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by Isabel Darmon-Weiss | Jun 4, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Historic Court Square was filled with almost 200 people on Monday, June 4, in downtown Springfield, where one of many rallies for the Poor People’s Campaign was launched. The campaign is doing a six-week launch which they’ve titled “A National Call for Moral Revival,”...
by Isabel Darmon-Weiss | Jun 4, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Lucio Perez, an undocumented immigrant and a native of Guatemala who has been taking sanctuary in the First Church of Amherst since October, wants to personally show his gratitude towards the community through a potluck dinner on June 18 at 6 p.m. The dinner, which...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 4, 2018 | Articles, Featured, Food + Booze, Newsletter, Podcast
What is the taste of local music? Tony “Tonez” Hall is finding out through making granola. Hall is co-owner of Holyoke-based Massachusetts Artisan Foods, wanted to make foods out of local products. One such product, Local Maple Granola, is made from maple...
by Jack Brown | Jun 4, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Newsletter
Unless you’re a diehard cyclist, we are just now into the high season for bikes. (You’ll know you’re a diehard if you own snow tires for your ride.) For many, it’s one of the rare enjoyments that span a lifetime; our first great sense of freedom is often found when a...
by Rob Brezsny | Jun 4, 2018 | Articles, Astrology, Featured, Newsletter
ARIES (March 21-April 19): According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you would be wise to ruffle and revise your relationship with time. It would be healthy for you to gain more freedom from its relentless demands; to declare at least some independence from...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Jun 1, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, I was dating a guy for about year when he told me he didn’t want to have sex with me anymore, but wouldn’t give me a concrete answer as to why. A few months later I found out he had read my journal (ugh) where I was comparing sex with him to sex with my...
by Chris Rohmann | Jun 1, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
I’m always excited as the summer-theater season approaches, even though it means I’ll be spending even more of my entertainment hours indoors than during the dark winter. In a brief three months, we theatergoers are treated to a greater variety of fare — not to...
by Chris Goudreau | May 31, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
A new start-up cannabis business called Treeworks is taking a grassroots approach to the burgeoning legalized marijuana industry in Massachusetts by working out of a home kitchen to develop a line of locally sourced products, including cannabis oils, edibles such as...
by Dave Eisenstadter | May 30, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
A growing national activist movement called the Poor People’s Campaign will host its first rally in Springfield on Monday, June 4, around environmental issues. Michaelann Bewsee, executive director of Arise for Social Justice in Springfield and one of the chairs of...
by Hunter Styles | May 30, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, News, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
Raise a glass across the Valley (and throughout the Berkshires, too!) as the third annual Western Mass Beer Week rolls in this month. The eight-day celebration of local craft beer — which runs June 9 to 16 — is jam-packed with limited releases, special collaborations,...
by Gina Beavers | May 30, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Review
Earlier this month Lennie and Elizabeth Applequist opened #LOCAL: A Gallery with a Twist on Cottage Street in Easthampton, happily joining the eclectic array of shops, galleries, restaurants, and watering holes that make Easthampton center special. In 2013 the...
by Chris Goudreau | May 30, 2018 | Articles, Featured, Music, Newsletter
When you think of a psychedelic rock band, you don’t tend to think about uncluttering the gutter spouts or other mundane tasks , but Greenfield-based alternative psych-folk band, The frost heaves and hales, does just that — marrying everyday tasks with a dash of magic...
by Jennifer Levesque | May 29, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Valley Show Girl
Churches are the most beautiful architectural buildings, in my opinion. I’m not a religious person, so when I do get a chance to enter these beauties, it’s because of a wedding or a funeral and I just look forward to leaving — the religion part of it just makes me...
by Monte Belmonte | May 29, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Food + Booze, Food Booze and Beyond, Monte Belmonte Wines, Newsletter
How would you like to buy a bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild for $1.75? Maybe a bottle of Château Haut-Brion for $1.95? Interested in two bottles of Château Mouton-Rothschild for a whopping $2.95 each? Or go ahead and splurge on a case of Château Margaux for $25....
by Chris Goudreau | May 29, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Springfield-based nonprofit, Gardening the Community, which practices urban gardening in the Mason Square neighborhood and hosts programs teaching youth about urban agriculture, will host a grand opening for its first ever farm stand at 200 Walnut Street this...
