Columns
Stagestruck: In Lively Color — An underrepresented group represents on area stages
At the end of my 2014 summer-season review, which tallied the gender imbalance in the area’s professional theaters, I wrote, “I could also do a column about playwrights, directors and actors of color on the region’s stages. But it would be awfully short.” By which I...
The V-Spot: Dry-humping Better Than Sex
Hi Yana, I’m an 18-year-old girl with a sex question. I don’t orgasm during sex with a guy, but I usually do orgasm when we’re dry-humping. Do you have any advice about how sex could be made better for me? I still want to have sex to pleasure my partner, but it’s...
The Pour Man: Good Bubbly for $12?!
Finding a well-crafted, dry sparkling wine in the $10 range can be difficult. There are plenty of good Italian Prosecco and Lambrusco wines in the range, and I tried a number of them this year in an effort to discover an inexpensive sparkler for the holidays, one that...
The V-Spot: Vaginally High and Dry
Dear Yana, At my last vaginal exam, the doctor could barely get her fingers inside and absolutely couldn’t insert the speculum. She said that I had vaginal atrophy. I’m in my late 50s and my doctor suggested hormone replacement therapy. I am interested in...
Brew Years Resolutions: 16 tips for a fun year of beer
Happy almost New Years, beer fans! Let’s draw 2015 to a close in style, drink responsibly, and make some plans for the year to come. Hint: there will be craft ales aplenty. Here are 16 items on my personal checklist that I hope you’ll take to heart when you do your...
A Red Wine From a Noble Spanish Grape
In recent weeks, I’ve tried a couple of excellent Spanish wines made from 100 percent Garnacha, a grape with a long, colorful history. The wines are full- bodied, inky red and have a lot of fruit flavor, and they’re affordable. Each comes from a different region of...
Nightcrawler: Crushing It
Lori McKenna hit the musical trifecta earlier this month with a song she penned for the group Little Big Town. “Girl Crush” premiered at number one on Billboard’s Hot Country 100 back in December of 2014. Last month, it won “Song of the Year” at the 49th annual...
Cinemadope: Nerd Christmas
When I do the dishes in our house, I often like to plug in some headphones and catch up on a favorite podcast. One of those podcasts is a new discovery for me, so I’ve been catching up on old episodes during my nightly scrubbing. Most of the time, it doesn’t matter...
The V-Spot: Help! My Orgasms Went on Holiday
Hey Yana, I’m a 28-year-old female with a high sex drive. I’ve always found it easy to come with clitoral stimulation. When my partner and I have sex it’s not unusual for it to last over an hour. My guy loves cunnilingus almost as much as I love getting it. I often...
StageStruck: Lost and Found
A dozen years ago, Allyn Burrows co-founded the Actors’ Shakespeare Project in Boston, following several memorable seasons performing with Shakespeare & Company. Like Shakespeare’s own London troupe during its years between permanent playhouses, ASP is an...
“The StageStruckies” — Advocate theater critic’s annual review
Winter is drawing in and I’m looking back on the many shows I’ve seen this year. Some have been naughty, most have been nice, and a few are getting lumps of coal from this reviewer. So here are my virtual awards — let’s call them “The StageStruckies”...
Tips for Getting Tipsy
Some of us don’t get out much. I’m lookin’ at you, worshiper of the porcelain goddess. You look like you could use some help. Most adults have learned how to hold their liquor, while others of all ages are still learning. Plus, braving the crowds isn’t always easy....
Nightcrawler: Mass Appeal
Gathering of the Vibes founder Ken Hayes recently announced that after achieving 20 years and record breaking attendance this past summer, he has decided to take 2016 off. “This is not the end my friends,” he wrote in an open, online letter to the Vibe Tribe. “It’s...
StageStruck: The Double Whammies – Part One of critic Chris Rohmann’s year-end theater review
Looking back on the 100-plus theater productions I’ve seen this year, I’ve noticed how many of them fall into pairs of various kinds. In my next column I’ll be handing out awards for the year’s best—and worst—productions and performances. But first, let’s take a look...
Winter is Coming: Holiday Film Traditions
As I sit down to write this column, the calendar is teetering on the edge of December. Thanksgiving may have been unseasonably balmy, but today was the first day all season that I left the house and immediately turned back to put on another layer. When I got back, I...
