Newsletter
by Advocate Staff | Jun 1, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter
The Valley is home to a wealth of arts and cultural events. So many, in fact, that the Advocate prints four seasonal arts preview editions every year — and really we could do one every month. This edition is all about what you can expect to see in the Valley, plus the...
by Chris Rohmann | May 30, 2017 | Arts, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
“We do on stage the things that are supposed to happen off. Which is a kind of integrity, if you look on every exit being an entrance somewhere else.” That line, spoken by a traveling player in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, could well be the elevator pitch...
by Chris Rohmann | May 28, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
In my column in last week’s Advocate, a preview of the Valley’s summer-theater season, I reported that many of the area’s upcoming shows reflect, indirectly or explicitly, “the political landscape we are all traversing these days.” Sure enough, the first two summer...
by Jack Brown | May 30, 2017 | Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Film, Newsletter
There has been a trend in Hollywood filmmaking that, for the last decade or so, has steadily changed the look of our blockbusters. It’s a pervasive change, but one that has happened gradually enough that many people aren’t even aware that it has been happening, quite...
by Advocate Staff | May 30, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Get Out With Staff Picks, Newsletter
Karaoke • Tuesday Singing karaoke with DJ Greg Reil sounds like a good way to belt out whatever is in my soul. I don’t take requests. Karaoke with Reil goes down on Tuesday nights, free, at the Platform Sports Grill and Bar, 125A Pleasant St., Northampton. — Dave...
by Jennifer Levesque | May 30, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Newsletter, Valley Show Girl
One of my all-time favorite venues to see local bands will always be Flywheel’s first location. The alternative performing arts space first opened in 1999 on Holyoke Street in downtown Easthampton. During the early 2000’s, it was my sanctuary. I met so many people in...
by Chris Goudreau | May 30, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Polka, doo-wop, jazz swing, and country western music — you wouldn’t think one band would cover these eclectic genres across six songs, but The Johnny Memphis Band, based out of Florence, does just that and more on its new record, Rarities. The sole songwriter for the...
by Chuck Shepherd | May 30, 2017 | Articles, News of the Weird, Newsletter
Goldman Sachs analyst Noah Poponak’s 98-page paper (leaked to Business Insider in April) touted the wealth obtainable by capturing the platinum reputed to be in asteroids. The costs to mine the stone (rockets, launch expenses, etc.) might have dropped recently to...
by Warren Johnston | May 30, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The Pour Man
Generally, I’m reluctant to get overly excited about wines with a cause. They often seem like gimmicky marketing ploys to promote less than stellar wines by pulling on your philanthropic heart strings. But every rule has a few exceptions: A couple of years ago I...
by Advocate Staff | May 30, 2017 | Articles, Newsletter
Leisurely Heifers Make for the Best Parades Spain may have the running of the bulls, but Vermont’s got the strolling of the heifers. What’s the rush, right? The annual Brattleboro Strolling of the Heifers is a weekend-long celebration of agriculture, art, and...
by Compiled And Illustrated By Kristin Palpini | May 30, 2017 | Articles, Missed Connections, News, Newsletter
The Missed Connections forum on Craigslist is a wasteland of terrible poetry, dick pics, and whining, but among the detritus are some truly fascinating, funny, and occasionally sweet entries. The following are highlights from the Western Mass Missed Connections forum,...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | May 30, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Editor’s Note: While V-Spot sex pert Yana Tallon-Hicks is away on vacation, the Advocate is re-running one of her most popular columns ever, a 2013 story on how to make sexual lubrication, “Farmers Lube,” using household items. On my kitchen counter is a glass jar...
by Chris Tucker, Of Holyoke | May 30, 2017 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
I started talking with a customer the other day at work. He was looking for something in the store, not sure if we had it, he may have got something else. I was in the middle of something, not in the mood to make small talk. But we started to chat. We kind of butted...
by Kristin Palpini | May 22, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Mark Guglielmo’s collages are the physical manifestation of memory. The murals seem fluid; Guglielmo play with size and scale to emphasize pieces of a scene over others. He adds details from nearby times and places into the work, much in the same way people blend...
by Lena Wilson | May 22, 2017 | Arts, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stream Queen
Graduation season is upon us, as high schoolers gear up for the next vein of adulthood and university students steel themselves for the real world, whatever that is. Fresh from a weekend of back-to-back college graduations myself, I can’t help but contemplate the...
