Articles
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Stage, Stagestruck
Every year I take note of the plays I’ve seen that are written and/or directed by women, and those that revolve around a woman (or women). For me, these are key indicators of progress in achieving gender equality in theater. To be sure, there are plenty of women...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Power to the Panther Hartford-born emcee and musician Afropanther is, in her words, “a Space Jungle Club DJ, producer, and lyrical assassin.” She’s been building communities in New York, Montreal, and Boston, soaking up influences (Fast Eddie, Masters at Work, MK,...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
Me and my boyfriend of two years are looking to have a threesome. We are wanting to try it with a female, and a male. We are wanting to do this to enhance our sex life, and are not looking to add anyone into our relationship. We are both very open and honest with each...
by Jack Brown | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Newsletter
With Black Friday upon us this week, the maelstrom of the holiday shopping season has officially begun. Weekends will find increasingly desperate hordes descending on anything that looks like it might hold toys or electronics, toddlers will go into full meltdown mode...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured
Nature, From Scratch Joe Smith has a common name but a not-too-common job: forester, slash artist. By day, he’s working out in the woods, putting in hours of hard labor off the beaten track. But wherever he goes, he carries his sketchbook with him. “I find a sense of...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
Every morning at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II’s first order of business is to meet with her hairdresser. She drinks from bone china, eats breakfast served by footmen in tailcoats, wanders the grounds, and reads fan mail. Throughout the day, people bow. People...
by Kyle Olsen | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter
High school sucked for me. Before college, I had no friends. My days consisted of going to school, talking to almost nobody, and coming home to do almost nothing before bed.In the midst of all this nothing, I had time to think up a glamorized chain of events that I...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Dress to Impress Writer and director Nora Ephron passed away in 2012 at the age of 71, leaving behind a legacy of enchanting romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally… and Sleepless in Seattle. But even such a famous woman in Hollywood is not without her sleeper...
by Kristin Palpini | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Leisure, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
If you get up real close to the New England Treatment Access medical marijuana dispensary in Northampton, you can smell the earthy aroma of cannabis through the brick walls. Established in 2015, NETA’s Conz Street dispensary is, so far, the only medical Mary Jane shop...
by Chuck Shepherd | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Featured, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
While “democracy” in most of America means electing representatives to run government, on Nov. 8 in San Francisco it also expected voters to decide 43 often vague, densely worded “issues” that, according to critics, could better be handled by the professionals who...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts
Happy New Yesteryear Waxing nostalgic lately? Your occasional bouts of wistful remembrance have nothing on those of the Society of the 17th Century, a group of re-enactors who see our past as a thing of the present. This weekend, they bring the Hall Tavern building at...
by Peter Vancini | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Featured, News
Decades later and General Electric still hasn’t remedied its contamination of the Housatonic. Woods Pond in Lenox is the picture of quaint backwoods New England: the kind of place leaf-peepers flock annually to the Berkshires to behold. The golden yellows and...
by Kristin Palpini | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, News
The Housatonic River in Massachusetts and Connecticut has been polluted by suspected human carcinogen – and known cancer-causing agent in animals – since the 1930s when GE used the lubricant during transformer manufacturing at its Pittsfield plant. And the...
by From Our Readers | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Enough Disappointment to Go AroundI was sorely dismayed by the publication of your editorial as if Hillary Clinton had won (“Between the Lines: What Might Have Been,” Nov. 9-16, 2016). I am a supporter of Mrs. Clinton, but your decision to print the column you’d hoped...
by Kyle Olsen | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Nerding Out, News, Newsletter
Dianna Smith walked to her third floor office at her home in Leeds to sort a collection of dried fungi. The specimens were picked during a workshop on identifying native fungi she teaches through her club, the Pioneer Valley Mycological Association. (Mycology, as you...
by Warren Johnston | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Leisure, Newsletter, The Pour Man
Finding a wine that goes with every course of the Thanksgiving dinner can be a bit dodgy because the meal is a hodgepodge of dishes with distinctive flavors. Viognier, Cava, Pinot Noir and Cotes du Rhone have been my favorites in the past, but this year I’m trying a...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Leisure, Newsletter
The Cat, Back Out of the Bag How did huge inflatable balloons become such a cherished part of Thanksgiving week? Don’t wait on us for a clear answer — we’re still trying to suss out what bunnies and plastic grass have to do with the resurrection of Jesus — but...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Creative people are at greater risk,” said psychiatrist R. D. Laing, “Just as one who climbs a mountain is more at risk than one who walks along a village lane.” I bring this to your attention, Aries, because in the coming weeks you will...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 16, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
In this time of national division and upheaval, we can be forgiven for craving a little feelgood. And what feels better than a good musical? As if on cue, two good’uns are coming to this area, both of them stage versions of beloved movies. This week through Sunday, An...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Food + Booze, News, Newsletter
The Valley Advocate is starting up a new feature: chats! Our inaugural chat will be about mixing family and politics during Thanksgiving. If you want to hear about some of our coping strategies, read on! The conversation has been lightly edited. dave.eisen (Dave...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Featured, Food + Booze, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
When I think back to last fall, and the dozen taste tests I did of pumpkin-flavored beers, my tongue conjures flashbacks of bad and bewildering brews. What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment. Or maybe I’m an optimist, holding onto a hope that there are pumpkin...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter
A Piece of Resistance When things fall apart, civility snaps, and a huffing, puffing bully blows our brick houses down, we have to do what our children know to do: wipe our tears, gather it all up block by block, and come to the table to rebuild. That’s the art of...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Alt-Indie’s Pole Star We probably shouldn’t bandy around phrases like “one of America’s greatest living songwriters,” given the prolific grassroots music scene these days. But Stephin Merritt pretty much ran away with the title when he penned the three-volume concept...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
At Home with the Brew Local beer ingredients abound, but commercial brewers aren’t the only ones who can get their hands on them. Fun and creative brewing starts at home, too — and many in the Valley have taken up the calling. Mike Schilling has been homebrewing for...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
From the Valley, Born and Brewed The crafty little explosion of local breweries up and down the Valley over the last 20 years has become a point of pride for neighbors and travelers alike. But as local craft beer markets across the country have matured from clusters...
