Saraband

It’s funny how reputations rise and fall. Films once considered masterpieces and directors thought geniuses are forgotten and denigrated as the decades pass. But not Ingmar Bergman: His reputation is safe and his best films (Smiles of a Summer Night, Wild Strawberries and Cries and Whispers, to name three) are still revered.

Saraband, being screened this weekend at TSL in Hudson, is Bergman’s final farewell. Yes, Fanny and Alexander, released 20 years ago, was his first cinematic goodbye; this time, however, the 87-year-old Swede really means it. Saraband reunites the characters and actors (Erland Josephson and Liv Ullman, pictured) from 1972’s Scenes From a Marriage for a reunion.

As this is Bergman, this doesn’t mean party time; it’s another “lacerating family drama,” as noted by the Village Voice. In other words, this is a can’t-miss film.

Saraband will be shown tomorrow (Friday, Nov. 4) at 7:30 PM and Sunday (Nov. 6) at 5 PM at Time & Space Limited (434 Columbia St., Hudson). There will be an additional screening on Nov. 12 at 8:15 PM. Tickets are $6, $4 for TSL members. For more info, call 822-8448.

P.D.Q. Bach & Peter Schickele

Frankly, we thought it would be impossible for Peter Schickele and P.D.Q. Bach to be in the same place at the same time. And if some such thing did happen, it would be calamitous—like the time on Star Trek when the matter and antimatter alien dudes almost met and destroyed the universe.

Apparently this won’t be the case at the Troy Music Hall on Sunday, when Schickele brings the Jekyll & Hyde Tour to town. The audience, aka “anyone who wanders in” (as per Schickele’s fun Web site), will be treated to songs and rounds by composer, musician, musicologist, radio host and all-around wit Peter Schickele. Yes, Schickele is still the drollest non-German on the classical circuit, as proven by this recent Web post: “Yes, this year marks the 40th anniversary of very-nearly-yearly concerts of the music of P.D.Q. Bach in New York City. To put this in perspective, consider that this is two years longer than it took Brian Wilson to finish one album.”

Schickele’s own works constitute the Jekyll portion of the program. Then Hyde raises his mischievous head, and a selection of P.D.Q. Bach favorites will be spotlighted, with the considerable musical stylings of Michèle Easton and David Düsing.

Troy Chromatic Concerts will present the Jekyll & Hyde Tour on Sunday (Nov. 6) at 4 PM at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall (Second and State streets, Troy). Tickets are $35 and $32. For reservations and information, call 273-0038.

Feedback 2005

It came to pass that Metroland would, upon passage into the eleventh month, present a musical cavalcade of sorts, unlike any that had been seen before in their allotted portion of the new world. And this event would unite the minstrels and the warriors, the regals and the, um, not-so-regals, for the common cause of helping those less fortunate. And oh, how the less fortunate rejoiced, for Metroland would again come to their aid, bearing gifts of dried goods and canned corn. A wonderful day it was!

It’s time again for the Metroland Feedback show, our annual benefit for the Food Pantries for the Capital District. It also happens to be our opportunity to present the best available in local music. This year, catch pop-punk band Sugar Eater, ska-rockers Kicking Sicily, prolific weirdo K Sonin, ’60s-influenced singer-songwriter Adam Foster, ’70s-influenced singer- songwriter Matt Durfee, Pitch Control hiphoppers Dez and Shyste, new heavies Idols Never Die, noise-loving duo Lincoln Money Shot (pictured, apparently against their will), mask-loving collective Evolution/Revolution, sweatpants-loving collective the Conspicuous Study Hall Boners, and Mitch Elrod collective CountrySoulHouse.

Feedback 2005 will take place tomorrow (Friday, Nov. 4) on both stages at Valentine’s (17 New Scotland Ave., Albany). Admission for the 8 PM show (doors open at 7) is $7, or $5 if you bring along a nonperishable food item. For more information, call the club at 432-6572.