Arts & Life
A DIY approach to flying: Local pilots build and help build their own aircraft
By STEVE PFARRER
If you build it … you can fly it, too.As Peter Elsea and Jason Lorusso have discovered in recent years, there’s a special satisfaction in building your own plane — or at least assisting in that construction — that can make the experience of flying...
Book Bag: ‘Journeys of Voices & Choices’ by Ernie Brill; ‘Here in Sanctuary — Whirling’ by D. Dina Friedman
By STEVE PFARRER
Journeys of Voices & ChoicesBy Ernie BrillHuman Error Publishing Northampton poet Ernie Brill, a former English teacher at Northampton High School, is a longtime writer who has worked with many small presses over the years. A consistent theme of his...
The Beat Goes On: The Iron Horse comes back to life, Joni Mitchell’s music is celebrated in Turners Falls, and more
By STEVE PFARRER
It’s finally happening. Nearly seven months after ownership officially changed hands, and following extensive renovations, the Iron Horse Music Hall, shuttered since late March 2020, threw open its doors this week with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a...
Overlooked no more: Leverett artist’s woodcut prints celebrate remarkable women of the past
By STEVE PFARRER
It started in early 2018 with a special New York Times series of articles, “Overlooked,” obituaries about notable people whose deaths had gone unreported in the newspaper, which first began publishing obits in 1851.Leverett printmaker and collage...
Around and About with Richard McCarthy: Coffee at the pearly gates: The importance of a moment of connection, even with a stranger
By RICHARD MCCARTHY
About a mile from where I live, there is a convenience store and a doughnut shop. For a period of a few years, a woman of perhaps 60 years of age could be found standing outside one of these establishments on most days. She would be shuffling her...
Time to celebrate kids and books: Mass Kids Lit Fest offers a wealth of programs in Valley during Children’s Book Week
By STEVE PFARRER
Just in time to coincide with Children’s Book Week, a national event established in 1905, the Massachusetts Center for the Book (MCB) has created a children’s literary showcase here in the Valley.The Mass Kids Lit Fest, a new book festival taking...
Valley writers shine in initial round of Mass Book Award competition: 12 area authors and author/illustrators long-listed for 2024 awards
By STEVE PFARRER
It’s been another good year for Valley writers.Twelve area authors (and author/illustrators) have had new work long-listed for the 2024 Massachusetts Book Awards, presented annually by the Massachusetts Center for the Book (MCB) in five categories:...
Back to the screen: Amherst authors’ popular ‘Spiderwick Chronicles’ gets a new streaming adaptation
By STEVE PFARRER
Call it an encore performance.“The Spiderwick Chronicles,” the bestselling series of fantasy books by Amherst writers Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, has just been turned into a streaming series on The Roku Channel.That comes 16 years after a feature...
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...
Earth Matters: From Big Sits to Birdathons: Birding competitions far and near
By JOSHUA ROSE
A few months ago, headlines flared that Peter Kaestner had seen his 10,000th bird species. This could have been anticlimactic, as Kaestner has been renowned for years among birders for traveling worldwide and seeing more species than anyone.However,...
Hitting the ceramic circuit: Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail turns 20 years old, April 27-28
By STEVE PFARRER
A lot can change in 20 years: Presidents and other politicians come and go, new cultural fads and technologies emerge, clothing styles morph, and music and movies take on different dimensions.In these parts, one tradition hasn’t changed. Since 2005,...
Guest columnist Richard Szlosek: Bosox at Amherst
By RICHARD SZLOSEK
I was in elementary school in the late 1940s and baseball was one of my chief interests. I was a huge fan of the Boston Red Sox and my heroes were Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr and Dom DiMaggio. I was devastated when the Sox lost the...
Painting a more complete picture: ‘Unnamed Figures’ highlights Black presence and absence in early American history
By CHRIS LARABEE
In partnership with the American Folk Art Museum, Historic Deerfield is presenting an exhibition on the unexplored histories of Black people in early America.“Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North” explores Black...
Earth Matters: Why opposites attract: The magnetism between two things isn’t always fully explicable; sometimes it just feels right
By RACHEL QUIMBY
One of my favorite books from childhood is P.D. Eastman’s “Big Dog, Little Dog,” the story of two bipedal pooches who are best friends. But Fred is tall, and Ted is short; Fred drives slowly and Ted drives fast; Ted plays the tuba, and Fred plays the...
The Beat Goes On: Album release shows by Barnstar! and Lisa Bastoni, a Young@Heart Chorus concert with new special guests, and more
By STEVE PFARRER
’Tis the season of gigs by artists dropping new albums.In early April, the Valley indie-folk band Cloudbelly celebrated a new disc, “i know i know i know,” with back-to-back shows at The Parlor Room in Northampton, and Natalie Cressman & Ian Faquini,...
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...
One upon a story slam: This year’s Valley Voices winners 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...
WMass on display in new movie trailer for Annie Baker’s ‘Janet Planet’
By SCOTT MERZBACH
AMHERST — Mount Pollux in Amherst and The History of Women Mural in Northampton are among area locations visible in a trailer released for “Janet Planet,” the feature film directorial debut by playwright Annie Baker that is expected to hit theaters on...
April is a theatrical month: Latinx Theater Symposium and Shakespeare on tap at UMass
By STEVE PFARRER
April is shaping up to be a busy month for the University of Massachusetts Theater Department, beginning with a symposium that honors Latinx theater and closing with a fresh interpretation of a classic Shakespeare comedy.On April 8-9, theater...
The Beat Goes On: Cloudbelly celebrates a new album in Northampton, Brazilian sounds come to Amherst, and more
By STEVE PFARRER
Just days after former folk and Americana performer turned indie-pop singer Caroline Rose played in Florence, Cloudbelly, the Valley indie folk band led by singer-songwriter Corey Laitman, is set to showcase songs from a new album that has a...
