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by Advocate Staff | Sep 29, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Music, Stage, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Like so many other arts venues, the Fine Arts Center at the University of Massachusetts had to resort to online productions during the worst of the pandemic. As FAC Director Jamilla Deria told the Gazette at the time, planning for the...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 29, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Staff Picks, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer From the pages of a 17th century Algonquin-language Bible, to a 2021 painting that celebrates the majesty of whales, a new exhibit at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College devoted to Native American art is built around the theme of...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 22, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Music, Staff Picks, Stage, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Max Roach is celebrated as one of the most influential drummers in jazz history, a pioneer of Bebop who led groundbreaking ensembles in every decade of his long career. As a drummer and a composer, he’s credited with making drums a more...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 22, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Music, Uncategorized
By MADDIE FABIAN Staff Writer As many Easthampton residents do, Marjory Zaik has deep ties to the historic New City Neighborhood. A 1930s family photograph pictures her aunts Stella and Helen laughing while cheerfully leaning against the rail of their Federal Street...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 22, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer The Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour, in which potters in the region open their studios to visitors, has been a staple in the Valley for almost 20 years. Now the Hilltown Open Studio Tour is making its move to become a mainstay annual event. The...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 8, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Music, News, Podcast, Stage, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRERStaff Writer Musicians are always looking for another venue to play. Actors and playwrights search for a new place to stage a show. Dancers want another floor to move on. At Holyoke Media, they all can find room. The independent, nonprofit...
by Advocate Staff | Sep 8, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Leisure, Staff Picks, Uncategorized
By DON STEWART For the Advocate A short drive from downtown Lenox, you travel past ornamental wrought iron gates and enter into the former Gilded Age estate of “Brookhurst.” You’re first greeted by a voluptuous two-and-a-half-ton reclining female figure sculpted by...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 25, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Music, News, Staff Picks, Stage, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Joe Farnsworth was 10 or 11 when he got the chance to meet a drumming legend: Max Roach. It was at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in 1979, where Roach taught. Farnsworth, who grew up in South Hadley, remembers how one of his...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 25, 2023 | Featured, Uncategorized
By EMILY THURLOW For the Advocate At one point or another, you’ve likely overheard someone mention “Pagans” in a conversation. Those not in the know might feel an immediate sense of skepticism upon hearing the word. It might even elicit fear for some who link Paganism...
by Monte Belmonte | Aug 25, 2023 | Featured, Food + Booze, Monte Belmonte Wines, Uncategorized
By MONTE BELMONTE For the Advocate As someone who worked for a music radio station in western Mass for twenty years, I was ashamed to admit that I had never been to Tanglewood. And as someone who is a day-drinking, BYOB loving, wine-snobby bon vivant, I am even more...
by Jennifer Levesque | Aug 25, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Mixtape, Music, Review, Staff Picks, Stage, Uncategorized
By JENNIFER LEVESQUE For the Advocate Years ago, the late musician Ted Pratt made a Facebook post stating he wanted to start a thrash band and call it “Uzi Jacuzzi.” Intrigued, vocalist and guitarist Tristan Jorud reached out to Pratt and the two got together that...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 11, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Staff Picks, Stage, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Edgy. Sardonic and deadpan. Willing to joke about difficult subjects. Willing to joke about himself. As Sam Morril sees it, pretty much anything is fair game for comedy, at least as an antidote to the news and to life in general. “It’s a...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 11, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Stage, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Over the years, the Valley has sent some talented playwrights into the world — the late Wendy Wasserstein, a Mount Holyoke College graduate, is one notable name — but few can rival the success of Annie Baker, the 1999 Amherst Regional...
by Advocate Staff | Aug 4, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Music, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer July was a challenging month for outdoor music shows, with the heavy rain that flooded local farms and roads also washing out some concerts and threatening others. Organizers for upcoming music festivals in Easthampton are hoping things...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 31, 2023 | Food + Booze, Review, Staff Picks, Uncategorized
By DOMENIC POLI STAFF WRITER To all of you out there reading this online or in print, there is something I desperately need to confess: For a portion of my July, I have been drinking on the job. But, in my defense, my editor told me to. The number of craft breweries...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 31, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Music, Review, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER STAFF WRITER Several years ago, Grayson Ty and Laura Buchanan first met as separate working musicians. That night, Ty, a singer-songwriter, was co-billed at the Iron Horse Musical Hall in Northampton with Eavesdrop, then an acoustic folk-pop trio that...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 17, 2023 | Columns, Featured, Food + Booze, Food Booze and Beyond, Review, Staff Picks, Uncategorized
By ROBIN GOLDSTEIN For the Advocate I don’t know anything about weed gummies. I warned my editors about this. They shrugged and reminded me that I was a food columnist, so gummies were my territory. I nodded slowly. My gummy quest began with an educational visit to a...