The Pour Man: Wine for Holiday Meals
Picking a wine for a holiday feast can be a bit tricky, and many wine experts are reluctant to select one universal wine to go with the meal. The problem is winter celebrations offer a cornucopia overflowing with tastes, flavors and smells that can overwhelm many...
Can I Be DTF and Still Respect Myself?
Dear Yana, What do you do when a DTR conversation doesn’t go your way? I’m a modern babe who’s Slutever Forever. I’m into my generation’s DTF hook-up culture, but I also want to respect my boundaries, my body, and my feelings. What do you do when you tell the guy...
Nightcrawler: Zullo Nation, reggae rockers unite to pay homage to The Alchemystics’ Demse Zullo
By definition, alchemy is a medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy aiming to achieve the transmutation of base metals into gold. Whether it be with the band the Alchemystics band he co-founded back in 2003, the band Bay Rd he inspired while working at...
StageStruck: Eyre Apparent
Here’s the thing about theater: It brings performers and spectators together in a mutual act of imagination – and the simpler the stage, the greater the imaginative act. The lush British costume dramas that come to our TV and movie screens are essentially Classics...
Cinemadope: Jennifer Lawrence, then and now
It’s hard to imagine, sometimes, that Jennifer Lawrence’s first listed credit on IMDb — “Mascot” on a 2006 episode of the TV series Monk, by the way — is less than 10 years old. The Kentucky-born actress, still just 25 today, has had a meteoric rise, with her mix of...
The V-Spot: ‘Butch’ Lost in Labialand
Hey Yana, I recently started reading your sex column, and it’s really great! There are sooooo many questions I had floating around in my mind about sex, because they don’t really talk about lesbians that much (ahem, at all) in sex ed. My problem is this: I recently...
Grab Some Health: lunchtime yoga at Fire and Water
Yoga instructor and studio owner Tea Musketaquid ends today’s yoga and lunch class with a smile-asana. “Now carry that posture with you throughout the day,” he tells me and two other students. Walking into the windowless room in the middle of the day, with its mood...
Stoneman Brewery is a Beershare Off the Beaten Path
I drive until I lose cell service, then I keep driving. Downtown Colrain falls away behind me as I follow the North River up into the wooded hills. I park my car on a quiet road, two miles from the Vermont border, at Justin Korby’s house. Colrain’s small population is...
Nightcrawler: Fade to Black(out)
What was supposed to be a triumphant new chapter in a prolific career turned tragic. Then a tribute. For more than two decades, Keith Hopkinson’s howl could be heard soaring over such circuit regulars as The Smacktones and Black Cat Frenzy. On Friday, Nov. 20, his...
The V-Spot: Horny With HPV – Now What?
Hi Yana, I’m a 26-year-old female with HPV and a high sex drive. Ever since my diagnosis I haven’t been able to have a lasting romantic or sexual relationship because I’m too scared to open up about this. I’ve told my closest friends because I want them to know that...
The Pour Man: An All-Night Wine
There’s a theory about pairing food and wine that’s pretty simple — just drink wine with food from the region where it is produced. That sort of terroir approach is fine for wines from some other parts of the world, but not so much the United States, where our food is...
Cinemadope: Bond Issue, Daniel Craig makes an old role his own
There was a moment in Apple’s September product announcement event — during which they unveiled the newest version of the Apple TV, their set-top streaming device that brings Netflix, Hulu, HBO and much more to the living room TV set — when designer Jen Folse took a...
The V-Spot: Freaked About Fellatio
Hi Yana, My friend seriously freaked me out when she told me that I should always use condoms for oral sex when I’m not in a longterm, monogamous relationship. Have I been sleeping on this or is she being dramatic? What are the transmission rates of STDs through oral...
Cinemadope: The Social Network, Cuban music and a couple of classics
When I first moved to Northampton in 1997, the now classic Buena Vista Social Club had only recently been released. A collection of Cuban music performed by veterans of the Havana scene, it was a surprise hit that was originally meant to be a showcase for a...
Raise Your Glass (Ceiling): Where are all the women brewers?
Two years ago, Kate Telman started making beer at her home in Easthampton. She planned to perfect a few brews, then shop her skills around to area breweries in the hope of getting a job. “I knew there weren’t really any job postings for what I wanted to do,” said...
