Articles
by Jack Brown | Oct 19, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
Of all the holiday movie traditions, it might be that of Halloween that has given us in the film world the most joy over the years. Christmas has some winners, of course, but is often bogged down by moralizing, sappiness, or commercialism. Thanksgiving and New Year’s...
by Amanda Drane and Hunter Styles; Photos by Amanda Drane | Oct 19, 2015 | Articles, Featured, News
When the railroad tracks that run through the Valley were improved for heavy freight trains and passenger rail service, people were excited about the potential of ditching their cars and using the train to get up and down the Valley, taking it to work or to a show and...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 19, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Food + Booze, News
Greenfield doesn’t get the same attention for being an arts and cultural center like Northampton, Amherst or Springfield, but we’d like to help change that perception. There’s a lot to love about this town and not just for its obvious attributes: Greenfield’s...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 13, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Leisure, Music, News, Wellness
Feel that chill in the air? It’s only a matter of weeks before we’re all hibernating on the couch, looking out the window at the deep freeze and wondering where all the long, fun days went. Don’t spend the winter as a sad blanket case. There’s still time to bust out...
by Hunter Styles
and Amanda Drane
Photos by Hunter Styles | Oct 13, 2015 | Articles, Featured, MGM Springfield Casino coverage, News
In October 2007, MGM announced plans to build a $5 billion casino resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In addition to slots, tables, and hotel rooms, renderings of the 60-acre complex boasted restaurants, clubs, and retail space. Among 11 other nearby casinos, MGM...
by Story and Photos
Amanda
Drane | Oct 13, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, News, Stage
Within seconds of meeting each other, tap and jazz dancer David Bovat and percussionist Jeff Hinrichs are moving and grooving. Hinrichs lays down a quick tempo on the djembe, which makes a deep, hollow sound, and Bovat’s tap shoes start click-clacking in double time....
by Hunter Styles | Oct 13, 2015 | Articles, Featured, Local Elections 2015, News
This year, the Advocate is covering the Valley’s mayoral races a little differently. We’ve asked each candidate the same four questions, which we hope will provoke thoughtful and illuminating answers — with a little editing for length and clarity. This week we quizzed...
by Jack Brown | Oct 13, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
I’ve lived in the Valley for some 18 years now, which is exactly as long as I lived under my parents’ roof. Everything in between there and here — my two homes, each of which, now, has had its own family life — has been a way station, a stop along a longer road. But...
by Gary Carra | Oct 13, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Nightcrawler
Were it not for the marking of a certain sonic milestone, The Lonesome Brothers’ appearance at the Iron Horse this weekend couldn’t be more business as usual. Another weekend, some original tunes from their catalog of more than 100, another venue. “Basically, the gist...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 7, 2015 | Articles, Blogs, Featured, The Uncanny Valley, Uncategorized
by Hunter Styles Staff writer Amanda Drane has worked in the local food industry for 10 years, and she’s shared with us some truly great stories of her time in the kitchen, including a couple about the haunted room at Spoleto, an Italian restaurant in Northampton. One...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 7, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
If proof were needed of the sheer variety in the transatlantic fare served up by the National Theatre’s NT Live, we’d need to look no farther than the next two offerings in that stage-to-screen series coming to the Amherst Cinema. One is a classic Restoration...
by Jack Brown | Oct 6, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Leisure
We here in the Pioneer Valley love a good festival. Just this year I’ve seen festivals devoted to asparagus, tomatoes, garlic, or one that just throws it all together to celebrate the harvest season. Our small towns have festivals to celebrate their small-towniness,...
by Amanda Drane | Oct 6, 2015 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News
As I write these words, on the other side of Conz Street, Western Mass residents are strolling into Northampton’s New England Treatment Access on opening day to purchase medical marijuana from the area’s first dispensary. Would that have seemed possible in 2007? As...
by Amanda Drane | Oct 6, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, News
Valley musician Mikey Sweet spent two weeks hitchhiking around the Northeast last month, holding a sign reading: “broke musician, need money to finish album.” After a storied 14 days’ worth of busking, gigging, and drawing attention to his Kickstarter campaign, Sweet...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 6, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Film
The Green Inferno Blumhouse Tilt/Universal Pictures In theaters nationwide Two Advocate staffers — horror movie buff Jen Levesque and total wimp Hunter Styles — saw the controversial horror flick The Green Inferno last weekend. The extremely gory film, directed by Eli...
