WBCR-LP 97.7FM, Great Barrington Community Radio
Starting Monday, November 24th Democracy Now! will be moving to 5pm here on WBCR-LP, 97.7. Free Speech Radio News will be aired at 6pm as soon as the technical issues that the program is currently experiencing are resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and are hoping that it will better serve our listeners by providing up-to-date news coverage from two independent news programs. This schedule change will correct many of the problems we have been having that result in out of date programs being aired. Hate it? Love it? Let us know.
Contact: http://www.berkshireradio.org on the programs page - click on comment on the bottom list
Green Drinks is a monthly social event for folks interested in everything green, from education to local agriculture, the arts, business, and the ways all of those topics intersect.
This month the focus is on the Appalachian Trail, with free appetizers and AT gear up for grabs.
Contact: Erik Hoffner, Orion, 528-4422
Join The Mahaiwe Board and staff at 2pm on Sunday for a short ceremony as we mark the occasion by unveiling a plaque commemorating this honor. Representative William SmittyӔ Pignatelli and Lola Jaffe, Founding President and Board Chair, will make statements regarding this special tribute to this historic home to the arts which has been at the heart of downtown Great Barrington since 1905. In appreciation of the communitys ongoing commitment to the Mahaiwe, on Monday at 7pm, The Mahaiwe welcomes one and all to join us for our Monday Night Movie ғSingin In the RainҔ (1952) starring Gene Kelly & Donald O’Connor. This film will be open to the public free of charge. Please join us on Sunday at 2pm and Monday evening at 7pm as we take a moment to acknowledge the honor that was rewarded to The Mahaiwe and celebrate the installment of a plaque commemorating our entrance in the National Register of Historic Places.
Contact: Laura Chekow 413-528-0100
at First Methodist Church 55 Fenn St., Pittsfield
Giving Thanks Concert ‘08
benefits Berkshire Community Action Council (BCAC)
Homestyle Turkey Dinner Available 5-7PM
Tickets at Pittsfield Visitor Center, Wood Bros Music, BCAC, Tune St., Milltown Tavern
Call BCAC at 445-4503 for more info
Contact: 445-4503
Ramsdell Public Library announces that it will host a series of free poetry workshops starting Tuesday, December 2nd from 7 to 9 p.m.
The workshops are ideal for individuals investigating an interest in poetry,as well as for those already writing.
To obtain more information on the structure of the classes, or to register, please phone Dawn Barbieri via (413) 274-3738. Ramsdell Library is located at 1087 Main Street in Housatonic, MA.
Contact: Dawn Barbieri, Librarian for Ramsdell Library
Laura Love will once again grace the WBCR-LP 97.7 studios. Three years ago, she sang that beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace that is on our Live at WBCR Volume 1 CD. In the Spirit of Play meets Live Earnest Hour this Sunday 11/23 at 4 p.m. when the very talented singer/songwriter electric bass player Laura Love and her accompanist country-blues guitarist, Orville Johnson join us live in our new home. Laura will be appearing that night at Club Helsinki.
Contact: Jeanne Bassis
Come share in the true meaning of Thanksgiving with your community neighbors at our Thanksgiving Supper! This event is free and open to all to attend. There will be two seatings; the first is at 4pm and the second at 5:30pm.
ItҒs just our way of expressing how grateful we are for the sense of community and common purpose that has been felt throughout the region.
At Berkshire South, we are always planting seeds to promote the social well being of local residents and we wish to harvest the bounty and share the gifts of friendship, warmth, good food and community with you.
So sign up your family and friends today to attend our Community Thanksgiving Supper! This is a free event, though donations will be gladly accepted. Reservations are required for each seating. Please call the center at 413-528-2810.
Contact: Berkshire South Regional Community Center 413-528-2810
It is a Turkey Raffle to benefit the Hope Fire Company.
Admission is free.
Sat. November 22,2008
7:00 pm at the Great Barrington VFW
South Main St. Great Barrington, MA
Contact: Ryan Brown 413-644-9252
Rumi was an evolutionary thinker in the sense that he believed that the spirit after devolution from the divine Ego undergoes an evolutionary process by which it comes nearer and nearer to the same divine Ego. All matter in the universe obeys this law and this movement is due to an inbuilt urge (which Rumi calls “love") to evolve and seek enjoinment with the divinity from which it has emerged. Evolution into a human being from an animal is only one stage in this process. The doctrine of the Fall of Adam is reinterpreted as the devolution of the ego from the universal ground of divinity and is a universal, cosmic phenomenon. This synthesis of evolution and creationism is a culmination of the ideas of Plotinus and of previous Muslim philosophers like Al Farabi. The French philosopher Henri Bergson’s idea of life being creative and evolutionary is similar, though unlike Bergson, Rumi believes that there is a specific goal to the process: the attainment of God. For Rumi, God is the ground as well as the goal of all existence.
Rumi’s importance transcends national and ethnic borders. Readers of the Persian language in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan see him as one of their most significant classical poets and an influence on many poets through history. Rumi has also had a great influence on Turkish literature through the centuries.
