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Eliminating the Plastic Straw: Woman gathers support for Northampton ban
Plastic has been labeled as one of the world’s biggest enemies in the fight against pollution. Before 2017, when China passed the National Sword policy, which effectively banned plastic waste from being imported, the United States and many other nations placed the...
Editorial: Performing at a 24-hour ‘413 Says #ClosetheCamps’ event
For 24 continuous hours this past weekend, musicians, theater groups, comedians, jugglers, kirtan singers, yoga enthusiasts, and a long list of other artists in the Pioneer Valley came together to say, “Close the Camps” along the southwest border, where thousands of...
Bizarro Briefs: Hair farms for the super rich
Hair farms for the super rich Furthering the fight against baldness, scientists have determined that a combination of stem cell growth and 3-D printing may hold the solution to a problem that has long vexed companies trying to make money off of people going bald – how...
Stagestruck: Getting Sticky
In the final week of this year’s Ko Festival of Performance, Sabrina Hamilton is looking forward to this weekend’s performance by the Ugandan musician-humanitarian Samite (see below) while musing on the season-so-far. Attendance is high and season subscriptions are...
‘Resisting a Culture that Says I Don’t Belong’: Local joins group of large-bodied women to hike Kilimanjaro
A Franklin County native along with 19 other plus-size women known as the “Curvy Kili Crew” recently hiked one of the largest mountains in the world: Mount Kilimanjaro. For seven days, Eve Bogdanove of Greenfield and her companions traveled the Rongai Route, an...
Monte Belmonte Wines: The Wines Traveling Musicians Want For Free
My day job, or rather my MORNING job, is to wake up frightfully early and spend time inside a little box in certain Valley people’s kitchens or cars. I am the morning host at 93.9 The River/WRSI. Back in 1986, WRSI celebrated its fifth birthday party with music from...
Stagestruck: Ripped from the Headlines
Three plays now on area stages were inspired by real-life events: a superpower scrimmage, a mass shooting, and a nuclear disaster. These timely dramas humanize the headlines and highlight the power of theater to hold a mirror up to our best and worst natures. ...
Podcast: Easthampton artisan Michael Poole on gun violence and potholes
Michael Poole, who owns Blue Collar Artisans in Easthampton discusses two of his major art projects, one whimsical, one serious, which were the subject of a recent Advocate cover story. Since the spring, Poole has been arranging Playmobile toys to make small scenes...
Cinemadope: Musical journeys small and large
All of us have those sounds that touch some deep part of our souls, triggering memories and emotions that might otherwise lay dormant. Like scents tied to childhood — the smell of a censer for lapsed Catholics, or the perfume of a grandmother gone too soon — sounds...
Free Will Astrology: Let Scott Hamilton inspire you, Virgo
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “Dear Diary: Last night my Aries friend dragged me to the Karaoke Bowling Alley and Sushi Bar. I was deeply skeptical. The place sounded tacky. But after being there for 20 minutes, I had to admit that I was having a fantastic time. And it...
Kimaya Diggs on the Valley Advocate Sessions stage
Each week, the Valley Advocate publishes music videos of local musicians performing live in the Advocate offices, a project we call Advocate Sessions. We do this in collaboration with Northampton Community TV, who shoots the videos, and Signature Sounds, which takes...
Best of V-Spot: Help! My boyfriend hates my vagina
Editor’s note: Sex and relationship advice columnist Yana Tallon-Hicks is currently on maternity leave. While she’s gone, we’re reprinting some of her best columns of the past several years, and are looking forward to her return in September. This column was...
Letters to the Editor: Support and advice for Alex Morse
Support and advice for Alex Morse In response to “Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse to Challenge Richard Neal for Congress,” published online July 22, 2019, at valleyadvocate.com. Godspeed Alex. Take back something for the rest of us broken folks. — Steve William Lindsey,...
Staff Picks: A Renaissance Faire in Cummington and Majestic Saloon in Northampton
Massachusetts Renaissance Faire in Cummington // FRIDAY & SATURDAY I’ve never actually been to a Renaissance Faire before, and this one seems like a great one to check out. There will be live jousting, fire breathers, and, I assume based on all images I’ve ever...
Basemental: No need to dig beyond Kurt Vile’s riffs to enjoy
When The New York Times profiled Kurt Vile in the fall, they titled their piece “Kurt Vile, Indie Rock’s Charming Riddle.” The implication, of course, was that the long-haired indie rocker had a Rubik’s Cube to decode, something to latch onto underneath the...
