Articles
by Jack Brown | Jan 22, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Newsletter
One of the stranger aspects of moviegoing is that it is at once a grand communal act and an intensely private experience. We gather together in dark rooms as if in secret churches, and when the crowd is right it can feel as if we’ve all been through something together...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Jan 22, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Dear Yana, I’ve been with my boyfriend for a couple years now. We’re just now starting to experiment in our sex life. I’ve known how to make myself vaginally orgasm for a few years now. And he knows what positions I need to do to make this happen. But it’s gotten to...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 19, 2018 | Articles
John Trudeau is an Orange-based progressive rock synthesizer sorcerer that’s a blast from the 1970s. He performed on the Valley Advocate Sessions on Dec. 19 and his full performance is available to view in the video below. Interview with John...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 18, 2018 | Articles, News, Newsletter
The Lander-Grinspoon Academy, a K-6 Jewish day school in Northampton, is celebrating the Jewish ceremony of Havdallah with music and a Drag Queen Story Hour featuring local drag queen Jenayah De Rosario this Saturday on Jan. 20 from 6 to 8 p.m. “I hope that the...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 17, 2018 | Articles
John Trudeau is an Orange-based progressive rock synthesizer sorcerer that’s a blast from the 1970s. Check out a teaser for John Trudeau’s Valley Advocate Sessions performance, which will be available this Friday.
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 17, 2018 | Articles, News
Northampton’s two-year-old plastic bag ban has an outspoken opponent in McDonald House resident John Gibney, who gets around using a cane. Gibney, who wrote the Advocate an email this week with the subject “paper bags suck,” challenged Mayor David Narkewicz and...
by John Clayton, with Sharon Dunn | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, News
It Begins in October 2017 All 18 of us in Leverett are excited and maybe a little nervous. We live in a small town — Leverett: population, less than 2000 — in western Massachusetts. The Kentuckians are coming to us — 15 of them, men and women, young and not-so-young,...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, News
Henry Rollins embodies the punk ethos in more ways than one — he’s well known for his role as vocalist for 1980s hardcore punk band, Black Flag, and he’s also an actor, orator, photographer, writer, television and radio host, as well as a comedian. Rollins is stopping...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, News
I recently got my first pay stub of the year. I was curious to see how the Republican tax plan would affect me, if at all, but it turns out that none of us will see the results until February. So stay tuned. One thing I did notice, however, is that (surprise!) my...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Columns, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, My partner and I seem to be in different places when it comes to sex. We have fabulous sex when he’s up to it, but in general I have a higher sex drive and want to be more adventurous. We both have histories of trauma and deal with it in different ways. I’m...
by Meg Bantle | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Columns, News, O Cannabis!
Despite the support for the legalization of recreational marijuana in Massachusetts, Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent out a federal memo this month that makes the future of cannabis in Massachusetts even more unsure. According to a Gallup poll from 2017, 64 percent...
by Chris Goudreau | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Music, Review
Amherst-based OroborO’s debut album, Laughing Death, is a furiously upbeat apocalyptic vision of doom metal, hardcore punk, math rock, and jazzy psychedelia with a wry dark sense of humor that’s like going for a quaint and pleasant stroll while sirens wail and...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Get Out With Staff Picks
Lilith of the Valley: Fierce Femmes of the 413 // SATURDAY The official after-party for the Pioneer Valley Women’s March this year being held in Northampton, brings even more woman power to close out the day. A night of music and activism will continue to pump through...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs
On the early morning of Jan. 2 a thief entered Cafe 33 in Copenhagen, Denmark, which houses one of the largest collections of vodka in the world — more than 1,200 bottles. Captured in black and white security camera footage, the thief was only after one bottle — a...
by Will Meyer | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Basemental, Columns
The fight to prevent additional police operated surveillance cameras in downtown Northampton has dragged on since September — over four months, two calendar years, and even through a municipal election. The Northampton City Council has voted 7-2 passing first a...
by Jack Brown | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Film, Newsletter
Few artists have captured the public’s fancy like Vincent Van Gogh. His richly textured landscapes, interiors, and portraits, built up with a painterly impasto as inviting as a rich ganache, seem to grow in popularity with every passing year. And while the calendar...
by Rob Brezsny | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Many American women did not have the right to vote until August 18, 1920. On that day, the Tennessee General Assembly became the 36th state legislature to approve the Nineteenth Amendment, thus sealing the legal requirements to change the...
by Letters from Our Readers | Jan 16, 2018 | 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 Chris Rohmann | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, Stagestruck
Time was, going to the theater took up the whole evening, with built-in pee and bar breaks. That’s been changing recently, as more and more plays clock in at an intermissionless 90 minutes or so. Back in Shakespeare’s day, of course, the show went on all afternoon,...
by Monte Belmonte | Jan 16, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Food Booze and Beyond, Monte Belmonte Wines
All natural. The kind of buzz words that make my extremely savvy, health-conscious wife cringe. When you see “natural flavors” on raspberry flavored items, it might as well read “flavors expressed from a beaver anus.” It’s true. Or at least it used to be. Google it....
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...
