Will Call The Greylock Glass

Norma Dream is the songwriting project of Norma Jean Haynes: folksinger, banjo player, and wandering musician. Based in western Massachusetts, Norma Jean has followed a love of traditional song to Corsica, Bosnia, England, South Africa, and Appalachia, and her original songs are inflected by these experiences. Her debut album, Mothers & Daughters, embarks on an exploration of nature and relationship as she strives to define a tradition of her own.







Norma Dream’s forthcoming album, entitled Mercy Drops: une catalogue des brûlages, seeks to capture the experience of a summer spent in Corsican with songs in English and French. At once timeless and timely, Norma Dream’s original material uses traditional idioms to explore contemporary life.







With a feather-light voice and a backbone of New England grit, Norma Dream is where Emily Dickinson meets Pete Seeger, where Robert Frost meets Anne Briggs, and where Edith Piaf meets the Hilltowns of Western Massachusetts.







Accompanied by her father Christopher Haynes—celebrated local pianist and accordionist whose credits include Claudia Schmidt and the Young at Heart Chorus— along with fiddler Ben Wetherbee, Norma Dream promises to win your heart with her originality, simplicity, and sense of wonder.















Norma Dream’s Upcoming Dates







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7:30 p.m.







Norma Dream







The Foundry2 Harris Street, West Stockbridge, Mass.











10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.







Ashfield Fall Festival







Ashfield Town CommonMain Street, Ashfield, Mass.











7:00 p.m.







Bridget St John with Norma Dream







The Institute for the Musical Arts165 Cape Street, Goshen, Mass.

From the streets of Boston to the rolling hills of the Berkshires, we’re taking a deep dive into the remarkable journey of Floating Tower, a unique musical collective. Today, we have the pleasure of speaking with Mátti Kovler, the founding artistic director of Floating Tower, who took his first steps on this path even before being named composer in residence at the Elie Wiesel Center at Boston University. Born out of the multiethnic influences of Boston’s academic and artistic scene, Floating Tower thrives on blending diverse musical traditions into a singular soundscape. Kovler and his fellow musicians—immigrants and refugees alike—have crafted a musical theater that reflects their shared and disparate experiences.







GET TICKETS for Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors















A decade on, and after a residency in New York’s Blue building, Floating Tower has found a new rhythm in the Northern Berkshires. As we’ll hear, Kovler has made this tranquil setting an opportunity for a cultural and artistic exchange, hosting large-scale productions that draw from local and international talents alike. Today, we’ll explore the journey of Floating Tower, the power of music in uniting cultures, the story behind its evocative name, and the upcoming musical spectacular in support of Ukraine hitting Adams Theatre July first and second. Tune in for an enriching discussion on the fusion of music, culture, and community.















NTRVW: Mátti Kovler (rough transcript)







Will Call: And with me on the line is Matti Kovler of Floating Tower. Welcome to the show.







Mátti Kovler: Hi, Jay. Nice to meet you.







Will Call: Well, it’s great to have you here and I’m very excited to talk about this project that has been going on for some time but has a new a new life here in the Berkshires. First of all, tell us a little bit just give us the background of of Floating Tower and what its original goal and purpose is.







Mátti Kovler: Well, I started Floating Tower when I was still living in Boston about ten years ago. I was back then at BU, I was composer in Residence with the Elie Wiesel Center at Boston University. And I, um, I started doing programing with some of the students and some of my fellow musician friends that brings together all kinds of multiethnic influences, if you wish. Some of the people that I was connected with at the time back in Boston were from New England Conservatory, from Berklee College of Music, and many of them were immigrants such as myself and also refugees from Iran, from Syria, from Turkey. So it kind of evolved into a group that most of the musical participants in it are actually either immigrant or refugees, even though this was not this was not by design initially. And the kind of work I was doing was music. I would call it music theater work. So we we had a number of productions that combined these different influences into into one musical soundscape. So, for instance, you know, one of the first productions we did while I was at residence at Boston University was called Quill of the Soul. It started from Hasidic nigun melodies, sacred melodies by Jewish Orthodox Jews. But then some of these melodies were performed by Iranian musicians with in Persian ornament, ornamental singing style, Indian, South Indian classical musicians. And then it you know, and then I realized that it’s it’s very gratifying for me personally, musically speaking, to have, you know, Iranian musicians thinking something in Yiddish and vice versa. So I started experimenting with this, bringing together different vocal traditions, different musical traditions in one production.

Above: Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo comes to Worcester’s DCU Center January 12 – 15, 2023; photo by Maja Prgomet.







And this is Episode Number 75 of Will Call here on the Greylock Glass. I’m your host Jay Velazquez, and I’m so pleased to have you with us for this show, which first aired Thursday, January 12, 2023. I’m excited, because we’re going to be talking about an extremely exciting show from the internationally beloved Cirque du Soleil.







Tickets







Opening at the DCU Center in Worcester Massachusetts January 12 and running through the 15th the magical performance, Corteo, is sure to bring gasps of amazement in disbelief from audience members young and old.































