Hudson Valley Art and Activism: May 19-26
Lots of protests and rallies, DJ showcases, music-adjacent films, experimental jazz, accordion experiments, weirdo pop, and more this week.
Memorial Day weekend will be full of citizens taking to the streets, and artists taking to local stages. Get out and join them!
New Song of the Week
New music from Chicago-based Tortoise, Dan Bitney on synthesizer, Douglas McCombs on bass, Jeff Parker on guitar, and percussion from John Herndon.
Monday, May 19
Avg. 56°, Low 49° at 5 a.m., High 64° at 3 p.m. per Merry Sky.
MUSIC
Ben Seretan celebrates the reissue of his “Youth Pastoral” album with Little Mystery, Jackie West, Elizabeth Celeste (from Catskill’s Camp Saint Helene), and John-Francis Quiñonez.
DETAILS.
Tuesday, May 20
Avg. 54°, Low 47° at 5 a.m., High 61° at 4 p.m. per Merry Sky.
PROTESTS
Protest to defend HUD programs from budget cuts.
DETAILS.
MUSIC
Craig Finn, lead singer of The Hold Steady, is releasing his sixth solo album, “Always Been” and a book “Lousy with Ghosts,” and playing a free show in Kingston.
DETAILS.
Wednesday, May 21
Avg. 52°, Low 49° at 5 a.m., High 56° at 5 p.m. per Merry Sky.
FILM/MUSIC
Smootaphilia: Ensemble Erotic (including members of TV On The Radio) performs a live soundtrack to David Cronenberg’s 1996 “Crash” in Saugerties.
DETAILS.
MUSIC
Walt McClements, an accordionist, multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Los Angeles, makes the first of two localish appearances this week, with bobbie, and MentalDrift at Greenfield Records, in Greenfield, MA.
DETAILS.
Thursday, May 22
Avg. 49°, Low 46° at 6 a.m., High 52° at 5 p.m. per Merry Sky.
PROTEST
A “Honk For Democracy and Against Fascism” protest, every Thursday 4:30-6 p.m. at the four corners by Hannaford in West Sand Lake put on by some members of Indivisible Rensselaer County.
DETAILS.
RALLY
DETAILS.
Friday, May 23
Avg. 52°, Low 46° at 5 a.m., High 59° at 5 p.m. per Merry Sky.
MUSIC
Brasskill is a Hudson Valley-based brass band who will be sure to get you moving, and Catskill’s Brian Dewan is an American treasure, an anachronistic futurist who has worked with They Might Be Giants, Sesame Street, Flaming Fire, Jed Davis, The Music Tapes, Loser's Lounge, The Shondes, The Musical Stones of Skiddaw, and is also a member of the Raymond Scott Orchestrette.
DETAILS.
MUSIC
TITAN TO TACHYONS is an experimental jazz-metal group led by New Zealand composer and guitarist Sally Gates, with Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle), Matt Hollenberg (Cleric), and Kenny Grohowski (Imperial Triumphant). Their latest album, ‘Vonals’, was released via John Zorn’s Tzadik records late 2022. Pittsburgh’s Microwaves play noise rock, and Doom Dance opens.
DETAILS.
Saturday, May 24
Avg. 54°, Low 48° at 5 a.m., High 61° at 4 p.m. per Merry Sky.
MUSIC
Accordionist Walt McClements with Ruth Mascelli (one quarter of the no wave/glam/industrial outfit Special Interest, and based in New Orleans and Kingston) and composer, electronic musician, and violinist Matt McBane.
DETAILS.
MUSIC
Three of the best local DJs: Effie Asili, Ged Gengras, and Otto Hauser together in Woodstock.
DETAILS.
FUN
DETAILS.
Sunday, May 25
Avg. 58°, Low 49° at 5 a.m., High 67° at 4 p.m. per Merry Sky.
RALLY
Stand Up/Speak Out is holding a rally in Hudson’s Public Square on May 25 “in response to the ongoing cuts to the federal workforce and services that support veterans, Social Security beneficiaries, and healthcare providers and patients in New York. The event hopes to encourage local citizens to gather, learn from one another, and sound the alarm that no one is safe in an America that has turned its back on its veterans, the elderly, and the ability of millions to access healthcare. Our speaker lineup so far includes Andrea Goldstein, a veteran and a former staffer of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs; Rennie Glasgow, Vice President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE ), Local 3343; and Ashley Fox, MA, PhD, a public policy and global health policy expert. In addition, we will hear from folks directly impacted by the current and anticipated federal cuts to the Veterans Administration, Social Security, and government healthcare programs, including Medicaid.”
DETAILS.
MUSIC
Good weirdness at Abode Farm.
DETAILS.
MUSIC
Matinee show in Newburgh.
DETAILS.
Monday, May 26
FILM
Director Gorman Bechard shows up to screen, and discuss his film “Color Me Obsessed” about The Replacements, the best rock band ever. Will Hudson’s Tommy Stinson show? Fat chance. (2011, 123 min.)
DETAILS.
Tuesday, May 27
MUSIC
Frank Meadows on upright bass, Jessica Ackerley on electric guitar, and Eli Wallace on piano, with Adriana Tampasis opening with a performance of solo flute.
DETAILS.
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 30: Squirrel Flower, Babehoven at Tubby’s, Kingston.
June 5: Linda Smith & Cindy, Jeanines, and Kryssi B. at Belltower Records, North Adams, MA.
June 12: ‘Pavements’ at Hi-Way Drive In, Coxsackie.
June 14: “No Kings” Catskill protest
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Upcoming NY Record Fairs above.
HUDSON VALLEY SOUNDS
CHRIS PELLNAT
Columbia County-based guitarist releases single with Moroccan singer Catalus.
WILL STRATTON
Beacon-based Will Stratton recorded just about all of this record there, except for a few guest contributions.
Notes: Kendra McKinley is going on tour in early June with Anna Moss, with stops in New York City, Fairfield, and Velvet Earth Farm in Medusa…. Meanwhile, Hudson Valley-based jazz bassist Michael Bisio has been touring Europe, with stops in Berlin, Prague, and elsewhere, with Chimera, featuring Iva Bittová, Steve Gorn, Timothy Hill, and Bisio.
IMPORTANT LOCAL READ
"His Room as He Left It", a mixed-media installation by Ariel Kotker at the Washington Art Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY
Entirely handmade life-size sculptures that reconstruct the imaginary bedroom full of little details that make birders smile.
Donald Drumpf Theatre #237: Surprise, Surprise, Habeus Corpus Disappears
This week: “Surprise, Surprise, Habeus Corpus Disappears.” The rule of law is for losers this week on the “Donald Drumpf Theatre” radio show. Opening theme includes clips from Rod Serling; Bill Cosby; Donald Drumpf; Eric Cartman; Jon Stewart; Richard Nixon; Kent Brockman; and Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Thanks for the songs from Golden Earring ("Twilight Zone"), X (“Surprise, Surprise”), and West Side Story (“Jet Song”). Clips and excerpts from Seth Meyers; Stephen Miller; Jeffrey Toobin; Chris Jansing; Stephen Colbert; Bernie Sanders; Elizabeth Warren; and . Episode 237.
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