You are what you ink: UMass exhibition blurs lines between art, tattoos, and identity
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer It’s not often that you see tattoo art on display in an art gallery, but a University of Massachusetts alum will soon change that with an upcoming exhibition. Alex Leon Sherker’s art show “Who Are You? Who Am AI?” will be at the Augusta...
Get Growing with Mickey Rathbun: ‘I just let them grow’: Inside one of the six gardens on this year’s Northampton Garden Tour
By MICKEY RATHBUN For the Valley Advocate John Smith likes it when people stop outside his house, a lovely Carpenter Gothic on a quiet street in Florence, to peek at his garden through the fence. “I tell them, ‘Come on in and have a look around,’” he said. On June 14,...
Holyoke hosts inaugural Paper Festival: Crafts, exhibitions, tours, contests and more in the ‘Paper City’ this Saturday
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Holyoke was known for its thriving paper industry – that’s how it got the nickname “Paper City.” Now, over a century later, the city will celebrate the legacy and impact that paper production had on the...
Profiling ‘The Raider’: New book by UMass history professor Stephen Platt explores the life of a celebrated but unconventional Marine
By STEVE PFARRER For the Gazette Stephen Platt, who teaches 19th and 20th century Chinese history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, made a significant name for himself with his two last books. “Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom,” an account of China’s bloody...
Local tragedies, set to song: Historic Northampton will stage ‘Northampton Stories: From the Operas of Sawyer & Erdman’ next weekend
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Two dark moments in Northampton history – the 1806 execution of two innocent immigrants and the 1960 arrest of a closeted Smith College professor – have an unlikely connection: an upcoming event will explore them both in opera. Historic...
‘My heart requires it’: Pioneer lesbian singer-songwriter Linda Shear will perform benefit show in Northampton, May 31
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Celebrated lesbian singer-songwriter Linda Shear will play a benefit show for Straw Dog Writers Guild on Saturday, May 31, at 4 p.m. at Northampton Center for the Arts. Shear founded the band Family of Woman, the first openly lesbian band...
Fearlessly following her muse: Artist Rosemary Barrett’s upcoming show in Easthampton is rich with surrealist oil paintings
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Holyoke artist Rosemary Barrett has worked in many mediums, but her upcoming show in Easthampton will highlight a collection of oil paintings. Barrett’s show, “The Awakening,” will be featured at Big Red Frame in Easthampton from...
‘Irving Berlin’s View of the East River’ films in western Mass: Behind the scenes of an indie movie set in the Valley
By EMILEE KLEIN Staff Writer ‘Reset!” There’s an inaudible moan among the cast and crew when director Sarah Knight cues the walk back down the path along the Connecticut River dike in Hadley to record another take after nearly an hour of running the same scene. The...
Holy Smokes Theatre lands in the Valley: Newly relocated theater company to stage queer ‘erotic horror comedy’ at Easthampton’s CitySpace this weekend
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Holy Smokes Theatre, which used to be based in southern New Hampshire, now has a home in the Pioneer Valley — and they’re debuting a new show here this weekend. The theater company, led by founder Wren Hannah, will premiere an original...
‘Space is the place’: Sun Ra Arkestra plays the Academy of Music, May 18
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Legendary Afrofuturist bandleader, composer, and musician Sun Ra had an eye on the cosmos. Though he passed away in 1993, the members of his 13-person musical ensemble, the Sun Ra Arkestra, have since kept his legacy alive through shows...
Block and roll: Roller Derby, the ‘sport for misfits,’ finds a home in the Valley
By Hannah Bevis For the Valley Advocate The floor of Interskate 91 South is often filled with young skaters teetering around the track, but the athletes on it now are sure on their skates, focused and ready to battle. Two jammers sit poised, their bodies coiled in...
Sessions
Check out our most recent performances in the playlist below, or click here to dig into interviews and related material!
O Cannabis: Time to Get Growing
“I grew up in Charlemont,” Wilder Sparks said. “We know that people like (cannabis) around here, and you hate to see people you know spending money on something that they have the skills to do themselves and now they’re allowed to do it.”
Mixtape: A collection of albums for the end of the year
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate As the year comes to a close, I have to say, I’m still very grateful for the gift of music. So here’s an end-of-the-year mixtape befitting this time of year, a taste of what I’ve been listening to lately. Joshua David...
The V-Spot: How To Kiss With Consent
As with sex in general, with kissing, too, the Traditional Mood as staged by movies, mainstream, porn, social expectations, and the folklore of gossip actually does many of us a disservice in the consent department.
Staff Picks: Hawthorn, KidsBestFest, Ruth Garbus, and a staged Smith play reading
Lively folk music at the Shea Theater; a children’s art series at the Academy of Music; a mix of experimental folk and alternative solo artists at Ten Forward in Greenfield; a reading of a new play by Smith MFA student Mary Beth Brooker.
The Beerhunter Abroad: Norway – Despite strict alcohol laws, a new generation of craft brewers is born
“You still visit many bars in Norway today that carry only one kind of beer, and it’s yellow and fizzy,” he says. “Your average guy would walk into a pub and just say: ‘beer.’ When there’s nothing to choose from, nobody asks.”
Stagestruck: Annotated Austen
“Pride@Prejudice” (that’s @, not &) is a cyber-take on Jane Austen’s novel, a condensed rendering of her classic dissection of manners and morals, now playing at Chester Theatre Company. But it’s also inlaid with questions and comments mined from Internet chat rooms as students assigned the book in English class reach out for help in navigating the shifting currents of plot and personnel.
