Cowboy Junkies
November 7 at City Winery Hudson Valley
Playing an understated but powerful blend of alternative roots rock, Toronto’s Cowboys Junkies broke through with the 1988 album The Trinity Sessions and its breathy cover of Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane” (the Velvet Underground leader called it his favorite version of the song). The band, which still contains all its original members, just released a new album, Such Ferocious Beauty. 8pm. Montgomery.
Spiritualized
November 8 at Basilica Hudson
Headed by Jason Pierce AKA J Spaceman, the English cult psychedelic band Spiritualized was founded in 1990 when Pierce left Spacemen 3 and hit the stratosphere with 1997’s Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. Here, the group lands in our realm to celebrate the recent reissuing of their first four albums and the release of 2021’s mind-expanding opus Everything Was Beautiful. 7pm. Hudson.
“Sympathetic Magic”
November 9-19 at Bridge Street Theater
Bridge Street Theater in Catskill presents Lanford Wilson’s 1997 Obie Award-winning play. “Sympathetic Magic” follows a group of friends and family in San Francisco as they confront various personal crises—an unwanted pregnancy, marital strife, AIDS—against the backdrop of a discovery of astronomical (literally) proportions. Directed by John Sowle and starring Brian Sheppard, Molly Parker Myers, Timothy Dunn, Abby Burris, and Seth McNeil.
Bodytraffic
November 10-11 at the Mahaiwe
Los Angeles-based dance troupe Bodytraffic has made waves from coast to coast with its varied repertoire of contemporary works. Artistic Director Tina Finkelman Berkett leads a masterful troupe, all nimble interpreters of each choreographers’ distinct vision, this absorbing, thought-provoking, and vividly theatrical company assures an entertaining evening of dance at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Surprising and unforgettable, Bodytraffic is “one of the most talked-about companies nationwide” (LA Times).
Patti Smith
November 11 at The Bardavon
After an incredible 2021 show at sister venue UPAC, poet and pioneering punk priestess Patti Smith pays a visit to the Bardavon for another night of “Words & Music.” A Rock and Roll Hall of Famer as well, Smith was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine and won a 2010 National Book Award for her memoir Just Kids. 8pm. Poughkeepsie.
International Writers Festival
November 11 at 2pm Rosendale Theater
Got a hankering for world travel? Look no further than the Rosendale Theatre’s International Writers Festival, your one-way ticket to a panoply of exemplary and diverse voices spanning the globe from Belarus to the Bahamas and many others in between. The festival is fourth in the Prosendale Series, all literary in nature, this one a melange of literary flavors from around the world. Attune your ears to the words, and works, of Jai Chakrabarti (India); Laura Shaine Cunningham (Belarus); Gwen Namainga Jones (Zambia); Chiu Yin (China); Margarita Meyendorff (Russia/Estonia); and Christopher Rabley (the Bahamas, UK). Passport not required.
Squirrel Nut Zippers
November 11 at Levon Helm Studios
On the alt-rock- and contemporary R&B-dominated 1996 pop charts, the single “Hell” by Squirrel Nut Zippers was a real anomaly: a Cab Calloway-esque dip back to 1930s swing and hot jazz. Fittingly, the track came off Hot, the best-selling sophomore album by the North Carolina band, which brasses up Levon Helm Studios with this rare area appearance. With a program titled “Jazz from the Back o’ Town,” the ensemble will play their hits and standards as well as material from newer releases like 2020’s Lost Songs of Doc Souchon. (The Helm Family Midnight Ramble happens November 4; Haley Heynderickx and Max Garcia hold forth December 3.) 7:30pm. $40, $60. Woodstock.
Scorched Earth
Through November 14
Part of the immersive “Terrain Biennial Newburgh” exhibition, which places art in nongallery settings across the city, Scorched Earth at ADS Warehouse is an experiential installation by Amy Bandolik and Tom Bregman that reproduces the aftermath of a destructive wildfire. Walk through a grid of blackened trees, charred earth, ash, and debris within the confines of a seemingly lifeless forest.
