Author: Saratoga TODAY

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Peace Week observes the UN International Day of Peace – Sept. 21 – through local events. 

Tuesday, Sept. 21 
• 7 p.m. – Book Discussion: “The New Jim Crow,” by Michelle Alexander. In person at PNECC or by registering for Zoom. The New Press Michelle Alexander’s classic study of mass incarceration and its racist foundation, illuminates the concept of systemic racism with concrete data. Copies of the New Jim Crow are available at Northshire Bookstore. For more information about the event, contact tdiggory@skidmore.edu .

Wednesday, Sept. 22
•10:30 a.m. – Peace Week Story Time at The Childrens Museum Saratoga, 69 Caroline St.  Participate in a peace art project and a reading of “I am Peace” by Susan Verde. Peace Week is an opportunity for children to learn how every person has a part in building peace. In honor of Peace Week, all regular admission tickets are $2 off. 
• 6 p.m. – Outside Interfaith Service: Celebration of the Fall at Interfaith Healing Garden behind Sanctuary, PNECC. All are invited to celebrate the Fall Equinox at The Interfaith Healing Garden behind the Presbyterian New England Congregational Church. The service will be led by The Reverend Kathy Johnson, an Interfaith-Interspiritual minister, alongside people with different beliefs helping with readings, music, meditation and sharing the bounty of the garden. Celebration will be outdoors. For more information, contact Rev. Kathy at pyramidofpotential56@gmail.com.

Friday, Sept. 24
• 10 a.m. & 5:30 p.m. Contemplative Labyrinth Walk with Harp led by Rachel Magnell, Spiritual Director in Saratoga Springs. Limited space. Registration required. Details provided upon registering at Elizbeth1226@yahoo.com. 

Saturday, Sept. 25
• 7 p.m., Early Victims of Climate Change: The Pacific Islands In person at PNECC or by registering for Zoom. Ms. Frances Namoumouis, from Fiji, has been involved with Climate Justice and Disaster management projects since 2004. Moderated by Laura Faulk, co-chair of the local chapter of The Climate Reality Project and Board Member of Sustainable Saratoga.

Sunday, Sept. 26 
• 2 – 4 p.m. – Documentary, “Purple” and Film Discussion. United Methodist Church, (175 5th Ave.). At a time of immense division, “Purple” tells the story of Americans with opposing viewpoints confronting their disagreements head-on and discovering the concerns and humanity that lie behind each other’s positions.

Monday, Sept.27 
• 7 p.m. – Sponsoring Asylum Seekers in the Saratoga Region. In person at PNECC or by Meeting Registration – Zoom. Asylum seekers are often placed in detention, not because they are criminals but because they lack a residence where immigration officials can keep in touch. Sponsorship can get them released from detention and provide a temporary secure home.

Presbyterian-New England Congregational Church, or PNECC, is located at 24 Circular St. Saratoga Springs. For more details on Saratoga Springs Peace Week and events, go to: www.pnecchurch.org/peaceweek 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The theme was party Key West and the show billed as a musical variety featuring Blues, Buffett, Broadway and more, honoring the late musician, Matt McCabe. 

McCabe, owner of Saratoga Guitar and former city Finance Commissioner, died in January after battling COVID-19. 

The Capt. Dick’s Key West Island Party and Memorial Fundraisers were staged Monday nights in August at the Parting Glass. A total of $ 585 was raised via a special 50/50 raffle drawing, with proceeds going to S.A.M. — in McCabe’s memory.  S.A.M.is an organization that helps local musicians in times of hardship

The organizers of the musical evenings and the Matt McCabe Fundraiser were Capt. Dick (Richard Sanzen) and the Pirate Wench (Nancy Buckingham), included the following musicians who were among those who lent their talents to the events:  who contributed their time: Trish Anderson, Bob Boyer, Matt Donnelly, Denny Dwyer, John Leroy, Tim Lynch, Mike LoMaestro, Roxanne Norris, Paul Riley, Rick Rourke, Tim Wechgelaer, Sam Zucchini. 

ALBANY — Guitarist Kaki King will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18 at The Egg as part of the American Roots & Branches concert series.

Considered one of the most unique guitarists of these times, King combines virtuoso technique, insatiable imagination, and boundless humanity as heard on her most recent recording “Modern Yesterdays” where she continues to deconstruct and redefine the boundaries of the guitar through technique, imagination, and boundless humanity.

