Articles
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 15, 2018 | Articles, News
Hundreds of the people gathered in the auditorium of the MassMutual to celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and his ideals to fight against racial injustice on Jan. 15 in downtown Springfield. Young musicians from the Community Music School of Springfield...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 12, 2018 | Articles, Valley Advocate Sessions
A Tangled Web is the solo project for Tanner Watson from The Screaming Hearts, who performs original acoustic alternative indie rock with a booming voice and punk aesthetic. Interview with A Tangled Web:
by Advocate Staff | Jan 10, 2018 | Articles
A Talngled Web is the solo project for Tanner Watson from The Screaming Hearts, who performs original acoustic alternative indie rock with a booming voice and punk aesthetic. Check out a teaser video of A Tangled Web’s Valley Advocate Sessions performance, which...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Matt LeBlanc stood near the Interstate 391 exit near High Street in Holyoke, holding a sign that read, “Homeless vet — hungry and cold” while heavy snowfall rained down in the frigid afternoon of Jan. 4. LeBlanc started panhandling at around 10:30 a.m. and by 1 p.m....
by Blaise Majkowski | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Blaise's Bad Movie Guide, Columns, Newsletter
It’s New Year’s Day. With no idea what to watch, I thought I’d go through one of my leaning towers of DVDs and see what I might come up with. Down at the musty bottom of one of the stacks, I found a trove of movies I’d never watched. My candidate for viewing: The...
by Lena Wilson | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Stream Queen
I just returned from a holiday vacation in the Sunshine State, where I grew up among palm trees, dolphins, and hair-perming humidity. Now, as I chisel my car with all the ferocity of a hunter-gatherer, my fingers and toes quietly preparing to fall off of my body...
by Meg Bantle | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
Bay Staters are still waiting for finalized regulations for the commercial recreational marijuana industry in Massachusetts, but the regulations around adult recreational use for individuals were established in December 2016. After voters passed Question 4 on the 2016...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News, Newsletter
There was a seafood emergency at Crabby’s Seafood Shack in Stuart, Florida, in the southeastern region of the state. A 51-year-old Stuart resident, did what anybody would do when they have a gripe with their undersized and minute meal of clams — he called 911. The man...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Staff Picks
Children of Paradise // FRIDAY French Film Fridays up at the Hooker-Dunham in Brattleboro is featuring Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du Paradis). I just read about this movie somewhere and the claim was that it was like Gone with the Wind only better … not...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
Local brewers share their predictions and plans Cheers, America! According to the Brewers Association’s 2017 year-end report, there are now more than 6,000 breweries nationwide — an increase of 500 breweries from just six months ago. And here’s some even better news:...
by Jack Brown | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns
As the father of three little kids, I’ve come to regard the entertainment world — especially television and movie fare — as an ever-shifting battlefront. I’m not interested in shutting them off from the experience, but figuring out how to make it both enjoyable and...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Columns, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, I’m a queer non-binary femme. My partner (also queer and non-binary) and I have been together for just about three years. In the past year, I have been doing a lot of emotional work — processing lots of trauma, shame and doing a lot of digging and learning....
by Jennifer Levesque | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Music, Newsletter, Valley Show Girl
The smell of strong coffee warms me from the cold as I open the door to Iconica Social Club for the first time. From the outside, it looks like an odd brick building in the middle of a parking lot behind Haymarket in Northampton. But upon entering, you’re engulfed...
by Greenfield Recorder | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News
Treating America’s opioid addiction crisis is, tragically, creating a growth industry that provides long-term intervention and treatment for millions of our fellow citizens. But who is going to pay the tab? Families? Insurance companies? State, local and federal...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News
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. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Rob Brezsny | Jan 8, 2018 | Articles, Astrology, Wellness
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I’m happy to inform you that life is giving you permission to be extra demanding in the coming weeks — as long as you’re not petty, brusque, or unreasonable. Here are a few examples that will pass the test: “I demand that you join me in...
by Sarah Betancourt | Jan 5, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
When Hurricane Maria devastated her area of Isabela, Puerto Rico, 52-year-old Brenda Trujillo traveled to Holyoke in search of a more stable life and employment. Trujillo has been a nurse for nearly 30 years, but since arriving on November 3 she has not been able to...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 5, 2018 | Advocate Sessions, Articles
Ginger Libations is a Northampton-based jazz fusion group in love with jamming and ginger. Interview with Ginger Libations:
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 3, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
For more than a decade, Jim Neill has worked as the marketing director of the Iron Horse Entertainment Group (IHEG), promoting shows featuring local and national acts, acting as a spokesperson for the venue group, a media liaison, and one of the most prominent faces...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 3, 2018 | Articles
Ginger Libations is a Northampton-based jazz fusion group in love with jamming and ginger. Check out a teaser video for the band’s Valley Advocate Sessions performance to be released in full this Friday.
