by James Heflin | Jan 28, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Stage
Photos by Jerrey Robers and James Heflin For a lot of people, it’s the stuff of anxiety dreams: a mic awaits on a stage. An expectant crowd is staring at you. You don’t have a script, even if you’ve done some homework — you just have to talk. That scenario is, says...
by Amanda Drane - Photos by Matt Burkhartt | Jan 28, 2015 | News
Gas prices haven’t been this low in nearly a decade, and many people in the Valley are downright giddy about it. At its highest point in the last decade, July 2008, regular gasoline was about $4.03 per gallon at the pump. At that price, filling an 18-gallon tank cost...
by Hunter Styles | Jan 28, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Columns, Featured, Leisure, News, Scene Here
Wind whips across the ice on the Oxbow in Northampton. Under a bright, cold sun, shadowy figures stand against a stark panorama of frozen river, snow-decked mountains, and frosted gray sky. It’s 25 degrees. Viktor Biley, 17, is rubbing his bare hands together. It’s...
by Amanda
Drane | Jan 28, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured
Contact improvisation isn’t just dance without choreography, it’s life — a microcosm illuminating a way to be in the world. “Who you are as a person is who you are as an improviser,” says Nancy Stark Smith, part of the group that spawned the improvisational...
by James Heflin | Jan 28, 2015 | Articles, Arts, Featured, Music
The range of New Jersey violinist Jason Kao Hwang’s composing and playing is remarkable. At one end of the spectrum, there are completely composed pieces of “new,” or contemporary classical, music. At the other, you’ll find his improvised ’70s and ’80s work with...