Arts & Life
Spinning the classics: Young jazz archivist Matthew Rivera will play vintage 78rpm records at the Northampton Jazz Festival
By STEVE PFARRER
Growing up in Louisville, Kentucky, Matthew “Fat Cat” Rivera didn’t hear a whole lot of jazz. But what he did hear began to pique his interest.By the time he was in high school, Rivera says, jazz had become “an obsession,” and in college he was...
The Beat Goes On: Melody Gardot in smoky jazz duo; a hot slate at the Drake, and more
By STEVE PFARRER
In the musical world, it’s now a classic comeback story: how jazz singer Melody Gardot, then 19 years old, was struck by a car while bicycling in her native Philadelphia in 2003 and suffered serious head and spinal injuries, a broken pelvis, and...
An artistic evolution: Valley artists land grants for their work
By REBECA PEREIRA
Four generations of Deerfield fruit farmers have stewarded the land at Clarkdale Fruit Farms for more than a century, harvesting an heirloom apple variety that measures just around 1 inch in diameter, a bite-sized Lady apple most popular among the...
Celebrating a milestone: Double Edge Theatre marks 40 years of innovative productions with new programming
By STEVE PFARRER
Back in 1982, a new feminist ensemble called Double Edge Theatre formed in Boston and presented its first production: “RITES,” an adaptation of the ancient Greek tragedy “The Bacchae” by Euripides, with this modern version set in a women’s public...
The Beat Goes On: Todd Snider, the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, Aimee Man, Bill and the Belles, and more
By STEVE PFARRER
Todd Snider has been through a number of changes since he burst on the national music scene in 1994 with his debut album, “Songs for the Daily Planet,” a roots-rock record on which the singer-songwriter first unveiled his penchant for biting satire as...
Small is beautiful: Holyoke gallery features mail art from across the country and overseas
By STEVE PFARRER
Mail art, as Dean Brown explains, became a big deal in the late 1960s and the 1970s, a populist movement based on sending small-scale artworks — drawings, paintings, graphic designs and more — through the Postal Service.Over the past couple of...
Laughter as therapy: In new video, performance artist Sally Greenhouse recounts the aftermath of breaking her neck
By STEVE PFARRER
In the 1990s, Sally Greenhouse had a regular gig on Northampton Community Television (now Northampton Open Media, or NOM) with her show “The Greenhouse Effect,” a combination of performance art, monologue and comedy in which the multidisciplinary...
30 years of crime solving: Archer Mayor unveils his 30th Joe Gunther novel
By STEVE PFARRER
Vermont: a land of rolling hills and valleys marked by picturesque farms, stunning fall foliage, skiing and maple syrup. Where healthy, vibrant people enjoy a variety of outdoor recreation, and pastoral beauty and quiet deliver peace of mind.That’s...
Remembering David Berman: Late singer-songwriter and poet had key ties to the Valley
By STEVE PFARRER
For a long time, he was unsure of his singing voice, wondering if it was really good enough to front a band. And for a good part of the time he was making albums, he also shunned most live performances, not feeling he could sing in front of an...
What they did on their summer vacation: At the Great Books program at Amherst College, reading is a joy, not a chore
By Steve Pfarrer
At first glance, it looked like a scene from a typical day at Amherst College: about 100 students sat in a lecture hall, on tiered seating on three sides of the room, notebooks and digital devices like iPads at hand, while a professor stood in the...
Extraordinary Paintings of Ordinary Gals: The pioneering work of Isabel Bishop
By STEVE PFARRER
In the early 1900s, few young American women were allowed to go about unchaperoned. Fewer still would likely have been permitted to attend college on their own, almost 500 miles from home, and at the tender age of 16.But the painter and printmaker...
When Sherlock Holmes came to the Valley: famed writer Arthur Conan Doyle visited Amherst and Northampton in 1894
By LAWRENCE B. SIDDALL
Until recently, I knew little about the super sleuth Sherlock Holmes, and even less about his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle. As an adolescent, I was captivated by his amazing tales, but soon my interests changed and my reading shifted to other...
Amherst Books still thriving after 15 years
By DANIELLE LIPIEC
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of French literary theorist Roland Barthes.When Amherst Books opened its doors in 2003, the last thing on the minds of staff was where it might be in 15 years.But after a decade and a...
Blood and mud, not glory: Smith College exhibit showcases horror of WWI
By STEVE PFARRER
It began during a warm, beautiful summer, when many still viewed war as a glorious and noble pursuit, a rite of passage for men marked by dressed battle lines, colorful uniforms, dramatic cavalry charges and quick and decisive campaigns.But when the...
Jarrett Krosoczka uses art to come to terms with a difficult childhood
By STEVE PFARRER
In a childhood that had its fair share of pain and confusion, Jarrett J. Krosoczka can recall a couple of incidents that really stood out.When he was three, his grandparents, Joe and Shirley Krosoczka, told him a few days before Christmas that he’d be...
A musical taste of Ireland: The High Kings bring their folk songs and harmonies to the Valley
By CHRIS GOUDREAU
For more than a decade, the Irish folk group The High Kings has followed in the footsteps of legendary Celtic balladeers such as The Clancy Brothers during the golden age of Irish folk bands in the 1960s, while also forging a path for the continuing...
The Mentalist: Amherst College philosophy professor Alexander George moonlights as a mind reader
By STEVE PFARRER
By day, he’s in the classroom, leading discussions on ethics, value, knowledge and other philosophical questions, as well as the ideas of specific philosophers themselves.By night, he leads a different kind of discussion — a performance, really — that...
Ready to Rock: Why I quit my day job, left Manhattan, and moved back to the Valley to play music full time
By PETER SIKOWITZ
April 22, 2017, 13th Floor Music Lounge, Florence. Three bands are on the bill: two punk outfits and Flathead Rodeo, a rockabilly band playing in public for the first time. Pairing those styles isn’t as strange as you might think; rockabilly, which...
People Watching: Joan Holliday, radio host and DJ
By EMMA KEMP
‘Ireally love having the honor of being in people’s lives every day, having the opportunity to make their lives just a little bit better in some way by having that microphone,” radio host Joan Holliday recently said in her office at WRSI, home to 93.9...
Creature Comfort: More and more college students are moving in with comfort and service animals
By Shell Lin
Every fall, college freshmen arrive on campus, excited to meet their new dorm mates. But what if one of those new neighbors has fur? More and more students are facing this reality with new policies regarding “comfort animals,” which are basically pets...
Your Daily Puzzles
An approachable redesign to a classic. Explore our "hints."
A quick daily flip. Finally, someone cracked the code on digital jigsaw puzzles.
Chess but with chaos: Every day is a unique, wacky board.
Word search but as a strategy game. Clearing the board feels really good.
Align the letters in just the right way to spell a word. And then more words.