by Chris Rohmann | May 22, 2017 | Arts, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
Editor’s Note: Here’s the Summer Stage Preview Part I, about the Berkshires. These days, Sam Rush often finds himself using the punning phrase “Home is where the art is.” That’s because his company, New Century Theatre, having lost its longtime home at...
by Jack Brown | May 22, 2017 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Newsletter
An evening in Northampton has never been boring. Meet your date for a cocktail or a glass of wine, move on to dinner at any number of downtown bites, catch a concert, go to an art opening. Stroll the streets, duck into the renovated Pulaski Park, circle Paradise Pond...
by Chris Goudreau | May 22, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Local singer-songwriter Lisa Marie Ellingsen smiles with an air of satisfaction. She’s wearing a leather jacket and flannel shirt, leaning against a rustic wooden backdrop on the front cover her new album, NoLa to NoHo. The photos were shot at the Florence Pie Bar,...
by Chris Goudreau | May 22, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
It’s surprising what you can create from seemingly broken or time weathered objects. From Brattleboro to Palmer artisans are doing just that whether it’s creating human-shaped sculptures from colored pencils wired together or a Victorian inspired lamp made from a...
by Advocate Staff | May 24, 2017 | Advocate Chat, Articles, Music, Newsletter
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): OK, so today we are talking about songs that get stuck in our heads....
by Chuck Shepherd | May 22, 2017 | Articles, News of the Weird, Newsletter
Officials in charge of a Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal heritage site recently installed “speed bumps,” similar to those familiar to Americans driving residential streets — but on a pedestrian walkway, with row upon row of risers to resemble a washboard. A Western...
by Chris Rohmann | May 15, 2017 | Arts, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
Most theaters in this region have only two seasons: summer and the rest of the year. None of the area’s professional companies are truly year-round. Some focus on intensive summer repertories of multiple shows with two- and three-week runs, while others produce only...
by Kristin Palpini | May 15, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect the proper date of the remembrance ceremony: Saturday; and provide more info on where the event will take place. The Great Falls Massacre One of the bloodiest battles during the viscous King Philips War — a...
by Jack Brown | May 15, 2017 | Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Film, Newsletter
Amherst Cinema is gearing up for the return of Special Agent Dale Cooper. Kyle MacLachlan returns to TV this week in his early role as Cooper, the FBI man who got tied up in the death of Laura Palmer and the mysteries of Twin Peaks when the show of the same name first...
by Kristin Palpini | May 15, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Newsletter
The first thing I notice walking into Historic Northampton’s gallery on Bridge Street (besides how interesting the 1800s home is) is that my interpretation of the show’s title is wrong. The exhibit, Laws Change. People Die. The Land Remains, is a collection of...
by Connolly Ryan | May 15, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
The mesmerizing reversal of icy lunacy from sitting in the long-absent sunshine is exactly what his fetus signed up for and intuited long ago in the bog of his mother’s biospheric love. The scent of soil; the touch of heat; the spectacle of black birds mirrored...
by Jennifer Levesque | May 15, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Music, Newsletter, Valley Show Girl
A couple of weeks ago on The Still’s Instagram page they posted a beautiful picture of a mint julep. I’ve never had one, but always wanted to try the drink simply because that’s what they drank in The Great Gatsby. So, when I saw that The Greys were playing at The...
by Kristin Palpini | May 15, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Valley Music Showcase Genres clash in the most melodic way possible Friday night in Easthampton. The Valley Music Showcase at the New City Brewery is a “bi-monthly mini music fest” — or as I like to call it, the Bi-Mon Min-MuFest — and it pulls from all musical...
by Kristin Palpini | May 15, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Stage
You Had Me at Giant Killer Octopus Right now, in Trump’s post-truth America, is an excellent time to stage Shipwrecked! The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as told by himself). The play is based on the grandiose stories of a Victorian huckster who fills in...
by Jennifer Levesque | May 15, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Be Still (Life), My Heart Contemporary still life artist Larry Preston paints solely for himself and what he interprets as beautiful. Beauty is often lost in ordinary objects you see all the time. Preston’s art focuses on bringing out those details and you’ll surely...
by Kristin Palpini, compiled and illustrated | May 15, 2017 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
The Missed Connections forum on Craigslist is a wasteland of terrible poetry, dick pics, and whining, but among the detritus are some truly fascinating, funny, and occasionally sweet entries. The following are highlights from the Western Mass Missed Connections forum,...
