Cooking made simple: Classes at the Baker’s Pin demystify the secrets and tricks of great recipes
By NAOMI SCULLY-BRISTOL For the Advocate Walking into the Baker’s Pin, you are greeted by cheerful decor, beautiful colorful pots and an array of cooking gadgets. It is a home cook’s paradise with everything you could possibly need, from Le Creuset pots to artisan...
End of summer mixtape: A selection of some of my favorite recent releases from Oozie, VIDEORENTAL and Pamela Means
By JENNIFER LEVESQUE For the Advocate Years ago, the late musician Ted Pratt made a Facebook post stating he wanted to start a thrash band and call it “Uzi Jacuzzi.” Intrigued, vocalist and guitarist Tristan Jorud reached out to Pratt and the two got together that...
He might be drunk, but he’ll make you laugh: Comedian Sam Morril brings his Class Act tour to town
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Edgy. Sardonic and deadpan. Willing to joke about difficult subjects. Willing to joke about himself. As Sam Morril sees it, pretty much anything is fair game for comedy, at least as an antidote to the news and to life in general. “It’s a...
Taking Annie Baker’s drama class: Chester Theatre Company closes season with Obie winner “Circle Mirror Transformation”
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer Over the years, the Valley has sent some talented playwrights into the world — the late Wendy Wasserstein, a Mount Holyoke College graduate, is one notable name — but few can rival the success of Annie Baker, the 1999 Amherst Regional...
The summer of iZM PRiZM: Self-taught Holyoke painter brings his colorful, vibrant work to Easthampton exhibit
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer As a painter, he’s got a great eye for color, lots of energy, and a self-taught technique that lends itself to subjects like music, pop culture, history, current events and fantasy. He’s also got a colorful pen name, so to speak, to go...
Hoping for a drier September: Three outdoor music festivals on tap for Easthampton toward summer’s end
By STEVE PFARRER Staff Writer July was a challenging month for outdoor music shows, with the heavy rain that flooded local farms and roads also washing out some concerts and threatening others. Organizers for upcoming music festivals in Easthampton are hoping things...
Straight from the heart: Grayson Ty and Laura Buchanan plumb their own relationship on their debut album as a duo
By STEVE PFARRER STAFF WRITER Several years ago, Grayson Ty and Laura Buchanan first met as separate working musicians. That night, Ty, a singer-songwriter, was co-billed at the Iron Horse Musical Hall in Northampton with Eavesdrop, then an acoustic folk-pop trio that...
Shantay, You Stay! Queens of western Mass. dispel myths, misconceptions about drag culture
By EMILY THURLOW For the Advocate Whether he’s sporting villainous Maleficent-style horns, channeling his inner witch dressed as Winifred Sanderson, twirling in a red-and-black polka-dot a-line dress or lounging around in a raglan T-shirt, Aaron Johnson is still,...
Best Bites: All aboard the gummy express: Testing Northampton’s edible varieties
By ROBIN GOLDSTEIN For the Advocate I don’t know anything about weed gummies. I warned my editors about this. They shrugged and reminded me that I was a food columnist, so gummies were my territory. I nodded slowly. My gummy quest began with an educational visit to a...
An album to cry to: Death and grief are the stars in Chris Goudreau’s debut solo album, “Apocalyptic Love Songs”
By JENNIFER LEVESQUE For the Advocate I pry my body up from my laid back lounge chair that was holding me for the last 53 minutes and 41 seconds, and grab a sweater – suddenly chilled to the bone. I then check out my reflection in the mirror and wipe away my...
Theater Matters with Jarice Hanson: Memory plays, memoirs, morals and more
By JARICE HANSON For the Advocate ‘The Happiest Man on Earth,” Barrington Stage Company’s first production of the season on the St. Germain Stage, leaves the audience breathless with the story of a Holocaust survivor. The show closed June 17, but the script is...
Sessions
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A flame in the midst of winter: Amherst Winter Fest theme this year is ‘fire and ice’
Hundreds of small flickering candles lighting paths to a live ice carving demo at sunset and a fire juggling event with acrobatics and a unicycle are just some of the things in store for this year’s Luminaria.
The V-Spot: I’m The Other Woman
Relational boundaries are simultaneously important, ongoing, and oftentimes, subjective. Which is to say, you likely don’t have “looser” boundaries than your friend & his wife, but rather “different” boundaries.
STAFF PICKS: Snow Farm, Labyrinth Walk, a Hendrix Tribute, and Eddie Japan
The holidays can be a stressful time. Pressure to shop. Pressure from your family. And, if you call people and write stories for a living, the holidays are a time when NO ONE GETS BACK TO YOU!! Thankfully there are events like Monday evening’s labyrinth walk.
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Stagestruck: State of Plays
There won’t be a Stagestruck column in next week’s paper, but I can share with you what I know about the state of plays in area venues. There are cancellations and postponements, some events in the Valley are still scheduled for this weekend at least.












