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Busk! Blog
“Like a Plant Towards the Sun”: Cate Great
Abigail Hanna, Social Media & Content Editor
Catherine Flaherty grew up climbing trees in her home state of Florida. She was a competitive swimmer in high school, but felt she was not quite tall enough...
The second-to-last week of Berkshire Busk! gave us a tiny bit of rain, but that didn’t stop our buskers from performing this weekend along Main Street in Great Barrington...
Last Friday was my final night at Berkshire Busk! (The festival isn’t over, I just have to go back to college.) As I walked towards our headquarters, I was struck by how empty the sidewalks were. Even at 6 pm, it was stiflingly hot...
The sheer curtains effortlessly dance in the air as the breeze swirls into the room, the stars twinkling faintly in the distance. At late hours of the night, when she is the only one awake, inspiration strikes. She lays on her bed...
As I approached downtown Great Barrington on Friday night, it occurred to me that I have been entering each of these evenings from a place of deficit. I feel like I must milk these evenings for all they are worth, like someone eating their last meal. In part, I think this tendency...
Now that we are halfway through the summer and Berkshire Busk! has settled into the community of Great Barrington, I have had the opportunity to fully immerse myself in this new festival experience which felt...
The melting ice-cream in the boy’s hand drips onto the hot pavement as he stands on the street with a crowd of people, fully engrossed in the performance before him. He watches a man perform an act of ridiculous tricks...
Before Berkshire Busk!, I’d never been to a town like Great Barrington. It’s artsy, but not too weird, fashionable but not alienating, and a small town with all the charm but none of the isolation. The streets are busy on Friday nights, and pedestrians are dressed in a way I take to mean...
On the first day of Berkshire Busk!, Tante Friedl’s Dan Wall told me the story of Joshua Bell’s attempt at busking. In 2007, at the prompting of Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten, Bell — one of the world’s best classical musicians — stood in a DC metro station and played his Stradivarius violin. The story goes like this...
Barely one year old, you crawl into your mothers lap, reaching your small hands towards what she is holding with a childlike curiosity. Giving in, your mother smiles at you and shows you the item: A waffle cone ice cream...
Charmingly Imperfect: Introducing Roger the Jester
Zarina Levitsky, Festival Blogger
Deep within the mountains of Italy, a small village resides. A close community of shepherds, merchants, mothers, and children living in poverty in the lush countryside of Italy. One day, the sound of flute music was heard throughout the village...
On Friday night, Mary Ann Palermo sang a swinging cover of Van Morrison’s “Moondance,” her eyes on the horizon. She performed with a music stand in front of her, but her eyes were anywhere but the page. The words to Morrison’s classic seemed to be firmly planted in her brain, as they are in mine. When I was...
I met someone on Friday, a Great Barrington resident named Jackie. We met on the sidewalk, standing just in front of the open mouth of an alleyway off of Main Street. We were both watching Nido Di Cuculo, a duo playing Italian folk music on a mandolin and a button accordion. (Earlier, I had overheard someone say...
There’s a way that Friday evenings feel when you have somewhere to be. When some crowded room is waiting for you, when you put on an outfit for the night, when the sidewalks are going to be alive — that’s when Friday nights start to bubble with excitement. As I drove to Great Barrington last Friday, I was reminded of this feeling...
Reviving Cinema: Meet Great Barrington’s Innovator, Richard Stanley
Zarina Levitsky, Festival Blogger
Sitting down in anticipation in a dimly lit room, butterflies will flutter in your stomach as you wipe your palms on the nicest pair of jeans you own. The buttery smell of popcorn wafts through the air as you awkwardly giggle with your crush....
My name is Zarina Levitsky and I will be your friendly Festival Blogger this summer. My college application essay was about how freeing it is to dance in the NYC subway with a group of strangers; the international conversation of dance...
Sweet Nostalgia: Getting to Know Robin Helfand, Owner of Robin’s Candy
Zarina Levitsky, Festival Blogger
Let me ask you: What is your favorite childhood memory?
While you think about this question, I’m going to reminisce about my own childhood… just for a little. Red brick building with no elevator, a carpet hanging on the wall and ...
I’m delighted to welcome you to our festival, Berkshire Busk! and to our “Busk! Blog”. We’ll be updating this blog regularly during the summer with news from the event, and if you want to also stay informed you can sign up for our newsletter below.
