Leisure
Taste-off! Brownie BRAWL, Valley brownies go head to head and the winner may surprise you
Ah, the classic American brownie — it’s the chocolate chip cookie for chocolate lovers. Everybody has a brownie story. Whether your Grandma made the best, you ate that funny smelling one and couldn’t speak for a while, or you had the munchies and ate a whole tray of...
Bong King to the Stars: Chris Hubbard’s success with blown glass pot pipes and bongs is out of this world
A singular event in Bingen, Washington marked Chris Hubbard’s transformation from glassblowing hobbyist to professional: “On Aug. 3, 2005, a SWAT team kicked in my door. They thought the studio was a meth lab,” Hubbard says. He had his medical marijuana card, and was...
The Promise of Pot: Medical marijuana patients have the green light, but uncertainty remains
For cancer patient Valerie, marijuana makes the difference between walking and not walking. “I’ve totally outlived my expiration date,” she says, laughing. Valerie, 61 — a long time Western Mass resident who asked to be identified only by her first name — has fought...
Scene Here: Let’s go tag-saling!
Old garden hoses and porcelain chickens … Oxidized metals and outfits for Wiccans … Doodads and knickknacks that spring cleaning brings … These are a few of my favorite things. I step across a cluttered driveway in Florence, eager to help kick off the beginning of tag...
Can I Do It? A half-ass guide to canning
I always feel bad when the tomatoes from my garden rot on the counter waiting in vain for me to chop them up into salsa or boil them into a marinara. I have the best of intentions in May when I ask my husband to plant boccu tomatoes in our garden, but come the sticky...
Book Review: Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
On the night of Nov. 24, 2014, Ta-Nehisi Coates found his teenage son Samori glued to the television, eager to see whether white police officer Darren Wilson would be indicted for fatally shooting black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. No indictment came...
The V-Spot: Hey baby, what’s your number?
Hi Yana, What are your thoughts on how much/what of your sexual history you should divulge to your current partner(s)? I always ask about most recent STD/STI tests, but is your current partners’ number of present (and past) sex partners important to know? I recently...
The Pour Man: The Mystery of Cotes du Rhone
During a sunny early June gathering, I ran into a friend, who suggested that I try a Cotes du Rhone that I hadn’t come across before. He said the wine, which he buys by the case, is his go-to wine for dinner parties and gatherings. I tried to dissuade him, suggesting...
Plotting Out a Harvest: Northampton Community gardeners dish on what they’re doing with the harvest
The green-thumbed spend hours in the summer sun growing delicious food that all seems to be ready to harvest at the same time, in abundance. So, what happens to the over-abundance of bounty once it’s pulled from the ground? We stopped by the Northampton Community...
The V-Spot: So, You Want to Sleep With a Lesbian
The first time I slept with a girl it was awkward as hell. Sure, I had dabbled in the giggling French kisses of curious high school sleepovers, but never did I go to a girl’s room with the intention of having lesbian sex with her. But this is what I did one tipsy...
My Favorite Walk: Holyoke’s Ashley Reservoir
Photos by Rachel Bellenoit Though most of the visitors to Ashley Reservoir in Holyoke are joggers, cyclists, and hikers, a few of them are self-taught naturalists and/or photographers. While Whiting and McLean Reservoirs hold as much wildlife to observe as their...
The V-Spot: How To – The Sex Talk
My dad gave me The Sex Talk one night during my freshman year in high school. We were driving home in his car. As he did his best to stammer through the basics of STD transmission and cautionary tales of unwanted pregnancies, I kept one hand on the truck’s...
The Beerhunter: The The Other ‘L’ Word, never fear, good light beer is here
Thinking about “light beer” brings up distasteful, albeit fun, memories. Long nights in college spent pouring cans of Keystone into red plastic cups; fly-fishing with grouchy uncle Roy, paddling around with a cooler full of Molson; going to that barbecue last summer...
The Late Shift: New people, new venues, same old problems for Valley nightlife
How do a city’s business owners create a nightlife that is not only lively, but built to last? The short answer: by dreaming big. Running an entertainment venue takes daily stamina and quick thinking, of course. But it also requires a deeper, grander feeling to fuel...