by Meg Bantle | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
From September to the end of November, Mickey Prout, 22, a student at Westfield State University, and other volunteers would set up tables in the dining commons to talk to other students about two statewide ballot initiatives: raising the minimum wage and...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter, Wellness
I’m in my mid-30s, and “getting fit” is something I think about more now. It took me a long time to come around on the idea of exercise for exercise sake — but it has become something that I actually enjoy (even if I don’t do it as often as I should). In middle...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Newsletter, Staff Picks
Comic Book Craft Night with Beer // SUNDAY Oh my goodness, comic book crafting and beer?? Wake up your inner nerd from freezing cold weather-induced hibernation and get your craft on! Comics N’ More will provide all the materials needed to make some collages,...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Newsletter, Wellness
Erica Verrillo of Whatley has written more than half a dozen books and launched a non-profit national organization, all while being partially bedridden for the past three decades. Verillo has Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E.), a chronic and fluctuating neurological...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
Get the Lead Out The Flint, Michigan, drinking water crisis has likely done permanent damage to thousands of children, but for at least one child, it served as an inspiration. Twelve-year-old Gitanjila Rao of Colorado used her scientific knowledge to invent a fast,...
by Will Meyer | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Basemental, Columns
Listening to Northampton-based Izy Coffey’s new EP, Love Sung, feels like a warm sweater — one you were wearing when you were broken and then put back together again, and its thread the commonality between your disparate emotions. It’s calm, tender, and has a graceful...
by From Our Readers | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News
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. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, I’ve had an above-average number of sexual partners (70+) and at least half have been one night stands. The pattern is: I start talking to someone on OKCupid, we arrange for a date, we have a few drinks, have sex. Sometimes, it’s more mutual, and neither of...
by Monte Belmonte | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Monte Belmonte Wines
It is possible that you have spent the last month and a half punishing your liver. Look, I get it. You only drink socially and you are a very social person who went to three holiday office parties and 17 family get-togethers between Thanksgiving and New Years. But the...
by Jack Brown | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Newsletter
It’s tough to start a new year on a sad note, but it was only after the last Cinemadope’s deadline that I got the news that Duane Robinson had passed away. The driving force behind the revival of the Academy of Music in Northampton, and its enthusiastic and dedicated...
by Fran Ryan | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Cannabis!, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!, Review
As its medical uses evolve and marijuana becomes legally available for recreation in Massachusetts, an area cannabis consultant is working to fill an information hole he thinks is undermining its use. “In our culture, marijuana is known for all the bad reasons because...
by Lisa Spear | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Wellness
There is a way to actually to get rid of your fat while lying down. It’s a method called CoolSculpting and it’s a machine connected to a hose with a plastic suction cup that hums as it vacuums up and freezes fat. Patients recline on a table as the cold kills the fat...
by Rob Brezsny | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles, Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): In 2018, your past will undergo transformation. Your memories will revise and rearrange themselves. Bygone events that seemed complete and definitive will shimmy and shift, requiring new interpretations. The stories you have always told...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 2, 2018 | Articles
AMHERST The Emperor’s New Clothes: Laure Dennery is showing her penguin paintings that experiment with artistic techniques and composition to showcase these fascinating birds. Free. Amherst Town Hall, 4 Boltwood Ave., Amherst. The Art of Eric Carle:...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 28, 2017 | Advocate Sessions, Articles
Multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Austin James, who plays guitar, violin, and keyboards, performs original indie rock music mixed with folk pop sensibilities. James performed on the Valley Advocate Sessions stage on Nov. 28. Interview with Austin...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 27, 2017 | Articles
Multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Austin James, who plays guitar, violin, and keyboards, performs original indie rock music mixed with folk pop sensibilities. James performed on the Valley Advocate Sessions stage on Nov. 28 and the complete video of his...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Dec 26, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, My boyfriend of three years and I are both going through a really tough time. My parents are divorcing, he’s applying to schools, and plus our relationship has been long distance for the past two years. We’re both depressed, and I’ve been asking him to go to...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 26, 2017 | Articles, Staff Picks
2018 First Night Northampton // SUNDAY Checking out all the great local bands while meandering through the chilly streets of downtown Northampton is a tradition for me on New Year’s Eve, and this year is no exception. There’s a plethora of amazing acts...
by Letters from our readers | Dec 26, 2017 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News
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. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Chris Goudreau | Dec 26, 2017 | Articles, Music, Newsletter, Review
Holyoke-based Behold! True Believers combines genres that you wouldn’t initially think would pair well together — pop punk, alternative rock, psychedelic pop, doo-wop, and experimental rock. This synthesis of influences works surprising well on the sextet’s recent...
by Chris Rohmann | Dec 26, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
In this time of long-overdue comeuppance for sexual harassment and assault, I approached my annual reckoning of gender equity in theater with fresh eyes. Nationwide, women continue to be devalued and underrepresented in almost all areas of theatrical creation, on and...
