Mixtape: An album decades in the making: Chris Croteau releases ‘Mesmir’
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate Local musician Chris Croteau took a musical hiatus to focus on parenthood, but is now back with an album that is worth the wait. Released in November of last year, “Mesmir” is Croteau’s comeback. The 16-track album has...
‘Creole love call’: Gombo launches new music series starting Feb. 2 with jazz reedman Evan Arntzen
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer When John Piskor opened his Cajun-style restaurant, Gombo Nola Kitchen & Oyster Bar, in Northampton last year, he said he eventually wanted it to turn it into something akin to a New Orleans cafe, where people come out for a drink and...
‘You don’t look like a doctor’: Documentary film looks at the biases and challenges Black women physicians face
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Dr. Khama Ennis had come a long way in her medical career. Until 2022, the Amherst resident had spent about two decades in emergency medicine, including a number of years as chief of emergency medicine at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in...
Staying in the game: Veteran actors and teachers Raye and Candace Birk are still involved with theater after decades of performance
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Looking for some talented older actors who can play a wide range of roles? Who have decades of experience in theater, film and television? Raye Birk and Candace Barrett Birk are at your service. The Florence couple, relatively new...
A song for the ages: Easthampton Theater Company presents ‘Torch Song,’ an iconic work of queer theater
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Ever since the November 2022 elections, politicians in over a dozen Republican-controlled states have seemed to compete with each other in attacking parts of the LGBTQ community: banning or restricting gender-affirming medical care for...
Is Northampton still lesbian mecca? Why we must keep queer spaces alive in Northampton
By KATE LAUGHLIN and GRACE XU For the Advocate Walking into the Majestic Saloon in Northampton feels like a breath of fresh, albeit heavily perfumed, air. The pink and purple lighting with a constant loop of popular drag queens Trixie and Katya on the TV signals that...
Almost showtime: 33 Hawley, Northampton’s community arts center, is putting on its finishing touches
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer It’s been a long run — but the finish line is now in view. The Northampton Community Arts Trust building, largely or partly shuttered for most of this year, is poised to reopen, as work to make the final improvements in the...
Taking up arms to help others: Western Mass Arm Wrestling League puts athletics, theater on display in the name of philanthropy
By EMILY THURLOW For the Advocate A woman dressed in pajamas walks into a Cottage Street bar and challenges a random stranger to an arm-wrestling match. The circumstances sound like the set-up of a joke. It’s not. That woman is Rose Lynch of Easthampton, and over the...
Mixtape: First Night performers, Lexi Weege and JJ Slater’s albums reviewed
By JENNIFER LEVESQUE For the Advocate Notorious for her vocal range, local singer/songwriter Lexi Weege releases her second solo record, “lw.” Weege started performing when she was really young with her mother’s traveling cabaret show. “I was exposed to all types of...
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...
Weed Utopia
By ROBIN GOLDSTEIN For the Advocate Weed Utopia is not a specific set of rules for growing weed or government policies. It is a patchwork of places and moments in history when weed has elevated the amount of love between people in the world, often against all odds....
Sessions
Check out our most recent performances in the playlist below, or click here to dig into interviews and related material!
O Cannabis: Support grows for bipartisan weed legislation leaving federal law up to states
“This bipartisan bill will keep the Trump Administration from meddling in Massachusetts and allow us to decide which policies are best for our communities. I’m proud to support it.” -Congressman James McGovern
Jump for joy: The Lindy League of Western Massachusetts makes swing dance accessible and fun
By MELISSA KAREN SANCES For the Advocate As snow mingles with rain this Tuesday evening, the door to Spare Time Northampton is cool to the touch. But inside the bowling alley’s City Sports Grille, the cracks of falling pins fade into the warm pulse of swing music. The...
The V-Spot with Yana Tallon-Hicks: How do I prepare for first-time sex?
By Yana Tallon-Hicks I recently began a new relationship and am something of a late bloomer (I’m in my mid-20s), so I have very little actual experience when it comes to physical intimacy with a partner. My boyfriend and I have discussed it a bit, and he’s very...
The Alternative Pioneers: Founders spill the tea as the Valley Advocate turns 50
By BOB FLAHERTY For the Advocate If it was just that hippie rag, as detractors liked to rank it, well we hippie ragamuffins devoured it front to back. It spoke our language, the F-laden part included, and it was as underground as the music we toked to. But we soon...
Beerhunter: Hitchcock Brewing Starts Fresh in Bernardston
It has been a busy year for Hitchcock Brewing Company.
Stagestruck: A Fall Harvest for the Theater
Next month on area stages (and a screen), three shows featuring women front and center, bucking prejudice, expectations, even labels. Plus, a musical farce with a woman in a beard. That one first. “Die Fledermaus,” the fall offering from Valley Light Opera, is the...
