Friday:  First Fridays Artswalk

Bundle up and come out for the first Artswalk of 2013. We're keeping it cozy and warm with opening receptions at Marketplace Cafe, TREEHOUSE Children's Boutique, NUartsGallery & Studios (formerly Art.On.No) and more, including a FREE guided tour with Artswalk Chair Mary McGinnis. Meet at 5pm at Gallery 25/Mary's Carrot Cake Cafe at 25 Union Street to get an inside look with her at Artswalk! Click here for a map & more!

Friday, January 4 | 5pm-8pm | Downtown Pittsfield's Upstreet Cultural District | 413-499-9348 | FREE

Friday:  First Fridays Live Music at Mission

Two great local bands at Mission tonight: the Sister City Jazz Ambassadors from 5:30pm-8pm and 8 Foot River 8:30pm-11pm.  The Sister City Jazz Ambassadors are a group of committed musicians dedicated to building peace through music and people-to-people connections. 8 Foot River (pictured left) is an alternative indie rock band featuring mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation spanning an eclectic range of all-original hard-hitting rock and sweetly melodic indie pop.

Friday, January 4 | 5:30pm-11pm | Mission Bar + Tapas | 438 North Street | No phone | No cover

Friday:  David Wax Museum at the Colonial

The David Wax Museum fuses traditional Mexican folk with American roots and indie rock. After having toured with the likes of The Avett Brothers, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and the Old 97s, NPR called their concert at the 2010 Newport Folk Festival a highlight of the entire weekend, and they was invited back to Newport to play the 2011 main stage. Recipients of the Boston Music Awards' Song of the Year for 2011 and 2012, and named by TIME magazine as one of the top ten acts of 2011's South by Southwest, David Wax Museum has become one of the hottest new indie bands around!

Friday, January 4 | 8pm | Colonial Theatre | 111 South Street | 413-997-4444 | $10-$18

Friday-Sunday:  Last Weekend for Rethink! American Indian Art at Berkshire Museum

Get out of the cold and stay warm at the Berkshire Museum for the last weekend of the innovative exhibition, Rethink! American Indian Art at Berkshire Museum.  It features both striking contemporary art and important historic art objects in a range of media and techniques, from video installations, contemporary basketry, and beadwork to ceramics, sculpture, and glass.

Through January 6, 2013 | 10am-5pm Friday & Saturday; 12pm-5pm Sunday | Berkshire Museum | 39 South Street | 413-443-7171 | $13 adult; $6 child; Museum members & children 3 and under FREE

Friday-Monday:  Chasing Ice at the Little Cinema

Acclaimed environmental photographer James Balog was once a skeptic about climate change and a cynic about the nature of academic research. But through his Extreme Ice Survey, he discovers undeniable evidence of our changing planet. In Chasing Ice, Balog deploys a revolutionary time-lapse camera to capture a multi-year record of the world's changing glaciers. His hauntingly beautiful videos compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they disappear at a breathtaking rate. 

Friday-Monday, January 4-7 | Fri-Sun 7pm Mon 1:30pm & 7pm | Berkshire Museum | Little Cinema | 39 South Street | 413-443-7171 | $5

Friday: Res Freq at Flavours & Blue Light Trio at Spice Dragon

Warm up after First Fridays Artswalk with good food and live music at Spice Dragon or Flavours. Spice Dragon features local jazzmeisters the Blue Light Trio, while Flavours hosts Res Freq, A jam band that mixes some DJ action in too. You'll hear jam music, funk, electronic, and rock all wrapped into one. Special guest Benny "Fingers" Kohn on keyboards.

Friday, January 4 | 8-11pm | Spice Dragon | 297 North Street | 413-443-1234 | No cover

Friday, January 4 | 9:30pm | Flavours of Malaysia | 75 North Street | 413-443-3188 | $5

Friday & Saturday:  DJ Dancing at the Underground Pub

Hit the Underground Pub this weekend to dance the night away.  Friday, DJ Flow will be playing your top 40 requests. Saturday DJ Friz is on.  Half price appetizers both nights until 9pm. 

Friday & Saturday, January 4 & 5 | 9pm | Underground Pub | 1 West Street | 413-553-2257 | NO COVER

Saturday:  Turner Trail Snowshoe Race

Are you ready? There is a big turnout expected for the Turner Trail Snowshoe race because of the great snow conditions! Please download the application here and either pre-register or bring it with you to the race. Arrive early and park neatly.

