Arts & Life
Book Review: 95 years worth of wisdom: Ashfield author Preston M. Browning Jr. publishes his “Collected Essays”
By TINKY WEISBLAT
I have never met Preston Browning, although I imagine many of this paper’s readers have. A resident of Ashfield, he is a retired professor of English with a wide variety of interests and a resonant social conscience. He has written poetry, a memoir, a...
Sounds Local: ‘The birds and trees are listening too’: Synth-pop duo Home Body returns to Turners Falls on Saturday
By SHERYL HUNTER
When synth-pop duo Home Body returns to Peskeompskut Park in Turners Falls on Saturday, it will be their fifth time playing at the park’s bandshell. Home Body (Haley Morgan and Eric Hnatow) are not only the headliners but also the curators of the Home...
The village baker writes a book: Jonathan Stevens pens ‘Hungry Ghost Bread Book’ to mark Northampton bakery’s 20th anniversary
By TINKY WEISBLAT
Jonathan Stevens of Hungry Ghost Bread in Northampton has much to celebrate. The bakery he owns and runs with his domestic and business partner, Cheryl Maffei, marked its 20th birthday this spring. His “Hungry Ghost Bread Book” (Chelsea Green, 208...
The family that farms together: Six generations later, Wheel-View Farm still going strong
By EVELINE MACDOUGALL
(This is the second story in a two-part series about Wheel-View Farm. Last week’s column focused on hundreds of years of history; this week, we look at more recent history and what’s currently happening.)Carolyn and John Wheeler live on a stunningly...
Speaking of Nature: A new face in a familiar setting: Happening upon the Allegheny monkeyflower
By BILL DANIELSON
Those of you who are familiar with my writing will know of my great admiration for a 19th-century naturalist named John Burroughs. Born in 1837, Burroughs lived in a time when the steam locomotive was still a new and wondrous thing in America. The...
Something for everyone: UMass Fine Arts Center announces robust 2024-2025 season lineup
By PAIGE HANSON
Earlier this week, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Fine Arts Center announced its lineup of performances for its 2024-2025 season, which includes quite a few notable offerings, including “a one-time Grateful Dead keyboardist, two of the...
The Gem from Easthampton: Gigantic bar manager’s recipe makes it across the pond to a speakeasy in Scotland
By CHRIS LARABEE
With 3,100 miles and the Atlantic Ocean between them, what could Easthampton and Dundee, a city of approximately 148,000 people in Scotland, possibly have in common?Well, if you really do some digging, you might unearth a Gem of a connection between...
‘Lost in art history until now’: First ever major Guillaume Lethiere exhibition on display at the Clark before heading to the Louvre
By DON STEWART
He was prominent in the court of Napoleon Bonaparte and painted the Emperor and Josephine and many of the significant figures of that time. Among his close friends were the General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, father of the famed author, and the Marquis de...
350 attend inaugural Ska Fest: Organizers say the event exceeded expectations
By PAIGE HANSON
Ska music has always had a niche following within western Mass, especially during the ’90s with students playing their own small ska shows in college dorms, underground DIY venues and locations such as Daddy-O’s in Springfield and Pearl Street...
Comedy with a side of raunch: Local theater troupe invites audiences to help solve ‘who done it’
By ADA DENENFELD KELLY
A raunchy and comical dinner theater troupe brings murder mysteries to supper time.The Comical Mystery Tour was created 29 years ago and has performed across the county and beyond.“We don’t make a lot of money doing it, we just do it because we love...
Sounds Local: Music builds community: Inaugural Greenfield Reggae Festival is Aug. 11 with headliner Michael Palmer
By SHERYL HUNTER
Since moving to Greenfield in 2020, Mpress Bennu Nembhard has worked hard to make the town a better place. She has done this through her job as chair of Greenfield’s human rights commission, becoming president-elect of the Franklin Country Rotary...
Remembering a master of the omelet: Bill Shea, who passed away earlier this month, perfected this simple recipe
By TINKY WEISBLAT
I seem to write a lot of memorial columns these days. Fortunately, I’m not yet of an age where my own generation is dying a lot. My parents’ and aunts’ and uncles’ generation seems to be meeting the grim reaper with regularity these days, however.I’m...
Centuries of history waiting to be seen: Wheel-View Farm in Shelburne hosts homegrown museum
By EVELINE MACDOUGALL
Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series about the history and modern-day workings of Wheel-View Farm in Shelburne.Lifelong Shelburne resident Carolyn Wheeler is of the fourth generation to live and actively farm on familial land, and...
Speaking of Nature: Where there’s a willet, there’s a way: The third and final installment of my First Encounter Beach trips
By BILL DANIELSON
Sometimes the photos and the ideas pile up so quickly that it can take weeks to clear the decks. Such is the case this week. I went to Cape Cod at the beginning of July and I had three wonderful visits to a magical place called First Encounter Beach....
Sounds Local: Put your skanking shoes on: Inaugural Pioneer Valley Ska Festival is this Saturday, July 27, at Hawks & Reed
By SHERYL HUNTER
A year ago, Eric Coles launched 413Ska, an event production and marketing organization in Northampton. He booked his first show at JJ’s Tavern in Florence. It was a small show but it was a start, and over time the shows and audiences have grown. He’s...
A perfectly timed food holiday: July 26 is National Coffee Milkshake Day
By TINKY WEISBLAT
Some food holidays are annoying. National Cheese Doodle Day (March 5) seems superfluous. If you’re the sort of person who eats those unnaturally orange snacks, you don’t need a holiday to remind you to consume them. Ditto National Glazed Doughnut Day...
Get Growing with Mickey Rathbun: A plant that’s sure to turn heads: Acanthus plants inspired classical Greek architecture
By MICKEY RATHBUN
Anyone with a passing knowledge of art history is familiar with the acanthus plant, whether they know it or not. The acanthus leaf, broad and serrated, is the decorative motif on the capital of the classical Corinthian column, more ornate than the...
Speaking of Nature: Heron in the mist: An otherworldly scene on my second day at First Encounter Beach
By BILL DANIELSON
My second visit to First Encounter Beach came on a Monday. The hustle and bustle of moving day was a thing of the past, but I am generally immune to routine traffic issues because of the early hours that I keep. There was no one on the road at 5:45...
An intimate concert in the hills: Watermelon Wednesdays celebrates 25 years of presenting world-class acoustic music
By MELISSA KAREN SANCES
Even the bats are moved.At intermission they dance out of the belfry of the West Whately Chapel, like musical notes across a sunset staff. And after precisely cut watermelon slices are enjoyed, darkness falls and the second set begins, they flutter in...
Valley Bounty: Peaches make their sweet return: Clarkdale Fruit Farms in Deerfield celebrates a bountiful season
By LISA GOODRICH
After much anticipation, peaches are ripe and now available on farm stands and at farmers markets in the Valley. Ben Clark, fourth generation farmer and owner/operator of Clarkdale Fruit Farms, explains that western Massachusetts is generally the...
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.
