Articles
by Gina Beavers | May 25, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
New Orleans brass always sounds good. The phenomenal brand of brass music that originates out of the bayou is personified by the eight-piece powerhouse group The Soul Rebels. The Village Voice says the Soul Rebels are “the missing link between Public Enemy and...
by Gina Beavers | May 25, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
George Romero is the gift that keeps on giving. If you loved Night of the Living Dead, the zombie-rific sci-fi horror classic, then you’ll go bonkers for The Crazies. The Crazies is another social commentary about the hazards of the industrial military complex. A...
by Advocate Staff | May 25, 2018 | Advocate Sessions, Articles, Music
Check out the full Valley Advocate Sessions performance of local anarchistic rock n’ roll group, Gabe’s Band. Make sure to watch until the end for some classic rock styled chaos. A Not So Serious Interview with Gabe’s Band:
by Gina Beavers | May 24, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Newsletter, Stage
“A dirty vanilla box” is how Pam Victor lovingly describes the new location of Happier Valley Comedy. The 1,300 square foot room at the end of a strip of shops on Route 9, is the culmination of years of comedic toil. “It’s the first ever improv theater and training...
by Gina Beavers | May 24, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Get Out With Staff Picks, Music, Newsletter
Open Hearth Cooking Demonstration // SATURDAY Mmmm, there’s nothing like home cooked food; but what’s even better is learning how to cook food from scratch an open hearth flame. Explore old cookbooks with Historic Deerfield’s Open Hearth Cooking Demonstration, which...
by Gina Beavers | May 24, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Music, Newsletter
Granted, religion is one of those polarizing hot buttons, but it behooves us to take a look at one another’s points of view. Check out this doc written and directed by three-time Academy Award® nominee Wim Wenders. Described on Amherst Cinema’s site as...
by Gina Beavers | May 24, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Daily Calendar, Music, Newsletter
THURSDAY 5/24 MUSIC An Evening Peter “Archguitar” Blanchette: 7 p.m. $15 – $45. Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center, 289 Main St., Greenfield. Buddy McEarns Band: 8:30 p.m. – 11 p.m. Whetstone Station Restaurant and Brewery, 36 Bridge St., Brattleboro....
by Gina Beavers | May 23, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Review
Hatfield resident Martha Armstrong is exhibiting at the Oxbow Gallery in Northampton. Her collection of paintings, Friends and Family, is currently on display in the back gallery of the Pleasant Street venue. The back gallery at Oxbow is very small and intimate,...
by Advocate Staff | May 23, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
I remember the Columbine shooting like it was yesterday. It was a rainy April afternoon in 1999, very bleak but mild. When I turned on the television, I was hardly prepared for what I saw and what I heard. Two boys had committed what was, at the time, a shocking crime...
by Will Meyer | May 23, 2018 | Articles, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Newsletter
Local legend Thurston Moore — Sonic Youth, Chelsea Light Moving, one off noise sets all over the Valley — had a cameo in an adult talk show called Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Moore played a character called Fred Cracklin in a 1996 episode of the Cartoon Network show...
by Chris Goudreau | May 23, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Jasper Gardner, a 35-year-old Cummington resident who has worked as a farmer and carpenter in the Pioneer Valley, was recently awarded the 2018 Valley Advocate scholarship to the Juniper Summer Writing Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for his...
by Gina Beavers | May 23, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Welcome to Hump Day! You might know Mantis Toboggan as a Dr. with … uh … let’s say dubious credentials: Danny DeVito’s hysterical and obscene Dr. Mantis Toboggan on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is sheer madness. But local Valley...
by Advocate Staff | May 23, 2018 | Articles, Music, Newsletter, Valley Advocate Sessions
Check out a teaser for anarchistic local rockers, Gabe’s Band. The group’s complete Valley Advocate Sessions video will be released this Friday.
by Sharon Dunn with John J. Clayton | May 22, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
“It’s like you’re going to a foreign country… Do you need a passport?” Letha Dollarhyde of Letcher County, Kentucky, said this — partly in jest, partly not — about coming to Leverett, Massachusetts, when she visited here last fall. Our Hands Across the Hills project...
by Gina Beavers | May 22, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Keyboardist Scott Guberman’s band is in town tonight at Hawks and Reed in Greenfield. He’s kind of the psychedelic cousin of the Grateful Dead; known for his work with the Dead’s bassist Phil Lesh and keyboardists Tom Constanten and Vince Welnick....
