MILLERTON — A strong showing for an early April concert at the Annex at the NorthEast-Millerton Library kicked off the year for the concert series.Close to 50 people showed up for performances by Anthony Silvia and headliner Wooden Nickel at the April 2 show, which opened the season of concerts held in the annex building of the local library.“That’s as high as we had for any concert last year,” said Roger Cohn, the series’ concert coordinator. “It turned out really well.”The initial scheduling this year has nine shows, with the season ending in October. But Cohn said that he’s received so many requests from bands looking to play that there may very well be additional dates scheduled.“We have more people wanting to play than I have space for,” Cohn said. “But more to the point is that I have more people wanting to play than I have the money for.”One of the main points Cohn made after last year’s season of shows was that he wanted to have the funding to compensate the acts that performed, many of which did so last year for no charge. There is a suggested $5 entrance fee at each show to help support the program but officially the concerts are free to attend. Cohn said the ideal situation would be one where the concert program is self-sufficient and does not need to dip into the library’s budget.Donations have varied, from dropping a few dollars at a show to some larger private donations from “very generous” donors, Cohn said.“I think it’s a tremendous bargain for $5,” he added. “We have real quality entertainment, and I think that’s one of the things that will benefit from word of mouth and get more people coming to the shows.”All donations that are received go toward paying the musicians or small programming fees. Cohn said that the program operates “on a shoestring budget,” and the library, which owns the building, pays for the utilities to keep it open. Still, Cohn said he will be looking for other funding opportunities, including local grants, as the season develops.The variety of acts playing at the Annex this year has also increased, with concerts ranging from folk to pop, including acoustic performances and flamenco guitar showcases, as well as a jazz group. There’s even talk of a local rock band that would add an amplified ambiance to the venue.“I’d like to see the attendance numbers reaching what we had last Saturday night,” Cohn said. “That would be great. But as long as we meet the budget for the season, it’s a success. If we don’t meet the budget, then maybe we’ll have to sit down and see how we can approach it differently. But by hook or by crook we’ll continue the series.“I keep hearing from so many people, both the performing artists and the people who come, this series is a great thing not only for the library but for Millerton and the area as well,” he continued, saying that people have made suggestions including an open mic night or songwriter’s circle that could be incorporated into the venue’s calendar. The following is a list of concert dates currently scheduled this year at the Annex at 28 Century Blvd., behind the NorthEast-Millerton Library.All programs, unless otherwise noted, start at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.April 30: Northwest Passage & Tapestry (folk, pop)May 7: Erin Hobson CompactJune 4: Greg Melnick (flamenco guitar)July 9: Library JamJuly 17: Duets for Flutes (starts at 2 p.m.)Aug. 6: Miami Mo Jazz TrioSept. 10: Steve & Beth AshtonOct. 1: Joint ChiefsCohn may be reached at nemillertonannex@gmail.com or check out the Annex’s Facebook page, which is updated with photos after shows and a complete schedule listing.
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Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.
“I was a library kid. I walked to the library after school,” she said.
For Sher, the library is as much about the people as it about the books.
“Part of the job I love so much is that running the library is such a community,” she said.
She treasures the relationships she has built, whether recommending books, celebrating accomplishments or helping patrons through difficult times.
“I am thankful that our community is so supportive of the library, unlike what is happening in some other places where librarians are villainized,” Sher said.
Sher takes pride in the Hunt Library’s reputation for being “open and welcoming to everyone. People come in and see things and get pulled into things they weren’t expecting. Our library is seen as a positive force.”
Sher came to Falls Village after being awarded a fellowship at Adamah Farm, then a program of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. She worked at pickling, in the greenhouse and later in the development office. She also worked as a nanny.
At the same time, “I was in the library all the time,” she recalled. “I’m a voracious reader. The library is where I met a lot of my first friends in Falls Village.”
She became assistant librarian at Hunt and worked in that position for almost a decade before becoming the executive director four years ago.
Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.L. Tomaino
Sher met her husband, Adam, while working at Adamah. They had their wedding there in 2012. He now emcees many events which she co-organizes with the Falls Village Recreation Commission.
Sher and her family live near the library.
“It’s an easy commute,” she said with a smile. “My kids run back and forth. I can go home to walk the dog if I need to.”
“My kids have grown up here.” Her oldest son, Eli, “loves volunteering. He helps with Augustfest and often helps set up chairs for ArtWall gatherings.” Her younger son, Noah, is often at events and was eager to taste cookies at last year’s holiday cookie swap.
When she is not at the library, Sher likes to hike with her family. Bella, their Portuguese water dog, often accompanies them.
Sher enjoys seeking out people to offer events at the library.
“I do a lot of different community programming. It is one of my favorite parts of the job.”
