Newsletter
by From Our Readers | Dec 19, 2016 | Articles, Featured, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Hey, Trump: Labor Secretary Should Champion Workers President-elect Trump just selected Andrew Puzder as his nominee for Secretary of Labor. Unfortunately, as the CEO of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., Puzder holds a record of opposing the economic agenda demanded by the...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 19, 2016 | Articles, News, Newsletter
If you’ve never checked out Western Mass Missed Connections on Craigslist, you really should. The forum is filled with wistful glances, hopeful romantics, and some great drama. The following is a compilation from last week’s forum posts, with the date of...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Dec 19, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
Hi, Yana! I’m a 22-year-old woman in a hetero relationship with a guy I’ve been seeing for almost a year. We have a loving and communicative sex life, but are perplexed by a persisting issue! When we are fooling around, he occasionally ejaculates early...
by Kristin Palpini | Dec 19, 2016 | Articles, Featured, Food + Booze, News, Newsletter, Taste-Off!
The winter holiday season is the best time for fudge. It’s a season of indulgence and sharing and sweets and fun — that’s what fudge is all about. Stock up on some now and hand out pounds of rich, creamy, gooey goodness as presents or keep it home and eat it sliver by...
by Chuck Shepherd | Dec 19, 2016 | Articles, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
Radical Dentistry Radical dentistry was on display in November in London’s Science Gallery, where installations offered “art-science collaborations” — including Taiwan artist Kuang-Yi Ku’s “Fellatio Modification Project.” Former dentist Ku, complaining that textbooks...
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 Hunter Styles | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Stage
Company Time Before her days as the head of Northampton’s School for Contemporary Dance and Thought, Jen Polins directed the Catalyst dancers at South Hadley’s Pioneer Valley Performing Arts charter school for 17 years. In September, craving a return to that rewarding...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter
In “The Chemical Wedding,” local talent melds 400-year-old text with modern illustrations If the long book title, inked in faux-medieval Blackletter, didn’t give it away — let alone the robotic sheep on the back cover — The Chemical Wedding is one of the...
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 Hunter Styles | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter
Let Us Now Praise Longer Days We can probably all agree that 2016 was an exhausting year. But it’s not too late to turn this planet around. Next Wednesday marks the winter solstice — the shortest day and the longest night of the year, at least in the northern...
by Kristin Palpini | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, News, Newsletter
The UMass Labor Center has a new lease on life after facing an uncertain future due to planned cuts to its operating budget and courses available.Last week, University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy and members of the Labor Center Committee sent...
by Jack Brown | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Newsletter
When my wife and I began seeing each other — a decade ago, now — one of our early big dates was an afternoon out for a December performance of The Nutcracker, put on by the Pioneer Valley Ballet at the Academy of Music in Northampton. It felt special and somehow...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Malls reached peak radicalness in the ’80s, but we still love them. Yes, the crowds, prices, and parking can get on your nerves, but where else can you buy a puppy, an apple pie, new underwear, and get your eyebrows threaded? That’s right, the mall! Here are five...
by Matt Burkhartt and Miranda Davis | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
When Mike McCusker and Polly Anderson finished sawing down their Christmas tree, McCusker held the saw up to his nose. The heavy scent of fresh pine from the just-cut tree was just part of the appeal for the two from Shelburne Falls, who had been coming to the...
by Peter Vancini | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Like many college students in the Valley, Ellen Brancart and Lupe Valle rely on Uber — a smartphone app that allows users to catch rides from local drivers — to get around the Five College area after the buses have stopped running at night. On average, the Smith...
by Chuck Shepherd | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
American gangsters traditionally use euphemisms and nicknames (“Chin,” “The Nose”) to disguise criminal activities, but among details revealed at a November murder trial in Sydney, Australia, was that members of the “Brothers 4 Life” gang might have used “pig latin.”...
by Alicia Fuhrman | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Food + Booze, News, Newsletter
Make me something good. I used to get this request (and versions of it) often, and almost always from strangers. It was a high-turnover tourist town I worked in — most faces you’d only see for one night. But isn’t that so much of the bar experience: not knowing? The...
by Kristin Palpini | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
Good news, everyone! The U.S. just found $125 billion in surplus funds. Can you believe it? This money can help with education, scientific research, health insurance, elder care, space exploration, repairs on the nation’s crumbling bridges, improvements to our...