Nightcrawler: Green for the Blues, a benefit for Ed Vadas, catching up with the Yardbirds
Myelodysplastic syndrome — commonly referred to as MDS — is literally bad to the bone. It affects bone marrow resulting in an inadequate supply of healthy white and red blood cells in the process. Scene stalwart Ed Vadas is presently combatting said condition....
Stagestruck: Anal Sex Meets Show Tunes – A new musical finds Don Juan on campus
I’m not a prude,” says Mark Swanson, “but it does feel strange telling the singers to be sure to enunciate fuck-ing.” He’s the music director for Donny Johns, a new musical opening at UMass Amherst this weekend. It’s a way-updated riff on the Don Juan story, set...
The Magical Mountain Mystery Tour: What craft beer adventures await in the Berkshires?
As the Advocate’s resident Beerhunter, my reportage on the art of the local craft brew has taken me up and down the Pioneer Valley, with the occasional stop in Brattleboro, Boston, and beyond. But there’s one big region on the Western Mass beer map that I’d been...
StageStruck: Six Degrees of Bloody Murder
The first time I saw Rear Window, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 thriller about a wheelchair-bound photographer who solves a murder while gazing out his window, I was so scared by the gripping climax that I couldn’t shut my eyes in bed for fear of intruders in the dark. Mind...
The V-Spot: Can I Ask my GF to Stop Using Her Vibrator?
Hi Yana, With previous girlfriends it’s been easier over time to bring them to orgasm as I get to know their preferences and bodies, however my current girlfriend owns a Hitachi Magic Wand that she has been using for nine months. It’s significantly more difficult now...
StageStuck: Flying Fishes
I have a friend who’s an Episcopal priest. When we first met, I asked him if his was a High Church or Low Church, referring to the degree of formality in the service. He replied, “We’re a Whatever Works Church.” That’s pretty much the strategy adopted by Abigail, the...
Cinemadope: Return Tickets, a mainstay reopens in Amherst
When a movie theater closes up shop, it often catches us by surprise. It isn’t that we don’t see it coming; we all know by now about Netflix, Hulu, and Redbox, and how the ever-expanding options of cable television and the Internet have siphoned off some of the...
Madame Barfly: Pumpkin and Bone Marrow
Nothing tastes like fall more than a pumpkin martini, unless it’s a pumpkin martini with a bone marrow bar snack. The Federal fine dining restaurant and pub in Agawam serves such tasty treats, but with an $11 price tag on the cocktail “Son of a Pumpkin” I was...
Nightcrawler: You Might Have Heard of Him
Oklahoma-based singer-songwriter John Moreland stops by Noho’s Parlor Room this Friday, Nov. 13, in support of his latest sonic labor of love. The new disc is called High on Tulsa Heat, and its arrival earlier this year was eagerly anticipated thanks in great part to...
StageStruck: The Odd Quartet – Barbershop harmony, with an ethnic difference
Mark St. Germain is a founding member of Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield and its practically-resident playwright, having debuted eight scripts there over the years. His best-known works are fictional peeks into the lives of real people, including Sigmund Freud...
Cinemadope: Autumn film trips in the Valley
Movie fans can be a pasty bunch. Ducking out of the sun to catch a sparsely attended matinee is par for the course — those nearly empty mid-week shows are a welcome respite from the cellphones and chatter of weekend opening nights. Netflix, Vimeo, and the local...
Nightcrawler: Out of the Shadows
Springfield-based metal-meisters Shadows Fall have had the hardcore community scratching its collective, shoulder-length locks-laden heads in recent months. Shortly after announcing an “indefinite hiatus,” frontman Brian Fair clarified that the sonic suspension may...
The V-Spot: Help! My Small Penis Doesn’t Measure Up
Hey Yana, Does penis size matter? I’m a 20-year-old male and a tall guy who gyms a lot and has fairly good genetics … all but in the penis department. I’m 6 feet tall and I literally have a 4-incher. I’ve found that a lot of girls are size queens and the girls I...
King of the Pumpkin Patch: 12 pumpkin craft beers face off
In 1923, when The New York Times asked George Mallory why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, the adventurer quipped: “Because it’s there.” That’s not the most promising mantra to cling to — Mallory perished on the mountain the following year — but I fear it’s one that...
