Columns
Stagestruck: What’s on stage this summer — Berkshire edition
Time was, summer theater was pretty predictable. Two comedies, a drama and a whodunit was the standard lineup when I was in summer stock way back in the day. Even the major venues — of which the Williamstown and Berkshire Theater Festivals were the grande dames —...
Stagestruck: The Scotsman and “The Curious Incident”
If you’re a regular at the NT Live series of high-def broadcasts from the London stage, you’d be forgiven for thinking Rory Kinnear is under exclusive contract to the National Theatre. (He’s not, as you’ll know if you’re also a fan of the recent James Bond films, in...
O Cannabis: Support grows for bipartisan weed legislation leaving federal law up to states
Local marijuana businesses — and federal legislators — are supporting bipartisan legislation that would leave marijuana regulation up to the states, a change from the blanket federal prohibition now in place. That’s a positive sign for Easthampton resident Karima...
Monte Belmonte Wines: Is the wine world ready for wine in a can?
I am a proponent of Massachusetts becoming an open carry state. Not with guns. But with alcoholic beverages. Unless you happen to find yourself on the Buckland side of Shelburne Falls, where you are permitted to carry an open container of alcohol on the street, you...
Cinemadope: A filmmaker becomes part of an immigrant’s harrowing journey
Open a newspaper, turn on your television, scroll through your Facebook feed: it won’t be long before you’re face to face with the ongoing discussion of the state of immigration in America. To be sure, the current resident of the White House — whose policies have...
Podcast: Jennifer Levesque on music in the Valley and 10 years of Advocate cover designs
Jennifer Levesque brings the Valley’s music shows to life as the Advocate’s Valley Show Girl columnist. She’s also been designing the Advocate’s covers for more than 10 years. She tells us about her favorite Advocate issues and what’s...
V-Spot: My BF’s Been Sexting Other Women
Hi Yana, I was recently informed by someone that my boyfriend has been sexually texting another girl for several months, as well as had an active profile on dating site Plenty of Fish. When confronted, it took a few days but he did admit the truth to me. I am...
Warren, Gardner introduce bipartisan bill to let states regulate marijuana for themselves
In a show of bipartisan support for clarity around marijuana laws, Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado held a joint press conference about a bill they are sponsoring to allow states to make their own decisions...
Stagestruck: Lessons in Survival
Two plays now running in Hartford are framed by resistance movements against political and economic oppression, and both carry weighty metaphors. At TheaterWorks through June 23, a lesson in global economics is tucked into a torn-from-the-headlines thriller, and at...
Cinemadope: Lowest to Highest at the Ciclismo Classico Bike Travel Film Festival at the Academy of Music
Unless you’re a diehard cyclist, we are just now into the high season for bikes. (You’ll know you’re a diehard if you own snow tires for your ride.) For many, it’s one of the rare enjoyments that span a lifetime; our first great sense of freedom is often found when a...
The V-Spot: My Boyfriend Read My Journal
Hi Yana, I was dating a guy for about year when he told me he didn’t want to have sex with me anymore, but wouldn’t give me a concrete answer as to why. A few months later I found out he had read my journal (ugh) where I was comparing sex with him to sex with my...
Stagestruck: Summer Theater Preview — The Valley
I’m always excited as the summer-theater season approaches, even though it means I’ll be spending even more of my entertainment hours indoors than during the dark winter. In a brief three months, we theatergoers are treated to a greater variety of fare — not to...
O Cannabis: Local cannabis start-up Treeworks aims to have something for everyone
A new start-up cannabis business called Treeworks is taking a grassroots approach to the burgeoning legalized marijuana industry in Massachusetts by working out of a home kitchen to develop a line of locally sourced products, including cannabis oils, edibles such as...
Stagestruck: Deadly Denial — Typhoid Mary at Barrington Stage
Barrington Stage Company’s summer season launched on Sunday in the troupe’s St. Germain Stage, with a play by its eponym, Mark St. Germain. In her curtain speech, artistic director Julianne Boyd proudly announced that Typhoid Mary is the ninth play of his that...
The Beerhunter’s guide to the 2018 Western Mass Beer Week
Raise a glass across the Valley (and throughout the Berkshires, too!) as the third annual Western Mass Beer Week rolls in this month. The eight-day celebration of local craft beer — which runs June 9 to 16 — is jam-packed with limited releases, special collaborations,...
