Arts
by Gina Beavers | Aug 14, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film
He’s back…and better than ever. Spike Lee is putting an historical mirror up to our present day faces. A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same. Black Klansman, winner of the 2018 Cannes Film Festiva lGrand Prix, is at Amherst Cinema tonight;...
by Gina Beavers | Aug 13, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film
If you’ve been through eighth grade, then you know how AWKWARD life can be. It’s no different for Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher), the subject of You Tube star Bo Burnham’s directorial debut, also called Eighth Grade. Kayla is the average kid who makes...
by Gina Beavers | Aug 12, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
If you have doubts about the beauty of all the different ethnic and cultural nooks and crannies in America, this act may well erase them. Sweet Crude is straight out of Louisiana and they proudly sing out in French and in English. As a matter of fact, one of their...
by Gina Beavers | Aug 11, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
It’s not an ordinary lame prom at the Flywheel. Western Mass punks unite wearing their best alternative formal wear as they jam to local favorites, pose in a photobooth, and stop by a temporary tattoo station. The musical lineup for the evening includes pop punk band...
by Gina Beavers | Aug 10, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Stage
Colorway is awesome. They blew us away during their Advocate Sessions performance and I’ve gotten to see them here and there since then. Here’s a chance to catch them at a no cover, all ages show in Springfield. Luxe Burger Bar, 1200 West Columbus Ave., Springfield....
by Chris Rohmann | Aug 8, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
When Shakespeare & Company first set up shop in the Berkshires, their mainstage was a greensward before a wooded glade at the Mount, Edith Wharton’s Lenox estate, with the audience seated on folding lawn chairs. That tradition has lately been revived, with outdoor...
by Gina Beavers | Aug 8, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Music
It’s hard to believe that George Harrison of the Beatles shuffled off his mortal coil almost twenty years ago. But, alas, it’s been that long. If you’re feeling like you want to reminisce, check out Concert for George, the 2002 performance tribute...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 7, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Punk Prom at the Flywheel Arts Collective // SATURDAY, AUGUST 11 It’s not an ordinary lame prom at the Flywheel. Western Mass punks unite wearing their best alternative formal wear as they jam to local favorites, pose in a photobooth, and stop by a temporary tattoo...
by Gina Beavers | Aug 7, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter, Stage
One of the finest reasons to live in western Mass is our proximity to great art. So get out there and lap it up! It’s a day of musical activities for the entire family at Tanglewood and the whole shabang ends with an 8 p.m. concert featuring all the...
by Gina Beavers | Aug 6, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Stage
MONDAY 8/6 MUSIC 43rd Annual Vermont Jazz Center Summer Jazz Workshop: 4 p.m. The Putney School, 418 Houghton Brook Rd., Putney. Berkshire High Peaks Music Festival: $12 – $50. The Berkshire School, 245 N. Undermountain Rd., Sheffield. 800-843-0778....
by Gina Beavers | Aug 6, 2018 | Articles, Arts
So what’s happening in Sheffield? Yes, Sheffield, Massachusetts. You know that small town out west in the Berkshires and home to Big Elm Brewing. Well, the Berkshire High Peaks Music Festival is happening, that’s what. French Baroque, Russian piano, and...
by Gina Beavers | Aug 5, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
The Williamstown Theater continues it summer run with a new play called Dangerous House. An aspiring black South African footballer named Noxolo moves to London for a fresh start. But she’s drawn back when Cape Town becomes host to the World Cup and she discovers her...
by Gina Beavers | Aug 4, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
The Valley Advocate’s own Valley Show Girl columnist Jennifer Levesque is curating a lineup of local acts at the 13th Floor Music Lounge in Florence, which includes guitar and synth driven duo Fire Letters, progressive synth sorcerer John Trudeau, Grey Matter, led by...
by Chris Rohmann | Aug 3, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Newsletter, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is a frequent and popular visitor to the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. This year, celebrating its 40th season, the company presents a quartet of works showcasing its history and its current 16-member troupe, one of the most technically...
