Newsletter
Pick of the Day 3/7: Adam Benzine’s Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
The Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival will screen a special director’s cut of Adam Benzine’s 2015 documentary, Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah. It took French journalist, philosopher, and filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, 12 years to make his...
Monte Belmonte Wines: The Gewürzfather Part II
“Weird. What the heck does it smell like? Roses? It tastes like Oil of Olay.” “It smells like…you know how, in spring, the buds are coming out on the trees? Like those trees that smell like sex?” “Like a ‘period’ tree.” “It smells like sex is about to happen. It...
Farm to Trail Ale to benefit Kestrel Land Trust conservation of Pioneer Valley farm land and forests
A limited edition craft beer called “the Farm to Trail Ale” was recently released on March 4 and celebrates the legacy of the Amherst-based Kestrel Land Trust, which has conserved more than 25,000 acres of forests and farmlands since the 1970s. The beer is a...
The V-Spot: How Do I Find Someone Who’s Got Their Shit Together?
Hi Yana, I’m no longer satisfied with the type of love I attract. After my most recent heartbreak, and having to face the thought of getting back on the online dating horse, I’m willing to admit that something isn’t working here, and it might be me....
Pick of the Day 3/6: The Smith College Annual Bulb Show
Although March has come in like a lion, Smith College’s Lyman Conservatory is the perfect antidote to Western Massachusetts’ gray skies and chilled winds. Head to Smith today and take spring’s glorious promises which include an array of beauties like...
Vermont Yankee transfer gaining traction with state agencies and environmental activists
After several weeks of negotiations, Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant owner Entergy, potential buyer NorthStar, state agencies, and citizen activists have come to an agreement on how the shut down plant could be transferred and decommissioned by NorthStar. One...
Valley Showgirl: Say Darling took me to Patsy-ville at Back Porch Festival
For over 25 years The Back Porch Radio Show has been airing Sunday mornings on The River 93.9 FM. Curated by radio host Jim Olsen, the selected sounds are a variation of American roots music including bluegrass, folk, classic country, blues, and more. Olsen is also...
With DACA deadline passed, local undocumented immigrants demanding action
It’s been more than six months since President Trump announced an end to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which protects undocumented immigrants who arrived in the country as children from deportation. March 5 was set as a deadline for...
Advochat Podcast: Healthy food and social justice in Springfield with Liz Wills-O’Gilvie
As chair of the Springfield Food Policy Council Steering Committee and board chair of Gardening the Community, Liz Wills-O’Gilvie thinks a lot about how growing up as a minority in an urban neighborhood affects your access to healthy food. She says there are 10...
Pick of the Day 3/5: Lady Bird at Amherst Cinema
Lady Bird Takes Flight at Amherst Cinema First time director and actress, Greta Gerwig delivers a brilliant film about the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of a mother and her teenaged daughter in Sacramento in the early aughts. Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson...
Free Will Astrology: Have the Patience of Peter Parker, Libra
ARIES (March 21-April 19): The men who work on offshore oil rigs perform demanding, dangerous tasks on a regular basis. If they make mistakes, they may get injured or befoul the sea with petroleum. As you might guess, the culture on these rigs has traditionally been...
Stagestruck: Willkommen to “Cabaret”
As I wrote in this space last year, “So much of what we see and create seems newly topical and timely” since the rise of Trump. “Everything is now filtered through a horrifying new prism, taking on fresh meaning and urgency.” A striking example of the “Trump Effect”...
Lauren L. Anderson is Connecting Moments at Sam’s Pizzeria and Cafe in Northampton
Sam’s Pizzeria and Cafe is nestled in the 200 block on Main Street in downtown Northampton. Like its owner, Sam Harbey, the eatery is down to earth and friendly. “We’ve been here for 11 years in the same spot,” Harbey says sitting in one of the glossy wood benches...
Pick of the Day 3/3: The Old Deerfield Spring Sampler Craft Fair at the Big E
You know spring is coming when Old Deerfield says it is, and Old Deerfield has spoken. The Old Deerfield Spring Sampler Craft Fair is at the Big E this weekend. The fair features 150 juried artisans in all crafts media, including goodies for garden and Easter-themed...
Pick of the Day 3/4: AIC Theater Arts Program presents ‘Doubt: A Parable’
American International College’s Theater Arts Program presents John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Doubt: A Parable. Described as a “brilliant play” that asks many questions but challenges you to find your own answers. Doubt: A...