by Jack Brown | May 22, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Film, Newsletter
Last month, the story of Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson lit up social media feeds everywhere. Two young black men, they were waiting quietly for a friend at a Philadelphia Starbucks when one of them asked to use the restroom. After an employee refused — they hadn’t...
by Dave Eisenstadter | May 21, 2018 | Articles, Featured, Music, News, Newsletter
Known as a big-hearted guy, a talented musician, and, sometimes, a gruff-but-lovable curmudgeon, Joe Magrone, bassist for Problem with Dragons, died on May 18 at the age of 38, two weeks shy of his 39th birthday. Dave Fournier first met Magrone in 1985, when he went...
by Advocate Staff | May 21, 2018 | Articles, Featured, Newsletter, Podcast
Sharon Dunn and John Clayton are members of the Hands Across the Hills project, an initiative to connect the people of Leverett, where about 90 percent voted for Hillary Clinton, with those of Letcher County, Kentucky, where 80 percent voted for Trump. Clayton wrote...
by Gina Beavers | May 21, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Daily Calendar, Newsletter
MONDAY 5/21 MUSIC AMHERST JAZZ ORCHESTRA: 7:30 p.m. – 10 p.m. With vocalist Ethel Lee. No cover, free parking and great food. Union Station Grand Ballroom, 125A Pleasant St., Northampton. 413 253 1607. STAGE/FILM/DANCE We Made a Thing: A Tiny Audience Show: 9...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | May 21, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Dear Yana, Lately I’ve been in what I can best describe as a situationship; I want more and know that I have a lot to offer, but he semi-recently got out of a relationship in which his ex hurt him and he’s now scared and doesn’t want anything like that. We used to...
by Rob Brezsny | May 21, 2018 | Articles, Astrology, Featured, Newsletter
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Aries poet Anna Kamienska described the process of writing as akin to “the backbreaking work of hacking a footpath, as in a coal mine; in total darkness, beneath the earth.” Whether or not you’re a writer, I’m guessing that your life...
by Gina Beavers | May 21, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Our illustrious stage connoisseur Chris Rohmann, has recommended a pick of the day, Guys and Dolls at the Majestic Theater in West Springfield. I like all the help I can get, so take it away, Chris: “Guys and Dolls, the “musical fable of Broadway,” is playing...
by Meg Bantle | May 18, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
The big scissors were out in Amherst this week as the CEO of the national company Green Thumb Industries (GTI) cut the ribbon in front of the town’s first medical marijuana dispensary, called RISE Amherst. Despite being based in Chicago, Pete Kadens, director and CEO...
by Gina Beavers | May 18, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Here I am borrowing again, but why ignore a perfectly good staff pick made by my buddy and co-worker Chris Goudreau? Maestro Kevin Rhodes conducts The Springfield Symphony Orchestra’s 2017-2018 season finale All-Rachmaninoff. The evening features award winning...
by Gina Beavers | May 18, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
“No more riding, no more rodeos, if you don’t stop, your seizures are gonna get worse.” That’s kind of crux of Brady Jandreau’s delimma. Jandreau was injured in a riding accident curtailing his rising star on the rodeo circuit....
by Gina Beavers | May 17, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Jayme Timpson Winell performs this one person hour-long interactive dance-play. The play takes a look at the life and times of Winell’s grandmother Anne Burlak Timpson, known to many as the “Red Flame.” “Anne was a passionate organizer for...
by Gina Beavers | May 17, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Matthew Logan Vasquez is a bit of a modern Bob Dylan … no really. He’s got similar qualities but his music is meatier and his vocals are better — which isn’t that difficult. Dylan insults aside, Vasquez brings his storytelling and agreeable sound to...
by Gina Beavers | May 17, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Daily Calendar, Music, Newsletter
THURSDAY 5/17 MUSIC CLICK Music Presents: Annie Patterson & Peter Blood: 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. Advance Sales $12, Door Sales $15. Join Annie Patterson & Peter Blood in an in evening of music and stories. CLICK Workspace, 9 1/2 Market St., Northampton....
by Advocate Staff | May 16, 2018 | Advocate Sessions, Articles, Music, Newsletter
Blame Cadence is a one woman chorus of looped soulful a cappella pop. Check out a teaser video of Blame Cadence’s Valley Advocate Sessions performance, which will be released this Friday.
