Music
by Chris Rohmann | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Blogs, Columns, Music, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
Partway through last Friday’s performance at West Springfield’s Majestic Theater, something unscripted, overdue, and quite wonderful happened. The show was Peter Shaffer’s brilliant examination of genius and envy, Amadeus. The title refers to Mozart, but the...
by Peter Vancini | Jan 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Leisure, Music
Jammin’ for Justice The nonprofit Watermelon Wednesdays has been providing musical education and holding concerts for the past 17 years. This Wednesday, the group is putting on In It Together, a fundraiser for community, diversity, and social justice to benefit...
by Kristin Palpini | Jan 3, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Blue-eyed Rock ’n’ Soul The higher the hair, the closer to God, honey. So you know Christine Ohlman, the Beehive Queen, is tight with The Man Upstairs — and you can hear it in her soulful rock. Ohlman, whom you may recognize from her years as a vocalist in the...
by Kristin Palpini | Jan 3, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Take the Stage Now that all the big holiday celebrations and events are in the past, it’s time to get back to regular old life. Do it in style by hitting a karaoke night somewhere in the Valley. There are plenty of bars known for their customer caterwauling:...
by Will Meyer | Jan 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
Staying strong in the face of hate and lost spaces Last week, Basemental interviewed a local musician who lost people close to him in the Ghost Ship warehouse fire on Dec. 2 in Oakland, California. That piece sparked a discussion of safe spaces for artists, which...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 3, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Floating Rock and Rolling Folk From year to year, over hundreds of live sets, Driftwood has proved a cohesive quartet since its members first gathered in Binghamton, NY in 2005. But the band’s sound, rather aptly, is a shifting, constant collision of styles, from...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Film, Leisure, Music, News, Newsletter, Stage
How Does This Work? Who on earth do we think we are, doling out judgement left and right? Find out here. The List HALOS // The People of East Longmeadow — For creating a seven-member Town Council in the wake of a coup on the now-defunct three-member Board of...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Film, Music
Giant Talent. Tiny Stage. For more than 40 years now, the Advocate has covered politics, local news, and entertainment from an alternative angle. But nothing runs through our newsprint’s black, white, and red veins more powerfully than independent music. We’ve been...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Rice, Rice, Baby Who knew there were enough people in Warwick, MA (population 780) to start a great rock band? Rice proves the skeptics wrong. Formed at a house party in 2014, the group infuses Americana and jam music with rock sensibilities. It’s not too much of a...
by Will Meyer | Dec 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
One artist’s reflections on the Ghost Ship fire NOTE: On Dec. 2, the Ghost Ship, a 10,000 square-foot arts space inside an Oakland, California, warehouse, caught fire during a performance. Thirty-six people were killed, and more were injured. Steve D’Agostino,...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Film, Music, Stage
Sleeping In? That’s So 2016 Get those kids out of bed (it’s not like they stayed awake until midnight, anyway) and let them dive into a new year the fun way: with puppets and breakfast. Hilltown Families and the Flywheel Arts Collective are continuing the beloved...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 27, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Stage
Rug Rats If that godawful stop-motion Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer movie from 1964 has coursed through your eyeballs a few too many times, consider taking the kids to see CactusHead Puppets, who present The Pied Piper of Hamelin for two days only at the Eric Carle...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
THE BARGAIN Megan Burtt Self-released Rock musicians with something to prove sometimes lean too heavily on a dark, distressed demeanor. But it’s not hard to spot which artists take up that pre-fab attitude like an expensive frayed coat, and which artists are simply,...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
The Warm-Up Act Fighting to regain some of that precious body heat that you lost on the way in from the car? Let master guitarist Jose Gonzalez and Latin jazz virtuoso Ahmed Gonzalez help you out. Together they’ve founded Banda Criolla,...