by Jennifer Levesque | Jul 17, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Uncategorized
By JENNIFER LEVESQUE For the Advocate I pry my body up from my laid back lounge chair that was holding me for the last 53 minutes and 41 seconds, and grab a sweater – suddenly chilled to the bone. I then check out my reflection in the mirror and wipe away my...
by Monte Belmonte | Jul 17, 2023 | Monte Belmonte Wines, Uncategorized
By MONTE BELMONTE For the Advocate I suppose it is possible that you are turning the pages of this paper and reading this wine column at the same time you are drinking wine. But that seems highly unlikely (perhaps only slightly more unlikely than you turning pages and...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 17, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Uncategorized
By JARICE HANSON For the Advocate ‘The Happiest Man on Earth,” Barrington Stage Company’s first production of the season on the St. Germain Stage, leaves the audience breathless with the story of a Holocaust survivor. The show closed June 17, but the script is...
by Advocate Staff | Jul 17, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Music, Uncategorized
By MELISSA KAREN SANCES For the Advocate When it was time for the hip hop tribute at this year’s Grammys, Black Thought took center stage to introduce his girl: “Fifty years ago, a street princess was born to be an icon. The art form took the entire world by storm....
by Emily Thurlow | May 2, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
Finding mental health support can be tricky, but can be even more so when you can’t find a therapist who looks like you or shares in a similar life experience. With the lack of clinical representation and cultural competency in the field, Black, Indigenous and People...
by Kate Ashford | May 2, 2023 | Uncategorized
NerdWallet Many older adults are using medical marijuana to treat a variety of conditions, but experts say that conflicting laws, unclear safety standards and complicated rulemaking processes mean it could be years before Medicare may cover the drug.One in five...
by Jennifer Levesque | May 2, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Music, Uncategorized
“Do you want to absorb the musical equivalent of a York Peppermint Patty? A rich, chocolatey yet also refreshingly minty sensation that filters through your nervous system like a blast of Arctic air to every forgotten corner of your body and soul?” The press release...
by Advocate Staff | May 2, 2023 | Uncategorized
Amherst 1 Mass Alternative Care Inc. 55 University Dr.413-377-6240 massaltcare.com 2 Pleasantrees422 Amity St.413-213-5055enjoypleasantrees.com/ ma/amherst 3 Red Cardinal328 College St.413-253-1733red-cardinal.com 4 Rise Holdings 169 Meadow...
by Monte Belmonte | May 2, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines, Uncategorized
Perhaps it’s an exaggeration to call it a genius move. But about 15 years ago I institutionalized a weekly wine tasting into my job as a radio host. Every Thursday afternoon at 12:30, I would descend the stairs into the basement of State Street Fruit Store, Deli Wines...
by Jarice Hanson | May 2, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
Editor’s note: The Advocate is pleased to introduce a new theater writer. Jarice Hanson was a professor in the Department of Communication at UMass Amherst, and has been active in theater in the Valley and beyond for over 30 years. She’s a member of AEA, the...
by Bob Flaherty | May 2, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
“It was my duty,” said UMass junior Liz Mawrey, upon taking the reins of a legendary but nearly dormant outfit that fought to reform brutal and inane marijuana laws for over 30 years. In the fall of 2021 a post appeared in the Campus Pulse looking for people to join...
by Advocate Staff | Apr 6, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Film, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Years ago, when he signed up to take an online screenwriting class taught at Holyoke Community College, Nathan Graham Davis had no idea he might find himself eventually penning the script for a Hollywood thriller. And Davis, who lives in...
by Advocate Staff | Apr 5, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
By SCOTT MERZBACH Staff Writer BELCHERTOWN — In the summer of 1971, Michael Corbett, a visitor to the Stone House Museum, arriving with his girlfriend, signed the guestbook and toured the historic building at a time when it still housed three antique powder horns,...
