Arts
by Hunter Styles | Aug 15, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
The Supergroup Next Door Mystics Anonymous is local singer-songwriter Jeff Steblea’s new musical project, best defined as eclectic independent rock. “With Mystics,” says Steblea, “the whole point was to establish a project where nothing is off-limits.” His bandmates...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 15, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Wade in the Water You can step into a peaceful art gallery from the streets of a bustling metropolis and still attain a bit of serenity (given a few minutes to de-stress from nearly being clipped by a speeding cab or two), but taking a deep breath and appreciating the...
by Jack Brown | Aug 15, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Newsletter
Alien. Blade Runner. Black Hawk Down. The Martian. Over the decades, director Ridley Scott has built a career on making the kinds of films (often with a bit of a sci-fi bent) that combine quiet moments with explosive action. But for me, he will always be first...
by Chris Rohmann | Aug 16, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
I don’t fish. To be frank, I don’t approve of fishing, especially “sport” fishing, since, like hunting, it’s not a sport in the accepted sense, that is, a contest between two equal adversaries playing by the same rules. I don’t understand the outsize thrill folks seem...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 8, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Heart of Stone We just spent 45 minutes aimlessly browsing WhereToFindRocks.com. We blame the website for Martin Zinn Expositions, which sent us there to learn more about how a whole lot of well-arranged molecules can make for some truly incredible feats of...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 8, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Old-School Soul Revival Roll over, James Brown — soul singer Charles Bradley is coming to sweep the hearts of the MoCA masses gathered outdoors in the museum’s courtyard on Saturday night. Bradley has been hard at it since the mid-60s, when he spent years hitchhiking,...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 8, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage
House of Hors Local performer and emcee Hors D’oeuvres — that’s “hors du-vors” — produces fun, gender-friendly, body-positive events up and down the Valley, including Maim That Tune Drag Show in Northampton and Drag Brunch in Holyoke. Personally, we’re partial...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 8, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
It Takes More Than Two Artist Nora Valdez, pictured here with some of her sculptures, is featured in the new Tango exhibit at Art for the Soul Gallery alongside works by Andrea Iturrioz and pieces recently on display at the U.S. Consulate of Argentina in New York...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 15, 2016 | Articles, Arts
Mother Tongues Holyoke es una ciudad bilingüe — una ciudad de español e inglés. En la nueva estación de Amtrak en las calles Main y Dwight, únete a nosotros para talleres de lengua española, lecturas de poesía y representaciones que celebran el uso del español en...
by Chris Rohmann | Aug 11, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Stage, Stagestruck
So often, music makes all the difference. It not only has those famous savage-breast-soothing charms, it can turn a so-so script into a winner. Take Unexpected Joy, playing through August 20th at the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT). This world-premiere musical...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 8, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Exile on High Street Young rockers Paper City Exile play Holyoke Musicians, like all of us, hold a few personal details close to the chest. For local rockers Paper City Exile, the little secret is hardly a secret: the three of them are still in high school. That’s...
by Will Meyer | Aug 8, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter
One of the pitfalls of writing a bi-monthly column is the fact that I can barely scratch the surface of all of the cool stuff that’s happening around the Pioneer Valley. There is so much! This week’s column will serve as an informal catch-up on some new(ish) releases....
by Chris Rohmann | Aug 8, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
It’s such a pleasure to see a play in which language is as important as plot – a play whose dialogue doesn’t simply move the story forward but enriches it. Sister Play, at Chester Theatre Company, is such a gem – an absorbing, what’s-really-going-on narrative powered...
by Jennifer Levesque | Aug 8, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, News, Scene Here
Down an old country road, tucked into the mountains in Becket, rests the 200-year-old Dream Away Lodge. The romantic name suits the intimate atmosphere with dim lighting and couples in every nook. It’s a lot like entering a good friend’s living room with unique,...
by Chris Rohmann | Aug 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
“Theater is so subjective!” said my friend as we left the Bernstein Theatre at Shakespeare & Company. She was in tears, but I was relatively unmoved. Ugly Lies the Bone, by Lindsey Ferrentino, takes an unflinching look at a searingly dramatic subject that’s too...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 1, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Taj and FriendsThe free outdoor Jazz and Roots Festival, in the heart of Springfield, gets musicians, local businesses, nonprofits, community groups, and families out into the open air to celebrate great music together. This year’s lineup includes Taj Mahal, Eric...
by Chris Rohmann | Aug 2, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
The Valley’s oldest and newest professional summer theaters end their seasons this week with two very different plays. New Century Theatre closes its 26th season with Jar the Floor, a multigenerational family drama that furthers the company’s reputation for putting...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 1, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Take Me to the River Culture We always have a bunch of local outings in mind for the weekend, but this Saturday, hanging out in the sunshine with some Penobscot hoop dancers is right at the top of our to-do list. The third annual Pocumtuck Homelands Festival...
