA 01267

http://www.williamstownart.org/

The Bees Knees

Berkshire Botanical Gardens is hosting some great classes this upcoming Saturday.

Now is the time to start thinking about your spring and summer gardens. Bees are vital to earth's food production. Bees are immensely important to the success of over 90 types of food crops all over the world. Most varieties of fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds are dependent on bees, as are crops used as in feed for human's protein sources. Albert Einstein reportedly said the human race would last only four years in a world without bees, while there is debate over whether the great physicist made the claim, no one disputes the fact that we would be in serious trouble were bees to disappear. Bees are now in danger of dying out. In the winter of 2008, one in every three hives were lost.

Beekeeping is not an expensive hobby to take up and the rewards, aside from the sweet rewards of honey, that you are contributing to the world's overall sustainability, make it a very worthwhile undertaking.

Beekeeping for Gardeners: Getting Started in Backyard Beekeeping- 9 am – noon

This workshop is for everyone with an interest in honeybees and beekeeping. Learn how to start a honeybee colony, the seasonal management required to keep a healthy hive of bees and the role of pollinators and their relationship to flowering plants.  Topics provide an overview of the beekeeper's job, and will help new beekeepers, or those who are considering becoming a beekeeper, to make the correct choices for starting a backyard apiary. Equipment and tools used by the beekeeper will be discussed, and step-by-step instructions for starting a new colony of bees will be covered.  At the end of the workshop participants should have a solid understanding of how to successfully begin as a new beekeeper.

The Secret Life of Bees 1 – 2:30 pm

Most gardeners are familiar with the sight of a honey- bee forager as she visits flowers in our gardens, but few of us understand the intricacies of bee life within the hive. Join Heather Mattila, assistant professor at Wellesley College, for a lively talk about honeybees and honeybee behavior. She will discuss the secret life of honeybees, including the different kinds of bees that are found in hives, the jobs they do, as well as the means by which honeybees communicate to ensure a healthy and productive colony. This lecture appeals to beginner and seasoned beekeepers as well as naturalists.

For more information please visit http://www.berkshirebotanical.org/education/index.html

Berkshire Botanical Garden (less then an hour from the 1896 House)

5 West Stockbridge Road

Stockbridge, MA 01262

Phone: 413-298-3926