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...
Art exhibits spring forth: What’s on view in April at selected local galleries
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Spring is here — or at least the calendar says it is. And as the weather (hopefully) warms, there’s more incentive to get outside and check out what’s on view at local art galleries. Here’s a look at some selected shows this month. PULP...
Making the cut: After years of ups and downs, Easthampton screenwriter Nathan Graham Davis find his way to Hollywood
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Years ago, when he signed up to take an online screenwriting class taught at Holyoke Community College, Nathan Graham Davis had no idea he might find himself eventually penning the script for a Hollywood thriller. And Davis, who lives in...
A relic returned: Broken cold case brings French and Indian War powder horn back to Belchertown museum
By SCOTT MERZBACH Staff Writer BELCHERTOWN — In the summer of 1971, Michael Corbett, a visitor to the Stone House Museum, arriving with his girlfriend, signed the guestbook and toured the historic building at a time when it still housed three antique powder horns,...
In the dead of winter, Easthampton’s nightlife sizzles
It’s the coldest night of the season, so cold that the wind stings, so cold that our photographer’s lenses need time to thaw, so cold that from the bar of the Marigold, you can’t see the street because the doors are coated in ice. But inside. Inside is a window into...
Growing Pains: ‘Home growers’ have always been here, but thanks to some expert advice their numbers are growing like, ahem, weeds
As we settle into this brave new world that has us purchasing pot as naturally as picking up doughnuts Sunday morning, there are a lot of people, then and now, who never cared much for the “purchasing” part. Whether it be at that nice clean dispensary down the street...
Monte Belmonte Wines: Shelf Talkers
Don’t believe everything you read. As a matter of fact, stop reading this right now or you could be subject to the persuasion of the published word. However, if you find comfort or guidance from others’ opinions, especially when it comes to wine, read on. When you...
Fight the power: Northampton writer’s novel profiles a Black academic’s frightening battle with a white supremacist
When Barack Obama was elected president in Nov. 2008, Ousmane Power-Greene recalls having a terrible thought: that a racist might try to assassinate America’s first Black president, or maybe his whole family. Perhaps that was an overly morbid vision, Power-Greene...
The romance of the rails: 22,000 flock to the annual Railroad Hobby Show in West Springfield
It’s no secret that the U.S. railroad system, which a century ago had the largest passenger service in the world, looks very different today. Though the nation’s freight system is still significant, passenger service has long since been eclipsed by automobile and...
Calming the Nerves: Is post-COVID anxiety a thing?
It’s been just about three years since COVID made its appearance, and life as we all knew it changed its course. You still see people wearing masks outside their houses and there are more people who don’t leave the house much at all these days. For instance, I have...
Art to reflect the community: Forbes Library uses anonymous donation to purchase a range of BIPOC art
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer A couple years ago, Forbes Library received a $10,000 donation from a donor who wanted to remain anonymous but also wanted the money used for a very specific purpose: to broaden the Northampton library’s permanent art collection. More...
Sessions
Check out our most recent performances in the playlist below, or click here to dig into interviews and related material!
O Cannabis: How To Grow Your Own Weed Outside
Does cannabis really grow outdoors in New England? Yes!
I Wrote This For You: Catching up with local favorites, The Big Sway
The Big Sway formed in the Valley in 2007 and have been in their current lineup consisting of Joe MacFadzen, Tim Zucco and Mike Grenier since 2013. Their genre-bending music is a shopping spree where there is something for everyone all in one spot. Combining punk,...
The V-Spot with Yana Tallon-Hicks: What actually makes for good sex
After over a decade of doing this work, I firmly believe that everybody who is interested in having sex wants to be good at it. Or, at the very least, they want to have sex that is good rather than sex that is not. Meaning, we are motivated to experience good...
Staff Picks: Wet’suwet’en Nation fundraiser, Wishbone Zoë, Shelter Me: In Times of Need, and a Sherlock Holmes mystery
A fundraiser at Majestic Saloon for the Wet’suwet’en Nation, an indigenous group in the British Columbia region; experimentalist songwriter Wishbone Zoë is set to release her third album, French of the Bird; “Shelter Me: In Times of Need,” by Hadley native Steve Latham, is airing on WGBY-TV; a dramatic reading of Sherlock Holmes at the Hooker-Dunham Theater.
Beerhunter: Vanished Valley opens new taproom and kitchen in Ludlow
A few days ago, I stopped in at Vanished Valley’s Center Street headquarters, where the brewery was throwing a special grand opening party.
Stagestruck: Christmas at the Darcys’
In this season of entertainments that cater to our appetite for cozy tradition, two shows this weekend – from Silverthorne Theater in the Valley and Shakespeare & Co. in the Berkshires – hit the nostalgia nerve from a different angle, adding a holiday-themed sequel to a classic love story.
