Articles
Pick of the Day 8/21: Transperformance 28: Amperbands
Celebrate community and the arts with Transperformance 28: AmperBands! Featuring Colorway as Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Soul Magnets as Sly & the Family Stone, Fancy Trash as Paul McCartney & Wings, King Radio as Simon & Garfunkel, Eric Olsson and...
Back Talk: Reactions to the Valley Advocate’s endorsement of Chelsea Kline
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. Reactions to the Advocate’s...
Bizarro Briefs: Have You Herd This One?
A usually calm herd of cows became vigilantes when they began chasing a fleeing suspect in Sanford, Florida. The Sanford Police Department said officers attempted to make a traffic stop on a stolen vehicle. The driver took off and crashed into a ditch. The passenger...
Free Will Astrology: Don’t settle for too little, Taurus
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “The prettier the garden, the dirtier the hands of the gardener,” writes aphorist B. E. Barnes. That’ll be especially applicable to you in the coming weeks. You’ll have extra potential to create and foster beauty, and...
Pick of the Day 8/20: Michelle Malone at the Iron Horse
The New York Times says Michelle Malone is “the kind of singer and songwriter who can jolt things into overdrive.” She’s been on the scene for decades and she’s collaborated with artists like Steve Earle Malone, the late Gregg Allman, ZZ Top,...
The True Jacqueline on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
The True Jacqueline are an art rock/ noise pop band from Northampton. Check out the band’s complete Advocate Sessions performance. Interview with the True Jacqueline:
Pick of the Day 8/19: Runa at the Iron Horse
Quickly gaining recognition as one of Irish music’s new “super-groups,” Runa prides itself on pushing the boundaries of Irish folk music by merging it with the Americana and roots music formats. There’s a taste of Ireland and Scotland mixed with jazz,...
Pick of the Day 8/18: I, Claude Monet
I, CLAUDE MONET is reveals the “heart and soul of arguably the world’s most loved artist.” Although Monet struggled with depression, loneliness, and thoughts of suicide, his love of art and gardening led to some of the finest works the world has known. ...
Pick of the Day 8/17: Tuvan Throat Singers
Tuvan throat singers to perform in Brattleboro, Vermont Brattleboro Museum & Art Center presents Alash Ensemble, a trio of Tuvan throat singers. The central Asian republic of Tuva is home to a style of throat singing whereby one singers produces two or more notes...
Journalists performing a public service are not the enemy
Despite unprecedented attacks on the press by the president of the United States, journalists across the country — including here at the Daily Hampshire Gazette — continue our mission of informing a responsible citizenry and holding public officials and institutions...
Pick of the Day 8/15: The Quebe Sisters at the Iron Horse
If you’re a fan of Americana, Western, Progressive and Jazz-influenced Swing, Country, and Texas-Style Fiddling, you’re a fan of the Quebe Sisters. Hailing from Dallas, between these three sibs, they’ve won a number of state, regional, and national fiddle...
Pick of the Day 8/14: Black Klansman
He’s back…and better than ever. Spike Lee is putting an historical mirror up to our present day faces. A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same. Black Klansman, winner of the 2018 Cannes Film Festiva lGrand Prix, is at Amherst Cinema tonight;...
Pick of the Day 8/13: Eighth Grade
If you’ve been through eighth grade, then you know how AWKWARD life can be. It’s no different for Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher), the subject of You Tube star Bo Burnham’s directorial debut, also called Eighth Grade. Kayla is the average kid who makes...
Pick of the Day 8/12: Sweet Crude at the Iron Horse
If you have doubts about the beauty of all the different ethnic and cultural nooks and crannies in America, this act may well erase them. Sweet Crude is straight out of Louisiana and they proudly sing out in French and in English. As a matter of fact, one of their...Pick of the Day 8/11: Punk Prom at the Flywheel Arts Collective
It’s not an ordinary lame prom at the Flywheel. Western Mass punks unite wearing their best alternative formal wear as they jam to local favorites, pose in a photobooth, and stop by a temporary tattoo station. The musical lineup for the evening includes pop punk band...
