Newsletter
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 26, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Leisure, Newsletter
Lyle Kleinhans focuses his work on abstract representations of people that highlight the conflicts, questions, and confidences behind their exteriors. Jagged and strict lines are offset by wildly brooding color that sucks the viewer in and haunts them long after....
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Oct 3, 2016 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
Yana, I need your expertise!I’m a 19-year-old guy in a hetero relationship. I was pleasuring my partner last night and I realized I stopped being present and could not become present again. She picked up on it and, well, I really wanted to be present for it but I...
by From Our Readers | Oct 3, 2016 | Articles, News, Newsletter
In Defense of Robert MosesLena Groeger says that Robert Moses designed public work projects to exclude and isolate specific groups of people [“Discrimination by Design: From health care to toilets to Snapchat; life is designed to benefit certain people,” Sept. 22-28,...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 26, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Leisure, Newsletter
The Wobblies in Their Heyday: The Rise and Destruction of the Indistrial Workers of the World During the WWI Era, by Eric Thomas ChesterLevellers Press, levellerspress.comIn the early 20th century, when unions in the United States were fighting pitched battles with...
by Chris Rohmann | Sep 21, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
I was intrigued by the description of The Water Project in the press release I received: “Live theater joins forces with the Pioneer Valley’s thriving independent music scene in this original immersive production. … Immerse yourself in the currents of time in this...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Film, News, Newsletter
Northampton Film FestivalSept. 28 – Oct. 2For four days, at locations across Northampton, the modern film festival will be redefined with free public screenings of films, virtual reality experiences, games, and participatory film projects.Tickets are $10 for a...
by Peter Vancini and Kyle Olsen | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Featured, Food + Booze, Leisure, Newsletter
September marks the end of the summer and evenings are starting to bring with them a subtle autumn chill. Chase it away with this month’s cocktail, a cranberry-cinnamon whiskey sour that’s sure to warm you up, brought to you by Josh Draghe, head bartender at Osteria...
by Will Meyer | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Leisure, Music, Newsletter
This Friday night, Sept. 23, there are at least six shows I want to attend. It wouldn’t be surprising if some touring band squeezes in a last-minute basement show. There are other bars and venues, too — Ben Folds is playing the Calvin, for one — and maybe a festival...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Canciones Criollas Thursday offers a festive evening of Latin food and music with Criollo Clasico Trio, one of the most eclectic Caribbean musical ensembles touring today. Sliding playfully between Latin, classical, Afro-Cuban, and jazz, the band — led by famed Puerto...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, News, Newsletter
Scent-sational The North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival markets itself as “the festival that stinks.” So really, how could we resist? But even if sniffing and hefting around bags of aromatic bulbs isn’t your idea of a fun time, there’s still good reason to hike up...
by Chris Rohmann | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Newsletter, Stage, Stagestruck
I usually find Double Edge Theatre on their home turf — at The Farm in rural Ashfield — where they live and work and, every summer, perform a “traveling spectacle” that takes audiences on an episodic journey around the spread. But last week I encountered...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Music, Newsletter, Stage
Play it Again, Sheldon John Sheldon has latched himself to so many meteoric musical acts, it’s a wonder that he hasn’t ascended beyond our earthly ears completely. Thankfully, he retains an intimate connection to the Valley, despite his years writing and playing for...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
The Other World War II Club In the years following the Allied victory in Europe, young artists came together seeking a creative space to begin again. The “Cobra” movement became that unique meeting point. Cobra artists were a diverse lot, but many shared an interest...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Between the Lines, News, Newsletter
Good God, please vote in November. If you are not yet registered, and you’re a Massachusetts resident, you have until Oct. 19 to get your registry card at any Town Hall, Registry of Motor Vehicles, or government office that provides public assistance. You can also...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, News, Newsletter, Scene Here
“The mythology is hold your nose and vote for the lesser evil and things will get better. “Lesser evil” politicians have been speaking for us and they are bought and paid for by their corporate influences consisting of “predatory banks, the fossil fuel...
by Naila Moreira | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Down to Earth, Featured, News, Newsletter
I arrive at Book and Plow Farm to find production farmer Tobin Porter-Brown on a tractor, forking a pallet of canvas sacks off a pickup truck. He’s wearing a Book and Plow shirt, khaki shorts and thick boots that will later serve him in better stead than my sandals...
