Yes, it's already the weekend -- no doubt you're still digesting those candied apples and that funnel cake from the Fourth. But there's no rest for the hungover or the over-carnivaled: There's some awesome stuff to do this weekend. Here's what we're excited about:
Mt. Tremper Arts Festival Opening Extravaganza
We'll go out on a limb here and declare this is the only opportunity of the summer to watch members of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company perform while a pig roasts on a nearby spit. As is their wont, Mt. Tremper Arts has invited the dancers, along with the Juilliard-trained string quartet ETHEL, to collaborate and kick off their long summer of visual and performance art festivities. The best part of the opening weekend? All the performances and music are free. (The pig roast, on the other hand, costs $15 a head. Hey, pigs ain't cheap.)
Saturday. Performances at 3pm, 4pm,and 5:30pm. Pig roast at 6pm. Mt. Tremper, Ulster County.
Bollywood Gala Under the Stars with DJ Rekha
The West Kortright Centre is 35 this year, and it's celebrating by slapping on the bangles and throwing a full-blown Bollywood bash. Best of all, it will be hosted by the DJ who brought bhangra to New York. DJ Rekha is a good Pakistani girl who discovered bhangra -- infectiously danceable Punjabi folk music -- as a teen and never looked back. She's hosted weekly club nights in the city for over a decade, and has watched as bhangra has taken pop by storm. With her at the helm, it will be a night of wild folk dancing, punctuated with a Bollywood-style dance lesson and an $18 Indian-food banquet. Costumes are encouraged.
Saturday, 8pm. East Meredith, Delaware County. $22, $11 under 21.
Weekend of Chamber Music: Opening Day Concert in Jeffersonville
It's terribly dangerous to put musicians in charge of anything. For instance, you'd think Jeffersonville's annual Weekend of Chamber Music would be, well, a weekend. Actually, it sprawls out over two weeks. And not content to rip holes in the very fabric of space/time, these cheeky musicians are wreaking havoc on chamber music's buttoned-up image with all sorts of free concerts, open rehearsals and opportunities for fraternizing with violinists. Their opening concert on Sunday, which will feature an all-American program (gasp!), also involves a lot of scandalous lolling on the grass of the Presbyterian Church. Where's the "chamber" in that?
Sunday, 3pm-6:30pm. At the Jeffersonville Presbyterian Church in Jeffersonville, Sullivan County.
We're not sure if Jefferson's heritage involves a long and venerable tradition of misspelled band names. On the lineup for the town's big festivities this Saturday: "Patty and the Mygraines," "Phrogs," and "Random Axcess." But never fear, heritage-sticklers: Alongside all these modern shenanigans, we've been promised some sort of unspecified "old-time demonstrations." There are also plans for a parade (very cool), ponies (even cooler) and a soapbox derby (pretty much the coolest thing ever). And pie. It's not July without pie.
Saturday, 9am, village green. Parade at 11am. Main Street in Jefferson, Schoharie County.
