SARATOGA SPRINGS — The following pop concerts are scheduled to take place at Saratoga Performing Arts Center this year. For ticket information, go to: spac.org. 

June 18, 19 & 20 – Trey Anastasio
July 18 – Chicago
Aug. 15 – Hall & Oates
Aug. 16 – Lindsey Stirling
Aug. 23 – King Crimson
Aug. 24 – James Taylor
Aug. 27 – Dead & Company
Aug. 28 – Lynyrd Skynyrd 
Sept. 5 – Alanis Morissette/Garbage/Liz Phair
Sept. 12 – Outlaw Music Fest w/Willie Nelson, Sturgill Simpson, Gov’t Mule, Margo Price
Sept. 13 – Maroon 5
Sept. 14 – The Black Crowes 
Sept. 17-18 – Dave Matthews Band 
Sept. 28 – Jonas Brothers
Oct. 3 – Zac Brown Band 

Scheduled for 2022 at Saratoga Performing Arts Center: Doobie Brothers (June 16); Steely Dan/Steve Winwood (June 21); Tedeschi Trucks Band (July 3); Rod Stewart/Cheap Trick (July 22);  Backstreet Boys (July 23); Matchbox Twenty (July 31); Goo Goo Dolls (TBA 2022). 

Outside the Region: 

Foo Fighters, Post Malone, Tyler the Creator, Miley Cyrus, Journey, Limp Bizkit, Jimmy Eat World, and others. Lolapalooza, Chicago, July 29 to Aug. 1.
Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer. North American Tour, July 24 – Sept. 6. Citi Field, Queens (Aug. 4), Fenway Park, Boston (Aug. 5). 
Guns N’ Roses, Stevie Nicks, Foo Fighters, Miley Cyrus, others. Northern California music, food and wine festival, Napa Valley Expo Sept. 3-5.
Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, KORN, Judas Priest, Snoop Dogg, Jane’s Addiction, Staind, Anthrax, others.  Louder Than Life, Highland Festival Grounds, Louisville, Kentucky Sept. 23-26. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — James Taylor and his All-star Band, and special guest opener Jackson Browne will stage a show at SPAC on Aug. 24. 

NEW YORK — Actor/Singer Mandy Patinkin, Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Papp biographer Helen Epstein will be among the many celebrities and theater industry leaders confirmed for the 100th birthday commemoration of legendary theatre producer Joe Papp on June 22. 

Born “Yosl Papirofsky,” Papp will be the subject of Celebrating ‘Yosl’ – Joe Papp at 100, hosted by YI Love Jewish and featuring a full day of events, including virtual and in-person celebrity broadcasts. The schedule will include musical performances, plays, monologues, scenes, lectures and testimonials culminating in the celebrity-studded signature Gala event and Exclusive VIP Reception, celebrating the life of the renowned producer who created “Shakespeare in the Park” and The Public Theater in New York City. 

Papp’s vision led him in 1957 to establish free Shakespeare in Central Park. Ten years later, he created The Public Theater in the building that was formerly the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), a haven for newly arrived refugees. The building was saved from demolition through Mr. Papp’s efforts after a long negotiation with the City of New York. It became the permanent home of the New York Shakespeare Festival/Joseph Papp Public Theatre (The Public) and is currently designated as a New York City Historical Landmark. 

Papp’s widow, Gail Merrifield-Papp, and his daughter Susan Papp-Lippman will both serve as Honorary Chairs of the Centennial commemoration. 

At the Public, an innovative model was used for creating a new dynamic way of producing plays in a workshop-style manner that had never been tried before. The concept involved bringing writers, directors, designers and actors together in one place to brainstorm and create the foundations for new and groundbreaking productions.

The most famous Broadway shows to evolve from these workshops include the original productions of “Hair,” “A Chorus Line,” and “Runaways,” among the over 700 shows that Joe Papp produced and developed, as well as modern blockbusters like “Hamilton.”  He championed the cause of multi-ethinic casting and socially relevant topics. Papp was a social activist who also helped to develop other off-Broadway experimental theaters, worked to preserve the historic Broadway Theatre District and was considered one of the most philanthropic providers of inner-city access to the arts, believing that “if public libraries were free, public theatre should be free as well. “

Celebrating ‘Yosl’: Joe Papp at 100 will feature live, virtual and pre-recorded performances starting at 11 a.m. and continuing into the evening. In the spirit of Papp’s visionary FREE Shakespeare in the Park, MOST of the day’s events will be free of charge with the exception of an exclusive, celebrity-filled LIVE and VIRTUAL Gala and Reception, starting at 7 p.m. 

Tickets are $36 for the Virtual Gala at 7 p.m.; $100 for the Virtual Gala at 7 p.m. and an Exclusive Celebrity Virtual VIP Reception at 9 p.m. (A very limited number of the $100 in-person tickets may be made available due to CDC Guidelines.)

