Valley Advocate Staff Picks: Colorway’s farewell and the Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival
If you haven’t heard Colorway yet, or if you’re a diehard fan, this is a must-see show before Alex Johnson heads off to Japan.
Scene Here: Sunshine and Smokes
It’s 8:30 a.m. and the sun already feels warm on Main St. in Springfield’s South End. Birdsong can be heard beyond the roar of a passing bus. Across from a patchy, untended lot enclosed by a chainlink fence, children in backpacks skip along the sidewalk, weaving...
Arts & Culture: ARTstravaganza
Western Mass arts cats can mewl all they want about that 45-minute drive to Brattleboro — sometimes the journey is damn well worth it. That’s never been more true than this month, when the ’boro and neighboring towns throughout Windham County, Vermont, play host to an...
Your Friendly Guide to Pride
It was Northampton that held the first Pride march in the area, and those who participated walked down the Main Street of a very different America. The year was 1981. Non-heterosexual citizens held virtually no legal protections as employees, as tenants, as...
Hidden Franklin County gems
It’s 3pm in the hilltowns. Bright sunshine warms the Ashfield Lake, and the reflected light bounces up through the windows of the three-story Lakehouse, into the quiet bar and dining room. I’ve caught the tail end of Friday lunch, and the mood at the bar is calm. A...
Down to Earth: Right whales feast on the Cape, but for how long?
About 500. That’s smaller than Smith College’s first-year class by 100 and it's a tenth of the entering class at UMass. It's also the number of right whales known to be alive in the entire world. These huge creatures — second in size only to the blue whale — are among...
Halos & Horns
Halos and Horns is the Advocate's kind of annual review of the Pioneer Valley and beyond. We take aim at everything from politicians to pants, awarding kudos and condemnation. Food Justice Workers For some strange reason, humanity has gotten so far ahead of...
Between the Lines: Owen Labrie – Rapist or Simply a Jerk?
Editor's note: Editors Kristin Palpini and Jeff Good couldn't come to an agreement on how to interpret the Labrie decisions, so they wrote their own opinion pieces. Jeffrey Good: There is no doubt that Owen Labrie was guilty of being an oaf, a striver and a...
From Our Readers: ‘Sorry, but what about the police?’ ‘Old fogies in yoga pants?’
Sorry, but what about the police? I am very sorry for the families and friends whose loved ones have died due to police action and/or while in police custody in 2015 in the U.S. (“Doesn’t Count: Deaths by police are not tracked in the U.S.” Nov. 12-19, 2015). I am...
Put Down the (Mega)phone: A Northampton chef’s review of Yelp reviews
She smiles at you from across the table as she delicately moves the hair from her face. The lights are dim and the murmured conversations reverberate off the warm decor as the waiter pours the carefully selected wine. We ask for a moment to discuss the menu and take a...
The V-Spot: Freaked About Fellatio
Hi Yana, My friend seriously freaked me out when she told me that I should always use condoms for oral sex when I’m not in a longterm, monogamous relationship. Have I been sleeping on this or is she being dramatic? What are the transmission rates of STDs through oral...
Sessions
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Between the Lines: Support Local Music
Music is like a garden; water it, tend to it, and it will be a blooming beauty that can attract visitors from miles around. But forget to water it, let the weeds take over, and you’re left with a field of crackling, dusty sticks that at best annoy your neighbor. Local...
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