News
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 19, 2015 | Arts, News
This weekend is the fifth annual Made in the Berkshires Festival. Featuring Berkshire County artists, the three-day event will entertain people with short films, poetry, ballet, musicians, local food, plays, and artists’ panels. The show is curated by Hilary Somers...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 19, 2015 | Arts, News, Uncategorized
In Western Mass, we like our Irish music year-round and the Big Bad Bollocks brings it. Screenwriter William Monahan describes the group succinctly as the “Pogues fused with the Sex Pistols.” Big Bad Bollocks: Friday, 7 p.m. to midnight, VFW Florence, 18 Meadow St.,...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 19, 2015 | Arts, News
The Academy of Music is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hollywood classic shot in the Pioneer Valley, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, at the Academy of Music in Northampton Thursday night. The Oscar-winning film stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton as a...
by Chuck Shepherd | Oct 19, 2015 | News, News of the Weird
Two suburban Minneapolis elementary schools this fall hired a consulting firm to advise officials on kids’ recess, and the leading recommendations — promoting “safety” and “inclusiveness” — were elimination of “contact games” in favor of, for example, hopscotch. Some...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 13, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Leisure, Music, News, Wellness
Feel that chill in the air? It’s only a matter of weeks before we’re all hibernating on the couch, looking out the window at the deep freeze and wondering where all the long, fun days went. Don’t spend the winter as a sad blanket case. There’s still time to bust out...
by Hunter Styles
and Amanda Drane
Photos by Hunter Styles | Oct 13, 2015 | Articles, Featured, MGM Springfield Casino coverage, News
In October 2007, MGM announced plans to build a $5 billion casino resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In addition to slots, tables, and hotel rooms, renderings of the 60-acre complex boasted restaurants, clubs, and retail space. Among 11 other nearby casinos, MGM...
by From Our Readers | Oct 13, 2015 | Letters from our Readers, News
First Head People tend to travel in the direction they are looking. It is obvious that the lady from Wilbraham who wrote the recent letter entitled “Bad Bible” is one of the multitude who sit in front of their televisions and inhale reams of anti-Christian twit...
by Chuck Shepherd | Oct 13, 2015 | News, News of the Weird
The bold, shameless leering of David Zaitzeff is legendary around Seattle’s parks, and more so since he filed a civil complaint against the city in September challenging its anti-voyeurism law for placing a “chilling effect” on his photography of immodestly dressed...
by Amanda Drane | Oct 13, 2015 | News, Scene Here
KEVIN GUTTING PHOTO When Cameron Clapp was 15, a night of drinking landed him on train tracks, where an oncoming freight train took his arm and both his legs. “Right now, in this moment,” Clapp tells a room full of health care professionals at Healthsouth...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 13, 2015 | Arts, News
Got my anatomically correct molar with an explorer and mirror — my dental tools — after graduating the Springfield Technical Community College dental hygiene program in May. Mike Jones from Instinkt Tattoo and Piercing, in Indian Orchard, is the artist and did an...
by Story and Photos
Amanda
Drane | Oct 13, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, News, Stage
Within seconds of meeting each other, tap and jazz dancer David Bovat and percussionist Jeff Hinrichs are moving and grooving. Hinrichs lays down a quick tempo on the djembe, which makes a deep, hollow sound, and Bovat’s tap shoes start click-clacking in double time....
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 13, 2015 | Arts, Music, News
Hunter — Folk rock I first listened to Hunter about a month ago. The tune was goofy and fun, but it didn’t immediately grab me. I thought that was it for Hunter and me, but I was wrong. The siren song got me. Lead singer Hunter Stamas Facebook-messaged the...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 13, 2015 | Between the Lines, News
Five students are suing the state for a better education — for some. In September, five anonymous students filed a suit against the state in Suffolk County Superior Court alleging the cap on the number of charter schools in Massachusetts unfairly denies them their...
