Articles
by Chris Goudreau | Dec 10, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
All they want is a clean slate. After nine-plus months of dealing with the tumultuous life upheaval caused by the pandemic – on-again, off-again jobs, opening and closing of public schools and the overall anxiety posed by COVID-19 – Paige Spaulding and her husband,...
by Joanna Buoniconti | Dec 10, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
If things smell a bit skunky in the neighborhood, don’t automatically point the figure at those nocturnal creatures. That odor may be emanating from cannabis plants that have cropped up, so to speak, at homes throughout the Pioneer Valley. It’s been four years since...
by Monte Belmonte | Dec 10, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines
Almost from day one of the pandemic lockdown, Sharon Swihart has been living with the irony — and a little bit of guilt — that, as a wine manager, she is an “essential worker.” “My life has not changed at all in the pandemic’s wake,” says Swihart, the wine buyer at...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Dec 10, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, The V-Spot
Dear Yana, I’ve been texting with this guy during quarantine and it’s been very fun and hot. I boss him around and give him writing assignments in exchange for photos of myself which he is suitably grateful for. However, recently he sent me an unsolicited dick pic....
by Michael Moses | Dec 10, 2020 | Articles, Featured
Dear Readers, The Valley Advocate has always been, and will continue to be, a voice for our community. We are committed to make a conscious effort to spotlight voices that are marginalized and provide a platform to say what needs to be said. I believe we understand...
by State House News Service | Dec 10, 2020 | Articles, News
BOSTON — With the threat of legal challenges looming, state regulators gave final approval on Nov. 30 to new regulations that will reshape the legal marijuana industry to include home delivery businesses initially available only to social equity program participants...
by Chris Rohmann | Dec 9, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
MIFA, the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts, is a Holyoke-based venture that’s working to restore the city’s venerable Victory Theatre as a regional performance venue while also forging partnerships with the Latinx community. MIFA and the...
by Chris Rohmann | Dec 2, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
Does theater, by definition, require an audience’s physical presence in a shared space with live actors? Is viewing the video record of a live performance different in a fundamental way from being there? What are we to make of the new online performances in this time...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 19, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
“Thanksgiving is such a lovely holiday. Do we have to talk about genocide during this beautiful American holiday?” That’s the kind of pushback often directed at reassessments that put “the first Thanksgiving” in its true historical context, says Talya Kingston. She’s...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 28, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
It’s the time of year for werewolves and witches, costumes and candy – and, in this especially bloodcurdling season, tricks and Trump – so this weekend, area theaters are offering an autumn harvest of howls and horror. Here’s a rundown (alliteration-free). From UMass...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 22, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
As you approach the theater, you find a note pinned to the stage door. It’s from the director, who says he’s been delayed and you’re to check in with the cast and make sure everything is ready for rehearsal. Then you open the door, and step back in time. You’re in...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 14, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
It wasn’t planned this way, but the timing couldn’t be more apt. Just as the U.S. Senate is poised to confirm a “pro-life” justice to the Supreme Court, where abortion rights hang in the balance, WAM Theatre is poised to launch a play about Roe v. Wade. Lisa Loomer’s...
by Chris Goudreau | Oct 8, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
Across Court Square in the city of Springfield the words, “BLACK LIVES MATTER,” are painted on Court Street in 20-foot-tall, bright yellow letters — a powerful symbol of a movement that has taken on a new urgency nationally and in our own backyard in this chaotic year...
by Chris Goudreau | Oct 8, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
While Springfield grapples with the fallout of a highly critical U.S. Department of Justice report, other police departments throughout the Valley are implementing changes in the wake of a national wave of protests following the death of George Floyd. In Northampton,...
