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VALLEY SHOW GIRL: ‘Short Stay’ Here For Long Haul
About a month ago, Valley musician Nate Martel came into the Advocate office to drop off his debut solo album “Short Stay.” Being a fan of his role in rock group, Outer Stylie, I was pumped to get the CD into my car as soon as I left work. And that I did. Recorded at...
Free Will Astrology: Leos Probably Won’t Date Models or Millionaires
ARIES (March 21-April 19): I hope that everything doesn’t come too easily for you in the coming weeks. I’m worried you will meet with no obstructions and face no challenges. And that wouldn’t be good. It might weaken your willpower and cause your puzzle-solving skills...
Stagestruck: Babylon in Vermont
As artists, how can one watch the millions of refugees fleeing Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, not to mention countries in Africa and Asia, and not want to address this issue? That question provoked the latest handmade production from Sandglass Theater, the world-class...
Reverend Dan and the Dirty Catechism on Advocate Sessions Stage
Reverend Dan and the Dirty Catechism, Springfield-based preacher rock n’ roll with a side of post punk. BONUS: Reverend Dan and the Dirty Catechism interview: Check out our past Sessions performers, including Seth Newton, Old Flame, Shokazoba, and Tang...
Cinemadope: Missing the Warm and Fuzzies?
At the Headfort School in Kells, Ireland, two of the school’s most popular teachers are getting ready to retire. The husband and wife team have been educating and inspiring children for almost half a century, and their example — and what the possibility of their...
Parlicium on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Local indie folk trio, Parlicium, performed on the Valley Advocate Sessions stage on August 15. The band has roots in acoustic folk rock and was one of five bands to perform at the Green River Fest 2017’s Next Wave Stage. Interview with Parlicium: Like what you’re...
CANCELLED Valley Advocate Sessions LIVE performance July 12
Unfortunately, we had to cancel the live show due to thunderstorms. Sessions will no longer be open to the public tonight. Hopefully we can plan another event sometime soon!
Advocate Sessions Tease: Sodada
Sodada is a quintet that plays dreamy jazz meets soulful punk rock. Stay tuned for the band’s full performance out this Friday. Can’t wait for Friday to see more Sessions? Check out some local bands now.
Seth Newton on The Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Check out local singer/songwriter and powerhouse alternative rock vocalist Seth Newton perform for the Valley Advocate Sessions recorded on May 30 at the Valley Advocate Offices. BONUS: Interview with Seth Newton Like what you’re listening to? Check out the Valley...
Stagestruck: “Million Dollar” Duo
As it happens, two different productions of the same show open on area stages on the same day this week. On Wednesday, Million Dollar Quartet premieres in the Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge, and the Majestic Theater in West Springield...
Back Talk
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...
The DO NOT WATCH List
This week, our resident Stream Queen Lena Wilson offers a journey into some high-minded flicks beyond old Cheech and Chong movies (see pg. 18). But Advocate staff thought it equally important to share a blacklist of movies and TV shows to avoid when high — at...
WMass Metal: The Valley’s Diverse Scene Rises AGAIN
Wesley Jillson has been a part of the local metal music scene since the ’80s. He saw Western Mass area metal rise to national prominence in the ’90s, then fade away by 2010.At the fifth annual Promoterhead show at the 13th Floor Music Lounge in Florence in early...
Memory Games
This year’s National Theatre Live season opens with a contemporary classic and continues with another one, followed by fresh productions of three canonical works. The first is Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land, coming this Saturday from the London stage to the Amherst...
Show Us Your Tattoos
If you’ve ever seen a jumping cow, then you’ve been in the right place at the right time. It’s quite a spectacle to see a big, meaty rectangle defying gravity. This tattoo on my left forearm of a young jumping bull reminds me to embody spontaneous...
