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.
LAKE GEORGE — The Lake George Arts Project’s annual three-day jazz festival will take place at Shepard Park Sept. 17-19. Admission is free of charge.
LINEUP:
Friday, Sept. 17 7 p.m. Blind Visionaries: Daniel Kelly & The Seeing with Photography Collective.
Saturday, Sept. 18 1 p.m. Helen Sung Quartet + with guest violinist Jannina Norpoth. 3 p.m. Dayna Stephens Quartet. 5 p.m. Aaron Parks Little Big. 7 p.m. Yosvany Terry Quintet.
Sunday, Sept. 19 1 p.m. Stephanie Chou. 3 p.m. Ingrid Jensen Band. 5 p.m. Black Art Jazz Collective.
The organization’s previous Executive Director John Strong (1984-2020), and Paul Pines, Jazz Weekend Artistic Director (1983–2018), first planned the inaugural Lake George Jazz Weekend over 35 years ago. For more information on this year’s slate of artists and stage times, go to: www.lakegeorgearts.org/lake-george-jazz-weekend
GLENS FALLS — The Park Theater has announced its 2021/22 season of events, beginning this month.
In addition to their flagship series “The Park Presents,” the 2021/22 season features a variety of other programs including “Tribute Band Rewind,” “Live & Local,” “Comedy After Dark” and “Third Thursday Jazz.”
On Sept. 15, the Park Theater hosts Rochmon Record Club for a listening party that will focus on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s album “Déjà Vu” (1970). Hosted by Chuck Vosganian, a Rochmon Record Club Listening Party is a multi-media event designed to educate and inspire. Tickets: $12. Doors: 6:30 p.m. and showtime at 7 p.m.
On Sept. 16, Third Thursday Jazz features drummer Matt Niedbalsk, valve trombone and piano player Tyler Giroux, and Dylan Perrillo. Tickets: $10. Doors: 8 p.m., showtime: 8:30. Virtuoso fiddler, Jason Anick and acoustic trio perform Sept. 18. Tickets are $25 advance, $30 day of show.
The Park Theater is located at 14 Park St. in Glens Falls. For the full performance listing and to purchase tickets, visit www.parktheatergf.com or phone the box office at 518-792-1150.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — In July and August, Saratoga Jewish Cultural Festival partnered with Home Made Theater, the Saratoga Springs Community Theater, to present “New Jerusalem” for a special summer limited-run production.
“New Jerusalem,” which was held live for four performances, is about the real-life Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Springs’ Caffe Lena is moving its live streams off Facebook and YouTube to a new donate-to-watch platform called CaffeLena.TV.
“Streaming is here to stay. It has become an essential tool in keeping artists and venues afloat and audiences engaged. We need to make it a great experience for the viewer, and economically viable for the producers,” said Executive Director Sarah Craig, in a statement.
Heading into a fall when the music industry was hoping to return to normal, the Delta variant is once again causing tour cancellations and venue restrictions. Bands that had hoped to off-load their home streaming rigs on eBay are rethinking the decision. “While our first choice is to have everyone here in person, it’s exciting to be connecting this legendary venue with a worldwide audience,” said Craig. “It feels like the right moment to move our streams off the free platforms. If streaming is going to be a core part of the performing arts, we can’t treat it like a give-away.”
Revenue collected from viewer donations is split between the performer and venue. “Through a virtual tip jar, viewers supported our live-streaming performers to the tune of $100,000 during the shutdown. But since we reopened for in-person audiences in April, donations and viewership have dropped significantly. Now the job is to figure out how to make this delivery system something people will want to pay for, and to drive home the message that live music will only survive if people support it,” Craig said.
Caffe Lena recently removed past shows from its YouTube channel out of concern for licensing restrictions. For a monthly donation of $15 or more, viewers will have unlimited access to the nightly shows as well as a large vault of past shows.
Caffe Lena picked UScreen.TV because it allows the venue to offer content on a flexible pay-per-view basis. A single show may be viewed for a donation of $5 or more.
Concerts will be streamed through Caffe Lena’s high-definition broadcasting system. Streams are produced by multiple Grammy-award winner Joel Moss, with three robotic cameras and a state-of-the-art sound system.For more information, go to: www.caffelena.org