Valley Advocate Q&A with Deer Tick Guitarist Ian Patrick O’Neil
Alternative rock band Deer Tick, known for its blend of influences from grungy alternative rock, to folk, punk, blues, and country, is heading to the Academy of Music Theatre this Friday, March 2, at 7 p.m. as part of Signature Sounds’ Back Porch Festival. Ahead of...
VIDEO: Wishbone Zoe on Valley Advocate Sessions Friday
Wishbone Zoe performs bass-driven experimental indie pop with Advocate Sessions this week. Check out a teaser video of Wishbone Zoe’s full performance, which will be released this Friday.
Workers rally in Greenfield in support of union rights for public employees
More than two dozen workers and union rights activists rallied outside the campus entrance of Greenfield Community College (GCC) on Monday, Feb. 26, to stand in solidarity with thousands of workers from around the country during the Workers’ Day of Action. The rally,...
Editorial: Guns spark a new student movement — and a fight for their lives
Fifty years ago, in 1968, student protests rocked the Vietnam War debate, and were eventually credited with turning public sentiment against the war. For young people, particularly young men, their very lives were at stake with the instituted military draft sending...
Pick of the Day 2/27: Andrew Bird at the Calvin Theater
Indie rock and folk singer-songwriter Andrew Bird makes what he calls “three-dimensional music” – a mixture of violin, guitar, and virtuoso whistling, combined with intricate looping pedals. As a teen Bird became interested in a variety of styles including early jazz,...
Stagestruck: Happier Valley Comedy expanding on improv
A troupe of high-spirited performers bound onstage and solicit goofy suggestions for characters and situations from the audience. Then they improvise short, snappy scenes based on those prompts. The comedy flows from the incongruities and the improvisers’ quick wits....
Valley Advocate Podcast: The Lifestyle of a Sex Columnist
Yana Tallon-Hicks has been writing the Advocate’s sex and relationship column, The V-Spot, for seven years. It’s something she enjoys greatly, but she says it isn’t exactly the Carrie Bradshaw lifestyle some people seem to think it is. She is also a...
Pick of the Day 2/26: The Jeff Holmes Big Band at the 121 Club
The big band sound never gets old, so if you’re free at 7:30 tonight, check out the stylings of the Jeff Holmes Big Band featuring composer/lyricist Dawning Holmes on vocals. They’re swinging at the 121 Club and it’s free. Holmes has performed with legendary stars...
Free Will Astrology: Search Out Your Ghost Towns, Sagittarius
ARIES (March 21-April 19): On September 1, 1666, a London baker named Thomas Farriner didn’t take proper precautions to douse the fire in his oven before he went to sleep. Consequences were serious. The conflagration that ignited in his little shop burned down large...
Introducing the Valley Advocate Album Review Column: The CDs You Gave Me
Welcome to the first of a new monthly column – The CDs You Gave Me – featuring reviews of new albums by Western Mass bands and solo artists. I’m a musician myself as a member of 10-piece theatrical and avant-garde pop ensemble, The Leafies You Gave Me (get it?), so I...
Cinemadope: A Horror Film Stitched Together from Horror Films at Amherst
It’s always been a point of pride at Amherst Cinema that they are no mere movie house. Plunked down right in the heart of the town’s downtown, flanked by coffee spots and park greens, the theater has always been something of a community hub. Perhaps it would have been...
The V-Spot: My Lover and My Bestie Are Dating
Hi there! I’m an early 30s, cis, brown, queer non-monogamous woman. My question is about a situation I find myself in with a lover and my best friend. This best friend is my Bestie, my chosen family. The lover is my first male lover in over a decade. (I was with...
Pick of the Day 2/24: Telluride Mountain Film Festival at Hampshire College
Hampshire College invites you to enjoy a few hours of action packed films from the Telluride Mountain Film Festival. Mountainfilm travels year round and worldwide with a selection of its best short films. This year, 13 films are screening at Franklin Patterson Hall...
Pick of the Day 2/25: Outside Mullingar at the Majestic Theater
As the mighty Shakespeare (or the Martian) might say, “here’s the rub”: Anthony and Rosemary are two clueless, lovelorn neighbors. Anthony’s father Tony and Rosemary’s mother Aoife are locked in a bitter land feud. Rosemary has been...
Puerto Rican Evacuees Receive Trauma Relief Through Acupuncture in Springfield
The Springfield Family Resource Center of Gandara is located in a modest building at 18 Gaucher Street in Springfield’s Pine Point neighborhood, and upon arrival it’s clear that this social service agency is a community lifeline. Inside, the narrow reception area...
