Columns
CinemaDope: Just Dropping In, Films in limited screenings
One of the great benefits of the digital revolution is that it has opened up our movie screens in ways the old paradigm could never have allowed. Under the old system, screening a film was always a pricey endeavor, even if it ran for a few weeks. To show a film for a...
Nightcrawler: Kindred Spirits, Whiskey Treaty, Dirty Bourbon River Show pour into the Valley; Fab Faux stroll down Abbey Road
In its earliest form back in Ireland and Scotland circa the 15th century, the distilled spirit we now call whiskey was commonly referred to as “aqua vitae.” Curiously, the word “vitae” means “blameless in life; innocent.” But as history has well chronicled, aqua vitae...
Raise Your Glass: I’ll Have a Glass of Ernest and Julio Gallo Wine — No, Seriously
When I was in elementary school, we were considered cool if we could say a few lines from television commercials. We memorized a lot of them. One ad I still remember is “What’s the word? Thunderbird,” an ad for cheap, fruit-flavored, fortified wine named for the Ford...
The V-Spot: Seeking Spunky, Not Clunky
Hey girl! I was wondering if you might be able to recommend a good vibrator to use during sex with my boyfriend. Something with power, but not too cumbersome? xoxoxoxo — Seeking Spunky, Not Clunky Dear SSNC, I don’t make many assumptions in this job, but I get the...
StageStruck: Homer’s Daughter
Jeannine Haas confesses that she “got through 21 years of formal education without ever reading the Iliad,” and that when she was first preparing to perform the one-person play based on that epic, “I thought, ‘Oy, it is gonna be a pain to read.’ But honestly, it was a...
Cinemadope: Going the distance, The Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival turns 10
In any field, a decade is a milestone — one of those moments when one can stop to look back and reflect on all the hard work that has gone into getting to that point in the journey. For a film festival, it’s particularly remarkable. There is just so much that goes...
Nightcrawler: Crowd Fundamentals
There’s certainly nobody waiting in line any given Tuesday to grab the latest CD from their favorite group at the local record store. Heck, there are barely any local record stores left. (Except for in the Valley, it seems.) The exit of record stores has seen the...
StageStruck: Now and Then – Two plays showcase stagecraft classic and contemporary
You can’t say the Five College theater programs aren’t eclectic. So far this season we’ve seen everything from Shakespeare to Williams to Ruhl to experiments with future forms. And this weekend, shows on two campuses come at us from opposite ends of the spectrum: a...
The Beerhunter: You’ve Got to Try Sour Beers
Who’s up for a fresh glass of saccharomyces cerevisiae? I’ll take one! Though, personally, I like to mix this yeast variety with water, hops, and barley. Combine those four magic ingredients and you’ve got yourself a beer — tastier, and much easier to pronounce. But...
The V-Spot: #SILO, Dumped in the digital age
So, you just got dumped. If you have a cell phone, a laptop or any kind of social media presence, your life just got real hard. There’s always something there to remind you of your ex. I recently read an article that depressingly informed me that “Facebook knows...
On the National Tour
If you’re an avid theatergoer – and if you’re not, what are you doing here? – I urge you, if and when you’re next in London, to take the backstage tour at the National Theatre. After many visits to the National over the years, last month I got around to doing just...
Nightcrawler: Lane Changer, Robin Lane biopic chronicles Shelburne Falls resident’s life
Perhaps it’s only appropriate — given the state of area roadways after this relentless winter — that the new Robin Lane documentary will be screened at Pothole Pictures this weekend. Certainly makes sense that it’s occurring in Shelburne Fall, as the subject of said...
The V-Spot: Halp! I’m Totes Jelly
Dear Yana, My ex-boyfriend of five years cheated on me the whole time we were together. My low self-esteem let him convince me he still loved me despite the cheating. By the end we had opened our relationship to outside sexual partners, but it was mostly him going out...
Raise Your Glass: Portuguese Red Lives Up to Its Reputation
Periquita, 2012, red wine, Portugal, $7.99-$9.99 For the last decade, the national wine gurus have been raving about wines from the Iberian Peninsula as the best value on the market. They’ve all said things like: You’ve got to try them — they’re unbelievable, just...
Madame Barfly: The Craft, The Green Room’s head mixologist stirs things up
A cocktail revolution that’s been percolating in major cities has finally made its way to Northampton in earnest: craft cocktails. A craft cocktail is exactly what it sounds like — a craft unto itself. It’s more than expensive alcoholic liquids poured into a glass....
