Arts
Back to the stage: Real Live Theater returns from the pandemic with staged reading and a new summer production
By STEVE PFARRER
Like many theater organizations, Real Live Theater (RLT) was shut down from producing live performances for over two years due to the pandemic.But the Valley performance ensemble, now celebrating its 10th anniversary, is swinging back into action,...
Artspace Community Art Center receives grant to build ceramics studio
By MARY BYRNE
With the help of a $14,000 matching state grant, Artspace Community Art Center on Mill Street can begin the planning and feasibility stage of creating a clay studio. “People of all skill levels – children all the way up through elderly – can make...
Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest adult winners
2023 adult winners“Holiday”By Caroline JenningsNo one wants to hear that you lifted heras gently as you knew how onto the chairset in the tub, and that she was already shiveringfrom cold, from shame, from sheer exhaustioneven though you had found the...
Talking ‘regenerative grazing’ with an expert
By TINKY WEISBLAT
In recent years, we have been told that beef and dairy cattle are in part responsible for global warming. They emit methane, mostly through belching.Lynne Pledger of Shelburne Falls tells a different story. “People have gotten the message, which has...
Sounds Local: Folk tales for all folks: The West by Northwest New England Festival focuses on folk all weekend long
By SHERYL HUNTER
Get ready to immerse yourself in three nights of music, drama and dance – at three locations – when the West by Northwest New England Festival takes place this weekend, June 9 through 11. The festival will feature different performances each night,...
Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest youth winners
12 to 14-year-old winners“Space” By Ruby Rowan-DeckerSpaceYou take up so much spaceSometimes sunshine,sometimes rainNowI’m drainedYou trainThem to followAnd wallowAnd weep when you doTo cut their words for yoursTo slip and seep intoThe cracks.Take it...
Two artists plunge into nature at Salmon Falls Gallery in Shelburne Falls
By BELLA LEVAVI
Nature is the inspiration for many artists. Two artists, Rosa Beryl and Carin Teresa, have solo shows on display at Salmon Falls Gallery in Shelburne Falls, both drawing from their love of nature.“The plant queendom has guided me through some of...
Sounds Local: A songwriter’s debut, decades in the making: Jenny Burtis steps into the spotlight with “Woodbird”
By SHERYL HUNTER
TI pulled a woodbird from a treeShe spoke right to the soul of meShe saw me burning burning- Jenny Burtis, “The Burning”When Jenny Burtis releases her debut album, ”Woodbird,” this weekend, it will be the culmination of many years of...
‘The Road Towards Home’ by Corinne Demas
By TINKY WEISBLAT
Despite the recent spate of films featuring older heroines in search of adventure (“80 for Brady” comes to mind), the average bookshelf doesn’t have a lot of stories revolving around people in late middle age. “The Road Towards Home” (Lake Union...
Memories of Harry Belafonte
By RABBI BOB ROTTENBERG
When I was a teenager living with my parents in New York City, an amazing thing happened.Harry Belafonte and his young family moved into our Upper West Side Manhattan apartment house, and our families became close friends.It was the late 1950s, and...
Sounds Local: Summer kicks off with new fests and blues legends
By SHERYL HUNTER
As Memorial Day approaches, so does the arrival of summer. The summer of 2023 will make up for the previous three years when COVID heavily impacted the music scene. There are many concerts and festivals on tap with something to fit every budget and...
Triumph, tragedy of Paul Goesch on display at Clark Art Institute
By DON STEWART
He was the German architect who never built, yet his designs have been influential for generations. Even when shut off from society for almost half his life, he continued to paint and draw, producing some 2,000 images. Although at one time German art...
Requiem for Matthew Shepard: Da Camera Singers will perform acclaimed oratorio examining legacy of young gay man murdered 25 years ago
By STEVE PFARRER
A little less than 25 years ago, Matthew Shepard, a young, gay University of Wyoming student, was severely beaten by two other young men outside of Laramie, Wyoming, who then left him to die by tying him to a fence alongside a pasture at night in...
Celebrating the life of a local artist
By BELLA LEVAVI
Delores “Del” Viarengo, a 32-year Heath resident who passed away in December, will be remembered in a retrospective this week with over 80 pieces of her art on display. “But Is It Art: A Retrospective of Del Viarengo’s Creations,” organized by the...
Book Review: ‘The Masters of Medicine’
By TINKY WEISBLAT
Andrew Lam of Longmeadow has many vocations. He is a retina surgeon and teaches ophthalmology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.Before he went to medical school, he trained as a historian – and he continues to write historical books...
Sounds Local: Love Crumbs and Cloudbelly collaborate on powerful new music, NFT
By SHERYL HUNTER
It’s been two years since the indie folk-rock band Love Crumbs released any new music, and now the wait is finally over. The band, which features Michael Dubuque on guitar, Ali McTavish on vocals and Scott Wolfram on bass, will release a new single,...
A legacy of local family farming captured on film
By EVELINE MACDOUGALL
Fifty years ago, a newcomer to Franklin County undertook a monumental project. For those who admire family farms, self-sufficient lifestyles, and superb cinematic experiences, those elements are rolled into one thanks to longtime Bernardston resident...
As nature intended: Group exhibit ‘Engaging Nature’ in Leverett features landscape paintings made outdoors
By STEVE PFARRER
Until recently, it hasn’t seemed like much of a spring: a lot of damp or rainy days, overcast skies, and cold nights.But the weather has warmed up this week, just in time to be a fitting backdrop to an art exhibit designed to celebrate...
Orange man’s new book of poetry inspired by dream world
By JULIAN MENDOZA
ORANGE — With his first book of poetry now out in the world, Orange resident Alex Arnot is ready for the public to peer into his own.“Dreamscape Voyage,” published by Athol-based Haley’s Publishing in mid-February, “gives us in the beauty of lyrical...
Sounds Local: Valley musicians to celebrate life and music of Kate Lorenz
By SHERYL HUNTER
On Saturday, May 20, friends, fans, family and fellow musicians will gather at the Shea Theater Arts Center in Turners Falls to celebrate the life and music of Kate Lorenz. A vibrant force on the local music scene for many years, Lorenz, 42, died in...
