Berkshire Music School Online Masterclass

12:37PM / Monday, January 31, 2022Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Music School will present a live, interactive, online Masterclass with guitarist Jennifer Batten.

Jennifer will speak about her experiences working in the music business; beginning with her three tours with Michael Jackson, her three years of work with Jeff Beck, and her Las Vegas residency with the Cirque du Soleil show, Zumanity as well as her many current endeavors.

The Masterclass will take place via Zoom on Saturday, Feb. 5 at 3pm. All interested attendees must register to receive the Zoom link.

Suggested tuition is $25, with the option to pay-what-you-can. Free for all BMS students. To register visit https://www.berkshiremusicschool.org/box-office/lqk451is9v62sx8c9a0q1cv17zh8d5 or call 413-442-1411.

About Jennifer Batten:

Jennifer Batten has been playing guitar since age 8. She graduated from the 3rd class of Musicians Institute in 1979. In 1987 she was chosen from 100 guitarists to play on Michael Jackson’s BAD tour which travelled the globe for 1 1/2 years. She remained in Michael Jackson’s band for ten years. Right after the BAD tour, she recorded her debut CD "Above, Below, and Beyond" with producer Michael Sembello. It was released just prior to the launch of Jackson’s DANGEROUS tour in 1992. Following this tour she recorded and released her follow up CD "Momentum" and immediately joined Jackson’s final world tour in support of his dbl CD "HIStory" in 1997. Within a year of the HIStory tour’s completion, British guitar icon Jeff Beck asked her to join his band. She toured and recorded with him for 3 years supporting the 2 CD’s; "Who Else’ and "You Had It Coming." In 2009, she released her 3rd CD/DVD and began touring her own music performing in synch with films she makes. She’s had 3 instructional DVD’s released by truefire.com. In 2011 she played a Las Vegas residency for Cirque Du Soleil. Her latest 2017 release is Scherer Batten "BattleZone" which is a vocal pop record with songs mostly written by Jim Peterik of the band Survivor. She continues to tour the globe in various formats, from bands, to solos shows, to clinics, to master classes. In Jan 2016 she received the She Rocks "Icon" award and shortly after, was inducted into Guitar Player Magazine’s "Gallery of the Greats."

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Dalton Board Signs Off on Land Sale Over Residents' Objections

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
05:50AM / Tuesday, December 23, 2025

Residents demanded the right to speak but the agenda did not include public comment. Amy Musante holds a sign saying the town now as '$20,000 less for a police station.'

DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board signed the sale on the last of what had been known as the Bardin property Monday even as a handful of residents demanded the right to speak against the action.

The quitclaim deed transfers the nine acres to Thomas and Esther Balardini, who purchased the two other parcels in Dalton. They were the third-highest bidders at $31,500. Despite this, the board awarded them the land in an effort to keep the property intact.

"It's going to be an ongoing battle but one I think that has to be fought [because of] the disregard for the taxpayers," said Dicken Crane, the high bidder at $51,510.

"If it was personal I would let it go, but this affects everyone and backing down is not in my nature."

Crane had appealed to the board to accept his bid during two previous meetings. He and others opposed to accepting the lower bid say it cost the town $20,000. After the meeting, Crane said he will be filing a lawsuit and has a citizen's petition for the next town meeting with over 100 signatures.

Three members of the board — Chair Robert Bishop Jr., John Boyle, and Marc Strout — attended the 10-minute meeting. Members Anthony Pagliarulo and Daniel Esko previously expressed their disapproval of the sale to the Balardinis.

Pagliarulo voted against the sale but did sign the purchase-and-sale agreement earlier this month. His reasoning was the explanation by the town attorney during an executive session that, unlike procurement, where the board is required to accept the lowest bid for services, it does have some discretion when it comes to accepting bids in this instance.

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