by Dave Eisenstadter | May 29, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Have you dreamed of travelling through space? UMass Amherst Post Doctoral Research Associate William Daniels is doing the next best thing this month and next — spending 45 days cooped up in a tiny space with three other people. Daniels, 33, of Hadley entered what he...
by Advocate Staff | May 27, 2018 | Articles, Featured, Newsletter, Podcast
Aaron Brando, a.k.a. DJ Hip Socket, has been practicing and running Pollinate Ecstatic Dance for 10 years. Ecstatic dance is a free form dance, and Pollinate works hard to establish a safe environment for expression and dance. Brando talks about the variety of people...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | May 27, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana! I have a general question about a couple or a person beginning to add anal play into their repertoire. Do you have any advice on how one keeps toys and/or fingers clean/separate so the toys for buttplay are kept far away from the vagina or vice versa? ...
by Jack Brown | May 27, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Uncategorized
Movies about painters are tough in the way that movies about musicians are tough: it’s nigh impossible to find an actor or actress for the part that is not only adept in their own chosen field, but also good enough to fake the very real particular talents of those...
by Rob Brezsny | May 25, 2018 | Articles, Astrology, Featured, Newsletter
ARIES (March 21-April 19): A critic described Leonardo da Vinci’s painting the Mona Lisa as “the most visited, most written about, most sung about, most parodied work of art in the world.” It hasn’t been sold recently, but is estimated to be...
by From Our Readers | May 25, 2018 | Articles, Featured, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Gina Beavers | May 24, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Newsletter, Stage
“A dirty vanilla box” is how Pam Victor lovingly describes the new location of Happier Valley Comedy. The 1,300 square foot room at the end of a strip of shops on Route 9, is the culmination of years of comedic toil. “It’s the first ever improv theater and training...
by Advocate Staff | May 23, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
I remember the Columbine shooting like it was yesterday. It was a rainy April afternoon in 1999, very bleak but mild. When I turned on the television, I was hardly prepared for what I saw and what I heard. Two boys had committed what was, at the time, a shocking crime...
by Will Meyer | May 23, 2018 | Articles, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Newsletter
Local legend Thurston Moore — Sonic Youth, Chelsea Light Moving, one off noise sets all over the Valley — had a cameo in an adult talk show called Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Moore played a character called Fred Cracklin in a 1996 episode of the Cartoon Network show...
by Chris Goudreau | May 23, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Jasper Gardner, a 35-year-old Cummington resident who has worked as a farmer and carpenter in the Pioneer Valley, was recently awarded the 2018 Valley Advocate scholarship to the Juniper Summer Writing Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for his...
by Sharon Dunn with John J. Clayton | May 22, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
“It’s like you’re going to a foreign country… Do you need a passport?” Letha Dollarhyde of Letcher County, Kentucky, said this — partly in jest, partly not — about coming to Leverett, Massachusetts, when she visited here last fall. Our Hands Across the Hills project...
by Gina Beavers and Chris Goudreau | May 22, 2018 | Bizarro Briefs, Featured, News, Newsletter
Guns aren’t fool proof, or dog proof Everyone knows that dogs are goofballs. They eat things they shouldn’t. They dig up things they shouldn’t. And sometimes they shoot things they shouldn’t. One man in Iowa found out the hard way that the safety on his gun...
by Jack Brown | May 22, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Film, Newsletter
Last month, the story of Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson lit up social media feeds everywhere. Two young black men, they were waiting quietly for a friend at a Philadelphia Starbucks when one of them asked to use the restroom. After an employee refused — they hadn’t...
by Dave Eisenstadter | May 21, 2018 | Articles, Featured, Music, News, Newsletter
Known as a big-hearted guy, a talented musician, and, sometimes, a gruff-but-lovable curmudgeon, Joe Magrone, bassist for Problem with Dragons, died on May 18 at the age of 38, two weeks shy of his 39th birthday. Dave Fournier first met Magrone in 1985, when he went...
by Advocate Staff | May 21, 2018 | Articles, Featured, Newsletter, Podcast
Sharon Dunn and John Clayton are members of the Hands Across the Hills project, an initiative to connect the people of Leverett, where about 90 percent voted for Hillary Clinton, with those of Letcher County, Kentucky, where 80 percent voted for Trump. Clayton wrote...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | May 21, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Dear Yana, Lately I’ve been in what I can best describe as a situationship; I want more and know that I have a lot to offer, but he semi-recently got out of a relationship in which his ex hurt him and he’s now scared and doesn’t want anything like that. We used to...