The V-Spot: Getting Selfish in the Sack, Asking for better sex
We’re socialized to not ask for what we want. This applies to promotions, the best looking cookie in the cafe’s pastry case and, of course, sex. When we pointedly ask for what we want, we’re seen as selfish, greedy, finicky and maybe even a little mean. When women ask...
Cinemadope: The Art of War
All of us, at some point or another, have a teacher who makes a difference. Maybe it’s just that we cross paths at the right moment, or maybe it’s just that he or she is that damn good at what they do, but the right teacher at the right time can change a person’s path...
StageStruck: Jerry Atric Puns Again
Early in Steve Henderson’s two-character dramedy Jerry and Ed, Jerry gives us a summary of his relationship with his pal Ed, and of his own character, too: “Did you ever have a friend who always seemed to get you into trouble? Well, so did Ed.” Jerry and Ed is a...
Nightcrawler: Something To Crow About, Crowrider calendar riddled with shows and sessions; Black Crows’ founding brothers on separate paths
Fans looking to wet their beaks on new Crowrider material may want to venture out to one of the many live engagements the band has lined up for the coming months. Guitarist Dino Bambino reports that they are laying down tracks for a forthcoming disc and the chemistry...
The V-Spot: Aftercare Is Not a Grey Area
A housewife’s wet dream, Fifty Shades of Grey, hit the big screen this past month — and hit it hard. The popularity of the book series, and now movie, has caused quite the stir in the practicing BDSM (bondage, dominance/submission, sadism/masochism) community,...
Taste-Off! Slice Showdown, Part 1: Which Northampton by-the-slice pizza joint lays claim to the best?
Pizza — it’s as American as, well, burritos and frankenfurters. Determining what’s the best pizza is a heady, touchy business. And in an area where there’s a pizza joint every 50 feet or so, the stakes are high. For something that is, at its most elemental, just...
Cinemadope: Sweet and Hot, Three stories of Asian flavors
Everyone with a go-to Chinese take-out joint is sure of one thing: theirs is the best. It’s a partisan game on a par with Left vs. Right or The Beatles vs. The Stones — I once witnessed, on a Brooklyn street corner, a heated argument about the neighborhood’s best...
Nightcrawler: Fire Power, Bash benefits Christmas Eve fire victims; Amy Fairchild joins members of Extreme, The Allmans, Megadeth and more for Boston charity
She’s seen fire. She’s seen (freezing) rain. But Kristy Librera Chapman remains undaunted in her quest to aid her family and her community. A cousin to one of the families affected by a tragic Christmas Eve fire in Southwick, Chapman says that she knew she needed to...
Raise Your Glass: Organic Wines That Are Well Worth a Try
Natura Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, Chile, $9.99-11.99 Natura Chardonnay 2013, Chile, $9.99-11.99 About a decade ago, I tried an organic wine. It was expensive and bad. I didn’t spit it out or even pour it down the drain, probably because of my Scots heritage, but I...
Scene Here: Shamrock in the Wind
I’m at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and there are more plastic cups whipping down High Street in the wind than there are people waiting for the parade to turn the corner. I’m beginning to think the parade has been delayed by the 30-plus mph wind gusts, when I spy some...
Nightcrawler: Sibling Revelry, The Levin Brothers’ first official collaboration; Eric Holden holdin’ court in Pittsfield
He’s been a bona fide member of King Crimson’s court for more than three decades. Prior to securing his status as a veritable prog-rock deity, Brookline’s Tony Levin was trading licks with the likes of Chuck Mangione and Buddy Rich. Now 68, Levin is revisiting his...
Cinemadope: French Twist, A surprisingly resilient piece of sci-fi
During the waves of police brutality protests that rolled across the nation this last half-year, there were any number of arresting images: protestors pouring milk in their eyes to counteract the tear gas used to disperse crowds; a highway patrolman leading a peaceful...
Between the Lines: Hands Off My Stuff! Politicians’ emails are public business
Politicians skirting public record laws by conducting public business on private email accounts is becoming a scandal celebre. That Hillary Clinton kept a few private email accounts and used her own server may not seem like a big deal. But it is. Politicians’ emails...