by Gary Carra | Dec 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Newsletter, Nightcrawler, Stage
Sean Altman was best known as a member of the a capella singing group Rockapella, which had a recurring role on the PBS television show Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego? from 1991 to 1995. Since then, based on Altman’s website, he’s been mugging with former...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music
Over the River and Off the Grid The past is still present at Old Sturbridge Village, which has been bringing visitors up close and personal with New England history since 1946. The annual Christmas by Candlelight evenings make good on those old traditions, with live...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music
Still making plans for New Year’s Eve? Check out what’s going on in the area: The Strange One’s Ball: A New Year’s Eve Spectacle Starring Bella’s Bartok Pearl Street Nightclub, 10 Pearl St., Northampton Come see what Pearl Street Nightclub is calling, “The...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
A Songbird’s Soul Singer and songwriter Arleigh Kinchelo’s hard soul collective, Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds, plays guitar, bass, trumpet, saxophone, and drums — plus harmonica, thanks to her brother Jackson. They’ve released three full-length studio albums,...
by Will Meyer | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
On Thursday, Dec. 1, I stood outside the TD Bank in downtown Northampton with about 30 other people to stand with the Sioux Nation and indigenous-led water protectors — not only to stop the pipeline, but to asphyxiate its funding. Local organizers answered an ask from...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 13, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music
The Big Sway at The Still • Saturday Funky jam band The Big Sway are headed back to The Still for a night two sets of psychedelic rock. So get rid of those holiday blues after your last minute shopping, and celebrate with some feel good music. The Still also has a...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Musical Dinosaurs As much as we first loved the music of screamy, crunchy, blissfully tormented alt-rockers Dinosaur Jr. — an act formed in Amherst in 1984 that quickly made it huge on the national grunge scene — we kind of thought, circa the turn of the millennium,...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, News
Pantera Tribute and more \m/ • Saturday Trendkill “the ultimate Pantera tribute” is gonna blow up The Tank with a tribute night to Dimebag Darrell. Also on the bill to make the night even more metal and heavy are locals As Misery Fades, NIM, An Unction In Braille,...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Visions of Sugarplums Why mess with a good thing? The Albany Berkshire Ballet presents its annual tour of the holiday classic The Nutcracker with an eye toward elegant design, great music, and heartfelt performances. Artistic director Madeline Cantarella Culpo...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Brass on the Tracks It seems Bob Dylan has a real pair of rolling stones on him. The guy wins this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature (dubious), then doesn’t plan on picking up the award in person at the prize ceremony the Swedish Academy is hosting in Stockholm on...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Film, Food + Booze, Leisure, Music, Newsletter, Stage
A Spirited DebateOne of two things will happen to you when confronted with the bold and brassy acts of clairvoyance that Rebecca Anne LoCicero whips up onstage. One will be a sense of reluctant amazement. The other will be a deep, head-shaking skepticism. LoCicero has...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
After kids, cancer, and commercial success, the band strips their tour down to two The Weepies: Completely Acoustic and Alone Thursday, Dec. 8 at 8 p.m. Calvin Theatre, Northampton $25-$35 Do you know the feeling of coming in from the cold, kicking off your snow-caked...
by Will Meyer | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter
We must harness the power of DIY to resist Influential music writer Jessica Hopper penned a piece earlier this month on MTV.com that sought to dispel “the silver-lining myth” that a Trump presidency would produce great art, specifically music.She argued that great...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
The Four Winds Although long distance commonly separates Christopher Elchico, Shane Rathburn, Steven Lawhon, and Justin Polyblank, the Barkada Sax Quartet seeks to remind its listeners that chamber music is known historically as “the music of friends.” Formed in 2011...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music
The Machine Performs Pink Floyd • Saturday What better way to start the holiday month off then with some Pink Floyd! World touring The Machine stops back at the Calvin for their amazing Floyd show that leaves the biggest of fans in awe. Joe Pascarell, founding member...
by Gary Carra | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Nightcrawler
Thanksgiving Eve is roundly considered one of the busiest bar days of the year. True to form, this Wednesday, Nov. 23, finds the Valley circuit smattered with live entertainment offerings.Country rockers Trailer Trash will be holding court at Chicopee’s Maximum...