by Chris Rohmann | Aug 3, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
Aphra Behn was probably the first Englishwoman to write professionally, that is, to make her living from writing. She’s best known as a playwright, though only recently rediscovered by audiences. While she wasn’t, as Shakespeare & Company’s website has it, “the...
by Peter Vancini | Aug 1, 2016 | Articles, Arts, News, Scene Here
A crowd of several hundred people, made up largely of children, packed the lawn of the Springfield Museums Quadrangle on Tuesday morning in eager anticipation of a stump speech by the self-proclaimed “children’s candidate,” the latest to enter the presidential fray....
by Hunter Styles | Aug 1, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Making the CutBelchertown illustrator and printmaker Neil Brigham has created linocut block prints for magazines, books, and greeting cards, having worked with companies like Outdoor Life magazine, Scholastic, and Little, Brown and Company. His focus, much to our...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 30, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Stage, Stagestruck
Two contradictory things are going on at Pittsfield’s Barrington Stage Company. On the mainstage, the fearsome title characters in The Pirates of Penzance never kill anyone because they can’t bear to harm an orphan and all the captives they seize claim to be orphans....
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 29, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
One thing these two very different children’s theaters share is respect for their audience. They don’t talk down to the kids sitting before them, they don’t ludicrously overact or get synthetically hyperactive in order to whip up some energy. The scripts are witty,...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 25, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
The Girl with All the Gifts For a few weeks in 2011, Adele had competition. Amazon Music’s Dance & DJ Pop chart held her at number 1, but Cooter! came in at number 2, the debut single from drag queen, actor, comedian, recording artist, and writer Pandora Boxx,...
by Jack Brown | Jul 25, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
In this political season, there has been a lot of talk about the meaning — good and bad — of dynasties in our national discourse. The truth is that, for a country that prides itself on its history of flipping the bird to royalty all those years ago, we sure do love to...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Stage, Stagestruck
Two plays at Valley theaters, both running through Saturday, share a common source – the ongoing Middle East catastrophe – and a similar circumstance: two Americans caught up in it, one unwillingly, the other almost compulsively. Both plays are receiving strong...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Food + Booze, News, Scene Here
Last Call, Franklin County This past Sunday’s inaugural Franklin County On Tap festival drew over 400 intrepid fans of craft beer, cider, and mead to Berkshire East Mountain Resort in Charlemont to sample brews from a dozen local operations, including the...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 20, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
If dance is “the hidden language of the soul,” as Martha Graham put it, tap is its least bashful dialect. For the past few years Jacob’s Pillow, the country’s premier modern dance festival, has featured tap dancing in its eclectic roster of summertime performances....
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
Shakespeare & Company doesn’t only do Shakespeare. This season, only three out of nine productions are by the company’s namesake, though several others play with Shakespearean themes, from a contemporary reflection on war to a political farce that resonates...
by Jack Brown | Jul 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
Conspiracy Theories “Challenger” will forever be one of those words whose meaning — or at least its history — is immediately known to anyone old enough to have lived through the 1986 space shuttle disaster. That tragic moment, witnessed live by so many American...
by Hunter Styles | Jul 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music
Ramblin’ Woman In May 2014, Greenfield native Kristen Ford packed up her stuff, sold whatever wouldn’t fit in her van, parked her fiancée in the seat next to her, and set off on what she refers to as “the never-ending tour.” After two years on the road, playing...
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Robert S. Prattico | Jun 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, News
These barbaric raids of aphotic-sick clouds tar by poison a horror with no boundary, appearing anywhere, pervasive as weather, assailing repeatedly without warning, leaving a vast pool of vulnerability and no shelter. 2 a.m. last call was happening everywhere.Again,...
by Jack Brown | Jun 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
Notes on WarWhen it comes to war and film, there will never be a shortage of stories. Whether tales of daring or death, on the front or at home, war can bring out the best and worst in us, and create lifelong strength — or leave one with lasting wounds. And while we...
by Peter Vancini | Jun 20, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Scene Here
In a cozy courtyard in downtown Springfield, nestled among red brick buildings and gray concrete parking garages, a small white quadcopter suddenly whirs to life on a makeshift launch pad in small patch of grass. At the controls is 16-year-old Briyanna Henry, who’s...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 20, 2016 | Articles, Arts, News
Oh, Valley, we’ve loved you for such a long time now; we just wanted to count the ways. In celebration of the Valley Advocate’s relaunch we’re holding a love-in, right here, in these pages, right now. But we don’t have a rosy, puppy love going on with you, Valley. Oh,...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 20, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Stage
Wilkommen, Bienvenue Sarah Kilborne’s revelatory new night of cabaret delves into a little-known yet revolutionary moment in music history: queer music composed and performed prior to World War II. Her one-woman show is “an enlightening, enchanting trip to a...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 20, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Leisure, Newsletter
Dragons of myth come in all shapes and sizes, but human athletes have pared their real world replicas down to some clear-cut dimensions. A dragon boat is 40 feet by 4 feet, long and narrow and manned by 20 paddlers, sitting two by two. A drummer sits up front,...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 20, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Red Hot Blues Shemekia Copeland sings electric blues, gospel, and R&B like her heart and soul depend on it. Whether she’s belting out a raucous blues-rocker, firing up a blistering soul-shouter, bringing the spirit to a gospel-fueled R&B rave-up, or digging...