Faced With PVTA Cuts, Small Town Western Mass Residents Have Few Ways to Get Around
Dee Marshall, 73, of Ware, sits in the front seat of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA) shuttle bus wrapped in her pink coat. She had a doctor’s appointment in Longmeadow today, as she does every Friday. She left her house early this morning to catch...
Pick of the Day 2/22: Luvvie Ajayi at Mount Holyoke College
Social media expert, New York Times best-selling author, and pop-critic, Luvvie Ajayi takes the stage at Mount Holyoke College as it continues its celebration of Black History Month. If you’re in the mood for great intelligence, wit, and charm, this is the place to...
Bravo to Goldstein-Rose for Declaring Independence from Democrats
On Tuesday, Amherst state Representative Solomon Goldstein-Rose became the second independent in the Massachusetts Statehouse, changing his party affiliation from Democrat to unenrolled. Predictably, party elders and political pundits — the same ones that predicted a...
Bizzaro Briefs: Cash, Credit, or Wood
“I can’t wait until the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo-Bell ….” Viewers likely experienced an unexpected craving for Chinese food when a Chicago’s ABC affiliate mixed up Olympics host city PyeongChang with the popular restaurant P.F.Chang. The news station apologized...
Get Out with Valley Advocate Staff Picks: Beatles Open Mic, Elton John Tribute, and 500 Years discussion
500 YEARS // WEDNESDAY, FEB. 28 500 Years exposes Guatemala’s official history of brutality, entrenched racism and genocide through the indigenous Mayan population’s uprising that threatens to topple a corrupt government. Director Pamela Yates will be...
VIDEO: Carolyn Walker on Valley Advocate Sessions Friday
Carolyn Walker is a singer-songwriter with a penchant for bittersweet folk melodies with a dash of alternative rock. Her full performance will be available this Friday. Check out our Sessions teaser video in the link below.
Pick of the Day 2/21: The UMass Minutemen take on Virginia at the Mullins Center
The UMass Minutemen vs. VCU If you want to watch the Celtics play at the Garden, it’s going to cost you an average of $90 and that’s not including driving, eating and parking. But if you go cheer on your UMass Minutemen, it’ll cost you $16-$24. Grab...
O: Cannabis: ‘Little pieces of art’ — the magic of making professional edibles
Algebra and edibles do not usually mix, but for Mark Wikar one is absolutely essential for creating the other. Even though his background is as a pastry chef, Wikar now uses a lot of math to create perfectly dosed edibles at INSA, a medical cannabis dispensary that...
The Art of Laughter: A Conversation with Comedian Kim Deshields
Comedian Kim “Boney” DeShields is funny, except when she’s talking about making people laugh. “It’s an art,” she says matter of factly. “You have to be smart to make people laugh. You have to be well read and knowledgeable about a lot of things. But most of all,...
Pick of the Day 2/20: March of the Penguins at the Academy of Music
March of the Penguins Just because it’s school vacation doesn’t mean you have to sit at home and play games on your phone all day. Go see the feel good movie March of the Penguins at KidsBestFest at the Academy of Music. It’s a free film festival for...
Coming Soon: ‘Fields of Flowers’ at the Smith College Bulb Show
For those people who just can’t wait for Spring to come, there will be a sneak peek from March 3 to 18 at the Botanical Garden of Smith College, 16 College Lane, Northampton. Fields of Flowers: The Annual Spring Bulb Show will be open to all. Right now, the...
Workers plan Greenfield rally to defend public sector union rights
Unionized workers in the Pioneer Valley are rallying together to support workers rights on Monday, Feb. 26, at Greenfield Community College at 3:30 p.m. as part of a national Workers’ Day of Action in which thousands of workers across the country are expected to speak...
Video Podcast: Keep Your Cruiser Clean; Lainey and Michelle are Coming to Your Town
Lainey Wood and Michelle Pontbriant have a mission — they want to visit, photograph, and fully experience all 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts. Since 2014, they have embarked on Lainey and Michelle’s Photo Safari, and have about 120 under their belt, mostly...
The V-Spot: Friends with Bad Benefits
Hi Yana, I have a conundrum! I recently started going on dates with a friend of a friend, and it wasn’t until our third date last week that I realized that, as much as I like them, I don’t think I’m sexually attracted to them. We’ve known each other for about a year...
