Hudson Valley Art and Activism: April 28-May 4
May Day! May Day! The weather is warm for you to get out in the streets, or near the stages this week.
There is an alarm ringing through the country on this May Day, and here’s hoping you take some action now that warning has reached your ears. There are more than a dozen protests or rallies or chances to have your voice heard in the Hudson Valley this week. And while the protests were, since Donald Drumpf began ignoring the courts, fairly purposeless besides a shared camaraderie against fascism, they are becoming more focused. Always sharp Ulster County progressive Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha is rallying folks in Catskill and Kingston on Tuesday, and Poughkeepsie on Wednesday specifically against Central Hudson rate hikes. May Day is a union holiday, so they will be out in force in Newburgh, Albany, Kingston, and Great Barrington on Thursday, among many options for activism this week.
And there are also many great performers on local stages too: Wendy Eisenberg in Catskill, Eric Gaffney in Troy, jazz legend Joe Morris in Poughkeepsie, and Coxsackie’s Nicholas Merz in Kingston among those many. See below for more details about these events and others.
Song of the Week
Tune in to “Vortex” from Kamasi Washington’s soundtrack for the “Lazurus” cartoon. Bonobo and Floating Points also released their own soundtracks for the series.
TUESDAY, APRIL 29
Avg. 65°, Low 49° at 5 a.m., High 78° at 4 p.m. per Merry Sky.
POLITICS
Register using the QR code or at the link in the flyer above: bit.ly/3RoymNn More information is available from Iridian@sanctuarycolumbiacounty.org. Únete a nosotros para la Movilización NY4ALL en Albany, NY el martes 29 de abril de 2025, de 9 a.m. a 4 p.m.! Nos reunimos para exigir dignidad, protección y justicia para todas nuestras comunidades. ¡Hagamos que nuestras voces se escuchen!
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POLITICS
Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha has done much to focus attention on Central Hudson’s bad behavior, and here she is rallying folks to speak out against proposed rate hikes.
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MUSIC
Squanderers (Wendy Eisenberg and David Grubbs and Kramer) perform with Ben Vida and Booker Stardrum, and Will Epstein perform in Catskill.
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 30
Avg. 61°, Low 51° at 11 p.m., High 68° at 12 a.m. per Merry Sky.
PROTEST
Michele Hirsch writes, “April 30 will mark 100 days into Trump’s second presidency and in Kingston, we’re coming together to fight back. Please join us this Wednesday, April 30, at 5 PM in front of City Hall to rally against Trump’s attempted cuts to Children’s Medicaid and Executive Orders to dismantle and/or move key education programs from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to Health and Human Services (HHS). Together, we’ll hear from local leaders, community groups, and impacted parents on how Trump’s dangerous agenda is upending the lives of our neighbors.
RSVP here.
ACTIVISM
Catskill Artists & Creatives for Housing Equity writes, “We’re having a meeting dedicated to art making Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Water Street Studio! Come for collaboration or working solo, we’ve got the space and the energy!”
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THURSDAY, MAY 1
Avg. 55°, Low 44° at 5 a.m., High 67° at 5 p.m. per Merry Sky.
MAY DAY
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SOUNDS
Congratulations!
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FRIDAY, MAY 2
Avg. 63°, Low 54° at 4 a.m., High 75° at 4 p.m. per Merry Sky.
MUSIC
Stereogum writes: “Nobody else sounds like Scott Walker, and if someone tells you about something that sounds like Scott Walker, that person should be laughed out of the room. But the Coxsackie, New York musician Nicholas Merz sounds way more like Scott Walker than you might expect anyone to get. Merz is the only member of New Orthodox, a project that’s set to release its debut album Bull Market On Corn next month. It’s one of the last things that the late, great Steve Albini recorded and mixed before he passed away last year.”
Bentley Anderson and Clifford Allen are also on the bill with New Orthodox at Tubby’s in Kingston.
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MUSIC
Eric Gaffney (co-founder of Sebadoh) and Rabid Children perform in Troy, not Claverack.
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SATURDAY, MAY 3
Avg. 57°, Low 50° at 11 p.m., High 62° at 4 p.m. per Merry Sky.
MAY DAY
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MUSIC
Elysium Furnace Works brings Rova Saxophone Quartet founding member Larry Ochs (Nels Cline, Gerald Cleaver), multi-instrumentalist Joe Morris (Anthony Braxton, William Parker) on bass, and Michael Wimberly (George Clinton / Parliament-Funkadelic, Dionne Warwick, Charles Gayle) on drums and percussion to the VBI Theatre of Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center in Poughkeepsie.
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SUNDAY, MAY 4
Avg. 54°, Low 44° at 5 a.m., High 65° at 4 p.m. per Merry Sky.
ONGOING PROTEST
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MUSIC
Combo Chimbita play at Tubby’s this week, and are also performing at the Half Moon in Hudson on May 30.
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MUSIC
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ONGOING
SOUND ART
Joseph Bertolozzi's “Bridge Music” is a sound-art installation featuring the Mid- Hudson Bridge as the instrument itself. Bertolozzi sampled the sounds of bridge’s surfaces, including guard rails and girders, as he beat on them with various mallets. His compositions using those sounds reached the Billboard Top Twenty Classical and Classical Crossover album charts in 2009. There are Listening Stations (just reopened on April 1) on the pedestrian sidewalk of the bridge and a 24/7 microcast on 95.3-FM in Johnson-Iorio Park in Highland and Waryas Park in Poughkeepsie.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Turn out to this free installation.
COMING SOON
May 8: Takaat, History Dog at Tubby’s, Kingston.
May 9: Tune-Yards at Assembly, Kingston.
May 10: Tristan Geary, Eva Weber, Iggy Capra, and Joel Newberger at Old Books, Hudson.
May 11: Arthur Brooks Ensemble V at Lace Mill, Kingston.
May 11: Loboko, Lollise at The Local, Saugerties.
May 16-18 The Thing In The Spring w/Sunburned Hand of the Man, others in Keene, NH.
May 23: Brasskill, Brian Dewan at Tubby’s, Kingston.
May 30: Squirrel Flower, Babehoven at Tubby’s, Kingston.
Upcoming NY Record Fairs above.
IMPORTANT LOCAL READS
Two Hudson-based stories this week, both about community.
Paperwork! Gear! Hound Dog Heros!
Initiation (hazing?) in the volunteer fire fighter style.
By Arone Dyer.
No Drowning: Parenting Where I was Parented at Oakdale Lake
How a lake, a camp, and a city are teaching me how to be a parent.
By Catie Hilverman.
Donald Drumpf Theatre #234: All The Kings Horses And All The Kings Men
This week: “All The Kings Horses And All The Kings Men” The two presidents ignore administrative errors and open Signal chats this week on the “Donald Drumpf Theatre” radio show. Opening theme includes clips from Rod Serling; Bill Cosby; Donald Drumpf; Eric Cartman; Richard Nixon; Kent Brockman; and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Thanks for the songs from Golden Earring ("Twilight Zone"), The Beastie Boys (“Egg Man”), and The Beatles (“I Am The Walrus”). Clips and excerpts from Jon Stewart; Jimmy Kimmel; Roy Wood Jr., Alyssa Farah Griffin, Michael Ian Black, Amber Ruffin, and George Wallace from “Have I Got News For You;” Brian Kilmeade; and Pete Hegseth. Episode 234.
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