News
by Advocate Staff | Jul 24, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Letters to the Editor In Defense of Iron Horse Entertainment Group Tiring to see all the IHEG (Iron Horse Entertainment Group) bashing [“Behind the Music: The People and Promoters Going Beyond IHEG,” July 13-19, 2017]! First, people don’t realize how fortunate we are...
by Kristin Palpini | Jul 24, 2017 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter, Stage
Charlie Brown Would Be So Emo If you’ve ever wondered what happened to Good ‘ol Chuck, from the Peanuts comics, Gateway City Arts can fill you in; A week-long run of Bert V. Royal’s Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead begins Friday. Satirizing...
by Kristin Palpini | Jul 24, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Food Booze and Beyond, News, O Cannabis!
We’re no Nevada, but last week Massachusetts took two rippin’ steps toward weed legalization and protection in the state. First the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that a business cannot fire an employee for being a medical marijuana patient — a decision...
by Kristin Palpini | Jul 24, 2017 | Articles, Food + Booze, News
Nathan pulls his mother by the hand through the Springfield downtown farmers market stopping at none of the booths she wants to visit: the cookie stand, the hand-made jewlery display, the gourmet chips, and honey. The 2-year-old loves the farmers market, his mother...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jul 24, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, News
The cost of a University of Massachusetts Amherst education has increased on average by more than $1,000 each year for the past three years. This, in a world where most working people can expect a 2 -percent cost-of-living raise — if that. In the summer of 2015, the...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jul 24, 2017 | Articles, Food + Booze, Food Booze and Beyond, News, Wellness
Why should the farmers have all the fun harvesting the fresh fruits and vegetables from their own farms? U-pick farms abound in the Pioneer Valley. Strawberry season has mostly gone by, but blueberries are ripe for the pickin’, and it won’t be long before apple season...
by Kristin Palpini | Jul 24, 2017 | Articles, News
MONDAYS PALMER — Three Rivers, Hryniewicz Park, 1-5 p.m. Through October SPRINGFIELD — Church in the Acres, 1383 Wilbraham Road, 2-6 p.m. Through first week of October TUESDAYS GREENFIELD — Between Green Fields Market and King’s Gym, Sears Avenue, 1:30-6:30 p.m....
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jul 24, 2017 | Articles, News
When I first got a farm share several years ago, I had a dream of a bounty of tomatoes, carrots, and other recognizable vegetables. The reality was that yes, these vegetables were there, but there were also oddball veggies I’d never heard of or seen before; and...
by Kristin Palpini | Jul 21, 2017 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
We’re no Nevada, but last week Massachusetts took two rippin’ steps toward weed legalization and protection in the state. First the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that a business cannot fire an employee for being a medical marijuana patient — a decision...
by Christin Howard | Jul 20, 2017 | Articles, News, Wellness
In its heyday in the 1970s and ‘80s, roller derby was known for fierce females, fishnets, spiked hair and names like “Iron Maven.” After a lull in the ‘90s, roller derby was resurrected in the early 2000s as an all-female, athletic sport. But in the Pioneer Valley,...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jul 20, 2017 | Articles, News, News of the Weird
A Suicidal Robot Our D.C. office building got a security robot. It drowned itself. We were promised flying cars, instead we got suicidal robots. pic.twitter.com/rGLTAWZMjn — Bilal Farooqui (@bilalfarooqui) July 17, 2017 The Knightscope security robot, an R2D2-shaped...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 17, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, News, Newsletter
Draco and the Malfoys • Saturday I held out on Harry Potter mania for years, but finally succumbed when the last book came out in 2007. I read them all in a matter of months, but I didn’t go as far as these folks, who wrote albums of Harry Potter-inspired...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jul 17, 2017 | Articles, News, News of the Weird
A man and woman dressed as Batman characters were shot by police while having sex in an Australian nightclub. The man, dressed as the Joker, was shot in the stomach after police mistook his fake gun for a real one. The woman was dressed as Harley Quinn, and was shot...
by From Our Readers | Jul 17, 2017 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Iron Horse Entertainment Group Under Fire Several readers took issue with what they perceived as a lack of interest in the local music scene from IHEG in the comments section and on Facebook in last week’s cover story, “Behind the Music,” July 13-19, 2017. Here are a...