Know Your Drones
Small UAVs come in all shapes and sizes with models varying by application. Here are a few of the designs you’re likely to see overhead sometime soon. Multicopters are the most well-known and most popular. This DJI Phantom series quadcopter is a...Call of the Wild
Master Falconer Chris Davis is on a mission to help you understand birds of prey by letting you join the hunt 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...
Taste-Off: Crunchies for the Munchies
One classic question among lazy, hungry people goes like this: if you had to pick one food to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be? It’s a fun question — and, if the Trumpocalypse triggers the end of global food supply lines, possibly a relevant one. But...
The Pour Man: Special Night? Try an Oregon Noir
Erath Oregon Pinot Noir is priced above my usual comfort level, but so are most exceptional Pinot Noirs from Oregon. So, without hesitation, I recommend Erath as an excellent choice for those special occasions when you don’t want to break the bank on a fine wine or...
The V-Spot: New Pornographer Interested in Sex Ed
Hi Yana! I saw your TEDx talk in Vienna and was copiously taking notes. The content was an eye-opener for me. I had never thought that both of our basic information sources about sex [school-sanctioned sex education and online pornography] are running their very own...
Local Artist Q&A: Scout Cuomo
Leading Light Scout Cuomo finds inspiration along a vivid spectrum Rivers and forests, serene and idyllic. Portraits of swimmers in neon acrylic. Sculptures and painted glass mounted with string. These are a few of Scout’s favorite things. And the body of work grows...
Author Q&A: Scott Haas Explores Achievement Among Indian Americans
A Sea of Stories “There came a point where I got tired of hearing, ‘Why is your English so good?’ I felt like a novelty at times. But now it’s better.” – Vaishali Sinha, filmmaker “Because I grew up in India, I have comfort...
Lionel Smit’s South African Portraits
Windows InwardOne of South Africa’s most noteworthy young artists, Lionel Smit creates sculptures and paintings on canvas — done in bronze or in painted resin — that manifest his ongoing fascination and respect for the indigenous peoples of his country, notably the...
Tonight: Eavesdrop Trio plays Brattleboro
Sweet and Lowdown Fans of acts like The Civil Wars, Fleetwood Mac, and The Lone Bellow would do well to cozy up with some recordings by the Northampton-based Eavesdrop Trio — or, better yet, check them out live in Brattleboro this Thursday. Musicians Kara Rose...
Texas Roadhouse and the End of America
My gut told me that I should tune in to the Republican Convention last Thursday night for Donald Trump’s acceptance speech. So I tried, but I just couldn’t hack it. Every time the Donald opens his mouth for another ramped-up round of free-associative shouting, my...
The CityBlock Summer Concert Series is back! Again.
Springfield’s Summer Concert Series at Stearns Square has undergone its fair share of transformations since it was founded in 1999. The latest happened last year when the concert series shed its title as the Stearns Square Concert Series and reclaiming its original...
Up Next at Stearns Square
Member Login Username: Password: JULY 21 The Machine performs Pink FloydThis four-member tribute band has played theaters, casinos, and festivals across the country for 25 years. Plenty of needed time to practice, given Pink Floyd’s rather jaw-dropping 16-album...
Flashback: Stearns Square Over Time
1881 — Chester W. Chapin, a railroad tycoon and congressman from Springfield, commissions renowned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to create a bronze statue of his ancestor and early city settler, Deacon Samuel Chapin. Springfield builds a small park, Stearns Square,...
This Weekend: Paul Taylor Dance Company
Taylor Made It’s just a hop, skip, and a flying leap from Manhattan to the Berkshires, at least for the Paul Taylor Dance Company. The group has been trucking up shows to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center for nine years running now, but the good thing about a...
Club Picks: July 21 to July 27
SUNDAY: Build it YourselfSunday is for relaxing — and that includes a day of rest for the bartenders at Arkham at Harmony Place in Brattleboro. The quintessential hipster dive bar, complete with air hockey and arcade games, has a Build Your Own Bloody Mary party. It’s...
