Articles
by Hunter Styles | Jul 19, 2016 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
Taylor Made It’s just a hop, skip, and a flying leap from Manhattan to the Berkshires, at least for the Paul Taylor Dance Company. The group has been trucking up shows to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center for nine years running now, but the good thing about a...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 19, 2016 | Articles, Featured, Newsletter, Uncategorized
SUNDAY: Build it YourselfSunday is for relaxing — and that includes a day of rest for the bartenders at Arkham at Harmony Place in Brattleboro. The quintessential hipster dive bar, complete with air hockey and arcade games, has a Build Your Own Bloody Mary party. It’s...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 19, 2016 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
The Doctor Is Out and AboutAnd to think that he grew up on Fairfield Street! Theodor Seuss Geisel — a.k.a. Dr. Seuss — was born in Springfield to German immigrants in 1904, and although he moved to California for much of his adult life, it is on these local blocks...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 19, 2016 | Articles, Uncategorized
Creative InletsAya Yamasaki and Jason Brown know how to flow. Working as a creative duo called Operatura, the two artists create hand-drawn animation, illustrations, comics, and installations, drawing inspiration from the natural and magical worlds, the humorous and...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 19, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter
Dare to CompeteBrooklyn-based flex dance pioneer Reggie ‘Regg Roc’ Gray, the co-creator of the show FLEXN, performs at Jacob’s Pillow Dance for four days in August. But first, he has a dream. Gray hosts a D.R.E.A.M. RING (Dance Rules Everything Around Me)...
by Gary Carra | Jul 19, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, Nightcrawler, Uncategorized
Musician and artist Wendell Rheinheimer, the owner of Moonlight Designs screenprinting in Easthampton, has been doing a little moonlighting of his own in recent months. The fruits of a new collaborative effort with his partner, organic vegetable farmer Shana Totino,...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 19, 2016 | Articles
More Rohmann!I sincerely wish you published more of Stagestruck columnist Chris Rohmann’s theater reviews. They are so important to so many of us, because what to see and what to miss is something I’ve counted on from Rohmann’s fine reviews over the years. I suspect...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter, Uncategorized
Swing and a HitSinger and guitarist Erin Harpe formed her Delta blues quintet in Jamaica Plain in 2010, and the group has been all over since then, winning the Boston Blues Challenge three times, playing the five-day International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2015,...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter, Uncategorized
Magic on the MountainThe lower Valley has plenty of reasons to boast about its brews, but this weekend, it’s Franklin County’s turn. Hilltown pride and local products prevail at the first-ever On Tap festival at Berkshire East, featuring local beer, mead, cider, and...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter, Uncategorized
Great ScotsYou thought your Independence Day was wild, food-stuffed fun? Just stop by the annual Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival to see how the brave of heart really get down. Highland dancers, pipers, and drummers (like Albannach, pictured here) cast a spell of sound...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Uncategorized
Music and MemorySouthampton has many a quiet corner, but the grounds of Black Birch Vineyard will be lively on Saturday as the winery hosts a summer concert benefit to raise funds for the Northampton Survival Center. Local food trucks will help to keep visitors fed...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Leisure, Newsletter
Circus with a Smile No elephants were harmed in the making of this motion-filled picture. The only ASPCA likely to take notice of the new high-flying act by Circus Smirkus is the American Society for the Perpetuation of Cool Acrobatics — a group we just made up, but...
by Jack Brown | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
We all have a tendency, as we get on in years, to remember our better days and let the not-so-great times wash away in the river of time. It’s human, and while you might roll your eyes at your great-aunt launching into that same story about sneaking into a Beatles...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Music, Newsletter, Uncategorized
Triple Threat I tried to be open-minded as a young music lover, but despite the curious sonic wanderings of my teenage years, my ears could never quite latch onto songs with no vocals. As soon as I’d hit a track called “Instrumental,” I’d stubbornly skip it (the...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
Here’s one thing the two very different Tennessee Williams plays now running in the Berkshires have in common: The sets have no walls. In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, on the Berkshire Theatre Group’s Stockbridge mainstage, four white-and-pastel pillars frame the sparsely...
