Clark Art Hosts Dither and I/O Ensemble

08:05AM / Tuesday, January 13, 2026Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.—On Sunday, Jan. 18 at 3 pm, the Williams College Department of Music and I/O Fest 2026 welcome the intrepid electric guitar quartet Dither to the Clark for a program featuring selections from The Expanding Universe, the iconic 1979 album by the electronic composer and computer-music pioneer Laurie Spiegel.

This concert takes place in the Manton Research Center auditorium.

According to a press release:

In 1977, one Spiegel composition, Kepler’s Harmony of the Worlds, was included on "The Sounds of Earth," an LP compilation that accompanied the Voyager spacecraft as it traversed the solar system. Dither captains its concert voyage of The Expanding Universe with four electric guitars through a galaxy of live effects.

Tickets $10 ($8 members, free for college students and children 17 and under). For more information, visit events.clarkart.edu. For accessibility questions, call 413 458 0524.

This program is presented by the Williams College Department of Music and the Clark.

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Williamstown Select Board Evaluates Town Manager

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:39AM / Wednesday, October 28, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — In 2022, the town still was recovering from the twin blows of a global pandemic and a lawsuit that exposed disturbing allegations against the town's police department.

The latter ultimately led to the resignation of the police chief and the town manager. To replace the manager, the Select Board at the time turned to Robert Menicocci.

Menicocci represented a break in style from his immediate predecessor, who was a more prominent voice in town government. That prominence, in part, was a product of the times: When town boards and committees were not meeting in-person and access to town hall itself was limited at the height of the pandemic, the manager's voice in Zoom meetings was more front and center.

In his four years in the corner office, Menicocci has helped shepherd the police department on its path to certification and helped the town weather the fiscal storm of skyrocketing costs linked to inflation – particularly sharp increases in the cost of health insurance that hit hard for a labor-intensive endeavor like municipal government. All the while, he has been a little more taciturn, while always willing to participate, when appropriate, with responsive answers in discussions of the Select Board and Finance Committee.

On Monday, the current Select Board – completely turned over from the 2022 edition – pushed Menicocci to be more of a cheerleader for the town.

"Do you see your role more as a behind-the-scenes guy and our role is to be out in public?" board member Matthew Neely asked Menicocci during the board's review of the manager's job performance. "Or is there more of a role for you in that? So many people, if I say your name, they're like, ‘Who?'

"I would have assumed your role would be more public facing as well, and more, for lack of a better word, leading the charge as opposed to running day-to-day operations. I feel you're strong running day-to-day. But something we all wish is we had a little more of a proactive [manager] …. Since we need development, need all these things in town so much. … I'd love to see more outward energy, I guess.

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