‘There’s a majesty to grief’: Poet and UMass professor Peter Gizzi wins prestigious 2024 T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Peter Gizzi, professor of poetry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, recently won the 2024 T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry, one of the world’s most prestigious poetry awards. Gizzi’s book “Fierce Elegy” beat nearly 200 other...
The summer of iZM PRiZM: Self-taught Holyoke painter brings his colorful, vibrant work to Easthampton exhibit
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer As a painter, he’s got a great eye for color, lots of energy, and a self-taught technique that lends itself to subjects like music, pop culture, history, current events and fantasy. He’s also got a colorful pen name, so to speak, to go...
Hoping for a drier September: Three outdoor music festivals on tap for Easthampton toward summer’s end
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...
Straight from the heart: Grayson Ty and Laura Buchanan plumb their own relationship on their debut album as a duo
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...
Shantay, You Stay! Queens of western Mass. dispel myths, misconceptions about drag culture
By EMILY THURLOW For the Advocate Whether he’s sporting villainous Maleficent-style horns, channeling his inner witch dressed as Winifred Sanderson, twirling in a red-and-black polka-dot a-line dress or lounging around in a raglan T-shirt, Aaron Johnson is still,...
Best Bites: All aboard the gummy express: Testing Northampton’s edible varieties
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...
An album to cry to: Death and grief are the stars in Chris Goudreau’s debut solo album, “Apocalyptic Love Songs”
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...
Theater Matters with Jarice Hanson: Memory plays, memoirs, morals and more
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...
Who run the world: Jacob’s Pillow honors 50 years of hip hop with many leading ladies
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....
Bridging Access to Mental Health Services: Queer-Afro-Latina-owned Outpatient Mental Health Services Firm Thriving in the Valley
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...
Mostly, About a Girl: Tom Sturm’s latest release ‘Vagus Nerve Reset’ was decades in the making
“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...
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Staff Picks: MLK Celebration, Sessa, musings on Thomas Paine, Pamela Means Jazz Project
‘We Shall Overcome: A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. // TUESDAY Music was a key part of the civil rights movement — African-American music in particular. To celebrate that music and the spirit and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr., the Fine Arts...
Valley Advocate Podcast: The Lifestyle of a Sex Columnist
It isn’t exactly Carrie Bradshaw.
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Stagestruck: Theater in Motion
A dance-theater festival, two one-woman plays, a twisted whodunit and a madcap opera brighten the New Year’s theater scene.











