Arts
A Love Letter to Radio: Johnny Memphis Band’s ‘Rarities’
Polka, doo-wop, jazz swing, and country western music — you wouldn’t think one band would cover these eclectic genres across six songs, but The Johnny Memphis Band, based out of Florence, does just that and more on its new record, Rarities. The sole songwriter for the...
VIDEO TEASE Shokazoba With the Afro-Beat Sessions
We took this one on the road to the Log Cabin in Holyoke. For the full set come back Friday! We’re posting it around noon.
Cuba in Transition: Memory and Reality Converge in Guglielmo’s Detailed Collages
Mark Guglielmo’s collages are the physical manifestation of memory. The murals seem fluid; Guglielmo play with size and scale to emphasize pieces of a scene over others. He adds details from nearby times and places into the work, much in the same way people blend...
‘Ask a Punk’ Documentary on Western Mass DIY gives glimpse into growing music scene (w/vid)
Amherst College junior Brian Zayatz’s new documentary, Ask a Punk, opens on a dark basement. You can’t see much other than some hazy Christmas lights in the frame. Some very involved yet calming music — tritones soaked in reverb — plays in the background. This...
Stream Queen: Move over, ‘The Breakfast Club’ Titles for all of life’s graduations (w/vid)
Graduation season is upon us, as high schoolers gear up for the next vein of adulthood and university students steel themselves for the real world, whatever that is. Fresh from a weekend of back-to-back college graduations myself, I can’t help but contemplate the...
Summer Stage Preview, Part II: Theaters on the Move
Editor’s Note: Here’s the Summer Stage Preview Part I, about the Berkshires. These days, Sam Rush often finds himself using the punning phrase “Home is where the art is.” That’s because his company, New Century Theatre, having lost its longtime home at...
Review: A ‘Lil Alt-Country on Lisa Marie Ellingsen’s ‘NoLa to NoHo’ (w/audio)
Local singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Ellingsen smiles with an air of satisfaction. She’s wearing a leather jacket and flannel shirt, leaning against a rustic wooden backdrop on the front cover her new album, NoLa to NoHo. The photos were shot at the Florence Pie Bar,...
Born-Again Buildings: Turning Churches Into Places To Live
Liza King, 66, and Rick Neumann, 71, of Brattleboro, are about to fulfill what has felt like their lifelong ambition. On June 1, after nearly 20 years, they will move into their church sanctuary. “Their” church, by the way, doesn’t mean the church to which they...
Summer Stage Preview — Part I: The Berkshires
Most theaters in this region have only two seasons: summer and the rest of the year. None of the area’s professional companies are truly year-round. Some focus on intensive summer repertories of multiple shows with two- and three-week runs, while others produce only...
TEASE (W/VID) FlavaEvolution’s Funky Jazzy Sessions Set … Full Set Coming Friday
\/ \/ Scroll down for video. \/ \/ Recorded May 9, 2017, at the party for Best Of the Valley Readers’ Poll 2017 first place winners hosted by the Valley Advocate at the Log Cabin in Holyoke. Want more Sessions now? Go to sessions.valleyadvocate.com to...
Cinemadope: It’s Going to Be a Damn Fine Reboot, and FREE Streaming Movies )w/vid)
Amherst Cinema is gearing up for the return of Special Agent Dale Cooper. Kyle MacLachlan returns to TV this week in his early role as Cooper, the FBI man who got tied up in the death of Laura Palmer and the mysteries of Twin Peaks when the show of the same name first...
Review: Historic Northampton’s ‘Laws Change. People Die. The Land Remains.’
The first thing I notice walking into Historic Northampton’s gallery on Bridge Street (besides how interesting the 1800s home is) is that my interpretation of the show’s title is wrong. The exhibit, Laws Change. People Die. The Land Remains, is a collection of...
Poem: A Sunny Reunion in Look Park
The mesmerizing reversal of icy lunacy from sitting in the long-absent sunshine is exactly what his fetus signed up for and intuited long ago in the bog of his mother’s biospheric love. The scent of soil; the touch of heat; the spectacle of black birds mirrored...
Valley Show Girl: Alt Jazz With The Greys at The Still in Agawam (w/vid)
A couple of weeks ago on The Still’s Instagram page they posted a beautiful picture of a mint julep. I’ve never had one, but always wanted to try the drink simply because that’s what they drank in The Great Gatsby. So, when I saw that The Greys were playing at The...
