SARATOGA SPRINGS —Irene Bills, 90, peacefully passed away with family by her side on March 23, 2024. She was born March 21, 1934. Burial will be in the Spring. Memorial donations to the Pine Grove Community Church – 59 Pine Road, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. Please visit www.burkefuneralhome.com
GLENS FALLS — William (Bill) Anthony Massad Jr., 90, passed away March 25, 2024. Burial with military honors will be Friday, March 29 at 10:30 a.m. in the G. B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of William J. Burke & Sons, 628 N. Broadway, Saratoga Springs.
ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul on March 18 announced the availability of additional home heating assistance to help low- and middle-income New Yorkers who are struggling to pay their energy bills, are in danger of running out of heating fuel or having their utility service shut off.
The Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) has extended the deadline for Regular and Emergency HEAP applications to April 12 and is now accepting applications for a second emergency benefit from eligible New Yorkers who have used up their regular and first emergency benefits.
HEAP, which is overseen by the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, is federally funded and can help eligible New Yorkers heat and cool their homes. Normally, eligible households can receive one Regular HEAP benefit each winter and could also be eligible for a single Emergency HEAP benefit if they face an energy crisis. Those that have already received a regular and emergency benefit this winter will be able to apply for an additional emergency benefit, if they are facing a utility shut off or are running out of heating fuel and cannot afford to replenish it.
Eligible homeowners and renters may receive up to $976 in heating assistance, depending on their income, household size, how they heat their home, and if the household contains a vulnerable member. A family of four may have a maximum gross monthly income of $5,838, or an annual gross income of $70,059 and still qualify for benefits.
Applications for assistance are accepted at local departments of social services. The Saratoga County Department of Social Services is located at 152 West High St., in Ballston Spa. Phone 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. weekdays at: 518-884-4146.
Additionally, older adults needing assistance with HEAP applications can contact the Saratoga County Office for the Aging at that same address, telephone: 518-884-4100.
The deadline for the Regular, Emergency, and second Emergency benefit is April 12. Assistance is provided on a first-come, first-served basis.
ALBANY — Effective March 27, New York’s expanded Move Over Law stipulates that drivers will be required to take precautions, including slowing down and moving over, to avoid a crash with ALL vehicles stopped along the roadway.
In 2010, New York State implemented the Move Over Law to prevent collisions with emergency vehicles that were stopped on the roadway. The law has since been expanded several times to also cover hazard vehicles, highway worker vehicles, and tow trucks. In 2023, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill to further strengthen the law by including this protection for all vehicles stopped on the roadway.
“If you see that you are approaching a disabled vehicle, slow down and move over as best you can to give them some space,” Hochul said in a statement.
From 2016 to 2020, 37 individuals were killed outside disabled vehicles in New York. Nationally, nearly 300 drivers are struck and killed roadside every year. The Move Over Law was enacted to prevent those tragedies and make New York’s roadways safer for all.
Under the law, when a driver is approaching a vehicle stopped along either shoulder of the road, they should: change into a lane not immediately adjacent to the vehicle, or slow down to a reasonable speed if unable to safely make a lane change.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, all 50 states have “Move Over” laws to protect law enforcement officers and other first responders, yet one-third of Americans are not aware of these laws.
HALFMOON — Cartwheels Gymnastics has announced that it will move from its current location in Clifton Park to 4 Enterprise Ave in Halfmoon, near the Twin Bridges Recycling Center. The move will happen this summer after renovations are completed.
“This is a stand-alone building that will be able to offer our families so many new things,” the company said in a statement posted to Facebook.
The new facility is 24,000 square feet, which is 11,000 square feet larger than the current location.
“We will have state of the art equipment for your children to continue to learn, grow, and have fun with,” the company said. “We also have plans for a bright, spacious lobby for our parents to watch their children in.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The world premiere of David Greenberger and Tyson Rogers’s How Vowels Endure Winter will be presented by the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 12. The event is the inaugural commission and performance in the Adirondack Trust New Works Series at the Tang Museum.
How Vowels Endure Winter features a series of monologues with piano created in response to work by the artist Joachim Schmid that occupies an entire wall in the Tang exhibition Studio/Archive.
Greenberger and Rogers’s new compositions for voice and piano respond to Schmid’s works with short tales about collecting, creating, organizing, and memory. Greenberger, who lives and works in Greenwich, Washington County, is known for audio works and performances based on conversations with nursing home residents. He created The Duplex Planet publication in 1979 based on his conversations with nursing home residents.
His drawings and compositions were featured in the 2014 Tang exhibition David Greenberger: One Upon, which included a one-seat theater in which Greenberger and his band A Strong Dog performed one two-minute composition for one audience member at a time.
Rogers toured extensively with bluesman Tony Joe White and country legend Don Williams, playing on his Grammy-nominated duet with Alison Krauss, “I Just Come Here for the Music.” Rogers’s original music has been featured by National Geographic, Tokyo Olympics, CBS television, The North Face, and Tom’s Shoes.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Tang Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080 or visit https://tang.skidmore.edu. The Tang Museum is open to the public Tuesday–Sunday, noon – 5 p.m., with extended hours until 9 p.m. on Thursdays.
SARATOGA SPRINGS —In the Round Series returns to Universal Preservation Hall Friday, April 19 with a show by New Zealand-born pop star Kimbra.