by Will Meyer | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
Self-described glamour-grunge witch-punks Deadbeat Club only played their first show earlier this spring. According to an interview in Maximum Rocknroll, they say the band formed “because [they] were sick of playing with boys and trying to start something serious.”...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music
Ani DiFranco at Calvin Theatre • Thursday The Calvin got their A back just in time for feminist’s favorite A-word … Ani! And what better time to go see folk-punkster, DiFranco, than now. If you’re still teary-eyed over Hillary and need a hug, or some woman...
by Jack Brown | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
Anyone who has invested enough time in reading a great book series will recognize the feeling: as the end of the final installment approaches, a mix of elation and emptiness starts to creep in. Soon the story will come full circle, and when it does, there will be...
by Peter Vancini | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Between the Lines, News
Hillary Clinton voters: It’s time to get on with it. Donald Trump is our next president, whether we like it or not, and the great American experiment in democracy is going to continue. Please, stop protesting the free and fair election of Donald Trump and petitioning...
by Tom Relihan | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
The deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl has largely outstripped heroin as the leading cause of opioid-related deaths in Massachusetts, according to state data. Experts say the powerful drug, considered to be up to 50 times as potent as regular heroin, has been has been...
by Chuck Shepherd | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
New York City officially began licensing professional fire eaters earlier this year, and classes have sprung up to teach the art so that the city’s Fire Department Explosives Unit can test for competence and issue the E29 certificates. In the “bad old [license-less]...
by Peter Vancini | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Food + Booze, Leisure, News, Newsletter
It isn’t hard to pick Dean Rohan out of a crowd. He’s the tall guy with glasses in the muck boots and ratty work pants. And he’s wearing a red T-shirt with his own face on it that reads “I’m with Dean.” Today, he’s overseeing the arrival of a tanker truck filled with...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, News, Newsletter, Scene Here
Room to Breathe What pairs well with local beer and wine this week? My opinion: some peace and quiet. It’s not always appreciated, or sought out. But after a nightmare of an election season — full of vitriol, lies and low blows — I was feeling a serious need to go...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, I heard you on Dawn Serra’s podcast Sex Gets Real and really appreciated what you had to say about personal boundaries in new polyamorous relationships. I’m a straight guy and my wife just started sleeping with another woman a couple of months ago. I thought...
by Lisa Rathke, Associated Press | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Food + Booze, News, Newsletter
Grape harvests are underway at vineyards in the Northeast where unusually dry warm weather this summer was ideal for growing grapes. But in parts of New York and southern New England, where drought struck, some growers are seeing decreasing yields. New York, the...
by Kristin Palpini | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles
1,179,000 Meals and Counting The annual Western Mass November tradition is back: Monte’s March to End Hunger is here again. For the last seven years, WRSI 99.3 The River radio personality Monte Belmonte has organized the march, which raises money for the Western...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Stage
This Rough Magic Lost lovers of Shakespeare must labor each year — for centuries, apparently — against the preconception that the Bard’s work is boring. Surely, many stagings are. But they weren’t a bore in Will’s day, and they needn’t be now. This week, the Theatre...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts
The Beholder Photojournalist Diana Mara Henry covered four decades of political, social, and cultural change in America. She captured iconic moments at the Democratic conventions of 1972 and 1976. She was selected as official photographer for both the National...
by From Our Readers | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Facebook Salutes TrumpEditor Kristin Palpini’s lament over Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump in “Between the Lines: What Might Have Been” drew a bunch of comments:William G. Petrone: Trump won not because people liked Trump but because people did not...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, I am a 66-year-old man who is in love, and in a new relationship, with a very sexually active 60-year-old woman. I have come to the conclusion that I could use some help in fulfilling her sexual needs. Can you recommend any particular vibrators and/or other...
by Kristin Palpini | Nov 9, 2016 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
Editor’s Note: As an American woman who believes that words matter, I feel like I matter a little less today. Below is the editorial I was planning to run to applaud the first female president of the U.S., Hillary Clinton. It seems poignant to publish it, still. To...
