Fearlessly following her muse: Artist Rosemary Barrett’s upcoming show in Easthampton is rich with surrealist oil paintings
By CAROLYN BROWN Staff Writer Holyoke artist Rosemary Barrett has worked in many mediums, but her upcoming show in Easthampton will highlight a collection of oil paintings. Barrett’s show, “The Awakening,” will be featured at Big Red Frame in Easthampton from...
You’re up next: Western Mass open mic scene heats up post-pandemic
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Not so long ago, there was a general lament sometimes heard among Valley musicians: “There aren’t enough places to play around here.” That might have been true for professional players who wanted to be paid — and maybe, despite the...
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...
I did ketamine therapy … and here’s what happened: A one-time tripper takes a second psychedelic journey 50 years later
By Bob Flaherty For the Valley Advocate A gamechanger, they call it. A chance to face the challenges of your life head on. To free your mind, unencumbered by old negative patterns. Empowering your life. Re-setting your brain. Though it’s been around for decades,...
Theater Matters with Jarice Hanson: Two world premiers explore family, place and identity
By Jarice Hanson For the Valley Advocate World premieres are challenging pieces of theater in every sense. For many theaters and theater companies, it’s safer to produce an “old chestnut”— a show that has a proven track record with audiences, or a show that is...
Monte Belmonte Wines: Aging wine is a lost art, even with us wine snobs
By Monte Belmonte For the Valley Advocate Aging wine is a lost art. It’s lost on me and I’m a self-described wine snob. I have exactly two bottles of wine in my “wine cellar.” It’s actually not a cellar at all. It’s a room off of my living room where I keep my tools...
Terpenetics 101: A hatchet job
By Robin Goldstein For the Valley Advocate The weed world is always full of buzz, and lately you might have heard everyone buzzing about terpenes. Should you care? The answer is complicated and non-obvious. To explain, I must start from the beginning of the story, in...
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...
A league of their own: Division Q, a new basketball league created by and for queer players, hopes to grow after successful first season
By HANNAH BEVIS For the Advocate Every Sunday morning from November to early February, dozens of people rolled up to Easthampton Mountain View school to play basketball. Games started at 10 a.m., but players always showed up early to shoot around and warm up (some...
Best Bites: Ordering off the kid’s menu: 9-year-old budding food critic shares his top 15 places to eat
By AZAI DUGGER and ROBIN GOLDSTEIN For the Advocate Note from Robin Goldstein: For this column, I asked my 9-year-old nephew and co-author Azai Dugger to choose his favorite restaurants and briefly describe each one — the same task as I undertook for my last Gazette...
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...
Sessions
Check out our most recent performances in the playlist below, or click here to dig into interviews and related material!No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Behind the Music
Neon FaunaLeather Motel “Pinned Butterfly” the opening track and first single off of Neon Fauna’s second full length album Leather Motel sets the energetic mood immediately with this experimental album. When I say experimental, it's not just in reference to the...
The V-Spot: My Libido’s Got the Post-Birth Blues
What parts of sex help you feel most connected, Mama? Is it the pillowtalk afterwards? The intimacy and flirting before?
Get Out with Valley Advocate Staff Picks: Beatles Open Mic, Elton John Tribute, and 500 Years discussion
The open mic is a benefit for the Northampton Community Music Center and will feature more than two dozen performers playing through the extensive Beatles repertoire from the classics to the more obscure Beatles tunes.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Stagestruck: Curtain Up on Stage 3
While most theaters in our area remain closed, others are looking past Zoom for ways to offer in-person performances. Last week, as I was thinking about this tipping point between lockdown and relaunch, I got an unexpected invitation.
