Lights, camera, Eastworks: Photographer and model couple open a new studio in Easthampton
By ALEXA LEWIS Staff Writer The story of David Heisler and Crystal Truehart Heisler is something straight out of Hollywood: A model and a photographer meet on the set of “The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency” reality TV show, fall in love and spend years building...
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...
Monte Belmonte Wines: The New Gig
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...
Theater Matters with Jarice Hanson: Springing onto the stage and into summer
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...
Sessions
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Rosie Porter and the Neon Moons on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Rosie Porter and the Neon Moons play classic country and honky-tonk with a sentimental croon.
The V-Spot: Where’s My Bleepin’ Orgasm??
Finally, does he truly believe that your sex life lacks intimacy or he using that to block the real issue? Perhaps he’s willing to forgo his reliable orgasm and recommit himself to intimacy for its own sake. But somehow I doubt that.
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Stagestruck: History Lessons – Recalling the past to inform the present
If the past is prologue, in these murky times it’s more necessary than ever to look back. This year, more plays than ever reflected or reimagined episodes from the past, casting light on the here-and-now.











