Arts & Life
Get Growing with Mickey Rathbun: Patience and perseverance in the natural world
By MICKEY RATHBUN
When I wrote a death notice in this column a few months ago for my three Little King river birches I was feeling pretty miserable. These nice young trees were forming the architectural spine of an evolving garden behind the house that had been a...
The Beat Goes On: ‘Klezgrass’ music in Hadley, a ukulele master in Florence, and more
By STEVE PFARRER
What do klezmer music and bluegress have in common? More than you might think, say Natalya Weinstein and John Cloyd Miller.Weinstein and Miller, a married couple from Asheville, North Carolina, are better known musically as Zoe & Cloyd (based on their...
Strike up the bands: Yidstock 2023 brings new music and a range of events to the Yiddish Book Center
By STEVE PFARRER
Just as the Yiddish Book Center has played a key role in revitalizing interest in the study of Yiddish literature and language, the Amherst center also has done its part to keep alive one of the liveliest parts of Yiddish culture: music.Now in its...
Walking the earth, with a bit of swagger: Documentary film profiles the groundbreaking all-female rock band Fanny
By STEVE PFARRER
June Millington is a familiar name in the Valley music scene, a veteran guitarist and educator who since the early 2000s has overseen numerous programs at The Institute for the Musical Arts (IMA), the Goshen center dedicated to supporting women and...
Valley Bounty: Amherst Mobile Market brings fresh goods to town’s food deserts
By JACOB NELSON
In places where fresh food is expensive or hard to get to, mobile farmers markets are one way to break down barriers. For people without reliable transportation, mobile markets bring food to them instead. Plus, many in Massachusetts accept SNAP...
Fleet of foot and easy on the eye: ‘Horse Tales,’ a new exhibit at the Eric Carle Museum, celebrates our four-legged friends
By STEVE PFARRER
Is the dog man’s best friend? Or it is the horse? Based on the longevity of their relationship with humans, horses might have the better claim. Researchers have estimated horses were widely domesticated at least 4,000 years ago and even further back...
Arts Briefs: Interactive art in Northampton, museum tours in Hadley, community bands in South Hadley, and more
A community band jamSOUTH HADLEY— The Pioneer Valley Community Band Festival, hosted by the community bands of Amherst, Florence and South Hadley, will bring together up to 150 musicians from western Massachusetts and beyond at the Mount Holyoke...
Book Bag: ‘A Stranger in Baghdad’ by Elizabeth Loudon; ‘A Slant of Light’ by Ken Samonds
By STEVE PFARRER
A Stranger in BaghdadBy Elizabeth Loudon; Hoopee/The American University in Cairo Press British author Elizabeth Loudon, who once lived in the Valley, also lived for several months in Baghdad, Iraq in 1975-1976 when she was in her late teens, a time...
Proud community: One of Belchertown’s eldest lesbians honored for trailblazing efforts; Pride flag raised for 2nd year
By EMILY THURLOW
BELCHERTOWN — Bonnie Strickland grew up in Alabama at a time when homosexuality was considered a mental illness.As a self-described tomboy, Strickland recalls her mother trying to feminize her and find boys for her to date all the while, she continued...
Making a musical home: New album celebrates the work of immigrant jazz musicians
By STEVE PFARRER
In 2019, Felipe Salles put the finishing touches on an ambitious project: an extended composition that blended jazz, South American music, and classical elements and which was based on interviews he conducted with younger immigrants about growing up...
Far from his Bronx stoop: In his 60s, Granby author Steve Bernstein reckons with his childhood and opens his heart
By MELISSA KAREN SANCES
“How you know it’s a real stoop is not so much what it looks like, but rather what happens on it. A stoop is a place to socialize. People hanging out, reading the paper, playing dominos or cards, talking and gossiping, smoking, eating a hero with the...
June views: Area art galleries bring out the color as spring segues into summer
By STEVE PFARRER
Even with area colleges and the University of Massachusetts largely closing up shop for the summer, there’s plenty of art on view in the Valley this month. Here’s a look at what some selected galleries have this month.D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts,...
Earth Matters: Fifty ways to love your river
By MONYA RELLES
How often do you cross the Connecticut River? Do you drive across the majestic and sometimes trafficky bridges that span its banks? Do you ever walk the Norwottuck Rail Trail in Hadley, peering over the edge toward the shocking cold of the water...
Antiques show returning to Deerfield on June 17-18
By CHRIS LARABEE
DEERFIELD — For the first time in six years, Historic Deerfield and the Antique Dealers’ Association of America are bringing the annual antique show back to Deerfield.The show will take place in Deerfield Academy’s Hale Family Gym on Saturday, June...
Rock ’n’ roll for good: One Roof Festival brings together popular ’90s bands to help house the unsheltered
By MELISSA KAREN SANCES
Dean Dinning believes in the power of music. The longtime bassist of Toad the Wet Sprocket was once a teen in a crowd of 90,000 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. It was 1987, and U2 was on its international Joshua Tree Tour. The show was over and...
Get Growing with Mickey Rathbun: Everything’s coming up roses: Artist Robin Freedenfeld’s garden is her biggest canvas yet
By MICKEY RATHBUN
I’ve always thought that a truly successful garden is one that feels like it’s always been there, so natural that it seems inevitable. When you step into the artist Robin Freedenfeld’s garden, one of the six locations on the Forbes Library Annual...
Railroad connected region to the world
By MICHAEL CAROLAN
Dwight resident Walter Jenks, 82, remembers the railroad station that once stood down the street from his home, halfway between the Amherst and Belchertown commons.“The locomotives would come and pick up the milk cans on the platform,” Jenks said of...
13 Valley writers longlisted for Massachusetts Book Awards
By STEVE PFARRER
Valley writers have had a strong run of major awards in recent years, from poet Martín Espada winning a National Book Award in 2021 to novelist Ruth Ozeki claiming Great Britain’s Women’s Prize for Literature last year.Now. over a dozen area writers...
Aging with Adventure with Eric Weld: Return to the Appalachian Trail
By ERIC WELD
It wasn’t how I planned it. Then again, what in life, or adventure, ever goes exactly the way it was originally planned?I never planned to return to finish hiking the Appalachian Trail because my intention was to complete the entirety of it in one go...
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, just in time to be a fitting backdrop to an art exhibit designed to celebrate the outdoors.“Engaging...
