Articles
Monte Belmonte Wines: New Hampshire’s tax-free liquor lie
It’s getting to be the end of summer. I admit, while I’m trying to drink dry the last vestiges of the season, coming up with an idea for a late summer wine column has been like drawing wine from a stone. I should be drinking wine on vacation, not worrying about...
Lightning strikes: Valley psych folk band Sweet Lightning makes its music video debut
The lush pastoral sounds of acoustic guitar, flute, fiddle, and upright bass echoed in slow motion through the Pushkin Gallery in Greenfield, before returning to normal time in an effect that’s much akin to rewinding an old VHS tape and hitting play. From there, the...
Valley Advocate Sessions Podcast – Blame Cadence
Blame Cadence is a one woman chorus of looped soulful a cappella pop. For the video version of this performance, go to sessions.valleyadvocate.com.
Staff Picks: Midsommar, Bread & Puppet, Weege & The Wondertwins, and Country Music
Midsommar: Director’s Cut at Amherst Cinema // THURSDAY My favorite film of the summer is director Ari Aster’s sophomore film, “Midsommar,” a folk-horror movie in the vein of classic 1973 British horror flick, “The Wickerman.” Without spoiling too much, this is a...
The V-Spot: Get Off the Metaphorical Tit
Hi Yana, My fiancé is sick and was just like “I’m gonna call my mom for soup” and he (LOL) has done shit like this since we moved out on our own. Like, I’m here – ready, willing, and able to take care of you. Get off the tit. I feel like I’m crazy, but at the same...
Cinemadope: Inside Man
It is sometimes difficult to believe that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency — ICE — is only 16 years old. Created in 2003 under George W. Bush in the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks, the new agency merged the two previously separate...
A safer alternative? Health officials investigating links between vaping and lung damage
Rick Paiva, of Northampton, said he smoked cigarettes before switching over to vaping, but “it wasn’t helping my health any better.” He quit vaping two-and-a-half years ago because he said it worsened his asthma, caused bronchitis, made his chest tight and caused him...
The Night Show: Learning the consequences of working the late shift
Whether it be for a late night snack after a long night of partying or studying, or calling the police to handle an emergency in the wee hours of the morning, you’ve probably interacted with a third shift (loosely defined as work between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.) worker at...
Editorial: The Life of Frances Crowe
As all the world knows, Frances Crowe is an activist institution in the Valley, and well beyond. And that’s why, even having lived the full life she did, the community still feels her passing deeply. But in her 100 years, we can all find some inspiration. I’m proud to...
Bizarro Briefs: Naked lunch … er … dinner
Naked lunch … er … dinner A family from Fortuna, California, came home to unexpected — and unwanted — visitors. After returning from dinner last week, the family found two naked strangers that had broken into the household and made themselves a little too comfortable....
Valley Show Girl: Opening Night at the 5th Annual RPM Fest
I walked down the forest path of the Millers Falls Rod & Gun Club for the opening night of the 5th annual RPM Fest. Once I got to the clearing, the field was open with people playing yard games, groups of others gathered in small huddles chatting and enjoying...
Podcast: A victory against residential pipelines
Longmeadow resident and activist Michele Marantz was interviewed in the Advocate story “Longmeadow voters say no to gas pipeline project in residential neighborhood,” about her community group, which managed to get a zoning bylaw passed that could halt a...
Stagestruck: Summer Snapshots
Thinking back over the summer theater season just ended, images from memorable shows are passing before my mind’s eye, and ear — from striking moments in performances to sets and soundscapes. Here are some Valley snapshots. Chester Theatre Company celebrated its 30th...
Cars Go West on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
This week’s Advocate Sessions performer is Cars Go West, which combines psychedelic jams with catchy indie rock. Check out the band’s performance in the video below. Interview with Cars Go West:
Letters to the Editor: A mayor that makes blood boil
A mayor that makes blood boil In response to “Sarno a No Show: As election looms, critics say Springfield’s mayor not there for all,” published August 22 – 28, 2019. The mayor led the charge and marched onto the Hampshire College campus to protest the decision...
Staff Picks: Munio Makuuch, Elmer’s open mic, From the Woods, Lonesome Brothers
Smith College Museum of Art // TUESDAY-SATURDAY The Smith College Museum of Art has just opened a new exhibit on the late Japanese-Amercan poet and printmaker Munio Makuuch, who with his family spent much of World War II in an internment camp in Idaho for Japanese...