by Gary Carra | Oct 6, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Nightcrawler
Fans of suds ’n’ sounds will find no shortage of occurrences in which to quench their multi-sensory cravings this weekend. On Saturday, Oct. 10, at the King Phillips Stockade at 1200 West Columbus Ave., in Springfield, Log Cabin/Delaney House and Samuel Adams will...
by Emily Atkinson | Oct 6, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Food + Booze
With the chill of fall finally beginning to bite, it’s the perfect time to indulge in something more substantial than summer fare. Pumpkin, squash, apple, maple syrup, and any number of other fall delights await at restaurants throughout the Valley. So, when you’ve...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 6, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
Time was, at the end of August the summer theaters would fold their (figurative) tents and wait for spring. While that’s still true of the Valley theaters that brighten our hot-weather months, three of the Big Four Berkshire festivals now extend their seasons into the...
by Gary Carra | Sep 29, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Nightcrawler
Bay State quartet Darlingside have become veritable media darlings in their just over half a decade of existence. Their lush, harmony-laden amalgam of indie folk rock garners kudos as steadily and readily as “Dump Trump’’ petition signatures at a Cinco De Mayo party....
by Jack Brown | Sep 29, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
As much as I love good film — the transformative power of a story well told, the otherworldly experience of settling into the dark as the lights come up on someone else’s dream — there is something to be said for the bad ones out there. To be clear, I’m not talking...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 29, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Film, Leisure, Music, News, Stage
What’s on tap for arts and culture over the next few months in the Pioneer Valley: Party Animals How do you describe The Surrealist Cabaret by the Royal Frog Ballet? You let the frogs do it. From the event’s website, The Surrealist Cabaret “is a walking...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Sep 29, 2015 | Articles, Columns, Featured, The V-Spot, Wellness
Hey Yana, My boyfriend and I think anal sex is super hot and are determined to be pros at it! We’ve played with fingers and anal toys and managed to have a pretty successful penile-anal penetration experience once, but it hurt so much that now I’m afraid to do it...
by Amanda Drane | Sep 29, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Wellness
Yoga isn’t for everyone, but that’s not a point the Pioneer Valley is ready to concede. Or at least, it seems that way judging by the varied yoga offerings here. Yoga and beer? Yes, please. Yoga and art? Why not. Yoga with death metal? Yes, that is a thing here. I’ve...
by Amanda Drane | Sep 29, 2015 | Articles, Featured, Wellness
Temperatures are dropping and soon frost will cover the sidewalks. Unless you’re a die-hard, it will soon be time to retire those roller blades, bikes, and running shoes for the season. Lest you become a cold-weather couch potato, here are some places to get you up...
by Chris Rohmann | Sep 23, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
It’s all about possibility – “One of Emily’s favorite terms,” Wendy Kohler explained as we gathered in pairs and singles at the Emily Dickinson Homestead in Amherst, ready to embark on “an immersive journey” inspired by her letters, poems and hometown. Kohler is...
by Chris Rohmann | Sep 22, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
You’ll probably think I’m some kind of androphobe, or that I’m just beating the same drum to death, but after a summer when so many of my favorite plays and performances were by women, I couldn’t help noticing the same theme carrying into the fall. Turns out the...
by Gary Carra | Sep 22, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Nightcrawler
Most folks remember Gary Biardi as a man whose love of the outdoors was rivaled only by his passion for music. This Sunday, Sept. 27, no less than two dozen of the Valley’s most local notables — including Mark Schwaber, Alex Meisner, J.J. O’Connell, and Jeff Turcotte...
by Jack Brown | Sep 22, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
One of the great treats of having Amherst Cinema around for so long — it turns 10 next year — is that the programming has had the chance to grow beyond the standard fare that is all too expected of an “art house” theater (a label, I’d guess, the theater itself would...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 22, 2015 | Articles, Featured, News, Wellness
Mariette Poginy sighs, pivots in her porch chair, and looks across Norwood Street in Greenfield, where the banging of hammers and the whining of drills emanate from the former Lunt Silversmiths factory. If all goes according to plan, the vacant and overgrown building...
by From Our Readers | Sep 22, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Leisure, News
This is a new school-style portrait of my best friend Lani. We’ve been friends for 20 years now and are now 31-year-olds — that’s significant. Sadly, we live on opposite coasts now. She’s in San Fran and I’ve been between the Valley and Austin. I have two tattoos for...