by Will Meyer | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter, Uncategorized
Book It Yourself The Western Mass DIY music calendar does what Facebook can’t Amherst punk musician Will Killingsworth and Belchertown visual artist, musician, and show-booker Miranda Wiley have noticed a disconnect between subsets of the DIY music scene in...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 12, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, News, Stage
Split Shift/Fear Nuttin Band – Saturday Split Shift and Fear Nuttin Band are clebrating their 15th anniversaries this weekend. iRockRadio presents Rock Fest featuring the two bands, along with other locals: Sakara, Sever The Drama, NoSho, Neon Fauna, Sanity is...
by Kristin Palpini, Hunter Styles, and Peter Vancini | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Film, News
Among the billions of videos on YouTube, drowned out by commercials for real estate and cars, dwells awesome local content that is nearly impossible to find — unless you know where to look.What’s got 40 pages and some entertaining and/or enlightening channels to...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, News
This election cycle is stirring up strong feelings left and right, but most of us confine our rants to social media and the comments sections of YouTube channels we love to hate-watch. That’s why we were surprised to find some political graffiti on Route 5 in...
by Chuck Shepherd | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, News, News of the Weird
More and more churches — hundreds, according to a June Christianity Today report — offer hesitant parishioners a “money-back guarantee” if they tithe 10 percent, or more, of their income for 90 days, but then feel that God blesses them insufficiently in...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
Dear Yana,I want to break up with my boyfriend of a few years. As we both near 30 I’m getting clearer that he’s just not the guy for me.But here’s the thing: We live together. We have a lease together. We share a car and a cat and just have so many logistical ties to...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Featured
The New Cornographers A 70-year-old stranger named Gregory Thorp sent me an email last week. “In Ashfield, I am photographer of corn,” he wrote, “and I have one in particular that might be useful to the Advocate.” This is far from the strangest submission we’ve...
by Kristin Palpini | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News
Some topics are too rich to write about just once — and this column seeks to tackle a lot of them. For all the people wondering, “What ever happened to …?” this week’s column — part two in a two-part series — is full of updates on issues I’ve written about in this...
by From Our Readers | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Featured, Letters from our Readers, News
Why Not Deport Criminals?The following is in reference to the article, “Between the Lines: Report a Crime, Risk Deportation” June 9-15, 2016. Why is it a bad thing to deport people who are here illegally who have committed not one, but two crimes? I’m not versed...
by Warren Johnston | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Food + Booze, The Pour Man
Dibon Brut Reserve Cava, of Penedes, Spain; $12.99 I’ve been thinking about sparkling wine lately because it’s well suited for steamy summer nights; just one glass will go a long way to ease the heat. Sparkling wine also came to mind because someone gave me a bottle...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter, Uncategorized
War-Torn Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies gives the trauma of battle, and the sting of accountability, a voice in Sarah Goodwin, the protagonist of Time Stands Still. An Iraq War photojournalist recovering in America from severe injuries suffered in...
by Kristin Palpini | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, News, Scene Here
The 30th Green River Festival at Greenfield Community College was awash in music, good vibes, and rain — big time. Day two of the three-day festival, Saturday, saw some severe downpours, but a little rain wasn’t enough to dampen people’s spirits. — Kristin Palpini,...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Uncategorized
Mini MoodsIf the inside of Ami Fagin’s head looks like the bright-hued watercolors she began painting last summer, we’d love to take a few trips on her train of thought. This series, called One Hundred and One Visual Haiku, started as a daily meditation. After about...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 11, 2016 | Articles, Uncategorized
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Upcoming adventures might make you more manly if you are a woman. If you are a man, the coming escapades could make you more womanly. How about if you’re trans? Odds are that you’ll become even more gender fluid. I am...
by Gary Carra | Jul 10, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Nightcrawler
Slip-not seeks new skin beater; Splitshift, FNB celebrate sonic milestone Local tribute band Slip-not will be marching to the beat of a different drummer — er, clown? — if they can find the right basher to fill the oversized shoes of departing Joshua Keller....