Seuss Day: Tue July 26
The Doctor Is Out and AboutAnd to think that he grew up on Fairfield Street! Theodor Seuss Geisel — a.k.a. Dr. Seuss — was born in Springfield to German immigrants in 1904, and although he moved to California for much of his adult life, it is on these local blocks...
Through Tuesday at ECA+ Gallery
Creative InletsAya Yamasaki and Jason Brown know how to flow. Working as a creative duo called Operatura, the two artists create hand-drawn animation, illustrations, comics, and installations, drawing inspiration from the natural and magical worlds, the humorous and...
Nightcrawler: Root Effect
Musician and artist Wendell Rheinheimer, the owner of Moonlight Designs screenprinting in Easthampton, has been doing a little moonlighting of his own in recent months. The fruits of a new collaborative effort with his partner, organic vegetable farmer Shana Totino,...
Club Picks for the Weekend
Swing and a HitSinger and guitarist Erin Harpe formed her Delta blues quintet in Jamaica Plain in 2010, and the group has been all over since then, winning the Boston Blues Challenge three times, playing the five-day International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2015,...
Libations and Ciders and Beers, Oh My!
Magic on the MountainThe lower Valley has plenty of reasons to boast about its brews, but this weekend, it’s Franklin County’s turn. Hilltown pride and local products prevail at the first-ever On Tap festival at Berkshire East, featuring local beer, mead, cider, and...
Northampton’s Scottish Invasion
Great ScotsYou thought your Independence Day was wild, food-stuffed fun? Just stop by the annual Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival to see how the brave of heart really get down. Highland dancers, pipers, and drummers (like Albannach, pictured here) cast a spell of sound...
MarKamusic Rocks Black Birch Vineyard
Music and MemorySouthampton has many a quiet corner, but the grounds of Black Birch Vineyard will be lively on Saturday as the winery hosts a summer concert benefit to raise funds for the Northampton Survival Center. Local food trucks will help to keep visitors fed...
Music Review: Haas Kowert Tice
Triple Threat I tried to be open-minded as a young music lover, but despite the curious sonic wanderings of my teenage years, my ears could never quite latch onto songs with no vocals. As soon as I’d hit a track called “Instrumental,” I’d stubbornly skip it (the...
Basemental: Inside the Western Mass DIY Music Calendar
Book It Yourself The Western Mass DIY music calendar does what Facebook can’t Amherst punk musician Will Killingsworth and Belchertown visual artist, musician, and show-booker Miranda Wiley have noticed a disconnect between subsets of the DIY music scene in...
On Stage: Time Stands Still
War-Torn Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Donald Margulies gives the trauma of battle, and the sting of accountability, a voice in Sarah Goodwin, the protagonist of Time Stands Still. An Iraq War photojournalist recovering in America from severe injuries suffered in...
Art Pick: One Hundred and One Visual Haiku
Mini MoodsIf the inside of Ami Fagin’s head looks like the bright-hued watercolors she began painting last summer, we’d love to take a few trips on her train of thought. This series, called One Hundred and One Visual Haiku, started as a daily meditation. After about...va28-astro-2016
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Upcoming adventures might make you more manly if you are a woman. If you are a man, the coming escapades could make you more womanly. How about if you’re trans? Odds are that you’ll become even more gender fluid. I am...
“We Are Not Machines”
Body of Work Living wage legislation seems like a flurry of statistics and economic reports until you focus in on the faces, voices, and lives of the millions of Americans affected by low-wage work. Pioneer Valley Workers — in collaboration with curators and artists...
Hartford’s Three-Day Food Truck Fest
Meals With WheelsWhat’s that delicious aroma wafting from the scenic grassy terraces of Hartford’s riverfront plaza? Probably some combination of Cheesesteakissimo, Maui Wowi, New Haven Pizza, Four Flours Baking Company, Taco Tequila, Ben & Jerry’s, Caribbean Food...
