Sci-fi or not so far-fetched?: New opera ‘The Onion’ explores the power and perils of AI-driven memory retrieval
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer If you could exist inside any memory from your past as it happened around you, would you? The new opera “The Onion,” about an eponymous AI device that can bring back memories in an immersive way, will premiere at Amherst College’s Holden...
Mixtape: Feeling lucky: ‘Second Tongue’ is the new album from local indie rockers The Lucky Shots
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate Local musician Noam Schatz has been playing drums in bands since he was 14 years old. I took a look at his website for his band The Lucky Shots, and I was in awe: The list of bands he’s been in since the ’90s is impressive....
Theater Matters with Jarice Hanson: Budget cuts can’t kill culture: Highlighting two local productions that bring us hope
By Jarice Hanson For the Valley Advocate When Donald Trump announced he was assuming control of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, many nervous jokes were made to cover up the fear of what could come next. My vote for the best parody goes to Eddie Feldmann...
Monte Belmonte Wines: What will Trump’s tariffs mean for wine prices? Local experts voice predictions, as tariffs continue to be a moving target
By Monte Belmonte For the Valley Advocate "Godspeed, everyone. May your supplier discounts be generous, and may wine on the water be saved by the powers that be.” It was a striking quote on a Facebook Group that I follow called the US Wine Trade Alliance. I initially...
Resonating through generations: Lady Pills releases new concept album, ‘Renowned in the Roaring Twenties’
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer A recording artist is connecting her family’s western Massachusetts roots to her new album. Lady Pills, the solo indie pop/alt-rock project of multi-instrumentalist Ella Boissonnault, released the album “Renowned in the Roaring Twenties”...
The ills of a billion-dollar enterprise: The slow-death of the cannabis industry, and what might be done to reverse the trend
By Gabriel O’Hara Salini For the Valley Advocate The Massachusetts cannabis industry is a billion-dollar enterprise, with over 700 retailers operating across the state. Yet stores are closing, companies are firing their workers and retail and non-retail licenses are...
Reel talent: Easthampton Film Festival returns for fourth year, May 1-4
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Easthampton Film Festival will return for its fourth year from Thursday, May 1, through Sunday, May 4, bringing with it a slate of movies that were created, in large part, by local filmmakers. This year’s lineup includes a screening of...
‘We’re here! We’re queer! We’re ready to cheer!’: New queerleading team hopes to perform at queer sporting events in the Valley
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer A new group of “queerleaders” in Northampton wants to lift up the LGBTQ community — in more ways than one. On Sunday, a group of about 20 people gathered at Veterans Field in Northampton to set up a new team of queer cheerleaders who...
Here to help the community’s artists: Human Scale Art Space aims to advance visual arts in the Pioneer Valley
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer It’s not uncommon for a small nonprofit not to have a physical space. It is, however, ironic when that nonprofit itself is called Human Scale Art Space. The Northampton-based organization Human Scale Art Space aims to advance visual arts,...
Amherst can’t decide where it is: Is town center uptown or downtown?
By SCOTT MERZBACH Staff Writer Those attending a recent ribbon-cutting for the new UMass Downtown retail store and event space in Amherst center were invited to an afterparty at the Uptown Tap & Grille, which despite having a seemingly different geographical...
Women’s history told through clothing: Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club to host ‘Real Clothes, Real Lives: 200 Years of What Women Wore’ author, April 9
By MADISON SCHOFIELD Staff Writer The Shelburne Falls Area Women’s Club is celebrating its 100th birthday this spring, and will kick off its centennial speaker series with a talk on the history of women’s clothing with Northampton author Kiki Smith on April 9 at the...
Sessions
Check out our most recent performances in the playlist below, or click here to dig into interviews and related material!
O Cannabis: A How-To Guide to Harvesting Weed
Just as there are many methods and best practices for growing marijuana, the same goes for harvesting it.
Rock for all: Whole Children’s resident Friendship Band to perform alongside indie rockers Yo La Tengo at 20th anniversary concert, The Bash, Oct. 23
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer The Northampton organization Whole Children, which serves people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, will celebrate its 20th anniversary with indie rock band Yo La Tengo at 33 Hawley on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 6:30 p.m. At...
The V-Spot: Am I Only Bisexual When I’m Drunk?
When I’m drunk I’m down for anything!
Staff Picks: Moon Hooch, Enter the Haggis, and The Amidon, Murphy, & Tracy Families Concert
Think of bass heavy EDM and replace all the electronics with live instruments. They are energetic and explosive.
The Beerhunter: Schwarzbier, that German-style black lager, returns!
Schwartzbier is black as night, but light as a feather. Close your eyes, and you’d never know you were drinking a dark beer.
Stagestruck: Live on Screen
National Theatre Live, the series of live-capture high-def performances from the English stage, is back at the Amherst Cinema. Coming up: Philip Pullman’s “La Belle Sauvage,” a rap version “Cyrano” with James McAvoy, and a modern-dress makeover of “Henry V” with Kit Harington.
