The local logophile, an erudite Easthamptonite: Veteran Merriam-Webster editor Peter Sokolowski is the public face of the country’s oldest dictionary
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer When Peter Sokolowski started work as an editor at Merriam-Webster 30 years ago, about 80 people worked at the venerable dictionary company in Springfield, including about 45 editors. But based on how quiet the offices were, it might have...
Best Bites: Where to eat dinner right now: The top 35 Valley spots for dinner and what you should order
By ROBIN GOLDSTEIN For the Advocate If I were writing the Pioneer Valley chapter of a travel guide to New England, this would be its section for “dinner with table service.” I list restaurants first that I feel are most essential to the local dining scene, the ones we...
‘O’ is for Oman: Northampton man completes mission of traveling the alphabet of countries
By JAMES PENTLAND Staff Writer More than 60 years after he crossed his first foreign border, Gerard Simonette this month completed a mission of sorts: He checked off the last remaining letter of the alphabet of countries he has visited with a trip to Oman. Simonette,...
Rare views into an earlier age: Clark Art Institute exhibits some 80 original images in paper and photographs
By DON STEWART For the Advocate There are those who see winter not as a season but as a siege. They tire of shoveling white glittering fractals from their driveways and see snow as the unnecessary freezing of water. If you’re among those who don’t consider the frozen...
In time for downbeat: Jazz record designer Jack Frisch hosts new show on Valley Free Radio to ‘get the music out there’
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Back in the 1980s, Jack Frisch, then in his early twenties, got bitten pretty hard by the jazz bug, taking the ferry from his home in Staten Island, New York, over to Manhattan with some friends and haunting record shops. His interest had...
‘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...
Sessions
Check out our most recent performances in the playlist below, or click here to dig into interviews and related material!
Warren, Gardner introduce bipartisan bill to let states regulate marijuana for themselves
“This is not a legalization bill; I think that’s very important. This is an approach that allows states to move forward,” said Cory Gardner.
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...
The V-Spot with Yana Tallon-Hicks: How do I tell my girlfriend that I’m bisexual?
Hello Yana! I’m curious about my sexuality. I have, for the majority of my life, thought I was a heterosexual male. But at times I have thought maybe I am bisexual. I’m aware that sexuality is a spectrum. I just don’t know where I land on that spectrum. I have a...
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...
The Beerhunter: Caleb Hiliadis Takes the Lead at Amherst Brewing
When Amherst Brewing Company opened it doors in 1997, Caleb Hiliadis was just five years old. Now, at 27, he’s running the joint.
Stagestruck: Fall Harvest – a cornucopia of theater, music & dance
Next month on area stages (and a screen), three shows that place women front and center, bucking prejudice, expectations, even labels. Plus, a musical farce featuring a woman with a goatee.