by Meg Bantle | May 16, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Despite the violent rain and thunderstorms, about 50 activists, including some from the group Jewish Voice for Peace Western Mass, gathered on May 15th in Northampton to commemorate the exile of Palestinians 70 years ago and to bring attention to the Palestinian...
by Gina Beavers | May 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Two sisters from New Orleans bring the sounds of the Appalachians to Northampton tonight. Multi-instrumentalists Leah and Chloe Smith pick, strum, drum and sing — nothing fancy but appealing all the same. It’s quiet music that expects you to listen to the...
by Chris Rohmann | May 16, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
“I think she may be the most singular, eccentric individual the Cold War ever birthed.” So says one of the three dozen characters in I Am My Own Wife. He’s talking about Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, née Lothar Berfelde, Berlin’s most famous transvestite. In Doug Wright’s...
by Dave Eisenstadter | May 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Newsletter
A reader came in with an unusual request earlier this week: she had a piece of art work she bought at an auction in Greenfield nearly a decade ago and wanted to see if we could identify the artist. Arts and Culture Editor Gina Beavers, herself a local artist, looked...
by Chris Goudreau | May 15, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
A new state-of-the-art hydroponic nonprofit 15,120-square-foot urban greenhouse called Wellspring Harvest at 121 Pinevale Street in Indian Orchard aims to offer fresh produce at wholesale prices year round. Fred Rose, co-director of Wellspring Cooperative Corporation,...
by Gina Beavers | May 15, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 84 and many of us are praying she lives and serves until the age of 150. There’s a new doc out about her life and career and it’s playing at Amherst Cinema. It’s simply titled RBG. RBG explores...
by Advocate Staff | May 15, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Get Out With Staff Picks, Newsletter
Cajon, Honky-Tonk, and songs by the Roches at Luthier’s Co-op // THURSDAY, MAY 17 If you’re looking for an excuse to get your cowboy boots on, look no further. The Maypops, a honky-tonk and two step band, are hosting an evening of dancing and fun at Luthier’s Co-op...
by Monte Belmonte | May 15, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Food + Booze, Food Booze and Beyond, Monte Belmonte Wines, Newsletter
“Our neighbor in France had a trained donkey and a goat. We noticed the donkey and goat were always together during the evenings. During the day the goat was around but the donkey was gone. He had trained his donkey to do weed control in the vineyard. The donkey was...
by Advocate Staff | May 14, 2018 | Articles, Featured, Newsletter, Podcast, Wellness
Jennifer Therkelsen had never jump roped as a kid, but now is one of the core members of the Pioneer Valley Jump Rope team, an all-adult jump rope team that practices weekly at The Taproom in Hadley. In our weekly podcast collaboration with Amherst Media, Therkelson...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | May 14, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana! I’ve been with my partner for about a year, and in most ways our relationship is everything I want. We communicate really well, we have a great time together, our sex life is amazing, and I always feel supported by him. The problem is my vagina. For the first...
by Jack Brown | May 14, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Newsletter
Even in a New England town with a fair bit of history, the Academy of Music in Northampton has roots that run deep. Founded on the vision of philanthropist and Northampton native Edward Lyman, the Academy opened to the public in May of 1891 and quickly became a...
by Gina Beavers | May 14, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Daily Calendar, Newsletter
MONDAY 5/14 MUSIC Jeff Holmes Big Band featuring Dawning Holmes, vocals: 7:30 p.m. – 10 p.m. Jeff Holmes Big Band featuring Dawning Holmes, vocals. perform arrangements and compositions w/some of the best musicians from the region.121 Club at Eastworks, 116...
by Gina Beavers | May 14, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
The Sea and Cake is an indie band formed in the way back — 1992. They’re straight out of Chicago and they’re in Northampton tonight at the Iron Horse. Their sound is light and airy, a friendly flurry of melodies and hooks that are very hard to dislike....
by Chris Goudreau | May 11, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley will be hosting a discussion between Deborah Levenson from Western Mass Medicare for All and State Rep. John Scibak (D-South Hadley) on May 22 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. about the prospects of creating a single payer health care system...
by Chris Goudreau | May 11, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Northampton City Councilors Alisa Klein and Maureen Carney released a joint statement on May 9 that’s critical of Mayor David Narkewicz’s Panhandling Work Group for the lack of representative from panhandlers in the group and a recent online study regarding...
by Rob Brezsny | May 11, 2018 | Articles, Astrology, Featured, Newsletter
ARIES (March 21-April 19): According to my assessment of the astrological omens, your duty right now is to be a brave observer and fair-minded intermediary and honest storyteller. Your people need you to help them do the right thing. They require your influence in...
