Columns
by Jack Brown | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Newsletter
When my wife and I began seeing each other — a decade ago, now — one of our early big dates was an afternoon out for a December performance of The Nutcracker, put on by the Pioneer Valley Ballet at the Academy of Music in Northampton. It felt special and somehow...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
Hi Yana, I used to have a very toxic friendship with one of my female friends. She always made jokes at my expense, was very judgemental, temperamental, and didn’t show me much respect. I cut off ties with her, but she and my boyfriend of over two years are...
by Gary Carra | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Nightcrawler
Longtime radio personality Mike “Haze” DeJesus’s tale of his first meeting with Springfield-area rockers Hypnotic Kick smacks of a tacky joke set up. “Eighteen years ago, three Puerto Rican gents and an Irish lad walked into the radio station,” he recalled. “I was a...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Food + Booze, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
Filling a glass where Connecticut meets Mass Most night owls are easy when it comes to shifts in ambience, but I can’t say that many of us thrive under fluorescent light. That might have been why, on Wednesday afternoon, my editor found me sighing heavily at my desk....
by Jack Brown | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
It was about a year ago that I stole away for a late night screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the long-awaited “Episode VII” that returned fans to the world of droids, lightsabers, and The Force. It had been an especially anticipated film due to the terrible...
by Kristin Palpini | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Between the Lines, Columns, News, Newsletter
There is nothing more cynical than fake news. The entire concept is to play readers for suckers, manipulating the foundation of reality in exchange for cash or furthering of what is likely a heinous agenda.And the people hosting and spreading fake news online — the...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
I got pregnant this past summer after my birth control failed — I got to be part of that lucky 0.04 percent of IUD users who this happens to. I got the pregnancy terminated and all is well. Or, I guess mostly well. The issue is my partner and I have both been having...
by Naila Moreira | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Down to Earth, News, Newsletter
I sometimes startle people by saying I don’t have much hope for the environment. “But you’re an environmentalist!” they stutter. “Surely, you must think we can prevent nature from being destroyed? That taking action is worth it?”The other day, for instance, I chatted...
by Will Meyer | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter
We must harness the power of DIY to resist Influential music writer Jessica Hopper penned a piece earlier this month on MTV.com that sought to dispel “the silver-lining myth” that a Trump presidency would produce great art, specifically music.She argued that great...
by Jack Brown | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Leisure, Newsletter
Whatever your thoughts are about the outcome of last month’s election, it seems fair to say that a Trump presidency will be less welcoming of — if not downright hostile to — many of the world’s cultures. As a film writer, that leaves me feeling both deflated (will...
by Chris Rohmann | Dec 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
You wouldn’t expect to find close connections between the Sinai desert, urban Serbia and the Appalachian mountains, but a new play by University of Massachusetts theater professor Milan Dragicevich brings them tellingly together. Refugee takes an episode from...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
I’ve been thinking about writing to you for a long time. My husband and I are about to celebrate 11 years as a couple and we’ve been married for six. It’s been amazing and so much fun to spend all of this time on planet Earth with such a soul-mate dreamboat of a life...
by Amanda Drane | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Leisure, Newsletter, Third Eye Roaming, Wellness
Studio owner Audrey Blaisdell says she fell for the yoga behind Bikram, not the “cultish belief system.” It became necessary to draw the line, she says, about a year ago. Prospective students came to fear the authoritarian reputation and mistrust the brand...
by Warren Johnston | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Leisure, The Pour Man
My first recollection of Chianti, as it is for many people, was the iconic straw-wrapped bottle, not the wine. Occasionally, an unopened bottle would show up at our house, usually a gift from a friend coming to dinner, and by the end of the adult evening, it would be...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
I feel a kinship with the musical Once, because in a former life I did my own share of street-busking, like the bluejeaned lead in the 2007 film. It’s a simple, poignant tale that’s both heartrending and uplifting, filled with simple, tuneful songs that strike the...
by Gary Carra | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Nightcrawler
Thanksgiving Eve is roundly considered one of the busiest bar days of the year. True to form, this Wednesday, Nov. 23, finds the Valley circuit smattered with live entertainment offerings.Country rockers Trailer Trash will be holding court at Chicopee’s Maximum...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Stage, Stagestruck
Every year I take note of the plays I’ve seen that are written and/or directed by women, and those that revolve around a woman (or women). For me, these are key indicators of progress in achieving gender equality in theater. To be sure, there are plenty of women...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
Me and my boyfriend of two years are looking to have a threesome. We are wanting to try it with a female, and a male. We are wanting to do this to enhance our sex life, and are not looking to add anyone into our relationship. We are both very open and honest with each...
by Jack Brown | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Newsletter
With Black Friday upon us this week, the maelstrom of the holiday shopping season has officially begun. Weekends will find increasingly desperate hordes descending on anything that looks like it might hold toys or electronics, toddlers will go into full meltdown mode...
by Kyle Olsen | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter
High school sucked for me. Before college, I had no friends. My days consisted of going to school, talking to almost nobody, and coming home to do almost nothing before bed.In the midst of all this nothing, I had time to think up a glamorized chain of events that I...