The Frost Heaves and Hales on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
The frost heaves and hales perform as a psych folk duo with one-minute songs about birds and other animals on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage. Interview with The frost heaves and hales:
Pick of the Day 8/10:Colorway at Luxe Burger Bar in Springfield
Colorway is awesome. They blew us away during their Advocate Sessions performance and I’ve gotten to see them here and there since then. Here’s a chance to catch them at a no cover, all ages show in Springfield. Luxe Burger Bar, 1200 West Columbus Ave., Springfield....
Pick of the Day 8/9: The Chalet at Mass MoCa
Tonight and every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. until the end of August, Mass MoCA sets up The Chalet. The Chalet is an art installation created by Dean Baldwin and serves as a riverside bar and beer garden in Building Eight. Live music starts up at 8 p.m. and visitors can...
Stagestruck: End-of-summer shows in the Berkshires — food for fun and thought
When Shakespeare & Company first set up shop in the Berkshires, their mainstage was a greensward before a wooded glade at the Mount, Edith Wharton’s Lenox estate, with the audience seated on folding lawn chairs. That tradition has lately been revived, with outdoor...
Pick of the Day 8/8: Concert for George
It’s hard to believe that George Harrison of the Beatles shuffled off his mortal coil almost twenty years ago. But, alas, it’s been that long. If you’re feeling like you want to reminisce, check out Concert for George, the 2002 performance tribute...
Staff Picks 8/9- 8/15
Punk Prom at the Flywheel Arts Collective // SATURDAY, AUGUST 11 It’s not an ordinary lame prom at the Flywheel. Western Mass punks unite wearing their best alternative formal wear as they jam to local favorites, pose in a photobooth, and stop by a temporary tattoo...
Pick of the Day 8/7: BSO at Tanglewood
One of the finest reasons to live in western Mass is our proximity to great art. So get out there and lap it up! It’s a day of musical activities for the entire family at Tanglewood and the whole shabang ends with an 8 p.m. concert featuring all the...
Local Calendar: Monday 8/6 – Wednesday 8/9
MONDAY 8/6 MUSIC 43rd Annual Vermont Jazz Center Summer Jazz Workshop: 4 p.m. The Putney School, 418 Houghton Brook Rd., Putney. Berkshire High Peaks Music Festival: $12 – $50. The Berkshire School, 245 N. Undermountain Rd., Sheffield. 800-843-0778....
Arc City Angels on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Arc City Angels is a three piece hard rock band from Holyoke that combines metal, pop, and punk together for an eclectic mix. Interview with Arc City Angels:
Pick of the Day 8/6: The Berkshire High Peaks Music Festival
So what’s happening in Sheffield? Yes, Sheffield, Massachusetts. You know that small town out west in the Berkshires and home to Big Elm Brewing. Well, the Berkshire High Peaks Music Festival is happening, that’s what. French Baroque, Russian piano, and...
Pick of the Day 8/5: Dangerous House
The Williamstown Theater continues it summer run with a new play called Dangerous House. An aspiring black South African footballer named Noxolo moves to London for a fresh start. But she’s drawn back when Cape Town becomes host to the World Cup and she discovers her...
Pick of the Day 8/4: Valley Showgirl
The Valley Advocate’s own Valley Show Girl columnist Jennifer Levesque is curating a lineup of local acts at the 13th Floor Music Lounge in Florence, which includes guitar and synth driven duo Fire Letters, progressive synth sorcerer John Trudeau, Grey Matter, led by...
Stagestruck: Dancing down Hubbard Street— 40 years young
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is a frequent and popular visitor to the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. This year, celebrating its 40th season, the company presents a quartet of works showcasing its history and its current 16-member troupe, one of the most technically...Western Mass Millenials Find Fitness in the Extreme
Think of a gym. Muscle-bound men do tricep curls while women in spandex pedal endless miles on exercise bikes. Now forget all that. Those things may still happen, but you’re more likely to see it with people over 50. Those in their 20s and 30s, known as millennials,...
Pick of the Day 8/3: Blondie!
Deborah Harry (and her boys) aka Blondie are rockin’ the Berkshires tonight. Yeah, boy! Call me nostalgic, I don’t care. She and her bandmates are at Mass Moca playing the greats and making the world a new wave paradise once again. And the Kids open up...
