Jack Waldheim and the Criminal Hearts built the Monday Music Project around a single clear-eyed premise: show up every week and “walk the high wire, with no net.” No fixed setlist, no rehearsal-room buffer between the creative process and the people watching. A veteran Berkshires songwriter brings original compositions and the occasional cover song to a live room every Monday at The Stationery Factory in Dalton, Massachusetts, willing to see where any given night leads. The November 9 edition starts at 7 p.m., and admission is free.
About the Show
The Monday Music Project is a recurring weekly residency in the North Room at The Stationery Factory — every Monday at 7 p.m., free to attend. Organizers describe it as “a creative laboratory” where Waldheim and the Criminal Hearts explore “new explorations in songs & sounds,” mixing original material with occasional covers, with no particular direction locked in before the show starts. The band frames the project as work by “a seasoned band seeking new fertile ground to mine,” and the weekly format gives them the room to do exactly that in real time.
Waldheim is a Berkshires native from Hinsdale, Massachusetts, working across folk, alt-country, and acoustic rock. He spent years working at Wood Brothers music shop in Pittsfield, part of the region’s working music fabric. As a recording artist, he has three full-length albums on the independent Crazy Jane Records label: “Jane: or All I Could Remember” (2006), “On Second Thought…” (2008), and “After the Revolution” (2012) — a 30-track double album with 42 songs recorded and 30 selected for the final release. Waldheim handled production, artwork, and distribution independently. At the core of the Criminal Hearts live lineup is a duo: Waldheim on guitar and vocals alongside drummer Chris Mattoon.
Venue & Logistics
The Stationery Factory is a former Crane & Co. stationery facility now operating as what the venue describes as “a dynamic adaptive re-use industrial space” in Dalton — concert hall, artisan studios, healing arts, retail, and galleries under one industrial roof. The North Room, where the Monday series lives, spans 8,000 square feet with a 32-by-20-foot stage and world-class sound and lighting. The Stationery Cafe provides a full bar plus organic popcorn, pretzels, espresso, and warm beverages. Parking is easy: roughly 100 on-site spaces with overflow available. The venue sits near the New York border and is within reach from across the capital region. Box office is open during shows; by phone Tuesday through Friday at (413) 659-6299.
Tickets
Admission is free — no tickets required. Tips are welcome at the door. Buy tickets