by Rob Brezsny | May 21, 2018 | Articles, Astrology, Featured, Newsletter
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Aries poet Anna Kamienska described the process of writing as akin to “the backbreaking work of hacking a footpath, as in a coal mine; in total darkness, beneath the earth.” Whether or not you’re a writer, I’m guessing that your life...
by Meg Bantle | May 18, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
The big scissors were out in Amherst this week as the CEO of the national company Green Thumb Industries (GTI) cut the ribbon in front of the town’s first medical marijuana dispensary, called RISE Amherst. Despite being based in Chicago, Pete Kadens, director and CEO...
by Gina Beavers | May 18, 2018 | Arts, Featured, Newsletter
Aaron Brando, aka DJ Hip Sockit, is intense and direct, but he has a calm about him and his expressions are chosen with care and with purpose. A holistic body-work practitioner by day, he’s also co-founder of Pollinate Ecstatic Dance, “the hub where high...
by Advocate Staff | May 18, 2018 | Featured, Music, Valley Advocate Sessions
Blame Cadence is a one woman chorus of looped soulful a cappella pop. Watch Blame Cadence’s full Valley Advocate Sessions performance in the video below. Interview with Blame Cadence:
by Dave Eisenstadter | May 17, 2018 | Featured, News, Newsletter
Lucio Pérez, a Guatemalan father of four who has been living in sanctuary at the First Congregational Church in Amherst since October 2017, left the church to be treated at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton for a life-threatening condition, according to a...
by Chris Goudreau | May 17, 2018 | Featured, News, Newsletter
The Pioneer Valley Workers Center, Jobs with Justice, and RaiseUp Massachusetts will host Thirsty for Fair Wages on Thursday, May 17, from 6 to 8 p.m. at 20 Hampton Ave. #200 in Northampton, with a tagline of “all work and no play can make the fun of activism...
by Chris Goudreau | May 16, 2018 | Featured, Music, News, Newsletter
Maple Local Granola, a Holyoke-based granola business that uses locally-sourced ingredients, has released different blends of granola inspired by local bands such as indie pop group, And the Kids, as well as bluesy Amherst-based art rock band Old Flame. Tony...
by Meg Bantle | May 16, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Despite the violent rain and thunderstorms, about 50 activists, including some from the group Jewish Voice for Peace Western Mass, gathered on May 15th in Northampton to commemorate the exile of Palestinians 70 years ago and to bring attention to the Palestinian...
by Chris Rohmann | May 16, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
“I think she may be the most singular, eccentric individual the Cold War ever birthed.” So says one of the three dozen characters in I Am My Own Wife. He’s talking about Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, née Lothar Berfelde, Berlin’s most famous transvestite. In Doug Wright’s...
by Dave Eisenstadter | May 16, 2018 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Newsletter
A reader came in with an unusual request earlier this week: she had a piece of art work she bought at an auction in Greenfield nearly a decade ago and wanted to see if we could identify the artist. Arts and Culture Editor Gina Beavers, herself a local artist, looked...
by Chris Goudreau | May 15, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
A new state-of-the-art hydroponic nonprofit 15,120-square-foot urban greenhouse called Wellspring Harvest at 121 Pinevale Street in Indian Orchard aims to offer fresh produce at wholesale prices year round. Fred Rose, co-director of Wellspring Cooperative Corporation,...
by Monte Belmonte | May 15, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Food + Booze, Food Booze and Beyond, Monte Belmonte Wines, Newsletter
“Our neighbor in France had a trained donkey and a goat. We noticed the donkey and goat were always together during the evenings. During the day the goat was around but the donkey was gone. He had trained his donkey to do weed control in the vineyard. The donkey was...
by Advocate Staff | May 14, 2018 | Articles, Featured, Newsletter, Podcast, Wellness
Jennifer Therkelsen had never jump roped as a kid, but now is one of the core members of the Pioneer Valley Jump Rope team, an all-adult jump rope team that practices weekly at The Taproom in Hadley. In our weekly podcast collaboration with Amherst Media, Therkelson...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | May 14, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana! I’ve been with my partner for about a year, and in most ways our relationship is everything I want. We communicate really well, we have a great time together, our sex life is amazing, and I always feel supported by him. The problem is my vagina. For the first...