by Melissa Karen Sances | Mar 8, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
It’s the coldest night of the season, so cold that the wind stings, so cold that our photographer’s lenses need time to thaw, so cold that from the bar of the Marigold, you can’t see the street because the doors are coated in ice. But inside. Inside is a window into...
by Bob Flaherty | Mar 8, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
As we settle into this brave new world that has us purchasing pot as naturally as picking up doughnuts Sunday morning, there are a lot of people, then and now, who never cared much for the “purchasing” part. Whether it be at that nice clean dispensary down the street...
by Monte Belmonte | Mar 8, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines, Uncategorized
Don’t believe everything you read. As a matter of fact, stop reading this right now or you could be subject to the persuasion of the published word. However, if you find comfort or guidance from others’ opinions, especially when it comes to wine, read on. When you...
by Steve Pfarrer | Mar 8, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
When Barack Obama was elected president in Nov. 2008, Ousmane Power-Greene recalls having a terrible thought: that a racist might try to assassinate America’s first Black president, or maybe his whole family. Perhaps that was an overly morbid vision, Power-Greene...
by Advocate Staff | Mar 8, 2023 | Uncategorized
A couple years ago, Forbes Library received a $10,000 donation from a donor who wanted to remain anonymous but also wanted the money used for a very specific purpose: to broaden the Northampton library’s permanent art collection.More specifically, says Lisa Downing,...
by Advocate Staff | Mar 8, 2023 | Uncategorized
Amherst 1 Mass Alternative Care Inc. 55 University Dr.413-377-6240 massaltcare.com 2 Pleasantrees422 Amity St.413-213-5055enjoypleasantrees.com/ ma/amherst 3 Red Cardinal328 College St.413-253-1733red-cardinal.com 4 Rise Holdings 169 Meadow...
by Steve Pfarrer | Mar 8, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
It’s no secret that the U.S. railroad system, which a century ago had the largest passenger service in the world, looks very different today. Though the nation’s freight system is still significant, passenger service has long since been eclipsed by automobile and...
by Jennifer Levesque | Mar 8, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
It’s been just about three years since COVID made its appearance, and life as we all knew it changed its course. You still see people wearing masks outside their houses and there are more people who don’t leave the house much at all these days. For instance, I have...
by Advocate Staff | Feb 9, 2023 | Arts, Featured, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer A couple years ago, Forbes Library received a $10,000 donation from a donor who wanted to remain anonymous but also wanted the money used for a very specific purpose: to broaden the Northampton library’s permanent art collection. More...
by Advocate Staff | Feb 9, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer In a long career that’s seen him win a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, and a boatload of praise, Williamsburg writer Tracy Kidder has tackled a number of different subjects: the computer revolution, elementary schools, civil war...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 31, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Review, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Robert Harris is the author of a slew of bestselling thrillers and historical novels, covering ancient Rome, World War II, contemporary politics and more. According to one count, he’s sold over 10 million copies of his books, a number of...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 31, 2023 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Time was when Rachel Portesi did much of her photography using Polaroid film. She loved the immediacy of the image, the way each photo was different and often didn’t quite match what her eye had seen, and what she calls “the feeling of...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 27, 2023 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Uncategorized
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer A few years ago, Luc Abbott, a marketing consultant who works with various clients in the area, decided to produce an online guide of regional businesses and organizations that, broadly speaking, embodied progressive values and...
by Emily Thurlow | Jan 13, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
For the better part of the last 36 years, all the world’s been a stage for Chris Rohmann. The Advocate’s longtime theater critic has had a front seat view to thousands of plays in the Valley. With that seat, he has penned his perspective on performances, previewed...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 13, 2023 | Uncategorized
Amherst 1 Mass Alternative Care Inc. 55 University Dr.413-377-6240 massaltcare.com 2 Pleasantrees422 Amity St.413-213-5055enjoypleasantrees.com/ ma/amherst 3 Red Cardinal328 College St.413-253-1733red-cardinal.com 4 Rise Holdings 169 Meadow...