Local Calendar: Thursday 8/2 – Sunday 8/5
THURSDAY 8/2 MUSIC Amherst Downtown Beats – Flathead Rodeo & Colorway: 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Free. The Amherst BID’s Downtown Beats Summer Concert series continues with a performance by Flathead Rodeo and Colorway.Kendrick Park, East Pleasant St., Amherst....
Pick of the Day 8/2: The Amendments
Thanks to the Northampton Arts Council, The Cardboard Sea Theater presents The Amendments. It’s a play about the sorrows of death and embattled family relationships. Judith and and her estranged brother Gabe’s father die; Judith just wants one thing from...
Stagestruck: Three in the Hills
A trio of two-character plays now running in the Hilltowns and Berkshires offer a summer-season variety of subjects, styles, and even venues – a black-box theater, a converted town hall, a church sanctuary. Pauline Productions is dedicated to “producing and creating...
The Beerhunter: Invisible Flavors
Hermit Thrush Brewing hunts the hills for wild yeast Many brewers rely on websites, blogs, and social media to follow the latest craft beer trends. But lately Christophe Gagné, the bearded Vermont dweller who runs Hermit Thrush Brewing, seems more interested in...
Staff Picks Week of 8/2 – 8/8
Valley Show Girl Presents at the 13th Floor Music Lounge // SATURDAY, AUGUST 4 The Valley Advocate’s own Valley Show Girl columnist Jennifer Levesque is curating a lineup of local acts at the 13th Floor Music Lounge in Florence, which includes guitar and synth driven...
Pick of the Day 8/1: Joe Purdy at the Iron Horse
Firstly: Welcome to August! We have now entered the eighth month of 2018 and it’s kind of hard to believe! Anyway, folk rocker Joe Purdy is in Northampton tonight. Purdy is prolific; he’s released fourteen albums over the last fifteen years. His music...
Local Calendar: Tuesday 7/31 & 8/1
TUESDAY 7/31 MUSIC Alceste: 9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. 12 Senior/$14 General. Opera based on heartbreaking story narrated by Euripides: King Admetus is dying and his wife, Alceste offers Apollo her own life in exchange for that of her beloved. $South Hadley’s Tower...
Pick of the Day 7/30: Sorry to Bother You
Okay, I have a funny feeling and a sneaking suspicion that there are going be some serious laugh out loud moments in Sorry to Bother You, a new movie about race, money, politics, and morals. This is what the Amherst Cinema site says: “In an alternate reality...
Stagestruck Abroad: Shakespeare’s Haunts, Part 2 — Stratford
Nowadays, Stratford-upon-Avon feels not so much like a town as a gift shop. The once-sleepy hamlet where William Shakespeare was born some 450 years ago, which he abandoned for a life on the London stage, has become a mercantile monument to Stratford’s most famous son...
Riley Duggan on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Riley Duggan is a poetic folk singer-songwriter with heartfelt melodies. Interview with Riley Duggan:
Stagestruck Abroad: Shakespeare’s Haunts, part 1 — The Globe
When I was in England earlier this month, I saw four plays at the two venues most closely associated with William Shakespeare – his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon and the Globe playhouse on London’s South Bank. At the Globe, there was a gender-switching Hamlet and a...
Pick of the Day 7/27: Elliot Street Block Party in Brattleboro
If you’re in Brattleboro, Elliot Street is the place to be on Friday. Celebrate food, the arts, and the shops with your green mountain neighbors. Get your grub on at the international food crawl, take your little ones to a concert for kids, and do your grown up thing...
Local Calendar: Thursday 7/26 to Sunday 7/29
THURSDAY 7/26 MUSIC A Little Night Music: 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Trinity United Methodist Church will present “A Little Night Music” every Thursday during the month of July at 6:00pm. Free, donations accepted for all food items. Trinity United Methodist Church, 361...
Pick of the Day 7/26: Corazon de Granada
Ready to heat things up? Check out Corazon de Granada tonight as they bring their impeccable Flamenco music and dance to New City Brewery in Easthampton. You can expect “a passionate evening … steeped in tradition,” the event hosts promise. Corazon...
