Staff Picks: Stop Making Sense/Bach and Friends/Krewe les Gras
Talking Heads Film @ Amherst Cinema // Friday, MARCH 1 This Friday, March 1, Amherst Cinema brings Talking Heads’ fantastic and groundbreaking concert film “Stop Making Sense,” to the screen as part of its Late Nights series. The film was shot during the course of three nights in December 1983 and features, arguably, the best versions of the band’s famous songs such as “Psycho Killer,” and “Burning Down the House.” The film will be...
Lifting Every Voice: Springfield Black History Month lecture series educates and inspires
On a cold night in the middle of February, lights are glowing in the windows of Spring of Hope Church of God in Christ, a small brick church on Alden Street in Springfield. Inside, the pews are about three-quarters full, and the attendees are listening to a different kind of sermon. “Out of fires, great things happen,” said 1999 Pulitzer Prize winner, Karen Hunter, after recalling a conversation between Martin Luther King Jr. and...
Olivia Frances on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Olivia Frances is a folk/pop singer-songwriter with environmentalist themes. Check out her Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Olivia...
Free Will Astrology: Time for female empowerment, Taurus
ARIES (March 21-April 19): South Koreans work too hard. Many are on the job for fourteen hours a day, six days a week. That’s why a new concept in vacations has emerged there. People take sabbaticals by checking into Prison Inside Me, a facility designed like a jail. For a while, they do without cell phones and Internet and important appointments. Freed of normal stresses and stripped of obsessive concerns, they turn inward and...
Book Bag: ‘Enchantée’ by Gita Trelease; ‘Seven Full days’ by Ferris Shelton
ENCHANTÉE By Gita Trelease Flatiron Books gitatrelease.com In Paris in 1789, as poverty grips most of the populace, and the aristocrats’ indifference to people’s suffering breeds growing anger, 17-year-old Camille Durbonne is struggling to provide for herself and her younger sister, Sophie. The girls’ parents have died from smallpox, and their dissolute brother, Alain, is busy gambling away what little money they have. Camille, the...
Stoner Will & The Narks on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Stoner Will & The Narks play slacker rock with a biting satirical bent. Check out the band’s Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Stoner Will & The...
Advocate Staff Picks: Feb. 15 – 23
Ch’CHUNK! at Luthier’s Co-op // FRIDAY, Feb. 15 Ch’Chunk is self-described as “a modern take on classic swing.” The band plays great original songs as well as Tin Pan Alley classics that instantly transports your mind to a dimly lit speakeasy. So, with that in mind, let guitar bar Luthier’s Co-op on Friday be your mind speakeasy this week from 8 to 9:30 p.m. Plus there’s two other great local bands that have performed on...
Free Will Astrology: There are more galaxies near the big dipper than you think, Gemini
ARIES (March 21-April 19): When directors of movies say, “It’s a wrap,” they mean that the shooting of a scene has been finished. They may use the same expression when the shooting of the entire film is completed. That’s not the end of the creative process, of course. All the editing must still be done. Once that’s accomplished, the producer may declare that the final product is “in the can,” and ready to be released or broadcast....
Purging Plastic: The quest to break the addiction to single-use garbage
Eight billion metric tons. According to Industrial Ecologist Roland Geyer of the University of California, Santa Barbara, that is the amount of plastic that has been produced since the 1950s, and almost half of that, was created after the year 2000, causing plastic pollution and its environmental impacts to explode as well. Many argue that it is our societal addiction to convenience and a lack of forward thinking that has allowed...
Electrio on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Electrio combines blues rock with progressive rock, funky grooves, and experimental stylings. Check out the band’s Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with...
Raspberry Jam on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Raspberry Jam plays catchy progressive indie rock that’ll get you on the dance floor. Check out the band’s Valley Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Raspberry...
No Lens on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
No Lens combines reggae rock with acoustic folk and funk grooves. Check out the band’s performance on Valley Advocate Sessions in the video below. Interview with No...
Dicey Riley with Zoe Darrow on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Dicey Riley with Zoe Darrow is a Celtic-folk influenced rock band with virtuoso fiddle and electric bagpipes. Check out the band’s full Valley Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Dicey Riley and Zoe...
Best of the Valley Readers’ Poll 2019 VOTE!
Best of the Valley Readers’ Poll The poll will be open from noon on December 20th through 5 p.m. on January 31st. For over thirty years, the people of Western Massachusetts have been making their voice heard by voting in the Valley Advocate’s Best of the Valley Readers’ Poll. From favorite art museum and pizza place, to hair salon and dentist, Best Of voters have been showing their support for those businesses that...
