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Bach and beyond
Jun 25, 2025
The Berkshire Bach Society (BBS) of Stockbridge will present a concert by cellist Dane Johansen on June 28 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
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The mission statement of the Berkshire Bach Society (BBS) reads: “Our mission is to preserve the cultural legacy of Baroque music for current and future audiences — local, national, and international — by presenting the music of J.S. Bach, his Baroque predecessors, contemporaries, and followers performed by world-class musicians.”
Its mission will once again be fulfilled by presenting a concert featuring Dane Johansen on June 2 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 29 Main Street, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Terrill McDade, Executive Director of BBS, said, “Dane is a supremely talented musician and a musical poet. Audiences will hear his cello speak in three different musical dialects: those of Bach, Gaspar Cassadó, and Benjamin Britten. They will experience and be able to find the idiom that means the most to them. The music is classical, contemporary, and modern. It is contemplative, energetic, lyrical, rhythmic, and, in the end, philosophical. The audience is in for that rare musical treat of an intimate recital of profound music interpreted by a solo player who gives them something to think about —whether consciously or sub-consciously.”
McDade added, “Berkshire Bach believes it is very important to present live performances of a variety of Baroque music throughout the season, especially in this time in our society. Music has restorative power, and when played by fine musicians, can provide moments of respite and reflection that do us good.”
Johansen’s recital on June 28 is a case in point. The sound of the cello — so close to that of the human voice —makes us feel better somehow — refreshed in our spirit, hopeful, better able to carry on in difficult times,” said McDade.
Johansen grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska. He graduated from Juilliard and is a member of the Cleveland Orchestra, which he joined in 2016. He has performed all over the world as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. He was a member of the Escher String Quartet and a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.
The concert will conclude Berkshire Bach’s thirty-fifth season, which opened with the film “Strangers on the Earth,” also featuring Johansen as he walked the Camino de Santiago — the ancient 600-mile pilgrimage route extending through France and Spain — with his cello strapped to his back in 2014. He stopped in towns along the way and played the six Bach Cello Suites in local churches.
The concert will begin at 5pm. Tickets are available at: www.bershirebach.org/events.
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James Turk, author of “The Giving Game.”
Photo by Stephen K. Mac
In a rapidly changing business market James Turk’s new book, “The Giving Game,” is a guide for team members transitioning to mangers. As an executive coach and CEO of The Turk Group — a boutique learning and consulting company — Turk has honed his leadership skill set through years of working in Human Resources at Random House, P&O Nedlloyd and Goldman Sachs, not to mention a stint in the acting world. Ultimately, Turk found his niche was in training and development. Now he services notable clients such as Buzzfeed, Spotify, NYSE, and many more.
At a pivotal moment in Turk’s career, he faced two choices: to push through fear, or to sit in the comfort of stagnancy. In the early stages of Turk’s career his supervisor, the head of HR, needed someone to represent the HR department at a sales conference in Chicago. His supervisor sensed Turk’s hesitancy and laid out a high-level plan, conducting practice sessions to ensure success. Despite being scared, Turk presented.
Through perseverance, Turk learned how to trust someone else with his professional development and “how to work through fear and just show up, in spite of it,” he said.
Through this experience, Turk benefited from the results of the “Giving Game.” Turks supervisor saw an opportunity that would aid in his growth, and in response he dedicated time and resources with a mutually beneficial result.
In this book, Turk provides a guide on how new managers can embody this giving mindset. The beginning of a management position is often the most difficult, so Turk outlines the first stage with the “F45 Playbook.” It is critical to gain clarity of manager responsibilities, complete self-assessments, identify key stakeholders, and meet with team members one on one.
With this foundation, managers can begin to lead with intention, empathy, and to cultivate value.
Data shows that employees’ job satisfaction and engagement are linked to their relationship with their direct supervisor. With this comes the power of influence, especially over the workplace climate. Some critical questions managers need to ask themselves include: do people feel heard, seen, and appreciated? Are expectations clear? Do I know my employees’ individual working/learning styles? Is feedback provided and is it effective? Do people feel safe and accepted to be themselves?
