Live music, family fun, Penguin Plunge, Chili Festival

The 5 Browns
The famous (and famously talented) brothers-and-sisters piano ensemble return to the Capital Region for a special performance at Skidmore College as part of SaratogaArtsFest. On Wednesday, the 5 Browns will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Paris premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring with a performance of the world premiere of a new [...]
Dave Matthews Band
So, Dave Matthews is back at SPAC again this year. For two nights. Like always. If you care, you already have tickets. If not, you’re probably planning on staying a safe half-hour away from Saratoga this weekend because bros can projectile vomit only so far. But there’s a third potential reader here: the friend/significant [...]
Christopher O’Riley & Matt Haimovitz
Pianist Christopher O’Riley, best known for hosting NPR’s young musician showcase From the Top, and cellist Matt Haimovitz, best known for braving a wide variety of genres with virtuosity and taste, will open this year’s Tannery Pond Concert series with an all-Russian program. They first teamed up last year for the album Shuffle.Play.Listen, which [...]
Paradise City Arts Festival
An extravagant three days of fine arts-and-crafts return to the Pioneer Valley this weekend with Northampton’s Paradise City Arts Festival, which will feature “260 competitively juried artists from 25 states exhibiting original works in ceramics, painting, decorative fiber, art glass, fine furniture, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, photography, large-scale sculpture, wearable art and wood.” [...]
Old Crow Medicine Show
Before the Mumford and Sons plumbing company decided that they too could strum banjos and sing harmonies, they were probably listening to a lot of Old Crow Medicine Show. Whatever you think of contemporary Americana’s rise to mainstream ubiquity, Old Crow helped build the formula out of folk, bluegrass, punk and old-time traditions. Their [...]
New Shows at MASS MoCA
The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art doesn’t mess around. The museum will open four new exhibits this weekend: Guillaume Leblon, Jason Middlebrook, Joseph Montgomery and Love to Love You. This is Paris-based sculptor Guillaume Leblon’s first solo museum show in the United States. The exhibit, which opens Sunday (May 26) and runs through April [...]Capitol Chamber Artists
Capitol Chamber Artists will complete their 44th season this Saturday night with a varied program, with works that range from the romantic era to the 20th century. These will include Joseph Rheinberger’s Six Pieces for Violin and Organ, as well as works by Maurice Durufle and CCA organist Alfred Fedak. To celebrate John Corigliano’s [...]
Portugal. The Man
Do you listen to WEQX? If you like Portland rockers Portugal. The Man, you probably should and already do. But more to the point, your only hope of getting in to see the band’s special, free acoustic show tonight at the Hollow Bar and Kitchen (still kinda half called the Bayou Café Albany) is [...]
Also Noted
Tonight (Thursday) at the Fuzebox, MIRK will fire up a solo DJ set along with Paleman for the Albany Frequencies seris (9 PM). . . . Legendary reggae group Toots and the Maytals will play a special acoustic set tonight at Bearsville Theater (8 PM, $40-$60, 845-679-4406). . . . Is Jake Miller Mac [...]Bow Thayer and Perfect Trainwreck
Names like Fugazi, Yes, Ali Farka Toure and Jerry Garcia are rarely used in the same sentence. Vermont singer-songwriter Bow Thayer makes the combination necessary. There’s a few other names he demands we mention too: the late Levon Helm, who hosted the band at his Midnight Rambles and played drums on the Perfect Trainwreck’s [...]