by Will Meyer | Jun 20, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, News
The magic of live music stems from the intimacy of being in the same room as the performer, but Sam Hadge’s talent is capturing that intimacy for the online world who couldn’t make it to the show.Since I started going to DIY shows with regularity about a year and a...
by Blaise Majkowski | Jun 20, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Blaise's Bad Movie Guide, Columns, Featured, Film, Leisure
That time The Three Stooges went too far … nyuk, nyuk, nyuk As Kenny Rogers wisely sang, “You gotta know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.” There have been many performers who have ignored this advice, plodding right along with their careers when they...
by Jack Brown | Jun 20, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Film, Newsletter
Small films shown quickly, so see them today Showing movies is a tough racket, and the hard truth of the matter is that an opening weekend can make or break a film’s chances at breaking even at the box office. Do decently out of the gate, and you might get a chance at...
by Chris Rohmann | Jun 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Stagestruck
Summer theater used to be known as “the straw-hat trail” and “summer stock,” both terms evoking familiar, innocuous entertainments presented for languid hot-weather audiences by (usually) amateur companies in tents, barns, and town halls. From the outset, though,...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Animal Dreams: Souls of Wildlife in Stone, Wood, and Paper by Holland HoaglandU.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, 300 Westgate Center Dr., HadleyThere are probably one hundred pieces and photos of Pelham artist Holland Hoagland’s artwork on display at the Fish and...
by Gary Carra | Jun 16, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Nightcrawler
Pocketful of Sexchange reunites scene staples The Pixies’ Frank Black famously referenced them as a “dangerously untethered band specializing in abandon and dementia.” They’ve also shared stages with area upstarts The Unband and Fountains of...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter, Scene Here
On June 12, the day of the massacre at the gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Florida, people in the Valley held vigils to mourn the tragedy and to comfort each other. In Greenfield, people sang “We Shall Overcome” on the town common. In Northampton, they held a vigil...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 9, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Leisure, Music
THE LINEUP FRIDAY Peter Wolf NRBQ Dustbowl Revival Charles Neville Ola Fresca Mariachi Flor De Toloache Campos Xixa SATURDAY Dawes Shakey Graves Shovels & Rope The Suffers The Felice Brothers Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds And The Kids Dustbowl Revival The...
by Hunter Styles | Jun 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, News
Interstate 24 carries traffic through the heart of Manchester, Tennessee. But on June 21, 2002, the highway turned into a parking lot. The cause: Bonnaroo.In the 14 years since, the music and arts festival has streamlined the traffic plan with police and city...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Leisure, News
More Chaos, PleaseFlying trapeze artists, puppets, Hula hoop extraordinaires, buskers, artists, crafters, bands, authors, dancers, and performing artists are among the funky folk who will converge on Cottage Street in Easthampton this Saturday for Cultural Chaos. The...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, News
Get SchooledThe GZA (minus the RZA, the Ol’ Dirty BZA, U-God, Chef, and the Ghostface Killah) is stopping by the Valley to hold a master class in lyrical flow Wednesday night at Pearl Street. Known as the “spiritual head” of the seminal Wu-Tang Clan, GZA/Genius is...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, News
There’s only so many ways to take a group photo of a bunch of musicians — we know this because we see a lot of repetition in band publicity photos. How is it that creative and talented musicians across the planet keep coming up with the same band photo over and over...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Leisure, News
Like Real Books, But CuterShrink anything down small enough and, eventually, it will get ridiculously cute — including books. This week, The Tiny Book Show, a mobile museum of teeny-tiny books, will appear, for a short time, in Shelburne Falls and Greenfield. The...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, News, Stage
Meet-Cute ArtFor this year’s Full Disclosure Festival — a weekend of public installation art, performance art, and art to be named — each participating artist was paired with a researcher and sent on a blind date. The point of the meeting was for the artist to get a...
by By Jack Brown | Jun 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film
Hear that a local theater is hosting a Bergman festival, and the first thought that will pop into the heads of most art-house denizens will be that of the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. An icon for the ages, the director’s films — The Seventh Seal, Fanny and...