Pick of the Day 7/25: We the People
In this time of political chaos and division, it makes sense to go back to the beginning to determine exactly what the Great Experiment was all about. But We the People can’t be put in a box; not only because it’s outside on the farm in Ashfield Double...
VIDEO: Riley Duggan on Valley Advocate Sessions Friday
Riley Duggan is a poetic folk singer-songwriter with heartfelt melodies. Check out a teaser for Duggan’s upcoming Advocate Sessions performance, which will be released this Friday.
Pick of the Day 7/24: After the Rain at the Whately Library
Sometimes you just want to mellow out, right? So why not scoot up (or down) I-91 and check out an outdoor concert by After the Rain at the Whately Library. After The Rain performs acoustic and a cappella arrangements of everything from traditional Appalachian to...
Pick of the Day 7/23: Leave No Trace
Amherst Cinema is just a gold mine. No, really, their film curation is the bee’s knees. And my pick, once again, can only be found in the dark. Leave No Trace is the story of a father and his daughter who have lived off the grid for some time. They make their...
Local Calendar: Monday 7/23 – Wednesday 7/25
MONDAY 7/23 MUSIC Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival 2018: MASS MoCa, 1040 MASS MoCA WAY, North Adams. Kitchen Jam – Local Music Rocks! Concert: 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. 2nd performance of our Local Music Rocks! Concert Series. Happening rain or...
Pick of the Day 7/22: The Southern Vermont Dance Festival
The Southern Vermont Dance Festival 2018 is all day today! From 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Take your pick of over “113 dance classes, two Galas at the Latchis, an outdoor Promenade Performance and picnic, two Informal Showings, and lots of free community...
Pick of the Day 7/21: Lempicka at the Williamstown Theatre
Williamstown is definitely one of the places to be this summer if you love the stage! And one of my favorite artists is the inspiration for Lempicka, a world premiere musical. Tamara de Lempicka was a war time painter who created beautiful (and frosty) portraits of...
Christa Joy on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Christa Joy is a local singer-songwriter who writes bittersweet country folk songs about everyday life and impermanence. Watch her Valley Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Christa Joy:
Local Calendar: Thursday 7/19 to Sunday 7/22
THURSDAY 7/19 MUSIC A Little Night Music: 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Trinity United Methodist Church will present “A Little Night Music” every Thursday during the month of July at 6:00pm. Free. Free, donations accepted for all food items. Trinity United Methodist Church,...
Pick of the Day 7/20: Valley Music Showcase
This Friday, the Valley Music Showcase will feature original local bands live onstage in a variety of genres as they compete for prizes such as recording time or a slot on our own Valley Advocate Sessions. The special guest for the evening is Advocate Sessions...
Pick of the Day 7/19: The Beggar’s Opera Cabaret
Tonight at Eastworks in Easthampton is Gina Kaufmann’s intimate adaptation of a comedy from 1728. The production is a retelling of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, which satirizes operatic conventions, gender, and class with a three-woman cast. The...
VIDEO: Christa Joy on Valley Advocate Sessions Friday
Christa Joy is a singer-songwriter who writes bittersweet country folk music with songs about everyday life and impermanence. Check out a short video teaser of Christa Joy’s upcoming Valley Advocate Sessions performance available online this Friday.
Pick of the Day 7/18: Shakespeare Under the Stars: Othello
Shakespeare’s Othello is a remarkable play that hinges upon (gulp) racist stereotypes. Othello is, after all black, and his wife Desdemona is white. Her father is none too happy and it doesn’t help that Othello’s standard bearer, Iago, is a master...
Evolution of a Star: Dwight Pogue’s retrospective at Smith College Museum of Art
Printmaker and Smith College art professor Dwight Pogue is retiring and he’s having quite a send off. His opus, if you will, is called Flowering Stars and is on view at The Smith College Museum of Art. Pogue’s collection is a retrospective of his lithographs and...
Pick of the Day 7/17: Through the Looking Glass…and What Alice Found There at The Majestic
Probably the best thing about summer is there are no school buses to ruin my commute to work. With that said, that means all the little minions are pulling at somebody’s pants legs lamenting the lack of activity on a steamy July day. I’m here to solve...E-Edition
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