Between the Lines: School for Scandal

by | Dec 24, 2009 | News

The news last week that the state commissioner of education wants to revoke the charter for Springfield's Robert M. Hughes Academy for MCAS cheating was a reminder of just where the ever-mounting pile of scandals at the school began.Back in November, the charter...
Springfield: Marching for Gaza

Springfield: Marching for Gaza

by | Dec 24, 2009 | News

Four Valley women, Paki Wieland of Northampton, Ruth Hooke of Amherst, Ellen Graves of West Springfield and Priscilla Lynch of Conway, will travel to Gaza to participate in the Gaza Freedom March December 31. The march commemorates the Israeli invasion of Gaza last...

Imperium Watch: Three Hundred and Fifty Chimes

by | Dec 24, 2009 | News

Last Sunday, bells, drums, gongs and horns at churches, synagogues and mosques the world over sounded 350 times to tell the world to lower the volume of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million. It was a plea for global cooperation to control climate...
SoundCheck: R.I.P. Ray Neades

SoundCheck: R.I.P. Ray Neades

by | Dec 24, 2009 | Music

The first time I really talked with Ray Neades, I think we must have been bonding over The Who. It was in the early to mid-'90s, when I had just moved here, very young and intimidated by what I perceived as the impenetrable Western Mass. rock star scene, led at...
Know Mojo?

Know Mojo?

by | Dec 24, 2009 | Music

In the beginning, there was pleasure, and it was good. And four bars and seven drinks ago, in order to form a more perfect Las Vegas, We, the weird, mushroom-gobbling army of insanity with one nation under Tito, Do solemnly pledge:I pledge allegiance to Tom Jones,...