Mixtape: Time to make the music: Local icons, Donut Kings celebrate 40 years of making music
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate Celebrating a 40th anniversary of any kind is a huge milestone in life. When it comes to an artistic form, there’s typically a slew of work to look back on and enjoy. For the Donut Kings, they have over 10 studio albums, a...
Theater Matters with Jarice Hanson: Iconic women: Lessons from the suffragists
By Jarice Hanson For the Valley Advocate With Women’s History Month soon upon us, it makes sense to call attention to women who have changed the course of history. Names like Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul may not be instantly recognizable, but when Shaina...
From scraps to stunners: Sam Webber’s custom motorcycle shop in Florence brings vintage dreams to life
By Sam Ferland For the Valley Advocate There are few people that get to say they turned their passion into a living. Sam R. Webber meticulously assembled his 1950 Harley Davidson Panhead seven years ago with parts he collected from various locations,...
Message in a bottle: The delicate alchemy of Black Birch Vineyard
By Monte Belmonte For the Valley Advocate Western Mass. is known for a lot of things. Colleges. Asparagus. Apples. Lesbians. Basketball. But wine? Not as of yet. Beer? For sure. With stalwarts like Berkshire Brewing Company, The Northampton Brewery and The...
The V-Spot: How do I tell my partner that I’m having an affair?
By Yana Tallon-Hicks For the Valley Advocate Dear Yana, I’m in a committed relationship with someone I care about deeply, and I’ve crossed a line I never thought I would — I’m having an affair. I love my partner and we have a real life together. And still, I’ve...
‘Keeping the music alive’: The Iron Horse launches ‘Playing It Forward’ capital campaign
By Carolyn Brown For the Valley Advocate Nearly two years after reopening its doors following significant renovations, The Iron Horse Music Hall has turned its attention to improving its financial stability and recently launched a capital campaign with a...
Spinning a new story: Greenfield residents to offer new sober space for music lovers with Turners Falls record store, cafe
By Erin-Leigh Hoffman For the Valley Advocate Greenfield residents Mark Schwaber and Ada Langford are spinning something new on Avenue A — a record store and cafe with a focus on community building around physical media in a sober and inclusive setting....
Revamped and revisited: Two older releases shine again in a brand new light
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate Kaspar Hauser Live at Zone Art Center, Springfield, MA 4-24-1982 A few months ago I received a CD in the mail from Georgia. I ended up putting it aside for far too long. I already had a lineup of reviews to...
The ‘Avita’ adventure: UMass alums launch AI-powered language-learning app
By Carolyn Brown For the Valley Advocate Trips to South America helped a pair of lifelong best friends from Northampton realize a love of learning Spanish. Now, they’re turning that passion into an app to help other people learn the language and make connections. Reed...
‘I’ve found my people’: How a Northampton festival is building a creative home for youth
By Carolyn Brown For the Valley Advocate The Valley has several of performance opportunities for adults, but a local festival wants to instead turn the spotlight on young performers. The Youth Performance Festival (YPF) will return for its seventh year this week with...
A life in clay and laughter: Pelham potter Michael Cohen, 89, left a lasting legacy
By Carolyn Brown For the Valley Advocate Michael Cohen’s friends knew him for two things: making a life in pottery and being the life of the party. “He was very funny,” said Harriet Cohen, Michael’s ex-wife. “He could crack a joke … and he was much loved by everyone...
Sessions
Check out our most recent performances in the playlist below, or click here to dig into interviews and related material!
Bank bails on Mass cannabis businesses
“We had to jump through some hoops to show that we are a political advocacy group, not engaged in the cannabis industry,” Bernard said.
Heavy metal meets mutual ownership at new Easthampton venue
By Sam Ferland For the Valley Advocate Most new businesses use scissors at ribbon cuttings to celebrate opening. When that business is a heavy metal music venue and bar combo, now open in the heart of Easthampton, it’s only fitting to use a sword instead. That...
The V-Spot: Polyamorous During a Pandemic
Between clients and friends, this topic of the unique COVID-19 snafus for folks with multiple partners has been a common one.
Time to swing: Jazz drummer and South Hadley native Joe Farnsworth returns to the Valley for a concert honoring his idol, Max Roach
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...
The Beerhunter: The Art of the Basement Brewpub
“We generally do classic styles with a little bit of a twist on them,” says Crane, who spent more than three years developing beer recipes with Whalen before Shire Breu-Hous opened.
Stagestruck: Black Plays Matter
2020’s Summer of Rage following the murder of George Floyd gave rise to much soul-searching in many areas of American society, including the theater community. Some of the fruits were on view this summer.