by From Our Readers | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Gratitude’s Nice, Affordable Healthcare is BetterThis past Grandparents Day some grandparents across our nation might get a telephone call or a note from a loved one. It is more important to focus on more crucial issues facing older Americans.Retirement and how to...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Sep 19, 2016 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Editor’s Note: Sexual trauma addressed in this week’s column.Hi Yana,I really appreciate your column and the work that you do. I have a really embarrassing sex problem. I was sexually abused throughout various parts of my life, starting in my childhood and going into...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 12, 2016 | Articles, Featured, Food + Booze, Newsletter
Hot Diggity Could it be that the lingering heat wave of the past week was due to the potency of the peppers newly ripening at Kitchen Garden Farm in Sunderland? Probably not, but we hear these little devils are hotter than ever — and just in time for ChiliFest....
by Hunter Styles | Sep 12, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Worm, Baby, Worm Smell that brisk fall air coming down from the mountains? It’s nearly fall, which marks the return of the Worm. Now in its 18th year, the Wormtown Music Festival hosts a weekend of music on the wooded grounds of Camp Kee-Wanee on the Green River....
by Peter Vancini | Sep 13, 2016 | Articles, Featured, Leisure, News, Newsletter
Call of the wild At the edge of a shady green grove in Hadley, light streams through the forest canopy in thin shafts. It speckles the grassy floor below, where three large birds of prey sit awkwardly, tethered with thin leather straps to their short wooden perches....
by Gary Carra | Sep 12, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter, Nightcrawler
Could you be… won’t you be… my neighbor? It’s an indelible marriage of image and song performed daily by Fred Rogers on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood as he shed his business casual attire and slipped into his favorite sweater and sneaks. He was an...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Sep 12, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot, Wellness
So, I was masturbating last night and set a timer. It took me under two minutes to orgasm. However, when someone else in involved, it takes forever or doesn’t happen at all. I can count the times it’s happened on two hands.Every time I masturbate it’s like...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 12, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Film, Newsletter
Live Long This photo from the ’60s was so cute, we couldn’t not share it. It shows Adam Nimoy enjoying time with his dad, Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy. In 1966, his father originated the role of Mr. Spock, the human-alien first officer of the Starship Enterprise — a...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 12, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Hey Look, Holyoke! In his 46 years of photographing Holyoke, HCC art professor Frank Ward has expanded his initial vision of the downtown project from one portrait at a time to one street at a time. “I have seen that Holyoke offers a microcosm of the world,” he...
by Jack Brown | Sep 12, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
When your life seems fairly well set in its ways, change can be hard. Actually, change can be terrifying. You might have a family that you love and a job that you look forward to, and something can still seem not right. Accepting that — in other words, accepting our...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 12, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter
Tom Marinone Jr. grew up on Star Wars like you and I grew up on breakfast, lunch, and dinner. “I’ve been hooked ever since A New Hope came out,” he says. That was in 1977, when Marinone was six years old. Now he’s 45. When his midlife crisis came around, he knew one...
by Steve Pfarrer | Sep 12, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
MinyanBy John J. ClaytonParagon Housejohnjclayton.comJohn Clayton, professor emeritus of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has devoted much of his time in the last several years to writing short stories that have appeared in publications like...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 13, 2016 | Articles, Nerding Out, News, Newsletter
SCIENCE! It’s all around us, particularly in the Valley where members of the Knowledge Corridor continue to bang out some heady innovation. Check out what they’ve been up to lately: 14 Patents for UMass: In 2015, the state’s flagship university in Amherst received 14...
by Michael Agnello | Sep 12, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter
A new column by area students on the topics that matter to them most. Want in on this? Email editor Kristin Palpini at editor@valleyadvocate.com. A national flag is a symbol of a country’s history. In the United States, the 13 red and white stripes represent the...
