Cultural Pittsfield: April 27 - May 3

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Friday & Saturday: Book Sale Bonanza at Berkshire Museum

Berkshire Museum presents a bevy of books as part of its Book Sale Bonanza. If you're a book lover, you will appreciate the collection of used books available for sale. Most offerings are nonfiction books, encompassing topics such as art, history and architecture. Prices range from five cents to 25 dollars. There are books written in Italian and other foreign languages; albums; compact discs; and movie posters from the Little Cinema for sale, all at reasonable prices.

Friday & Saturday, April 27-28 | 10am-5pm | Berkshire Museum | 39 South Street | 413-443-7171


 

Friday: Arbor Day Celebration

The Pittsfield Parks and Recreation Program & RSVP host an Arbor Day celebration at the Common Park on First Street. Claudine Chavanne will serve as the keynote speaker, highlighting Pittsfield Beautiful's efforts to make our city more attractive and a red oak tree will be planted in honor of Pittsfield Beautiful's founder, Arlia 'Tommie' Bailey.

Click HERE for more details.

Friday, April 27 | 12pm | Common Park | First Street | 413-499-9370 | FREE


 

Friday: Restrepo at Berkshire Community College

Berkshire Community College presents Restrepo as part of Veterans Awareness Week. Restrepo is an acclaimed feature-length documentary that chronicles the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. It won the Grand Jury Prize for feature-length documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival.

Click HERE to watch a trailer of Restrepo.

Friday, April 27 | 2pm | Berkshire Community College | 1350 West Street | 413-236-4564 | FREE


 

Friday: Jazz Pianist Ethan Stone 

EPOCH Assisted Living at Melbourne presents talented jazz pianist Ethan Stone, entertaining residents and guests with his combination of popular songs from the 1920s through the 1950s. This event is free and open to the public. Stone's performance will feature the music of George Gershwin, Hoagy Carmichael, Hammerstein and Kern, Rodgers and Hart, Duke Ellington, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Glenn Miller and more.

Friday, April 27 | 3pm | EPOCH Assisted Living at Melbourne | 140 Melbourne Road | 413-499-1992 | FREE


 

Friday: The Salt of Life at the Little Cinema

The Little Cinema presents The Salt of Life, as part of its regular series of independent and popular film screenings in the Berkshire Museum. "Funny, poignant, life-enhancing, and much cheaper than a ticket to Italy!"-Screen International.

Click here to learn more about The Salt of Life, including watching a trailer of the film.

Shown in Italian with English subtitles.

Friday-Monday, April 27-30 | Friday-Saturday 7pm; Monday 1:30pm | Berkshire Museum | 39 South Street | 413-443-7171 | $5


 

Friday: BCC Annual Spring Music & Dance Concert

Berkshire Community College presents its annual Spring Music and Dance Concert, featuring the BCC Chorale, directed by Kathleen McDonald, BCC dance and choreography classes under the direction of Andrea Borak and featured BCC student soloists. This event is free and open to the public.

Click HERE for more details about the BCC Spring Music & Dance Concert.

Friday, April 27 | 7:30pm | Berkshire Community College | 1350 West Street | 413-236-4564 | FREE


 

Friday: Bronx Wanderers at The Colonial

The Colonial Theatre presents the Bronx Wanderers, doo-wop and rock & roll performers with superlative vocals and musicianship, a dynamic enthusiasm and a genuine love for performance.

Click HERE to learn more about the Bronx Wanderers and listen to a sample of their music.

Friday, April 27 | 8pm | The Colonial Theatre | 111 South Street | 413-997-4444 | $35/$25/$15


 

Friday & Saturday: Live Music at Flavours

Flavours of Malaysia presents Chris Merenda & The Wheel on Friday and WYKYD on Saturday, as part of its regular series of live music entertainment each weekend.

Click HERE to listen to Chris Merenda & The Wheel.

Click HERE to learn more about WYKYD.


Friday & Saturday, April 27-28 | 10pm | Flavours of Malaysia | 75 North Street | 413-443-3188


 

Saturday: Canoe Meadows Cleanup Day

Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary, in conjunction with Berkshire Sanctuaries, has organized a cleanup day. Each spring, the Mass Audubon Society prepares its properties for the upcoming summer and fall seasons. It relies on volunteers to help with various projects throughout the day. Tools and gloves will be available for use. A pizza lunch will be provided for all volunteers.


Saturday, April 28 | 9am-1pm | Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary | Holmes Road | 413-637-0320 | FREE


 

Saturday: Healthy Kids Day at the YMCA

The Pittsfield YMCA celebrates Healthy Kids Day with a free community event, helping families find fun through active play and educational opportunities to improve health and well-being. Activities include pottery painting with Bisque Beads & Beyond, book reading with author Ken Duncan, family yoga, face painting, a scavenger hunt and more! Guido's Fresh Marketplace and the Berkshire Athenaeum will also be there as part of the day's fun!

Click HERE for a full schedule of activities.