Nightcrawler: Stone Temple Pilots Fly Again With Third Frontman Jeff Gutt
There’s a saying creative types have coined to describe a seemingly inexplicable confluence of circumstances that yield almost mystical results. They call it “lightning in a bottle.” In a cruel twist of fate, any given musician or band has about the same odds of...
Valley Show Girl: Stoned to Death III – A day full of doom, sludge, stoner metal, and the memory of Joe Magrone
Churches are the most beautiful architectural buildings, in my opinion. I’m not a religious person, so when I do get a chance to enter these beauties, it’s because of a wedding or a funeral and I just look forward to leaving — the religion part of it just makes me...
Monte Belmonte Wines: The man who made post-Prohibition America love wine, through the eyes of his daughter
How would you like to buy a bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild for $1.75? Maybe a bottle of Château Haut-Brion for $1.95? Interested in two bottles of Château Mouton-Rothschild for a whopping $2.95 each? Or go ahead and splurge on a case of Château Margaux for $25....
The V-Spot: How Do I Keep it Clean with Anal Sex?
Hi Yana! I have a general question about a couple or a person beginning to add anal play into their repertoire. Do you have any advice on how one keeps toys and/or fingers clean/separate so the toys for buttplay are kept far away from the vagina or vice versa? ...
Cinemadope: Jean Michel Basquiat and David Hockney on the big screen
Movies about painters are tough in the way that movies about musicians are tough: it’s nigh impossible to find an actor or actress for the part that is not only adept in their own chosen field, but also good enough to fake the very real particular talents of those...
Basemental: What Are You Afraid Of? Fred Cracklin’s Looming Spook
Local legend Thurston Moore — Sonic Youth, Chelsea Light Moving, one off noise sets all over the Valley — had a cameo in an adult talk show called Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Moore played a character called Fred Cracklin in a 1996 episode of the Cartoon Network show...
Cinemadope: The deadly ‘crime’ of being black
Last month, the story of Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson lit up social media feeds everywhere. Two young black men, they were waiting quietly for a friend at a Philadelphia Starbucks when one of them asked to use the restroom. After an employee refused — they hadn’t...
V-Spot: Am I Getting Ghosted?
Dear Yana, Lately I’ve been in what I can best describe as a situationship; I want more and know that I have a lot to offer, but he semi-recently got out of a relationship in which his ex hurt him and he’s now scared and doesn’t want anything like that. We used to...
National Marijuana Company GTI First to Open Medical Dispensary in Amherst
The big scissors were out in Amherst this week as the CEO of the national company Green Thumb Industries (GTI) cut the ribbon in front of the town’s first medical marijuana dispensary, called RISE Amherst. Despite being based in Chicago, Pete Kadens, director and CEO...
Stagestruck: One Man, in Heels — “I Am My Own Wife” in the Valley
“I think she may be the most singular, eccentric individual the Cold War ever birthed.” So says one of the three dozen characters in I Am My Own Wife. He’s talking about Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, née Lothar Berfelde, Berlin’s most famous transvestite. In Doug Wright’s...
Monte Belmonte Wines: The wines of Silicon Valley
“Our neighbor in France had a trained donkey and a goat. We noticed the donkey and goat were always together during the evenings. During the day the goat was around but the donkey was gone. He had trained his donkey to do weed control in the vineyard. The donkey was...
The V-Spot: My Vagina is Ruining My Relationship
Hi Yana! I’ve been with my partner for about a year, and in most ways our relationship is everything I want. We communicate really well, we have a great time together, our sex life is amazing, and I always feel supported by him. The problem is my vagina. For the first...
Cinemadope: Academy of Music hosts history tour, two great films this week
Even in a New England town with a fair bit of history, the Academy of Music in Northampton has roots that run deep. Founded on the vision of philanthropist and Northampton native Edward Lyman, the Academy opened to the public in May of 1891 and quickly became a...
Down to Earth: A tree over the river
I sit on the twisted root system of a great tree, a shelf of exposed roots thrust out over the Connecticut River at the edge of the Northampton Meadows. I’m perched 15 feet above the olive water. The muddy bluff has been licked and sucked away under the tree by years...
Stagestruck: Words and music seek to heal a troubled world
The Red Guitar, John Sheldon’s brilliant memoir-in-music, was a runaway hit at last summer’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Riding on its success in that international nexus of alternative arts, the show’s producer, the Valley’s Serious Play Theatre Ensemble, is taking it...