Valley Music Showcase in Easthampton, Friday (w/vid)
Valley Music Showcase Genres clash in the most melodic way possible Friday night in Easthampton. The Valley Music Showcase at the New City Brewery is a “bi-monthly mini music fest” — or as I like to call it, the Bi-Mon Min-MuFest — and it pulls from all musical...
Theater: ‘Shipwrecked!’ You Had Me at Giant Killer Octopus
You Had Me at Giant Killer Octopus Right now, in Trump’s post-truth America, is an excellent time to stage Shipwrecked! The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as told by himself). The play is based on the grandiose stories of a Victorian huckster who fills in...
Contemporary Stillness: Larry Preston’s Solo Exhibit Rethinks the Silent Ordinary (w/vid)
Be Still (Life), My Heart Contemporary still life artist Larry Preston paints solely for himself and what he interprets as beautiful. Beauty is often lost in ordinary objects you see all the time. Preston’s art focuses on bringing out those details and you’ll surely...
TEASE: Appalachian Still, Jamming Bluegrass on the Sessions Stage (w/vid)
Check out the full Appalachian Still Sessions concert Friday online at valleyadvocate.com. Can’t wait for Friday to hear more Sessions? Great! Head over to the archive and listen to sets by the likes of The Suitcase Junket, Ray Mason, Eavesdrop Trio, Hannah...
Cinemadope: Would You Take a Bullet for Art? Documentary on full-throttle artist Chris Burden (w/vid)
For such a rich subject, films about art and the people that make it all too often feel either forced and flat or ridiculously over the top. Better, usually, to take the documentary route, and let the art speak for itself. That’s the course taken by directors Timothy...
Kitchen Dwellers Bring ‘Galaxy Grass’ to Northampton (w/vid)
Got that Galaxy Grass A Kitchen Dwellers show is a true Montana bluegrass experience … that’s been strapped to a rocket, shot into space, and looped around Saturn a few times. Dubbed “galaxy grass,” the band’s sound is high-energy and exploratory jamming with...
Basemental: You Know Amber Wolfe Now See Her Arresting Video for ‘No Thorn’
You may know Amber Wolfe. She fronted the “speakeasy, post-apocalyptic band,” O You Villain, books shows at Amherst Coffee, and is a veteran of the Institute for Musical Arts, where she found “some of the foremothers of local music.” Despite strong roots here in the...
UMass Student Exhibit Elevates Street Art Friday
Occupy. A joint art show by Eric Mandeville and McKenzie Stuetzel makes a powerful statement, but only for a short time — so be sure to see it. By utilizing imagery from street art in contrasting colors, their show explores the idea of living in society, but outside...
Join the Herd: Donna the Buffalo Stampedes Into Town (w/vid)
Join the Herd Quintessential ’90s folk rock band Donna the Buffalo is coming to Holyoke as part of the group’s politically-active Stampede Tour. In addition to providing groove-heavy dance-able tunes, Donna the Buffalo seeks to bring attention to the inappropriate use...
What Will the Hatchery Do Next? Inventive Dance Performance This Weekend
So, You Know They Can Dance An homage to Wes Anderson’s highly stylized films and a self-reflective, choreographed spoken-word piece called “Perception” were among the performances featured in Hatchery’s debut show this winter. The pre-professional dance troupe’s...
VIDEO Sessions Preview of Singer/Songwriter Eric Lee
Check back for the full mini concert and an interview with Lee Friday afternoon at sessions.valleyadvocate.com. Listen to past Sessions performers including Hannah & Maggie, Mammal Dap, The Suitcase Junket, Ray Mason, and The Eavesdrop Trio, head over to the...
The Thunder Down East Music Fest in Easthampton Saturday
The Thunder Down East If you hear rumblings coming from Easthampton Saturday, come running — it’s the Thunder in the Valley Festival. This all-ages event will feature rock and roll, food trucks, craft beer, wrestling — with students from Kevin Landry’s Pro Wrestling...
Art TRACK: Three Rivers fest Saturday
Art TRACK More than 50 artists from around New England will participate in this year’s TRACK Artisan Fair in Three Rivers. The day will feature live music and food vendors. TRACK Artisan Fair: Saturday, May 6, 10 a.m. Free. Rain or shine. Palmer Historical &...
Wit, the Smartest, Funniest Play About Dying of Cancer, Performed in Springfield
Get Wit It Wit may be the smartest, funniest one-act play about a woman dying of ovarian cancer. Focusing on the final hours of Dr. Vivian Bearing’s life, the English professor reflects on the similarities between how the doctors view her — as a piece of work to be...
