State to Flores: No Pot Clinic

State to Flores: No Pot Clinic

The Valley is accustomed to seeing Springfield social services kingpin Heriberto Flores carry out his plans—including plans to buy Springfield’s Paramount Theater and the building that houses the legendary Student Prince/Fort Restaurant, extraordinary...
Between the Lines: Repeal or Legalize?

Between the Lines: Repeal or Legalize?

Most evenings in the summer, I spend the last half hour or so before dark in my vegetable garden. I wouldn’t call what I do work, exactly, but by my getting out there for a little while every night, stuff gets done. Weeds get pulled, plants get watered and fed....

Between the Lines: A Real Destination

On my first day at the Valley Advocate— June 12, 1995—the erstwhile managing editor Tom Mudd gave me a parting tip. “Dunno if you’re into such things,” he said, suspiciously eying my slender frame, gaunt cheeks and 1993 World Track and...
Nightcrawler: (Belated) Bombs in the Air

Nightcrawler: (Belated) Bombs in the Air

Their celebration may be closer to the 14th than the Fourth. But as Enfield, Conn. Fourth of July Town Celebration marketing director Greg Stokes explains, independence from the Independence Day weekend proper is certainly not without its pluses. For starters, it...
CD Shorts: Jaro Milko and the Cubalkanics

CD Shorts: Jaro Milko and the Cubalkanics

Cigarros Explosivos! (Asphalt Tango)   Welcome to Planet Mashable, featuring a Zurich-based Czech expatriate who plays grunge-laced surf guitar and fronts a band specializing in Balkan music by way of Brazil, Cuba, Jamaica, and Peru. Cumbia hails from Colombia,...