by Hunter Styles | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter, Uncategorized
Body of Work Living wage legislation seems like a flurry of statistics and economic reports until you focus in on the faces, voices, and lives of the millions of Americans affected by low-wage work. Pioneer Valley Workers — in collaboration with curators and artists...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
Back to the Mill New breweries tend to pop up in unlikely industrial spaces, and Bright Ideas Brewing in North Adams is no different. The small but ambitious operation is a new tenant of MASS MoCA, which means that finding the front door to the brewery involves some...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 7, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
Two brief plays currently running in the area look at the power and value of art through quite different lenses, but ask similar questions: How does a work of art “speak to us” as individuals? How does its character affect our perception of it? How does its very...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter, Uncategorized
Meals With WheelsWhat’s that delicious aroma wafting from the scenic grassy terraces of Hartford’s riverfront plaza? Probably some combination of Cheesesteakissimo, Maui Wowi, New Haven Pizza, Four Flours Baking Company, Taco Tequila, Ben & Jerry’s, Caribbean Food...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter, Uncategorized
In With a Bang Just in time for MASS MoCA’s welcome shift to summer hours, we’re jazzed to spread news of the return of the museum’s annual Bang on a Can festival, which ushers in three weeks of music all day, every day. Museum-goers and the general public can choose...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter, Uncategorized
Evening Becomes Eclectic The 25th annual Ko Fest at Amherst College welcomes back many of its most treasured artists from previous years. This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, July 8-10, three evenings of special guests — from as far away as New Orleans and as close as...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, News
It was unfortunate, says director Danny Lichtenfeld, that the Brattleboro Museum and Arts Center’s postcard for the new exhibit “Up In Arms: Taking Stock of Guns” hit many local mailboxes the morning after the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando. I...
by Erykah Carter | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, News, Wellness
Editor’s Note: In October Erykah Carter will walk out of the Franklin County Jail and take her first free steps — ever. “To be able to say my name, my name is Erykah Carter, it means the world to me, it makes me feel right,” says Carter during our interview in...
by Jennifer Levesque | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, News, Stage
This past Saturday at Diva’s Nightclub in Northampton, a tribute to KJ Morris was held. Under the name Daddy K, Morris was a dancer and drag performer at Diva’s and was a huge part of the LGBT community in the Valley. Drag queens and kings, close friends,...
by Peter Vancini | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, News
In our June 23 – 29, 2016 issue, the Advocate ran a piece called “Uncivil Discourse,” which was about the online backlash incurred by two local college students after they aggressively protested a panel discussion at UMass. The reader response surprised us and...
by Amanda Drane | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, News, Third Eye Roaming, Wellness
While I was growing up, my dad was addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine. He still is, he’d say, although he’s been sober for more than six years. At times it wasn’t easy having a good relationship with my dad, but the thing that always got us through rough patches is...
by Kristin Palpini | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Between the Lines, News
News writers are constantly looking for new topics, fresh angles, scoops, and shenanigans to expose — and once we’ve done that work, it’s on to the next new thing. Because there is always a new issue, catastrophe, trend, or serious question to analyze, journalists and...
by Peter Vancini and Kristin Palpini | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Leisure, Wellness
For most people, the closest they get to drowning is watching someone on TV or in the movies going through the motions: screaming, flailing arms, and lots of splashing. So, when someone actually drowns, you’d think it would be easy to spot. But not always.In real...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Uncategorized
Screwballs You never know what the world will throw at you. It’s one of the hardest lessons to learn, but at least there’s occasion in Conway to practice swinging at life’s surprises. On Saturday, the Hilltown hosts its fourth annual Chesbro Challenge, a very silly...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Leisure, Wellness
Wilderness survival films tend to focus on bears, wolves, sheer rock faces, and toppling (at least once per movie) into a cold, surging river. But most hiking safety tips — while often a matter of life and death — deal with more prosaic issues. The American Hiking...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter, Uncategorized
Testing the WatersSince it re-opened in March under new ownership, the Waterfront Tavern has been looking for ways to let the Valley know that it’s an up-and-coming nightspot all over again. One appealing addition to the music venue’s regular lineup: Wednesday...