by Amanda Drane | Oct 13, 2015 | Columns, Food + Booze, Leisure, Madame Barfly, News
Bigger cities may have had a taste of Spiked Seltzer last year, but it made its first big splash in the Valley this summer — packies were having a hard time keeping it on the shelves. “It’s been really popular,” says one manager at Liquors 44 in Northampton of the...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 13, 2015 | Articles, Featured, Local Elections 2015, News
This year, the Advocate is covering the Valley’s mayoral races a little differently. We’ve asked each candidate the same four questions, which we hope will provoke thoughtful and illuminating answers — with a little editing for length and clarity. This week we quizzed...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 6, 2015 | Local Elections 2015, News
This year, the Advocate is covering the Valley’s mayoral races a little differently. We’ve asked each candidates the same four questions, which we hope will provoke thoughtful and illuminating answers —with a little editing for length and clarity. This week we quizzed...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 6, 2015 | Arts, News
Sorry-Go-Round A little absurdity is a good thing and if your life is feeling a bit routine, shake it up with a visit to Turners Falls to check out an exhibit by Northampton artist Tom Pappalardo. Well-known for his graphic design work, as well as his cartoons,...
by Kristin Palpini | Oct 6, 2015 | Arts, News
These two were done by Jim Fortier at Horseshoes and Hand Grenades in Chicopee. The ship represents my journey through life and conquering whatever comes its way. The torn masts show that it has been through a lot, but will continue its exploration no matter what. The...
by From Our Readers | Oct 6, 2015 | Letters from our Readers, News
Unite community around treating addiction I read the article about community opposition to new drug/alcohol treatment centers in Greenfield and Springfield (“Not In Our Backyards” Sept. 24-30, 2015) with great interest. It’s hard to oppose a community uniting for...
by Chuck Shepherd | Oct 6, 2015 | News, News of the Weird
A New York University Center for Justice study released in September warned that, unless major upgrades are made quickly, 43 states will conduct 2016 elections on electronic voting machines at least 10 years old and woefully suspect. Those states use machines no...
by Advocate Staff | Oct 6, 2015 | MGM Springfield Casino coverage, News
Red Tape: Seeing the writing on the wall, Springfield City Council President Michael Fenton wanted to test the waters with a ballot question asking voters, “Do you support an amendment to the Host Community Agreement between MGM Springfield and the City of...
by Amanda Drane | Oct 6, 2015 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News
As I write these words, on the other side of Conz Street, Western Mass residents are strolling into Northampton’s New England Treatment Access on opening day to purchase medical marijuana from the area’s first dispensary. Would that have seemed possible in 2007? As...
by Amanda Drane | Oct 6, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, News
Valley musician Mikey Sweet spent two weeks hitchhiking around the Northeast last month, holding a sign reading: “broke musician, need money to finish album.” After a storied 14 days’ worth of busking, gigging, and drawing attention to his Kickstarter campaign, Sweet...
by Hunter Styles | Oct 2, 2015 | MGM Springfield Casino coverage, News, On Springfield, Uncategorized
If there is a silver lining to MGM Springfield’s construction delays, it may be that casino execs have had some extra time to check the books on this $800+ million project. And it’s a good thing they did. Due to budgetary concerns, the company has just announced that...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 29, 2015 | Columns, Food + Booze, News, The Beerhunter
The 11th-Hour Taste Test Lawrence George pours a hazy-gold sample of beer from the tank and passes it to me in a small glass. It is a bold and flavorful take on an American pale ale: hoppy, tangy, and delicious. In another tank, George is fermenting a slightly sweeter...
by Chuck Shepherd | Sep 29, 2015 | News, News of the Weird
One of the remaining 116 Guantanamo Bay prisoners (a man suspected of having been close to Osama bin Laden) has a dating profile on Match.com captioned “detained but ready to mingle,” the man’s lawyer Carlos Warner told Al Jazeera America in September. Muhammad Rahim...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 29, 2015 | Between the Lines, News, Wellness
Is Planned Parenthood “Big Abortion” or women’s health care? Both characterizations are sharing time in the media, but only one of them is true. While Planned Parenthood does perform some abortions, it makes up only 3 percent of the work done at the 700 clinics and...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 29, 2015 | Local Elections 2015, News
This year the Advocate is covering the Valley’s mayoral races a little differently. We’ve asked each candidate the same four questions, which we hope will provoke thoughtful and illuminating answers — with a little editing for length and clarity. We start in Chicopee,...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 29, 2015 | Astrology, News, Scene Here
At the end of a long day, there is no separating me from the world. Everyday needs loom large in my mind, and I’m roped, like Gulliver, to a thousand little worries. But at six a.m., when I step onto my front porch, I feel small again. Looking up at a cold, dark sky,...
