Berkshire Eagle

In an Eagle story two ladies who lunch voted the down home Highland Restaurant in Pittsfield as their favorite destination. At just $8.95 I followed their tip for the generous scallop sandwich. It was divine. A best in the Berkshires.

For the first time in 26 years this week North Adams will have a new mayor in Dick Alcombright. After a busy weekend of ceremonies and celebrations he will be rolling up his sleeves and getting to work. In stating that this is "Our City" he pledges that his door will always be open. In a tough economy with many challenges nobody predicts that it will be easy.

While on a tight deadline to complete the installation of "Gravity Is a Force to Be Reckoned With" in the vast Building Five at Mass MoCA Inigo Manglano-Ovalle took a break to discuss his work. He will simultaneously show "Juggernaut" at the Williams College Museum of Art. A Williams alumnus class of '83 in 2005 he received the college's Bicentennial Medal.

In article after article since John Barrett III lost a tough Mayor's race in North Adams the Berkshire Eagle has shed crocodile tears over his unanticipated defeat. To say the Eagle blew its coverage is an understatement. Now columnist Alan Chartock wades in on why he loves "Big John" who was "done in" by a "few disgruntled self styled arts types."

While home for the holidays in the Berkshires, Martha Coakley, the front runner for the vacant U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts, took time to greet her home town supporters in North Adams. She endorsed incoming Mayor Dick Alcombright, and he was up bright and early to return the favor.

The overall Tanglewood attendance was up some 20,000 last summer. But subtract the 61,198 for the five day sellout of James Taylor and Friends and Tanglewood would have been down some 40,000 with an overall loss even greater than the $3 to 4 million reported by the Berkshire Eagle. Will there be any surprises when the coming season is announced on November 20?

Both the Berkhire Eagle and the North Adams Transcript are playing catchup for their blown coverage of the era ending upset when challenger, Dick Alcombright, ousted the Dean of Mass. Mayors, John Barrett. Their spin is mostly too little and way too late. While the on line media, such as feisty Tammy Daniels for iBerkshires, had it covered, big time, from the getgo.

The old line print media, The Berkshire Eagle, the North Adams Transcript, and the Boston Globe were dead wrong in their unflinching support of Mayor John Barrett. At 26 years he was the longest running mayor in the history of the Commonwealth. Yesterday some 60% of the 52% of registered voters in North Adams supported Mayor Elect Dick Alcombright.

To quote Winston Churchill during the Battle of Britain "Is this the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?" In the coming months artistic director Tony Simotes will be charged with getting Shakespeare & Company back on track and out from under a stagering debt of $10 million.

Although Tina Packer is in the midst of a controversial production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" at Boston's Publick Theatre she attended the important press conference of Shakespeare & Company convened to discuss the current fiscal crisis. It was a chance to catch up with Packer and share her insights as founding artistic director of the company.

For the Sunday afternoon concert at Tanglewood, ending the five day James Taylor marathon the sea of umbrellas out on the lawn offered shade from blazing late summer sun not shelter from the rain as on the previous soggy evenings. It was a glorious concert with JT backed by John Williams conducting the Boston Pops.

Each summer, the Youth Theater at Barrington Stage presents a polished musical for some 40+ performances. These productions never fail to amaze and delight sold out audiences. They are full of energy and vitality that are a credit to both director Christine O'Grady and her young performers, and to Music Director Brian Usifer who is at the helm each night setting the tempo and intense pace that are their trademark.

For 26 years John Barrett has served as the Mayor of North Adams. He is running for yet another two year term. In a meeting with artists of the Eclipse Mill complex he related the epic struggle to salvage a depressed city largely through his personal efforts to help Tom Krens and then Joe Thompson in their plan to transform the abandoned Sprague Electric campus into Mass MoCA. Some $35 million in state revenue was used to renovate the museum which is celebrating its first decade.

When Igor Stavinsky's ballet "Le Sacre du Printemps," with choreography by Vaslav Nijinski, premiered in Paris with the Ballets Russes on May 29, 1913 it provoked a riot. A light attendance for James Levine conducting at Tanglewood indicates that after almost a century it is still a hard sell. Judging by a standing ovation and encore it was clear that much of the audience had come to hear violinist Christian Tarzlaff perform Brahms.

As newspapers make drastic cuts in response to mounting debt and decline of ad revenue there is a paradigm shift in the way that we gather and rely on the accuracy of information. In the blogosphere and Facebook/ Twitter world everyone is a media pundit. At least for the proverbial 15 minutes which has eroded to just seconds. In the internet age who "owns" the rights to text and images?

It appears that as it reaches its 25th Anniversary, there could be a funeral instead of a celebration for the Berkshire Opera Company. Its fate will be decided at a crucial board meeting in the near future.

With $4 a gallon gas and a sinking economy 2008 was a challenge for arts and tourism in the Berkshires. But our contibutors covered not only the Berkshires but arts and culture in New York, Boston, London, New Orleans and Shanghai. We reflect on some of the highlights.

With remarkable affection and daunting energy Tom Beckett, in a smash hit, one man show, compresses the 1946 Frank Carpa 130 minute film "It's a Wonderful Life" to just an hour and twenty minutes while portraying some 30 characters. During these hard times our spirits soar as Clarence the Angel earns his wings.

On a gorgeous fall weekend, October 17 through 19, hundreds of visitors and familiies made the round of the annual North Adams Open Studios. The event this year was bigger and better.

Squeezing hairy chests into tight costumes and donning feathery headpieces, these Clown Princes of Ballet in full makeup danced sur les pointes across the stage of the Hunter Center at Mass MoCA. As both merry makers and serious dancers all they want is their turn in the spotlight, and endless applause.

The pianist Donal Fox and his quintet, featuring the young trumpet player,Christian Scott, presented a confluence of Baroque music and jazz feeling. While hailed as represeting the "future" of jazz there is in fact a long tradition of this experimentation.

As New Orleans based musician, Terence Blanchard, led his quintet and a 34 piece orchetstra through his evening long composition "A Tale of God's Will: A Requiem for Katrina" just three years after that tragedy, ironically, the city was evacuated and braced for Hurricane Gustav which again battered the Crescent City. It made the music all the more powerful and emotionally charged.

A perfect storm of cool, rainy weather, $4 a gallon gas, and a lousy economy caused the coining of a new term "Staycation" during the summer of 2008. While clearly an off year Berkshire arts and tourism held their own largely through its range of world class offerings.

It is hard to believe that Janis Joplin performed at Tanglewood in 1969. As well as The Who and Miles Davis. There was a false start to revive rock in 2007 with a literally washed out Cars. But last night Wilco brought rock once again to Tanglewood. After three plus decades it's about time.

Berkshire residents are reveling in an amazing array of area arts offerings. Our monthly Preview serves to help guide your choices with helpful facts, insider details and handy links. The only mistake would be to procrastinate. Nothing gold can stay.