by Jack Brown | May 14, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Newsletter
Even in a New England town with a fair bit of history, the Academy of Music in Northampton has roots that run deep. Founded on the vision of philanthropist and Northampton native Edward Lyman, the Academy opened to the public in May of 1891 and quickly became a...
by Chris Goudreau | May 11, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley will be hosting a discussion between Deborah Levenson from Western Mass Medicare for All and State Rep. John Scibak (D-South Hadley) on May 22 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. about the prospects of creating a single payer health care system...
by Chris Goudreau | May 11, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Northampton City Councilors Alisa Klein and Maureen Carney released a joint statement on May 9 that’s critical of Mayor David Narkewicz’s Panhandling Work Group for the lack of representative from panhandlers in the group and a recent online study regarding...
by Rob Brezsny | May 11, 2018 | Articles, Astrology, Featured, Newsletter
ARIES (March 21-April 19): According to my assessment of the astrological omens, your duty right now is to be a brave observer and fair-minded intermediary and honest storyteller. Your people need you to help them do the right thing. They require your influence in...
by Naila Moreira | May 10, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Down to Earth, Featured, Newsletter
I sit on the twisted root system of a great tree, a shelf of exposed roots thrust out over the Connecticut River at the edge of the Northampton Meadows. I’m perched 15 feet above the olive water. The muddy bluff has been licked and sucked away under the tree by years...
by Sarah Heinonen | May 9, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
“Why vote for the lesser of two evils, when you can vote for the greater good?” Juan Sanchez wants voters to consider this question when they enter the ballot box on November 6. Sanchez, 29, of Holyoke, is running for Secretary of State in the 2018 statewide...
by Chris Rohmann | May 9, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stagestruck
The Red Guitar, John Sheldon’s brilliant memoir-in-music, was a runaway hit at last summer’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Riding on its success in that international nexus of alternative arts, the show’s producer, the Valley’s Serious Play Theatre Ensemble, is taking it...
by Dave Eisenstadter | May 8, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Editors note: Many of the names of those quoted in the story were changed or assumed names were used because of the inherent danger and legal standing of some sex work. Wearing a green dress, pink tights, and a tiara, transgender woman and former sex worker Lorelei...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | May 8, 2018 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana, I have a sex question! Over the past year, I’ve noticed a pretty substantial shift in the way people think I like to fuck and I’m having difficulty confronting it. It’s probably a common experience that when people make a change to their outward appearance...
by From Our Readers | May 8, 2018 | Articles, Featured, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our letters to the editor page. Here you’ll find reader comments on Advocate articles and other news. We collect readers’ opinions from emails, letters, Facebook comments, and comments to valleyadvocate.com. Want to get in on this? Email...
by Advocate Staff | May 7, 2018 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter, Podcast
The federal anti sex trafficking law known as SESTA/FOSTA was passed nearly unanimously by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump earlier this spring, but local consensual sex workers says the law does little to stop sex trafficking while taking away...
by Advocate Staff | May 7, 2018 | Articles, Bizarro Briefs, Featured, News, Newsletter
‘Mystery pooper’ exposed On a daily basis, a New Jersey man eluded police detection and managed to relieve himself (i.e. poop) on school grounds at a New Jersey high school. Police finally caught up with the “mystery pooper,” as they called him, after setting up a...
by Rob Brezsny | May 7, 2018 | Articles, Astrology, Featured, Newsletter
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The Torah is a primary sacred text of the Jewish religion. It consists of exactly 304,805 letters. When specially trained scribes make handwritten copies for ritual purposes, they must not make a single error in their transcription. The work...
by Jack Brown | May 7, 2018 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Newsletter
Celebrity is a funny thing. Usually, it charts along one or two familiar trajectories: the discovery of some young talent, followed by either the long work of career-building or the short decline of a crash-and-burn. But once in awhile, someone captures the public...
by Dave Eisenstadter | May 4, 2018 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
We had been waiting a long time for it, but the speed of the events it set in motion once it finally arrived was breathtaking. The state Senate announced an independent ethics investigation of former Senate President Stan Rosenberg of Amherst in December. It took five...