by Amanda Drane | Sep 22, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, News
Kalliope Jones’ story about how the local band lost a music competition following a judge’s suggestion the all-female teen band be more “sultry,” was a familiar one to rocker June Millington. She recalls how one review of a gig called her band Fanny “excellent,” but...
by Amanda Drane | Sep 22, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Leisure, News
Delilah the basset hound may be blind, but that doesn’t stop her from hiking with her humans, lying about the house, and being just too darned cute. Her eyes, says owner Charlotte Cathro, 34, of Northampton, are both her most fetching feature and her downfall....
by Gary Carra | Sep 14, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Nightcrawler
There may be record sunshine outside this September, but inside the area music circuit, the forecast is for winds of change. Not the least of which can be found in Colorway, a fairly new vehicle for the words and music of scene stalwart Alex Johnson. The band will be...
by Jack Brown | Sep 14, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
Almost from the get go, movies and crime have been a natural pair. Perhaps it’s the voyeuristic nature of the medium, where to some degree we’re all just looking through a one-way mirror, that draws us to stories of sin and violence — we get all the adrenaline with...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 14, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News
Tattooed people are often asked what they think their tattoos will look like once they get older and their skin begins to wrinkle and age. My response has always been, “Well, I will look like a colorful little old lady with a gray braid, of course.” Let’s face it, if...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 14, 2015 | Articles, Featured, Food + Booze, News, Taste-Off!
Drum roll please … After four rounds of blind taste-tests of cheese slices from 27 pizzerias across the Valley — from Greenfield to Springfield — the Advocate staff is ready to announce the winner of our summer slice smackdown. Without knowledge of where the...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Sep 14, 2015 | Articles, Columns, Featured, The V-Spot, Wellness
Hi Yana! I’ve had a sexual concern for the longest time: I have trouble feeling orgasm during sex and masturbation. At first I thought it might be my partner not knowing my spots too well, but I realized I’ve never had any ejaculations by myself either. I’m worried...
by Jack Brown | Sep 8, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
Film fans might remember Julie Taymor’s wide-ranging 2007 movie Across the Universe. It opened to mixed reviews, but one thing it had going for it was the strength of its musical foundation: the bulk of the soundtrack — and indeed the whole arc of the film’s story —...
by Gary Carra | Sep 8, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Nightcrawler
Dennis Miller has a great line concerning the masses and social media: “Never have lives so less lived been so well chronicled.” While that idea is equal parts funny and true, the first annual Springfield Steampunk Festival was conceived in precisely the inverse...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 8, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, News
T housands of votes later, readers have whittled the best bands in the Valley down to four groups that will battle it out for a recording session at Rotary Records in West Springfield, $500 at Falcetti Music of Springfield, and gigs at Falcetti’s new performance space...
by Amanda Drane | Sep 8, 2015 | Articles, Featured, Food + Booze, Leisure
Will Betsy and Jimmy Tarr, owners of the Hatfield-based Bistro Bus, ever get their money back? Jimmy Tarr said he still hasn’t heard from Rob Craven, organizer of the never-realized inaugural Massachusetts Food Truck Festival, about getting back his $425 deposit. Tarr...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 8, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Stage
Pittsburgh playwright Tammy Ryan was picking up her daughter from kindergarten in 2007 when she noticed the mother standing next to her, dressed in military fatigues and combat boots. They had met the week before. Now, she was leaving for a nine-month deployment. “I...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 8, 2015 | Articles, Blogs, Columns, Featured, News, The Uncanny Valley
Why is it that a cheeseburger costs $1.22 at Burger King, while a small order of fries costs $1.70? Isn’t beef supposed to be more expensive than potatoes? Thanks for writing in, anonymous reader, with your puzzling — and discomforting — question. To figure out why...
by Jack Brown | Sep 1, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
When I first moved to the Valley in the late ’90s, it was from Brooklyn, where I had spent a few post-college years in a vain attempt at being worldly. I had gone there imagining I would dash off a book and get discovered (not necessarily in that order) and that the...