by Joanna Buoniconti | Oct 8, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
Nearly two years after the first recreational marijuana sales began in Massachusetts, it’s safe to say the budding industry is contributing mightily to the state and regional economy, despite a significant hit to sales earlier this spring when the coronavirus pandemic...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Oct 8, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
I remember when I first got into journalism covering community planning meetings with quaint names like “Vision 2020,” about what this year would be like. Now here we are, and I can honestly say I don’t think any amount of planning would have prepared us for the...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 8, 2020 | Articles, Featured
Amherst 1 Rise Holdings Inc. 169 Meadow St. Hours: Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Phone: 413-825-9770 Website: risecannabis.com/ Products: Offers medical and recreational marijuana. Massachusetts is one of eight states...
by Brigid Glackin | Oct 8, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
On the evening of Oct. 29, 1915, a group of 500 women of the Equal Suffrage League, dressed in white, and wearing, across their chests, gold sashes emblazoned with VOTES FOR WOMEN, gathered in the alleys around their headquarters on Center Street in Northampton. At...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 8, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
Last March, when the theaters shut down and the proverbial ghost lights went on, we thought we might be back onstage by now. I, for one, thought the play I was scheduled to direct would be opening this weekend. But as the spring scramble of online make-do’s turned...
by Chad Cain | Oct 8, 2020 | Articles, Featured
A heartfelt welcome back, dear reader. It’s been awhile since The Valley Advocate’s last edition on April 30. The cover for that edition was titled, “We are still here,” highlighting a feature story about how the Cancer Connection was still offering phone and online...
by The League of Women Voters of Northampton | Oct 8, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
With the Nov. 3 General Election less and a month away, here are some key voting dates compiled by the League of Women Voters of Northampton: Voting timeline Sept. 14: Vote by mail applications are mailed to all voters for the election. Oct. 17-30: Early in-person...
by Marty Nathan | Oct 8, 2020 | Articles, Featured
“I can hear my brother crying I can’t breathe, Now I’m in a struggle singing I can’t leave … ” — “I Can’t Breathe,” The Peace Poets For many years I was a doctor in Springfield. I treated hundreds of patients, young and old, for asthma. It was painful to...
by Brenda Nelson | Oct 8, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music
The COVID-19 crisis and need to avoid crowds have canceled many planned events in the area, but alternatives are being arranged for online viewing, and in some cases, participation. Our online calendar has listings from organizations across the country hosting virtual...
by Chris Rohmann | Sep 11, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
In the usual summer theater season, I’ll see dozens of plays and put hundreds of miles on the odometer. But in this most unusual summer, the car stayed mostly in the driveway and I stayed mostly in the house. I did get to over two dozen shows – or rather, they were...
by Chris Rohmann | Aug 7, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
August 13 update: Just as this piece was about to be filed last week, Barrington Stage Company and Berkshire Theatre Group, the first-in-the-country theaters to reopen with live performances, received another blow to their well-laid plans. Following on from the...
by Chris Rohmann | Aug 4, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
In a former life I was a musician – a singer-songwriter in the ’70s mold. One of my most memorable gigs was a drive-in concert, opening for James Taylor’s sister Kate and her band. It took place/was held in a large field in suburban New Jersey, where a raised stage...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 4, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
While most theaters in our area remain closed, some for the rest of the year – and some at risk of closing for good – others are looking past Zoom and toward Stage 3 of Massachusetts’ phased reopening, beginning next week, for ways to offer in-person performances. As...
by Chris Rohmann | Jun 23, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
“A nasty side effect of the pandemic is that performing artists, like so many others, are suddenly in the position of rethinking our careers,” Kyle Boatwright told me the other day. “We still don’t know when we’ll see a stage again, and we’ve been cornered into making...
by Chris Rohmann | Jun 16, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck, Uncategorized
Phase Two of Massachusetts’ staged reopening started this week, lifting some restrictions on public activities such as dining, swimming and hairdressing (really??) but not on live performance. That no-no doesn’t lift till Phase Four, which won’t come along till late...
by Monte Belmonte | May 14, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines
“You like hip-hop? First you got Chardonnay…it’s like the granddaddy of wine. It’s versatile, smooth…it’s like the Jay-Z of wine. This is how Elijah, played by Mamudou Athie, describes wine in the new Netflix movie Uncorked. It follows Elijah on his...