How to Selfie
There’s a right way and a wrong way to selfie, people. Selfies can either be a silly, fun way to document a moment or the epitome of narcissism. So, please, selfie posters, consider your audience and: 1. Do turn your face towards the light. 2. Do pass the camera to...
Nominations are in … See who’s moving on to the next round in the Grand Band Slam
Thank you to everyone who nominated a band for the 2015 Grand Band Slam. Below is a list of the top 25 vote-getters. The bands are a good mix of the Valley’s musical scene featuring rock, country, hip-hop, reggae, dub, heavy metal, folk, industrial, and “other.” The...
My Favorite Walk: Stop and Smell the … Sure, you can call them roses if you want to
Imagine, dear human, that you emerge from your car, walk across the gravel parking lot and enter a field bursting with roses, gardenia, and phlox. As the morning sun warms the blooms, they spill their sweet perfume into the air, taking aim at your quivering, cold, wet...
Get Out and Play: Alternative summer sports for everyone – Ultimate, Treetops, crazy races, and more
MOUNTAIN BIKING IN SOUTHERN VERMONT Vermont is just a stone’s throw away, and three quarters of the state is covered with forest. Mountain biking, anyone? Northern Vermont has the lion’s share of great trails, but several sites in southern Vermont stand out. The Hoot,...
Live Free or Dye! Get out and play, alternative summer sports for everyone – paintball
I ran for my life. It wasn’t fast enough. A paintball came whipping through the clearing as I crossed in a running crouch, shot by the enemy team from 20 yards away. I felt it explode against my thigh. It stung for a few seconds, like someone had whacked me hard with...
For the Love of the Game: The senior softball players of Western Mass Relics
On a recent Thursday at the Ludlow Fish and Game Club, things were abuzz. The skies were repeatedly ripped through with the blare of engines as aircraft traveled the skies around Westover Air Force Base; gunfire crackled from the firing range nearby. Amid that din,...
Wellness by the stars: What your sign can tell you about how to eat, exercise, and chill
In the work-driven culture we live in, self-care is sometimes lost in the abyss of work, chores, sleep. To make matters more complicated, we all have ways of taking care of ourselves that are strikingly different from one another. Yoga, while good for all, can be...
The Pour Man: Acrobats that aren’t too sweet
My Favorite Walk: Ruins and Raptors on Easthampton’s Manhan Rail Trail
Rail trails are a dime a dozen around these parts, but Easthampton’s Manhan Rail Trail is, for me, the finest of them. In the middle of its run, it dissects a nondescript end of town, crossing busy Union Street beside a stripmall, a melancholy ATM, and a gas station....
Breaking Dad, an occassional series of parenting bad-vice: The Cheeto Full Monty
So this, it turns out, was the Father’s Day I had Cheetos up my nose. Not in a funny way, but more a sort of philosophical reverie way, like that glazed look you get after you’ve had seven ice cream sandwiches and a heat stroke. This was the latest result of my...
Top 10 Best-Worst Dad Jokes
Dad jokes. The phrase probably just made you groan and roll your eyes a little. The dad joke is an overly familiar pun, cliche, gag, or prank that would sort of amuse a three-year-old. But somewhere along the journey to adulthood, when kids develop a sense of irony,...
Taste-Off! Local ice cream makers go head to head
Now that summer is almost here, we’re reaching for one of our favorite ice cream combos to get us through the work week: thick ribbons of fudge and belts of peanut butter cups in sweet vanilla ice cream. We’d call it Moose Tracks, except that name has been owned by...
The Pour Man: Clever label masks a fine wine, Chateau La Paws
I’m generally turned off by cute wine labels. If I come across a bottle with say, a smiling, cartoon version of Ebenezer Scrooge and a name that borders on the scatological, I immediately assume the taste must resemble the appellation, and a clever label is required...
Fathers, Sons, and Their Hair
My son came into the world with hair to there. The nurses marveled at the sandy helmet framing his cheeks, running their fingers through at every chance. At the hospital nursery window, the grandparents of other newborns would coo at their offspring’s wisps of down...