Valley Advocate Sessions Podcast – Lush Honey
Lush Honey is a group that makes funky soul and progressive rock ‘n’ roll. The band performed live at the Summit View in Holyoke during the 2019 Best of the Valley Readers’ Poll party this past June. Listen to Lush Honey’s extended, 40-plus minute set,...
Fifty Years From Now, What Will They Say About the “Summer of ’19”?
In this summer of half-century look-backs to the “Summer of ’69,” it’s natural to wonder: What will the summer of 2019 be remembered for 50 years from now? Will the grandchildren of today’s Millennials wonder what took us so long to do something about the mass murders...
Editorial: Fear of ‘straight white guys’
Perhaps the two most visceral issues of our modern political era collided last week in the words of Greenfield City Council President Karen “Rudy” Renaud — immigration and gun violence. While defending her Safe City Ordinance, which essentially prohibits local law...
‘An organizer to the very end’: Friends, family remember Northampton activist Frances Crowe
Legendary anti-war activist and longtime city resident Frances Crowe died Tuesday morning at the age of 100. “She lived an amazing life and had a beautiful death at home surrounded by her children,” Crowe’s 72-year-old daughter, Caltha, said. She said Crowe died after...
Longtime Northampton activist Frances Crowe dies at 100
Frances Crowe, a lifelong activist, peace advocate, and leader in the anti-nuclear movement, died Tuesday at the age of 100. Crowe’s daughter, Caltha Crowe, confirmed Tuesday that her mother had died. Crowe had recently written pieces for the Advocate and the...
Bizarro Briefs: Swedish seagull swipes stash
Swedish seagull swipes stash Sweden has among the toughest marijuana laws in the world, with no allowance for recreational or medical use, and a punishment of a large fine and up to six months in prison. That would have been bad news for a Gothenburg man, who had a...
Basemental: Ruth Garbus sets Earth-loving lyrics to earthy chords
Brattleboro singer-songwriter Ruth Garbus strikes a deep place in the human psyche. Her strange earworm melodies and narrative lyrics have a way of lodging deep. This is especially true for Garbus’s new album, Kleinmeister — German for “small master,” which is set to...
Best of V-Spot: Too Many Orgasms, Too Many Leg Cramps
Editor’s note: Sex and relationship advice columnist Yana Tallon-Hicks is currently on maternity leave. While she’s gone, we’re reprinting some of her best columns of the past several years, and are looking forward to her return in September. This article was...
Podcast: Chris Goudreau on Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno’s absence from marginalized communities
In a piece looking at the upcoming mayoral election in Springfield, writer Chris Goudreau interviewed Mayor Domenic Sarno’s challengers as well as leaders in the activist community. Sarno himself declined an interview. Goudreau speaks about what he learned...
Cinemadope: Remembering Toni Morrison
When the writer Toni Morrison passed away in early August, she left behind worlds. Her own, certainly, brought so vividly to life in works like The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Beloved — carefully crafted and filled with a vitality that carried a sometimes brutal truth about...
Free Will Astrology: Relax and recharge, Gemini
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Here are examples of activities I recommend you try in the coming days. 1.) Build a campfire on the beach with friends and regale each other with stories of your most interesting successes. 2.) Buy eccentric treasures at a flea market and...
Bizarro Briefs Podcast: Peed on peas, moose meat solicitation, and a dirty diaper assault
Valley Advocate editor Dave Eisenstadter and Hits 94.3 host Trumpy talk about the week’s weird news in a podcast version of the Valley Advocate’s Bizarro Briefs section. Hear about peed on peas, moose meat solicitation, and a dirty diaper assault. Listen here: You can...
Jake Kulak & The Lowdown on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
This week’s Advocate Sessions band is Jake Kulak & The Lowdown, which brings blues rock with soulful virtuoso guitar and electrifying jams to the Sessions stage. Check out the band’s performance in the video below. Interview with Jake Kulak & The...
Letters to the Editor: Rest in Peace and Power, Michaelann Bewsee
Rest in Peace and Power In response to “Michaelann Bewsee would not stand for injustice,” published on valleyadvocate.com on August 16, 2019. See opposite page. Who will keep nudging the warming shelters to open before it reaches zero? We will! I held her in high...
