Arts & Life
Art for artists’ sake: Sale of colorful late Northampton painter’s works will benefit gallery/studio space for fellow creatives
By CAROLYN BROWN
When Northampton artist Charlie Miller died this summer at the age of 92, he left an enduring legacy. This weekend, a gallery show will honor him and benefit an art space he called home.NEVAmuseum/Anchor House of Artists, a local art gallery and...
Master innovator Quincy Jones left stunning legacy
By HILLEL ITALIE
Quincy Jones, the multitalented music titan whose vast legacy ranged from producing Michael Jackson’s historic “Thriller” album to writing prize-winning film and television scores and collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and hundreds of other...
Speaking of Nature: The guest list, ‘bonus birds,’ and more
By BILL DANIELSON
September and October are months of farewell and I spend a lot of time trying to squeeze in a last visit with each species of bird before the they finally decide to pack it in and head south. Great friends that have spent the entire summer with me...
Vigil held for Grizzly No. 399, the beloved Grand Teton bear who was killed by a vehicle
By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM
During her nearly three decades roaming the snowy wilderness of the Teton Range, Grizzly No. 399 became a beloved mama bear with millions of parkgoers following her yearly adventures and her ever-growing family tree.Nature lovers are mourning the...
Speaking of Nature: Until we meet again — The eastern chipmunk descends underground until spring
By BILL DANIELSON
For a good chunk of the summer I was able to monitor the activity of one particular visitor to the feeding station down by my Thinking Chair a little more closely than most of the others. Simple behavioral observations allowed me to hypothesize the...
How free speech is won: Former NHS teacher, others turn book-banning case into documentary ‘Banned Together’ at Bombyx
By CAROLYN BROWN
When director Kate Way, a current UMass Lowell assistant professor and former Northampton High School teacher, had just finished teaching a course on book banning in the fall of 2022, the very subject she was teaching became, to her surprise, the...
Valley Bounty: Robariah Farms takes chicken to the next (kosher) level
By JACOB NELSON
‘When people say our chicken is the best they’ve ever had, some of that is the breed we’re raising, some is how we’re raising them on pasture, and some is because of the koshering process,” says Robert Friedman of Robariah Farms in South...
Richard McCarthy: Tortured artists’ deaths no blaze of glory
By RICHARD MCCARTHY
When I was about 20 years old, I read A.E. Hotchner’s personal memoir of the writer Ernest Hemingway, “Papa Hemingway.” For readers who do not know, the end of Hemingway’s life came when, at the age of 61, he put a loaded gun to his head and pulled...
Weekly Food Photo Contest: This week’s winner — John Coan of Leeds
John Coan, of Leeds, tell us he decided to test his “baking chops” by making this Dutch appeltaart for his husband’s birthday. He reports that it was “delicious as it was festive.” How to enter: Snap a pic of something delicious-looking and send it...
The Lehrer Report: Oct. 31, 2024
Garden report, of sorts: I had my last fresh tomato for lunch. Future tomatoes will be from the freezer and used for soup or sauce.***Reminder: It’s that time of year again to change the clocks this weekend. Sunday morning starts another season of...
Highlands operetta: Valley Light Opera staging Gilbert and Sullivan classic ‘Mikado,’ Scottish-style
By CAROLYN BROWN
Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic operetta “The Mikado” is coming to the Academy of Music — this time, with a Scottish twist.Amherst-based Valley Light Opera will present “The McAdo,” an adaptation of “The Mikado,” on the weekends of Nov. 1-3 and 8-10....
Drag, puppetry and politics meet in ‘Project 2069’
By CAROLYN BROWN
What if Project 2025 were a puppet/drag show?Goldenrod Country Inn, a B&B and tavern in Worthington, will host its original production “Project 2069: A Dragged-Out Political Satire” on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 5 p.m. and 9 p.m in its Cabaret Room...
Arts Briefs: Eastworks Open Studios, a celebration of Japanese culture, and more
Eastworks Open Studios More than 40 resident artists, businesses and nonprofits who use space at Eastworks will showcase their art and workspaces to the public during Eastworks Open Studios on Saturday, Nov. 2, and Sunday, Nov. 3, from 10 a.m. to 5...
By dessert, ‘You’re in outer space’: Chef Matthew Brehm caters multi-course cannabis-infused meals in the Valley
By CAROLYN BROWN
A local chef is bringing a new meaning to the phrase “getting baked.”Chef Matthew Brehm is the owner of Upscale Cannabis Wine Dinners, which provides catered brunches and dinners with weed-infused dishes. He operates out of western Massachusetts, but...
Scary and true: Half-hanged Mary and the real women behind the area’s most compelling ghost stories
By Melissa Karen Sances
“And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” — Friedrich NietzscheI have never liked ghost stories. But when I heard about Half-Hanged Mary of Hadley, I was spellbound. Not that long ago, and not that far from here, a...
There is a Season with Molly Parr: Drizzle this on anything: This mint and cilantro sauce is particularly good for vegetarian dishes
By MOLLY PARR
For the third or fourth time, I auctioned off a gourmet vegetarian meal for four as part of a fundraiser for a local synagogue. This year I offered two separate meals to bring in double the money. I cooked one of the meals last week, and the second...
Weekly Food Photo Contest: This week’s winner: Toni Doherty of Northampton
“Maintaining family pizza making with a grain-free, nightshade-free and cow-dairy-free diet pushed me to continue trying out recipes,” Northampton resident Toni Doherty wrote. “This cassava-flour crust flatbread (baked in advance and then layered with...
‘Access to music is a human right’: Parlor Room Collective hosts workshops this fall to broaden access on and off the stage
By CAROLYN BROWN
This fall, the Parlor Room Collective is hosting workshops to make the music world more accessible to a broader range of people.One of them, a program called Uplifting Queer Voices, aims to help local LGBTQ and BIPOC musicians get performance...
Closer than Mumbai: Inaugural Bollywood film series comes to Greenfield Garden Cinemas every second Monday
By AMALIA WOMPA
Vidhi Salla, a radio host, author and journalist whose focus is on Indian cultural arts, is pioneering the introduction of Bollywood to New England theaters.Salla grew up in Mumbai and studied literature before moving to southern Vermont in 2018 to...
Arts Briefs: Visual art in Northampton and Amherst, farewell parties at the Majestic Saloon, and more
Benefit gallery showAs part of November’s Arts Night Out Northampton, The New England Visionary Artists Museum/Anchor House of Artists at 518 Pleasant St. will hold a benefit gallery show of works by the late Northampton artist Charlie Miller on...
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.