calendar winter 2014 Proctors 432 State St, Schenectady proctors.org (518) 346-6204 Tuesday, Dec. 31: The First Night of Funny. 8 p.m. Four headlining comics help you say goodbye to 2013.
Troy Savings Bank Music Hall 30 Second St, Troy troymusichall.org (518) 273-0038 Thursday, Jan. 16: Sinbad. 8 p.m. Actor and comedian Sinbad tells stories, finding the humor in the embarrassing tribulations of day-by-day life.
Fairs, Festivals & Family Fun Athens Cultural Center
Friday, March 21: Disney Live! Mickey’s Music Festival. 4 and 7 p.m. Mickey Mouse and his band of friends, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy, will be performing in a music mash-up of mega proportions.
Palace Theatre 19 Clinton Ave., Albany palacealbany.com (518) 465-3334 Friday, Jan. 31 - Sunday, Feb. 2: Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music. 6:30 p.m. When the new music teacher’s instruments go missing, Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Big Bird, and more come to the rescue and discover instruments they never knew existed. Children learn that everyone can make and enjoy beautiful music together Saturday, March 22: Disney Live! Mickey’s Music Festival. 1 p.m. Mickey Mouse and his band of friends, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy, will be performing in a music mash-up of mega proportions.
Saratoga Springs City Center
24 Second St., Athens Saturday, Dec. 14: Athens Holiday Victorian Stroll. 1 p.m. A community-wide free family event featuring horse-drawn trolley rides, ice sculpture demonstrations, historic building tours, carolers, puppeteer, photos with Santa, face painting, Hudson Valley Bells concert, Coxsackie-Athens Community Band’s Holiday Concert, art exhibition and sale, craft sale, vintage photos with Victorian costumes, music, refreshments, fire dancers, tree lighting and much more.
522 Broadway, Saratoga Springs Friday, Feb. 14 - Sunday, Feb. 16: Flurry Festival. The Flurry is a folk festival of traditional dancing and music.
Downtown Saratoga
Schenectady County Historical Society
Broadway, Saratoga Springs saratoga-arts.org/firstnight Tuesday, Dec. 31: First Night Saratoga. 5:30 p.m. Saratoga Arts brings over 70 regional and touring performing groups to over thirty venues throughout Historic Downtown Saratoga Springs for this evening of live music, dance, comedy and other performances.
Glens Falls Civic Center 1 Civic Center Plaza, Glens Falls glensfallscc.com (518) 798-0366 Wednesday, Jan. 29: Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music. The beloved characters from the PBS classic come to life on stage.
10 EXPLORE
Saratoga Springs Public Library 49 Henry St., Saratoga Springs sspl.org Sunday, Dec. 22: Family Holiday Show with Seth and the Moody Melix. 2 p.m. The show features traditional holiday music (with a twist), along with the original music of “Seth and the moody Melix.”
32 Washington Ave., Schenectady schist.org (518) 374-0263 Sunday, Dec. 8 - Monday, Dec. 16: Festival of Trees. Visit beautifully decorated trees in the YWCA and the Schenectady County Historical Society.
Times Union Center 51 S. Pearl St, Albany timesunioncenter-albany.com (518) 487-2000 Wednesday, Dec. 18 - Sunday, Dec. 22: Disney On Ice: 100 Years Of Magic. Your favorite Disney characters and stories brought to life with the artistry
of ice skating to create an unforgettable family experience.
Words & Ideas College of Saint Rose Events and Athletics Center 420 Western Ave., Albany strose.edu (800) 637-8556 Thursday, Jan. 30: “Frequency North” — The Visiting Writers Reading Series. 7:30 p.m. “Frequency North” kicks off 2014 with Boston Poetry Slam Team Jade Sylvan. Sylvan’s most recent book, Kissing Oscar Wilde, was published this year by Write Bloody Press. Thursday, April 3: “Frequency North” — Jonah Winter and Sharon Mesmer. 7:30 p.m. Poet/ biographer/illustrator Jonah Winter and poet/author Sharon Mesmer. Winter is the author of two poetry volumes and more than 30 books for children and adults about baseball players, avant-garde artists, jazz musicians, exotic dancers, presidents and more. Mesmer’s recent poetry collections include The Virgin Formica, and her fiction collections include In Ordinary Time and The Empty Quarter.
