The Doerfels To Perform Free Outdoor Concert At The Clark

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The Doerfels, a traveling twelve-member family bluegrass band that has wowed audiences up and down the East Coast, will perform on Tuesday, July 7, as part of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute's free outdoor concert series held at 6 pm on Tuesday evenings in July.

Concerts are held on the Clark's expansive south lawn (picnics, blankets, and lawn chairs encouraged). The Clark Café will sell barbeque fare and the galleries will remain open until 6 pm on concert evenings. In the event of rain, concerts will be held in the auditorium. Concert admission is free.

Self-labeled "spazz jazz" artists, the Doerfels perform music that blends country, gospel, and bluegrass with a touch of blues, jazz, swing, and classical. Despite their youth-the average age of a Doerfel is only fifteen-the siblings have "won rave reviews for their concerts and musicianship," according to a recent review in the Shelbyville Times-Gazette. The core band consists of the oldest son and leader TJ, twenty, on banjo; Kim, nineteen, on the fiddle; Eddy, sixteen, on mandolin; Joey, fifteen, on bass and cello; and Ben, thirteen, on guitar. The younger Doerfels, who frequently join their siblings on stage, provide humor and lively entertainment for audience members of all ages.

Want another reason not to miss out on this young, up-and-coming band of brothers and sisters? The siblings often incorporate covers of contemporary hits into their set in hopes of providing young listeners with a friendly introduction to bluegrass music. They have been known to cover songs by Green Day and the Killers.


The remaining concerts include Annie & the Hedonists on July 14, the Equalites on July 21, and the Primate Fiasco on July 29. This series is supported in part by Williamstown Savings Bank.

On view this summer at the Clark is Dove/O'Keeffe: Circles of Influence. Georgia O'Keeffe burst onto the New York art scene in 1916 and captured the imagination of people around the world, not only with incredible artistic talent, but through her bohemian spirit as well. Experience this distinctly American artist's early works with those of modernist Arthur Dove, whom she credited as having the most significant role in the formation of her abstract works. Also on view is Through the Seasons: Japanese Art in Nature featuring traditional screens and scrolls and contemporary ceramics, emphasizing the inspirational role of nature in Japanese art.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, MA. The galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm (daily in July and August). Admission June 1 through October 31 is $12.50 for adults, free for children 18 and under, members, and students with valid ID. Admission is free November through May. For more information, call 413-458-2303 or visit clarkart.edu.
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Williamstown Planning Board Narrowing in on Subdivision Bylaw Changes

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board late last month discussed specific features of what it plans to pass as a new subdivision control bylaw this year.
 
The board long has discussed the complex set of regulations as being out of date and cumbersome to both potential developers and the board itself, which has needed to hear requests for waivers of outdated rules for the handful of residential subdivisions that have been proposed in town in recent years.
 
This spring, the town engaged consultants from Northampton's Dodson and Flinker Landscape Architecture and Planning to go through the existing bylaw, compare it to more contemporary regulations in other communities and help craft a revised bylaw.
 
Unlike the zoning bylaw, where amendments require approval of town meeting, the subdivision control bylaw is a creation of the Planning Board, which can make changes on its own after a public hearing process it hopes to complete this year.
 
At a special Planning Board meeting on May 26, Dillon Sussman of Dodson and Flinker and his colleagues walked the board through a dozen different decision points that the board must resolve — either by leaving the bylaw as is or making a change — and offered suggestions based on best practices.
 
All of the issues are technical and ranged from the fundamental, like how the bylaw will define types of subdivisions, to the highly specific, like what turning radii will be required in new streets that are constructed to serve planned developments.
 
One example of a topic that came up in the recent approval of a four-home subdivision off Summer Street is stormwater management.
 
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