Free concerts at Tawasentha Park
Pedinotti tells stories through song, bluesy and blythe



GUILDERLAND — Summer nights at Tawasentha Park, starting today, hold the promise of musical entertainment and family fun. The Guilderland Performing Arts Center has invited acts both big and small to perform, including local songwriter Sarah Pedinotti, and the Russian American Kids Circus On Stage.

Sarah Pedinotti, phenom
Who is Sarah Pedinotti" Is she the woman with unruly and unusual hair seen brushing her teeth on the cover of her first album, or the radiantly beautiful young woman seen in the background of each page on sarahpedinotti.com"

Pedinotti, 23, said that she is both, and her stories encompass every person in between.
"I’m a singer-song-writer," she said. "I’m carrying on an old tradition of how we recorded history. Woody Guthrie told stories in the time of the dust bowl. Bob Dylan told stories of the ’60s." Pedinotti said that songwriters tell old stories, but in the language of their time.

Her own music has elements of rock, pop, and indie. At Tawasentha Park on June 21, Pedinotti will play her original songs with band members Tony Markellis on bass, Dave Payette on piano, and Chris Carey on drums. Markellis is a Grammy nominee known for his work with the Mamas and the Papas and Trey Anastasio of Phish.

Pedinotti has performed throughout the Capital Region at such venues as last year’s jazz festival at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center and The Egg in Albany.

Her third album, City Bird, will be released July 20. Her first two albums were praised by Billboard Magazine.

Pedinotti’s songs tell the stories of our time, she said.
"Julio" is the sad story of a man she met at a train station on her way back from school in Boston. He told her his life story about being in a gang in New York City.
"I was so riveted. I felt this sort of empathy with his life," Pedinotti said. Soon after hearing his story, she awoke during a storm and wrote "Julio."
"I can’t take credit for it. It’s a type of song that really came through me, like lightning," she said. Songs like "Julio" have "messages that are older than I am," Pedinotti said.
Traditionally, she said, history was recorded in song. Pedinotti’s song, "A Day in the Life of an American Blues," is a satirical piece about consumerism in America, she said.
"It doesn’t sound fun, but living in the consumer world that we do"playing at clubs, people like it," she said. She delivers the song’s message by exploring a moral dilemma about buying underwear. For a family crowd, she said, she may not play that song.
Pedinotti will not be short of material. She has written over 100 songs, including "Meadowlark Meatloaf." She said this one is "my take on a love song" with a nod to the influence of Billie Holiday’s tragic love songs.
In the story, her lover wants to be rid of her, and he bakes a meadowlark into a meatloaf to give her the heave-ho, but the ploy does not work. "It’s a little weird," Pedinotti said with a laugh.

The song, though, has a more feminist angle than the Billie Holiday songs she grew up hearing.
"I love my man anyway, even if he’s a little bizarre," she said about the lyrics. "It’s a song about two twisted people."
At Tawasentha, Pedinotti will play songs from Bob Dillon, Bo Diddly, and "old songs from the bayou," as well as her own music. "People like to hear what they know," she said.

Pedinotti ought to know how to please an audience. She’s been performing at her parents’ Saratoga Springs bistro One Caroline Street with established artists since she was 12.
"I’m a song-writer in my soul," Pedinotti said. "If people want to sing your song, then you’ve succeeded."

While Pedinotti would be happy to sell her songs, her goals are more long-term.
"It doesn’t feel like separate songs to me," she said. "As you develop, it tells the story of your life. When I can deliver that to an audience, I feel like I’m doing the right thing. I’m a very story-driven songwriter."

Circus at the park

The Russian American Kids Circus On Stage will perform July 5. Based in New York City, the group of circus performers range in age from 6 to 16 years old. The circus played to crowds at the Millenium celebration at Disneyworld. The young performers have also been featured on Cyberchase and Reading Rainbow, shows for children on Public Broadcasting Stations.

The founder, Alex Berenchtein, was a circus performer with the Moscow Circus. He and his wife, Regina, and his mother-in-law, Olga Partigul, opened an academy in Brooklyn in 1994 to let children explore artistic self-expression and increase their self-esteem through performance skills. Some of those students became the Russian American Kids Circus On Stage, which has performed 1,500 shows all over the country and on television.

The performers do acrobatics, juggling, synchronized unicycling, aerial feats, and balancing acts.

Free to everyone

Claudia Gottesman, the publicity director for the Guilderland Performing Arts Center, said that the summer shows and parking are free to everyone, including those who are not town residents.
"It’s for everybody who wants to come," Gottesman said.

Gottesman said that the Joey Thomas Big Band is the final act of the summer, and the only returning group.
"It’s always a hit. That’s why we’re bringing them back," Gottesman said. "They’re the most popular big band act in the Capital Region."

The Joey Thomas Big Band plays music ranging from Benny Goodman to Tommy Dorsey, she said.
"That whole big-band era is a wonderful sound," she said.

Mecca Bodega, a percussion-driven group, kicks off the summer series today. The Guilderland Town Band will perform on June 28, July 19, and Aug. 9. On July 12, Work o’ the Weavers will perform.

On July 26, The Electric City Chorus will sing barbershop harmonies. The popular local band the Refrigerators will play on Aug. 2. The Nobby Reed Project, a powerhouse blues group, will perform Aug.26.

***

Tawasentha Park is located off of Route 146, just north of the intersection with Route 20. Concert-goers are encouraged to bring blankets or folding chairs to sit on.