Rumi’s poetry forms the basis of much classical Iranian and Afghanistani music. Contemporary classical interpretations of his poetry are made by Muhammad Reza Shajarian (Iran), Shahram Nazeri (Iran), Davood Azad (Iran) and Ustad Mohammad Hashem Cheshti (Afghanistan). To many modern Westerners, his teachings are one of the best introductions to the philosophy and practice of Sufism. Pakistan’s National Poet, Muhammad Iqbal, was also inspired by Rumi’s works and considered him to be his spiritual leader, addressing him as “Pir Rumi” in his poems (the honorific Pir literally means “old man”, but in the sufi/mystic context it means founder, master, or guide).
Rumi’s work has been translated into many of the world’s languages, including Russian, German, Urdu, Turkish, Arabic, French, Italian, and Spanish, and is being presented in a growing number of formats, including concerts, workshops, readings, dance performances, and other artistic creations. The English interpretations of Rumi’s poetry by Coleman Barks have sold more than half a million copies worldwide, and Rumi is one of the most widely read poets in the United States.
Recordings of Rumi poems have made it to Billboard’s Top 20 list. A selection of Deepak Chopra’s editing of the translations by Fereydoun Kia of Rumi’s love poems has been performed by Hollywood personalities such as Madonna, Goldie Hawn, Philip Glass and Demi Moore. Shahram Shiva’s CD, Rumi: Lovedrunk, has been very popular in the Internet’s music communities, such as MySpace.com.
Contact: 413-448-3152
Want your pet to have a Merry Christmas and help the animals at the Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter at the same time? There’s a picture perfect way to accomplish both: have your pets’ picture taken with Santa. There are two “Santa Paws” events coming up in December, sponsored by Berkshire Mall, Roxwell Pets, and the Red Lion Inn.
On December 5, from 3-7 pm, the Berkshire Mall Santa will be at Roxwell Pets in the Allendale Shopping Center in Pittsfield.
On December 10, from 3:30 to 6:30 pm, the Berkshire Mall Santa will be on the porch of the famous Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge.
At both events, a photographer will be on hand to take a picture of your pet(s) sitting with Santa for a donation. All proceeds go to fund medical care for the many animals at the Sonsini Shelter.
The Eleanor Sonsini Animal Shelter is a no kill shelter that was voted “Best Place in the Berkshires to Get a Pet” this year. The shelter is run primarily by volunteers and plays a large role in caring for the unfortunate and unwanted pets in the county. In 2007, the shelter returned 192 lost cats and dogs to their homes, and found new homes for another 450.
These numbers are rising in 2008, as economic hard times hit both pet owners and pets. Through September of this year, the shelter had already returned 189 lost pets to their owners, and found new homes for 407 more.
The shelter is located at 63 Downing Parkway (in the Downing Industrial Park), Pittsfield. For more information call (413) 448-9800 or e-mail . General info and pictures of animals currently available for adoption can be obtained from its web site, http://www.pittsfieldanimals.org.
Contact: (413) 448-9800
Berkshire Writers Room Announces Annual Meeting, 7 pm on Wednesday December 3 in the Susan B. Anthony Building Student Lounge at Berkshire Community College, The meeting is open to the public., 413-236-2191, New developments will be discussed — the newest edition of Pathways, proposed changes in the bylaws and election of officers.
Contact: 413-236-2191
The Cantilena Chamber Choir will present a Christmas program in the tradition of Harvard’s Memorial Church. The program is dedicated in memory of John Ferris, Harvard’s organist and choirmaster for over three decades who passed away this summer at age 82.
The program will include works sung by the Harvard University Choir that appeared in the past Christmas services of Lessons and Carols at the church during Booth’s tenure. They include works by Bruckner, Handel, Ives and Sweelinck, and traditional carols in new arrangements. There will also be secular readings (both poignant and humorous) on the Christmas season as read by Stephen Booth, rector of the Trinity Parish in Lenox. The first program will be held on Sunday, DEC. 7th, at 3:00 pm at Trinity Church, 88 Walker Street, and the second concert will be held on Sunday, DEC. 14th at 3:00pm at the Old Parish Church on Main Street in Sheffield.
Featured on the December program is Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, a work for Women’s Choir and harp written in 1942 on the transatlantic voyage that brought Britten back to wartime England. The featured harpist is Susan Knapp Thomas. Arrangements of familiar carols and songs will also be performed, including The Coventry Carol, Personant Hodie, and music by Billings and Ives.
Tickets are available at the door. Reservations (recommended) can be made by phone at 518-791-0185 or by email at . Those interested in more information can visit http://www.cantilenachoir.org.
Now in its fifth season, the Cantilena Chamber Choir is the Berkshire region’s leading a cappella group. It is comprised of 24 singers who possess vocal training, good sight-reading skills, and considerable choral experience. Last season it has collaborated with the New England Baroque Soloists for two concerts, October and May, and presented a special performance of Ron Perera’s Golden Door as a benefit for the Berkshire Immigrant Center. Past season highlights include a concert with the New England Baroque Soloists, the Empire Brass at the Colonial Theater, a concert of works by Berkshire Composers, a special benefit for the Lenox Library with Shakespeare and Company’s Annette Miller, a collaboration with Boston University’s Tanglewood Two symposium in June 2007 at Williams College, and a production of Dido and Aeneas with Aston Magna.