Saturday, April 28 | 12pm-4pm | Pittsfield YMCA | 292 North Street | 413-499-7650 | FREE


 

Saturday: KISS Alive! At Chameleons

Chameleons Nightclub presents KISS Alive! a tribute band to the 80s hair-band sensations. If you never had the opportunity to experience KISS in its heyday, take this opportunity to capture the band's essence with this tribute performance. Tickets can be purchased at Chameleons Friday or Saturday after 9pm. For adults 21 and over.

Click HERE to listen to KISS Alive!

Saturday, April 28 | 9pm-12am | Chameleons Nightclub | 1350 East Street | 413-4992582 | $13 advance, $18 at door


 

Saturday: African Dance Night!

Hosted by Alex 'de binque', this African Dance Night will excite music and dance lovers in plenty of ways. With music by DJ Dondada & DJ Flex'y, with special guest DJ Mesh, guests can expect a wide range of musical stylings, including strictly-soukouss, coupe decale', hip life, naija, zaiko congo, mbalax, reggae and everything African.

Saturday, April 28 | 9pm-1:30am | Former Mazzeo's Restaurant | 7 Winter Street |FREE


 

Saturday: Pete Boyd at Spice Dragon

Spice Dragon presents Pete Boyd as part of its weekly series of live music performances. As the lead guitarist/vocalist from Adverse Effect, Boyd performs regularly throughout Pittsfield and Berkshire County. He will perform solo for this concert, rocking an acoustic guitar. A late night menu will be available.

Saturday, April 28 | 9pm-12am | Spice Dragon | 297 North Street | 413-443-1234 | No cover  


 

Saturday: Whiskey City at the Back N9ne

The Back N9ne, located inside the General Electric Athletic Association, presents Berkshire County's own Whiskey City. This country-rock band consists of six members of Berkshire County musicians with a total of 20 years of touring and performance experience.

Click HERE to learn more about Whiskey City and sample their music.

Saturday, April 28 | 9:30pm-1am | General Electric Athletic Association | 303 Crane Avenue | 413-443-5746


 

Sunday: Heather Maloney at Mission

Mission Bar + Tapas presents Heather Maloney, as part of its regular singer/songwriter series of live music performances. She has performed in front of 1,500 fans at the Calvin Theater, including opening for Grammy Award winning artist Jonny Lang.

Click HERE to learn more about Heather Maloney and sample her music.

Sunday, April 29 | 9pm-10pm | Mission Bar + Tapas | 438 North Street | No phone | No cover


 
 

Wednesday: Artist Reception with Linda Haas 

EPOCH Assisted Living presents this artist reception with photographer Linda Haas, who will discuss the images she took from around the United States. The talk will include a slide show. Haas's photographs will be featured in the EPOCH gallery throughout May. Gallery hours are 9am-4pm.

Wednesday, May 2 | 7pm | Melbourne Assisted Living | 140 Melbourne Road | 413-499-1992 | FREE


 

Thursday: It's Not About the Hike 

Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum present this lecture/inspirational talk entitled It's Not About the Hike. Two over-fifty-years-old non-hikers talk about their quest to climb New England's 67 highest peaks. This event is free and open to the public.

Thursday, May 3 | 7pm | Berkshire Athenaeum | 1 Wendell Avenue | 413-499-9480 | FREE



Mark your calendars! Next Friday, May 4th, is the first ever
First Fridays ArtsWalk in Pittsfield's Upstreet Cultural District! Visit FirstFridaysArtsWalk.com to find out more, and watch for your sneak preview email guide to the over 20 new art shows to see next Friday all over downtown!


If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Pittsfield Celebrates Robert 'Bob' Presutti on Arbor Day

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Bob Presutti, right, is presented the Hebert Award in 2017 for his volunteer efforts at Springside Park. He died in 2023 at age 88.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A tree has been planted next to the Berkshire Athenaeum in honor of local "giant" Robert Presutti.

Officials celebrated Arbor Day on Friday by installing a commemorative plaque next to the American elm sapling. This is a tree that James McGrath, the city's park program manager, said Presutti would have been particularly proud of.

"Today is a day where we yes, celebrate trees, but today is also a day where here in the city we intentionally try to acknowledge the good work of folks in our community who spend their time and their efforts and their talents to make Pittsfield a more beautiful place," he said to a crowd of about 20 people.

"Today we are honoring a longtime community volunteer named Bob Presutti. I'm sure a lot of you here know Bob and know his contributions to the city, not only when it comes to trees and parks but also to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program."

The longtime volunteer passed away last year at the age of 88. He contributed more than 10,600 hours to RSVP and had great impacts on the Parks Department over the years from sharing his knowledge and talents to ensuring that workers were safe when working on trees.

"This morning I went through my emails to see how many emails Bob Presutti sent me since the year 2001 when I started with the city. Bob Presutti sent me 14,000 emails and nearly every single one of those was about trees," McGrath said, prompting laughter and smiles from attendees.

One thread struck him as particularly important because it showed Presutti's empathy when it comes to the safety of city workers while caring for trees.

"There were multiple emails from Bob about the need to get the Parks Department maintenance guys into a program learning about chainsaw safety and learning about ladder safety. He was really into making certain that our city workers were well cared for and had all of the instruction that they needed and in fact, he even offered his own time and services after he became certified to teach our city workers," McGrath said.

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