In his book, Turk provides helpful resources to answer these questions, such as the Daniel Goleman emotional intelligence (EQ) model and many more that can be found in the Resources section of the book.
The aim of this book is to be immediately useful, and that it is.
When asked how his book can guide young professionals to be leaders in such uncertain and divided times, Turk responded with:
“In uncertain times, people need steady, honest leadership. The book helps young professionals lead with confidence, even without all the answers. It focuses on building trust, supporting your team, and creating a healthy culture. A giving mindset helps leaders move beyond self-preservation and think about how to lift others up — which is
exactly what teams need right now.”
“The Giving Game” is available for purchase on Amazon or at The Dutchess Trading Company in Millerton.
Olivia Geiger is an MFA student at Western Connecticut State Universiry and a lifelong resident of Lakeville.
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Junior Brown charms Infinity Hall
Jun 25, 2025
Junior Brown and his band: Drew Phelps (bass), Scott Matthews (drums) and Tanya Rae (acoustic guitar) at Infinity Hall in Norfolk.
Mike Cobb
On Wednesday, June 11, country guitar wizard Junior Brown thrilled a packed and rowdy crowd at Infinity Hall in Norfolk, Connecticut. Known for his pyrotechnic playing, Brown dexterously jumped between clean chicken pickin’, blues, rock, western swing, and jazz.
Brown plays an instrument he made himself called the “Guit-Steel.” Two guitars in one, it features a Fender Telecaster neck on top and a pedal steel guitar below, all in one body.
With his homemade axe, Brown brought listeners on a sonic journey through Americana and made his guitar “speak,” at turns imitating the human voice or tractor trailer horns. His great group included upright bass, simple snare drum and his wife Tanya Rae on acoustic guitar.
Lyrically, his humorous songs tell tall tales about staying out too late as in “Too Many Nights In A Roadhouse” or his biggest hit “My Wife Thinks You’re Dead.” He’s also composed dreamy, steely guitar for television including “SpongeBob Squarepants,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” and “Better Call Saul” which exemplify his range.
But don’t let the cowboy hat fool you — Junior Brown is a Connecticut native. Born in Wilton, his grandfather was a commercial artist with a studio in Westport. Brown’s father taught at various American universities. Growing up he was exposed to the popular music of the 1960s.
“The college kids had the cool records, the bubblegum stuff, Blues records and deep folk. Those records really helped my guitar playing. There was no Internet. You’d have to find the records,” Brown said.
Brown’s life journey took him from Texas to Oklahoma to Missouri, where he lives today.
While he absorbed all of those influences, he was always drawn to country music.
“I have a big heart for country music. I thought it would be interesting to play country or play rock,” he said.
Brown toured with fellow guitarmaster Bo Diddley, who, like Brown, also toured with his wife. He also had the chance to play with drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
“I played with them at the Bumbershoot festival in Seattle, which is a tribute to Jimi. So I am ‘experienced.’ Subconsciously, you repeat things you heard that you like. Sometimes, you’re not aware of where you get stuff,” he said.
In a tender moment during his show at Infinity Hall, Brown paid tribute to the recently deceased musical genius Brian Wilson. Brown told the audience about recording with the Beach Boys on their “Stars and Stripes Vol 1.” album before launching into their song “409.” A studio performance can be seen on YouTube.
These days, Brown doesn’t have any plans to record new music of his own. Instead, he’s stepping aside to give his wife more moments in the limelight.
“The next project is gonna be Tanya’s. She’s got one called ‘Meet the Misses.’ It’s available on our website. She’s just great,” he said.
With several Grammy, Academy of Country Music, and Country Music Association Awards, Brown has received well- deserved accolades. But he has to be seen live to fully comprehend his incredible talent.
