New Free Concert Series Brings Original Indie Rock, Folk To Pittsfield

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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Kathy Lloyd, of How We Roll, Crispina ffrench, of Shire City Sanctuary, and Alan Bauman have teamed up to put on the series.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There is a demographic of residents who would love to see nationally recognized alternative and indie rock musicians performing original music right in the city's downtown.

And a few of those residents got tired of waiting for somebody else to make it happen.

Three local business owners — Alan Bauman, Crispina ffrench, and Kathy Lloyd — have teamed up to put on Shire City Sessions
 
In July, August and September, bands will be taking to a newly built stage to give a free concert in the parking lot outside of the former Notre Dame Church, which is now ffrench's Shire City Sanctuary.
 
"We're looking at this as kind of our pilot year to see how things go. Our mission, I think, is as simple as we want to do something we think would be fun, that we would enjoy," Bauman said.
 
"I don't think there is anything quite like this in Pittsfield, particularly in downtown Pittsfield."
 
Bauman owns Compuworks and is the corporate sponsor — providing the money to pay the bands. The group worked with the Pitt House Concert Series organizer Josh Bennett and Encore Audio Event Service owner Darren O'Brien to secure a lineup of bands that'll make music junkies salivate.
 
Meanwhile, Lloyd, who owns the food truck How We Roll, is bringing other food trucks to be vendors. And Big Elm Brewery will be selling beer.
 
"Nobody is making any money on this. We just really want to do something in downtown Pittsfield," Lloyd said.
 
The first headliner is US Elevator, which is a new project from Johnny Irion. Irion is most known for duets with his wife, Sarah Lee Guthrie, but has launched a new alternative rock music venture known as US Elevator. The first album will be released in September — so Pittsfield residents get a free listen to the sound before almost everybody else — right before they head out on a tour with the Stone Temple Pilots. (Interesting sidenote: Irion is also the grandnephew of John Steinbeck.)
 
At the Pittsfield show, Irion will be joined on stage with members of Deer Tick, a Providence, R.I., band that has released multiple albums over the last decade. The opening act is the local band The Lucky Five.
 
"We really wanted to have original music. We wanted it to be kind of high energy, something people can dance to," Ffrench said. 
 
The first one is on Monday night, starting at 5 p.m. Monday was chosen for all of the events because it is a particularly slow day when it comes to arts and culture in the Berkshires. And it is a night that bands often have off, too. The hope is to trigger more life into the city's downtown through arts and culture. 
 
"This is really downtown and when we looked at locations, we really wanted this crowd to spill out onto North Street," Lloyd said.
 
The series stems from the Food Truck Rodeo, which with good weather this year attracted hundreds of people to the parking lot. ffrench said she heard many comments about how successful it was from people asking for it to be done more often. At the same time, Lloyd and Bauman, who are neighbors, got talking about bringing on a corporate sponsor for the event. 
 
"This really great group of people came together out of those conversations. I've never worked on a project this big that has been this delightful to come together. Everybody brings something that fills in the gaps," Lloyd said.
 
In just a few months, the bands were booked and the three were building a stage. O'Brien will also be providing lighting and audio services for the shows.
 
"My company has been downtown for 28 years now. I've been here every day and I've seen what has happened in downtown Pittsfield over the years. It has changed for the better and we are trying to create the town where we want to live," Bauman said. "I want there to be this kind of festival here because I want to go to it. We're not waiting for somebody else to do it, we're just going to go do it."
 
If it rains, the concert will be moved into the church. The organizers say they've been plastering the city with fliers and sharing the event through Facebook to bump up the turnout. They hope to attract somewhere around 250 people. 
 
While the shows are free, the group will be asking for some help with the additional expenses of putting it on. They'll have buckets available for people to donate whatever amount they want to help keep the series going.
 
"It's free but we'd like to pass the hat for donations," ffrench said. "It's whatever you can afford. There is no ticket amount."
 
The second show is schedules for Monday, Aug. 17, featuring Wild Adriatic, which played the Bonnaroo festival this year. They'll be joined with local act BA Dario. 
 
The third show features the Whiskey Treaty Roadshow, a collaborative project among rock and folk songwriters across the state. They'll be joined by the Novel Ideas.
 
The group hopes to eventually expand the series to be year-round. But first, they have to see how the first few go.
 
"I want cool stuff to happen in Pittsfield," Lloyd said.

Tags: concerts,   downtown,   music,   

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Pittsfield CPA Committee Funds Half of FY24 Requests

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A few projects are not getting funded by the Community Preservation Committee because of a tight budget.

The projects not making the cut were in the historic preservation and open space and recreation categories and though they were seen as interesting and valuable projects, the urgency was not prevalent enough for this cycle.

"It's a tough year," Chair Danielle Steinmann said.

The panel made its recommendations on Monday after several meetings of presentations from applications. They will advance to the City Council for final approval.  

Two cemetery projects were scored low by the committee and not funded: A $9,500 request from the city for fencing at the West Part Cemetery as outlined in a preservation plan created in 2021 and a $39,500 request from the St. Joseph Cemetery Commission for tombstone restorations.

"I feel personally that they could be pushed back a year," Elizabeth Herland said. "And I think they're both good projects but they don't have the urgency."

It was also decided that George B. Crane Memorial Center's $73,465 application for the creation of a recreational space would not be funded. Herland said the main reason she scored the project low was because it didn't appear to benefit the larger community as much as other projects do.

There was conversation about not funding The Christian Center's $34,100 request for heating system repairs but the committee ended up voting to give it $21,341 when monies were left over.

The total funding request was more than $1.6 million for FY24 and with a budget of $808,547, only about half could be funded. The panel allocated all of the available monies, breaking down into $107,206 for open space and recreation, $276,341 for historic preservation, and $425,000 for community housing.

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