Arts
Sounds Local: Spring is singer-songwriter season: A host of local performers celebrate new work
By SHERYL HUNTER
We are fortunate to live in an area where we can experience all types of music, and when it comes to singer-songwriters, we are fortunate to have so many talented ones living among us. Any given weekend, you can head out to one of the local breweries...
Crunch time for matzo: An easy-to-make sweet treat that’s Passover Seder-friendly
By TINKY WEISBLAT
Passover begins this coming Monday night. This eight-day holiday means many things to many people: the survival of the Jewish people in the book of Exodus, the overall history of Judaism, and even the last supper of Jesus.This year Easter came more...
Spotlight on women in classical music: Brick Church Music Series’s season comes to a close, April 28-29, with Champlain Trio
By CHRIS LARABEE
Join the First Church of Deerfield for two days of classical music, as the Brick Church Music Series’ 2023-2024 season comes to a close on April 28 and 29.The two-part event begins on Sunday, April 28, at 3 p.m. at the First Church of Deerfield, 71...
Ready for their close-up: Pothole Pictures announces a season of curated film screenings, live music and $1 popcorn
By DIANE BRONCACCIO
It’s showtime again for Pothole Pictures, a community-based movie series that showcases classic movies, live local music, occasional interviews with relevant film-makers, and sells popcorn that’s still only $1.Named for Shelburne Falls’s Glacial...
You’re up next: Western Mass open mic scene heats up post-pandemic
By STEVE PFARRER
Not so long ago, there was a general lament sometimes heard among Valley musicians: “There aren’t enough places to play around here.”That might have been true for professional players who wanted to be paid — and maybe, despite the opening of new local...
Sounds Local: Fun for the whole family: Meltdown, a book and music fest for kids, returns to Greenfield this Saturday
By SHERYL HUNTER
If you are looking for some family fun this weekend that includes award-winning authors, arts and crafts, games, puppetry, circus performers and lots of music, then head to The River’s annual Meltdown, a book and music festival for kids that will take...
A varied and appealing ‘American Table’: New book from the Smithsonian looks at American history through the lens of food
By TINKY WEISBLAT
Food connects Americans to each other and to our history. Those connections were highlighted in a recent book and a library talk. The book is “Smithsonian American Table: The Foods, People and Innovations That Feed Us,” (Harvest) by Lisa Kingsley in...
The family that builds together: Bernardston’s Van Natta family are DIY superstars
By EVELINE MACDOUGALL
The Van Natta family home on Parmenter Road was the second house built in Bernardston, and walking through their 1747 residence imparts a feeling of time travel, given centuries-old aspects as well as evidence of dozens of changes over many decades....
Speaking of Nature: Molting for amore: Spring has arrived and male goldfinches are starting to molt into their nuptial plumage
By BILL DANIELSON
It just so happens that I am a creature of habit and I always write my column on a Thursday. On this particular morning I find myself luxuriating in an unexpected, but most welcome, deviation from my normal routine. A huge winter storm has arrived and...
For all the bragging rights (and one trophy): The winners of this year’s Valley Voices story slams head to a final competition
By STEVE PFARRER
The assignment is pretty straightforward: tell a concise story about your life, in no more than five minutes, that reflects a certain theme.The challenge is in telling that story with enough heart, spirit, verve, humor or whatever else you can conjure...
More than man’s best friend: Emotional support dog brings priceless comfort to Greenfield teen with PTSD
By DIANE BRONCACCIO
Zeal, a soulful-eyed chocolate lab, may well be “man’s best friend” to 15-year-old Rain Sanborn. But if all goes well, Zeal will also be a great comfort to the boy who suffered through years of trauma and anxiety brought on by a near-fatal ski...
A workplace from hell: Amherst filmmaker Matt Heron-Duranti is part of the team behind independent film “Another Day in America”
By STEVE PFARRER
There’s been a lot written about the problems that have plagued many American workplaces in the wake of the pandemic, from employees insisting on continuing to work at home to offices that have mirrored the polarization and social conflicts plaguing...
Let’s Talk Relationships: Talk to me like you love me: How to use words to love your partner better
By AMY NEWSHORE
As time goes by in a relationship, and partners get to know each other more, there will be inevitable hurts, disappointments and upsets. This is what happens when we share our life with another human being. We each come from our own backgrounds,...
Get Growing with Mickey Rathbun: What good is an herbarium? Herbariums, like Emily Dickinson’s, are an essential resource for scientists
By MICKEY RATHBUN
The word “herbarium” sounds a bit quaint, even antiquated. We may think of Emily Dickinson’s herbarium, which she created during her year at Mount Holyoke in 1847-48. Although she had begun studying plants at age 9 and was helping her mother in the...
Faith Matters: ‘A place where there is no man’: A call to realize that we are the ones we have been waiting for
By JASPER LAPIENSKI
“In a place where there is no man, strive to be a man.” (Avot 2:6)If you take just the second half of this statement, it sounds uncomfortably familiar: Be a man. We hear that a lot these days. Real men don’t cry; be a man. Shoulder the burden. Do your...
Sounds Local: Coming out in her own time (signature): Kim Chin-Gibbons to release first single as solo artist, ‘7848’
By SHERYL HUNTER
Kim Chin-Gibbons of Amherst has been playing in bands for over a decade. Most know her from her work with ZoKi, a group she co-founded with Zoe Lemos of Ashfield when they were in their teens and students at the Institute for the Musical Arts (IMA) in...
‘The butler did it’: A story about ‘Jeopardy,’ body image and tomato sauce
By TINKY WEISBLAT
I frequently wow my nephew as we compete to yell the answers to the questions (or rather the questions to the answers) on “Jeopardy” at the television set. My secret is that I have had way too much schooling and have read way too many books.I was...
How and why does wood burn? A basic scientific explanation to help you better heat your home, build the best fire
By STEVE THOMAS
A significant number of people in this area burn wood to heat their homes, including a number of new arrivals who may have much interest in doing so, but little experience. Accordingly, I thought it would be worthwhile to write about this subject as...
Speaking of Nature: No power, no problem: The late-March storm that set a new record
By BILL DANIELSON
As seems to be the case more and more often, March went out with a bang. And, in agreement with my assessment of the year from last week’s column, it seems only fitting that we experienced our most major winter storm of the season in what was...
What does freedom look like today? 7 Black American artists interpret the meaning of emancipation
By DON STEWART
Through July 14 at the Williams College Museum of Art you can view new works by seven of today’s leading Black American artists in “Emancipation: The Unfinished Project of Liberation.” The show, “conceived as a commemoration of the 160th anniversary...