by Warren Johnston | Sep 12, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Food + Booze, Leisure, Newsletter, The Pour Man
When someone suggested that I try MAN Family Wines’ Chenin Blanc, my first reaction was that I don’t like sweet wines. Although Chenin Blanc grapes are often used to make excellent sweet wines in France and elsewhere, I was assured I’d find this South African offering...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 12, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Editorial Art Did you know Cinemadope columnist Jack Brown is also a talented illustrator? See his Trump campaign poster and more Brown art at jackjohnbrown.com. The Rich Get Richer If you ask enough people in our community if they’re able to sustain...
by Jennifer Levesque and Peter Vancini | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
The Melvins occupy a strange space in the rock music landscape. They’re revered by fellow musicians and rock nerds as pioneers of the ’80s grunge rock scene, as original and weird today as they were 30 years ago, yet they fly largely under the radar of most...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter
We Kindly Stop For Emily If “poetry is everywhere; it just needs editing,” as the late, great James Tate once asserted, then we’ll never run low on good fodder for verse. What we do risk losing, from time to time, is our appreciation and respect for the eternal,...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Give Us The Funk The New Orleans jazz scene didn’t see Benny Jones coming. Back in 1977, he and members of the Tornado Brass Band created a new ensemble, called the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, with an eye to revolutionize old sounds. The music they played combined funk...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Newsletter
Full of Heart, Proud of Place The Connecticut Latino-American rights group CLARO and Hartford Capital City Pride celebrate their second annual PrideFest this weekend, which includes events in locations throughout Hartford. Although the main shindig is on Saturday...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Your Move, Pedestrians The longest-running arts festival in the Valley returns with 100 exhibitors, food vendors, and strolling musicians — all of it family-friendly and, when you stop to take a look up and down this beautiful Victorian street, really darn pretty....
by Hunter Styles | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Diving Belles If The Legible Bod(ies) take a little while to come into their own, it won’t be from lack of ambition. The new Valley-based artist collective makes dance performances “for stage, film, screen, or anywhere people will sit still long enough to watch,” and...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Don’t Use Your WordsAaron Becker’s lush, cinematic illustrations aren’t just accompaniment for written stories — in his wordless Journey trilogy of children’s books, these images capture the details of setting, character, rhythm, and plot all at once. Becker, a native...
by Jack Brown | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Cinemadope, Columns, Film, Newsletter
There’s a famous scene in Network, Sidney Lumet’s 1976 film about the state of the television industry, in which veteran newsman Howard Beale (Peter Finch), bitter about his impending dismissal in the face of declining ratings, announces to his audience that instead...
by Will Meyer | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Basemental, Columns, Featured, Music, Newsletter
Spotty Results I learned some shocking things about Spotify recently. The average employee rakes in $166,000 a year, and the highest executive compensation has increased over 300 percent since 2014, reaching as much as $18.9 million. Despite that, Spotify has never...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Featured, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Thankfully, consent is becoming a big topic on college campuses. However, most conversations about consent overfocus on the damaging outcomes of the failure to ask for consent rather than engaging students in learning the benefits of ongoing conversations about...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Between the Lines, Featured, News, Newsletter
On Aug. 21, before a month-long hiatus for HBO’s Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver spent five minutes highlighting the similarities between Donald Trump, a “racist voodoo doll made of discarded cat hair,” and the protagonist of a 1996 children’s book called The Kid...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Newsletter, Scene Here
From six directions, cars attempt to drive through the intersection at Conz and Pleasant streets in Northampton. It’s 88 degrees and the dirt kicked up by heavy machinery sticks to sweat, giving everyone a dirty looking tan. The Route 5 entryway to Paradise City is...
by Hunter Styles | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The Beerhunter
Three Cheers for the Woo The local craft beer movement has taken off in every nook and cranny of Massachusetts, and Worcester is no exception. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, since the city is the second largest in New England, and it sits along pretty much...
by Kristin Palpini | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Food + Booze, Newsletter
In the world of food, there is nothing more contentious than “traditional” Italian cooking — everyone with an ounce of olive oil in their veins thinks their family recipes are Old World classics. This is, in part, because Italian nonni rarely write down how to prepare...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter
FacebookHere are some comments in response to an expert from “Between the Lines: In Defense of Safe Spaces,” we posted on Facebook: “It’s a blessing to be somewhere — even if it’s just for an hour — where women can talk about rape culture without someone yelling about...
