Arts
by Ken Maiuri | Feb 20, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music
The new album Malbec and Gingerale serves twists, turns, and a brainy fizz Jack Simons hasn’t just put out a new record. He’s concocted a psychedelic spritzer. Bright bubble-fizz for the brain.It’s an eight-song album called Malbec and Gingerale, twisty-turny pop...
by Chris Rohmann | Feb 17, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
Years ago, when I was living in England, one day the doorbell rang and there stood two painfully clean-cut young men in white dress shirts, narrow ties and pearly smiles. “Hello!” one of them grinned, holding up a serious-looking volume. “My name is Elder Smith, this...
by Hunter Styles | Feb 13, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Film, Newsletter
The Fire This Time The writer and social critic James Baldwin died 30 years ago, but his powerful critiques of authority, ignorance, and racial injustice in America are still cited by poets, parents, protestors, and many others who feel, now more than ever, the need...
by Jack Brown | Feb 13, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Film, Newsletter
All Ages Show For years now, the Academy of Music in Northampton has played host to the annual KidsBestFest film festival. It’s a free week-long event (donations are welcome) that mixes great kid-centric movies from around the world with a local event known as...
by Will Meyer | Feb 13, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter
December brought with it not one, not two, but three releases from Florence psych punks Thee Arcadians — Ian St. George on guitar, Nico Lapinski on bass, and Elliot Hartmann-Russell on drums. Sure, it sounds like maybe they just put up a mic in band practice, but...
by Richie Davis | Feb 13, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Seeking the Sacred on the Farm at the UMass Fine Arts Center Seeds of Solidarity Farm is known by anyone who’s been there not only for vegetables and herbs, but for embracing art and being enveloped by a spiritual sense. Rows of vegetables, surrounding trees,...
by Lena Wilson | Feb 6, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Film, Newsletter, Stream Queen
Recommendations for a romantic night in Whether or not you’re settling down with a significant other on Valentine’s Day, you’ll probably end up watching something. That’s due less to our media-ridden culture and more to the fact that this year’s holiday happens on the...
by Hunter Styles | Feb 6, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Film, Newsletter
Quick Flicks February is typically rather bleak, and this year – once again – even Punxsutawney Phil can’t hack it. We don’t blame him. We’d be headed back to the burrow too, if not for a concerted effort up and down the Valley this year to make the coldest...
by Lena Wilson | Feb 6, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Film, Newsletter, Stream Queen
There are few mediums more powerful than the moving image. Movies, TV shows, and even music videos can transport viewers to another time, place, or lifetime. I love cinema but, with so few compelling female/LGBT characters (my favorite kinds) in mainstream titles, I...
by Hunter Styles | Feb 6, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
Horror auteur M. Night Shyamalan returns to what he does best Spoilers ahead! A pumpkin won the presidency, the Power Rangers are returning to theaters, and the Pats came back from 19 points behind in the fourth quarter to win the Super Bowl. To this list of bizarre...
by Chance Viles | Feb 6, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Heartstrings James Hill and Anne Janelle are set to bless Vermont with their folk music this week. Winners of the Canadian Folk Music Award for traditional album of the year, Hill and Janelle focus on traditional folk with an interesting twist. The low sounds of...
by Chance Viles | Feb 6, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Meditating with Marius Artist Marius Sznajderman will be hosting his third solo art show at the Jewish Community of Amherst through April 30. Sznajderman focuses on art highlighting “judaicas,” or artwork that reflects and comments on Jewish life and culture....
by Jack Brown | Feb 6, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
Every year at Oscar time we get a speech about the power of visual effects and their ability to “capture the magic in our mind” or some such thing, followed by a green-screen montage of dragons, space aliens, and transforming cars that are also space aliens. Don’t get...
by Chance Viles | Feb 6, 2017 | Articles, Arts
Still Easy Being Green Although this winter has not been particularly brutal, there is nothing wrong with enjoying summertime activities in February. Relish in the warmth indoors at the Mill 180 park for “Winterfest – Summer in the City.” The park is outfitted with...
