A new exhibition opens at Saratoga Clay Arts March 15.
SCHUYLERVILLE — Saratoga Clay Arts Center’s Schacht Gallery presents Syncretics: Crafting Identity, a trio exhibition of woodfired artworks by Harrison Levenstein, Turiya Gross, and Andrew Sartorius.
The exhibition opens March 15 and will feature new works of utilitarian pottery and sculptural vessels exploring the ideas of “Syncretism,” identity, and cultural confluence through a variety of making, decorating, and firing styles.
An opening reception takes place from 5-7 p.m. Saturday, March 15 and the exhibit continues through April 26. Admission is free.
Founded in 2011 by clay artist and educator Jill Kovachick, Saratoga Clay Arts Center is a ceramic art center located in Schuylerville at 167 Hayes Road. The Schacht Gallery is open Monday through Saturday from 10am – 4pm and by appointment. They are located in Schuylerville, NY 12871.
Visit www.saratogaclayarts.org, call 518-581-2529 or email info@saratogaclayarts.org for more information.
The Mostly Modern Festival will take place June 5-20 in Saratoga Springs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Mostly Modern Festival has announced the lineup for its sixth season, which will open with its kick-off concert at Caffe Lena June 5, and continue with a series of shows through June 20 at the Arthur Zankel Music Center.
Founded in 2005, Mostly Modern Projects is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to celebrating living composers and modern classical music. Its initiatives span festivals, concerts, recordings, ensembles, and cultural institutes, fostering a vibrant and forward-thinking musical community. In 2018, the Mostly Modern Festival was launched in Saratoga Springs, at The Arthur Zankel Music Center.
The festival will showcase 10 concerts from June 5- June 20. With the exception of the kick-off show at Caffe Lena, all others will be held in Skidmore’s Arthur Zankel Music Center.
Thursday, June 5: American Modern Ensemble (kickoff @ Caffè Lena)
Friday, June 6: 6th Season Mostly Modern Kickoff at Caffè Lena
Saturday, June 7: The FAB5
Sunday, June 8: Mostly Modern Orchestra with David Amado
Friday, June 13: American Modern Ensemble
Saturday, June 14: Voices of Today Sing!
Sunday, June 15: Mostly Modern Orchestra with JoAnn Falletta
Tuesday, June 17: Mostly Modern Brass
Wednesday, June 18: Voices of Today Sing!
Friday, June 20: 6th Season Finale of Mostly Modern Orchestra with Andrew Crust
Audiences experience world premieres every single concert with modern music by young, mid-career, as well as famed composers of today.
Per-show tickets range from $10 to $35, and season passes are available at $185. For concert and ticket details, visit: https://mostlymodernfestival.org/concert-calendar.
GLENS FALLS—Tri-County Literacy Center (TLC) hosts their fourth annual art show fundraiser, Celebrating the Art of Community.
The show will be held in the Friends Gallery, located on the second floor of Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls, and is scheduled to run May 1 – May 30.
All works have been created by local artists and encompass a wide range of styles, subjects, and media. All pieces are available for sale and will be priced at $200 or less.
Proceeds from the art sale will support the work of Tri-County Literacy Center. TLC’s mission is to improve lives by fostering literacy skills in adults, and to provide opportunities for independence and economic mobility. Free tutoring services include: basic reading/writing/math, high school equivalency preparation, English as a next language, and US Citizenship test preparation.
There will be a Meet the Artist Reception 5-6:30 pm on Thursday, May 1 in the Friends Gallery in conjunction with Artist Jude Dolton whose photography exhibition, Off-Season, is on display nearby in the Literature Room. Light refreshments will be served, and artists will be on hand to speak about their work.
Following the reception is a Live! Folklife Concert in the Community Room at 7 p.m. sponsored by The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library. TLC staff members and volunteer tutors will be available to answer questions regarding the organization and assist with art sales. They will also be available to talk informally with interested potential volunteers about getting involved in fighting the literacy crisis in the community.
To view available artwork or to purchase your favorite piece, visit: www.32auctions.com/TLCArt2025. For more information email: trilitcenter@gmail.com.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Following on the heels of a triumphant 2024 tour, Vampire Weekend have announced a return to global stages this summer with a tour that kicks off May 10 in California and stages a show at Saratoga performing Arts Center on June 4, before continuing on a southern swing.
The release of their fifth studio album, “Only God Was Above Us,” previously launched a live run that included appearances at Coachella, the Hollywood Bowl and two sold out shows at Madison Square Garden, among others.