Pick of the Day 2/19: Hidden Figures at Amherst Cinema
Hidden Figures As Elon Musk’s Space X program soars, NASA’s illustrious history seems a little dull. One way to put back the shine is to see Hidden Figures, the three time Oscar nominated film starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae....
Free Will Astrology: Aries, It’s Wild Card Season for You
ARIES (March 21-April 19): When you’re playing poker, a wild card refers to a card that can be used as any card the cardholder wants it to be. If the two of hearts is deemed wild before the game begins, it can be used as an ace of diamonds, jack of clubs, queen...
Cinemadope: Oscar Shorts at the Berkshire Museum
The dust may finally be settling on the latest Super Bowl — at least outside of Philly — but for film fans, it’s the coming weeks that are the lead-up to the biggest contest of all: the Oscars. The 90th Academy Awards ceremony is set to go off on the first Sunday of...
Activists Claim Police Violated Safe Springfield Resolution with Immigrant Detention
A simple traffic violation has added fuel to an ongoing conflict over the role that police in Springfield should play in immigration enforcement. A group of activists and a city councilor believe that Springfield police violated a City Council resolution forbidding...
Pick of the Day 2/18: Liz Longley at Iron Horse
Liz Longley A subtle Sunday is in order. Go check out Berklee College of Music graduate and award-winning songwriter, Liz Longley. Longley performs at the Iron Horse Music Hall. Some think of Shawn Colvin or Paula Cole when they think of Langley, but recognize she...
Northampton Event Encourages Women Activists to Speak Up
The day after Donald Trump’s election in 2016, corporate communications trainer Cathy McNally vowed to join activist communities to oppose the conservative forces that got him elected. Founder and CEO of the Women Speak Up organization, she realized that it was...
Pick of the Day 2/17: Nicholas Ryder Quintet at the Bing
Nicholas Ryder Quintet at the Bing Arts Center It’s a good night to check in at the Bing Arts Center and warm up with some cool jazz. Nicholas Ryder Quintet will dig into some songbook standards and tunes by the legendary likes of “Long Tall Dexter”...
New Year’s Cold Snap Still Affecting People’s Pocketbooks in Western Mass
Shelley Svoboda, 64, lives in the big old house in Amherst in which she grew up. “It’s cold and drafty. The insulation hasn’t been up upgraded since the 1970s,” she said. She heats with oil, and even though she keeps her thermostat set firmly...
Undocumented Hampshire Student to Walk 250 Miles for Immigrant Rights
Representing the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, 11 undocumented individuals will walk from New York City to Washington, D.C., starting Thursday, Feb. 15. Among them will be Eduardo Samaniego, 25, of Amherst. Samaniego is in his...
V-Spot: How Do I Tell Someone I Have a Sexually Transmitted Infection?
Hi Yana, I recently found out after my 21-year pap smear that I carry HPV (human papillomavirus). It’s incredibly annoying that even though I’ve been tested all my life, a very common STI can still be transferred to me. It was also troubling that after...
Pick of the Day 2/15: Foghorn String Band at the Parlor Room
Foghorn String Band at the Parlor Room Listening to the Foghorn String Band is like pulling out your great grandma’s handmade heirloom quilt. It’s American roots music drawn from bluegrass, classic country, and Cajun musical traditions. The band has...
VIDEO: Bunnies on Valley Advocate Sessions Friday
Bunnies is a band that’ll take you on a psychedelic voyage of experimental rock. Check out a teaser for the band’s full Valley Advocate Sessions performance, which will be released this Friday.
Valley Advocate Q&A with indie folk violinist and virtuoso whistler Andrew Bird
Indie rock and folk singer-songwriter Andrew Bird makes what he calls “three-dimensional music” – a mixture of violin, guitar, and virtuoso whistling, combined with intricate looping pedals. Bird has released more than a dozen albums since starting his solo...
A Sneak Peek inside MGM’s new Casino Career Training Institute in Springfield
This summer or early fall, MGM’s $950 million resort-style casino is set to open in the heart of downtown Springfield, but before that happens the casino needs to hire 450 table game dealers, which is where the Massachusetts Casino Career Training Institute comes into...
Valley Show Girl: The Brian and Vicky Show at 7B’s in Westfield
With that typical New England ice storm still fresh in the air, I had Vanilla Ice’s Ice Ice Baby in my head all day. Walking into 7B’s Bar and Grill in Westfield to hear the classic Johnny Cash tune The Ballad of Jesse James was all it took … poof! be gone Ice...E-Edition
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