Columbia County Current

Level Festival @ The Arts Center

Tonight at The Arts Center, Troy Night Out will feature Level Festival.

About Level Festival, from ArtsCenterOnline.org:

We Are Architects and the Arts Center celebrate the opening of Level, a new exhibition of recent independent video games that explore human lifestyles and behavior. Four intriguing performances by musicians who work in a range of electronic sounds and unconventional instrumentation will present works influenced by games, and other facets of pop culture, interweaving multi-sensory experiences ranging from a wide variety of video games, to genre bending electronic music. Performances by EXTREME ANIMALS,Bubblyfish, Matthew Carefully, and Evidences. Artists and non-artists from the United States, Europe, and Asia created the games in Level, and include Alexítron, Anna Anthropy, Angela Washko, Bennet Foddy, Alexis Bacot, Ian Bogost, MIT Game Lab, Jonata Söderström, Danish National Academy of Digital Entertainment, Jake Elliot, Peter Favaro, Cliff Harris, Stephen Lavelle, Sebastian Janisz, Molleindustria, Tabor Robak, Jason Rohrer, and Lea Schönfelder.

Game cabinets are designed and fabricated by We Are Architects with assistance from regional game enthusiasts and friends. Collaborators include Donna Fitzgerald’s class at Parson’s Child and Family Center, circuit bending sound artist Peter Edwards, and regional furniture maker Leonard Bellanca.

Level is organized by We Are Architects in collaboration with the artists. This exhibition is generously supported by New York Foundation for the Arts.

WHEN: Friday (April 27, 2012)
TIME: 6:00 PM
ADMISSION: Free
WHERE:The Arts Center of the Capital Region
265 River Street, Troy, NY 12180

For more information, visit ArtsCenterOnline.org by clicking here.

For more happenings in and around Columbia County, follow @CoCoCurrent on Twitter.

Gary Sinise & Lt. Dan Band Benefit Concert

Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band will perform a benefit concert on Saturday for Joseph Wilkinson at the Washington Street Armory.

From LtDanBand.com:

This concert is part of ‘Building For America’s Bravest’, a joint effort by the Gary Sinise Foundation & Tunnel to Towers Foundation dedicated to building custom-designed Smart Homes for our nation’s most severely wounded veterans.

Proceeds from this performance will help build a home for Tech Sgt. Joseph Wilkinson, who suffers from degenerative nerve damage (Gulf War Syndrome) leaving him unable to walk. [ Read full bio ]

WHEN: Saturday (April 28th, 2012)
TIME: 7:00 pm (Doors open at 6)
WHERE: Washington Street Armory,
195 Washington Avenue – Albany, NY 12210
ADMISSION: $30 – $50

For more info, visit LtDanBand.com.

For more happenings in and around Columbia County, follow @CoCoCurrent on Twitter.

Litchfield Mysterious Object To Remain Mystery

Remember that mysterious object that I told you about two weeks ago? The glowing-green, whale-sized object that fell from the sky in Litchfield, CT? Well it sounds like that object is going to remain a mystery as Connecticut officials and legislators apparently have no official plans to investigate.

The Litchfield County Times is reporting on the apparent lack of action in investigating this incident. Apparently, one of the eye witnesses who phoned the incident into State Police at the Troop L barracks in Litchfield, did not remain on the scene and has not come forward since making the call. Officials seem to think that without the eye-witness pointing out the splash-down spot on the lake, an investigation would be pointless.

State Sen. Andrew Roraback is quoted in The Litchfield County Times article as saying, “To the best of my knowledge, there are not any ongoing efforts to retrieve whatever it was, and my hope is that this summer scuba divers will take an active interest in trying to solve this mystery.” “We have added this to the list of life’s unanswered questions.”

You can read the entire article by Daniela Forte by clicking here.

Usher House Hunting in Hudson?

I heard from a friend and Hudsonite that Usher had been spotted in Hudson on Sunday. MediaTakeOut.com is reporting that Usher was in town with his girlfriend to do some house-hunting. I’m not sure how much credence we can give to this rumor since MediaTakeOut called Hudson a “Suburb” that is “Outside of NYC” but still, the idea is exciting. Usher wouldn’t be the first musician to take an interest in Hudson (click here for more on Hudson’s music scene) but he is definitely one of the most popular hip-hop artists to wander Warren.

Does anyone in Columbia County think of Hudson as a NYC suburb? I don’t.

Click here to read the post about Usher in Hudson and see another photo on MediaTakeOut.com.