And, we are very grateful to have, as our guest, Frederick Umali, California native and internationally respected gymnast before he joined the original cast of Corteo at its inception in 2005. Mr. Umali performs in the gravity defying act Tournik, in which a group of artists cross paths in an act which marries horizontal bar techniques with circus arts. The artists perform at a central cube shaped structure with two additional bars on each side of the cube. The complexity of the fright pattern and the defiance of gravity will keep you on the edge of your seat.























Among other acts are the “Artist Marionette,” “Acrobatic Ladder,” “Chandeliers,” ” “Cyr Wheel,” and many more, some familiar, some so unique they challenge the imagination.







OUR REVIEW

I don’t know that I should, or even care to, give away any more details than are in my interview with Mr. Umali. Besides, the trailer I’ve embedded shows you all you should need to know about what you’ll see.







I can only say that 2022 was the hardest year of my 54 year old life, and it carried over into the first couple weeks of 2023. I had the opportunity to take in Corteo, and was sure I wasn’t really in the mood for clowns and acrobats and balloons on the drive halfway across the state to the Worcester DCU center.







By the end of the performance, however, I felt that I’d been scrubbed raw with the stiff-bristled brush of optimism.







Until I saw this show, nothing had drenched me with the childlike wonder and awe of a 10-year-old since I was, well, 10 years old.







Nothing you stream to your TV, no matter how big it might be, 10 nights combined, can match the spectacle that is Cirque du Soleil.







No amount of special FX, CGI, or green screen stunts can compare to the soaring, spinning, flying through the air (almost always with NO FREAKING NET) explosions of color and flash and sparkle, all accompanied by sensuous live music.







Nothing will draw out innocent, healing laughter and perpetual smiles quite the way this circus will.







I BEG of you, if at all possible, start 2023 off by seeing “Corteo,” a performance that will make you believe in…every magical, wonderful thing you thought was impossible again.







The full frontal assault of beauty, gracefulness, and elegance brought tears to my eyes on and off for an hour and a half.









In traditional Cirque du Soleil fashion, the entire extravaganza is an explosion of color and light as well with elaborate stage features, mind blowing set creations, and lush costumes and make up.

From the film’s officially released information:







GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass — The Berkshire International Film Festival and New Moon Films announce the New England premiere of the award-winning Four Winters: A Story of Jewish Partisan Resistance & Bravery During WWII. The film is a recipient of Steven Spielberg’s Jewish Story Partners Grant and was awarded “Best Documentary” at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival 2022







Berkshire resident and 97-year-old WWII partisan Michael Stoll, whose powerful story is featured in the film, will be in attendance for a post-screening conversation with the film’s director, Julia Mintz. BIFF will present the film one-night only on Tuesday, August 2nd at the Mahaiwe Theatre in Great Barrington at 4:00 p.m.







“A MUST-SEE HOLOCAUST MOVIE (NO, REALLY) … ‘FOUR WINTERS’ is a documentary with suspense, humor, and zero sentimentality… It’s surprising, moving, horrifying …and sometimes shockingly funny.”– Marjorie Ingall, Tablet Magazine







Four Winters Director-Producer Julia Mintz connects with WWII partisan Michael Stoll; submitted photo.







Despite extraordinary odds, over 25,000 Jewish partisans courageously fought back against the Nazis and their collaborators from deep within the forests of WWII’s Belarus, Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Torn from their families by the ravages of Hitler’s armies, men and women, many barely in their teens, escaped into the forests, banding together in partisan brigades; engaging in treacherous acts of sabotage, blowing up trains, burning electric stations, and attacking armed enemy headquarters. Shattering the myth of Jewish passivity, the last surviving partisans tell their stories of resistance in FOUR WINTERS, revealing a stunning and inspiring narrative of heroism and resilience.







Tickets: $18







More info















Filmmaker, Julia Mintz; submitted photo.







BIO — Julia Mintz







Julia Mintz is a writer, producer and director of documentary films, whose work focuses on inspiring narratives that reflect on soulful bravery and resistance against unimaginable odds. She has been on the producing team for films shortlisted for the Academy Awards, premiered at Cannes, Sundance and TriBeCa, and won Emmy, Peabody and festival awards. Her films can be seen on HBO, PBS, American Masters, NETFLIX, Amazon, and are shown on college and university campuses across the country. Julia has worked on many of the country’s most celebrated documentary films.







Recent projects include Mr. SOUL!, premiered at TriBeCa and short-listed for an Academy Award®; Joe Papp in Five Acts, premiered at TriBeCa for PBS, and Get Me Roger Stone, premiered at TriBeCa, NETFLIX. Mintz produced the Emmy-nominated California State of Mind, PBS and post-produced Soundtrack for a Revolution, short-listed for an Academy Award® Best Documentary, premiered at CANNES, nominated for Writers Guild, HBO; Nanking, short-listed for Academy Award®, winner of Peabody®, Emmy®, and Editorial Award at Sundance; and Love Free or Die: Story of Bishop Gene Robinson,

Jason Velazquez: Today is Sunday, February 27th, 2022, and this is Episode number 74 of Will Call. I’m your host, Jason Velazquez, and I do thank you for tuning in to this episode, which has been a long time coming. For some reason, the Winter months tend to make the production of Will Call a problematic process. There’s no reason for there’s so much going on in and around the Berkshires when it comes to performing arts. I could have a weekly show, and I still wouldn’t be able to keep up with everything going on in the area, when it comes to dance theater, music — you name it. I should probably find somebody else who can do it and really crank it out because they’d never run out of material.