by Advocate Staff | May 15, 2017 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Hope for Better Health Care Thank you for your piece in the Advocate (“Between the Lines: With Obamacare Under Fire, Massachusetts Must Lead on Health Care — Again,” May 11-17, 2017). However, it seems from it that you may not be familiar with House Bill 2987 and...
by Jack Brown | May 8, 2017 | Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Film, News, Newsletter
For such a rich subject, films about art and the people that make it all too often feel either forced and flat or ridiculously over the top. Better, usually, to take the documentary route, and let the art speak for itself. That’s the course taken by directors Timothy...
by Kristin Palpini | May 8, 2017 | Arts, Featured, Music, News, Newsletter
Got that Galaxy Grass A Kitchen Dwellers show is a true Montana bluegrass experience … that’s been strapped to a rocket, shot into space, and looped around Saturn a few times. Dubbed “galaxy grass,” the band’s sound is high-energy and exploratory jamming with...
by Will Meyer and Nellie Prior | May 8, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, News, Newsletter
You may know Amber Wolfe. She fronted the “speakeasy, post-apocalyptic band,” O You Villain, books shows at Amherst Coffee, and is a veteran of the Institute for Musical Arts, where she found “some of the foremothers of local music.” Despite strong roots here in the...
by Kristin Palpini | May 8, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter, Stage
That’s Not an Air Guitar The national Air Sex Tournament is coming to Northampton Monday night and for anyone who thinks they’ve got the pantomime moves to beat the competition, it’s not too late to enter the foray. A fun, and funny, sex-positive show, performers get...
by Photo Illustration by Kristin Palpini | May 8, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
The Missed Connections forum on Craigslist is a wasteland of terrible poetry, dick pics, and whining, but among the detritus are some truly fascinating, funny, and occasionally sweet entries. The following are highlights from the Western Mass Missed Connections forum,...
by Kristin Palpini | May 8, 2017 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter
Occupy. A joint art show by Eric Mandeville and McKenzie Stuetzel makes a powerful statement, but only for a short time — so be sure to see it. By utilizing imagery from street art in contrasting colors, their show explores the idea of living in society, but outside...
by Kristin Palpini | May 8, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Join the Herd Quintessential ’90s folk rock band Donna the Buffalo is coming to Holyoke as part of the group’s politically-active Stampede Tour. In addition to providing groove-heavy dance-able tunes, Donna the Buffalo seeks to bring attention to the inappropriate use...
by Kristin Palpini | May 8, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter, Stage
So, You Know They Can Dance An homage to Wes Anderson’s highly stylized films and a self-reflective, choreographed spoken-word piece called “Perception” were among the performances featured in Hatchery’s debut show this winter. The pre-professional dance troupe’s...
by Blaise Majkowski | May 8, 2017 | Articles, Blaise's Bad Movie Guide, Columns, Film, Music, Newsletter
I was saddened when I heard the news that Paul O’Neil, the founder of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, had died. It seems my favorite bands have either passed away (the Ramones, the Cramps), or are eligible for AARP but continue to stumble on. In addition to Sparks and...
by Advocate Staff | May 8, 2017 | Articles, Featured, News, Newsletter
One of the proudest moments that Madeleine Charney has shared with her son, Eli, is when she got to hold up the front page of the newspaper on Nov. 7, 2015, and show him that construction of the Keystone XL pipeline had been struck down by President Obama. Charney,...
by Advocate Staff | May 9, 2017 | Articles, Get Out With Staff Picks, Music, Newsletter
The Greys at The Still in Agawam • Friday The Greys came in a couple months ago to perform a Sessions set with us and the duo had me in awe. The powerful, whispering voice of singer Cait Simpson folds perfectly inside the jazz-styled stand up bass plucking of Chris...
by Chris Goudreau | May 5, 2017 | Featured, Get Out With Staff Picks, Music, News, Newsletter
David Crosby — the founding member of legendary 1960s and 1970s rock groups such as the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, & Nash — is coming to Northampton’s Academy of Music Theatre on May 19 for a show with his electric backing band. The two-time Rock n’ Roll Hall of...
by Dave Eisenstadter | May 8, 2017 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
The Republicans did it. They cobbled together an Obamacare replacement bill so bad that they got the most conservative members of the House to vote for it — people like Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks, who implied the majority of people with pre-existing conditions have...