by Warren Johnston | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Newsletter, The Pour Man
A couple of decades ago, back before the brand hit the skids, Edna Valley Vineyard Chardonnay was a treat, a wine I couldn’t afford, but would occasionally enjoy at a South Carolina restaurant owned by friends Louis and Marlene Osteen.The Osteens knew their wines, so...
by Chuck Shepherd | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
Kids as young as 6 who live on a cliff top in China’s Atule’er village in Sichuan province will no longer have to use flexible vine-based ladders to climb down and up the 2,600-foot descent from their homes to school. Beijing News disclosed in October, in a...
by Naila Moreira | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Down to Earth, News, Newsletter
Just across from one of my favorite writing spots — the window counter at Northampton Coffee — I can see a dark mark on the former lumber building: “Flood Level — 1936.” When I walk past, the mark is almost a foot over my head. After writing, I often hop on my bicycle...
by Gary Carra | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Music, Nightcrawler
Can you rock and roll all night and still be home for the 11 o’clock news? The Crawler did — just a couple of Saturdays ago at Mohegan Sun. KISS may be known for their outlandish make-up, ghoulish antics, and fist-pumping anthems. But behind all the greasepaint, the...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Food + Booze, News, Newsletter
Talk to Pour Man Warren Johnston if you want excellent suggestions for which wine to serve at your next dinner party. Hit up Beerhunter Hunter Styles to find the best brews to drink with your buds. But if you want to know the best way to pair wine and beer with the...
by From Our Readers | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Totally RiggedThank you, Editor Palpini, for the recent article about the “rigging” of the election (“Between the Lines: Are the Elections Rigged?”, Oct. 27-Nov. 2, 2016). It is indecorous in the extreme for Republicans to stoke the public’s fear of this possibility...
by Rob Breszny | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Astrology, Living By The Stars, Wellness
ARIES (March 21-April 19): There is a 97 percent chance that you will not engage in the following activities within the next 30 days: naked skydiving, tight-rope walking between two skyscrapers, getting drunk on a mountaintop, taking ayahuasca with Peruvian shamans in...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter
Tahirah Amatul-Wadud This story is part of a new project by writer Jenny Bender and artist Amanda Herman, who have teamed up to interview and photograph Muslims in the Valley. The full exhibition, which features 10-15 photographs and interviews, opens Nov. 11 at...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 4, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
The National Theatre’s NT Live series of HD broadcasts from the London stage is back for its eighth season, starting with a mix of new productions and encore screenings. The Amherst Cinema has recently reprised Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge and...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
New York has its Tonys and Obies, Boston its Nortons, and now the Berkshire region has its own rewards for outstanding work in theater — the Berkshire Theatre Awards. Twelve professional companies in the Berkshires, southern Vermont, and New York’s Capital District...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Anyone who has seen Inside Llewyn Davis, the terrific 2013 dark comedy by the Coen Brothers, knows that many hard-working musicians walk a long, erratic path around fame without ever finding a way inside. Compared to poor Llewyn, Minnesota native John Gorka has been...
by Kristin Palpini | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter
Riffing on Identity Identities: we all have one, but how do we communicate them to others? How we choose to represent ourselves to the world is endlessly fascinating, but take it to the next level: What does it mean when we perform an identity? Get deep this weekend...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Shanghai Nights The Shanghai Acrobats of the People’s Republic of China don’t just have a long name — they’re one of the longest-running and most distinguished troupes in the world. Get out to see them, and you’ll understand why. Circus groups around the world bring...
by Kristin Palpini | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter, Stage
The Last Waltz, 40 Years Later On CityStage this week, The Rev Tor Band and a local cast of musicians will perform tunes from The Band’s classic 1976 Thanksgiving Day concert, The Last Waltz Live. The show, which was released as a film of the same name, was billed as...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
Neither of the shows now playing in downtown Hartford are Halloween-themed, but both are thoroughly haunted by ghosts of the past, in one case literally. That one is The Piano Lesson, at Hartford Stage through November 13. It’s the 1930s segment of August Wilson’s...
by Kyle Olsen | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Wintersong Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem Signature SoundsOffering a mix of both upbeat and sentimental Christmas songs, Valley-founded roots quartet Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem release their new album Wintersong on Nov. 18, just in time for the holiday season. The...
by Will Meyer | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Honestly Weird “Hello everybody/ there’s a Nazi living in my head.” That’s the first line on Brattleboro musician Ruth Garbus’ new EP, Hello Everybody, and its overt shockingness lays the foundation for a departure from her previous handful of mostly solo...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Food + Booze, Leisure, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
In the two years since I took on the role of Valley beer reporter, I’ve tried to keep things local whenever possible. Aside from an international sojourn or two — like when I tried a mug of saliva-fermented ‘chicha’ corn beer in Peru last year — I’ve generally been...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter
Prozacs/Pajama Slave Dancers • Saturday Shenanigans Pub in Westfield is the place to be Saturday night if your heart is made of punk rock. For the first time in 30 years, Pajama Slave Dancers come back to their roots and perform in their original birthplace. If that...