V-Spot: My Haircut is Dictating My Sex Life
Hi Yana, I have a sex question! Over the past year, I’ve noticed a pretty substantial shift in the way people think I like to fuck and I’m having difficulty confronting it. It’s probably a common experience that when people make a change to their outward appearance...
Cinemadope: A courtside seat with Norotious RBG (Ruth Bader Ginsberg)
Celebrity is a funny thing. Usually, it charts along one or two familiar trajectories: the discovery of some young talent, followed by either the long work of career-building or the short decline of a crash-and-burn. But once in awhile, someone captures the public...
The Beerhunter Abroad: Norway – Despite strict alcohol laws, a new generation of craft brewers is born
As a New Englander accustomed to long, cold winters, I had never put the Arctic Circle atop my summer vacation list. But in case you missed the billboards along Interstate 91, Norwegian Air now offers discount flights to Europe from Boston, Providence, and New York...
The V-Spot: WTF even is college dating?
Hello Yana! I’m looking for advice on navigating college relationships. I’m a young lesbian and I’m trying to consolidate not feeling in a good emotional place for a full romantic relationship with also looking for physical intimacy. I had a short relationship earlier...
Monte Belmonte Wines: It’s not your nana’s rosé
White Zinfandel ruined rosé. My Italian grandmother, Nana B, always had a bottle of Sutter Home White Zinfandel open in her fridge. She called it “Zin-fan-DEL,” with the accent on the last syllable. I was allowed small sips as a child, and my mental memory of those...
Free Will Astrology: Wreak creative destruction, Libra
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I hate rampant consumerism almost as much as I hate hatred, so I don’t offer the following advice lightly: Buy an experience that could help liberate you from the suffering you’ve had trouble outgrowing. Or buy a toy that can...
Cinemadope: The kaleidoscopic philosophy of jazz percussionist Milford Graves
So few of us follow our deepest drives — it’s a path that leads along high wires and narrow ledges, and for many, the fear of failing big keeps us dreaming small. On the other end of human experience is a man like Milford Graves. Graves is a renowned percussionist who...
Mass Cannabis Chefs elevate edibles across the state
What does cannabis taste like? Many people might describe it as earthy, pungent, or bitter. According to Joe Nelson, 29, of Plymouth, one of the chefs and co-founders of Mass Cannabis Chefs, the idea that all cannabis tastes the same is a misconception. “It’s...
Valley Show Girl: Snacktime! Musical story time with a pirate from the Valley
Valley Advocate writer alum Tom Sturm has a new gig these days. Dressing like a pirate and singing the songs of pirate life for kids — but pleasantly appealing for adults as well. With the album glued in my CD player in my car for weeks, my 7-year-old son and I knew...
Basemental: Attention to detail sets new Taxidermists’ record ‘Tax’ apart
Tucked away in an old house in Hadley live two musicians named Sal and Cooper, who collectively make up the rock duo The Taxidermists. The band has nurtured something of a cult following from DIY persistence and their 2015 record Honesty Box. One showgoer recently...
Stagestruck: Post-Apocalyptic Foolery
The scene: desolation. The time: the aftermath of a cataclysm that has destroyed civilization and left only industrial scaffolding and piles of junk. Piles that include, let’s see, a bucketful of juggling clubs, a couple of unicycles, a teeter board and, oh yes, a...
The V-Spot: Help me flirt with an Aquarius!
Hi Yana, Okay. I gotta know. How does one flirt with an Aquarius? There’s an Aquarius male that I like … and I’m a really bad flirter. I don’t do well with flirting because I’m trying to overcompensate with my intelligence to offset my sexy social media...
Beyond 4/20: Criminal Justice Reform and Cannabis in Mass
If any day could be called National Marijuana Day, it’s 4/20. Cannabis consumers are celebrating an exciting year for cannabis in Massachusetts with the first recreational marijuana licenses already approved, but many people, particularly in communities of color, are...
Cinemadope: Into the Doc
If you caught the 2016 screening of Khalik Allah’s Field Niggas at Amherst Cinema, you got an early look at the filmmaker’s meditative and searching vision. That film, an hour-long gaze at the faces and bodies of the men and women passing through an East Harlem...
Julia Caesar?