For a full list of events, participants and tickets, go to: www.yilovejewish.org/papp100.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Lynyrd Skynyrd “Big Wheels Keep On Turnin’ Tour” kicks off June 13 in Iowa, and will stage a show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center Aug. 28. 

Original Lynyrd Skynyrd member Gary Rossington, lead singer Johnny Van Zant and lead guitarist Rickey Medlocke delivered a personal video message to their fans about the band’s touring plans: “We were two shows into the end of the three-year plan for the farewell tour, when the virus hit and everything was just gone,” said Van Zant. “Once something is taken away from you – music and touring in our case – you truly realize how important it is and such a part of your life. Music is a great healer, and that’s what we all turn to when things are good or bad. A Skynyrd show is a family affair, and we want these dates to help heal our fans as much as ourselves.”

SCHUYLERVILLE — Saratoga Clay Arts Center’s Schacht Gallery presents Reversal: RED a solo exhibition featuring sculptural and functional works by Mark Tarabula, SCAC’s 2020-21 Artist-in-Residence, which explore conditions of the human body, concepts of sexuality, and the connection between surface and form. 

The exhibition, which reflects the culmination of his year-long residency, opens Saturday, June 19 with a reception from 5-7 p.m. and runs through July 17. Details for the exhibition can be found online at www.saratogaclayarts.org. 

Saratoga Clay Arts Center’s Artist residency program offers emerging artists who have just received their BFA or MFA the time and space to develop their artistic voice in clay. While enhancing their knowledge and experience in a working studio environment, residents are expected to work to develop a strong and cohesive body of work, have a visible presence in the studio and interact with members of the clay community and the public. Each September, fresh talent enters the community and offers them their unique perspectives in clay while they learn the inner workings of running an arts business.

Mark Tarabula is currently an Artist in Residence at Saratoga Clay Arts Center in New York and will be staying on for a second year. He received his MFA in Ceramics at Edinboro University in Edinboro, PA and his BFA in Ceramics from Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI. During the years in between degrees, he was a resident artist in several places including The Ceramic Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gallery-One in Ellensburg, Washington and with Justin Rothshank in Goshen, Indiana. Mark has shown work all over the country. 

Founded in 2010 by clay artist and educator Jill Kovachick, Saratoga Clay Arts Center is a ceramic art center located just a few miles outside of Saratoga Springs in Schuylerville, offering wheel throwing and handbuilding clay classes for youth and adults, studio space and residencies for artists, and exhibitions featuring emerging, mid-career and established clay artists. The Schacht Gallery is open Mon – Sat from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and by appointment.  Located at 167 Hayes Road, Schuylerville. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — King Crimson will stage a show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Aug. 23, according to DGM – the band’s independent music company. 

The 2021 Music Is Our Friend tour of U.S. kicks-off July 22 in Florida and is slated to conclude Sept. 11 in Washington, D.C. Appearing as special guests is The Zappa Band. 

King Crimson famously performed in July 1969 at a free concert featuring the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park attended by an estimated crowd of a half-million people. Their debut studio album, “In the Court of the Crimson King,” was released three months later. 

King Crimson 2021 features: Robert Fripp – Guitar; Jakko Jakszyk – Guitar, Vocals; Mel Collins – Saxes, Flute; Tony Levin – Basses, Stick, Backing Vocals; Pat Mastelotto – Acoustic And Electronic Percussion; Gavin Harrison – Acoustic And Electronic Percussion; Jeremy Stacey – Acoustic And Electronic Percussion, Keyboards. 

LAKE GEORGE — Lake George Arts Project presents Pictures Within Pictures, an exhibition of collages and works on paper by Dan Cameron, running from June 16 – 26.

In place of an on-site gallery reception, LGAP will host a Live Online Talk with Dan Cameron at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 16. A direct link to the discussion will be posted at www.lakegeorgearts.org on the day of the event.

Although he is well-known in the contemporary art world as a curator, art writer and educator, Pictures Within Pictures will be Cameron’s debut exhibition as a fine artist. The works on view date from his return to art-making in late 2016, with increasing focus and attention on developing his studio work in the intervening years. Since late 2018, he has maintained a combination studio and office in Glens Falls, and all of the works on view were produced there.

Cameron links his collage-making to his curatorial practice, in part because they are connected through his process of acquiring art-related ephemera and fragments of visual culture for an ongoing art history archive, in the process accumulating images that aren’t archival material, but nonetheless possess a certain visual appeal.

Cameron was born in 1956 and grew up in Hudson Falls. This is his first exhibition as an artist. As a curator he has organized international exhibitions throughout the US, France, China, Mexico, Spain, Brazil, Greece, Turkey, Sweden, Ireland, Portugal, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Ecuador and Taiwan. 