Stagestruck: All the Livelong Eons
Two shows now playing on the Berkshire Theatre Group’s Stockbridge stages look at who we are as humans. One goes up close to delve into folks’ working lives, the other takes a long view – very long, from the dawn of time to the day after tomorrow. Working, subtitled...
Bizarro Briefs Podcast: Seagull steals dog, asking someone out with a bomb threat, and a port-a-potty disaster
Valley Advocate editor Dave Eisenstadter and Hits 94.3 host Trumpy talk about the week’s weird news in a podcast version of the Valley Advocate’s Bizarro Briefs section. Hear about five guys getting arrested at a Five Guys, why you shouldn’t cut on...
Easthampton’s Artisan Welder: Michael Poole’s work inspires whimsy and reflection
In some ways, it all started with pothole season. “People were on the Easthampton Facebook page complaining about the potholes. None of it is new, but then it took this turn about how the DPW (Department of Public Works) sucks and nobody is doing anything about it.”...
Editorial: It’s So Hot that Iceland Lost a Glacier
In Los Angeles, an all time high temperature of 111 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded. Montreal, Canada, also recorded its all-time high. Death Valley experienced the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, with an average of 108 degrees. Japan set a new national...
Bizarro Briefs: Come Back With My Dog!
Come back with my dog! Many of us have had the experience of getting a slice of pizza or food item snatched from us by a greedy seagull while minding our own business near the beach. Few, however, can say that their pet dog was snatched by the grabby birds. But that’s...
Stagestruck: Past, Present and Prologue
Two timely dramas are playing in the Valley this week and next, while a timeless tragedy is prequelled in the Berkshires, all of them grappling with essential questions of life and death. New Century Theatre’s comeback season, which opened with a riveting performance...
Clueless Parent: Kicked Out a Few Minutes In
It’s not easy getting out of the house and out to events with a toddler, but my wife and I have been doing our best to nurture a budding interest in music for our 2½-year-old. One of our greatest successes to date was a free youth orchestra concert we found listed in...
Cinemadope: The gift of gifts
It can be interesting to track how new editions of popular books change with the times. Even the titles, sometimes, can reflect the state of the era. When Lewis Hyde’s now-classic book The Gift was first published in 1983, it carried the wonderfully evocative subtitle...
Stagestruck: The Shrew Problem
The Taming of the Shrew is Shakespeare’s trickiest play to perform these days – a thoroughly misogynistic tale in which daughters are auctioned to the highest bidder and the “shrew” of the title is “tamed” by a cunning fortune hunter. He (of course, he) is Petruchio,...
Podcast: Michael Kusek talks about his new marijuana magazine, Different Leaf
Michael Kusek, who used to be the marketing manager at the Valley Advocate and publisher of the now-closed Take Magazine, has just come out with his first issue of Different Leaf, a cannabis publication. Kusek talks with Advocate editor Dave Eisenstadter about his...
That’s One Small Step for a Band: Bandella, a musical group including astronauts, will play Hawks & Reed on July 27
Half a century ago, humanity took its first step outward into the greater universe around us during the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing. In celebration of that achievement, Bandella, a Houston, Texas-based folk-rock and world acoustic group made up of retired astronauts,...
Free Will Astrology: Prepare for a ‘lovequake,’ Aries
ARIES (March 21-April 19): After analyzing unusual animal behavior, magnetic fluctuations, outbreaks of mayhem on Twitter, and the position of the moon, a psychic has foretold that a moderate earthquake will rumble through the St. Louis, Missouri, area in the coming...
Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse to Challenge Richard Neal for Congress
HOLYOKE — It’s official: U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, has a 2020 challenger for his seat in the 1st Congressional District. After months of speculation about his political plans, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse officially jumped into the race on Monday. He will...
Bad Tenants on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
This week’s Valley Advocate Sessions performer is bluesy indie rock and soul pop group Bad Tenants. Interview with Bad Tenants:
Letters to the Editor: Chicopee Police and online bullying
Chicopee Police and online bullying In response to “Public Information or Public Shaming?: Some say Chicopee Police enable bullying on their Facebook page,” published July 11-17, 2019. Thank you for covering this phenomenon. I have noticed it and it’s not good for...