Saturday, January 5 | 10am | Pittsfield State Forest | 1041 Cascade Street | 413-442-0560 | $20

Saturday+:  Childrens's Chorus Rehearsals at the Berkshire Athenaeum

New singers ages 6-13 are welcome to audition at any of the first three January Saturday rehearsals. The Blafield Children's Chorus is part of the Berkshire Lyric family of choruses and performs several times a year, having been most recently singing at sold-out Christmas concerts in Pittsfield and Stockbridge. They will be part of Berkshire Lyric's annual Kick the Winter Blues concert on April 7 and the annual Young Musicians Concert on May 12. The season will conclude for them when they sing as part of a gala concert at Tanglewood's Seiji Ozawa Hall on June 9 when Berkshire Lyric celebrates its 50th Anniversary.

Saturdays, January 5-19 | 10am | Berkshire Athenaeum | 1 Wendell Avenue | 413-298-5365 | FREE

Saturday:  Funky Blues Show at the Back Nine

T Bone Daddy and the DysFunktion Dance Band are teaming up to bring you four straight hours of the best music around.  T Bone Daddy is a rockin' blues trio, and DysFunktion rocks out to classic (and newish) funk and blues material. 

Saturday, January 5 | 9pm | Back Nine (GEAA) | 303 Crane Avenue | 413-442-8333 | $5

Sunday & Tuesday:  Carmen at the Little Cinema

This Royal Opera production by director Francesca Zambello is a darkly passionate and sumptuously exotic reading of one of the world's favorite operas. Anna Caterina Antonacci is "mesmerizing" and Jonas Kaufmann is "the finest Jose to be heard for ages"(Tim Ashley, The Guardian). Bizet's irresistible score drives the tragedy forward in this powerful landmark staging of a musical masterpiece.

Sunday & Tuesday, January 6 & 8 | Sun 2pm Tues 7pm | Berkshire Museum | Little Cinema | 39 South Street | 413-443-7171 | $18; $16 members

Tuesday: The Hot Envelope at y Bar

A competitive storytelling challenge: contestants draw topics at random and must respond with a relevant true story. 10 slots, 11 envelopes - one with $50 inside! Preregistration is highly recommended. In-person signups for remaining spots - if any - will begin one hour prior to event - first come, first served.

Tuesday, January 8 | 8pm | Y Bar | 391 North Street | No Phone | NO COVER

Tuesday+ & Thursday+:  Finding Your Ancestors Workshop

The Berkshire Athenaeum welcomes back genealogist Alan Horbal, offering a four-week workshop on finding your ancestors using the 1900 through 1940 census and other helpful immigration websites. Classes are offered on four consecutive Tuesdays.  Participants must have Internet proficiency and an established email address. Space is limited. Registration is required and available only to those who can commit to a full series.

Tuesdays, January 8-29  | 10am-11:30am OR 1pm-2:30pm | Berkshire Athenaeum | 1 Wendell Avenue | 413-499-9480 | FREE

Thursday:  Thursday Live with Mike Tierney and Moriah Day at Marketplace 

Mike Tierney and Moriah Day will be performing a set of folk and American songbook classics. Mike Tierney is a student in music composition at Clark University in Worcester. In 2011, he and fellow jazz musician Tyler Storie were a staple of the Marketplace Cafe's summer music schedule. Moriah Day is a vocalist and acoustic guitarist from central Maine. She has been performing American folk and bluegrass music for the past 6 years, formerly performing with The Abbott Hill Ramblers, a folk group from Dexter, Maine.

Thursday, January 10 | 6:30pm-8:30pm | Marketplace Cafe | 53 North Street | 413-358-4777 | FREE

Thursday:  Smudge at the Berkshire Athenaeum

The Town Players of Pittsfield in conjunction with the Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum will present a staged reading of Smudge, written by two-time Emmy Award winner Rachel Axler. The play is often described as a dark comedy about the changing face of the American family and the limits of love and cheesecake, as a hopeful young couple gives birth to a smudge. The production will be directed by Michael P. Murphy and cast member are Denise Roller, Dana Grieb, Ryan Cavenaugh and Matthew Barbas.

Thursday, January 10 | 7pm | Berkshire Athenaeum | 1 Wendell Avenue | 413-499-9480 | $5 suggested donation