by Letters from our readers | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
US flag represents truths both inspiring and terrible We write to offer a veterans’ viewpoint different from those dominating the events at Hampshire College in Amherst. We are members of chapter 95, Veterans for Peace, an international veterans’ organization whose...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Dec 12, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
Hi Yana, I used to have a very toxic friendship with one of my female friends. She always made jokes at my expense, was very judgemental, temperamental, and didn’t show me much respect. I cut off ties with her, but she and my boyfriend of over two years are...
by Gary Carra | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter, Nightcrawler
Longtime radio personality Mike “Haze” DeJesus’s tale of his first meeting with Springfield-area rockers Hypnotic Kick smacks of a tacky joke set up. “Eighteen years ago, three Puerto Rican gents and an Irish lad walked into the radio station,” he recalled. “I was a...
by Hunter Styles | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Food + Booze, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
Filling a glass where Connecticut meets Mass Most night owls are easy when it comes to shifts in ambience, but I can’t say that many of us thrive under fluorescent light. That might have been why, on Wednesday afternoon, my editor found me sighing heavily at my desk....
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 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 Jack Brown | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
It was about a year ago that I stole away for a late night screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the long-awaited “Episode VII” that returned fans to the world of droids, lightsabers, and The Force. It had been an especially anticipated film due to the terrible...
by Blaise Majkowski | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
Red Riding Hood I hadn’t flown on a plane in almost 30 years. So when my family and I took our first vacation trip to Florida, naturally I was a bit nervous. The flight down was fine. Once there, our activities ranged from watching the grand fireworks finale at...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Since the election of Donald Trump, anything seems possible. Pigs can fly, hell can freeze over, your parents will apologize for that thing they did a long time ago (you know the one), ravens are writing desks, and anyone can get any job no matter how utterly...
by Sarah Crosby | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, News, Newsletter
A rocky path led veteran Mary Wilson to the doorstep of the Soldier On Women’s Program. “The gift of desperation,” she calls it. A former U.S. Marine Corps private, Wilson in July moved into the transitional housing program located on the grounds of the VA medical...
by Kristin Palpini | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Between the Lines, Columns, News, Newsletter
There is nothing more cynical than fake news. The entire concept is to play readers for suckers, manipulating the foundation of reality in exchange for cash or furthering of what is likely a heinous agenda.And the people hosting and spreading fake news online — the...
by Chuck Shepherd | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
Almost all law enforcement agencies in America use the Scott Reagent field test when they discover powder that looks like cocaine, but the several agencies that have actually conducted tests for false positives say they happen up to half the time. In October, the...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
I got pregnant this past summer after my birth control failed — I got to be part of that lucky 0.04 percent of IUD users who this happens to. I got the pregnancy terminated and all is well. Or, I guess mostly well. The issue is my partner and I have both been having...
by From Our Readers | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Forced to Fly a Flag? Editor’s Note: This letter is in response to Hampshire College’s recent decision to stop flying the American flag on campus. Shortly after receiving this letter, threats made against students, faculty, and staff were part of a decision at the...
by Naila Moreira | Dec 5, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Down to Earth, News, Newsletter
I sometimes startle people by saying I don’t have much hope for the environment. “But you’re an environmentalist!” they stutter. “Surely, you must think we can prevent nature from being destroyed? That taking action is worth it?”The other day, for instance, I chatted...
by Advocate Staff | Dec 1, 2016 | Articles, News, Newsletter
Continuing our weekly chats, the Advocate staff tackled the topic of fake news, that scourge to lovers of truth everywhere! The chat has been lightly edited. kristinpalpini (Kristin Palpini, editor): Let’s do this! So, Dave, wanna give a description of the...
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 Laura Holland | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter
They form an army you might meet in a nightmare. Nearly one thousand glazed white figurines dressed in symbols of hatred — such as swastikas or the hooded robes of the infamous Ku Klux Klan — mass together and press close. With the installation of “The Hate Project”...