Beerhunter: Tips for your next brewery tour
Up in Vermont there’s a glow-in-the-dark circus party at the end of the world. Neon streamers and Mardi Gras beads hang all over the place. Colorful string lights set the room aglow. Some visitors hunker down at the long bar counter, but others try on jester hats,...
Scene Here: Spring Steed
I pull my mud-splattered sedan onto the side of Hill Road in Ashfield, parking it at the metal gate of the cow pen at Taylor Farm. My snow tires crunch on gravel, and a dozen cows turn their heads and stare at me. Their pen is connected to the back of an enormous red...
Hot or Cold, This Wine is Bold
In the last couple of years, I may have had wines made from the white wine grape Verdejo, but I didn’t give them much thought until recently when I had a glass at an area restaurant. It didn’t hurt that my first remarkable Verdejo was a hand-picked, estate-grown,...
Cinemadope
At long, long, last, I can finally announce: this is the last Cinemadope column of this long, long winter. Next week, spring will be upon us, at least by the calendar, and we can all begin to forget the frigid and snowbound Sartre play that this winter has been. To...
Riffs Meet Spliffs
They recently retooled their lineup, and they are juggling live shows with the recording of their highly anticipated sophomore studio effort. Despite such distractions, guitarist Tom Hamel maintains that Odds of Eden are always a safe bet when it comes to delivering...
Madness, Mayhem, 24 Hours
“This is how I feel about the 24-Hour Theater Project: I think doing it is nuts.” That’s Elizabeth Foley, one of the organizers of Northampton’s annual festival of instant theater, which blooms and dies again this Saturday. The event, which she describes as...
Finding the Male G-Spot
If you’re a loyal reader (and you should be), you know that I recently wrote a column that asked the ever-important anal sex question, “Why the avoidance, bros?” I then systematically listed and destroyed the pesky barriers to male anal sex and prostate stimulation,...
The Price of Safety
Matthew Lopez has attached two epigraphs to his new play, Reverberation, now receiving its world premiere at Hartford Stage. One is from Jane Jacobs’ classic study of the American metropolis (“… cities are, by definition, full of strangers”) and the other is from...
Dive! Five unpolished gems with cheap drinks and charm to spare.
Everyone has a favorite dive bar; a place you can go in your old jeans and sweater, have a beer for under $3 and watch some “Wheel of Fortune” with townies looking to unwind. Dive bars — and we use the term lovingly — tend to be physically and metaphysically secluded....
Madame Barfly: Mix It Up, Take a Shot
Shots cut to the chase. Whether you need some quick courage for that karaoke performance or don’t want a drink that sloshes on your dancing shoes, shots are great when you want to get that buzz rolling in one fell shoot. So, why not make it delicious? When it comes to...
Cinemadope: HerStory, Early feminism and UFOs
I’m not sure exactly when it was that I realized that my mom wasn’t quite like most of the other moms in our neighborhood. And from the outside, at least when I was still a boy, maybe she didn’t strike others as different, either: husband, two kids, house, a station...
Nightcrawler: All That Snaz, Vermont indie-rockers’ highly anticipated sophomore effort; Kid Rock offers low-dough summer shows
There’s an old line about the issue label types often dub the “sophomore jinx.” And that is, “You have your whole lifetime to write your first album, a matter of months for the follow up.” One need only pick up Dead Ringer, the successor to Meatloaf’s epic Bat Out Of...
The V-Spot: When Can We Ditch the Rubbers?
Hi Yana, After how many months of no symptoms can one safely assume he or she is free of sexually transmitted diseases? I’m in a monogamous relationship right now with someone who’s just as healthy as I am, and we’re wondering how long until we can be reasonably sure...
HD = High Drama: Amherst Cinema’s stage-to-screen series is multiplying
“It’s an exciting time for art-house cinemas,” says Carol Johnson, executive director of the Amherst Cinema Arts Center. What she’s enthusing about isn’t movies, however, but plays. Valley theatergoers’ access to professional stage productions by global companies is...
The V-Spot: A Straight Boy and His Butt
“Prostate stimulation can be otherwordly, like you are not sure where the pleasure is coming from.” — The Ultimate Guide to Prostate Pleasure by Charlie Glickman, Ph.D. and Aislinn Emirzian “[I] can’t put words on the orgasms, but it felt like I was having about three...
