Software extras ease do-it-yourself taxes

It's never been easier to prepare your own tax return.

The software available for the 2012 tax season has been both expanded and made easier to use, making the annual chore quicker and reducing the chance of missing big deductions and tax credits.

Whether you're an old hand or trying e-filing for the first time, you'll find an array of software choices:

TurboTax

Calendar

Music

 · A World of Piano - Satoko Fujii performs first in series of four solo jazz piano concerts FRIDAY, Feb. 3, 7:30 p.m., Northampton Center for the Arts, 17 New South St., Northampton. $15 general; $10 students. 584-7327, nohoarts.org

Gardener's Checklist

Mix up a solution of fertilizer. The first week of each month from November to March is when I make an application of water-soluble fertilizer to many of the plants I have growing indoors. Notice that I said "many," not "all." Some houseplants, especially tropical plants, grow very slowly through the winter.

Headliners

Raising her voice

Dia Frampton lost "The Voice" finale last June by less than two percent of the vote, but who cares? The songs she performed on the TV show - Kanye West's "Heartless," R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" and the original number "Inventing Shadows" - became the highest-charting iTunes digital songs by any contestant on "The Voice," with the number of downloads sold reaching a total of 480,000 within a week of the show's conclusion. OK, maybe Kanye didn't reached out to her after hearing "Heartless" like she hoped, but all the half-Korean, half-Dutch Utah native has to do is remember how it was before she scored big - all those times when she had no money and she and her sister were forced to record songs at her mom's house so that you can hear the dishwater running in the background. "It was very stressful and difficult and I am just excited to move forward," exclaims the vivacious 24-year-old.

Advance bookings

 · Toby Keith, Rodney Atkins - Fri., Feb. 3, 8 p.m., Mohegan Sun. $65, $85. mohegansun.com

 · Lisa Lampanelli - Queen of Mean - Fri., Feb. 10, 8 p.m., Calvin Theatre, Northampton. $35. 586-8686, iheg.com

 · Rusko, Savoy - Fri., Feb. 10, 8:30 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst. $40. wwwmullinscenter.com

 · Miranda Lambert - Thurs., Feb. 16, 7:30 p.m., Mullins Center, Amherst. $27.75, $39.75, $51.75. wwwmullinscenter.com

Peer Group: 5 Photographers Who Inspire Each Other

We are having this exhibition because we want to convey what happens when visually oriented people make the time to get together and let our pictures do the communicating. We have been doing just that for two years now, meeting about once a month to enjoy each other's company and to think with our eyes.

Exhibits

AMHERST

 · Amherst College - The Landscape of Irrational Exuberance, photography by Steve Smith, thru Feb. 17 in Eli Marsh Gallery. Hours: Mon.-Fri., 10-4; Sat., 12-4