Friday, June 22: Kweskin’s Jug Band propelled many careers and lured topnotch players from other bands, including two members of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys: banjoist Bill Keith and fiddler Richard Greene.
Saturday, June 23: This new one-day music festival features live music that emphasizes improvisation. Its diverse lineup includes traditions from jazz to electronica to world and New Age.
June 30-September 2: Maverick Concerts in Woodstock is the oldest continuous summer chamber music festival in America. Lest that sound too staid and venerable, Hervey White’s Maverick colony, of course, was an incubator of progressive thought in society and in all the arts. Maverick Concerts is White’s legacy, and the current curators honor that with an inclusive approach to programming and repertoire that is anything but pandering.
One of the most prominent artists in the collection, Daniel Huntington, trekked to Mohonk Lake as early as 1837 to sketch and paint.
Saturday, June 16 : His iconic orchestral works, to be performed by the Northern Dutchess Symphony Orchestra, have come to define the many hit films he has scored, including Star Wars, Jaws and the Harry Potter series.
Friday, June 15: It will be a Mecca of alt-Americana for one night, when three of the genre’s foremost figures team up for a Pavilion show.
Sunday, June 24: When John Bonham dropped that crazy foot of his 12 seconds into “Good Times, Bad Times” on Led Zeppelin’s 1969 self-titled debut, rock drumming changed instantly and forever. John’s son Jason Bonham can hardly be accused of cashing in on his father’s thing. But he hasn’t shied away from the family brand, either. He has recorded with Page and played with Zeppelin at several of their more significant one-offs over the years.
Saturday, June 9: The Pussy Galore husband-and-wife team of Jon Spencer and Cristina Martinez are bringing their band Boss Hog and its mix of blues, noise and provocation to Club Helsinki in Hudson. Welcome your new neighbors.
Saturday, June 9: As to the title Heddagabalus, I get the Ibsen reference, but I don’t even want to know what “gabalus” is; probably something to do with brain anatomy or a Roman general.
Friday-Sunday, June 15-17: Jack Johnson, Alt-J, Sturgill Simpson, George Clinton, Kurt Vile, the Decemberists and dozens more bands take to the hills. Compared to the urban polyglot favored on Roosevelt Island, the slopes of Hunter are a place where guitars still play.