by Chance Viles | Feb 6, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Stage
Mortal Heroes Michael Pili Pang and the Halau Hula Ka No’eau dance studio returns to the Northeast to showcase traditional Hula. The company commemorates its 30th year producing traditional Hawaiian dance, chants, and art. Audiences can expect to be captivated...
by Chris Rohmann | Feb 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
Two shows this week find performers venturing beyond the usual parameters of their craft. At UMass, students in the music department’s Opera Workshop take on Gilbert and Sullivan, and in Northampton, stage actors meet improvisers in a mashup of scripts and ad libs. On...
by Laura Holland | Jan 30, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Newsletter
Nick Cave begins his immersive installation Until with a question: Is there racism in heaven? Instead of providing an answer, he has constructed a sequence of experiences spanning a gallery the size of a football field at MASS MoCA. With the title, Cave pivots on the...
by Chris Rohmann | Jan 31, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
The two shows now playing at Hartford’s rep theaters couldn’t be more different, but they still share some core themes. They are Shakespeare’s rambunctious, large-cast Comedy of Errors, at Hartford Stage, and Dominique Morisseau’s small, intense contemporary drama...
by Jack Brown | Jan 30, 2017 | Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Film, Newsletter
Building a Wall Over the last few years, a regular appointment in Boston meant that I was frequently traveling along Route 2 between Franklin County and the Hub. It was more convenient than driving south to hook up with the Pike, and more picturesque, even if it did...
by Will Meyer | Jan 30, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
When I started at Hampshire College in 2010, there was this cool band of upperclassmen that kind of blew my mind. They were called Pale Cowboy. They had jazz influences, but it was clear that making irresistible pop music was their thing. One song won me over, which...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 30, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Beyond the Burger If you knew only that Eugene Boris Mirman was born in the Soviet Union in the mid 1970s, you might be skeptical of the quality of his stand-up comedy. If you knew Mirman only from the animated FOX show Bob’s Burgers, where he portrays an 11-year-old...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 30, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
The Super Bowl is as mainstream America as an apple pie filled with mini U.S. flags and red Solo cups, so what is an alternative-type person to do at an upcoming super football party if he wants to keep it real? Represent. The pull to party with the people you love is...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 23, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Film, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Reflective Collective What happens when eight talented women — all of whom are involved in creative communities across Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties — meet to make poetry and art together? In the case of Exploded View, they create multimedia exhibits and...
by Peter Vancini | Jan 23, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Newsletter
From Kuniyoshi to Cowabunga I have to admit that it seemed odd walking through a hall of classical Greek sculptures in the George Walter Vincent Smith Museum to visit an exhibit devoted to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book art. The whole thing felt suspiciously...
by Chris Rohmann | Jan 23, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Film, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
Travels with a Masked Man, John Hadden’s compelling “two-character solo performance,” seems to fall squarely in the by-now-familiar genre of the one-person memoir, in this case exploring a rocky relationship with his father. Except that this one is not at all typical....
by Gary Carra | Jan 23, 2017 | Arts, Columns, Featured, Leisure, Music, Newsletter, Nightcrawler
After more than two decades delivering the music news in print, Nightcrawler moves online Editor’s Note: Scene stalwart Gary Carra’s Nightcrawler column has long been a fixture at the Valley Advocate — a history that goes back, as he explains here, to the bygone era...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 24, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Metal Shenanigans at Shenanigans • Friday Once a month, Shenanigans in Westfield hosts a free metal night. A night full of metal, with a bar in earshot of the stage? Sign me up. But hey, since there is no cover charge, bring some extra cash in case you wanna buy merch...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 23, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Spiritual Rez Setting in the West Self-released People love reggae songs for the same reason people hate reggae songs: every slow, delirious second laid down is in service to the beat. Everyone from Bob Marley on down has brought flair, trippy switch-ups, and...
by Jack Brown | Jan 23, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
The Man Upstairs Let me say this right up front: I’ve never acted a day in my life. The closest I came was tagging along with a friend while he auditioned for an open call for extras on a pirate movie, where my college-freshman goatee briefly attracted the attention...