The Pour Man: Dave Matthews’ Wine
In addition to wine and news, I try to keep up with what’s going on in the music world. As with wine, I have an eclectic taste in music. I pretty much like anything with a tune. Well, there are a few genres — sea shanties and ISIS campfire songs come to mind — that...
StageStruck: Main Street Parade – A 20th-century travelogue comes back home
Double Edge Theatre may call their Ashfield farmstead home, but they are a world-class, and world-traveling, company. In addition to their annual farm-spanning summer spectacle and small-scale shows in their barn-theater, for the past couple of years they’ve been...
Cinemadope: Busting out. A comedy classic returns.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the upcoming reboot to the Ghostbusters franchise. Director Paul Feig’s (Bridesmaids) 2016 release is a female-centered take on the story that stars Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy as a pair of old friends who are thrown...Jones strips down; Pomeroy and Laine; Halloween shows
While new wave icon Howard Jones’ Nov. 4 Iron Horse show will be engaging, it will not be Engage, the crowd-funded multimedia project he recently performed in London, LA, and New York that includes interactive smartphone apps for audience members, specially...
The V-Spot: Fretting Over My First Time
Hi Yana, I’m a 17-year-old virgin. My partner and I tried having sex, but we couldn’t get it in. I went to the doctor for contraception and I asked her why we couldn’t get it in. She said that I needed to relax; how the hell do I relax?! During sex (or trying to) I...
Couple Seeking Toyfriend
Hi Yana, Straight guy here in a monogamous relationship. We’re looking to add some toys to our routine and would love to hear your opinions and suggestions on items that we could use together. We’ve been eyeballing the Oden 2 from Lelo [a vibrating, rechargeable,...
Live Hive: Christine Ohlman’s in town
She’s spent many a Saturday night in New York City. Kinda comes with the turf when you sing lead vocals in the Saturday Night Live Band as Christine Ohlman did in the ’90s — an honor that literally gave her a front row seat to Sinead O’Connor’s papal paper rip and...
Jaboulet is Back
Like white shoes, white pants and hats, white wines can go back on the shelf until the days lengthen and warm up. Sure, there will be occasions for a crisp Chardonnay, perhaps with a course or two of a holiday meal, and there are many other whites that are perfect...
Cinemadope: Scare Tactics, Halloween movies
Of all the holiday movie traditions, it might be that of Halloween that has given us in the film world the most joy over the years. Christmas has some winners, of course, but is often bogged down by moralizing, sappiness, or commercialism. Thanksgiving and New Year’s...
The V-Spot: Getting What We Came For, how did that advice turn out?
If four years of writing a sex column have taught me anything, it’s that there’s nothing more important than honoring feedback from those you get down and dirty with. Well, and that masturbation is key. So, in keeping with best sex practices, I present you with some...
Madame Barfly: Bubbles! Burps aside, this Spiked Seltzer is pretty good
Bigger cities may have had a taste of Spiked Seltzer last year, but it made its first big splash in the Valley this summer — packies were having a hard time keeping it on the shelves. “It’s been really popular,” says one manager at Liquors 44 in Northampton of the...
Cinemadope: Smuggling a pile of Tibet to exiles in India
I’ve lived in the Valley for some 18 years now, which is exactly as long as I lived under my parents’ roof. Everything in between there and here — my two homes, each of which, now, has had its own family life — has been a way station, a stop along a longer road. But...
Nightcrawler: Are You Lonesome Tonight?
Were it not for the marking of a certain sonic milestone, The Lonesome Brothers’ appearance at the Iron Horse this weekend couldn’t be more business as usual. Another weekend, some original tunes from their catalog of more than 100, another venue. “Basically, the gist...
StageStruck: NT Liveliest
If proof were needed of the sheer variety in the transatlantic fare served up by the National Theatre’s NT Live, we’d need to look no farther than the next two offerings in that stage-to-screen series coming to the Amherst Cinema. One is a classic Restoration...
Cinemadope: Octoberfest, a new film festival hits Northampton
We here in the Pioneer Valley love a good festival. Just this year I’ve seen festivals devoted to asparagus, tomatoes, garlic, or one that just throws it all together to celebrate the harvest season. Our small towns have festivals to celebrate their small-towniness,...E-Edition
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