Arts & Life
The Beat Goes On: A trombone celebration in Holyoke, Lord Russ shifts gears, and the Hampshire Young People’s Chorus turns 25
By STEVE PFARRER
The Holyoke Civic Symphony has titled its 2023-2024 season “The Brass Menagerie,” not to be cute but to highlight a series of concerts dedicated to celebrating the family of brass instruments: the horn, the tuba, the trumpet, and the trombone.On May...
The long shadow of the Mill River flood: Multiple events on tap in May to mark 150th anniversary of the 1874 disaster
By STEVE PFARRER
On the morning of May 16, 1874, the dam on the Williamsburg Reservoir, up in the hills along the East Branch of the Mill River, suddenly collapsed, sending 600 million gallons of water roaring downhill.The flood, which soon became a 30-foot-high brown...
Fantasy favorite revisited: Amherst authors’ popular ‘Spiderwick Chronicles’ gets a new streaming adaptation
By STEVE PFARRER
Call it an encore performance. “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” the bestselling series of fantasy books by Amherst writers Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, has just been turned into a streaming series on The Roku Channel.That comes 16 years after a...
Around and About with Richard McCarthy: Coffee at the pearly gates: The importance of a moment of connection, even with a stranger
By RICHARD MCCARTHY
About a mile from where I live, there is a convenience store and a doughnut shop. For a period of a few years, a woman of perhaps 60 years of age could be found standing outside one of these establishments on most days. She would be shuffling her...
Speaking of Nature: Bird of my dreams, it’s you: Spotting a White-tailed Tropicbird on our cruise in Bermuda
By BILL DANIELSON
It was the morning of April 16 and I was up early. It seems to be impossible for me to sleep late at this time of year because I am so excited about seeing the first birds of the season, but this particular morning was a little different. It was the...
The Iron Horse rides again: The storied Northampton club will reopen at last, May 15
By STEVE PFARRER
In late March, the fabled Iron Horse Music Hall, slated to reopen in mid May, was still a pretty raw construction site.Boards, pipes, boxes, and other materials were piled on the floors, along the walls, and on tables. Extension cords to power saws...
The power of poetry: U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón to speak at Smith College
By STEVE PFARRER
Ada Limón made history in 2022 when she became the first Latina to become U.S. Poet Laureate. And last year, she became just the second national poet laureate to have her term extended for another two years.Now Limón, a MacArthur Fellow and the winner...
Upon Nancy’s Floor: 33 Hawley event celebrates iconic dancers, history, and a new dance floor
By STEVE PFARRER
Among the many features that are part of 33 Hawley, the Northampton Community Arts Trust building that was finally completed in early January following 10 years of construction, there’s probably nothing more important to dancers than the floor of the...
Embracing both new and old: Da Camera Singers celebrates 50 years in the best way they know how
By JUDSON BROWN
Da Camera Singers Director Sheila Heffernon wasn’t hiding her exasperation in addressing her tenor section after a recent rehearsal preparing the group for a 50th anniversary concert coming up May 11 and 12.“Watch me! Watch me! Watch me!” she wrote on...
Time to celebrate kids and books: Mass Kids Lit Fest offers a wealth of programs in Valley during Children’s Book Week
By STEVE PFARRER
Just in time to coincide with Children’s Book Week, a national event established in 1905, the Massachusetts Center for the Book (MCB) has created a children’s literary showcase here in the Valley.The Mass Kids Lit Fest, a new book festival taking...
Arts Briefs: A themed exhibit in Northampton, new opportunities for artists in Easthampton, and more
Witnesses to difficult journeysNORTHAMPTON — As Passover takes place, local Jewish activists are working with a New Hampshire photographer and the New England Visionary Artists Museum (Anchor House of Artists) to stage an exhibit drawing links between...
Speaking of Nature: ‘Those sound like chickens’: Wood frogs and spring peepers are back — and loud as ever
By BILL DANIELSON
During a recent lecture on evolutioin I had to explain the differences between three different processes known as geographic, temporal and behavioral isolation. Geographic isolation is the easiest of these concepts to understand because it involves...
Hitting the ceramic circuit: Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail turns 20 years old, April 27-28
By STEVE PFARRER
A lot can change in 20 years: Presidents and other politicians come and go, new cultural fads and technologies emerge, clothing styles morph, and music and movies take on different dimensions.In these parts, one tradition hasn’t changed. Since 2005,...
Best Bites: A familiar feast: The Passover Seder traditions and tastes my family holds dear
By ROBIN GOLDSTEIN
Passover has always been my favorite Jewish holiday. The Passover Seder my parents host annually in my childhood house in Northampton has been the most festive and joyous meal of the year for as long as I can remember.My dad’s childhood Seders were...
There is a Season with Molly Parr: Crowd-pleasing potatoes: If you’re not smashing your potatoes, you’re missing out
By MOLLY PARR
Last column I wrote that I am currently on a pretty limited diet that cuts out certain types of carbs — FODMAP for short (the full acronym stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols). Well, it turns out that a...
Weekly Food Photo Contest: This week’s winner: Gayle Pemberton of Northampton
This pie, sent in by Gayle Pemberton of Northampton, has that perfect balance of both flavor and texture. The “delicious light chocolate inside,” she wrote, is “sprinkled with crust dust.”How to enter: Snap a pic of something delicious-looking and...
Valley Bounty: Your soil will thank you: As garden season gets underway, Whately farm provides ‘black gold’ to many
By JACOB NELSON
“Compost is not soil, but it makes your soil better,” says Mike Mahar, owner of Bear Path Compost in Whately. “It adds life to it. If you’re going to take something out of the soil by harvesting, you should put something back in, and compost is...
Painting a more complete picture: ‘Unnamed Figures’ highlights Black presence and absence in early American history
By CHRIS LARABEE
In partnership with the American Folk Art Museum, Historic Deerfield is presenting an exhibition on the unexplored histories of Black people in early America.“Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North” explores Black...
Book Bag: ‘Cecilia: A Memoir of Lesbian Love and Loss’ by Astrid Lindstrom; ‘Go Play in Traffic: A Writer’s Life’ by Michelle A. Gabow
By STEVE PFARRER
Cecilia: A Memoir of Lesbian Love and LossBy Astrid LindstromHeliotrope Press Astrid Lindstrom’s memoir, “Cecilia,” about the loss of her wife following a difficult battle with cancer, is at times a painful read. But it’s also a memorial to her late...
Earth Matters: From Big Sits to Birdathons: Birding competitions far and near
By JOSHUA ROSE
A few months ago, headlines flared that Peter Kaestner had seen his 10,000th bird species. This could have been anticlimactic, as Kaestner has been renowned for years among birders for traveling worldwide and seeing more species than anyone.However,...