My Favorite Walk: Strolling With the Heifers
There’s nothing more amazing than walking to your own theme music. As a nearby high school marching band lifts flutes, trumpets, and saxophones to their mouths, and the drummers behind them start to tap out a more insistent beat, I can’t help lifting my feet in...
The Beerhunter Abroad! Perusing Peruvian Brews
Peru The American craft beer landscape is an ever-expanding picture, but if you want to call yourself a seasoned beerhunter, you need to wander off the map from time to time. So in late May I set off on vacation to Peru, primed to enjoy a break from routine — and to...
The Arts: Nominations for the Advocate Grand Band Slam are Open
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My Favorite Walk: Forest, barren, beautiful, life after The Tornado
My favorite walk is around my backyard. Although this may seem rather common, my yard is still new to me and very much an evolving space. Four years ago my backyard was a dense forest filled with pines, oaks, and poison ivy. The thick trees were covered with poison...
Scene Here: For Love or Baseball?
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, said in his poem “Locksley Hall” that in springtime a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love. Maybe so. I’m long past remembering almost anything about being a young man; but I do know that in this springtime, the first in my retirement...
Keep on Food Truckin’: Mobile chefs keep pumping out the good eats — and charm — despite the wearying pace
As if the stationary restaurant business weren’t tumultuous enough with its high overhead costs, perishable products, and unpredictable customers, food truck owners kick it up a degree by taking it to the streets and exposing themselves — and their kitchens — to the...
Summer Arts Preview: The Best Up-coming Concerts, Shows, and Events of the Season
Summertime, and the livin’ is greatly enhanced by a calendar ripe with performances. In a Valley that comes alive with music, theater, and every other incarnation of the arts, it can be tough to know where to turn. We’ve compiled a short list of highlights from the...
Festie Season is Here; For a good time, plan ahead
Like anyone who loves going to music festivals, I cannot tell you how many I’ve attended: 50, 75, 10 — After a while they all run together into a single hot, soggy time dancing under open skies marked by torrential downpours, mind-blowing sets, and epic antics. Make...
The Pour Man: The Wine of the Summer Is Gavi
Last year, during a visit to Beaufort, S.C., a friend introduced me to his new favorite warm weather wine, Gavi, an Italian white wine from the Piedmont region. There’s nothing new about this crisp, dry wine — it’s been around since at least 1659 — but, it was unknown...
The V-Spot: Something Borrowed, Something Lubed
Dear Yana, Hey! I have a lube question and I thought who better to ask? My friend is going to be losing her virginity on her wedding night and is wondering what the best lube out there is — especially considering she hasn’t used any before, is unsure of allergies, and...
Between the Lines: Advocate Grand Band Slam Is Back, now with more slam!
Back in the final year of the 1900s, I stood, guitar in hand, on the steps of Northampton’s old courthouse at the main intersection. The occasion was the (then new) Valley Advocate Grand Band Slam. My bandmates and I had won top honors in the...
Selling Crafts — and Holyoke: Alchemy Artisan Fair seeks to bring the people back to downtown
Liz Stewart leans forward to point out a series of bracelets made from metal nuts, washers, and wires. “It’s mostly new and repurposed hardware,” she says. “The idea is to take ordinary items and put them into situations you wouldn’t expect to see them. People look at...
My Favorite Walk – We Want to Hear From You
A small stretch of land between Route 9 and I-91 might not sound like prime walking territory. But out here, you can disconnect. This is farmland — a quick and easy escape to Kansas from downtown Northampton’s Oz. At Sheldon Field, Old Ferry Road branches off from...
The V-Spot: Sweet (Sex-Positive) Sixteen, Is it ever okay for a dad to buy his daughter a vibrator?
Dear Yana, My eldest daughter is now 16. I’ve had to cover the sex talk basics as her mother (we’re divorced) is FAR more conservative (and shall we say repressed) than I. How do I, as a father, steer my daughter towards a more sex-positive outlook when it’s clear she...