The Cantilena Chamber Choir is under the artistic direction of Andrea Goodman who is also the Director of the Northern Berkshire Chorale in Williamstown and the Saratoga Choral Festival, an annual summer concert series for chorus and orchestra in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Contact: 518-791-0185
On Saturday, December 13, 2008 from 9:00 12:30, M. Gerard Fromm, Ph.D. will present ֓Loving and Working: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Organizational Life, a program re-scheduled from earlier this year. This presentation is sponsored by the Western Massachusetts and Albany Association for Psychoanalytic Psychology (WMAAPP) and will take place at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, MA. Dr. Fromm, a psychologist and psychoanalyst has directed the Therapeutic Community Program at the Austen Riggs Center and has written and lectured world wide on Group Relations and Organizational Psychology. In his presentation, Dr. Fromm will sketch out a framework for understanding individual experience as it both shapes and is shaped by our work life. Dr. Fromm is the Director of the Erik Erikson Institute for Education and Research at The Austen Riggs Center. Continuing Education Credits will be available. For more information, call Joan Burkhard at 413-298-4773.
Contact: Claire Rosenberg - 528-0700
Singles Christmas Party- Friday December 19 6:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. Couples are welcome to join in on these festivities! For reservations and pricing please call Kathy @ (413) 822-3477. Must be 21 years or older to attend this event.
Contact: Kathy @ (413) 822-3477
Explore alternative healing options for BODY - MIND - SPIRIT. Sessions are held the first Monday of each month at Kali Ray TriYoga Rt.7 Sheffield, MA . Please contact 413-446-8883 for additonal required information.
Contact:
Justin Hillman will hold a FREE concert celebrating the release of his self-produced debut album “As the Sun Meets the Moon” Friday, November 28th, 2008 @ Bosquet, 101 Dan Fox Drive, Pittsfield, MA. Doors open at 7:30pm and the show starts at 8:00pm. There is NO cover charge. Local band ‘Over The Mountain’ will open the night. Food & Drinks will be available. Come join this post-turkey-day musical celebration!
For more info on the web visit: myspace.com/jhillmanmusic
Contact: 413.329.7762
Tim Eriksen has taught music and ethnomusicology at Dartmouth, Hampshire, and Amherst colleges and the University of Minnesota in addition to pursuing a varied musical career that incorporates punk, Sacred Harp, and classical South Indian styles. He has sung, written, and consulted for a number of films, including the major Hollywood film Cold Mountain.
Contact: Alice Maggio 347 404 4491
Sourcing from yogic and Native American traditions, this work enables individuals and healers to understand and activate their innate healing power. It brings forth personal empowerment and balance as well as the ability to help others in their healing process. It is also for those who simply seek personal healing. These can be taken as training or as individual workshops according to ones interest.
Oct.18-19, 2008; Nov.15-16,2008; Dec. 13-14, 2008; Jan. 18-19, 2009; Feb. 21-22, 2009; Mar. 21-22, 2009; April 18-19, 2009; May 16-17. 2009; June 16-17, 2009
Contact: Ray Crist 413-464-1436
the 2009 Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) is pleased to announce the call for submissions for feature, documentary and short films. The BIFF also opens submissions for the third annual Berkshire Student Film Festival Competition (BSFF) which showcases the film making talents from Berkshire high school students.
The 2009 festival will be held May 14 – 17, 2009 at the Triplex Cinema, the historical Mahaiwe Theatre and other venues throughout Great Barrington.
The submissions deadline is March 1, 2009. The 2009 festival will mark the fourth annual event and plans to showcase nearly 70 of the best films that are currently being produced in independent film making. For submission forms, rules, and further information, visit the official website at http://www.biffma.com. Films may be submitted through Withoutabox.com or by sending the completed forms to P.O. Box 237, Great Barrington, MA 01230.
Contact: http://www.biffma.com
Got Diabetes?
If so, there’s one exam you don’t want to miss a comprehensive dilated eye exam at least once a year. All people with diabetes are at risk of some form of vision loss. An eye exam is the only way to check for early signs of diabetic retinopathy. Take care of your diabetes. Keep an eye on it! A message from CHP Healthy Communities Access Project. Call 528-9311 ext. 2147 if you are currently uninsured. Health Insurance Enrollment Assistance is available.
Contact:
Support and learning for men with prostate cancer and their loved ones, open to all, meets first Monday of the month, 7 p.m., first floor conference room, Hillcrest Hospital Campus, 165 Tor Court, Pittsfield.
Contact: BMC
A support group for individuals with Multiple Sclerosis meets the first Tuesday of each month from 1:30 to 3 p.m at Berkshire South Regional Community Center, 15 Crissey Road, Great Barrington. Family members and caregivers are welcome to attend. Group members share common experiences and concerns, offer each other emotional support, and gain information on living and coping with MS. This support group is formally affiliated with the National MS Society, Central New England Chapter. For more information you can contact Emily Shalit at (413) 298-4223.
Contact: (413) 298-4223