by Gary Carra | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter, Uncategorized
This weekend, July 8-10, marks the 30th year of Greenfield’s Green River Festival. The much-ballyhooed hullabaloo has been feted by the likes of Rolling Stone and USA Today as one of the nation’s must-catch summer festivals in recent years, with its...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, News, News of the Weird
In May, an apparently devout woman named Katy Vasquez of Winter Park, Florida, posted a sincerely written entry on Facebook — and told Huffington Post in an interview — that she had just seen a “sign from God,” a cross, as a smudge in her infant’s...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Uncategorized
When I was a younger man, I looked at my father’s record collection as if it were a collection of lost gospels. He was a Dylan nut who branched out to collect lesser-known folk types, and while my friends were keeping up with what was happening in our own time, I...
by From Our Readers | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News
Mental for Basemental I’ve been a reader of the Advocate for many years and I just wanted to say that I have really been appreciating Will Meyer’s Basemental column over the last several weeks. I’ve been to some of these basements and DIY venues...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Uncategorized
Gene Brienre, makes his way to the opening celebration for the 44-unit Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans Community building — his new home.Select Soldier On military veterans were given the opportunity to purchase an equity stake in their homes. The idea is for veterans to...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter, Wellness
Hi Yana,I recently attended one of your workshops about the G-spot and it worked! My partner and I went home that night and I squirted. But it’s so strange because when I squirt it doesn’t happen as I climax. It isn’t like a climactic orgasm. It just feels crazy good...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 5, 2016 | Articles, Uncategorized
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Events in the coming week may trick your mind and tweak your heart. They might mess with your messiah complex and wreak havoc on your habits. But I bet they will also energize your muses and add melodic magic to your mysteries. They will...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 2, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Stage, Stagestruck
Three of the four shows I saw at the National Theatre in London last month were star vehicles, and the fourth one’s ensemble cast featured a very well-known face. The first three also, coincidentally, ended in sudden reprieves from ignominious deaths. Another...
by Peter Vancini | Jun 27, 2016 | Articles, Uncategorized
How did you get connected with Greenfield Gallery?I was just looking for my own art space and I was kind of shopping around the area. I think that was the second place I looked at and I was just completely enchanted. It’s such a great space. I love how the owner lives...
by Peter Vancini | Jun 27, 2016 | Articles, News
The lights are finally on in a small storefront on Worthington Street in downtown Springfield, just in time for the official June 8 kick-off gala for Make-It Springfield, the “pop-up makerspace” that’s aimed not just at refurbishing the empty storefront it moved into,...
by Hunter Styles | Jun 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, News
On a cool Friday night in early May, guests filled the Greenfield Gallery to celebrate the abstract paintings of Greenfield artist Joseph McCarthy. About 60 people came through to chat over wine and cheese, and the gallery sold several works. When Rachael Katz and...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 27, 2016 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
SUNDAY: High Water MarkIt’s been one year since the relaunch of the Ashfield Lake House, which means a funkadelic anniversary show with music inside and outside, featuring the return of What Cheer? Brigade, Providence’s best 18-member brass band, plus performances by...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 30, 2016 | Articles, Uncategorized
Picnic Perfect Fourth of July is the most picnic-iest holiday of the year, and we’re here to help you pack the most delicious, envy-inspiring, locally-sourced picnic basket of your life. You’ll notice that we didn’t make any of the food ourselves; that’s because this...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 27, 2016 | Articles, Food + Booze, News, Uncategorized
The staff at the Valley Advocate have been to many picnics, parties, hootenannies, hoe downs, shindigs, and festivals, but only one of us has ever tasted the infamous vodkamelon.Amanda Drane, our Third Eye Roaming yogi, claims to have made a vodka infused melon with...