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 Pete Vancini | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
A Tale of Two Cities: Murdertown and Safeville It’s a tale of two cities: one is the self-declared “Safest Large City in America” while right next door, the other has earned the dubious distinction of “Murder Capital of the World.” Director Ruben Polendo and Theater...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Everything Goes Calling all designers, makers, artists, stylists, fashionistas, tattooers, dandies, body painters, costumers, and retailers: next Thursday, Easthampton turns all of its fashion dials up to a fabulous 11. The first-ever STRUT is an all-inclusive,...
by Jack Brown | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Leisure, Newsletter
Whatever your thoughts are about the outcome of last month’s election, it seems fair to say that a Trump presidency will be less welcoming of — if not downright hostile to — many of the world’s cultures. As a film writer, that leaves me feeling both deflated (will...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
I’ve been thinking about writing to you for a long time. My husband and I are about to celebrate 11 years as a couple and we’ve been married for six. It’s been amazing and so much fun to spend all of this time on planet Earth with such a soul-mate dreamboat of a life...
by Kristin Palpini | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
Protesters clumped together like Gore-Tex penguins on the North Dakota, bridge.On Nov. 18, hundreds of people congregated at Backwater Bridge, in the path of Dakota Access Pipeline construction, to pray — and if their prayers happened to get in the way of an oil...
by Peter Vancini | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, News, Newsletter, Scene Here
Reports of hate crimes have spiked across the nation in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidential election victory, and dozens of people marched through Holyoke on the evening of Friday, Nov. 18, to protest the president elect’s campaign promises and policies that many...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Food + Booze, News, Newsletter, Wellness
Chocolate is a treat, but when you add kava, chocolate is medicine. At least that’s what Rachael Gibney, a reiki healer from Shutesbury says. She is mixing a bowl of raw cacao with ground kava at a workshop at the Bower Studio in Pelham, showing people how to make...
by Amanda Drane | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Leisure, Newsletter, Third Eye Roaming, Wellness
Studio owner Audrey Blaisdell says she fell for the yoga behind Bikram, not the “cultish belief system.” It became necessary to draw the line, she says, about a year ago. Prospective students came to fear the authoritarian reputation and mistrust the brand...
by From Our Readers | Nov 28, 2016 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Time to Unite? Was Peter Vancini’s Nov. 24-30, 2016 column “Between the Lines: One Nation Under Trump?” the kick in the pants you needed to get over your Clinton funk or the musings of a dreamer? Great thoughts on joining together at Thanksgiving instead of...
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 Yana Tallon-Hicks | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
Me and my boyfriend of two years are looking to have a threesome. We are wanting to try it with a female, and a male. We are wanting to do this to enhance our sex life, and are not looking to add anyone into our relationship. We are both very open and honest with each...
by Jack Brown | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Cinemadope, Columns, Featured, Newsletter
With Black Friday upon us this week, the maelstrom of the holiday shopping season has officially begun. Weekends will find increasingly desperate hordes descending on anything that looks like it might hold toys or electronics, toddlers will go into full meltdown mode...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
Every morning at Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II’s first order of business is to meet with her hairdresser. She drinks from bone china, eats breakfast served by footmen in tailcoats, wanders the grounds, and reads fan mail. Throughout the day, people bow. People...
by Kyle Olsen | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter
High school sucked for me. Before college, I had no friends. My days consisted of going to school, talking to almost nobody, and coming home to do almost nothing before bed.In the midst of all this nothing, I had time to think up a glamorized chain of events that I...
by Hunter Styles | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Dress to Impress Writer and director Nora Ephron passed away in 2012 at the age of 71, leaving behind a legacy of enchanting romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally… and Sleepless in Seattle. But even such a famous woman in Hollywood is not without her sleeper...
by Kristin Palpini | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Leisure, News, Newsletter, O Cannabis!
If you get up real close to the New England Treatment Access medical marijuana dispensary in Northampton, you can smell the earthy aroma of cannabis through the brick walls. Established in 2015, NETA’s Conz Street dispensary is, so far, the only medical Mary Jane shop...
by Chuck Shepherd | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Featured, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
While “democracy” in most of America means electing representatives to run government, on Nov. 8 in San Francisco it also expected voters to decide 43 often vague, densely worded “issues” that, according to critics, could better be handled by the professionals who...
by From Our Readers | Nov 21, 2016 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Enough Disappointment to Go AroundI was sorely dismayed by the publication of your editorial as if Hillary Clinton had won (“Between the Lines: What Might Have Been,” Nov. 9-16, 2016). I am a supporter of Mrs. Clinton, but your decision to print the column you’d hoped...
