Before Salem, there was Springfield: New exhibit explores ‘Witch Panic’ in mid-1600s western Mass
By Emilee Klein Staff Writer Around 50 years before the infamous Salem witch trials, fear of witches first plagued the colonial people of western Massachusetts. In the enterprising settlement of Springfield, founder and fur trader William Pynchon and his colleague,...
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...
‘Jazz without borders’: Multicultural theme defines Northampton Jazz Festival, Sept. 27-28
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer In a year of international strife, the Northampton Jazz Festival is aiming to bring people together with music that transcends borders. The Northampton Jazz Festival, which will return for its 12th year on Sept. 27 and 28, is celebrating...
Would you eat food off of a naked body?: Local event, Food & Form, has nothing – and everything – to do with nudity
By Melissa Karen Sances For the Valley Advocate To Coco Bustin, the body is a beautiful vessel. She first came to appreciate it in figure drawing classes at Tufts University, where she met every curve and contour with wonder. Nudity, she realized, was an artistic...
Mixtape: The doctor will see you now
By Jennifer Levesque For the Valley Advocate Michael Brady is a psychotherapist and songwriter based out of the Berkshires. His debut release, “Second Skin,” is a concept album written about fictional case studies Brady has concocted from inspirations from his...
Monte Belmonte Wines: Wine Snob Glossary, Part 1
By Monte Belmonte For the Valley Advocate While dining out with my lovely wife the other day, it occurred to me that I use a lot of extraordinarily snobby adjectives that are incomprehensible to the lay drinker. Then it occurred to me: maybe a wine glossary would be...
Theater Matters with Jarice Hanson: Exploring gender and body positivity on stage
By Jarice Hanson For the Valley Advocate This summer three outstanding shows in the Berkshires demonstrate that the performativity of gender has broken free from traditional gender-based casting in some places. In this edition of Theater Matters, we explore how some...
Messages from beyond?: Local psychics ‘channeling the truth’ and spirits of the dead
By ELISE LINSCOTT For the Advocate ‘The first thing I felt was cancer … she said ‘I was tired and there was no way back,’ which is pretty common for cancer,” South Hadley-based psychic medium and fiction writer Lisa Lanno said to a room of about 50 people one recent...
Curated for your viewing and listening pleasure: Amherst Cinema presents Sound & Vision series through Sept. 18
By SCOTT MERZBACH Staff Writer A documentary profiling Swing-era clarinetist Artie Shaw, a musical comedy featuring 1960s-pop band The Monkees and one of African cinema’s first musicals are among this year’s selections in an annual summer celebration of music culture...
The Gem from Easthampton: Gigantic bar manager’s recipe makes it across the pond to a speakeasy in Scotland
By CHRIS LARABEE Staff Writer With 3,100 miles and the Atlantic Ocean between them, what could Easthampton and Dundee, a city of approximately 148,000 people in Scotland, possibly have in common? Well, if you really do some digging, you might unearth a Gem of a...
Something for everyone: UMass Fine Arts Center announces robust 2024-2025 season lineup
By PAIGE HANSON For the Advocate Earlier this week, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Fine Arts Center announced its lineup of performances for its 2024-2025 season, which includes quite a few notable offerings, including “a one-time Grateful Dead keyboardist,...
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Lights, camera, action — and more: Black box theater at Holyoke Media becomes a forum for the arts and other events
By STEVE PFARRERStaff Writer Musicians are always looking for another venue to play. Actors and playwrights search for a new place to stage a show. Dancers want another floor to move on. At Holyoke Media, they all can find room. The independent, nonprofit...
The V-Spot: The Birds & The Bees & The Herpes
What becomes unethical is not telling someone that they themselves may be at risk for genital herpes by, for example, having physical/sexual contact with them that puts them at risk without first telling them about your positive status.
Valley Advocate Staff Picks: Rocky Horror, Twelfth Night, and Ashfield Lake House Anniversary Party
The Come Again Players present a shadow cast performance of the movie the first Saturday of every month! Audience participation makes this a spectacle not to be missed.
Introducing the Beerhunter
Throw down your coasters and pull up your stools — there’s a new beer column in town. You’ll be seeing the Beerhunter every month in the Advocate. But who, exactly, is this wanderer of the night? Well, I could pretend to be a jaded, salt-of-the-earth...
Stagestruck: We’re All Improvisers Now
Last March, when the theaters shut down, we thought we might be back onstage by now. But as fall and winter seasons were postponed or abandoned, some companies have devised mother-of-invention ways to keep the flame alight.