Tickets are priced from $29.50 and are available at The Egg Box Office at the Empire State Plaza, by telephone at 518-473-1845 or online at www.theegg.org. Everyone attending the performance must wear a face covering.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Avant Garde Alumni Drum and Bugle Corps reunited to perform at the Saratoga-Wilton Elks Lodge No. 161’s 53rd parade down Broadway, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy. 

The parade theme “Honoring Our First Responders,” honored locals who went to New York City to assist with search and rescue after the Twin Towers fell, as well as the community’s medical and healthcare professionals at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The corps of 130 horn players, drummers, and colorguard performed the recognizable tunes “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and “Land of Make Believe,” as well as an “America Medley,” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” 

In addition to the pageantry on Broadway, the 9/11 Avant Garde reunion also featured a private parade through the grounds of The Wesley Community, and the collection for the food bank at the Elks Lodge. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Ken Tingley, the longtime former editor of The Post-Star, has published a new book, titled “The Last American Editor.” Tingley’s collection of columns is available at Northshire Bookstore Saratoga, at 424 Broadway. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Three Agatha Christie classics will be staged next month in the first theatrical production at the newly renovated Saratoga City Music Hall at City Hall.

iTheatre Saratoga presents Poirots Investigate, featuring a trio of thrilling one-act mysteries, each with a unique portrayal of Christie’s celebrated savant. 

Performances: Oct. 29, 30 & Nov. 5, 6 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 31 & Nov. 7 at 2 p.m. 

Tickets for Poirots Investigate are $25 for adults and $15 for students and are available at: poirots.brownpapertickets.com.

Saratoga City Music Hall is located on Broadway on the upper floor of Saratoga Springs City Hall. 

The Lake George Arts Project’s Courthouse Gallery presents Nature Songs, a solo exhibition of paintings by Yeachin Tsai. The exhibition runs from Sept. 29 – Oct. 30. The Courthouse Gallery is planning a gallery reception 4-6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 2. 

Yeachin Tsai’s art swings between the seen world of rhythmic colors and forms, and the unseen world of momentum and energies. While growing up in Taiwan, Tsai studied traditional Chinese brush painting and calligraphy, and she would later incorporate that training into her work after moving to New York. Rather than building up a painting surface, she creates a surface that soaks in paint – canvases prepared with grounds that behave like traditional rice paper, pulling the paint in. 

Learn more about her work at www.yeachintsaifineart.com. The Courthouse Gallery is located at the side entrance of the Old County Courthouse, corner of Canada and Lower Amherst Streets. For more information about the gallery and hours of operation, go to: www.lakegeorgearts.org 

ALBANY — The UAlbany Performing Arts Center, in partnership with the New York State Writers Institute, will present a free screening of The City Without Jews accompanied with live original music composed and performed by world-renowned klezmer violinist Alicia Svigals and celebrated silent film pianist Donald Sosin. The event takes place 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19. 

A chilling premonition of the Holocaust released in 1924, The City Without Jews (Die Stadt ohne Juden) is 91 minutes in length with English intertitles.

Based on the controversial and bestselling dystopian novel by Hugo Bettauer, H.K. Breslauer’s silent masterpiece was produced two years after the book’s publication, shortly before the satirical events depicted in the fictional story transformed into an all-too-horrific reality. Restored by Filmarchiv Austria, all complete prints of the film were thought to have been destroyed, but thanks to the discovery of a nitrate print in a Parisian flea market in 2015, this film can once again be appreciated in its ever-relevant entirety. 

Though darkly comedic in tone and stylistically influenced by German Expressionism, the film nonetheless contains ominous and eerily realistic sequences, such as shots of freight trains transporting Jews out of the city. The film’s stinging critique of Nazism is part of the reason it was no longer screened in public after 1933. 

Music: Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin. Svigals is the world’s leading klezmer violinist and a founder of the Grammy-winning Klezmatics. She has performed with and written for violinist Itzhak Perlman, Kronos Quartet, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, poet Allen Ginsberg and many others. Sosin is one of the world’s top silent film musicians. He has performed his scores for silent films, often with his singer/percussionist wife Joanna Seaton, at Lincoln Center, MoMA, BAM and National Gallery as well as at major film festivals across the world. 

This performance is free and no tickets or reservations are required. For further information, contact the Box Office at 518-442-3997 or visit the Performing Arts Center website at www.albany.edu/pac. The web includes information on the most up-to-date Covid protocols.