Berkshires arts reviews

June 23, 2007 performance review by Dave Conlin Read.

We went to a folk music concert at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, and a circus broke out! Christine Lavin, whose feeling about the label “folk singer” is evident in the name of her latest CD “folkZinger,” can be called the anti-folk-singer because so much of her performance is antithetical to what a folk concert used to be.

And for the most part, that’s a good thing; we’ve seen many folk singers who projected such a precious, sanctimonious persona that it was hard for you to receive the music. Ms. Lavin, a.k.a. Auntie Christine, was too much the zinger Saturday in Pittsield for our taste, especially since she is such a good singer, song-writer, and guitar player.

One over-the-top audience participation bit would’ve sufficed, but we got three: “the bad birthday,” “the dumb male backup singers,” and “Mr. Pittsfield.”

Funny thing - a highlight of Kate Taylor’s opening set was the Shirelle-like backup singing (and all-around superb guitar and percussion) of Billy Derby and Sam Zucchini. Perhaps Ms. Taylor could’ve been more elliptical setting-up her songs, but she delighted the audience singing them, displaying an engaging breadth of style and emotion.

Ms. Lavin was a student and friend of Dave Van Ronk and then his champion after his 2002 death, involved with “Dave Van Ronk Day” activities that lead to the city of New York naming a street in his honor. Van Ronk bristled at the “folk singer” moniker, too, and he may have instilled in Ms. Lavin the importance of stagecraft.

Her mastery of it was displayed with the bit that introduced her song “Sunday Breakfast with Christine & Ervin” - it began with her account of encountering an actress/fan while on the way to Van Ronk’s apartment for a guitar lesson. Not only is it a fine piece of song-writing, but the setup has as many elements as a Checkov story.

So please Auntie Chrisine, next time, more such mastery and less Master of Ceremony. If not, then, how about adding a trampoline to the baton-twirling act, figuring that replacing the glowstick tips with fire would be asking too much?

Comprehensive Berkshire visitor, vacation guide at berkshireLinks.com, with info., links, maps: Get directions to The Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, MA.

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