by Chuck Shepherd | Sep 6, 2016 | Articles, Featured, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
The recently concluded Olympics included a few of the more obscure athletic endeavors — such as dressage for horses and steeplechase for humans — but U.S. colleges compete in even less-heralded “sports,” such as wood chopping, rock climbing, fishing, and broomball....
by Hunter Styles | Aug 29, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Seth in the City Billy Flynn sings his smarmy way through Chicago with the promise of razzle dazzle. “Give ’em an act with lots of flash in it,” he croons, “and the reaction will be passionate.” The Seth Show, by contrast, pulls no theatrics. Seth Lepore is up...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 29, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter, Stage
Downtown Northampton’s biggest — and possibly last — public performing arts space is a real beauty: a 4,000 square foot, high-ceilinged room where local Freemasons used to hold community gatherings over a century ago. Completed in 1898, it takes up much of the fourth...
by Kristin Palpini | Aug 30, 2016 | Articles, College Survival Guide, News, Newsletter
You’ve checked into your dorm and met your roommate, scoped out the campus and located the halls where you’ll have your first classes. It’s time to get off campus and explore this new place called the Pioneer Valley where you’ll likely be spending the next four years...
by Peter Vancini | Aug 29, 2016 | Articles, Food + Booze, Leisure, News, Newsletter, Wellness
A guide to summer cocktails from the garden It’s hard to imagine a better way to top off an afternoon in the garden than by settling into a lawn chair with a refreshing summer cocktail and admiring your work. Even better if you can actually harvest a few ingredients...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 29, 2016 | Articles, Arts, Newsletter
Food and Family, A Stone’s Throw Away Community is everything at the Stone Soul Festival in Springfield, a celebration that began in 1989 as a Mason Square neighborhood picnic. Since then, it’s evolved into a three-day event that its organizers claim is New England’s...
by Hunter Styles | Aug 29, 2016 | Articles, Newsletter
Pork it Over Don’t sit around and do nothing on Labor Day weekend — give your stomach (and heart, and arteries) some love to labor over. The Student Prince hosts a two-day pig roast and barbecue with pig-inspired food, bacon-infused drinks, games, and live...
by Peter Vancini | Aug 29, 2016 | Articles, News, Newsletter, Wellness
If you caught much of the Rio Olympics this summer, you may have noticed a blitz of sports beverage commercials featuring Olympic athletes like boxer Shakur Stevenson swilling fluorescent blue Powerade, or Usain Bolt and Serena Williams pushing Gatorade. Aside from a...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Aug 29, 2016 | Articles, Columns, Newsletter, The V-Spot
Hi Yana,I’m a straight 20-something lady and have been with my boyfriend for two years. We have a great sex life and we’re totally in love! He doesn’t seem to have much of an interest in my vagina — and my vagina, in my mind, is kinda the main thing...
by Kristin Palpini | Aug 29, 2016 | Articles, Between the Lines, College Survival Guide, News, Newsletter
The University of Chicago may have sent one of the most bizarre and shady freshmen welcome letters I’ve ever seen, when they mailed the missives to the class of 2020 last week.The main thrust of the letter isn’t to welcome but to put freshmen on notice that the...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 29, 2016 | Articles, Letters from our Readers, News, Newsletter
Avoid GMOs; go organic Farmers have increased their pesticide use on GMO crops three-fold compared to standard conventional use; that’s enough reason to avoid GMOs (“Vermont’s Short-Lived GMO Experiment” Aug. 11-17, 2016). Most GMOs (genetically modified organisms)...
by Chuck Shepherd | Aug 29, 2016 | Articles, News, News of the Weird, Newsletter
The phenomenal Japanese singer Hatsune Miku — 100 million YouTube hits — is coming off of a sold-out, 10-city North American concert tour with high-energy audiences — blocks-long lines to get in; raucous crowd participation; hefty souvenir sales — except that “she”...
by Amanda Drane | Aug 29, 2016 | Articles, Columns, News, Newsletter, Third Eye Roaming, Wellness
Mindfulness, or the practice of being completely aware of everything happening in the present moment, can serve as the path to a peaceful world. That person in your life attacking you? Perhaps it is because they are threatened by you. That man who sexually harasses...