Support on 2025 dates will come from Geese. For more information, go to: vampireweekend.com.
GLENS FALLS — Drag Queen Story Hour: The Musical turns controversy into comedy with a satirical production that takes aim at book bans, pride flag crackdowns, and the LGBTQ+ protests that have divided small towns across America.
Inspired by real events, the show is a response to the six-month closure of a local public library in 2023 following protests against a scheduled drag story hour.
The show will stage June 6 to 8 at the Charles R. Wood Theater in Downtown Glens Falls.
“Librarians report over 1,000 instances of LGBTQ+ book bans every year, and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has tracked more than 140 drag story hour protests annually,” musical creator Neal Herr said in a statement. “Our show uses humor to spotlight how these battles are playing out in small towns across the country.”
For tickets, more information go to: DragQueenStoryHourTheMusical.org.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — It was Aug. 1, 1981 – the premiere of MTV – and three dozen songs into the playlist, up came the video of Blotto’s “I Wanna Be A Lifeguard.”
Upstate New York rock band Blotto experienced national success in the 1980’s through touring, record sales, radio airplay and exposure of their videos on that then-brand-new music cable station MTV.
A new documentary film – featuring a broad and entertaining look at the career of the band – was created by Rob Lichter. Hello! My Name Is Blotto – The Movie! Is set to premiere at Cohoes Music Hall on Saturday, April 12.
The film spans the origins of the band members starting as The Star-Spangled Washboard Band in the 1970’s, their evolution to Blotto and heyday in the 1980’s, and their long afterlife up to the present.
Blotto enjoyed a wide and loyal following for their music and engaging live shows that would find Bowtie, Broadway, Sarge, Cheese and Lee Harvey (mostly) good-naturedly lampooning a grab bag of musical genres.
In August 2017, Haymes graciously accepted an invitation to speak at a History of Rock & Roll in Saratoga event this writer was hosting at the Saratoga Springs Public Library.
Haymes, who died in 2019, was prolific writer, musician, visual artist and supporter of the Capital Region arts scene for several decades. He was also a co-founding member of the band Blotto and its predecessor, the Star-Spangled Washboard band – of the early 1970s.
“We played a couple of shows at Caffe Lena, and within a year we played at SPAC, opening for Sha Na Na,” recalled Haymes. “Star-Spangled Washboard Band lasted through about September ’78 and everybody went their separate ways and got real jobs. Our bass player, Cheese Blotto, got a job bartending at his friends who had just opened a bar that was called 17 Maple Avenue. In the back there was a stage, probably about six inches high, tops. Cheese struck a deal with (the owner) that if he could get some friends to come up and play in the back room then he would still get paid his bartending fee, but he wouldn’t have to actually bartend. So, every weekend he would call up and say: hey, you want to come up this weekend?” said Haymes, who would take on the moniker Sarge Blotto
“Eventually it coalesced into a group and we needed a name. We came up with the name Blotto. We came up with these little cardboard convention badges that would say: Hello My Name Is. That became the title of our first record: Hello My Name is Blotto.
“There was a night, later on, late in the evening, we’re doing our third set or something and there’s a group of gentlemen who come in and stand in the back. Big poodle hair. Satin baseball jackets with the sleeves pushed up. This was like ’79. So naturally we started making fun of them. They’re a band? Ahaha. It’s a Friday night and they’re not playing anywhere,” Haymes recalled.
-Hey, you wanna come up and jam?’
-Oh yeah, sure.
“So we did ‘House of the Rising Sun,’ and ‘Johnny B. Goode,’ because everybody does ‘Johnny B. Goode,’ and I think we also did ’We Gotta Get Outta This Place..’ Maybe four guys came up – and they were pretty good! We were very impressed. After our set, it was time to say thank you and wrap up the night. We asked them who they were. Neal, Steve…it was Journey. Earlier that evening they had played at SPAC. Ha. They were pretty cool about it.”
Two years later I was in Colonie Center, somebody said ‘Have you seen the poster?’ We had to go to Spencer’s Gifts and in the back there were these racks of posters and there’s a Journey poster. They’re just kinda standing there. There are some green trees and some white pillars and I’m looking at it and saying, ‘Yeah, it’s Journey. And?’”
“No, look closer, look closer.”
“I looked and hanging from (drummer) Steve Smith’s belt is a cardboard tag: Hello My Name is Blotto. What’s Yours?”
