Cultural Pittsfield This Week: July 2-July 9
Thursday: MJ Dance Party@Jae’s SpiceGet your yah-yahs out despite the weather tonight at a no cover dance party in honor of Michael Jackson at Jae's Spice! DJ BFG brings the beats, blending funk, disco, electro, and reggae. This special set will peak with a seamless MJ career retrospective beginning at 11pm.
Thursday, July 2 | 9pm-12am | Jae’s Spice | 297 North Street | 997-5237 | No Cover |
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Friday: Club Groove Grand OpeningCome help celebrate the grand opening of Club Groove, a new nightclub and lounge for the Berkshires in the former home of Club Red and Sabor's! Three DJs will be playing a vibrant mix of top 40, hip hop, reggae, rock, latin and electronica. 21+ & dress to impress!
Friday, July 3 | 9pm-2am | Club Groove | 17 Wendell Avenue | (866)433-4965 | $10 |
| Click here to read the Eagle's article today on Club Groove! |
Friday-Thursday: Pressure Cooker at Little CinemaDon't miss this award-winning documentary about a Philadelphia high school culinary arts teacher whose love of her students, her desire to see them succeed, and the students who receive this tough love are the stars of the film. Cooking and the results are secondary to the challenge Stephenson gives her students: to succeed and to achieve what no one else thought they could. Jennifer Grausman, the film's director/producer, will conduct a question & answer session with the audience following the 8 p.m. Little Cinema screenings of her film on Friday July 3, Sunday July 5, and at the 2 p.m. matinee on Monday, July 6.
Friday-Thursday, July 3-9 | 8pm/Monday matinee 2pm | Berkshire Museum | 139 South Street | $8/$6 for members |
| Check out the official website for Pressure Cooker. |
Friday: Live music @ MissionCome and listen to Jenee Halstead, Michelle Lewis and Joe Iandanza. Backed by her nuanced, small-bodied guitar, Halstead draws from the haunting melodies of the depression era, patiently distilling folk, bluegrass, and electro to create music that Matt Smith, Club Passim’s longtime manager, describes as “fresh and new, yet familiar and timeless”. Michelle’s music is caring, vivacious and completely authentic. Joe Iadanza is a storyteller and a sophisticated folkie with a strikingly unusual tenor voice, a foot-stomping Euro-jazz schooled band, and a growing repertoire of smart, witty, warm, and stick-in-your-ear hummable songs.
Friday, July 3 | 8pm | Mission Bar and Tapas | 438 North Street | No Cover! |
| Click here to listen to Jennee Halstead’s music. |
Sat & Sun: Celebrate the 4th of July Weekend!Called one of the ten best Fourth of July parades in the country by USA Today, Pittsfield’s annual Independence Day parade, held this Saturday, is legendary for its outstanding musical acts, balloons and floats & its hometown feel. Continue the 4th of July celebrations with baseball & fireworks at Wahconah Park. And on Sunday, check out the annual Berkshire Charity Auto Show benefitting United Way: antique and original vehicles, modified cars and trucks, Corvettes, street rods, muscle cars and motorcycles from 1972 or earlier will be on display and entered for competition.
Pittsfield Fourth Of July Parade | Saturday, July 4 | 10am | Downtown Pittsfield | FREE! Baseball and Fireworks | Saturday, July 4 | 6:30pm game; fireworks afterwards | Wahconah Park | 105 Wahconah Street| $5-$9 24th Annual Berkshire Charity Auto Show | Sunday, July 5 | Berkshire Medical Center’s Hillcrest Campus | 165 Tor Court | 698-3195 | $4/Free 11 & under |
| For more information about the car show, click here |
Sun & Thurs: Magic & Music @ the ColonialSunday, enjoy A Night of Magic, a Las Vegas style family show full of grand scale magic & illusion and unmatched audience interaction. Bill Blagg III is breaking the mold of the typical magician: critics refer to his show as Second City meets David Copperfield. Thursday, the Colonial hosts the legendary Glenn Miller Orchestra, founded by the most successful of all the big bandleaders back in the Swing era of the 1930s and ‘40s. Currently led by trombonist Larry O’Brien, the 19-member band continues to play the original Miller arrangements that keep exciting fans around the world.