Nightcrawler: Give ’Em The Boot
Nancy Sinatra’s boots may have been made for walkin’, but the way Ludlow Firefighter Dan McKenney sees it, his Rock The Boot Winter Jam — slated for Feb. 28 in the town’s Gremio Lusitano Club — will serve two decidedly different purposes. For starters, music fans...
Scene Here: Breakfast pie
Hunter Styles photo
Raise Your Glass: Thanks! Tip Yields Excellent Spanish Red
Evodia, Spain Old Vine Garnacha, 2013 $7.89 to $11.99 Over the last year or so, I had been noticing Evodia, a Spanish red wine with a distinctive bluish-purple label, on the shelves of the area’s wine stores, but I hadn’t tried it. For some reason, I hadn’t even given...
Between the Lines: SEX! Now that I’ve got your attention, SEX! The importance of The V-Spot
Since returning The V-Spot sex advice column to the pages of the Advocate earlier this month, I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from our readers. Most are thrilled to have a sassy sexpert closing out the paper every week. Others question why a newspaper would dedicate so...
Cinemadope: Colorizing Winter, Saturday morning cartoons and a ’60s era gem
As we turn the corner into March, the kids have headed back to school, leaving the rest of New England to get back to the important business of shoveling out parking spaces and shoring up roofs creaking under the weight of ice dams. But if this long winter is starting...
StageStruck: Having It All — Two plays explore women’s desires and dreams
The playwright, says the director, “aims high here, treating … gender roles in relationships, the brutality of class difference and how it can create a crazy storm [and] serves it all up in a palatable way. What I love about the play — and what, I think, makes it...
Between the Lines: Bad Data Drives the Anti-vaxx Movement
Measles, an infectious viral disease, is far more harmful and deadly than the measles vaccine. So why have so many parents opted to skip this regular inoculation? Bad information. The so-called anti-vaxx movement advises against childhood inoculations, especially the...
The V-Spot: Hopin’ 2 Open
Dear V-Spot, My husband and I were married in May. We’ve been together for eight years. He’s leaving in April for a year-long residence out of state. I’d like to be able to have a “monogamous-ish” (thanks Dan Savage) type thing while he’s gone. How do I bring that up...
Cinemadope: Old Masters, New Looks
Ask just about anyone to name a famous painting, and it’s a good bet that “The Mona Lisa” will be the first thing to jump to most people’s lips. Da Vinci’s most famous work — and bear in mind, this is from the guy who also painted “The Last Supper” — may be on the...
Nightcrawler: The The Band Band Plays On
On the back of such seminal works as Goodfellas and Casino, Martin Scorsese is roundly regarded as an authority on all things mafioso. Less famously — at least, when considering his body of work in its entirety — Scorsese also filmed and released the final concert by...
Beerhunter: Lager Gets Crafty
In the warm, bright tasting room of Fort Hill Brewery in Easthampton, my friend took a sip from a sample glass and frowned. He took another and made the same face. “It’s a lager,” I said. “They’re all lagers here.” He looked surprised. Then he finished his drink and...
Scene Here: A Spot for Tea
Kevin Gutting Photo
Nightcrawler: Dream On, fantasy camp pairs weekend warriors with megastars; Rev. Tor, Golden Oldies shows make Pittsfield stops this weekend
“And this one time at band camp, I got to play with Joe Perry, Mark Clarke, and Steve Morse!” Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, that is. After an impassioned written plea from his daughter Kristin, Bernardston’s Bill Cheney got to swap solos with some of his childhood...Guest Column: Pardon my conflation, Brian Williams and I come clean about our pasts
Brian Williams, the NBC Nightly News anchor — at least for the time being — has come in for a lot of criticism lately for claiming, falsely,that he was aboard a U.S. military helicopter in 2003 that was hit by small-arms fire and forced down in the desert during the...
The V-Spot: New Vibe for a New Mama
Hello V-Spot, I had a baby and now I’m so busy. I just want to buy a sex toy. I was going to get the newer JeJoue Mimi as I remember [from past columns] that was your favorite, but I read some people don’t like it and I don’t want to take the chance. I may get the...
The Wine Schmooze: How to taste a bottle of wine in a restaurant
Ah, the ever solemn, oft confusing restaurant ceremony of “tasting” a bottle of wine. Centuries of custom and formality have twisted it into a byproduct of wine snobbery, but it’s really a necessary quality control exercise. I call it the “Wine Schmooze” since it’s a...E-Edition
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