by Jennifer Levesque | Dec 26, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Music, Newsletter, Valley Show Girl
I don’t know about any of you, but 2017 kicked my ass. But, as always, one of the things that keeps me sane, is music. So let’s bid a farewell to this year with some kick ass shows that are sprinkled throughout the Valley. There is literally something for everyone,...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 26, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
It’s been about six months now since longtime “News of the Weird” writer Chuck Shepherd decided to call it quits, which means it’s been about six months since we’ve taken up the reigns and delivered you our “Bizarro Briefs” right from the Advocate newsroom. Here are...
by Rob Brezsny | Dec 26, 2017 | Articles, Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “I need more smart allies, compassionate supporters, ethical role models, and loyal friends, and I need them right now!” writes Joanna K., an Aries reader from Albuquerque, New Mexico. On the other hand, there’s Jacques T., an Aries reader...
by Jack Brown | Dec 26, 2017 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Newsletter
With the new year scratching at the door, it’s natural to take a reckoning of the one gone by. People tend to focus on the big changes — smoking, the gym, a reading list — but mixing up the smaller things can make a big difference too. Try getting your coffee at a...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 22, 2017 | Articles, Music
Singer-songwriter Nate Martel plays acoustic roots rock music that doesn’t skimp on soul. Martel is also a member of local psychedelic rock group, Outer Stylie, which previously performed on Valley Advocate Sessions. He recently released his first solo album, “Short...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 20, 2017 | Articles
Singer-songwriter Nate Martel plays acoustic roots rock music that doesn’t skimp on soul. Martel is also a member of local psychedelic rock group, Outer Stylie, which previously performed on Valley Advocate Sessions. He recently released his first solo album,...
by Letters from our readers | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
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. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Staff Picks
Songs of Joy and Peace — Holiday Benefit Show // THURSDAY It’s a night of music at the Sierra Grille featuring a plethora of local bands playing holiday music to benefit the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and Me Too. Bring $3 for donations of three items...
by Meg Bantle | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles
Well you’ve gone and done it again. Christmas is this weekend and your stockings hung by the chimney with care are going to empty unless you get moving. Fear not procrastinators! The Pioneer Valley is full of places to do your last minute shopping without breaking the...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, News
Mark Burns is a South Carolina pastor who is such a big Trump fan that he would risk his life to save the president from sure peril. Sort of. Burns was standing behind Trump in the Oval Office on Monday for an award presentation when he saw a white spider the size of...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Food Booze and Beyond, News, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Dear Yana, I have a cold, dead heart. Well, not really but pretty much, yeah. I was married to my ex-wife for nearly a decade and the end of our relationship was really complicated. I feel almost certain that I don’t have the capacity to be in love or be in a...
by Lena Wilson | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Stream Queen
As the embers of 2017 dwindle, many are reflecting on what great media the year has had to offer. Was A Ghost Story actually a good movie? Did we all sleep on Top of the Lake: China Girl? What will win Best Picture, Get Out or Lady Bird? It’s a time to fondly recall...
by Will Meyer | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Newsletter
I am the Grinch. People who know me know this — my mom better than anyone. I scoff at Christmas songs and “holiday cheer,” wanting nothing to do with a holiday that is closely aligned with capitalism, patriarchy, and bad parties. But nothing warms my Grinch heart like...
by Monte Belmonte | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Monte Belmonte Wines
The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock is set at two and a half minutes until midnight. This is the closest to nuclear annihilation we have been since the clock was created in 1947. Time to prepare for the countdown to end all countdowns. And when our...
by Rob Brezsny | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Astrology, Wellness
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your life in the first half of 2018 will be like a psychological boot camp that’s designed to beef up your emotional intelligence. Here’s another way to visualize your oncoming adventures: They will constitute a friendly nudge from the...
by Jack Brown | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Newsletter
Speak of nuclear winter, and my thoughts go not to bleak, windswept plains. There are no undead hordes clawing at my clapboards, no marauding gangs out collecting rainwater. In my (admittedly hopeful) imagined ruins, we can all rely on the safety of one thing: the...
by Blaise Majkowski | Dec 18, 2017 | Articles, Blaise's Bad Movie Guide, Columns, Newsletter
The holidays are almost upon us, so I decided to curl up with my dog Sasha and watch a 1951 festive Christmas movie. Titled The Painted Hills, this western tells the story of two gold prospectors on the verge of striking it rich. Except that one gets a tad greedy and...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 15, 2017 | Articles, Valley Advocate Sessions
Ursula Elmes is a local singer-songwriter and member of progressive folk group, Mad Habits, who has powerhouse soul vocals with a dash of honky-tonk twang. Elmes performed her solo material on Valley Advocate Sessions on Nov. 28. Interview with Ursula...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 13, 2017 | Articles
Ursula Elmes is a local singer-songwriter and member of progressive folk group, Mad Habits, who has powerhouse soul vocals with a dash of honky-tonk twang. Check out a trailer for her full Valley Advocate Sessions performance online this Friday.