Scene Here: Springfield Symphony Hall
It’s the final performance of the 2015 Springfield Symphony Orchestra season and the 71-year-old group has put together a timely show, The Rite of Spring with Spencer Myer on piano. Buses for retired living communities line the street outside. Inside Symphony Hall,...
Ungrounded: Beating Flying Phobia
On a recent Saturday, I stared out an airport window at an Airbus 330, emblazoned with green and the Aer Lingus shamrock. For the first time in a long time, I was staring at a plane I was about to get on. I did a lot of work to get there. Still, it was a moment of...
Cinemadope: He Shoots, He Scores!
So often when we talk about film, we talk about the people on either side of the camera. We talk about the great actors and actresses whose performances touch some deep part of our secret selves, revealing surprising truths we didn’t know we knew. We talk about the...
Best Of Winners’ Photo Booth
On Cinco de Mayo the Advocate threw a party at the Log Cabin in Holyoke for the first place winners of the 2015 Best Of the Valley Readers Poll competition. There was a photo booth there … things got silly, here’s the proof.
Raise Your Glass: Bargain Wine From South Africa
The Wolftrap Red Blend, 2013 Western Cape of Good Hope, South Africa $7.98 to $9.99 Last week, I heard a wine expert say that the best way for a regular wine drinker to become knowledgeable is to try something different every time. According to his plan, if you are...
The V-Spot: Feeling Rough
Ladies, when it comes to bangin’ banging, if you do the crime, you gotta do the time. Though this “time” can come in many forms, such as cramping, bruises, welts, and off-cycle vaginal bleeding, rarely will you get slapped with a life sentence. Sexual pleasure, much...
Red and Silver: Valley writer Victoria Aveyard finds early success with Red Queen
East Longmeadow’s Victoria Aveyard left the Valley a few years ago to study screenwriting at the University of Southern California. Her time there led to meetings with agents, and through a fortuitous set of events, newfound connections led to a book contract. That...
Pinkies Out, People!
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Scene Here: Over King Street and Through the Woods
Two or three lonely shopping carts litter the entrance to the Northampton-to-Leeds section of the bikepath. I’m sitting on a stone marking the entrance to the path taking notes when a 50-something man named Peter meanders my way. “Does your name start with an ‘A’?” he...
Change on the Way: Northampton’s Pulaski Park has undergone a number of renovations, but for many, its always been ‘my spot’
In a Northampton park where Kira Coe and her friends spend a spring day in 2015, young men and their families met in 1775 before marching off to fight the British during the Revolutionary War. During much of the 1800s, the Main Street space held a livery office — a...
Living By The Stars: It’s Complicated: Midheavens, sun and moon signs
I understand that right now, fellow star-gazers, you may miss Rob Brezsny. When I was younger I’d run and grab copies of Metroland — the Hudson Valley’s version of the Advocate — just to read the latest from the astro guru. I don’t attempt to fill those shoes. I’m...
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...Where to Bike: Area paths are plentiful if you know where to look
Western Mass is home to more than a dozen bike paths making up more than 80 miles of riding trails from Connecticut to Vermont. Next time you’re in the mood for a long ride in the woods, check out one of these paths:
Tantalized: Foods we’re psyched to try during Springfield Restaurant Week
Did someone say “Restaurant Week”? Woo-hoo! We’re all over it. Sign us up! The City of Homes is holding its first Restaurant Week, April 23 through May 2. The event, organized by the Springfield Young Professional Citizens Committee, gives restaurants a chance to...
Come again! How the corner store competes in a world of Amazon and Big-box
Trans World Food Market 50 Russell Street, Hadley Small Valley, big world Brothers David Tran, 22, and Sockha Son, 30, say the success of their market hinges on staffs’ ability to help customers find just what they’re looking for — even when customers don’t know...
Unfriend Me: a guide to getting unfriended, unfollowed, and flagged
Do you have too many Facebook friends? Tired of all those Twitter followers paying attention to you? Friends and family noticing what you have to say and share on social media is a big problem for many. We know there are lots of people looking to get rid of their...
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...E-Edition
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