by Jennifer Levesque | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Leisure, Music, News, Newsletter
That slight scratching sound the needle makes when you gently place it on the record. The brief static that comes through the speakers before the music hits. Then: bam! Just like magic, music emerges from my vintage suitcase record player, sounding like nothing else....
by Hunter Styles | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Power to the Panther Hartford-born emcee and musician Afropanther is, in her words, “a Space Jungle Club DJ, producer, and lyrical assassin.” She’s been building communities in New York, Montreal, and Boston, soaking up influences (Fast Eddie, Masters at Work, MK,...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Alt-Indie’s Pole Star We probably shouldn’t bandy around phrases like “one of America’s greatest living songwriters,” given the prolific grassroots music scene these days. But Stephin Merritt pretty much ran away with the title when he penned the three-volume concept...
by Will Meyer | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
Self-described glamour-grunge witch-punks Deadbeat Club only played their first show earlier this spring. According to an interview in Maximum Rocknroll, they say the band formed “because [they] were sick of playing with boys and trying to start something serious.”...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music
Ani DiFranco at Calvin Theatre • Thursday The Calvin got their A back just in time for feminist’s favorite A-word … Ani! And what better time to go see folk-punkster, DiFranco, than now. If you’re still teary-eyed over Hillary and need a hug, or some woman...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 14, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Stage
This Rough Magic Lost lovers of Shakespeare must labor each year — for centuries, apparently — against the preconception that the Bard’s work is boring. Surely, many stagings are. But they weren’t a bore in Will’s day, and they needn’t be now. This week, the Theatre...
by Gary Carra | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Music, Nightcrawler
Can you rock and roll all night and still be home for the 11 o’clock news? The Crawler did — just a couple of Saturdays ago at Mohegan Sun. KISS may be known for their outlandish make-up, ghoulish antics, and fist-pumping anthems. But behind all the greasepaint, the...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Anyone who has seen Inside Llewyn Davis, the terrific 2013 dark comedy by the Coen Brothers, knows that many hard-working musicians walk a long, erratic path around fame without ever finding a way inside. Compared to poor Llewyn, Minnesota native John Gorka has been...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Shanghai Nights The Shanghai Acrobats of the People’s Republic of China don’t just have a long name — they’re one of the longest-running and most distinguished troupes in the world. Get out to see them, and you’ll understand why. Circus groups around the world bring...
by Kristin Palpini | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter, Stage
The Last Waltz, 40 Years Later On CityStage this week, The Rev Tor Band and a local cast of musicians will perform tunes from The Band’s classic 1976 Thanksgiving Day concert, The Last Waltz Live. The show, which was released as a film of the same name, was billed as...
by Kyle Olsen | Nov 7, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Wintersong Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem Signature SoundsOffering a mix of both upbeat and sentimental Christmas songs, Valley-founded roots quartet Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem release their new album Wintersong on Nov. 18, just in time for the holiday season. The...
by Will Meyer | Oct 31, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Honestly Weird “Hello everybody/ there’s a Nazi living in my head.” That’s the first line on Brattleboro musician Ruth Garbus’ new EP, Hello Everybody, and its overt shockingness lays the foundation for a departure from her previous handful of mostly solo...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Stage
The host/ess with the most/est turns the business of drag on its pretty little head If Drag Brunch strikes your fancy, don’t think twice — get yourself to Sláinte, the hilltop restaurant in Holyoke, as soon as possible. Just don’t do what I did last Sunday.I showed up...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Film, Get Out With Staff Picks, Leisure, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Calling All Hallows Admit it: we’re a happy Valley because we’re all a bunch of freaks. And Halloween seems to be the time of year we most like to let those flags fly. The night is a dark, blank canvas for creative expression and demonic possession. That’s why it...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
FRIENDS SHARE LOVERS And The Kids Signature Sounds Northampton-based indie pop heroes And the Kids released their sophomore album this past June. It’s the same kind of dreamy, melodic rock they delivered on their first album, but this time everything feels a little...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Film, Leisure, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Day Screaming Ghosts are scary. Zombies are scary. Being surrounded by too many kids in Disney princess costumes is scary. If you’d rather run into any of these frightening folks in the daytime rather than in the late night hours, check out the Springfield...