by Chris Goudreau | Jul 17, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, News
Western Massachusetts advocacy groups know that there are many in immigrant communities living in fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and arrests, and over the course of this year have been working to do something about it — particularly in light...
by Christin Howard | Jul 17, 2017 | Articles, News
“Everyone thinks of Massachusetts as such a liberal place, but I don’t think they realize how big the stigma is even here.” Those words were spoken by Alice, who will begin her third year at the University of Massachusetts Amherst this fall. Now 21, Alice chose...
by Chris Goudreau | Jul 13, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
The Harry Potter books and films have inspired many real world spillovers, including real-life wizarding schools and online quizzes that determine your magical house. But among the more surprisingly widespread are the leagues that have sprouted up to play the magical...
by Chris Goudreau | Jul 11, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
When he was 15 years old in 1976, Niberd Abdalla immigrated to the United States from Iraq fleeing persecution due to his family’s Kurdish heritage and democratic activism. He’s lived as an undocumented person in the United States for the past 41 years and has...
by Chris Goudreau | Jul 10, 2017 | Articles, Music, News, Newsletter
For years the Iron Horse Entertainment Group with its quintet of venues — Pearl Street Nightclub, The Calvin, The Basement, The Iron Horse Music Hall, and Mountain Park — reigned over the Pioneer Valley music scene. IHEG’s rule has irked some people. Frustration with...
by Chris Goudreau | Jul 10, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, News
In the small Berkshire County town of Sandisfield, there’s a battle being waged over public lands and environmental concerns stemming from a natural gas pipeline being installed in Otis State Forest. More than 30 protesters have been arrested this year for trespassing...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jul 10, 2017 | Articles, News, News of the Weird
Last week we got the surprising news that longtime News of the Weird feature writer Chuck Shepherd is retiring! Like, very surprising, because we had no idea this was coming. BUT, the Advocate is all about weird news, so we’re going to keep it going ourselves! Without...
by Naila Moreira | Jul 10, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Down to Earth, News
We’re in the middle of a national crisis of public life. The idea that we can make life better by sharing our collective wealth (money and natural resources) and brainpower (science, engineering, literature and the arts) is under threat. In a recent article for Salon,...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 10, 2017 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News
Independent Media for the Win During this past presidential election season mainstream media focused their cameras on an empty podium waiting for Donald Trump to give a speech. They could have broadcast images of Bernie Sanders giving his message to the people but...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jul 7, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
A religious pilgrimage is taking place to oppose fossil fuel use in New England. Members of the New England Yearly Meeting, a group made up of Quakers from the six New England states, plan to walk 60 to 70 miles the week of July 9 from Schiller Station power plant in...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 3, 2017 | Articles, Music, News, Newsletter
On July 14, attendees of the Green River Festival will get a taste of the future of music in the Valley. The Next Wave Stage will feature a five-band concert with local bands with members ages 18 and younger. As a bonus, anyone 18 and under gets into the festival for...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 5, 2017 | Advocate Chat, Articles, News, News of the Weird
The Advocate Chat is a recurring series where the Valley Advocate staff talks about a topic on their minds. The text below has been lightly edited. dave.eisen (Managing Editor Dave Eisenstadter): Last week we got the surprising news that longtime News of the Weird...
by From Our Readers | Jul 3, 2017 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
With Rep. Neal in Office, Who Needs a Republican? Thank you for the excellent article on Representative Richard Neal (“Can Rankled Rural Voters Dethrone Congressman Neal?” June 22-28, 2017). I remember when the state redrew our districts so that Northampton and...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jul 3, 2017 | Articles, News
When Donald Trump was making his announcement about reversing steps his predecessor — Barack Obama — took in normalizing relationships with Cuba, Holyoke City Councilor Jossie Valentin had just returned home from a trip to the island to talk with women there....
by Chuck Shepherd | Jul 3, 2017 | Articles, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
Editors Note: News of the Weird is ending, but we’ll be continuing the tradition at the Advocate, starting our own feature highlighting the oddities we find in the news. Watch for it next week! Weird News is forever, but this is my last “News of the Weird”...