The Courthouse Gallery is located at the side entrance of the Old County Courthouse, corner of Canada and Lower Amherst Streets, Lake George, NY. Hours during exhibitions are Wednesday through Friday 12 – 5 p.m., Saturday 12 – 4 p.m., and all other times by appointment.

Regular Gallery hours may change due to COVID-19 public health concerns and protocols. For updates call 518-323-5499 or email laura@lakegeorgarts.org, or visit www.lakegeorgearts.org

POUGHKEEPSIE — Author and musician Robert Burke Warren helped to produce and performs in “David Bowie’s The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars,” which streams free on YouTube at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 16. 

Warren’s lengthy list of credits dates back to musical stints with RuPaul, and the Fleshtones, and the more recent release of his novel, “Perfectly Broken.” 

The “Albums Revisited” – David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars production, presented by the Bardavon, includes former Bowie band member Gail Ann Dorsey, Corey Glover (Living Colour), Kate Pierson (the B52’s), Wreckless Eric, John Medeski  (Medeski Martin & Wood), Micheal Cerveris (Tony winner), and many more special guests.  Warren and “The Bardavon Spiders” perform the tunes “Starman,” and “Hang on to Yourself.” 

The stream may be viewed at 8 p.m. June 16. Go to: bardavon.org. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Jewish Cultural Festival presents its 2021 season of programs which continue through Sunday, Aug. 22.

The season features plays, films, discussions, lectures, and family outdoor events using Zoom for streaming, hybrid programs, and the return of on-site experiences. The events and registration information can be found online at saratogajewishculturalfestival.org

June 16 •  7 p.m. – HARDCHARLIE, Charlie Rapper, a new talent to both the hip hop and acoustic post hardcore rock, with a blend of heart, head, and gut. On Zoom

June 24 • 5 p.m. – The 8thKlezmer and Kosher Festival in Collins Park, Clifton Park. Kosher food by Chabad Guys and live Klezmer music and games for kids.

June 27 • 7 p.m. – The reverent and irreverent Michael Takiff’s Jews, God and History exploring the big questions asked by all people: God and humanity, faith and reason, tribe and society. On Zoom.

June 28 • 6 p.m. – Rabbi Avraham Stolik, the Jewish Indiana Jones, founder & director of the Jerusalem Uncovered Institute and Biblical archeological scholar with a unique presentation on the findings of Jerusalem.

July 6 • 4-8 p.m. – Pop Artist Yitchock Moully displays his conceptual art intersecting the spiritual and the material and will produce a custom T-shirt upon request. In person at Saratoga Chabad and on Zoom.

July 11 • 7 p.m. – Memories and Mishegas: My Jewish Grandmother and Other Crazy Stories. Beth Sabo Novik, warm, witty, engaging storyteller makes folktales and personal stories come alive. On Zoom.

July 25 & August 1 • 1 & 5 p.m. (two performances each day) – New Jerusalem, a 1656 drama by David Ives of the interrogation and excommunication of Baruch de la Spinoza in a moral dispute still echoing today. Outdoor performances at Congregation Shaara Tfille on July 25 and Congregation Beth Shalom on August 1. Streaming may be available.

July 27 • 4-8 p.m. – Klezmer, Chassidic and Israeli Music with Kosher deli meal in-person at Saratoga Chabad or available for pickup. On Zoom.

August 8 • 5 p.m. – King in the Field Barbecue at Collins Park in Clifton Park. Kosher food, crafts and music.

August 15 • 7 p.m. – A panel discussion of Homecoming, the 2018 film by Beyonce as part of a Social Justice series. Performance art that is feminist and steeped in African American culture. On Zoom.

August 18 • 7 p.m. – Heart Songs, A Holocaust Memoir by Barbara Gifford. One family’s escape from the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939. On Zoom.

August 22 • 4 p.m. – The Shalom Festival, a celebration of kosher food, music, art, and activities for all ages at Saratoga Chabad, 130 Circular Street.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation’s return of the Historic Homes Tour Porch Party takes place 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 17.

The Porch Party begins at the Victorian Stick style house at 748 North Broadway, built by Edward R. Stevens in late 1876 and early 1877. Guests can also enjoy the restored ornate porch at the beautiful brick Queen Anne house at 740 North Broadway features an asymmetrical design, and slate roof with matching carriage house in 1886 by Frank Hathorn. 

The Porch Party was previously sold-out, but due to updated restrictions for gatherings and securing a second porch the Foundation is pleased to announce that additional tickets are now available. Space is limited. Tickets are $125 for Foundation members and $150 for non-members and can be purchased online at www.saratogapreservation.org or by phone 518-587-5030.