by Gary Carra | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Newsletter, Nightcrawler
Most people get paid on it. A few don’t eat meat on it. Ice Cube makes movies about it. Some thank God for it. Others create restaurant chains derived from that acronym … But that’s the last Friday reference, promise. And speaking of last Fridays:...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Stage
Hold Onto Your Wigs Local troupe Ghost Light Theater staged a killer Evil Dead: The Musical last year, but now these players are washing the fake blood out of their costumes in favor of a more earnest — but still outrageous — show: the award-winning rock and roll...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music
This Saturday night: put on your best look, darling, and hit the dance floor at the Iron Horse for HalloKween, a queer twist on a costume dance party. Beats fueled by DJ LeFox and his eclectic collection of soulful house, nu disco, indie, and monster-inspired...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 24, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Film, Music
Hell Night at The Quarters • Sunday Hell Night returns to The Quarters on what many people consider “Devil’s Night,” the night before Halloween. There will be horror movies viewed on a projector all night as well as five hours of DJs spinning the best of all metal...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 17, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Halloween Thrash Bash 3 • Friday Maximum Capacity’s 3rd Halloween costume party is among us. Come dressed as anything but yourself! I may be in attendance sporting a blue wig. Drink specials all night and not to mention a killer line-up who may appear on stage in...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 18, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music
It starts November 2016. And we’re calling it: In partnership with Northampton Community Television and Signature Sounds. Local acts, established and upcoming, in a casual coffeehouse setting. All online, all the time. Keep your eyes peeled… We’ll...
by Will Meyer | Oct 17, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Music, Newsletter
A few years ago, Valley musician Mike Parham came back from South by Southwest (SXSW), a music festival in Austin, Texas, and described it to me like the Wild West —somewhere between an underground music festival and a business convention.Some see SXSW as their ticket...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 17, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
BLOOMING THROUGH THE BLACK Parsonsfield Signature Sounds Leverett has fewer than 2,000 residents, so it’s kind of a miracle that it has launched a young bluegrass folk band as well-toured and nationally recognized as Parsonsfield. Then again, the cute, quiet town has...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 10, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Stage
Rock and Shock • Friday to Sunday Rock and Shock is like Disneyland for horror film buffs who love their music heavy. It’s a horror convention by day at the DCU Center. Then starting in the late afternoon and going all night: a concert at the Palladium down the...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 10, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Marley and We Reggae legend Bob Marley’s prolific career is hard to quantify, brimming as it is with huge-hearted songs and a diaspora of music fans, inspired musicians, and lifelong revolutionaries. The Hartford-based band Ras Spectiv celebrates the music of Bob...
by Gary Carra | Oct 10, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Newsletter, Nightcrawler
He has played multiple instruments, in multiple bands, for multiple decades. The sum total of all these multiples? Scene stalwart Henning Ohlenbusch has played with or supported acts of almost every genre in his prolific career. Rock, pop, surf, psychedelic… You...
by Ken Maiuri | Oct 10, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music
Pugwash plays the Iron Horse Dubliner Thomas Walsh is a real pro with a catchy tune — and also with a particular four-letter word that begins with F. His expertise in both Beatlesque pop music and colorful language was on full display when his band Pugwash played the...
by Hunter Styles and Kristin Palpini | Oct 3, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Film, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Olive’s Indie Sound GardenEvery time the electronic looping pedal wings back around and resets, some new element enters the songs played by Olive Tiger: maybe cello, or violin, or a hooky new techno beat. This inventive band, based in New Haven and Brooklyn, calls...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 26, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, News, Newsletter
Dar Williams came to the Valley in 1992 to put down roots and start a career. Between then and when she left in 2000, she became a bonafide folk rocker, touring on a wave of good gigs that carried her to a breakout moment in 1996 with Mortal City, an LP that became an...
