How to grow a creative community: Meet the eight artists selected for CitySpace’s 2025 Pay It Forward program
By SAM FERLAND Staff Writer CitySpace’s Pay It Forward Program offers performers funding to produce a show. But it is also building something greater that cannot be staged: a tight-knit artistic community. The Pay It Forward Program is in its fourth year, and will...
Cooking made simple: Classes at the Baker’s Pin demystify the secrets and tricks of great recipes
By NAOMI SCULLY-BRISTOL For the Advocate Walking into the Baker’s Pin, you are greeted by cheerful decor, beautiful colorful pots and an array of cooking gadgets. It is a home cook’s paradise with everything you could possibly need, from Le Creuset pots to artisan...
‘The magic that existed back then’: Academy of Music to screen time capsule film of New Year’s Eve 1984 concert at The Rusty Nail
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer It’s been 40 years since the band NRBQ played at Sunderland’s The Rusty Nail on New Year’s Eve, but a devoted fan and friend of the band kept the night alive with his concert footage. Later this month, the Academy of Music will screen...
A celebration of history-making women: The Rockwell Museum exhibits over 200 of Anita Kunz’s portraits in ‘Original Sisters’
By DON STEWART For the Advocate She’s the first woman, and the first Canadian, to present a solo exhibit of her work at the Library of Congress, and two of her paintings can be found at Washington’s National Portrait Gallery. You’d recognize Anita Kunz’s often...
Drum roll, please: Longtime UMass percussion instructor Thom Hannum inducted into Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Thousands of University of Massachusetts Amherst students have learned from percussion instructor Thom Hannum, whose 40-year career at the college included a tenure as the assistant director, then associate director, of the Minuteman...
Scary and true: Half-hanged Mary and the real women behind the area’s most compelling ghost stories
By Melissa Karen Sances For the Valley Advocate “And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” — Friedrich Nietzsche I have never liked ghost stories. But when I heard about Half-Hanged Mary of Hadley, I was spellbound. Not that long ago, and...
Who ya gonna call?: Quabbin Valley Paranormal investigates reported hauntings
By Domenic Poli For the Valley Advocate If there’s something strange, in your neighborhood … it could have a perfectly mundane explanation. A peculiar scratching on a roof might be interpreted as a haunting spirit yearning to be left alone in their home, and an...
Theater Matters with Jarice Hanson: Shining the spotlight on social responsibility: Productions focus on themes of loneliness, and more
By Jarice Hanson For the Valley Advocate Tom Hanks knows a thing or two about good stories Tom Hanks is often quoted as having said: “The best stories are always about loneliness.” After seeing the 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Primary Trust” at Barrington Stage...
Monte Belmonte Wines: Wine Snob Glossary, Part 2
By Monte Belmonte For the Valley Advocate In the last edition of the Valley Advocate, I created for you a brief wine glossary designed for non-wine people. The last column went from A-L: “ABV” to “legs.” Then I ran out of column space. If you are reading this...
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...
Inside the witch house: Horror filmmaking couple Aaron Fradkin and Victoria Fratz Fradkin set their most recent, ‘Beezel,’ in Northampton
By JENNIFER LEVESQUE For the Advocate It’s always spooky season when you have a love for horror movies, scary stories and a curiosity of anything dark and morbid. And fall accentuates that spooky feeling for everyone. Finding a new horror series or collection of...
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Reviving a local treasure: Parlor Room raising renovation funds to fix up Iron Horse Music Hall; reopening set for May 1
By ALEXANDER MACDOUGALL Staff Writer When Chris Freeman was in eighth grade, his father took him to the Iron Horse Music Hall for his first concert at the venue, where he was immediately entranced by the atmosphere, sitting at one of the tables by the wall plastered...
V-Spot: How Do I Help My Partner Without Being His Healer?
I’m nervous and feel a lot of pressure to navigate his sexual trauma.
Valley Advocate Staff Picks: Weege & the Wondertwins, Old Flame, Sodada, and Bad Bad Hats
In typical “W&W fashion,” the band is urging you to “SUIT UP!” in your finest suits and dress up for the show. Best suit of the night will receive a free merch bundle.
Raise Your Glass (Ceiling): Where are all the women brewers?
Two years ago, Kate Telman started making beer at her home in Easthampton. She planned to perfect a few brews, then shop her skills around to area breweries in the hope of getting a job. “I knew there weren’t really any job postings for what I wanted to do,” said...
Stagestruck: Through the Portal
Down a pebbled path flanked by tall grasses in an orchard hung with ripening fruit, we come to an archway fashioned of bent branches: The Portal. There, our Guides invite us to hang a slip of paper on which we’ve written something we wish to leave behind, after the cruel year we’ve just been through. (I write “Zoom.”)
