Columns
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,...
Nightcrawler: Don’t Worry; Be Hoppy, band brewfests, Frehley manages to one-up the blood moon
Fans of suds ’n’ sounds will find no shortage of occurrences in which to quench their multi-sensory cravings this weekend. On Saturday, Oct. 10, at the King Phillips Stockade at 1200 West Columbus Ave., in Springfield, Log Cabin/Delaney House and Samuel Adams will...
The V-Spot: Why Don’t I Want Sex With My BF?
Hi Yana, I’ve been with my boyfriend for six years and he was my first and only sexual partner. Sexually we struggle. Well, I struggle. The thought of having sex is like a chore. I try really hard to do it even when I don’t want to because I know he needs that and...
The Pour Man: Crystal Clear, Green Highlights, Picpoul de Pinet
Lately, I have been receiving some recommendations of wines to have with freshly caught seafood, so during a recent trip to Maine, my wife and I decided to try a few of them out. I had a couple of wines in mind, but I had not taken notice of Picpoul de Pinet, a white...
Stagestruck: Endless Summer – Berkshire theaters carry on into the fall
Time was, at the end of August the summer theaters would fold their (figurative) tents and wait for spring. While that’s still true of the Valley theaters that brighten our hot-weather months, three of the Big Four Berkshire festivals now extend their seasons into the...
Nightcrawler: Media Darlings, Darlingside celebrates latest sonic labor of love; Gates open for Holyoke performers
Bay State quartet Darlingside have become veritable media darlings in their just over half a decade of existence. Their lush, harmony-laden amalgam of indie folk rock garners kudos as steadily and readily as “Dump Trump’’ petition signatures at a Cinco De Mayo party....
The Beerhunter: Brick & Feather Brewery in Turners Falls
The 11th-Hour Taste Test Lawrence George pours a hazy-gold sample of beer from the tank and passes it to me in a small glass. It is a bold and flavorful take on an American pale ale: hoppy, tangy, and delicious. In another tank, George is fermenting a slightly sweeter...
Cinemadope: Hurts So Good, remembering the ’80s
As much as I love good film — the transformative power of a story well told, the otherworldly experience of settling into the dark as the lights come up on someone else’s dream — there is something to be said for the bad ones out there. To be clear, I’m not talking...
The V-Spot: Hell-Bent on the Back Door
Hey Yana, My boyfriend and I think anal sex is super hot and are determined to be pros at it! We’ve played with fingers and anal toys and managed to have a pretty successful penile-anal penetration experience once, but it hurt so much that now I’m afraid to do it...
Third Eye Roaming: Too hard for yoga? Inner peace for metal fans
Yoga isn’t for everyone, but that’s not a point the Pioneer Valley is ready to concede. Or at least, it seems that way judging by the varied yoga offerings here. Yoga and beer? Yes, please. Yoga and art? Why not. Yoga with death metal? Yes, that is a thing here. I’ve...
The V-Spot: New Mom Needs to Get Some
Hey Yana, Recently I listened to Dan Savage talk on the podcast “The Longest Shortest Time” about sex and parenting. The question of how to keep a sex life alive and also co-sleep with your baby came up. He basically said, “Just don’t co-sleep.” Super unhelpful. So,...
StageStruck: Industrious Angels
It’s all about possibility – “One of Emily’s favorite terms,” Wendy Kohler explained as we gathered in pairs and singles at the Emily Dickinson Homestead in Amherst, ready to embark on “an immersive journey” inspired by her letters, poems and hometown. Kohler is...
Stagestruck: In the Vanguard – Women take center stage in the Valley
You’ll probably think I’m some kind of androphobe, or that I’m just beating the same drum to death, but after a summer when so many of my favorite plays and performances were by women, I couldn’t help noticing the same theme carrying into the fall. Turns out the...
Nightcrawler: Getting Benched, rockers unite for rail trail and Alzheimer’s benefit, Kansas’ David Ragsdale
Most folks remember Gary Biardi as a man whose love of the outdoors was rivaled only by his passion for music. This Sunday, Sept. 27, no less than two dozen of the Valley’s most local notables — including Mark Schwaber, Alex Meisner, J.J. O’Connell, and Jeff Turcotte...E-Edition
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