The New York State Senate just passed a resolution renaming all of Route 375, between Route 28 and Route 212, Levon Helm Memorial Boulevard! The resolution, which had previously passed the Assembly, now only needs Gov. Cuomo’s signature to become law! This is great news for everyone, and well deserved! I know I’ll feel better about not having Levon with us anymore when I drive down Levon Helm Memorial Boulevard!

In other local news, has anyone noticed what a great job The Bearsville Theater has been doing booking bands? In the past year they’ve had Bob Weir, Mickey Hart, Jorma Kaukonen, Steve Earle, The North Mississippi All Stars, Chris Robinson, Robert Randolph, CKS, Blue Chicken, Moonalice, The Kane Brothers, Python Soup, Dweezil Zappa, Richard Thompson, The Grandmothers of Invention, and The Duke McVinnie Band, and that’s just a partial list! Last Sunday’s Bob Dylan Birthday Bash, featuring every A-list musician in town, carried on the stellar tradition of the room. How bad could a night of Bob Dylan songs be? But when played by the likes of Larry Campbell, Marco Benevento, Jim Weider, Donald Fagen, Tim Moore, Amy Helm, Connor Kennedy, Teresa Williams, Jerry Marotta, Graham Parker, Jane Scarpantoni, Tracy Bonham, Don Byron, Aaron Freeman, and Happy Traum, you could only say the performances were stellar. Tim Moore delivered a very cool version of “Subterranean Homesick Blues” and Doug Yoel nailed “I Threw it all Away”, but young Connor Kennedy stole the show with a scorching version of “Idiot Wind”, with his compadre, Lee Falco, who’s giving Randy Ciarlante a run for his money as “the most in-the-pocket drummer in the Hudson Valley”, on drums! A great night from start to finish! Upcoming shows at the theater include Ian McLagan, Kal David, Richard Thompson, Dave Mason, CKS, and Albert Lee! Kudos also to WDST, who book a lot of the shows at the theater. Keep up the great job you’re doing!

There was no column last week, but unless you were on Mars, you know by now that we lost Ray Manzarek of The Doors. Ray and Jim, together again! RIP Ray, but that probably ain’t gonna happen if you’re hangin’ out with Jim Morrison! LOL.

And now, to the live shows.

Wednesday, June 5 – We start the week off with a bang with three great shows. DAVE ALVIN is one of our national treasures! A founding member of The Blasters, Dave has gone on to quite a prolific solo career, while keeping The Blasters blasting. One of our great songwriters, guitarists, and rock n rollers, I feel honored and privileged to call Dave a friend. Tonight at City Winery. Saturday at Towne Crier in Pawling.

The night is crawling with national treasures! PATTI SMITH is at The Bowery Ballroom and PHIL LESH AND THE TERRAPIN FAMILY BAND are at Sullivan Hall in Manhattan for the second of three nights. Now folks, I’ve played Sullivan Hall, back when it was a small bar called The Red Lion, and lemme tell ya, my guess is that it’s still small! Very small! Which is why these shows sold out in ten minutes! But if you can snag a ticket, this will be a rare opportunity to see Phil in a tiny room, the likes of which no Dead related project has played in decades!
Thursday, June 6 – PHIL LESH finishes up his run at Sullivan Hall, the world’s greatest dobro player, JERRY DOUGLAS, starts a four night engagement at The Blue Note jazz club in Manhattan, and, of course, MOUNTAIN JAM kicks off tonight and runs through Sunday. They have a great line up this year, with Phil and Friends, Primus, Warren Haynes (of course), and Widespread Panic headlining, and a whole slew of other noteworthy bands. More info at www.mountainjam.com.
Friday, June 7 – PHIL LESH AND THE FAMILY BAND are playing The Infinity Yacht tonight, which, I believe, sails around Manhattan while the band plays. I’ve always loved bands on boats, and this should be awesome!

The first couple of Americana music, KELLY WILLIS, and her husband, BRUCE ROBISON, are at City Winery, MOUNTAIN JAM and JERRY DOUGLAS move into their second day, and, at The Bearsville Theater, the tradition of excellence continues with CHRIS STAMEY, whose band, The DB’s, were a spin off from Alex Chilton’s Big Star, who themselves were a spin off from Alex’s first band, The Box Tops! If you can’t make Mountain Jam tonight, here’s your alternative.
Saturday, June 8 – The music keeps rockin’ in The Hudson Valley, with THE GREAT GUITARIST FROM The Blues Project, DANNY KALB, at The Bearsville Theater, DAVE ALVIN AND THE GUILTY MEN at The Towne crier in Pauling (soon to be relocating to Beacon), and PHIL LESH at The Midnight Ramble at Levon Helm Studios. Downstate, SIR PAUL MCCARTNEY is at Barclay Center in Brooklyn for the first of two nights, and SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY AND THE ASBURY JUKES are at BB King’s!
Sunday, June 9 – PHIL LESH moves from Levon’s to Mountain Jam, to headline the closing night. What else do you gotta do, wash your hair? Of course, if you’re in the city, you can go see DICKIE BETTS at City Winery for the first of two nights!
Monday, June 10 – Upstate, at The Bearsville Theater, THE DUKE MCVINNIE BAND continues their Monday night residency for June. I’ve profiled these guys several times, and regular readers of this column know that I think they are the most exciting new band I’ve discovered in quite a while, so be there! Downstate, SIR PAUL concludes his shows at Barclay Center, DICKIE BETTS finishes his gigs at City Winery, ZAKK WYLDE starts a three day run at Iridium (tonight with The Les Paul Trio, Tuesday and Wednesday, solo), and for you bass players, one of the masters of the instrument, VICTOR WOOTEN, stops by The Blue Note.
Tuesday, June 11 – ZAKK WYLDE, who in case you didn’t know, is Ozzy Osbourne’s lead guitarist, at Iridium.
Wednesday, June 12 – Rarely have I seen a performer as comfortable onstage as DELBERT MCCLINTON! Great songwriter, great player, great everything. At BB King’s.

Alright, gotta run! Have a great week!

Fred Perry is the owner of Reservoir Music Center on Route 28 in Kingston, and founding member of Alt-Country supergroup, The Brooklyn Cowboys, is from a 3rd generation musical family and lives in the Hudson Valley, where he does what he can to promote live music.