Augustfest, featuring food, music and an auction, is the library’s biggest fundraiser.
“This summer we had a record 152 attendees, which was pretty incredible.”
Yonah Sadeh, a filmmaker from Falls Village, inaugurated the VideoWall this year, Sher explained.
“I’ve known Yonah since he was two. It’s wonderful to work with him as an adult.”
The VideoWall complements the library’s ArtWall, which showcases a new artist each month. Sher praised the ArtWall committee for its work and highlighted December’s popular “12x12 Show,” featuring works by local artists, each measuring 12 by 12 inches and priced at $150.
Sher added that some of the artists who exhibit at the ArtWall offer workshops to students at Kellogg School, next door to the library. In September, artist Danielle Mailer worked with the children. Vincent Inconiglios taught a class last November.
Being next to the school, said Sher, is a great advantage.
“Kids are coming after school, to see friends, work on projects, find a great book. Kids that love the library end up using the library as grownups.”
This past year, in partnership with Adamah, the library and school created a garden, with excess produce made available at The Center on Main.
This year is Sher’s second year participating in the Troutbeck Symposium in Amenia with James King, director of the library at Salisbury School. The Troutbeck Symposium is “a gathering of a year of student historical inquiry across the region” in which students “uncover stories that have been overlooked, forgotten, or never recorded.”
Last year, Sher and King began a project with a group of students researching Irish immigrants in Falls Village, exploring ancestry and creating small magazines about their findings.
They continued this year, visiting St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery on Dublin Road, cleaning seven gravestones and even righting one with the help of stonemason and gravestone restoration expert Karl Munson. Paul Kozeazny, a representative of the Catholic archdiocese, helped secure access to the site.
A film documenting their activities will be shown at the symposium in spring 2027.
A full schedule of programs and events, ranging from tech help to ceramic mug-making, can be found on the library’s website.
Despite spending her days surrounded by books, and a busy schedule of programming, Sher still loves to settle in with a book at home.
For more information on library programs and events, visit huntlibrary.org
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Touré was born in northern Mali in 1981. His father, the renowned guitarist Ali Farka Touré, came from a family of soldiers and wanted his son to join the army. The younger Touré studied drums and the calabash and practiced guitar in secret. He earned his father’s blessing to pursue music shortly before Ali died in 2006, and they played two tracks together on Vieux’s debut album.
Touré is known for his deft, polyrhythmic playing, and his songs grow out of riffs that repeat and layer to hypnotic effect. He draws on rock, blues, Latin music and various African traditions. This distinctive blend builds on his father’s work adapting the sonic traditions of Mali’s arid north to the guitar.
Vieux’s album “Mon Pays” (“My Country,” 2013) honored Mali’s culture after Tuareg separatists and extremist groups seized the north in 2012. “Samba” (2017) was recorded before about 50 listeners in Woodstock, New York. In 2022 came “Les Racines” (“The Roots”), a return to his father’s desert blues, and “Ali,” on which he and the trio Khruangbin reworked eight of the elder Touré’s songs.
Touré leads the Ali Farka Touré Foundation, which focuses on cultural and educational work in Mali. Around the anniversary of Ali’s death, it holds a festival in Bamako, Mali’s capital. Bamako has been under blockade for much of the past year, besieged by JNIM, an al-Qaeda affiliate. Against this backdrop, Touré continues to carry the music of Mali to audiences abroad.
At the Nov. 5 concert, Touré’s desert blues will share the bill with Gnawa, the music LanGus plays, which developed in Morocco among West Africans who were brought north across the desert as enslaved people. Gnawa is religious music traditionally performed at all-night healing ceremonies called lila, intended to carry participants into trance.
Samir LanGusProvided
LanGus was born and raised outside Agadir, Morocco, and began learning Gnawa from its masters at age 8. He plays the sintir, a three-stringed bass lute made of wood and camel skin. The player strikes a low string with the thumb to create a deep, resonant pulse. Iron castanets clatter over the sintir’s bass line, and vocalists trade call-and-response refrains.
LanGus infuses the tradition with jazz and improvisation. In New York, he founded the ensemble Innov Gnawa. His first solo album, “Gnawa Love,” came out in February.
Touré and LanGus’s Nov. 5 concert is one of the last public events at Race Brook Lodge, which is for sale and ended full-service operations at the end of 2025. The lodge’s final scheduled event, on Nov. 6, is an evening of Rumi’s poetry with translator and vocalist Haleh Liza Gafori, cellist Isabel Castellvi and ceremonial bard James Bird.
For tickets, visit rblodge.com.
James FitzGerald is a student at Yale Law School, where he focuses on ecological restoration and international environmental cooperation. He splits his time between Lakeville and New Haven.
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