by From Our Readers | Sep 29, 2015 | Letters from our Readers, News
Kalliope Jones’ privilege Editor’s note: This comment was made online under the article “Kalliope Jones Takes it to the Web.” True, this is an important problem. You undermine the conversation, though, when you do the following: Scapegoat individuals rather than look...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 29, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Film, Leisure, Music, News, Stage
What’s on tap for arts and culture over the next few months in the Pioneer Valley: Party Animals How do you describe The Surrealist Cabaret by the Royal Frog Ballet? You let the frogs do it. From the event’s website, The Surrealist Cabaret “is a walking...
by Amanda Drane | Sep 29, 2015 | Arts, Food + Booze, Leisure, News
New Food at the Big E: Deep-Fried Disappointment Ahh, Big E season. The diet crusher — the reason some of us worked to cut calories this summer — is here again. With nearly a century under the Eastern States Exposition’s belt, the crew there have perfected more than...
by Rebecca Everett
For the Advocate | Sep 29, 2015 | News
State Police plan to seek drug-related charges against Northampton medical marijuana consultant Ezra Parzybok. Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Steven E. Gagne said State Police plan to file an application for criminal complaint in Northampton District Court...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 29, 2015 | Arts, Music, News
Don’t Stop Believin’ in Classical Music The Springfield Symphony Orchestra will kick off the new season on Oct. 3 with an opening night reception at the Springfield Sheraton Hotel. Following the party, the orchestra will perform works by Dvořák, Sibelius, and Bartok....
by Amanda Drane | Sep 22, 2015 | News, Uncategorized
About a quarter of Springfield’s population has asthma — 21 percent of children and 18 percent of adults — and that’s nearly double the statewide average. As if that weren’t bad enough, those with asthma stand to suffer the most as climate change worsens, according to...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 22, 2015 | Between the Lines, News
Last football season was marked by a media blitz on the Washington Redskins’ odious team name. Use of the full team name in broadcasts was down 27 percent in 2014 compared to 2013, according to a Deadspin analysis. I was hopeful that pressure on owner Dan Snyder —...
by Chuck Shepherd | Sep 22, 2015 | News, News of the Weird
In September, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery concluded that records of an investigation need not be released to the Memphis City Council — because there was no comma. The law requires the records’ release “only in compliance with a subpoena or an order of...
by Amanda Drane | Sep 22, 2015 | Arts, News
Chuck Close Photographs University Museum of Contemporary Art, UMass Amherst Fine Arts Center From figures to flowers to faces, Chuck Close Photographs can be summed up in one word: intimate. Museum-goers get a feel for both Close’s subjects and the...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 22, 2015 | Arts, Music, News, Scene Here
Bulbs flash. Beats drop. Bass thuds in my ribcage. On the dance floor, bolts of light swirl together in neon colors, and the dancers are a galaxy of iconic sci-fi stars. A tall young man with long hair and a Jedi cloak whips his red double-bladed lightsaber in...
by From Our Readers | Sep 22, 2015 | Letters from our Readers, News
Jazz Festival marred by ‘loud mouths’ It was impossible not to notice that during the painstaking and brilliant jazz performances occurring Saturday afternoon on the main stage of the Northampton Jazz Festival, a constant din of beer-induced mouth-noise loomed over...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 22, 2015 | Arts, Leisure, Music, News
Back to The Big E Life is a little sweeter around Big E time — and it’s not just because the air becomes infused with plumes of powdered sugar. Each year, The Big E in West Springfield brings with it big fun, big stars, and if you’re over 30, big (and completely...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 22, 2015 | Articles, Featured, News, Wellness
Mariette Poginy sighs, pivots in her porch chair, and looks across Norwood Street in Greenfield, where the banging of hammers and the whining of drills emanate from the former Lunt Silversmiths factory. If all goes according to plan, the vacant and overgrown building...
by From Our Readers | Sep 22, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Leisure, News
This is a new school-style portrait of my best friend Lani. We’ve been friends for 20 years now and are now 31-year-olds — that’s significant. Sadly, we live on opposite coasts now. She’s in San Fran and I’ve been between the Valley and Austin. I have two tattoos for...
by Amanda Drane | Sep 22, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, News
Kalliope Jones’ story about how the local band lost a music competition following a judge’s suggestion the all-female teen band be more “sultry,” was a familiar one to rocker June Millington. She recalls how one review of a gig called her band Fanny “excellent,” but...
by Amanda Drane | Sep 22, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Leisure, News
Delilah the basset hound may be blind, but that doesn’t stop her from hiking with her humans, lying about the house, and being just too darned cute. Her eyes, says owner Charlotte Cathro, 34, of Northampton, are both her most fetching feature and her downfall....
by Hunter Styles | Sep 16, 2015 | Food + Booze, News, Taste-Off!