Bang on a Can! at MASS MoCA
In With a Bang Just in time for MASS MoCA’s welcome shift to summer hours, we’re jazzed to spread news of the return of the museum’s annual Bang on a Can festival, which ushers in three weeks of music all day, every day. Museum-goers and the general public can choose...
Starting Friday: Ko Festival in Amherst
Evening Becomes Eclectic The 25th annual Ko Fest at Amherst College welcomes back many of its most treasured artists from previous years. This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, July 8-10, three evenings of special guests — from as far away as New Orleans and as close as...
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Screwballs You never know what the world will throw at you. It’s one of the hardest lessons to learn, but at least there’s occasion in Conway to practice swinging at life’s surprises. On Saturday, the Hilltown hosts its fourth annual Chesbro Challenge, a very silly...
Acoustic Open Mic at the Waterfront
Testing the WatersSince it re-opened in March under new ownership, the Waterfront Tavern has been looking for ways to let the Valley know that it’s an up-and-coming nightspot all over again. One appealing addition to the music venue’s regular lineup: Wednesday...
Nightcrawler: Happy Campers
This weekend, July 8-10, marks the 30th year of Greenfield’s Green River Festival. The much-ballyhooed hullabaloo has been feted by the likes of Rolling Stone and USA Today as one of the nation’s must-catch summer festivals in recent years, with its...
A Concerted Effort
When I was a younger man, I looked at my father’s record collection as if it were a collection of lost gospels. He was a Dylan nut who branched out to collect lesser-known folk types, and while my friends were keeping up with what was happening in our own time, I...
Home Coming
Gene Brienre, makes his way to the opening celebration for the 44-unit Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans Community building — his new home.Select Soldier On military veterans were given the opportunity to purchase an equity stake in their homes. The idea is for veterans to...va27-astro-2016
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Events in the coming week may trick your mind and tweak your heart. They might mess with your messiah complex and wreak havoc on your habits. But I bet they will also energize your muses and add melodic magic to your mysteries. They will...
Greenfield Gallery Exhibiting Artist: Sarah Adam
How did you get connected with Greenfield Gallery?I was just looking for my own art space and I was kind of shopping around the area. I think that was the second place I looked at and I was just completely enchanted. It’s such a great space. I love how the owner lives...
Club Picks: June 30 to July 6
SUNDAY: High Water MarkIt’s been one year since the relaunch of the Ashfield Lake House, which means a funkadelic anniversary show with music inside and outside, featuring the return of What Cheer? Brigade, Providence’s best 18-member brass band, plus performances by...
The Ultimate Valley Picnic Basket
Picnic Perfect Fourth of July is the most picnic-iest holiday of the year, and we’re here to help you pack the most delicious, envy-inspiring, locally-sourced picnic basket of your life. You’ll notice that we didn’t make any of the food ourselves; that’s because this...
Vodkamelons: Fact or Fiction?
The staff at the Valley Advocate have been to many picnics, parties, hootenannies, hoe downs, shindigs, and festivals, but only one of us has ever tasted the infamous vodkamelon.Amanda Drane, our Third Eye Roaming yogi, claims to have made a vodka infused melon with...
60 Days of Summer at the Basketball Hall of Fame
Hoop DreamsThis summer is pretty much guaranteed to be a scorcher. The Valley’s best way to scratch that b-ball itch while enjoying some air conditioning is probably the Basketball Hall of Fame’s annual 60 Days of Summer, which provides 60 consecutive days of...
A Twist on “The Taming” at Shakespeare & Co.
Shrew(d) ObserversIn a presidential election cycle as bizarre and theatrical as this one, it’s fitting that some of our weirdest art would start to imitate political life. Lauren Gunderson’s play The Taming — inspired in part by Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the...
At the Clark: Old Masters in the New World
It was the era that became known as the Spanish Golden Age, when Spain was arguably the most powerful nation in western Europe, with a burgeoning colonial empire in the Americas and considerable territorial holdings in Europe, including modern-day Belgium, the...E-Edition
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