by Max Bowen | Jan 13, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
November 2018 was a momentous time for Massachusetts. That’s when the state officially joined the retail marijuana business, some two years after voters said they were cool with recreational cannabis sales by overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure. Northampton,...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 13, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines, Monte Belmonte Wines, Uncategorized
Earlier this month, I quit my job — a job that I still very much loved — in an effort to bring myself into a better work/life balance. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made. When I walked out of the office for the last time, I went home and opened a...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 13, 2023 | Uncategorized
I filed my first article for the Advocate in May 1986. This one is my last.After 36 years and some 2,000 reviews, previews, features, interviews and musings, I’m giving up my ticket to the critic’s proverbial aisle seat and taking my place in line at the box...
by Advocate Staff | Jan 13, 2023 | Articles, Featured, The V-Spot, Uncategorized
Hi Yana, I have no problem with giving myself an orgasm with a vibrator on my clit, but I’ve never managed to orgasm with a partner. I’m OK with that — I’ve greatly enjoy partnered sex without orgasm, but I’d love to broaden my orgasmic horizons. Even bringing the...
by Steve Pfarrer | Jan 13, 2023 | Articles, Featured, Music, Uncategorized
When she looks back at how her band first found its footing, Nerissa Nields sees one club in particular at the center of that story: the Iron Horse Music Hall. From the time The Nields, the Valley folk-rock band, formed in the early 1990s, the Iron Horse became the...
by Chris Rohmann | Dec 13, 2022 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck, Uncategorized
One night last month I was at the Academy of Music for a show, and there, behind the concession stand, was Nikki Beck. “Are there three of you?” I asked, amazed. She laughed and said, “Probably.” Nikki is one of the busiest theater people around. You’ll never see her...
by Chris Rohmann | Dec 4, 2022 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Review, Stage, Stagestruck, Uncategorized
In this season of entertainments that cater to our appetite for cozy tradition (I’m talking about you, Nutcracker, Messiah and Christmas Carol), two shows next weekend hit the nostalgia nerve from a different angle, adding a holiday-themed sequel to a classic love...
by Steve Pfarrer | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Arts, Featured, News, Uncategorized
Growing up in Springfield, Aprell May knew a few bits and pieces about her Native American ancestry. But it was not something that family members talked about much. In fact, May says that for years she thought of herself as a “Lost Bird” or a “Missing Feather”...
by Advocate Staff | Nov 2, 2022 | Uncategorized
Amherst 1 Mass Alternative Care Inc. 55 University Dr.413-377-6240 massaltcare.com 2 Pleasantrees422 Amity St.413-213-5055enjoypleasantrees.com/ ma/amherst 3 Red Cardinal328 College St.413-253-1733red-cardinal.com 4 Rise Holdings 169 Meadow...
by Brian Steele | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
City councilors have begun to gather public input on the subject of imposing a cap on the number of marijuana dispensaries that are allowed to open in Northampton, including Florence and Leeds, but action on any formal proposal is not yet in sight. The City...
by Jennifer Levesque | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music, Uncategorized
The dose of nostalgia you get from toy gawking — in my opinion — is like no other. Whenever I’m on a Walmart or Target run, I have a tendency to gravitate toward the toy aisles to see what new Marvel action figures line the shelves – yes, I am that person. This time...
by Yana Tallon-Hicks | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Featured, The V-Spot, Uncategorized
Editor’s note: this article originally ran June 10, 2019. Hi Yana, Over the course of the last couple months my partner’s sex drive has slowly fallen off, and is now creating tension in our relationship. We’ve been together for nine months, and...
by By Monte Belmonte | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Featured, Monte Belmonte Wines, Monte Belmonte Wines, Uncategorized
While getting out my glasses (wine glasses, not reading glasses) and preparing to write this column, I had a new email message from the mailing list of Four Seasons Wine & Liquors in Hadley. While most of their subject lines read “For The Woman You Love: Wine...
by Chris Rohmann | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Stagestruck, Uncategorized
Next month on area stages (and a screen), three shows featuring women front and center, bucking prejudice, expectations, even labels. Plus, a musical farce with a woman in a beard. That one first. “Die Fledermaus,” the fall offering from Valley Light Opera, is the...
by Max Bowen | Nov 2, 2022 | Articles, Featured, Uncategorized
From giving Springfield residents the chance to start a career in the cannabis industry to giving back to the city, Payton Shubrick has a number of goals as the owner of 6 Brick’s, one of the city’s recent dispensaries to open. The business is named for the...
