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By STEVE PFARRER

Back in 2004, actor Paul Giamatti teamed up with screenwriter/director Alexander Payne in “Sideways,” an offbeat comedy/drama about two friends who take a road trip through the California wine country as they both grapple with midlife crises of a...

By STEVE PFARRER

A bit over 10 years ago, Ilan Stavans, the longtime Amherst College professor and writer, made his first venture into the business world: starting a publishing company dedicated to international writing.Restless Books, whose tagline is “an...

By STEVE PFARRER

Summer’s long past, and so are the watermelons. But Watermelon Wednesdays, the long-running summertime acoustic music series at the West Whately Chapel, isn’t ready to pull the plug on its concerts.On Dec. 6, they’re sponsoring what they call...

By STEVE PFARRER

Seymour Chwast turned 92 this summer. But in his heart, he might still be about 8 or 9 years old, based on the work he continues to create.A legendary graphic designer who, beginning in the 1950s, helped revolutionize the look of commercial art,...

By STEVE PFARRER

Listen to the BirdsBy Donald Kroodsma, Léna Mazilu, and Yoann Guény; W.W. Norton & Co. Donald Kroodsma, a leading expert on the science of birdsong, once taught biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. But the Valley writer and scientist...

By STEVE PFARRER

September brings hordes of college students back to the Valley — as well as new art exhibits. Here’s a selected look at what’s on tap at several local campuses, as well as some area galleries.University Museum of Contemporary Art, University of...

By STEVE PFARRER

The Sky We Shapedby Shirley Reva VernickCinco Puntos PressAmherst author Shirley Reva Vernick has written a number of Young Adult novels based on historical events, including her debut book, “The Blood Lie,” a story of an incident in an upstate New...

By STEVE PFARRER

A few years ago, Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares (PVJS), the member-supported concert series, faced the same issue all musicians, clubs, and show promoters were dealing with: a problem called COVID-19.Like others, PVJS went online during the worst of the...

By STEVE PFARRER

Joe Farnsworth was 10 or 11 when he got the chance to meet a drumming legend: Max Roach.It was at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in 1979, where Roach taught. Farnsworth, who grew up in South Hadley, remembers how one of his older brothers,...

By STEVE PFARRER

Along with its varieties of apples and other fruit, Park Hill Orchard in Easthampton now has some larger objects available, though just for viewing: artworks.Art in the Orchard (AitO), the biennial exhibit of outdoor sculpture and installations, has...

By STEVE PFARRER

Adding to its collection of work documenting social change, the University of Massachusetts Amherst has acquired the papers of social activist and writer Al Weinrub, co-founder of the anti-imperialist organization Science for the People (SftP) in...

By STEVE PFARRER

AMHERST — A significant change is afoot at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, where a new executive director is poised to come on board.Jennifer Schantz, who has an extensive background with a number of organizations in New York City, will...

By STEVE PFARRER

In recent years, David Wax Museum, which mixes Americana influences with pop music and traditional Mexican folk sounds, had spent a lot of time recording a new album, “You Must Change Your Life,” that the group — the husband and wife duo of David Wax...

By STEVE PFARRER

In 1973, the Porter-Phelps-Huntington house in Hadley, which dates to 1752, won designation on the National Register of Historic Places, the federal program that supports and coordinates efforts to protect the nation’s historic and archeological...

By STEVE PFARRER

Long recognized as one of the modern masters of the banjo, Tony Trischka has been a big influence on different styles of progressive bluegrass and a guy who’s woven elements of other music — jazz, psychedelic pop, Great American Songbook tunes — into...

By STEVE PFARRER

The Road Towards HomeBy Corinne DemasLake Union PublishingAmherst author Corinne Demas, a former professor of English at Mount Holyoke College, began her literary career writing primarily for adults, including some novels and short story...

By STEVE PFARRER

Finding Home (Hungary, 1945)By Dean Cycon; Koehler Books A common image from the end of World War II in Europe is that of cheering crowds of people welcoming Allied troops in towns and cities that had been liberated from the Nazis.A lesser-known and...

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...

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...

By STEVE PFARRER

Top music schools in Boston such as the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music have sent many talented players into the world, a good number specializing in rock and jazz and others making waves in acoustic music.Some of...