by Kristin Palpini | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Leisure, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
If you get up real close to the New England Treatment Access medical marijuana dispensary in Northampton, you can smell the earthy aroma of cannabis through the brick walls. Established in 2015, NETA’s Conz Street dispensary is, so far, the only medical Mary Jane shop...
by Warren Johnston | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Leisure, Newsletter, The Pour Man
Finding a wine that goes with every course of the Thanksgiving dinner can be a bit dodgy because the meal is a hodgepodge of dishes with distinctive flavors. Viognier, Cava, Pinot Noir and Cotes du Rhone have been my favorites in the past, but this year I’m trying a...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 16, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
In this time of national division and upheaval, we can be forgiven for craving a little feelgood. And what feels better than a good musical? As if on cue, two good’uns are coming to this area, both of them stage versions of beloved movies. This week through Sunday, An...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Featured, Food + Booze, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
When I think back to last fall, and the dozen taste tests I did of pumpkin-flavored beers, my tongue conjures flashbacks of bad and bewildering brews. What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment. Or maybe I’m an optimist, holding onto a hope that there are pumpkin...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
At Home with the Brew Local beer ingredients abound, but commercial brewers aren’t the only ones who can get their hands on them. Fun and creative brewing starts at home, too — and many in the Valley have taken up the calling. Mike Schilling has been homebrewing for...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
From the Valley, Born and Brewed The crafty little explosion of local breweries up and down the Valley over the last 20 years has become a point of pride for neighbors and travelers alike. But as local craft beer markets across the country have matured from clusters...
by Will Meyer | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
Self-described glamour-grunge witch-punks Deadbeat Club only played their first show earlier this spring. According to an interview in Maximum Rocknroll, they say the band formed “because [they] were sick of playing with boys and trying to start something serious.”...
by Jack Brown | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
Anyone who has invested enough time in reading a great book series will recognize the feeling: as the end of the final installment approaches, a mix of elation and emptiness starts to creep in. Soon the story will come full circle, and when it does, there will be...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, I heard you on Dawn Serra’s podcast Sex Gets Real and really appreciated what you had to say about personal boundaries in new polyamorous relationships. I’m a straight guy and my wife just started sleeping with another woman a couple of months ago. I thought...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, I am a 66-year-old man who is in love, and in a new relationship, with a very sexually active 60-year-old woman. I have come to the conclusion that I could use some help in fulfilling her sexual needs. Can you recommend any particular vibrators and/or other...
by Warren Johnston | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Newsletter, The Pour Man
A couple of decades ago, back before the brand hit the skids, Edna Valley Vineyard Chardonnay was a treat, a wine I couldn’t afford, but would occasionally enjoy at a South Carolina restaurant owned by friends Louis and Marlene Osteen.The Osteens knew their wines, so...
by Naila Moreira | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Down to Earth, News, Newsletter
Just across from one of my favorite writing spots — the window counter at Northampton Coffee — I can see a dark mark on the former lumber building: “Flood Level — 1936.” When I walk past, the mark is almost a foot over my head. After writing, I often hop on my bicycle...
by Gary Carra | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Music, Nightcrawler
Can you rock and roll all night and still be home for the 11 o’clock news? The Crawler did — just a couple of Saturdays ago at Mohegan Sun. KISS may be known for their outlandish make-up, ghoulish antics, and fist-pumping anthems. But behind all the greasepaint, the...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 4, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
The National Theatre’s NT Live series of HD broadcasts from the London stage is back for its eighth season, starting with a mix of new productions and encore screenings. The Amherst Cinema has recently reprised Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge and...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
New York has its Tonys and Obies, Boston its Nortons, and now the Berkshire region has its own rewards for outstanding work in theater — the Berkshire Theatre Awards. Twelve professional companies in the Berkshires, southern Vermont, and New York’s Capital District...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
Neither of the shows now playing in downtown Hartford are Halloween-themed, but both are thoroughly haunted by ghosts of the past, in one case literally. That one is The Piano Lesson, at Hartford Stage through November 13. It’s the 1930s segment of August Wilson’s...
by Will Meyer | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Honestly Weird “Hello everybody/ there’s a Nazi living in my head.” That’s the first line on Brattleboro musician Ruth Garbus’ new EP, Hello Everybody, and its overt shockingness lays the foundation for a departure from her previous handful of mostly solo...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Food + Booze, Leisure, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
In the two years since I took on the role of Valley beer reporter, I’ve tried to keep things local whenever possible. Aside from an international sojourn or two — like when I tried a mug of saliva-fermented ‘chicha’ corn beer in Peru last year — I’ve generally been...
by Blaise Majkowski | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Blaise's Bad Movie Guide, Columns, Film, Newsletter
The old adage “you can’t tell a book by its cover” still rings true. However, does this advice apply to movies and their titles? Let’s partake in a little quiz and see if you can guess the film’s plot by its moniker. Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. Hands...
by Jack Brown | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Leisure, Newsletter
Strike up a conversation about foreign film with most American film buffs, and the discussion will almost certainly travel East, over the Atlantic, on a European course. Those buffs with enough wind in them might even reach the Middle East and parts of Asia, but few...
