Feb. 2: Omega Institute co-founder Elizabeth Lesser, who wrote a book about donating bone marrow to treat her sister’s lymphoma, said that despite all the associated trauma, “It’s a magical, mystical experience, giving another person part of your body to help them live. There’s something profound and mysterious about it.”
Saturday, Feb. 3: Hot wax on a cold night. Rock and soul connoisseur, curator and partymaker: Deejay Jonathan Toubin’s Soul Claps at BSP are the stuff of legend.
“Our job is to be unseen. When people go to a museum or gallery, they want to see the artist’s name on the wall, and it’s not our place to shine. We’re there to serve the artist.”
Feb. 1-11: Ali Stroker, an actress, singer and activist who was the first wheelchair-bound performer to star in a Broadway production and has also appeared in Glee, will give a recital at Modfest, followed by “Making Your Limitations Your Opportunities,” a moderated talk discussing her work onstage and off.
Friday-Sunday, Feb. 2-4: Local food, beer, wine, music, dancing, blacksmithing, film, art and nature activities for all ages are among the weekend’s offerings. Musical acts will include resident bands Jay Ungar & Molly Mason and the Mammals featuring Mike + Ruthy, as well as Spirit Family Reunion, Anna & Elizabeth, Connor Kennedy, Tracy Bonham, Radio Jarocho, the Wiyos, Little Leatherwood, Megan Downes, Uncle Rock and Joakim Lartey.
Saturday, Feb. 3: Showcasing Master Sergeant MaryKay Messenger, the premier vocalist for the US Military Academy Band at West Point, the Northern Dutchess Symphony Orchestra will perform a collection of Hollywood scores at the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park. The CIA will open the Caterina de’ Medici restaurant for a special $39 pre-performance dining experience.
Take a luge run, make a chili bowl or an Oni ogre mask, explore our roots and see an alligator.
I lay out some twigs, a clump of dryer lint and a drugstore receipt for eyedrops that’s inexplicably as long as my arm. The firepit fills with flames, rapidly consuming my offerings while fading away as quickly as they began. I reload with more sticks, torn paper bags, newspaper shreds and fallen wood. I am patient with my fire-tending.
Friday, Feb. 9: Home is a modern EP, not a nostalgic one. Even as it borrows their voice, its grim sense of the world would have scared the crap out of the Breakfast Club kids.
Opening Saturday, Feb. 10: Each year, the Barrett Art Center has organized a national juried photography exhibition, curated by a known quantity in the field. This year’s curator is E. Jason Wambsgans of the Chicago Tribune, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography.