Festival of local singer-songwriters

The all-ages Western New England Music Festival will be at the De la Luz Soundstage in Holyoke on Sunday, April 27. It will include workshops from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and live music from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m.

The event will feature 21 singer-songwriters from western Massachusetts, Connecticut, and southern Vermont performing in seven groups of three songwriters each. 

The lineup includes Jon Carroll, Cliff Eberhardt, Peter J. Newland, Tony Vacca, Frank Viele, Kala Farnham, Louise Mosrie Coombe, Lara Herscovitch, The Boxcar Lilies, Lauran Beluzo, Stephen Peter Rodgers, Frank Critelli, Taija New, Dylan Patrick Ward, Henning Ohlenbusch, LeFever, Bryan Titus, Christine Bile, Heather McLarney, Lee Totten, and Canyon.

The workshop topics include intermediate songwriting, advanced songwriting (with a request that participants bring a song that is almost done, but not completed), and building a successful career in the music business.

Admission is free, but donations are accepted and will go to both the De La Luz Institute for Technical Arts and the New Music Alliance. Reserve your tickets at delaluz.org.

Northampton author’s book recognized by Reese Witherspoon

Actress Reese Witherspoon recently selected “All That Life Can Afford,” the debut novel of Northampton author Emily Everett, as her April choice for her book club.

The book is about a young woman named Anna who “first fell in love with London at her hometown library — its Jane Austen balls a far cry from her life of food stamps and hand-me-downs. But when she finally arrives after college, the real London is a moldy flat and the same paycheck-to-paycheck grind — that fairy-tale life still out of reach,” according to the book's press materials.

“Then Anna meets the Wilders, who fly her to Saint-Tropez [sic] to tutor their teenage daughter. Swept up by the sphinxlike elder sister, Anna soon finds herself plunged into a heady whirlpool of parties and excess, a place where confidence is a birthright. There she meets two handsome young men — one who wants to whisk her into his world in a chauffeured car, the other who sees through Anna’s struggle to outrun her past. It’s like she’s stepped into the pages of a glittering new novel, but what will it cost her to play the part?”

On her site, Witherspoon said the novel “had me hooked the moment I started the audiobook. ‘All That Life Can Afford’ by Emily Everett is about love, ambition, and the cost of belonging, and I cannot stop thinking about it.”

Everett, the managing editor of Amherst College’s literary magazine, studied abroad in London for a year as a Smith College student and returned to live there from 2009 to 2013.

The book is $14.99 on Kindle or $20.30 hardcover on Amazon.

Murder mystery play in Greenfield

Greenfield Community College’s production of “Book of Days” by Lanford Wilson and directed by Tom Geha, will run from Thursday, April 24, through Sunday, April 27, at the Sloan Theater. All performances will be at 7:30 p.m., except for Sunday’s, which will be at 2 p.m.

The show, according to the event description, is “part comedy, drama and mystery.” 

“When murder roars through a small Missouri town in 1998, Ruth Hoch begins her own quest to find truth and honesty amid small town jealousies, religion, greed and lies. This tornado of a play propels you through its events like a page-turning mystery and proves that there are no small roles in life.”

Tickets are $15 general admission or $5 for students and seniors via gcc.mass.edu/book-of-days or at the door.

Local music festival with UMass ties

Mojofest, a 21-plus music festival put on by current and former students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will return for its second year — its first time charging admission — on Saturday, April 26, from noon to 6 p.m. at The Club (the Young Men’s Club) at 138 East St. in Hadley.

The Main Stage lineup includes Dipsea Flower, Morrissey Blvd, Nikki & The Barn Boys, South Pleasant Revival, and Overserved Again. The DJ lineup includes Different Font, Kareem, Chucky Blizz (doing a back-to-back set with Em), Morale, and Steezy Dan (doing a back-to-back set with Nate).

The festival will also have local vendors, food trucks, and live art installations.

Guests will not be allowed to park at The Club; instead, they should park at or walk to The Spoke (35 East Pleasant St., Amherst) and take a free shuttle. 

Blankets and chairs are welcome. The festival is rain or shine.

Tickets start at $22.50 for each member of a group of five or more via posh.vip/e/mojofest.

Audition for ‘Annie’ in Springfield

Springfield Community Theater of MA will be holding auditions for its upcoming production of “Annie” at 52 Sumner St. in Springfield on Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The musical, about a red-headed orphaned girl living in New York City during the Great Depression, is known for songs like “Tomorrow,” “It's The Hard-Knock Life,” “Little Girls,” and “Easy Street.”

Interested actors must be prepared to sing one minute of a song from the show without accompaniment and perform a short poem or reading from memory. They also must wear “movement-friendly” clothing (no jeans) to learn a short dance routine during the audition.

Rehearsals for named adults and for the character Annie will begin in May; full cast rehearsals will begin Monday, July 7. The show will run the weekend of Friday, Aug. 1, through Sunday, Aug. 3.

Auditions are open to anyone age 6 and older. Registration is required.

To register for an audition slot or to see a full breakdown of available roles, visit springfield-community-theater-of-ma.org/auditions.

Dance music at Hampshire College

Midnightchoir, a darkwave and post-punk duo from New York City, will perform at Hampshire College’s Roos-Rohde House on Saturday, April 26, from 7 to 10 p.m.

The group calls their style “anarcho-leftist dark dance music,” according to a press release, and use their work to address “a rising tide of conservative politics. Their intense performances include videos from their radical heroes along with moody imagery to match songs that delve into historical, religious, and social subject matter.”

Patrick Bobilin, the lead singer and songwriter, is a Hampshire College graduate. 

Feardotcom and Snowbeasts will open.

Tickets are $10 on Eventbrite.

Free nature photography workshops in Belchertown

Interested local photographers can take part in four free photography workshops in Belchertown. 

On Saturday, April 26, from 9 a.m. to noon, teens and adults can learn basic photography skills at the Belchertown Recreation Department. The group will then go to the Lake Wallace Sensory Trail to use their skills. 

On Saturday, May 3, from 9 a.m. to noon, teens and adults can learn creative nature photography, likewise followed by a group trip to the Lake Wallace Sensory Trail. 

The same day, from 4 to 5 p.m., children ages 5 and up can learn nature photography for kids at the Swift River Elementary School Pavilion, with a group trip to the school gardens and the McPherson Sensory Garden.

On Saturday, May 10, from 9 a.m. to noon, teens and adults can learn smartphone photography skills at the Quabbin Reservoir Visitor Center.

Belchertown residents can also submit their work to a photo contest until Friday, May 30. Winning photos will be on display at the Clapp Memorial Library Library in July. 

To register for a workshop, submit your work to the photo contest, or learn more about the instructors, visit clapplibrary.org/art-in-the-library/viewfinder.