by Jack Brown | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Cinemadope, Newsletter
Shortly before I sat down to write this column, the unimaginable happened: the Chicago Cubs clinched a World Series berth for the first time in 71 years. If you don’t follow baseball, just know that it was a long drought — Lawrence of Arabia long, if you’re more of a...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot
I’ve recently begun a relationship with a man who has herpes. It’s unclear if it’s HSV-1 or -2 or both. He has scheduled an appointment with his doctor. I’ve been tested and am negative for that, hepatitis, and all other STDs. It’s important for me to know all the...
by Kristin Palpini | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
Before you step outside puffing on a celebratory fattie, know that, despite the vote on Tuesday, recreational marijuana isn’t legal in Massachusetts, yet.That’ll happen on Dec. 15, when the ballot measure goes into effect. And even when Dec. 15 comes, the state is...
by Warren Johnston | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Newsletter, The Pour Man
Mionetto Gran Rosé is a very good sparkling wine with lots of rich fruit flavors that reflect the expertise of a master winemaker and the continued quality of one of Italy’s top wine producers. In fact, this widely available wine is an excellent bridge from the...
by Amanda Drane | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, Third Eye Roaming, Wellness
Turn off the news. Put away your phone and shut the newspaper. That heart rate spike that came with the latest election-related news — while appropriate — is not healthy. It’s important to stay informed, especially as America stands at the precipice of an...
by Gary Carra | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Newsletter, Nightcrawler
Most people get paid on it. A few don’t eat meat on it. Ice Cube makes movies about it. Some thank God for it. Others create restaurant chains derived from that acronym … But that’s the last Friday reference, promise. And speaking of last Fridays:...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, Stagestruck
You, my friend, are fucked.” So begins Trump Card, a one-man show created by monologist Mike Daisey that deconstructs the Republican presidential candidate. Next week in the Valley, monologist Seth Lepore performs his own personal riff on Daisey’s original. Lepore’s...
by Jack Brown | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
We in the Valley may have an above-average awareness of food co-ops. Take a Sunday drive around Western Mass, and you’ll find co-ops dotting the landscape, serving local communities and offering an alternative to the big box grocery chains that might not find it...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
A stoner buddy of mine recently shocked me when she said she has no intention of voting on Nov. 8. Weed is already practically legal, she argued, and both the presidential candidates are duds. I reminded her that Question 3 on the ballot may set more humane standards...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana! My boyfriend and I are approaching our four year anniversary. He recently called me and asked if he could vent to me about what he’s been feeling. He got diagnosed with anxiety and depression this past summer, but stopped going to therapy when he went back to...
by Phoebe Weissblum | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter
Remember applying to college? I’m sure you recall the glossy promotional packets you received in the mail from schools trying to win your application. There was always a picture on the front that looked like this: a group of college age kids sitting in a circle on a...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Stage, Stagestruck
I didn’t attend my hometown college, but I grew up just down the street from the campus. I biked along its crisscrossed paths as a kid, DJ’d at the college radio station in high school and, most important, acquired my passion for theater from its plays. Antioch...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
Last week Maya Lin, architect of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, came to the Smith College campus to unveil her vision for the renovation of the venerable Neilson Library. Coincidentally, in Boston a new play was unveiled which recalls Lin’s uphill battle to fulfill...
by Will Meyer | Oct 17, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
A few years ago, Valley musician Mike Parham came back from South by Southwest (SXSW), a music festival in Austin, Texas, and described it to me like the Wild West —somewhere between an underground music festival and a business convention.Some see SXSW as their ticket...
by Jack Brown | Oct 17, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
Yankee No How Live in the Valley for any length of time, and you’ll soon know of Frances Crowe. The diminutive white-haired woman is something of a local celebrity, thanks to a life spent in activism, where her infectious cheer is matched by her uncompromising (and...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 17, 2016 | Stagestruck
I grew up in Ohio, birthplace of six presidents and a perennial bellwether in election years — neither red nor blue but the most unpredictable of swing states. Since I live in Massachusetts, in the bluest of the blue, earlier this month I went back to Ohio, where...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Oct 17, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hey Yana, I am totally new to BDSM [bondage and discipline/sadism and maso- chism]. Someone told me about a “munch” happening locally tomorrow night. They found it through the FetLife website and suggested I go. Do you know anything about these “munch” meetups? How...
by Warren Johnston | Oct 17, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The Pour Man
The Spanish native Garnacha is a little grumpy. The grape is thin-skinned and sensitive. It’s hard to cultivate, and its vines are low yielding. At one point in its history, it was even considered a weed, and for the last 30 years or so, many Spanish farmers have...
by Chris Rohmann | Oct 12, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
“Consider Lucifer,” says Han van Meegeren, huddled against the grimy wall of his prison cell in postwar Holland. He’s awaiting a summary trial and probable execution for allegedly having sold a previously unknown Vermeer to a Nazi officer during the occupation. The...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 10, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
They’re out there… and they probably don’t use blueberries When Erik Jensen took over as brewmaster at Green Flash Brewing at the beginning of this year, he knew he had some big shoes to fill. The San Diego brewery had become one of the biggest in...