by Gina Beavers | Aug 3, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Deborah Harry (and her boys) aka Blondie are rockin’ the Berkshires tonight. Yeah, boy! Call me nostalgic, I don’t care. She and her bandmates are at Mass Moca playing the greats and making the world a new wave paradise once again. And the Kids open up...
by Gina Beavers | Aug 2, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter, Stage
THURSDAY 8/2 MUSIC Amherst Downtown Beats – Flathead Rodeo & Colorway: 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Free. The Amherst BID’s Downtown Beats Summer Concert series continues with a performance by Flathead Rodeo and Colorway.Kendrick Park, East Pleasant St., Amherst....
by Gina Beavers | Aug 2, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Thanks to the Northampton Arts Council, The Cardboard Sea Theater presents The Amendments. It’s a play about the sorrows of death and embattled family relationships. Judith and and her estranged brother Gabe’s father die; Judith just wants one thing from...
by Chris Rohmann | Aug 1, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Newsletter, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
A trio of two-character plays now running in the Hilltowns and Berkshires offer a summer-season variety of subjects, styles, and even venues – a black-box theater, a converted town hall, a church sanctuary. Pauline Productions is dedicated to “producing and creating...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 1, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Get Out With Staff Picks, Music, Stage
Valley Show Girl Presents at the 13th Floor Music Lounge // SATURDAY, AUGUST 4 The Valley Advocate’s own Valley Show Girl columnist Jennifer Levesque is curating a lineup of local acts at the 13th Floor Music Lounge in Florence, which includes guitar and synth driven...
by Gina Beavers | Aug 1, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Firstly: Welcome to August! We have now entered the eighth month of 2018 and it’s kind of hard to believe! Anyway, folk rocker Joe Purdy is in Northampton tonight. Purdy is prolific; he’s released fourteen albums over the last fifteen years. His music...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 31, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter, Stage
TUESDAY 7/31 MUSIC Alceste: 9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. 12 Senior/$14 General. Opera based on heartbreaking story narrated by Euripides: King Admetus is dying and his wife, Alceste offers Apollo her own life in exchange for that of her beloved. $South Hadley’s Tower...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 30, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
Okay, I have a funny feeling and a sneaking suspicion that there are going be some serious laugh out loud moments in Sorry to Bother You, a new movie about race, money, politics, and morals. This is what the Amherst Cinema site says: “In an alternate reality...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 29, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
Nowadays, Stratford-upon-Avon feels not so much like a town as a gift shop. The once-sleepy hamlet where William Shakespeare was born some 450 years ago, which he abandoned for a life on the London stage, has become a mercantile monument to Stratford’s most famous son...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 26, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Review, Stagestruck
When I was in England earlier this month, I saw four plays at the two venues most closely associated with William Shakespeare – his hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon and the Globe playhouse on London’s South Bank. At the Globe, there was a gender-switching Hamlet and a...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 26, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
If you’re in Brattleboro, Elliot Street is the place to be on Friday. Celebrate food, the arts, and the shops with your green mountain neighbors. Get your grub on at the international food crawl, take your little ones to a concert for kids, and do your grown up thing...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 26, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Daily Calendar, Film, Music, Newsletter, Stage
THURSDAY 7/26 MUSIC A Little Night Music: 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Trinity United Methodist Church will present “A Little Night Music” every Thursday during the month of July at 6:00pm. Free, donations accepted for all food items. Trinity United Methodist Church, 361...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 26, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Ready to heat things up? Check out Corazon de Granada tonight as they bring their impeccable Flamenco music and dance to New City Brewery in Easthampton. You can expect “a passionate evening … steeped in tradition,” the event hosts promise. Corazon...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 25, 2018 | Arts, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
When I was recently in London, I saw two plays with connections to my favorite (make that favourite) British venue, the National Theatre. One was an African-American riff on a 19th-century melodrama, the other a dramatic immersion in a migrant camp on the English...
