Berkfest 2003 ready to rock Barrington

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The Jimi Hendrix Red House Tour, a traveling museum, will be featured at Berkfest
The 6th Annual Berkshire Mountain Music Festival will be held at Ski Butternut in Great Barrington on August 15-17, 2003. Berkfest, presented by Gamelan Productions, will feature a diverse and innovative line-up of artists from multiple genres, including jazz, funk, rock, electronica, hip-hop, and bluegrass. Last year's festival was voted "Best Small Festival of 2002" in Relix Magazine's Year-End Readers' Poll and expectations are high for this year's event. Since its first rain-soaked year at Noppet Hill Farm in Lanesboro, MA in 1998, the Berkshire Mountain Music Festival has evolved into one of the nation's most highly anticipated music and camping festivals. In 1999, the event was relocated to Great Barrington, MA, a hip enclave of culture in the hills of southwestern Massachusetts, and is now returning to the picturesque Ski Butternut site for the 5th consecutive year. Berkfest has gained national recognition for its consistently cutting-edge lineup, with past festivals including performances by Soul Coughing, Galactic, Los Lobos, Angelique Kidjo, The funky Meters, Femi Kuti, String Cheese Incident, John Scofield, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, and Soulive. This year is no exception. Medeski Martin & Wood will return for a third year and will headline Friday night. Saturday night headliners, The Flaming Lips, have just wrapped up a hugely successful international tour promoting their latest album, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. Sunday night will feature a rare reunion performance by acid-jazz pioneers The Greyboy Allstars. This will be the only East Coast performance of the original lineup, which includes Karl Denson and Robert Walter, since the group disbanded in 1999. As one of the first festivals to support the recent emergence of live electronic music, Berkfest will feature performances by Sound Tribe Sector 9, the New Deal, and Particle. These bands, along with past performers, The Disco Biscuits, make up the cream of the crop in this genre, which fuses organic live instruments with prerecorded drum tracks, keyboard sequences, and other forms of electronic music. Berkfest is teaming up with Conscious Alliance and Rock the Vote to incorporate elements of social and political awareness into the event. Conscious Alliance will be accepting canned and non-perishable food items at locations in both parking lots, as well as inside the venue, which will then be donated to the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. Rock the Vote, an organization dedicated to increasing voter registration among younger music fans, will be onsite to provide information and encourage attendees to register in their home states. Red House Tour: The Interactive Jimi Hendrix Museum will be making a special appearance at this year's festival. This mobile museum, housed in an 18-wheeler, features audio/visual presentations with live footage spanning Hendrix's career, an interactive kiosk, and Surround Sound Theater. The exhibit also displays a collection of Jimi's guitars, clothing, and Gold and Platinum records. Berkfest 2003 will offer fans over 50 bands on 6 different stages, plus children's activities, crafts, and of course, great food and beer. In addition, there will be a series of artist workshops sponsored by D'Addario Strings, Planet Waves Accessories, and Evans Drum Heads. Tickets are ON SALE now at www.berkfest.com and by phone at 877-42-FESTS (877-423-3787). Prices are $130 for a 3-day pass and $120 for a 2-day pass, with price increases happening on August 6th. Organizers encourage fans to purchase tickets early in order to save money and allow organizers to best prepare the site for their arrival. A complete list of confirmed artists is available at www.berkfest.com . The website is also the primary resource for all festival information, including purchasing tickets, stage schedules, grounds photos, email sign-ups, and much more, and will continue to expand as the summer progresses.
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Lanesborough Fifth-Graders Win Snowplow Name Contest

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the snowplows for Highway District 1 has a new name: "The Blizzard Boss."
 
The name comes from teacher Gina Wagner's fifth-grade class at Lanesborough Elementary School. 
 
The state Department of Transportation announced the winners of the fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest on Monday. 
 
The department received entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name the 12 MassDOT snowplows that will be in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. 
 
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season and to recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors during winter operations. 
 
"Thank you to all of the students who participated. Your creativity allows us to highlight to all, the importance of the work performed by our workforce," said  interim MassDOT Secretary Phil Eng.  
 
"Our workforce takes pride as they clear snow and ice, keeping our roads safe during adverse weather events for all that need to travel. ?To our contest winners and participants, know that you have added some fun to the serious take of operating plows. ?I'm proud of the skill and dedication from our crews and thank the public of the shared responsibility to slow down, give plows space and put safety first every time there is a winter weather event."
 
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