by Chris Goudreau | Jul 3, 2017 | Featured, News, Newsletter
Ninety-eight-year-old peace activist Frances Crowe of Northampton is thinking about the future. That’s why she was arrested last month along with seven other people protesting Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s $93 million 13-mile tri-state Connecticut Expansion Project in...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jun 30, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
Four months ago, then-Advocate arts editor Hunter Styles wrote an excellent take-down of the hugely unpopular ad campaign trying to rebrand our region with the name “West Mass.” The heart of it was a list of questions about a dizzying, poorly-thought-out video...
by Chris Goudreau | Jun 29, 2017 | Articles, News
Over the last 20 years, medical education institutions across the nation have been phasing out the practicing of surgical procedures on live animals, but Baystate Medical Center in Springfield is bucking the trend and keeping it old school. The protest on June 29...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 26, 2017 | Articles, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
Customs officials in Abdali, Kuwait, apprehended a pigeon in May with 178 ketamine pills inside a fabric pocket attached to its back. Update Three weeks ago, News of the Weird touted the “genderless,” extraterrestrial-appearing Hollywood makeup artist known as Vinny...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 26, 2017 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter
Take in Some Trash Trailer Trash is headlining this Friday’s edition of Summit View’s Pavilion Summer Concert Series. The immensely popular weekly shows at the banquet hall, on Route 5 in Holyoke, are free and open to the public. There’s a BBQ buffet for purchase and...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 26, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Film, Food + Booze, Get Out With Staff Picks, Leisure, Music, News, Newsletter, Stage
Hanging around the house is something we all do, but usually in an unfocused, squished-between-chores-and-obligations sort of way. But when you stay home for vacation, your dwelling can become a sanctuary, free from the day-to-day grind. If you can’t afford to get out...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jun 26, 2017 | Articles, News, Review
What do you do when the state of the world makes you so angry and/or demoralized that you don’t even want to leave the house? A new board game called Rise Up: The Game of People & Power, and created by former Hampshire College students, is the answer! Rise Up is a...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 26, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Newsletter
Familiar Forgotten Places Catherine Gibbs picked a ubiquitous, but faded piece of local history for her exhibit at the Elusie Gallery in Easthampton: Mill buildings and train yards. Though not as much is manufactured here anymore, not that long ago people in places...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 26, 2017 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Readers Respond to Story on Congressman Neal Several readers wrote in about our cover story on rural and progressive activist dissatisfaction of Congressman Richard Neal [“Can Rankled Rural Voters Dethrone Congressman Neal?” June 22-28, 2017]. Here are some of the...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 26, 2017 | Articles, Cannabis!, Columns, News, Newsletter
The battle over how recreational marijuana will be taxed and managed in Massachusetts will come to a head Friday. Gov. Charlie Baker has said he wants a bill on his desk by June 30 in order to allow enough time for retailers to apply for marijuana sales licenses and...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 21, 2017 | Advocate Chat, Articles, News
The Advocate Chat is a recurring series where the Valley Advocate staff talks about a topic on their minds. The text below has been lightly edited. kristinpalpini (Editor-in-Chief Kristin Palpini): I’m pumped! Let’s talk Dems and Reps, donkeys and...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jun 19, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
When Sara Weinberger moved from her longtime community of Northampton to neighboring Easthampton three years ago, she mostly loved it. The worst part, she said, was changing congressional districts — going from being represented by Worcester Democrat James McGovern to...
by Chris Goudreau | Jun 19, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Faith leaders from six churches in Springfield have formed a “sanctuary network,” to provide shelter to undocumented immigrants in response to increasingly aggressive deportation tactics from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), including waiting...
by Chris Goudreau | Jun 19, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
Whether you’re a 20-something fresh out of college looking for work or near retirement age and can’t find a job at your skill level, the trials and tribulations of unemployment are very real. It’s an issue that most people face in their adult lives and an age old...
by Chuck Shepherd | Jun 19, 2017 | Articles, News, News of the Weird
Already, trendy restaurants have offered customers dining experiences amidst roaming cats (and in one bold experiment, owls), but the art house San Francisco Dungeon has planned a two-day (July 1 and 8) experimental “Rat Cafe” for those who feel their coffee or tea is...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 12, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, News, Newsletter
Hot Gypsy Jazz Northampton’s annual Django in June is a week-long bonanza of Gypsy jazz workshops, concerts, and jamming with artists from across the globe. The event celebrates the musical stylings of Django Reinhardt. The music has been described as hot jazz or...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 15, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
By Kristin Palpini The late-Wednesday delay of the House vote on recreational marijuana legislation signals politicians are taking weed — and the up-coming weed tax — seriously. The House bill would have levied up to a 28 percent tax rate on recreational...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 12, 2017 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter
Pablo Picasso often painted himself as a bull. A fan of attending bullfights in his native Spain, the Cubist master saw himself as the hulking beast with big muscles, wild eyes, and swinging genitalia. In a piece now on view at The Clark in Williamstown, Large...
