Scary and true: Half-hanged Mary and the real women behind the area’s most compelling ghost stories
By Melissa Karen Sances For the Valley Advocate “And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” — Friedrich Nietzsche I have never liked ghost stories. But when I heard about Half-Hanged Mary of Hadley, I was spellbound. Not that long ago, and...
Stagestruck: Wit and Wile on the Riviera
As winter approaches, National Theatre Live serves up a summertime tonic (as in, gin and). The live-capture of “Much Ado About Nothing,” Shakespeare’s comedy of wit and wile, screens twice this month at Amherst Cinema, the Valley’s indispensable film house.
Stagestruck: Riot Grrrls
Two shows I saw in London turn received history on its head. In the mini-musical “SIX” the half-dozen wives of Henry VIII sing their side of the story. And at the Globe, a distinctly non-Shakespearean play takes a non-binary look at Joan of Arc.
Stagestruck: Becomings
In the Valley this weekend and next, there’s a show in which a man becomes a woman, one in which a man becomes a feminist, and a few more that feature (mostly) women who promise to become hilarious.
Painting a Colorful Path: Common Wealth Murals Making a Difference
Britt Ruhe may not be an artist, but she has certainly splashed paint across the canvas of the Pioneer Valley. For more than three decades, the Granby woman has used her skillset of community organizing, project management and fiscal knowledge to lead nonprofit...
‘We’re Still Here’: Exhibit designed to remind visitors that Native peoples today are part of Western Massachusetts
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”...
Northampton Councilors Consider Possible Cap on Pot Shops
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...
Headbanging for a Cause
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...
From the V-Spot Vault: The Love is There, But the Sex Isn’t
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...
Monte Belmonte Wines: A deep drink of Question 3
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...
Stagestruck: A Fall Harvest for the Theater
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...
Sessions
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StompBoxTrio on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
StompBoxTrio blends together jazz, soul, funk, and rock for a style all their own.
V-Spot: Watching Porn in Public with Bella Vendetta (NSFW Trailer Included)
Heavy on power play, and low on overt penetrative sex acts, the film takes viewers through a lovely arc of intentional consent negotiations, playfulness, tenderness, sexiness, and really at many points, downright humor.
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Cinemadope: Trick and Treat – The strange horrors of House
The film — fueled by the director’s habit of taking notes from his 10-year old daughter — went off in its own direction that would prove to be wonderfully, disturbingly absurd.