Kimbra’s 2011 debut, “Vows,” was certified platinum in Australia and New Zealand. Kimbra exploded that same year with “Somebody That I Used To Know,” a duet with Gotye that topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in 2012 and was the best-selling song of that year in the U.S. In 2014 she released the highly acclaimed album, “The Golden Echo,” recruiting artists as diverse as Thundercat, Omar-Rodriguez Lopez of The Mars Volta, Bilal and John Legend to highlight her eclectic musical style.
Next, UPH welcomes homegrown artists Jocelyn & Chris with special guest Sydney Worthley 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 17. Jocelyn & Chris, along with their band, charted five consecutive commercial radio singles in the Billboard AAA Top 40. The siblings have recorded eight albums and toured coast to coast.
Also announced is Shayna Steele and Buggy Jive at 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 14. Steele will be featuring her third album “Watch Me Fly,” offering six self-penned originals and four select classics ranging from soul via blues and gospel and crossing over to retro R&B and jazz. Joining her is Buggy Jive, a soul rock singer-songwriter from Upstate New York.
Tickets on sale through the Box Office at Proctors in-person, via phone at 518-346-6204 Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. or online visit atuph.org.
HUDSON FALLS —The Strand Theatre will host the Smoky Greene Scholarship Concert – with performances running from 12:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. on Sunday, April 7.
Honoring Smokey Greene’s legacy, the scholarship concert supports Schuylerville School aspiring musicians. Proceeds benefit a Schuylerville student pursuing studies in the arts.
Performances will be staged by The Gibson Brothers, The Green Brothers, Al and Kathy Bain, The Stony Creek Band, Kevin McKrell and Friends, and the Seth Sawyer Band.
Tickets are $30/general admission, $15/seniors and veterans in advance. $35/20 on day of show. Tickets are available at the Strand Box Office; cash or check only. For more info, visit www.mystrandtheatre.org.
The Strand Theatre is located at 210 Main St., Hudson Falls.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) returns to the Spa Little Theater for its summer residency, starting on Bloomsday.
Saratoga Performing Arts Center welcomes CMS from June 16-Aug. 18. Part of its year-round presence in Saratoga Springs, the six-concert summer season follows its spring series, which will culminate on May 11 with Wu Han, David Finckel and Chad Hoopes.
“Opening the Spa Little Theater doors for our community to experience world-class chamber music – now year-round — is an important part of our expanded mission,” SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing this new tradition with our partners at CMS under the brilliant direction of Wu Han and David Finckel.”
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s summer season opens with “Romantic Masterpieces,” showcasing works from Brahms and Arensky (June 16), followed by “Musical Mosaics” featuring Mozart, Puccini, Brahms and Dvořák (June 23); “Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Brahms” with the Escher String Quartet (July 14); an “Enchanting Winds” program (July 21); and “Beethoven, Ravel, and Schumann” (August 11). The season closes with “The Carnival of the Animals” (August 18), in its original instrumentation for chamber ensemble.
Anchored by Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Artistic Directors Wu Han (piano) and David Finckel (cello), this season’s guest artists also include violinists Bella Hristova, Chad Hoopes, Kristin Lee, Adam Barnett-Hart, Brendan Speltz, Danbi Um, and Francisco Fullana; violists Paul Neubauer, Pierre Lapointe, Matthew Lipman, and Guillermo Figueroa; cellists Dmitri Atapine, Brook Speltz, Nicholas Canellakis, and Sterling Elliott; double bassist Nina Bernat; pianists Wu Qian, Anna Geniushene, Evren Ozel, and Michael Stephen Brown; clarinetists Romie de Guise-Langlois and David Shifrin; flutists Demarre McGill and Sooyun Kim; Hugo Valverde on horn; bassoonist Peter Kolkay; harpist Bridget Kibbey; percussionists Ian David Rosenblum and Ayano Kataoka, and The Escher String Quartet.
The summer season follows two previously announced spring concerts offered by CMS. The final spring performance is slated for May 11 with pianist Wu Han, violinist Chad Hoopes, and cellist David Finckel featuring works by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Smetana.
All summer 2024 CMS events will take place at the Spa Little Theatre – 19 Roosevelt Drive, Saratoga Springs. There is one performance of each program at 3 p.m. Doors open at 2 p.m. and the house opens at 2:30 p.m. Visit spac.org for more information.
Subscriptions to all six summer programs will be available to purchase at spac.org. Subscription packages will be $198 – $378 depending on seating location. Single performance tickets will be available to purchase beginning on March 20 for members (tiered by level) and March 22 for the general public and will be $38 – $68 each.
ALBANY — Poet and rhyme-master Nas will perform Friday, July 19 at the Palace Theatre.
Nas delivered his first full-length album Illmatic in 1994 and went on to release 14 subsequent albums, 8 of which are multi-platinum and platinum including: Nastradamus, Stillmatic, God’s Son, and Street’s Disciple.
Most recently, Nas released the third installment of the King’s Disease series, and Nas and Hit-Boy released Magic 3, featuring 15 brand new tracks marking the final chapter of the legendary run for the prolific rapper-producer duo.
Magic 3 serves as the duo’s sixth album together in the last 3 years and serves as the third installment to the Magic series.
Tickets range from $59.50 – $199.50 and are available via Ticketmaster at ticketmaster.com. Tickets are also available for purchase at the Palace Theatre Box Office, located at 19 Clinton Ave.