The staff of the Advocate realized something this week: we are really full of pizza. That’s what you get when you commit to judging a blind-tasting contest between 27 of the Valley’s best by-the-slice pizza establishments. In round one, back in March, we chowed down...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 14, 2015 | Between the Lines, News
In the grip of a national opiate-addiction epidemic, Behavioral Health Network of Springfield is poised to renovate an old manufacturing site in Greenfield turning it into a 24-hour, 64-bed detox and rehab center offering both in- and out-patient programs. Franklin...
by Chuck Shepherd | Sep 14, 2015 | News, News of the Weird
The Federal Aviation Administration recently granted — likely for the first time ever — an application to fly a paper airplane. Prominent drone advocate Peter Sachs had applied to conduct commercial aerial photography with his “aircraft,” a Tailor Toys model with a...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 14, 2015 | Arts, News
Phil Lawrence presents: One Death/An Installation A.P.E. Ltd. Gallery 240 Main St., Northampton The spare but intriguing new Northampton exhibit by local artist Phil Lawrence is something of a paradox: it grapples with a powerful theme in a style that obscures its...
by From Our Readers | Sep 14, 2015 | Letters from our Readers, News
Change the conversation with #EachLifeMatters I am a black man who is troubled by #BlackLivesMatter. A human being is a microcosm of humanity, yet as Father Zossima remarks in The Brothers Karamazov, “It is easy to love mankind, but much more difficult to love a...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 14, 2015 | Arts, Film, Music, News, Stage
Herencia Latina Pioneer Valley is a celebration of the region’s Latino American heritage. The Pioneer Valley History Network is working in collaboration with Latino organizations, local libraries, museums, and colleges to bring a schedule of programs, activities, and...
by Amanda Drane | Sep 14, 2015 | Columns, Food + Booze, Madame Barfly, News
Sitting down at Osteria Vespa’s bar for the first time, I’m surprised to find there’s no cocktail list. Josh Draghe, the soft-spoken, knowledgeable, and impeccably polite head bartender directs my gaze to a nearby board where staffers have handwritten signature...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 14, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News
Tattooed people are often asked what they think their tattoos will look like once they get older and their skin begins to wrinkle and age. My response has always been, “Well, I will look like a colorful little old lady with a gray braid, of course.” Let’s face it, if...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 14, 2015 | Articles, Featured, Food + Booze, News, Taste-Off!
Drum roll please … After four rounds of blind taste-tests of cheese slices from 27 pizzerias across the Valley — from Greenfield to Springfield — the Advocate staff is ready to announce the winner of our summer slice smackdown. Without knowledge of where the...
by Chuck Shepherd | Sep 8, 2015 | News, News of the Weird
Muslim clerics complain of the commercialization of the holy city of Mecca during the annual hajj pilgrimages, but for Pope Francis’ visits to New York, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia in mid-September, shameless street vendors and entrepreneurs already appear to...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 8, 2015 | Letters from our Readers, News
No time for a tree house Very seldom do I read an article in the Advocate that makes me want to respond. My first and last thought to this article, “Let Brandon Have His Tree House Already,” Aug. 27-Sept. 2, 2015, was where is this author’s head. Before people get...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 8, 2015 | Between the Lines, Music, News
Music is like a garden; water it, tend to it, and it will be a blooming beauty that can attract visitors from miles around. But forget to water it, let the weeds take over, and you’re left with a field of crackling, dusty sticks that at best annoy your neighbor. Local...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 8, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, News
T housands of votes later, readers have whittled the best bands in the Valley down to four groups that will battle it out for a recording session at Rotary Records in West Springfield, $500 at Falcetti Music of Springfield, and gigs at Falcetti’s new performance space...
by Micky Bedell | Sep 8, 2015 | News, Scene Here
I feel like it should smell in here. This is the thought I just can’t let go of as I wobble precariously along a plastic track with all the other “fresh meat.” Sweat is dampening every inch of clothing touching my skin. My rental gear feels loose — and a bit...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 8, 2015 | Articles, Blogs, Columns, Featured, News, The Uncanny Valley
Why is it that a cheeseburger costs $1.22 at Burger King, while a small order of fries costs $1.70? Isn’t beef supposed to be more expensive than potatoes? Thanks for writing in, anonymous reader, with your puzzling — and discomforting — question. To figure out why...