Best of V-Spot: Should I Date Someone I’m Not Attracted To?
Editor’s note: Sex and relationship advice columnist Yana Tallon-Hicks is currently on maternity leave. While she’s gone, we’re reprinting some of her best columns of the past several years, and are looking forward to her return in September. This column was...
Staff Picks: The Mary Jane Jones, Toni Morrison film, Millpond Live, and Food Truck Festival
The Mary Jane Jones at Theodore’s // THURSDAY Vintage-influenced jazzy soul band The Mary Jane Jones returns to Springfield’s iconic blues club, Theodore’s, this Thursday. If you’ve never seen the Mary Jane Jones’ live performance before, now would be the time. The...
Introducing the Valley Advocate Sessions Podcast – Home Body
Home Body is an electro fever-pop, new wave and experimental pop duo. They recently released their new record, Spiritus, which can be found on their website. For the video version of this performance, go to sessions.valleyadvocate.com. Listen here: You can hear more...
Sarno a No Show: As election looms, critics say Springfield’s mayor not there for all
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno has defined his 12-plus years as the city’s leader as “the people’s mayor,” but for 19-year-old Trevaughn Smith, that description of Sarno, which can be found on the city’s website, is a “loaded title.” Smith, campaign director for...
Bizarro Briefs: The wedding crasher
The wedding crasher Police in Texas are asking the public for help in finding a thief they are calling “The Wedding Crasher.” The Comal County Sheriff’s Office has described the suspect as arriving uninvited to weddings, posing as a guest and then stealing gifts,...
Longmeadow voters say no to gas pipeline project in residential neighborhood
Town Meeting voters in Longmeadow overwhelmingly approved a change to to the town’s zoning bylaws Tuesday, which would prohibit a proposed Tennessee Gas Company meter station project in a residentially zoned neighborhood at the Longmeadow Country Club. More than 200...
Valley Show Girl: RPM FEST
RPM Fest, the largest camp-out metal music festival in New England and something that many people in the Valley look forward to each year, is back and coming up quick. Friday, August 30, through Sunday, September 1, are jam-packed with over 50 bands spreading out...
Clueless Parent: Making your kid feel helpful, even when they throw eggs
I hate every activity I have to do pre-coffee. I’m admittedly a bit of a grump before I’ve had my morning caffeine bump, so when an egg flew through the air and smashed on the kitchen floor on a recent morning, I wasn’t amused. My 21-month-old daughter — my beloved...
Stagestruck: Dancing While Black
It wasn’t intentional, but thinking back on the programs I’ve seen at Jacob’s Pillow this summer, and forward to one that’s on this week, I realized that every concert on my dance card this year is by African-American-led companies. Unintentional, perhaps, but not...
Podcast: Lauren Simonds on small business in the world of big cannabis
Lauren Simonds returns to the Valley Advocate podcast to talk about the challenges small businesses face now that big companies have become operational in the Massachusetts cannabis market. Read her full article here. Listen: You can hear more of the Valley Advocate’s...
Cinemadope: Ready or Not a cunning twist on The Most Dangerous Game
I could hardly have imagined, back when I was a gangly middle schooler, how far into my adulthood one of my favorite stories would reach. But here it is some three-plus decades later, and it seems that every year there is some new tale that bears the influence of...
Free Will Astrology: Let Frederick Douglass be your guide, Taurus
ARIES (March 21-April 19): It’s not cost-efficient to recycle plastic. Sorting and processing the used materials to make them available for fresh stuff is at least as expensive as creating new plastic items from scratch. On the other hand, sending used plastic to a...
Activist leader Michaelann Bewsee would not stand for injustice
The city of Springfield and the activism community reaching much further lost a committed champion this week as former Arise for Social Justice executive director (and former Valley Advocate staffer) Michaelann Bewsee died from complications of lung cancer. She was...
Among The Acres on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Among The Acres combine folk-rock, pop, and Americana with lush vocal harmonies. Check out the band’s Valley Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Among The Acres:
Best of V-Spot: Prostate Power — The Not So Dirty Truth
Editor’s note: Sex and relationship advice columnist Yana Tallon-Hicks is currently on maternity leave. While she’s gone, we’re reprinting some of her best columns of the past several years, and are looking forward to her return in September. This column was...