A Night of Magic | Sunday, July 5 | 2pm & 7pm | The Colonial | 111 South Street | 997-4444 | $40/$15 Glenn Miller Orchestra | Thursday, July 9 | 7:30pm | The Colonial | 111 South Street | $35/$25 |
| Check out magician Bill Blagg's website here! |
Monday-Friday: Kids in the park & online!Two great activities for children are happening this week & beyond. The City of Pittsfield’s Summer Playground Program provides a variety of drop-in recreation activities for city children at no cost. Playground leaders create safe, supervised & fun-filled environments with activities including sports, games, arts and crafts, & nature activities. Also next week is “computer college for kids” camp at BCC. Your child will “travel” to any place on the planet using the internet, learning research skills, & creating a travel brochure and short presentation to tell you about their “virtual vacation.” Recommended for children entering fourth, fifth or sixth grade in September.
Summer Playground Program | Monday, July 6-Friday, August 14 | 9am-12pm, 1-4pm | The Commons, Clapp Park, Pitt Park, and Deming Park | 236-8888 | FREE! Virtual Vacation Camp | Monday, July 6-Friday, July 10 | 9am-12pm | Berkshire Community College, Field Administration Center | 1350 West Street | 499-4600 | $150 for the week |
Tues & Wed: Music outdoors!Tuesday, enjoy Phil Grover’s Doo Wah Review, ten vocals with a rhythm band performing oldies and goodies outdoors at beautiful Springside Park. Bring chairs or blankets and come early to picnic and tour the gardens. On Wednesday, the second Live on the Lake features Sirsy. Enjoy the beautiful lake and listen to some great music.
Phil Grover's Doo Wah Review | Tuesday, July 7 | 7pm | Spring Park | 874 North Street | 743-5193 or 698-3877 | FREE! Sirsy @ Live at the Lake | Wednesday, July 8 | 6-8pm | Burbank Park | FREE |
| Check out Sirsy’s music video here! |
Mon & Wed: Shirley Jones & Underneath the Lintel OpensMonday night don't miss the incredible, Academy Award-winning Shirley Jones in a one-night-only evening of song. Known for her star turn as the Partridge Family mom as well as lead roles on Broadway and on film, this in not to be missed! And opening at Barrington Stage 2, Underneath the Lintel is a play about a book checked out 113 years ago that is anonymously returned, launching a librarian’s quest to find the borrower, revealing a cosmic puzzle that makes The Da Vinci Code seem like a game of hide-and-seek.
Wednesday, July 8-Wednesday, July 26 | 7:30pm Tuesday-Friday and Sunday, Saturday at 8 | Barrington Stage 2 | 36 Linden Street | 236-8888 | $15 (for Wed & Thurs, July 8 & 9 previews)/$25/$30 |
| Plus don't miss cabaret with Amanda McBroom tonight & tomorrow. Click here for ALL the great Barrington Stage performances! |
Tues & Thurs: Lucky Seven & Art Times
Tuesday night Storefront Artist Project hosts a fundraiser called Lucky 7, featuring 7"x7" artworks to be sold via silent auction. A reception and final bidding will be held until 8pm. Artists include Maggie Mailer, Michael Zelehoski, Derek Zeitel, and many others. Thursday the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires hosts a free talk with ART TIMES publisher Cornelia Seckel (pictured left). Seckel will also address how information is best gotten into print and what people can do to realize their own dreams and visions.
Lucky 7 Auction | Tuesday, July 7 | 6-8pm | Storefront Artist Project | 124 Fenn Street | FREE
Art Times Talk | Thursday, July 9 | 1pm | Congregational Knesset Israel | 16 Colt Road | 442-4360 ext. 15| FREE!
Lucky 7 Auction | Tuesday, July 7 | 6-8pm | Storefront Artist Project | 124 Fenn Street | FREE
Art Times Talk | Thursday, July 9 | 1pm | Congregational Knesset Israel | 16 Colt Road | 442-4360 ext. 15| FREE!