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Bucket o' fry on the river
Jun 25, 2025
Drew Ransom and his able assistant Matt Devine of the state fishery department work in the river.
Patrick L. Sullivan
Usually by mid-June I have shifted from tributariessuch as the Blackberry River, Macedonia Brook and Furnace Brook to the Housatonic itself.
But with the wettest May I can recall in the books, and June shaping up to be pretty soggy as well, the Hous has not been at a wading-friendly level in a while.
I’m not saying it can’t be done at 1000 cfs and above. I’m just saying I’m not going to do it.
So I’ve been in the Blackberry a lot. It’s convenient when I only have a couple of hours, and it’s been stocked three times this spring.
And while truck trout are somewhat easier to fool than their wild counterparts, the terrain of the Blackberry -- both in and around the water -- is pretty tricky.
So taken as a whole it’s a suitably challenging prospect.
One fine afternoon I was messing around just upstream of the bridge at Beckley Furnace, trying out a couple of rods I had forgotten about: a Cabelas CGR fiberglass 7.5 foot 5 or 6 weight, and a 6’10” Tenkara rod from Zen Tenkara.
The CGR line of fiberglass rods are a great value in my opinion. I have half a dozen of them, in line weights 2-8. None are longer than 7.5 feet. My favorite is the 6.5 foot 4 weight, an ideal tool for flicking flies at brook trout in close quarters.
(A quick check of the Cabelas website shows they currently only have the 7 foot 5 weight available.)
They list at $79.95, but I got most of mine when they were 50% off.
Which is just insane.
The Zen Tenkara rod is unusual. In the fixed-line world, a 10-footer is a shorty. Under seven feet is rare.
And Karin Miller, the courteous and popular proprietor of Zen Tenkara, specializes in big fish rods. They are sturdy and they are long.
So this model, the Hachi, stands out from the rest of the line.
Both the CGR, which I had rigged with a double tapered #5 line, and the Hachi, which had about 7 feet of #3 fluorocarbon level line plus tippet, are full flex rods. “Wiggly,” for the layman.
I was playing around with a dry-dropper rig on the fly rod and two wet flies and/or small weighted nymphs on the Hachi, and having a good time playing the 12-14 inch fish, mostly rainbows, when I beheld a couple of young men approaching with buckets.
“Dang,” I said. Buckets are never a good sign.
Well, almost never. In this case the bucket brigade was from the state fisheries department in the form of biologist Drew Ransom and his able assistant Matt Devine.
The buckets contained hundreds of brown trout fry, about six months old, that were essentially superfluous to the state hatchery’s requirements.
Hundreds of brown trout fry were planted in the Blackberry River.Patrick L. Sullivan
Ransom said the idea was to plant them in the Blackberry, from Beckley Furnace down to Route 7, and see what happens.
I suggested they would get eaten up pronto by the resident trout and the scientists agreed that was a likely scenario for most of the fry.
But a few might escape that fate and establish themselves.
Devine, eyeing a mini Wooly Bugger in a silvery-grey color I had on my line, opined that the fly would do an admirable job imitating the fry.
I agreed but I didn’t test the theory, at least not then and there. Too close to chumming.
The water temperature that day was 63 degrees and rising, not surprising since it was the middle of a two-day heat wave with air temps cracking 90.
A few days later, and after some additional rain, the water temp had dropped to about 60, but how long that will last is anyone’s guess.
Once water temperatures hit 68 it is time to stop fishing for trout. They have trouble breathing at 68 and above, and even if perfect catch and release practices are followed, they will be severely stressed by the time they are caught, played, netted, admired, had their photograph taken, and returned to the water. They probably won’t make it.
So I’m guessing we’re right about at the end of the practical trout season on the Blackberry until fall, when the water temps will be down again and the state’s stocking trucks return.
If you do go I recommend a dawn raid. The water temperature will be its lowest point and there won’t be anyone else around except fanatics like me.
And I am easily avoided. In fact, like a bear,I will go out of my way to avoid you.
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