Moving Day on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Moving Day is a an indie rock duo in the spirit of 1960s pop music. Check out the band’s Valley Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Moving...
Uncle Brothers on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Uncle Brothers is a a progressive jazz metal band with electric trumpets and heavy distorted guitar riffs. Check out the band’s Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Uncle...
Scott Meyers on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Scott Meyers is a mellow folk singer-songwriter with heart and soul. Check out his Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Scott...
Dirty Words on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Dirty Words is a project that combines soulful poetry with introspective jazz presented by singer-songwriter Cait Simpson (The Greys). Simpson created a special version of her poetry-driven performance for Valley Advocate Sessions, which you can watch in the video below. Interview with Cait...
Ali Kat and the Revelators on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Ali Kat and the Revelators perform rocking funk and soul with sax, guitars, and high energy vocals. Check out the band’s Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Ali Kat and the...
Mtali Banda Oneness Project on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Mtali Banda Oneness Project performs meditative jazz alongside R&B and gospel influences. Check out the group’s Valley Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Mtali Banda Oneness...
Michael Graffius on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Michael Graffius is a performer who plays sweet melancholy folk mixed with poetic indie and punk lyricism. Check out his Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Michael...
Sunny D & The Tangy Originals on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Sunny D & The Tangy Originals is the solo project of guitarist Tom Del Negro (Lexi Weege & The Wondertwins). Sunny D performs electrified virtuoso looped guitar compositions, blending pre-recorded sounds with intricate soloing. Interview with Sunny...
Lexi Weege & The Wondertwins on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Lexi Weege & The Wondertwins perform hot jazz music with close vocal harmonies with blues roots. Check out the band’s full Valley Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Lexi Weege & The...
Chris James on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Chris James is a folk/pop singer-songwriter with a sweet tenor voice matched by remarkable falsetto. Check out his full Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Chris...
John-Michael Field on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
John-Michael Field performs spiritually themed folk with a dose of humor. Check out his full Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with John-Michael...
Moxie on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage – Our 100th Sessions Video!
Moxie is a soulful teenage indie pop and rock group from Brattleboro, VT, and also our 100th act to be featured on Advocate Sessions. Check out Moxie’s set below alongside an interview with the band and a special 100th Sessions Video Retrospective in which David Newland (NCTV), Jared Libby (Signature Sounds Recordings) and Valley Advocate staff writer/ Sessions host Chris Goudreau share their favorite moments over the past two...
Scott Cadwallader on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Scott Cadwallader is a folk/country singer-songwriter from Northampton and host of the weekly Thursday Yellow Sofa open mic at the Thirsty Mind. Cadwallader is a prolific songwriter, who has published dozens of his own original songs on YouTube. Check out his Advocate Sessions performance below. Interview with Scott...
Anjali Rose on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Local singer-songwriter Anjali Rose Kumar performs a melange of indie folk-tinged looped vocals and guitar with a world music perspective. Interview with Anjali...
Eva Cappelli on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Eva Cappelli is a local songwriting queen who plays everything from blues and country to jazz and rock. Check out her Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Eva...
Riley Godleski on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Riley Godleski is a local singer-songwriter who perfroms indie pop mixed with bittersweet melodies and melancholy alternative folk. Interview with Riley...
VIDEO: Riley Godleski on Valley Advocate Sessions Friday
Check out a teaser video for Riley Godleski – indie pop mixed with bittersweet melodies and melancholy alternative folk.
Austin & Elliott on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Austin & Elliott are an acoustic folk duo who write ballads about love and death. Check out their complete Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Austin &...
Mike Spector on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Mike Spector is a local singer-songwriter who writes soulful folk ballads about love and heartache. Check out his complete Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Mike...
Back Talk: Support for Eric Nakajima and thanks to the League of Women Voters
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Vote for Eric Nakajima on Sept. 4 As a longtime local progressive activist, and Democratic Party leader and friend in Hampshire County and beyond, I strongly encourage residents of Amherst, Pelham, and...
Free Will Astrology: Unleash your bravado without getting yourself kidnapped, Leo
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” our heroine encounters a talking caterpillar as he smokes a hookah on top of a tall mushroom. “Who are you?” he asks her. Alice is honest: “I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.” She says this with uneasiness. In the last few hours, she has twice been shrunken down to a...