But this particular episode is exciting because it’s going to launch a sort of a mini series. I’m not going to call it an investigative series because the stuff is right out there in the open, but we’re going to start with a conversation that I just had with Michael Bobbitt, who, as the new executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, takes over from Anita Walker, who had left some really big, very stylish, shoes to fill. And I think he’s doing a fine job. And I say this because in Anita Walker’s farewell address, she begins by saying:







“Endings are beginnings as we wrap up our 13 years together, masked and digitized and buildings closed by COVID and wrestling with how to shut down once and for all the structures of systemic racism, we face the daunting task of recovering, rebuilding and renewing the cultural landscape of Massachusetts.“







Michael Bobbitt, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council







Jason Velazquez: And in an interview her final interview on WAMC with Josh Landis, she she brought up racism as the thing that the new director, whoever it was going to be at the time, should focus on was racism and and bringing equity into the arts. And so Michael Bobbitt is going to be discussing it with me the racial equity plan that is brand new and that attempts to bring equity not just to the stages, not just to the gallery walls, but throughout the the Commonwealth’s cultural landscape. And it’s an ambitious plan and it is, again, an overdue plan. And I think that it’s very important that that it begin with an incoming director who can who can make decisions and push for priorities that are not encumbered by a lot of baggage, if you know what I mean. So this is a conversation that is going to kick off, for us, a series that will take a look at racial equity in the Berkshires and probably more than racial equity. We’ll just say diversity in the Berkshires cultural sector.







Now there’s a lot of lip service that’s been given to it in the last couple of years, and we’re going to find out exactly what’s really being done behind the scenes. In some cases, I think we’re going to find out that we’re impressed and what organizations are doing in terms of bringing up and combating discrimination racism. I think in other instances, we’re probably going to be kind of disappointed. But we’re going to find out, and it’s going to be ugly in some places and it’s going to be less so in others. So with that, let’s begin with our interview with Michael Bobbitt here on Will Call.







The Greylock Glass: And with me on the line is Michael Bobbitt, director of the Mass Cultural Council. Good morning, Mr. Bobbitt. Thanks so much for coming on the show.







Michael Bobbitt: Thanks for having me,

In this episode, the first of our sort-of post pandemic shows, we speak with the wise, witty, and very talented Robert Miller. A lot of people people launch a second Nact after they conclude one career. Most people don’t decide to grab an axe and take to the stage in pursuit of rock stardom. Fortunately for all of us, Robert did! His band, Project Grand Slam is a tight, rhythm-driven engine that cranks out one great track after another. Solid songwriting and heartfelt lyrics complete the sound, providing the answers about how this Jazz/Rock/Latin fusion act has risen so far so fast.







After running down and catching a big life goal of his own, Robert Miller decided to share his own wisdom that he’s picked up along the way, as well as that of the artists and other guests he has on his own podcast, “Follow Your Dream.” He started this project at the height of the pandemic in 2020, and has had some amazing guests on that you’ll want to check out.















Project Grand SlamAugust 17, 2021; 8:30 p.m.Shakespeare & CompanyTina Packer Playhouse70 Kemble Street, Lenox Mass.Project Grand Slam (PGS) is the brainchild of acclaimedleader/bassist/composer Robert Miller.PGS is a celebrated fusion of Rock and Jazz witha twist of Latin and a New York City groove.Be sure to listen to our interview with Allyn Burrows,artistic director of Shakespeare & Co.!TICKETS















Robert Miller; submitted photo.







Robert Miller is the creative force behind Project Grand Slam (PGS), as the band’s leader/bassist/composer. PGS plays a fusion of Jazz/Rock/Latin music with a NYC groove. Plus Robert’s reimagined versions in PGS’s style of iconic ‘60s British Invasion hits by artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Kinks and The Beatles.







In just over the past 5 years PGS has released 10 highly acclaimed albums including a Billboard #1, has over 4 million video views, over a million Spotify streams, played festivals and concerts around the world, and opened for Edgar Winter, Blues Traveler, Boney James, and Mindi Abair, and an after-show for YES.







PGS today consists of Robert supported by a group of young, extremely talented, mainly foreign born musicians from places like Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico and Canada.







Beginning in 2015 Robert began transforming the band’s music, initially mainly contemporary jazz instrumentals, and now consisting almost entirely of original vocal songs. Robert’s songs channel his love for rock music, jazz fusion, and ‘60s British Invasion hits. With this eclectic mix, Robert has blazed a completely original path for PGS.







The pandemic severely affected musicians and all artists. PGS was somewhat fortunate in that the band’s latest album, East Side Sessions, was release in January 2020 just before the world closed down. However, the band was unable to tour in support of the album, so Robert decided instead to release videos of four of the songs from the album, which collectively received about a million views.





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