
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...
‘If you can hit one note and hit it hard’: Western Mass Sacred Harp singers ready for biggest annual event
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer On Saturday, March 8, and Sunday, March 9, the Western Massachusetts Sacred Harp Community (WMSHC) will host their biggest annual event, the Western Massachusetts Sacred Harp Convention, at Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity in Florence...
‘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...
Wheely funny: Chuckling Charlie Comedy Bus brings laughter through Northampton
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer All the world’s a stage — but for two local comedians, their stage is a green and black bus. The Chuckling Charlie Comedy Bus, the creation of Northampton comedian and comedy producer Tim Lovett, has brought laughter to locals since last...
Artwork from the ashes: Heather Maloney’s new album, ‘Exploding Star,’ was almost too personal to share
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Heather Maloney almost didn’t release her upcoming album, “Exploding Star,” to the public. An album born of grief and loss was too raw, too personal, to go public, she felt, so she kept it for herself. But when her closest friends and...
Bluegrass lovers, rejoice: Monthly CitySpace Bluegrass jam session starts Feb. 1
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Bluegrass music (like this reporter) is native to the American South, but starting next week, it’ll have a new home here in the Valley. CitySpace in Easthampton will host CitySpace Bluegrass, a new monthly bluegrass jam session for...
‘The road to hell starts with good intentions’: New opera tells the story of Northampton’s notorious revivalist preacher, Jonathan Edwards
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Jonathan Edwards, one of Northampton’s most famous residents, was a revolutionary preacher whose legacy has endured through centuries. He was the first minister in Northampton to baptize African Americans, yet he did not free those he...
Looking into the depth: Works by the late artist Daniel Feldman to be exhibited at Gallery A3 in Amherst
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer The late artist Daniel Feldman died in November at the age of 67, a few months before an exhibition of 14 of his works at Gallery A3 in Amherst was slated to open. When that exhibition, “Depth Be Depth,” opens on Thursday, Feb. 6, it will...
Knowledge is power, period: Turners Falls menstrual cycle educator offers holistic approach to pelvic health
By ERIN-LEIGH HOFFMAN Staff Writer To Julia Demillones Moore, knowledge about periods is power. Moore, who goes by “Julia Moon Beam” online, is a menstrual cycle educator and a pelvic steam practitioner from Turners Falls. Through her two businesses, Wise Gal Period...
Can’t take that away from me: With Jan. 20 on the horizon, the Queer Joy Collaborative sings, dances and fights for its life
By MELISSA KAREN SANCES For the Valley Advocate Glitter. Sparkle. Bedazzle. Shine. When Mara Levi and Nova Wehman-Brown started dreaming of a Winter Ball, these four words came to mind. The executive director and the board president of the Queer Joy...
The future is bright … and weightless: An eye-opening exploration of everything and nothing at a spa in Easthampton
By Bob Flaherty For the Valley Advocate My journey. Where it begins and ends I have no idea. I do know that I could use some healing along the way, I’m just not sure what it is I have. Although, yes, I am acutely aware of my mousetrap nervous system and my constantly...
Sessions
Check out our most recent performances in the playlist below, or click here to dig into interviews and related material!
O Cannabis: Finding Your Perfect Dose
Discovering your ideal cannabis dose can be tricky.

Artwork from the ashes: Heather Maloney’s new album, ‘Exploding Star,’ was almost too personal to share
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Heather Maloney almost didn’t release her upcoming album, “Exploding Star,” to the public. An album born of grief and loss was too raw, too personal, to go public, she felt, so she kept it for herself. But when her closest friends and...
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...

Live from Argentina: Acclaimed tango guitarists to play in Northampton for dancers and music lovers alike
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer If you go to a milonga, or social dance, to do tango dancing in Buenos Aires, you’ll likely be doing it to live music. In western Massachusetts? No so much. Now, though, Western Mass Tango, which has hosted tango lessons and dances in the...

The Beerhunter: Road Trip to Southern Worcester County
I thought I should make an effort to put my money where my mouth is, and stop for a while in Central Mass to do some more thorough exploring of my state.

Stagestruck: Backstage Stars
Nikki Beck and Ezekiel Baskin are about the busiest theater people around. You’ll never see them onstage or on the title page of the program, but you’ll very often find one, or both, of them backstage or elsewhere behind the scenes at any number of local theater events.