by Gina Beavers, Dave Eisenstadter, and Chris Goudreau | Jul 25, 2018 | Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Staff Picks
Greenfield Psych Fest at Hawks & Reed // SUNDAY, July 29 It’s going to be two floors of psychedelic rock music from noon until 9 p.m. at Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center in Greenfield on Sunday, July 29. On the lineup are surf meets Latin-influenced psych...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 25, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
In this time of political chaos and division, it makes sense to go back to the beginning to determine exactly what the Great Experiment was all about. But We the People can’t be put in a box; not only because it’s outside on the farm in Ashfield Double...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 24, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Sometimes you just want to mellow out, right? So why not scoot up (or down) I-91 and check out an outdoor concert by After the Rain at the Whately Library. After The Rain performs acoustic and a cappella arrangements of everything from traditional Appalachian to...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 23, 2018 | Arts, Featured, News, Newsletter, Podcast
Kathy Harrison doesn’t believe the zombies are coming to get us. But she does believe in being prepared for the worst. Harrison, of Cummington, just wrote her fifth book, called Prepping 101: 40 steps you can take to be prepared. Stocking up on necessities might...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 23, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
Amherst Cinema is just a gold mine. No, really, their film curation is the bee’s knees. And my pick, once again, can only be found in the dark. Leave No Trace is the story of a father and his daughter who have lived off the grid for some time. They make their...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 23, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Daily Calendar, Music, Newsletter
MONDAY 7/23 MUSIC Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival 2018: MASS MoCa, 1040 MASS MoCA WAY, North Adams. Kitchen Jam – Local Music Rocks! Concert: 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. 2nd performance of our Local Music Rocks! Concert Series. Happening rain or...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 20, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
The Southern Vermont Dance Festival 2018 is all day today! From 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. Take your pick of over “113 dance classes, two Galas at the Latchis, an outdoor Promenade Performance and picnic, two Informal Showings, and lots of free community...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 20, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Williamstown is definitely one of the places to be this summer if you love the stage! And one of my favorite artists is the inspiration for Lempicka, a world premiere musical. Tamara de Lempicka was a war time painter who created beautiful (and frosty) portraits of...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 19, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Daily Calendar, Newsletter
THURSDAY 7/19 MUSIC A Little Night Music: 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Trinity United Methodist Church will present “A Little Night Music” every Thursday during the month of July at 6:00pm. Free. Free, donations accepted for all food items. Trinity United Methodist Church,...
by Chris Goudreau | Jul 19, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Tonight at Eastworks in Easthampton is Gina Kaufmann’s intimate adaptation of a comedy from 1728. The production is a retelling of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, which satirizes operatic conventions, gender, and class with a three-woman cast. The...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 18, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Shakespeare’s Othello is a remarkable play that hinges upon (gulp) racist stereotypes. Othello is, after all black, and his wife Desdemona is white. Her father is none too happy and it doesn’t help that Othello’s standard bearer, Iago, is a master...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 17, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Printmaker and Smith College art professor Dwight Pogue is retiring and he’s having quite a send off. His opus, if you will, is called Flowering Stars and is on view at The Smith College Museum of Art. Pogue’s collection is a retrospective of his lithographs and...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 17, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Probably the best thing about summer is there are no school buses to ruin my commute to work. With that said, that means all the little minions are pulling at somebody’s pants legs lamenting the lack of activity on a steamy July day. I’m here to solve...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
Just in case you missed the memo: It’s going to be hot and humid. Surprise. The best way to beat the heat (besides a water park) is the movies. So let’s go indoors for our pick and immerse ourselves in some culture. Andy Goldsworthy is a British sculptor...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Daily Calendar, Film, Music, Newsletter, Stage
MONDAY 7/16 MUSIC AMHERST JAZZ ORCHESTRA: July 16, 7:30 p.m. – 10 p.m. With vocalist Ethel Lee. Great food. Union Station Grand Ballroom, 125A Pleasant St., Northampton. 413-253- 1607. info@amherstjazzorchestra.com. Bang on a Can Summer Festival 2018: July 16,...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 13, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
Oh boy, I’ve been waiting for this one! This doc is so scathing and mind boggling, you’ll be thinking about it for some time. And Tim Wardle’s documentary Three Identical Strangers is described “as the most amazing, incredible, remarkable true...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 13, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
The Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA is a week of innovative music making dedicated entirely to “adventurous” contemporary music. For three weeks composers will have their new works performed, and musicians will perform in ensembles sitting...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 12, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Obie Award winning actor Ray Anthony Thomas brings life to the world premiere of Artney Jackson at the Williamstown Theater Festival through July 22. Artney Jackson is about an African American man who is a respected employee at the local cable company. After 25...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 12, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Daily Calendar, Music, Newsletter, Stage
THURSDAY 7/12 MUSIC Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival 2018: MASS MoCa, 1040 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams. David Krakauer’s Acoustic Klezmer Quartet: 8 p.m. Yiddish Book Center Members: $45, General Admission: $50. Delight in a performance emphasizing the beauty of...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 11, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Matthew Broderick was, of course, Ferris Bueller, but he’s done a lot more than that. He’s a Tony winner and he’s got nominations for Golden Globes and Emmys. He has some cred. So seeing him in The world premiere of The Closet is a HUGE...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 10, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
A new thriller, a boundary-breaking dance form, a classic tragedy, and a dramatic sequel, all on area stages this month, illustrate the creative urge to mold existing materials into new forms. In the Valley, Silverthorne Theater Company presents White, Black and Blue,...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 10, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Music, Newsletter
Okay, I know this the second movie in a row for picks, but this is special! Amherst Cinema is showing a free screening of Whisper and Shout, a 1988 documentary that explores the East German rock music scene in the late 1980s — on 35 mm! Well-established bands, like...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 9, 2018 | Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Podcast
Recently opened nonprofit artist space Looky Here in Greenfield is a place for workshops, art making, thrift shopping, and most things you can (or can’t) think of. Leaders Beverly Ketch and Hannah Brookman talk about how they got started, what to expect, and...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 9, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
If you love symphonic music and breathtaking visuals, you’ll love Mountain. Director Jennifer Peedom has combined the two; from Tibet to Australia, Peedom provides an astonishing look at mountaineers, ice climbers, free soloists, heliskiers, snowboarders,...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 9, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Film, Music, Newsletter, Stage
MONDAY 7/9 MUSIC Monday Night Music – Robert Speth and Jay Letourneau: 7 p.m. – 7:45 p.m. Tilton Library, 75 N Main St., South Deerfield. STAGE/FILM/DANCE The Closet: Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown. ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance. 1000 Main...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 7, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Newsletter, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
A poster hanging in the lobby at Chester Theater Company points out common roots and themes connecting Islam, Judaism and Christianity – for example, the Archangel Gabriel figures in all three religions’ core legends. It serves as prelude to the current production,...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 6, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Review, Stage, Stagestruck
What happens when your music goes out of style? – when the teenagers are swooning over Elvis Presley instead of Frank Sinatra? If you’re Irving Berlin, and it’s Christmas Eve 1956, and the song at the top of the Hit Parade isn’t “White Christmas” but “Hound Dog,” you...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 6, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel is swinging through Northampton tonight! The Iron Horse is playing host to the Austin based band that’s been in existence in some form or another since 1970. In that time, they’ve won 9 Grammys. Check them out and...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 6, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter, Stage
You know her, you love her, and you want to support her! Jen Levesque, aka the Valley Show Girl aka the Valley Advocate graphics guru, hosts The Valley Show Girl premiere tonight at 13th Floor Music Lounge. Everybody who’s anybody will be there; she’s...
by Gina Beavers | Jul 5, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Daily Calendar, Music, Newsletter, Stage
THURSDAY 7/5 MUSIC Drop-in Traditional Music Sessions: 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. $5. Friendly traditional music sessions. Moderate swingy pace. Adults and teens of all skill levels welcome – and not just fiddles. Northampton Senior Center, 67 Conz St., Northampton....
by Gina Beavers | Jul 5, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Hopefully the heat won’t keep you from enjoying some of the cool things happening this weekend. The Berkshire Arts Festival begins today and goes until Sunday. The festival brings together 175 jury selected artists from across the country and you’re...
by Chris Rohmann | Jul 4, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Stage, Stagestruck
For your consideration – four shows playing in the region this weekend, two that hark back to the ’60s/’70s and forward to tomorrow, plus a Shakespearean comedy and a jungle adventure. The Ko Festival of Performance opens its five-weekend season with The...