by Chris Rohmann | May 11, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
“I’ve never missed uncomfortable theatre seats (and airplane seats, for that matter) more in my life,” Angela Combest wrote me recently. She’s the publicist for Chester Theatre Company, which, like almost every other theater in the region, has canceled its summer...
by Steve Pfarrer | Apr 30, 2020 | Articles, Featured
The last few months have brought national attention to Tulsa, Oklahoma, as plans were unveiled to begin digging there in April in suspected mass graves — locations where corpses may have been dumped almost a century ago, after white mobs attacked and burned a black...
by Steve Pfarrer | Apr 30, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, News
Kris Delmhorst, holding an acoustic guitar in her lap, wore a hopeful smile as she sat recently in a room in her Shelburne Falls home and stared into a video camera. “I’m here,” she said. “Are you here? I think we’re here together, people … thank you for coming.” Like...
by Steve Pfarrer | Apr 30, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
As deadly as it has been, COVID-19 doesn’t have the historical track record of what has consistently been America’s second leading cause of death: cancer. Yet the novel coronavirus has certainly made matters more difficult for people struggling with cancer and for...
by Jennifer Levesque | Apr 22, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Music, Valley Show Girl
Pioneer Valley natives Kara Rose Wolf, Kerrie T. Bowden and Laura Marie Picchi are soul sisters. Their trio, Eavesdrop is musical proof. They combine three-part vocals with percussion and acoustic guitar into their style. A mixture of Americana, folk, pop and soul,...
by Monte Belmonte | Apr 22, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines
You may have recently seen the New York Times story about the anglicized version of the Finnish word kalsarikannit. The translation, and the trending hashtag that goes with it, is #pantsdrunk. It’s part of the Finnish of knowing you’re going nowhere, taking your...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Apr 22, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, The V-Spot
Hi Yana! It’s been a month of quarantine, and my boyfriend’s and my different feelings about it are really starting to show. He’s taking more of a wait-this-out approach by sleeping a lot, playing video games, not keeping much of a schedule, etc. I’m working really...
by Jack Brown | Apr 22, 2020 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured
As we all navigate our way through this new landscape of isolation and social distancing, most of us have lost the small local connections we once took for granted. The familiar hello of a barista who poured our morning coffee, the nod of the bus driver who brought us...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Apr 15, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
It was October 2018 when Emily Collins of Holyoke, now 30, had her second child, Sebastian, who was born 12½ weeks premature. Sebastian lived for 15 days, then died at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Collins’ friends and family, apart from her sister and...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Apr 15, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
No farms, no food. That bumper sticker slogan feels more apt than ever in this time when government officials are determining what counts as an “essential service.” Could there ever have been a doubt that those growing the food to feed us pass the test?...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Apr 15, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, I have a high sex drive and my partner has a low sex drive. How do I navigate this? My sex life has been leaving me disappointed for a while now but I’m afraid of putting pressure on my partner. If I ask for sex I feel like I’m coercing them into it and it...
by Chris Rohmann | Apr 13, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
With campuses closed and classrooms empty, teachers are applying long-distance work-arounds to complete their spring courses, gathering their students in Zoom rooms and juggling assignments on Moodle. Teachers of acting, directing, and other hands-on theater skills...
by Steve Pfarrer | Apr 9, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
Andrea Hairston was already a pretty serious bike commuter, riding through most kinds of weather to her teaching job at Smith College, when she had an encounter several years ago with the late Frances Crowe of Northampton. It was a cold winter day, with snow coming...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Apr 9, 2020 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News
Now firmly in the second month of intense disruption caused by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, it’s getting clearer to see that information is among our most highly prized assets as we continue to shelter in place and undertake other efforts to flatten the...
by Hunter Styles | Apr 9, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, The Beerhunter
This article was supposed to be about gathering in large groups. Less than a month ago, I had planned to dedicate this craft beer column to a preview of White Lion Brewing Company’s new taproom and facility in downtown Springfield, which is currently under...