Best of the V-Spot: Dry humping better than sex
Editor’s note: Sex and relationship advice columnist Yana Tallon-Hicks is currently on maternity leave. While she’s gone, we’re reprinting some of her best columns of the past several years, and are looking forward to her return in September. This column was...
Bizarro Briefs Podcast: How many people are actually going to show up to this Area 51 raid?
Editor Dave Eisenstadter and Trumpy of Hits 94.3 talk about the weird news of the week, including a proposed raid on Area 51 (are there really aliens there?), a mall sword fight using tiki torches, and a loud fart that reveals the location of someone hiding from...
Valley Advocate Staff Picks: Colorway’s farewell and the Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival
Colorway’s Last Show // THURSDAY, 7/18 If you haven’t heard Colorway yet, or if you’re a diehard fan, this is a must-see show before Alex Johnson heads off to Japan. 6:30 – 8 p.m. Free. Florence Civic Center, 90 Park St., Florence. info@colorwaymusic.com. — Dave...
Monte Belmonte Wines: The Western Mass Wine World’s Involvement in the Pan Mass Challenge
Champagne has long been a celebratory beverage hoisted during the world’s most famous bicycling event — The Tour de France. It makes sense. France is where Champagne comes from. But closer to home, our Western Mass wine world is also strangely connected to the world...
Two years after failed vote, Greenfield adopts ‘Safe City’ ordinance
The Greenfield City Council adopted a new “Safe City” ordinance on Wednesday night in a 10-3 vote, reversing its stance on a similar ordinance in 2017, which failed in a 6-4 vote. Effective as of its passage, the ordinance prohibits Greenfield officials,...
They’re Kind Of A Big Deal: A few of the Valley’s homegrown rock stars
When he’s not aboard Iron Maiden’s private jet en route to a 50,000-plus stadium gig in South America or Europe, Anthrax guitarist Jonathan Donais says there’s no place he’d rather be than his Easthampton home and “triangle.” “‘The Triangle’ is what I call this little...
Editorial: White Supremacy in the White House
It used to feel worthwhile to list off the terrible things that Donald Trump has done since assuming office in the beginning of 2017 — particularly the examples of his blatant racism. The Advocate did as much in a story at the beginning of 2018 pushing back on when he...
Bizarro Briefs: Let’s All Go to Area 51
Let’s All Go to Area 51 At least a million people have pledged over Facebook to raid the United State Air Force’s Area 51, a highly classified Nevada military base that conspiracy theorists and UFO-ologists claim houses or once housed remains of alien spaceships and...
Cinemadope: Reel to Wheel
Everyone has their own idea of what really makes it summer in New England. For some, it’s getting that first soft serve, melting in the after-dinner sun. Another might mark it with the first visit to a favorite swimming hole, when the water is still just a little too...
Valley Show Girl: The Art Mecca of Hampden County
From concerts to theatrical plays, from art galleries to a bistro and even co-working spaces and drag queen bingo. Holyoke’s Gateway City Arts has something for everyone. Located on Race Street in a beautiful old industrial building, it has been reinvented into an...
Stagestruck: Total Immersion
It’s summer, folks, time to get off our butts and take some exercise. A little stroll, perhaps, to enjoy the scenery – and a play. That’s the current invitation from two hilltown theaters. Double Edge Theatre presents a brand-new Summer Spectacle on its Ashfield farm,...
Microplastics inspire one-man protest (with gas mask) in Easthampton
At least once a week, Jose Mediavilla, a 37-year-old Easthampton resident, stands near a crosswalk median along Main Street holding signs that read, “Microplastics are in our air and food.” He stands there holding the sign for passing cars and pedestrians for hours in...
Podcast: Chris Goudreau on Valley residents responding to the border crisis
Chris Goudreau, associate editor of the Valley Advocate, speaks with editor Dave Eisenstadter about his recent cover story, “From the Valley to the Border: Sickening news on the treatment of migrants inspiring locals to travel down to help.” Hear how he...
Free Will Astrology: It’s a bad time to set forest fires, Aquarius
ARIES (March 21-April 19): An Aries reader sent me a boisterous email. “I was afraid I was getting too bogged down by my duties,” he said, “too hypnotized by routine, too serious about my problems. So I took drastic action.” He then described the ways he broke out of...
Best of V-Spot: Why Can’t I Have Sex Without Drinking?