by Chris Goudreau | May 8, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
LATEST UPDATE: Twenty-four protesters affiliated with The Sugar Shack Alliance, a Northeast coalition that aims to disrupt the fossil fuel industry, have been arrested thus far at Otis State Forest in Sandisfield. Charges stem from allegations that protesters blocked...
by Naila Moreira | May 1, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Down to Earth, News, Newsletter
The very schools we depend on to educate our children could be making them less smart. Drinking water in schools across Massachusetts, including here in the Pioneer Valley, has been found to contain lead significantly exceeding safety standards. Lead exposure,...
by Hunter Styles | May 8, 2017 | Columns, Featured, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
In beer, as in life, context matters. If you crash a friend’s wedding in basketball shorts, you may be riding that easygoing reputation of yours a little too far. Conversely, if you’re mowing your lawn on a hot day, and you decide to dress up your lunch break by...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | May 8, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Editor’s Note: This column addresses rape, childhood sexual abuse, PTSD, and sexual orientation as a symptom of trauma. I’m in my late teens and have identified as gay/queer for the last few years. I have dated/hooked up with a few non-binary folks and trans guys, but...
by Dave Eisenstadter | May 6, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
The rain made way for the rainbows, as it always does. Not half-an-hour after the thousands of rainbow shirts, flags, balloons, and all manner of rainbow apparel hit the streets to begin the Northampton Pride Parade on Saturday, the morning’s rain was a memory...
by Kristin Palpini | May 2, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
In the last several years, Northampton Pride has been a blowout celebration of all people, places, and things LGBTQI, but this year the event is leaning more toward its political roots. They’re putting the march back into the parade, so to speak. Northampton Pride...
by Jennifer Levesque | May 1, 2017 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Valley Show Girl
The nostalgia of Pearl Street in Northampton always brings back so many MMM’s (magical music memories) from my past. The way the street light illuminates that bend in the road where the tour buses usually line up is always a happy trigger for me. We can hear the...
by Kristin Palpini | May 1, 2017 | Arts, Newsletter
Check back for the full mini concert and an interview with Lee Friday afternoon at sessions.valleyadvocate.com. Listen to past Sessions performers including Hannah & Maggie, Mammal Dap, The Suitcase Junket, Ray Mason, and The Eavesdrop Trio, head over to the...
by Kristin Palpini | May 1, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
The Thunder Down East If you hear rumblings coming from Easthampton Saturday, come running — it’s the Thunder in the Valley Festival. This all-ages event will feature rock and roll, food trucks, craft beer, wrestling — with students from Kevin Landry’s Pro Wrestling...
by Jack Brown | May 1, 2017 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
In the world of film, it is sometimes depressingly simple to point out why a given film is popular: perfectly groomed stars with gleaming teeth, things going boom, good over evil. I get it — we are, by and large, easy to please, and that’s okay. It’s just not that...
by Advocate Staff | May 1, 2017 | Articles, News, Newsletter
The Missed Connections forum on Craigslist is a wasteland of terrible poetry, dick pics, and whining, but among the detritus are some truly fascinating, funny, and occasionally sweet entries. The following are highlights from the Western Mass Missed Connections forum,...
by Advocate Staff | May 1, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Art TRACK More than 50 artists from around New England will participate in this year’s TRACK Artisan Fair in Three Rivers. The day will feature live music and food vendors. TRACK Artisan Fair: Saturday, May 6, 10 a.m. Free. Rain or shine. Palmer Historical &...
by Advocate Staff | May 1, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Get Wit It Wit may be the smartest, funniest one-act play about a woman dying of ovarian cancer. Focusing on the final hours of Dr. Vivian Bearing’s life, the English professor reflects on the similarities between how the doctors view her — as a piece of work to be...
by Advocate Staff | May 1, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter
Forever Young@Heart Young@Heart, a chorus of people age 70 and older who love singing contemporary tunes, is celebrating 35 years of belting out the hits with a show this Saturday at the Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton. Hear new arrangements of songs by...
by Advocate Staff | May 1, 2017 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
No Cars Allowed The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Bridge that connects Holyoke and South Hadley will be closed Sunday afternoon for the River Roll and Stroll open street festival. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the bridge will be open to pedestrians, bicyclists, dog-walkers,...