by Jennifer Levesque | Apr 8, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Valley Show Girl
One day late last week I scrolled through Facebook to find memes to laugh at and maybe some new music to check out. I came across a video that three or more of my friends shared. “Oh yeah!” I got excited when I saw the preview image of the YouTube video of Agawam...
by Jack Brown | Apr 8, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starting to miss the world. Out of work and holed up in the house — half the week in a kind of monkish solitude, the other half with three increasingly stir-crazy kids — is exactly the opposite of what anyone wants out of...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Apr 8, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, The V-Spot
Dear Yana, I’ve been in a relationship for the last five months. Our relationship is hard for me to describe — it isn’t full of issues nor passion. I’m used to being in relationships that are explosive and demanding, volatile. This relationship I would...
by Advocate Staff | Apr 3, 2020 | Advocate Sessions, Articles, Featured, Music
This week’s Advocate Sessions performer is singer-songwriter JJ Slater, who writes original music that blends together folk-rock and psychedelic pop with jazzy chord progressions. Interview with JJ Slater:
by Chris Goudreau | Apr 1, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
Schools across the state, country and the globe are closed amid the coronavirus pandemic. Here in Massachusetts, though schools are slated to reopen at the beginning of May, they’re now closed per Gov. Charlie Baker’s order. In the meantime, local educators in the...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Apr 1, 2020 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News
I’m sad to report that I was among those laid off last week by Valley Advocate parent company Newspapers of New England, which also owns the Daily Hampshire Gazette and the Greenfield Recorder. As you can see, I’m still here writing the Advocate’s...
by Chris Goudreau | Apr 1, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Music, The CDs You Gave Me
Western Mass-based experimental/math rock duo Fred Cracklin takes its name from a live action character played by Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore in the 1990s animated science fiction comedy “Space Ghost Coast to Coast.” The series is set up as a surreal...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Apr 1, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, I’m writing to see if you have any advice for the polyamorous community during the COVID-19 outbreak. While there aren’t many cases in Hampshire County [as of writing this question on March 20], my partner and I have decided to work from home and...
by Chris Goudreau | Mar 27, 2020 | Articles, Featured, Music, Valley Advocate Sessions
This week’s Advocate Sessions performance is by synth duo Fire Letters, which combines synth pop with alternative rock influences. Check out the band’s Sessions video set in the video below. Interview with Fire Letters:
by Chris Rohmann | Apr 1, 2020 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
A ghost light is the single lamp that’s left burning onstage when the theater is dark, the audience has gone home and the cast and crew have called it a night. It’s the light that’s on when all the other lights are off. Ghost lights are shining 24/7 all over the...
by Advocate Staff | Mar 27, 2020 | Articles, Featured
Still not much going on these days in terms of live performances, but there are a few if you know where to look. Here is a hybrid staff picks from the Advocate with a livestream concert, a weird movie, and a couple of TV shows to enjoy. — Dave Home Sessions at the...
by Jennifer Levesque | Mar 27, 2020 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Music, Valley Show Girl
A few weeks ago, before this whole quarantine thing happened, I ventured over to downtown Greenfield to catch what would be my last show for quite a bit. I parked my car just in time to see two people pass my parking spot with medical face masks on. If only I knew...
by Luis Fieldman | Mar 25, 2020 | Articles, Featured, News
Editor’s note: Due to the dangers facing those seeking asylum and their families in their home countries, as well as the sensitive natures of their legal cases, the Advocate is using pseudonyms Natty, Eva, and María for asylum seekers featured in this story and...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Mar 25, 2020 | Articles, Featured
As we recognize the many local businesses for being the Best in the Valley in this issue, as voted by our readers, it is a difficult time for businesses of all types — including this one. Realities of the economic effects of the coronavirus have not spared us, and we...
by Jack Brown | Mar 25, 2020 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured
It might seem silly to have a local film column this week. As I write, public schools are shutting down for a three-week hiatus, restaurants are shifting strictly to takeout service, and we’re all avoiding crowds. The long-running Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival...