Julius Caesar is one of the most macho plays in Shakespeare’s male-heavy canon – only two women in the cast, both of them in and out before the thing is half over. But a new production puts many more women onstage, one of them in the play’s most macho role. Performed...
Stagestruck: Women Take the Reins
Three shows up and down the Valley this weekend put a modern and feminist spin on some classic tales from Shakespeare and the Bible – Wayward Home in Ashfield, The Annotated *Taming* in Turners Falls and Julius Caesar in Amherst. Wayward Home, weaving the Noah’s Ark...
The CDs You Gave Me: ‘Hush Money’ is pure catharsis
Last year, I reviewed psychedelic bluesy rock band, Old Flame, with their debut extended play (EP) “Wolf in the Heather.” Now, a year later the band has released a new six-song EP called “Hush Money” continuing to create political charged art rock that takes an...
Stagestruck: In the Valley and New York, history becomes personal
The tattoo From the title, you might think The Tattooed Man Tells All is a memoir of life on the carnival circuit. It’s anything but. This man’s tat is a five-digit number that was etched into his forearm in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Peter Wortsman’s one-man...
V-Spot: Help Me Kick My Hitachi Addiction
HELP YANA! I’m addicted to my Hitachi! I’ve had a primary partner for just under a year. The sex is awesome, intimate, and fun. However, very rarely can I have sex and get off without using toys, and I think it’s starting to frustrate them. I don’t have a lot of...
Monte Belmonte Wines: Giving Pinot Grigio another shot
I hate to write about the most boring grape in the wine world, Pinot Grigio, two columns in a row. But I threw down the gauntlet in my last wine column and challenged someone to convince me that Pinot Grigio is not the most boring of all wine grapes. “Part of me...
Cinemadope: Getting schooled on schools – A Backpack Full of Cash
American schools — and the teachers and students that fill their halls — have been in the news quite a bit lately. More and more, it seems that the reality of the classroom has become lost in a fog of “thoughts and prayers.” But it isn’t only during the...
Bank bails on Mass cannabis businesses
April 20 (4/20) can be an auspicious day for cannabis-related businesses. But this year, some of them will see their bank accounts abruptly closed. Citizens Bank, based in Providence, Rhode Island, informed an unknown number of customers with connections to the...
Down to Earth: Sugaring in a warmer world
In the sugaring room of North Hadley Sugar Shack and Market on a recent Saturday, a trio of young farmers manned the massive wood-fired evaporator slowly boiling off water from maple sap. Mahogany-colored product rushed every couple minutes from the spigot. On a...
Blaise’s Bad Movie Guide: What is Thunderbird Six???
Hands up! — how many readers remember HL Childs’ toy store in Northampton? I was there on closing day and came across a massive “Thunderbirds Island” playset commanding an entire shelf. As you may recall, “Thunderbirds” was a British TV show featuring marionettes and...
O’ Cannabis! Inhale, Exhale: Cannabis friendly yoga comes to the Valley
Slow, meditative breathing is an important part of most yoga classes, but at Chronic Trips’ first cannabis-friendly yoga class on April 7, there was also a different kind of inhaling going on. “We want to reduce the stigma of the lazy stoner,” said Chronic Trips owner...
V-Spot: Teach My Nice Guy to Play Rough
Writer’s note: This column contains mention of rape/non-consensual sex. Hey Yana!! I’ve been dating the sweetest guy. Well, sweet in ways that he always helps with housework, takes care of my dog for me, and is ALWAYS there for me. He’s a solid and loyal dude which is...
Cinemadope: Bringing the Red Sox to Israel
After a long winter, spring has returned to Western Mass. And with it, as hotly anticipated as any crocus, comes a new season of Red Sox baseball. It’s a tradition that we have come to take for granted, and even when it’s not a great season — let’s face it,...
Can You Convince Monte Belmonte that Pinot Grigio is Good?
When I started down the road to wine snobbery, I was one of those people that said “I’m a red wine drinker. I don’t like white wine.” What a young, foolish, naive, wine drinker I was. I have since realized that there are great and interesting manifestations of...
The V-Spot: My Boyfriend is … Tied Up
Hi Yana, I’ve been dating a new guy for about four months. He’s honest and makes time for me. He’s also really exciting, and after going through a lot of painful previous relationships, I actually feel safe with him. Our sex life is amazing, and he...E-Edition
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