This film is the brainchild of Rob Lichter, aka Bert Blotto, a multimedia expert and longtime friend of Blotto. He recorded performances and interviewed the band over the last 25 years to capture the material for the documentary. He also incorporated a vast collection of archival footage and photos going back as far as 1972. The result is a fun, lightly censored, self-effacing romp through the improbable life and times of the members of Blotto.
The premiere performance of the film will take place at Cohoes Music Hall, 58 Remsen St. in Cohoes on Saturday, April 12. VIP Reception, cash bar and hors devours opens at 5 p.m. and the film screens at 7, with a Q&A to follow at 9. VIP Reception and admission (limited availability) is $40, and Regular admission is $25. For more information and tickets, go to: www.blotto.net or www.guthriebellproductions.com.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Phish have announced they will stage a trio of concerts at Saratoga Performing Arts Center in July as part of their summer 2025 tour.
The tour will get underway June 20 in New Hampshire, and conclude at Forest Hills, Queens (July 22-23), and Saratoga Springs (July 25-27).
For more information and tickets, go to: phish.com/tours.
Author Steve Stern will discuss his new novel “A Fool’s Kabbalah,” on March 5 at Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — In the ruins of postwar Europe, the world’s leading expert on the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism goes on a hair-raising journey to recover sacred books stolen by the Nazis.
Steve Stern, author of the new novel “A Fool’s Kabbalah,” will be traveling to Saratoga Springs to discuss his new historical novel, with Jay Rogoff at Northshire Books, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 5,
The novel features numerous real-life historic figures, reimagines Gershom Scholem’s quest and how it sparked in him the desire to realize the legacy of his dear friend, the brilliant philosopher Walter Benjamin.
At the end of the Second World War Gershom Scholem, the magisterial scholar of Jewish mysticism, is commissioned by the Hebrew University in what was then British-ruled Palestine to retrieve a lost world. He is sent to sift through the rubble of Europe in search of precious Jewish books stolen by the Nazis or hidden by the Jews themselves in secret places throughout the ravaged continent. The search takes him into ruined cities and alien wastelands.
For 30 years, Stern taught at Skidmore College, the majority of those years as Writer-in-Residence. He has also been a Fulbright lecturer at Bar Elan University in Tel Aviv, the Moss Chair of Creative Writing at the University of Memphis, and Lecturer in Jewish Studies for the Prague Summer Seminars. He is the author of 13 previous books, including, most recently, The Village Idiot. He splits his time between Brooklyn and Ballston Spa, New York.
“A Fool’s Kabbalah” was published Feb. 18 by Melville House.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Heavy metal band Pantera have announced their 2025 US Summer amphitheater tour will include a stop at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 28.
Support will be provided by Swedish heavy metal group Amon Amarth and an additional guest opener to be announced at a later date.!
Featuring classic members, vocalist Philip H. Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown, alongside guitarist Zakk Wylde and drummer Charlie Benante, Pantera’s latest stretch of live dates continues the celebration of the lives of late founding members, drummer Vinnie Paul and guitarist Dimebag Darrell.
The tour follows the band’s Spring run of stadium shows with Metallica and Suicidal Tendencies as well as a very special UK performance as part of Black Sabbath’s and Ozzy Osbourne’s historic final show alongside Metallica, Slayer, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice In Chains, Lamb Of God, Anthrax, Mastodon, and more.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College hosts a vibrant queer comedy showcase on Thursday, March 6, at 7:30 pm. The event is held in conjunction with the exhibition “a field of bloom and hum.”
Hosted by Beck Krefting, a Skidmore Professor and comedian, Queerly Beloved features Calvin Cato, Sheria Mattis, and Bailey Pope in a night of laughter and liberation where bold voices and brilliant punchlines collide with stunning art.
Cato’s on-air and radio appearances include Oxygen, Netflix, Sirius XM, RISK!, WIRED Magazine, and an unaired pilot for Vice Media called Emergency Black Meeting. His comedy has been featured in numerous festivals and events. Mattis is a Brooklyn-born comedian and writer. Her comedy has been featured on OprahDaily, PBS, and NBC. Pope is a New York-based Comedian, writer, and pigeon-holed actress. She’s been featured on Prime Video, Sirius XM, Roku Comedy Network, and at festivals.
The event is free and open to the public.
The monumental exhibition a field of bloom and hum, presented on both of the Tang’s two floors, features works by more than 150 artists made over the last 100 years that celebrate queer identities and communities.
For more information, call the Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080 or visit https://tang.skidmore.edu.