Young@Heart Celebrates 35 Years Saturday
Forever Young@Heart Young@Heart, a chorus of people age 70 and older who love singing contemporary tunes, is celebrating 35 years of belting out the hits with a show this Saturday at the Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton. Hear new arrangements of songs by...
River Roll and Stroll on on the Holyoke-South Hadley Bridge this Weekend
No Cars Allowed The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge that connects Holyoke and South Hadley will be closed Sunday afternoon for the River Roll and Stroll open street festival. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the bridge will be open to pedestrians, bicyclists, dog-walkers,...
Nice Pot! The Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail open studios this weekend
Nice Pot! Flowers are blooming on the trees, the sun is shining, and asparagus are being planted in the Valley, which means it’s time for the annual springtime Asparagus Valley Potter Trail. Every year the self-guided tour takes place across nine pottery studios in...
Suffocating in Silence: Winner of Valley Advocate Juniper Writing Scholarship puts displacement in its place
For writer Elinam Agbo, words are like air.“If I go too long without expressing my thoughts in one way or another, I begin to feel suffocated and distant from my memories as well as my lived moments,” said Agbo, this year’s winner of the Valley Advocate’s Juniper...
Review: Krakatoa Picnic Got Me Lit, Check out James Heflin’s palpable poetry Friday
The first thing you need to know about Krakatoa Picnic is that the imagery in this book of poems, by James Heflin, will sear you to the side of the Indonesian volcano.The collection of sci-fi-influenced prose is vivid in its tactile descriptions of place, people, and...
Earth First and Last, a poem by Connolly Ryan
Earth First & LastLike children in summertime, our planet thrives on vivid evidence that there is always something to be. Unlike fools who amass acres by way of massacres, nature plants herself in one area and creates worlds around her. Earth itself...
Stream Queen: Blazing flicks to watch while high
It’s 4/20, and whether you consider today a national holiday or just a chance to gather some friends and smoke, you’ll probably end up watching something. Thankfully, now that it’s no longer the ’70s, stoners can open Netflix or YouTube and watch something unique and...
Review: Art Stop(s) on Main Street, Springfield, from magnificent to meh
I love the idea of art galleries everywhere — in empty downtown storefronts, in the halls of hospitals and the community rooms of nonprofit agencies — but it’s always a bit awkward, at first, to enjoy them. There’s a buzzer to hit, or a camera to stare into, or a...
Basemental: From Northampton to Nashville
On the road with The Sun Parade From the streets of Nashville I called Lynne Bertrand, who manages the Northampton band The Sun Parade. There was a problem.I had stopped by the venue earlier and noticed the sign outside said they were going first. This wasn’t going to...
Monday April 17: Laverne Cox Visits Smith College
Our Lady Laverne Laverne Cox grew up in Mobile, Alabama, raised by a single mother in a Christian family. Back then, it wasn’t at all clear that she would end up attending college in New York City and pursuing a career as an actress, let alone that she would become...
Calling All New Bands!
We’re still a few months out from July’s annual Green River Festival in Greenfield, but we’re right on time to share a special early announcement from producers Signature Sounds. This year, the festival will add a new stage called the Next Wave Stage, which will host...
Film Screening: Holding Hands with Ilse
Strangers No More In the 1950s, Hampshire College professor Abraham Ravett relocated with his Polish Jewish family from Eastern Europe to the United States. Ravett was just three at the time of the move, but he carried with him a memory — and a single black-and-white...
On Exhibit: Mary Witt and Brianna Ashe at Oxbow Gallery
Full Spectrum Painter Mary Witt (who composed the piece on the left) and multimedia artist Brianna Ashe (the piece on the right) are showing their new work in a playful exhibit called Colorplay, in the front room of Oxbow Gallery this month. They both love working and...
Stagestruck: The Trump Effect
It seems that lately, every time I go to a play — or a movie, for that matter — it gets me thinking about Donald Trump. Ever since he and his goon squad have taken over in Washington, I’ve noticed that so much of what we see and create seems newly topical and timely....
Cinemadope: Hopptornet, a documentary that pushes people to jump
Maine Course Like so many of my middle-aged compatriots, I seem to have adopted food as a new hobby. Not cooking, necessarily — quite a bit of this particular enterprise is taken up simply by watching other people cook, it turns out — but eating, at least. And what...
