by Advocate Staff | Aug 15, 2025 | Featured, Uncategorized
By Emilee Klein Staff Writer Around 50 years before the infamous Salem witch trials, fear of witches first plagued the colonial people of western Massachusetts. In the enterprising settlement of Springfield, founder and fur trader William Pynchon and his colleague,...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 15, 2025 | Arts, Featured, Music, Stage, Uncategorized
By SAM FERLAND Staff Writer CitySpace’s Pay It Forward Program offers performers funding to produce a show. But it is also building something greater that cannot be staged: a tight-knit artistic community. The Pay It Forward Program is in its fourth year, and will...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 8, 2025 | Featured, Uncategorized
By TINKY WEISBLAT For the Valley Advocate Readers will no doubt be intrigued by the title of a new book from Olive Branch Press. “In Defiance” (248 pages, $25) is subtitled “20 Abolitionists You Were Never Taught in School.” True to the title’s promise (or almost so),...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 8, 2025 | Arts, Featured, Uncategorized
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Painter Robert Rauschenberg once said, “The artist’s job is to be a witness to his time in history.” A new juried art show in Amherst wants to bear witness to the current political moment by promoting unity. Gallery A3 in Amherst will...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 1, 2025 | Arts, Featured, Music, Uncategorized
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer A local radio host is gearing up for an uninterrupted 20-hour broadcast next week. Yes, that’s right – 20 hours straight. Jack Frisch, who hosts the jazz program “The Downbeat” on Valley Free Radio every Tuesday afternoon, will host a...
