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Paco
Peña
Troy
Savings Bank Music Hall, Thursday
Like very few other art forms, flamenco music is incomplete
without its counterpart, flamenco dance. It would be a rare
treat just to behold his sterling fretwork, but when legendary
flamenco guitar virtuoso Paco Peña performs, he tends to stay
true to tradition. For his upcoming Troy show, Peña will bring
his own personal dance troupe, the Paco Peña Flamenco Dance
Company. His latest show, “A Compás,” aims to capture the
full range of flamenco styles, from the tribal “aboreá” to
the complex “bulería,” complete with dextrous playing and
passionate dancing. (Oct. 1, 8 PM, $20-$34, 30 Second St.,
Troy, 273-0038)
Guthrie
Family Rides Again
The
Guthrie Center, Friday-Sunday
We all know Arlo, the garbage-dumping, draft-dodging, Massachusetts
hippie who immortalized a certain Stockbridge, Mass., eatery
in song, despite the fact that the Thanksgiving meal described
in said magnum opus took place in a deconsecrated church half
a dozen miles away. And we’re familiar, to a lesser extent,
with his musical brood: Son Abe, and daughters Sarah Lee,
Cathy and Annie, have all made their marks in the biz. This
weekend brings the rare opportunity to see all the Guthries
onstage inside that famous church. The Guthrie Family Rides
Again tour brings three generations of Guthries together (there
are grandkids, too) to honor the family’s collective catalog,
as well as that of a fourth generation: The show includes
renditions of unpublished Woody Guthrie lyrics as set to music
by a number of notables (including Mermaid Avenue collaborators
Billy Bragg and Wilco). You’ll want to take notes at this
one. (Oct. 2-4, call for times and prices, 4 Van Deusenville
Road, Housatonic, Mass., 413-528-1955)
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Mose
Allison
Caffe
Lena, Tuesday
It takes talent and an impeccable sense of the cool for a
musician to properly cover a song by the likes of the Clash,
J.J. Cale, or the Who, but when those artists cover another
songwriter, it can boost that relative unknown into the league
of the legendary. Such is the case with Mose Allison, the
81-year-old delta pianist and songwriter with almost 40 albums
to his name, who’s been called the “William Faulkner of jazz.”
None other than Van Morrison recorded an entire album of Allison’s
songs. People build whole halls of fame for folks like this.
(Oct. 4, 7 PM, $32, 47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs, 583-0022)
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| Shadows
Fall |
Shadows
Fall
Northern
Lights, Tuesday
The local boys done good. Springfield, Mass., metallurgists
Shadows Fall took a slow but deliberate march to the front
of the heavy-metal pack, peaking with 2007’s Grammy-nominated
Threads of Life. (They lost to Slayer, no insult there.)
Now the band (featuring Capital Region-born, world-renowned
drummer Jason Bittner) are back with a new album, Retribution,
that takes their brain-reaming assault to new highs (and lows),
and that recently took them to national television, thanks
to an appearance on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. Fans
will want to nab the deluxe edition, which features covers
of tunes by Ozzy Osbourne, the Cro-Mags, and Nuclear Assault.
Fans will also want to get they asses to Clifton Park, where
Shadows Fall will slay Northern Lights this week. (Oct.
6, 6 PM, $22, 1208 Route 146, Clifton Park, 371-0012)
Ben
Folds
The
Egg, Wednesday
For a few brief years in the mid-’90s, Ben Folds and his Ben
Folds Five were a twee pop oasis in a desert of overearnest,
grunting alt-rock. Sure, their biggest hit was the overearnest
“Brick,” but the same group produced songs like “Uncle Walter”
and “Song for the Dumped,” neither of which could be taken
very seriously. Since the Five’s dissolution Folds has embarked
on a hit-or-miss solo recording career—for every Rockin’
the Suburbs there’s a Songs for Silverman, though
which one’s the hit and which is the miss is up to the listener.
But he’s remained a consistently entertaining live act; see
for yourself in this “evening with” performance. (Oct.
7, 8 PM, $37.50, Empire State Plaza, Albany, 473-1845)
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| Also
Noted |
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| Lucy
Kaplansky |
Anyone
lamenting a perceived lack of diversity in the
area concert scene should take a good look at
the following offerings for tomorrow (Friday)
night: We’ll start at Northern Lights, where Ghostface
Killah will give a hip-hop master class, along
with a slew of local performers (7 PM, $17, 371-0012).
. . . It’s two great modern folksingers for the
price of one at the Eighth Step at GE Theatre
at Proctors on Friday: Lucy Kaplansky and
Patty Larkin (7:30 PM, $28, 434-1703).
. . . Friday brings the “Italian king of the flatpick
guitar” to Voorheesville when Beppe Gambetta
performs at Old Songs (8 PM, $20, 765-2815). .
. . They Might Be Giants return to the
the venue that made John Flansburgh feel like
“a number, not a man”—they’re at the Egg for a
rock show Friday night (8 PM, $22, 473-1845) and
a family show Saturday afternoon (1 PM, $22, $14
children, 473-1845). . . . New York singer-songwriter
Leah Siegel makes her way north and east
for a show at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Mass.,
this Saturday (8 PM, $18, $10 students, 413-662-2111).
. . . Master of prewar blues Samuel James
performs at the Arkell Museum in Canajoharie on
Saturday (7 PM, $8, $4 children, 673-2314). .
. . A whole bunch of musicians will gather at
the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on Saturday
in celebration of late journalist Daniel Pearl
for the annual FODfest; performers include Ellis
Paul, the Joint Chiefs, and about a
dozen more (8 PM, free, 413-528-0100). . . . Saxophonist
Sam Kininger sits in with area R&B
faves Solid Smoke at the Ale House on Saturday
(10 PM, $10, 272-9740).
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