by Chris Rohmann | Jan 24, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
When I was in California last month, I saw two plays by a small, adventurous professional theater company in Berkeley that I’d never heard of. They’re called Shotgun Players, and they’ve gone straight to the top of my Bay Area must-see list. The shows I saw were...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 23, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Art, Life, and the Connecting Corridor In last week’s opinion column “Between the Lines: Censorship or Good Sense?” editor Kristin Palpini asked readers for their thoughts on a painting depicting police officers as feral pigs, which was recently removed from a...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 16, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
We All Float On Leverett artist Susan Valentine acquired a kayak last summer. It was worth it. “Leverett Pond is a tiny walk from my studio,” she explains. “On the pond, I was inspired to slow down. I spent many a day on the water’s surface, tooling around and being...
by Will Meyer | Jan 16, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
Roxy Leblanc has been a mainstay in the Hadley underground for as long as I can remember. She fronted the band Great Smokey, an earnest and groovy psych group that took a few forms between 2009 and 2016, before calling an indefinite hiatus last winter. Since then she...
by Jack Brown | Jan 16, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
More than most people, Americans love a good road story. I think it’s something that is simply part of our collective national subconscious, a metaphysical result of the vast physical breadth of the nation. Few of us, even today, really get (or take) the chance...
by Kristin Palpini | Jan 16, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
The Holy Monty Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a comedy classic that has been creating rabid fans for decades. If you’ve never seen it, the film, a silly trek with mythical King Arthur and his Spamalot knights of the round table, is highly quotable and hillarious....
by Hunter Styles | Jan 16, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
EAST COAST NEW ENGLAND BOY Ian Cat Salieri Records If you pick up a copy of Ian Cat’s new album, grab a pair of headphones, too. Or, at the very least, play East Coast New England Boy with the volume turned way up. Within this static and fuzz beats the meticulous...
by Kristin Palpini | Jan 16, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Off The Prozacs This poppy punk band from Westfield is calling it quits after more than a decade of making music. The band’s last show is Thursday at the 13th Floor Lounge in Florence. Say farewell to the band that rocked you with their three albums and multiple...
by Kristin Palpini | Jan 16, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
A painting depicting police officers as feral pigs has been ordered removed from the Capitol after months of controversy and a tug of war over whether the art should be on display. What do you think? As I write this on Monday, Donald Trump is yet to be sworn in as...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 9, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Film, Newsletter
Fine Tooning One morning in early October, I was flipping through local events online to assemble our calendar listings. That process becomes a bit of a blur sometimes, but my eye stopped short on a striking color cartoon — part of an announcement for an animation...
by Peter Vancini | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Leisure, Newsletter, Stage
Reflecting on a Tragedy The night of June 12, 2016, news of a horrific shooting unfolding in an Orlando gay nightclub sent shockwaves around the world, leaving collective heartbreak in its wake for the 49 lives cut cruelly short that fateful night. The pain cut...
by Jennifer Levesque | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Bone Chilling Metal Turn those cold winter blues into face-melting metal this weekend at the 3rd Annual Hothfest! Two full days of killer lineups featuring local bands scattered throughout touring bands. “When death metal takes over New England!” says the man behind...
by Chris Rohmann | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Blogs, Columns, Music, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
Partway through last Friday’s performance at West Springfield’s Majestic Theater, something unscripted, overdue, and quite wonderful happened. The show was Peter Shaffer’s brilliant examination of genius and envy, Amadeus. The title refers to Mozart, but the...
by Jack Brown | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Leisure, Newsletter
There are times when I look back on my youth and shake my head at my younger self. Mostly, it’s when I think about the dreck that was on in the after-school hours on the local UHF stations: sugar-cereal cartoons that were a 12-year-old’s forbidden fruit. It is with a...
by Blaise Majkowski | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Blaise's Bad Movie Guide, Columns, Film, Leisure
Recently, I visited the William Cullen Bryant Homestead in Cummington where my sister and her family helped to lavishly decorate the rooms with Yuletide trimmings. Yet my mind was not on sugarplums. Instead, it was on the movie I knew I was going to review for this...