Originally published June 14, 2016 Note: Sexual trauma is addressed in this week’s column. Editor’s note: Sex and relationship advice columnist Yana Tallon-Hicks is currently on maternity leave. While she’s gone, we’re reprinting some of her best columns of the past...
Letters to the Editor: Reactions to refugees at the border
Historical examples appropriate in border discussion In response to “Between the Lines: A Moral and Humanitarian Crisis at the Border,” published July 4-10, 2019. Hello, Dave. My family background is similar to yours. My parents and grandparents were refugees from...
Hevvi Synthia on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
This week’s Advocate Sessions performer is Hevvi Synthia, a Greenfield-based band that combines heavy rock ‘n’ roll with synth, swagger, and grooves. Check out the band’s Valley Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with...
Bizarro Briefs Podcast: A popular Japanese poop museum, a late-night pizza walker, and waking up at your own funeral (July 9)
Valley Advocate editor Dave Eisenstadter and Hits 94.3 DJ Trumpy talk about the weird news of the week. Bizarro Briefs this week can be read at https://valleyadvocate.com/2019/07/10/bizarro-briefs-do-starfish-have-butts/. Listen here: You can hear more of the Valley...
Q&A with Springfield Rapper Championxiii (with audio)
Twenty-three-year-old Springfield rapper Championxiii, has garnered quite the Internet following nearly overnight. In what started out as a part of his video series “rappers be like” on the short video sharing app Tick Tock, Championxiii’s hit single “Becky” now has...
Valley Show Girl: TALOS, Over 10 Years in the Making
Ever have a project you are so excited about doing — then mid-way, you get road-blocked and you can’t finish it at that time? Then boom, for real! Another artistic idea pops in your head and you get all excited, and that project takes flight. The never-ending shelf of...
Staff Picks: Biking folk duo, Roar! comedy, and the Green River Festival
Folk Duo Tours to Shows by Bike // THURSDAY Fiddler Lissa Schneckenburger and her husband Corey DiMario are playing a series of shows they plan to get to on their bikes. They’ll be loading up their electrical gear, child, and instruments onto cargo bikes and peddling...
Public Information or Public Shaming?: Some say Chicopee Police enable bullying on their Facebook page
Springfield resident and Holyoke community organizer Jacqueline Velez said she no longer feels safe in her home after an action by the Chicopee Police: they posted her address on their Facebook page, along with her son’s mugshot. Velez’s son, who lives in her home,...
Editorial: Greenfield gets another shot at a Safe City Ordinance – Don’t blow it
It’s back. Greenfield’s “Safe City Ordinance,” which was voted down in a 6-4 vote in 2017, has been proposed once again by City Councilor Karen “Rudy” Renaud. The ordinance, which would prohibit city officials from asking about a person’s immigration status or to take...
Bizarro Briefs: Do Starfish have Butts?
Do starfish have butts? A sea star at an aquarium in California has gone viral after a photo of the starfish was shared showing it as seeming to have large assets on its lower half. Although it looks like the starfish has a butt, marine wildlife experts at the...
Stagestruck: “Culture is my food!”
This year’s through-theme at the Ko Festival of Performance, is Habitat (human) – a topic that also runs through two more current Valley offerings: How I Learned to Drive, from Ghost Light Theater in Holyoke, and Moving Water, a work in progress at Serious Play...
Valley music staple F. Alex Johnson says ‘goodbye for now’
In October of 1991, guitarist and singer-songwriter F. Alex Johnson moved to the Pioneer Valley from Fall River to be part of the strong musical community. In the here and now, almost three decades later, Johnson is a mainstay in the Valley music scene. He’s played...
The Beerhunter: The Proof is in the Pilsner
Every now and then, a four-word notification pops up on the homescreen of my phone. It says: “batch from the patch.” That’s my calendar, reminding me to hop over to Turners Falls — specifically, the 11th Street bridge to the Patch neighborhood — and purchase a batch...
Cinemadope: Visionaries
We often consider our visual artists in terms of their medium — a watercolorist, a sculptor, a portrait painter. But whatever their chosen tools, almost all artists share one thing that is so fundamental that we often overlook it: the gift of vision. And here I’m not...
Free Will Astrology: Roller coasters can be problem solvers, Sagittarius
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You’re in the Land of Green Magic. That’s potentially very good news, but you must also be cautious. Why? Because in the Land of Green Magic, the seeds of extraneous follies and the seeds of important necessities both grow extra fast. Unless...E-Edition
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