Stagestruck: Stage on Screen
Movies are not my beat, but I often go to the theater at the Amherst Cinema. The ongoing National Theatre Live series of big-screen, high-def broadcasts from the London stage is a staple of my playgoing schedule. This month and next, the cinema screens encores of five...
Spring Arts Preview: Top Valley Events (April-June 2017)
Tweet Puppets for the People From its founding in New York’s Lower East Side in 1963 to its decades-long residence in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, Bread & Puppet Theater remains one of the country’s most inventive and internationally recognized performing...
Stream Queen: From Low-Budget Dreams to Indie Esteem
In our world of studio filmmaking driven by franchises and sequels, creators looking to develop original ideas are often restricted to independent production. While indie filmmaking means working on a shoestring budget, it also often means the cast and crew are...
Valley Show Girl: Thao Nguyen Goes Solo at Gateway City Arts
A Woman Alive As I walked into Gateway City Arts in Holyoke for the first time, I came to a dead stop to admire the factory-style architecture. The ceilings are very high, with a huge industrial ceiling fan staring down. The large stage was lit up awaiting performers,...
On Stage: Where War Meets Food and Music
War and Music Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes has jumped onto our cultural radar many times over the years — she received the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Water by the Spoonful, and she wrote the book for the musical In The Heights alongside future...
Thursday: Easthampton Salon Hosts Michael Musto and Mickey Boardman
Dynamic Duo Easthampton City Arts+ kicks off the third annual Easthampton Book Fest with the first installment of the new Grist for the Mill speaker series, with inaugural guests Michael Musto (a longtime writer at The Village Voice) and Mickey Boardman, the editorial...
Album Release Party: Children of the Wild’s Traveling Rock Opera
The Tribe That Quests In recent years, ensemble theater group Children of the Wild has managed something nifty: the full integration of the musical band dynamic into their touring acts. Music and theater fused completely in the show The Wastelands, an original...
Saturday Live: Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective
One of the Greats New Orleans native Terence Blanchard has become one of America’s most respected jazz musicians, working as a trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer. He was an integral figure in the 1980s jazz resurgence, and his trumpet...
On Exhibit: “Luminous Muqarna”
History Hangs Overhead If you’re looking to get out this week and into an immersive installation inspired by Islamic architecture — we’ve got just the local exhibit for you (actually, it’s the only one). Soo Sunny Park created ”Luminous Muqarna” for the Islamic Arts...
Cinemadope: Your Nearest Screening of 1984
Hurt Feelings A few weeks back I found myself with a rare night off — the kids asleep early, the house somehow clean, the bills already paid. I was scrolling through my various Netflix queues when a familiar title popped up: V for Vendetta, the Wachowskis’ 2005...
New Thursday Series: Award-Winning Documentaries at Next Stage
The World in Frame Since opening its historic church doors in 2011, Next Stage Arts Project has been working to bring world-class events into the small town of Putney, Vermont (just north of Brattleboro). Never has that mission been more clear than with the group’s...
Stagestruck: Force of Nature
WAM Theatre exists on two levels: to produce work that foregrounds women playwrights and performers, and to tangibly support, with a portion of ticket sales, organizations that work to better the lives of women and girls. Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her...
Saturday: Talk by Punk Photographer Cynthia Connolly
Smile! (Or Don’t) Artist, photographer, and punk for the ages Cynthia Connolly made a name for herself in one fell swoop when she published Banned in DC: Photos and Anecdotes from the D.C. Punk Underground (79-85). That scrappy yearbook-style achievement snuck into...
VIDEO Teaser: The Greys play Advocate Sessions
Jazz-inspired indie duo on vocals and bass When Cait Simpson sings and Chris Merritt plucks his upright bass, something simple and enchanting happens. The friends just released their first EP, The Landing, available on iTunes and Spotify. Catch the full video this...
On Exhibit: “Unidentified Woman” at Historic Northampton
You’re Wearing That? In her new exhibit, Jodi Colella engages with headwear and daguerreotypes from the collection of the Historic Northampton Museum and responds to forces that have shaped women’s identities since the 18th century. “Headwear has long played a role in...
Basemental: Umbral Made Real
How a fictional psychdrone collective from Berlin took form in Greenfield In 2015, a real writer and real College of the Atlantic professor named Daniel Mahoney published a real book called Sunblind Almost Motorcrash. In it, he wrote fictional reviews of imaginary...E-Edition
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