by Anita Fritz | Jun 12, 2017 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter
The Art of Rock, Paper, Scissors Take part in celebrating the newest sculpture in downtown Turners Falls — Rock, Paper, Scissors, a new work by artist Tim de Christopher. Christopher’s work was selected last spring as an addition to Avenue A from 30 proposals...
by Dave Eisenstadter | Jun 9, 2017 | Articles, Arts, News
The way Faith Manning Enuol tells it, she went to work one afternoon, and when she returned, the garden she was building with her husband Rich Enuol tripled in size. In actuality, Rich spent the day foraging for materials, finding everything they needed — including...
by Chris Goudreau | Jun 13, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
By Chris Goudreau “America’s Toughest Sheriff” Joe Arpaio — the controversial right wing former sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, who is known for placing prisoners in tents under temperatures in excess of 100 degrees, forcing inmates to wear pink underwear, and...
by Christin Howard | Jun 12, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Across the country celebrations are taking place for national Pride month, and the Pioneer Valley is no exception. Franklin County and the city of Holyoke are hosting events to bring together the LGBTQIA community. This year marks the return of Franklin Country Pride,...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 12, 2017 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
Are You Worthy? Yes, yes you are — if you’re 21 or over. The Worthy is back, ya’ll, and sudsier than ever for this year’s outdoors craft beer showcase. The Springfield brewfest, in the city’s most entertaining neighborhood: Worthington Street, is going down Saturday...
by Chuck Shepherd | Jun 12, 2017 | Articles, News of the Weird
Brantford, Ontario, real estate agent Kyle Jansink, speaking for unidentified sellers, said he accepted the challenge of selling a meticulously maintained home “as is” — still packed with the sellers’ clown-related items (dolls, miniatures, porcelain statues,...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Jun 12, 2017 | Articles, Columns, News, The V-Spot
Hi Yana! I’m a chubby cis-woman in my late 20s. I lately worked through struggling with my body image and relationship to food while healing from years of disordered eating. I’ve been doing really well lately, but sadly one of the things that used to trigger my eating...
by Kristin Palpini | Jun 12, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, News
When a Holyoke City Councilor said, at a public meeting, “Don’t feed the animals,” in regard to homeless panhandlers, I figured I had a good idea for a fiery column defending people who beg for a living. It is vile to call any person an “animal” in a dehumanizing way...
by Advocate Staff | Jun 12, 2017 | Articles, Letters from our Readers
Disappearing Signs in Easthampton Say a Lot In times like these it is more important than ever to focus attention on fair and equal access to freedom of expression. For the past two weeks, I have been witness to what seems to be the twice illicit removal of a Black...
by Chris Goudreau | Jun 12, 2017 | Articles, MGM Springfield Casino coverage, News
Radames Lopez is a 24-year-old lifelong Holyoke resident with a six month old daughter. He’s unemployed and every day is a struggle to find work because of his felony criminal record. “They’re not going to call me back … I can’t even go into the Army even if I want to...
by Chance Viles and Kristin Palpini | Jun 5, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News
Springfield, Massachusetts, was a big abolitionist hub during the days of the Underground Railroad — not that many people know this. When talking about Massachusetts history, Western Mass isn’t well represented in historical texts — they’re more focused on Boston. And...
by Chuck Shepherd | Jun 5, 2017 | Articles, News of the Weird, Newsletter
Reverence for the lineage of asparagus continues in epic yearly Anglican church festivities in Worcester, England, where in April celebrants obtained a special blessing for the vegetable by local priests as a costumed asparagus pranced through the street praising the...
by Chris Goudreau | Jun 6, 2017 | Articles, News
If you think riding a horse along a road in New England harkens back to the distant past with horse and buggies, think again. On Saturday, June 10, horse riders will take to the roads for the 6th Annual “Share The Road – Horses Paved The Way” event in the...