by Gina Beavers | May 11, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
Welcome to Sunday. In June 1943, Germany infamously declared Berlin “free of Jews.” There were, however, still 7,000 Jews living in the Nazi capital. These terrorized people were hiding in attics, basements, and warehouses, “protected by courageous Berliners.” Only...
by Gina Beavers | May 11, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
Netflix jumped into the Academy Awards this year with Mudbound, a magnificent film set in the Mississippi Delta during the years surrounding World War II. It’s all about southern race relations and that’s the only thing that ain’t pretty in this masterpiece. Lush and...
by Gina Beavers | May 11, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music
The legendary Wailers band is at Hawks and Reed tonight. Yep, Bob Marley’s bandmates Aston “Familyman” Barrett, Julian Junior Marvin and Donald Kinsey are in Greenfield to carry on what Spin Magazine listed as #4 in the “50 Greatest Bands of All...
by Advocate Staff | May 11, 2018 | Articles, Music, Valley Advocate Sessions
Amber Belle is a singer-songwriter with a honey toned voice who performs original folk and country music. (To watch Amber Belle’s performance click on the video below) Interview with Amber Belle:
by Naila Moreira | May 10, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Down to Earth, Featured, Newsletter
I sit on the twisted root system of a great tree, a shelf of exposed roots thrust out over the Connecticut River at the edge of the Northampton Meadows. I’m perched 15 feet above the olive water. The muddy bluff has been licked and sucked away under the tree by years...
by Gina Beavers | May 10, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Daily Calendar, Newsletter
THURSDAY 5/10 MUSIC Bellwether: Milford Graves Full Mantis w/ Director Jake Meginsky: 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. Amherst Cinema, 28 Amity St., Amherst. Live Music! Galvanizer: 8:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. Whetstone Station Restaurant and Brewery, 36 Bridge St.,...
by Gina Beavers | May 10, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
If you want a little Tennessee Williams with a twist, check out Shoot The Moon Theater Company’s production of The Glass Menagerie, Williams’ signature 1944 stage play. Let’s go over the plot before we get to the good stuff. Domineering Amanda Wingfield, has two adult...
by Advocate Staff | May 9, 2018 | Articles, Music, Newsletter, Valley Advocate Sessions
Amber Belle is a singer-songwriter with honey toned vocals who performs folk and country songs. Check out a teaser video of her upcoming Advocate Sessions video to be released this Friday.
by Sarah Heinonen | May 9, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
“Why vote for the lesser of two evils, when you can vote for the greater good?” Juan Sanchez wants voters to consider this question when they enter the ballot box on November 6. Sanchez, 29, of Holyoke, is running for Secretary of State in the 2018 statewide...
by Gina Beavers | May 9, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Get Out With Staff Picks, Music, Newsletter
Mudbound MASS MoCA // SATURDAY, MAY 12 Mudbound has been on my list of things to see since it first started making waves at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. While it is available to watch online, MASS MoCA is bringing in the director of the film Dee Rees for a...
by Chris Rohmann | May 9, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stagestruck
The Red Guitar, John Sheldon’s brilliant memoir-in-music, was a runaway hit at last summer’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Riding on its success in that international nexus of alternative arts, the show’s producer, the Valley’s Serious Play Theatre Ensemble, is taking it...
by Gina Beavers | May 9, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Brand X has been on the music circuit off and on since 1975, and they’re coming to the Iron Horse tonight. They’re “a multi-national jazz fusion band formed in London by the great Phil Collins and a couple of other blokes. They’ve recently...
by Gina Beavers | May 8, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Review
Given Paul Goodnight’s international stature, it’s difficult to understand the lack of fanfare and the dearth of coverage he receives when his work is exhibited at Rosemary Tracy Woods’ Art for The Soul Gallery in Springfield. Since 1984, Goodnight’s work has been...
by Dave Eisenstadter | May 8, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Editors note: Many of the names of those quoted in the story were changed or assumed names were used because of the inherent danger and legal standing of some sex work. Wearing a green dress, pink tights, and a tiara, transgender woman and former sex worker Lorelei...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | May 8, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, I have a sex question! Over the past year, I’ve noticed a pretty substantial shift in the way people think I like to fuck and I’m having difficulty confronting it. It’s probably a common experience that when people make a change to their outward appearance...
