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...
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...
Prepare to be transported back to your youth: Thornes is about to open an extensive arcade of vintage video games
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer An arcade near Boston will soon have a new location in Northampton. Hometown Arcade will open its third location in the basement of Thornes Marketplace this November, replacing what used to be Acme Surplus, though the exact opening date...
What can you expect from a Cuddle Party? Conversations about consent happen before anything else
By MELISSA KAREN SANCES For the Advocate As the sun sets over the Hidden Temple in Florence, 14 adults in their comfiest pajamas sprawl on a generous bed of quilts. Outside on this crisp October Saturday, the foliage is just starting to turn, its pops of color...
‘One sentence can change the course of a relationship’: Valley Players stage first full production, ‘Constellations,’ this weekend and next
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Valley Players, a local volunteer theater group formed earlier this year, will perform their first full production in Amherst this weekend and next. The show, “Constellations,” by playwright Nick Payne, will be at Munson Memorial Library...
Farewell to the ‘Doctor of Rock’: Sept. 29 Iron Horse concert pays tribute to Smith professor before he hops the pond
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer After more than two decades at Smith College, a beloved music professor will say goodbye to Northampton with a farewell concert at the Iron Horse next week. Professor Steve Waksman, who has taught at Smith for 23 years, will complete his...
Acting among giants: Northampton native Caroline Bloom appears in Coppola’s magnum opus, ‘Megalopolis’
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Francis Ford Coppola’s latest movie — his first in over a decade — is a passion project he’s been working on for 40 years. Even more exciting? An actress from Northampton is in it. Caroline Bloom will make her most prestigious screen...
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Mixtape: Music for the people, by the people: New arts cooperative, THCC, seeks home for member-run music venue
By JENNIFER LEVESQUE For the Advocate We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: The music scene just hasn’t been the same post-COVID. Many venues remain vacant and are quite literally decaying. Some opened for a short period of time, then closed indefinitely....
The V-Spot: Sex Drives Are Slacking & I Feel Lacking
It’s easy to take our partner’s shifts in desire very personally.
Advocate Staff Picks: Feb. 15 – 23
Let guitar bar Luthier’s Co-op on Friday be your mind speakeasy this week from 8 to 9:30 p.m.
Dive! Five unpolished gems with cheap drinks and charm to spare.
Everyone has a favorite dive bar; a place you can go in your old jeans and sweater, have a beer for under $3 and watch some “Wheel of Fortune” with townies looking to unwind. Dive bars — and we use the term lovingly — tend to be physically and metaphysically secluded....
Stagestruck: A Woke Thanksgiving
The Thanksgiving Play, by Larisa FastHorse, is a sharp-edged satire on well-intentioned but misguided attempts at telling the “real” Thanksgiving story. It was among last season’s most-produced American plays. And it’s one of the funniest I’ve encountered in years.
