Greetings! Today, July 12, is the 50^th anniversary of The Rolling Stones first gig, at The Marquee Club in London, and to mark the occasion, the boys gathered at the site of the club for a photo op. Lemme tell ya, they still look good. It’s hard to believe Mick is, what, 65? 68? They all look great! Hope they sound great too next year! I’m looking forward to it! Go here to see the photos.

Fleetwood Mac have also announced plans for a reunion next year. Hope that works out well. They’re older now, but hopefully they can still pull it off. Should at least be worth checking out.

Kind of a quiet week this week, but there is some great stuff going on.

Friday, July 13 – Whoooo wooo! It’s Friday the Thirteenth! I’m scared! Tonight there are three great events, two in the Hudson Valley, and one out in Brooklyn. FURTHER swings into Cyclones Stadium in Brooklyn, now known as MCU Park. This venue is well known for bringing out the best in performers, and tonight should be no exception. Further? In Brooklyn? On Friday the Thirteenth? Couldn’t they have arranged for a full Moon to go with that? There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight!

Upstate, A TRIBUTE TO PAUL BUTTERFIELD, featuring Paul’s son, Gabe, Jimmy Vivino (from Levon’s band, The Fab Faux, and Conan O’Brian’s Band), and LOTS of special guests. You can’t go wrong with Butter! And down in Rosendale, Brianne Olsson from Keegan Ales and Lara Hope from Lara Hope and The Champtones are celebrating their birthdays with a big party in Willow Kiln Park behind The Rosendale Theater. Four bands are booked, including PITCHFORK MILITIA and THE ARKHAMS, both of whom are great! The other two, YARD SALE and THE CRYPTKEEPER FIVE, I am not familiar with, but I know Lara and Brianne, and they’re not gonna book anyone bad! I hear they’re serving food too!

These three events are all my Picks of the week!

Sunday, July 15 – The Hudson Valley and The Catskill region is blessed this weekend! Most of the action is upstate this week! Tonight, FURTHER returns to Bethel Woods, and Americana god, JIMMY DALE GILMORE, also of The Flatlanders, is at The Towne Crier in Pauling, with THE TWANGTOWN PARAMOURS! You gotta love a band called The Twangtown Paramours!
Thursday, July 19 – This is really the start of the new week, but I always include it in case you don’t pick up next week’s paper until Friday. Tonight we have the great RICHARD THOMPSON at The Bearsville Theater, MARIA MALDAUR at The Falcon in Marlborough, and THE GREY FOX BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL in Greene County near Durham kicks off their weekend festivities, as does THE GATHERING OF THE VIBES in Connecticut. And don’t forget The Rosendale Street Festival Saturday and Sunday!

Down in the city, mandolin virtuoso, DAVID GRISMAN, is at City Winery, and the vastly underrated and vastly influential DESERT ROSE BAND does a very rare acoustic gig at The Iridium.

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.