Museums Albany Institute of History & Art 125 Washington Ave,, Albany albanyinstitute.org (518) 463-4478 Through Sunday, June 8: The Mystery of the Albany Mummies. The largest exhibition on ancient Egypt ever presented in New York’s Capital Region. Art and artifacts from around the world and advanced medical technologies help unravel the mystery of the Albany Mummies. Topics include: From Cairo to Albany, Preparing for the Afterlife, Ankhefenmut and His World, and Egyptomania. There are also interactive stations, special programs, an international lecture series, and an Ancient Egyptian Shop. Sunday, Dec. 15: Albany Institute Lecture and Book Signing: From Kristallnacht to Watergate: Memoirs of a
Newspaperman. Join legendary newspaperman and Albany Times Union editor-at-large Harry Rosenfeld as he recounts a few of the most compelling moments of his life, from his childhood in Hitler’s Berlin to his years at the Washington Post, and answers questions about the historic events he has witnessed.
Bennington Center for the Arts 44 Gypsy Lane, Bennington, Vt. benningtoncenterforthearts.org (802) 442-7158 Through Sunday, Dec. 22: Small Works Show. 11 x 14 and smaller Figurative, landscapes, cityscapes, wildlife and stilllifes by nationally recognized artists make up the show. Through Sunday, Dec. 22: American Artists Abroad. American artists share their work in this beautiful world tour. We get to see famous monuments as well as quiet moments through the eyes of these talented painters and sculptors.
Brookside Museum 6 Charlton St, Ballston Spa brooksidemuseum.org (518) 885-4000 Through Tuesday, Jan. 7: Here Comes the Bride. Features historic wedding gowns, invitations, marriage certificates,
photographs, and other wedding items from Brookside’s collection of historic artifacts from Saratoga County.
Fenimore Art Museum 5798 Route 80, Cooperstown fenimoreartmuseum.org/ fenimore/visit/experience (607) 547-1400 Through Sunday, Dec. 29: Watercolors by Susan Fenimore Cooper Weil. Evocative watercolor landscapes record Weil’s lifelong love of nature and the outdoors. At first glance, her images seem to be straightforward representations of barns, houses, and rolling hills. Underlying them is a complexity and mystery that bring these works to life. They make an emotional statement about the importance of the land to Weil, the importance of preserving the rural way of life.
Mass MoCA 87 Marshall St, North Adams, Mass. massmoca.org (413) 662-2111 Through Monday, Jan. 20: Life’s Work: Tom Phillips and Johnny Carrera. Through Monday, Dec. 30: Anselm Keifer. In a major new collaboration with the Hall Art Foundation, the keystone of which is a large and long-term
exhibition of sculpture and paintings by Anselm Kiefer, MASS MoCA opens a 10,000 square-foot building at MASS MoCA specially re-purposed by the Hall Art Foundation and devoted to the art of Anselm Kiefer. Through Monday, Dec. 30: Guillaume Leblon: Under My Shoe. First solo exhibition of Parisbased sculptor Leblon’s work in a U.S. museum. Selection of works made over the last decade, in addition to two major new projects created for MASS MoCA. Through Monday, April 7: Jason Middlebrook. Explores the complex relationship between man and nature.
New York State Museum 264 Madison Ave,, Albany nysm.nysed.gov (518) 474-5877 Through Tuesday, Dec. 31: Russel Wright: The Nature of Design. Explores the work and philosophy of renowned industrial designer Russel Wright, whose former home in the Hudson Valley — Manitoga — is now a national historic landmark. The exhibition focuses on one of Wright’s most pervasive preoccupations, which also has much relevance today: the relationship of humankind with the natural world.
ON DEC. 8, head to Troy for the 31st Annual Victorian Stroll for food, fun and shopping. — PHOTO BY LUANNE M. FERRIS / TIMES UNION