by Peter Vancini | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Leisure, Stage
This weekend, Shakespeare & Company presents a Winter Studio Festival of Plays, five diverse readings as interpreted by five local directors. Works range from classics by playwrights like Anton Chekhov to established contemporaries like Sam Shepard and emerging...
by Peter Vancini | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Leisure, Music
Jammin’ for Justice The nonprofit Watermelon Wednesdays has been providing musical education and holding concerts for the past 17 years. This Wednesday, the group is putting on In It Together, a fundraiser for community, diversity, and social justice to benefit...
by Peter Vancini | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Leisure
The Hosmer Gallery at the Forbes Library is hosting exhibitions this month from three talented local artists. Janice Doppler blends a love of ornithology and wood carving to create stunningly lifelike sculptures of a myriad of bird species, while Patricia Dorr Parker...
by Kristin Palpini | Jan 3, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Blue-eyed Rock ’n’ Soul The higher the hair, the closer to God, honey. So you know Christine Ohlman, the Beehive Queen, is tight with The Man Upstairs — and you can hear it in her soulful rock. Ohlman, whom you may recognize from her years as a vocalist in the...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 3, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Newsletter
The weird and wonderful artwork of Julian Janowitz only starts to reveal itself once visitors pull onto the long driveway of his Shutesbury home. That bumpy, meandering dirt road leads through a small clearing, then along twists and turns through a tall forest of...
by Kristin Palpini | Jan 3, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Take the Stage Now that all the big holiday celebrations and events are in the past, it’s time to get back to regular old life. Do it in style by hitting a karaoke night somewhere in the Valley. There are plenty of bars known for their customer caterwauling:...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Watch Your ’Grammers @igers413 is an online community of Western Mass Instagram users who gather regularly on their phones — and, somewhat less frequently, in person — for local events, challenges, and photo chats. #CHASINGLIGHT, the fourth installation of what has...
by Will Meyer | Jan 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
Staying strong in the face of hate and lost spaces Last week, Basemental interviewed a local musician who lost people close to him in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire on Dec. 2 in Oakland, California. That piece sparked a discussion of safe spaces for artists, which...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Floating Rock and Rolling Folk From year to year, over hundreds of live sets, Driftwood has proved a cohesive quartet since its members first gathered in Binghamton, NY in 2005. But the band’s sound, rather aptly, is a shifting, constant collision of styles, from...
by Jack Brown | Jan 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
When it comes to film, the Christmas and New Years weeks are not usually a great time for filmgoers, with the exception of a few blockbusters and carefully planned Oscar-hopeful releases. Studios and theaters know that we’re all too damn busy rushing out to buy a last...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Film, Leisure, Music, News, Newsletter, Stage
How Does This Work? Who on earth do we think we are, doling out judgement left and right? Find out here. The List HALOS // The People of East Longmeadow — For creating a seven-member Town Council in the wake of a coup on the now-defunct three-member Board of...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 27, 2016 | Arts, Featured, Newsletter
Zoinks! In an era before we burrowed into our choice cable channels, American kids grew up watching cartoons on one of three network TV stations. From 1958 through the 1980s, most options on Saturday mornings were products of the Hanna-Barbera company — the creator of...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Film, Music
Giant Talent. Tiny Stage. For more than 40 years now, the Advocate has covered politics, local news, and entertainment from an alternative angle. But nothing runs through our newsprint’s black, white, and red veins more powerfully than independent music. We’ve been...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Rice, Rice, Baby Who knew there were enough people in Warwick, MA (population 780) to start a great rock band? Rice proves the skeptics wrong. Formed at a house party in 2014, the group infuses Americana and jam music with rock sensibilities. It’s not too much of a...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Rogue Galleries Supporting local artists isn’t just for the holidays. Last-minute shopping needs aside, there are hundreds of cool pieces on gallery walls, ceilings, floors, and shelves during all of the Valley’s year-end art shows. The tradition of using these final...
by Will Meyer | Dec 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
One artist’s reflections on the Ghost Ship fire NOTE: On Dec. 2, the Ghost Ship, a 10,000 square-foot arts space inside an Oakland, California, warehouse, caught fire during a performance. Thirty-six people were killed, and more were injured. Steve D’Agostino,...
