Michael Janairo

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Author: Michael Janairo

  • Rock for Recovery at Valentines raises $4,193

    Albany promoter Greg Bell of Greg Bell Productions has announced that the two-day Rock for Recovery concert event at Valentine’s raised $4,193 for two charities in regards to the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.

    The proceeds will go to EverRibbon: My Sandy Hook Family Fund, which aims to raise $2.6 million for the 26 families that lost loved ones in the tragedy, and Newtown Youth & Family Services, which provides mental health and support services to children and families.

    The Rock for Recovery concerts had featured Conehead Buddha, Dr. Jah and the Love Prophets, Skunk Hostage, The Lucky Jukebox Brigade, Timbre Coup and Way Down on Friday night; and Black Mountain Symphony, Erin Harkes Band, Matt & the Bad Ideas, Sean Rowe, Super 400 and the Hearing Aides on Saturday night.

    Valentine’s is located at 17 New Scotland Ave. in Albany.

  • Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival announces 2013 season

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    By Tresca Weinstein

    Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blues.

    For the 2013 season at Jacob’s Pillow, Executive Director Ella Baff has put together a marriage of dance and theater, classical and contemporary, with each of the traditional wedding-gown elements in place.

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  • Review: Downton Abbey Season 3

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    The more things change … well, that’s it, isn’t it? Things do change, no matter how fervently Lord Grantham and fans of “Downton Abbey” may wish otherwise.

    The third season of the justifiably popular British import, created and written by Julian Fellowes, comes to PBS on Sunday with the first of seven new episodes set in 1920.

    It is the dawn of a new age, not only for the residents of Downton Abbey, upstairs as well as downstairs, but for England as well. The Great War is over, and society is changing. Women are getting their hair bobbed and wearing their dresses shorter — well, the younger ones anyway: Certainly not the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith). (more…)

  • Mick LaSalle: Critics and audiences must confront movie violence

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    By Mick LaSalle

    We enter 2013 with the sickening, dispiriting events in Newtown, Conn., still fresh in mind and yet without much conviction that anything can be done to prevent such future horrors. Obviously, the overriding issue is that we have a gun problem in the United States and a political climate that has been, at least until now, too timid to do anything about it.

    But we also have a culture problem, and we know this. We know, because though Newtown shocked us and stopped us in our tracks and continues to haunt our imaginations, it did not surprise us. If the Newtown killings were an act of terrorism, the whole country would be mobilized to protect itself from the Other. But this felt like something from within, not just from within our borders, but from within the soul of the nation. And in talking about matters of the soul, our cultural gatekeepers have been just as timid as our politicians.

    Fourteen years ago, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman and Gloria DeGaetano, in “Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill,” were warning us about the effects of violent video games and movies on young and impressionable minds. They compared the games that kids play with the conditioning that soldiers get in order to desensitize them to killing. They pointed out that by the time children reach adulthood they have witnessed hundreds of thousands of simulated violent deaths and have come to associate witnessing death and mayhem with pleasure.

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  • Rock and Recovery Sandy Hook benefit shows

    The destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy was one thing, but that was an act of nature; the events in Sandy Hook Elementary School were manmade, which makes it a different kind of tragedy, one that hurts in a different way.

    So we’re very proud to say some of Albany’s finest musical groups have come together for a two-day extravaganza that will raise funds for the families of victims of this horrifying event. On Friday, there will be Conehead Buddha, Dr. Jah and the Love Prophets, Skunk Hostage, The Lucky Jukebox Brigade, Timbre Coup and Way Down.

    And if that wasn’t enough, Saturday’s lineup includes Black Mountain Symphony, Erin Harkes Band, Matt & the Bad Ideas, Sean Rowe, Super 400 and the Hearing Aides.

    There will be silent auctions and raffles during the show, many ways to contribute to this cause. Do yourself a favor and go, to both nights even, and start the new year off in a positive yet rocking way.

    When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday

    Where: Valentine’s, 17 New Scotland Ave., Albany

    Tickets: $10

    Info: 432-6572

    — David Malachowski

  • New Year’s Eve face-off: Sirsy vs. Timbre Coup/Consider the Source

    OK, maybe one will be up in Saratoga Springs and another down in Albany, so it isn’t really a face-to-face face-off, but which one will you go to tonight, Sirsy at Putnam Den or Timbre Coup at Red Square?

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  • Should Capital Region theaters offer “tweet seats”?

    The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis is experimenting with offering a section of seats where people can tweet away during the live performance of The Servant with Two Masters. (Read the story here.)

    The idea is still relatively new for live theater and classical music, though a handful of other theaters have experimented with it. In popular music, however, it seems nearly everyone in the audience is taking photos and videos and sharing them via their smartphones.

    What do you think? Should performing arts organizations such as Capital Rep, Schenectady Light Opera Company, Proctors or Albany Symphony Orchestra allow patrons who sit in a certain section the ability to use social media during a performance.

  • 2012: The Year in Arts

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    We close 2012: the year in arts with a few special reports:

    Amy Biancolli speaks with arts leaders of the Capital Region about how 2012 went and what they look forward to in 2013.

    Steve Barnes, with the help from Amy Biancolli and me (Michael Janairo) offer a wrap up of the big news stories in the arts for 2012.

    And, finally, we get the point of view from six critics, who offer their top five moments in the arts for 2012. The critics are:
    Joseph Dalton
    Michael Eck
    Amy Griffin
    Greg Haymes
    Michael Janairo
    Tresca Weinstein

    Happy New Year to you, and see you in 2013.

  • Hobbit fan? Take the Times Union 20-question Hobbit quiz

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    Though the Hobbit quiz was recently created to mark the opening of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” its genesis goes back to 1964 when Jan Howard Finder first encountered J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings.

    “I just got finished with my master’s in physical chemistry,” said Finder, 73, in a recent interview. “It was just a masterful story. I just got lost in it. I drove around and wondered, ‘Where in Middle-earth am I?’”

    Finder wasn’t alone in his fascination. Tolkien’s books have sold in the hundreds of millions.

    The now-retired Finder, an Albany resident, is more than just a fan of Tolkien; he’s also the main organizer of the Conference on Middle-earth, in which people present papers or speak on panels about the author, his works and his influence. (more…)