by Gary Carra | Sep 1, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Nightcrawler
Bands and eight balls. How cliche can you get? But egg ball? Do tell, Rubblebucket! “It’s basically a combination of dodgeball and volleyball,” the band explains of their favorite downtime game in the premiere webisode of Pamper The Band. And that’s exactly the type...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 1, 2015 | Articles, Featured, News
Once we’ve all had our fill of cheese curds and smoked turkey legs, whipping around on rides, shopping for T-shirts, and visiting the butter statute, and The Big E packs up another season, a perennial question strikes many Western Mass residents: Who gets to keep all...
by Amanda Drane | Sep 1, 2015 | Articles, Featured, Leisure, News, Wellness
Multi-tasking kills. This isn’t an excuse of the lazy — researchers are finding more and more that over-working yourself is a fast lane pass to the grave. According to a new study of 600,000 people in Australia, the U.S., and Europe — published August 19 in U.K....
by Amanda Drane
and Hunter Styles | Sep 1, 2015 | Articles, Careers & Education, Featured, News
So you’re in the Valley going to college and you haven’t found your fav spots yet. You haven’t found a mechanic or a hairdresser you trust. Some of you are new to the area, some of you are new to being out on your own, and some of you are both. That’s a hard boat to...
by Gary Carra | Aug 25, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Nightcrawler
Since he’s a lifelong Valley resident — not to mention a veritable scene stalwart — one would think Jeff King would know his way around the area by now. The Crawler caught up with the journeyman musician to inquire about his recent radio appearance, however, and it...
by Jack Brown | Aug 25, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
When we talk about animated films here in the States, the conversation often gets stuck in the worlds of Disney and Pixar. Those powerhouse studios and their imitators have largely defined the big-screen cartoon for American crowds, and while their successes have...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 25, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Food + Booze, Leisure, News
The saloon doors swing open, and Emily Pichette steps into the small kitchen of the Foundry in Northampton. A wave of sound follows her from the dining room: murmuring, laughter, and clinking glasses. “Are we ready for the first course?” she asks. The staff turns to...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 25, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music
Beach House Aug. 19, 2015 at Pearl Street Nightclub, Northampton A sweat lodge triggers mystical experiences, or so they say. I haven’t tried it, but Pearl Street’s crowded and steamy concert by Beach House last Wednesday got me pretty close. My glasses fogged up upon...
by Amanda Drane | Aug 25, 2015 | Articles, Featured, News
Fatal traffic accidents are up 14 percent from 2014 in the U.S. — and that’s only counting the first six months of 2015. According to new data released by the National Safety Council, injuries from traffic accidents are also up 30 percent over the same time span —and...
by Kristin Palpini | Aug 25, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, News
by Hunter Styles | Aug 19, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Leisure, News
“N o matter what you might do,” Ben Folds once sang, “there’s always someone out there cooler than you.” How true. Every week I scrap together a sense of my own hipness, and every week the world lobs a curveball that busts right through my armor. It happened this past...
by Kristin Palpini | Aug 19, 2015 | Articles, Featured, Food + Booze, Leisure, News, Taste-Off!
Ah, the classic American brownie — it’s the chocolate chip cookie for chocolate lovers. Everybody has a brownie story. Whether your Grandma made the best, you ate that funny smelling one and couldn’t speak for a while, or you had the munchies and ate a whole tray of...
by James Heflin | Aug 19, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Leisure, News
A singular event in Bingen, Washington marked Chris Hubbard’s transformation from glassblowing hobbyist to professional: “On Aug. 3, 2005, a SWAT team kicked in my door. They thought the studio was a meth lab,” Hubbard says. He had his medical marijuana card, and was...
by Amanda Drane | Aug 19, 2015 | Articles, Featured, Leisure, News, Wellness
For cancer patient Valerie, marijuana makes the difference between walking and not walking. “I’ve totally outlived my expiration date,” she says, laughing. Valerie, 61 — a long time Western Mass resident who asked to be identified only by her first name — has fought...
by Amanda Drane | Aug 19, 2015 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Food + Booze, Madame Barfly
Jim Zaccara says his bar is an appletini-free zone. Zaccara, 45, grew up working in restaurants, and bartending was always his forte. When he began making his own style of cocktail at his first full-bar restaurant — Hope and Olive in Greenfield — eight years ago, he...
by Gary Carra | Aug 19, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Music, Nightcrawler
The Apple Jam Roots Music Festival stems from what was once little more than a backyard picnic on a family property. On the back of the sonic spread that accompanied the annual Russell-based shindig, however, Apple has blossomed into a coveted festival stop for many a...