Letters to the Editor: Truman made the right decision to use nuclear weapons
Truman made the right decision to use nuclear weapons In response to “Now is the time to stop building nuclear weapons,” “Walking for a nuclear free future — for 40 years,” and “Paying homage to the nuclear resistance,” published August 8-14. There are many good...
Staff Picks: Lookstock, Have a Seat Cabrito, Ashfield Lakehouse, and The Waifs
The True Jacqueline, Hot Dirt, and Brief Irmen // SATURDAY Some of the Valley’s best local bands are set to play the Ashfield Lakehouse this Saturday. There’s alternative/ noise rock band The True Jacqueline as well as Hot Dirt, which combines progressive and math...
Basemental: P.U.M.K.S. Is Not Dead
Jesus Vio’s new album Dutch Science kicks off with the mother of all questions: “Do You Believe?”: The vamping, minimalist, proto-acoustic track wryly asks “Do you believe in Halloween?” before declaring that “P.U.M.K.S. is not dead,” introducing the irreverently...
Can Small Business Survive in the World of Big Cannabis?
If you can say one thing about the Pioneer Valley, it’s that we love local. We champion and support small business, artists, makers, musicians, farmers, organic food, craft beer and pretty much artisanal anything. My recent expedition to INSA — the adult recreational...
Bizarro Briefs Podcast: Falling bears, dumb beverages, and a septic tank lightning strike
Valley Advocate editor Dave Eisenstadter and Hits 94.3 host Trumpy talk about the week’s weird news in a podcast version of the Valley Advocate’s Bizarro Briefs section. Hear about falling bears, dumb beverages, and a septic tank lightning strike. You can hear more of...
Editorial: Conspiracy theories or not, prison reform is needed
The suicide death in jail of billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has sparked confusion and outrage across the nation, and many ill-founded conspiracy theories online. Many are rightly worried that Epstein’s rich and powerful associates who may have...
‘I hope I’m never satisfied’: UMass rapper Chris Focus on finding hip-hop by accident
Twenty-one-year-old Shutesbury rapper and University of Massachusetts Amherst student Christopher Franklin, known as Chris Focus, sprouted his love for hip-hop by accident. At the age of 11, behind the back of his parents, Focus covertly scrolled through YouTube until...
Bizarro Briefs: Ketchup Karma
Ketchup Karma Someone stole a bottle of ketchup from a New Jersey restaurant, and claims to have been immediately wracked by guilt — and bad karma. A few hours after the condiment thief purloined the tomato-y diner staple, someone crashed into their car. In the weeks...
Monte Belmonte Wines: A Case for a Mixed Case
It was a dark and stormy night. Meaning a night where I could use a rum and ginger beer over ice with a slice of lime. But also, there was a thunderstorm looming. My children had taken over the inside and outside of my house in order to transform it into an immersive...
Stagestruck: In Company with Shakespeare + a truly Bazaar production
Shakespeare & Company’s name has threefold associations. It’s a theater that works in the company, as it were, of its eponym. It shares the name of the legendary bookshop on Paris’s Left Bank, lending an air of bohemian audacity and camaraderie to the enterprise...
Podcast: Shutesbury rapper Chris Focus on finding hip-hop by accident
Audio intern Jonathan Kermah interviews 21-year-old Shutesbury rapper Chris Focus about his start as an artist, his evolution, Rosebud Creatives, and more. Listen here: You can hear more of the Valley Advocate’s podcasts at https://anchor.fm/valley-advocate, on Apple...
Cinemadope: Keeping Time — Our lives in music
As I was getting ready to write this column, the news came over the radio that filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker had died. Never really a household name, Pennebaker nevertheless contributed to our shared cultural vocabulary in ways that nearly anyone will recognize: if you...
Free Will Astrology: You’re a grown up person, Pisces
ARIES (March 21-April 19): How did sound technicians create the signature roar of the fictional monster Godzilla? They slathered pine-tar resin on a leather glove and stroked it against the strings of a double bass. How about the famous howl of the fictional character...
Quincy on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
This week’s Advocate Sessions band is North Adams-based band Quincy, which combines Americana with bluesy roots rock, and indie folk. Check out the band’s full performance in the video below. Interview with Quincy:E-Edition
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