The Fabulous 413

Alice Sees Ghosts is a new novel from author Daisy Rockwell, who uses her knowledge of history of the Berkshires to craft a story of family, lost loves, and incredible connection. We speak about the span of the book’s scope as it travels from the states to India and back with spirits in tow, and her emergence into language under the large shadow of her very famous grandfather.  We’ll also learn ho...

This weekend is the inaugural Arts and Ales Trail in Easthampton spanning the 5 complexes of mills. It’s a fundraiser to support the work of Resilient Community Arts in addition to giving folx a tour of the amazing food, drinks, and spaces there. We speak with folx from RCA about their mission and the importance that art and creation has in every community, plus get a glimpse of what you can enjoy...

We cross age gaps with a new and innovative dance production in Northampton. Across the Generations blends the pre-professional company The Hatchery of the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought with the stories being collected by the Intergenerational Storytelling Project between UMass Amherst Public Health Students and Northampton Neighbors. We meet with SCDT’s director Jen Polins, and Hatche...

An innovator in jazz is coming to the Tanglewood Learning Institute on Friday, Oct. 16th. Ulysses Owens Jr. may have gone viral with his covers, but it’s his versatility on a drum kit that is truly inspirational. He and his Band Generation Y are headed to the Stockbridge Lenox line to celebrate their latest album "Kind of Grunge", and we speak with the educator and band leader about his musical or...

On Oct 14th at Amherst Cinemas, an amazing amalgam of celluloid and video documenting forgotten moments is being presented. Cinema Ephemera is an ongoing project that curates these many lost clips into a whole, centered around a theme. This Wednesday, clips fall under the heading “The Human Machine” and we speak with the two curators, Rich Remsberg and Shawn Rosenheim, about the scope of what they...

We’ll dive into the pages of a brand new graphic novel that deals with struggles inside and out. The Machine Is Broken deals with a number of hard topics in a technicolor landscape, and for all of its futuristic setting, is very much a story of right now, and we’ll meet with author illustrator Jared Sarnie to discuss this work, and its pictorial narrative. Plus we'll learn how you can celebrate it...

Springfield College professor of journalism Martin Dobrow has released a new book that is a small departure from his previous works exploring the histories and culture surrounding sports. Original City, Original Sin: King, the Klan, and the Fight for Civil Rights in St. Augustine, Florida looks at an important year in the history of St, Augustine Florida, and how it intersects with Martin Luther K...

Friend of the show Kimaya Diggs has a brand new album out. Green shows a departure and a whole lotta growth for the artist and it’ll culminate with an album release show at the Academy of Music in Northampton this weekend. We’ll congratulate her in person with a live music performance in our studios and an exploration of the changes this third recording lets us hear.  The Eric Carle Museum is expl...

In Amherst, one location is creating a full spectrum of agricultural connections through partnerships and collaboration. Amythyst Farm is a lot of things: A working horse farm, a budding nut orchard, and a produce farm, but at the core of this complex of land-workers is a look to ecology and biodiversity unlike what we’ve seen before.  We meet owners Bernard and Patricia Brennan , both evolutionar...

If we managed to learn more about a besmirched side character in a literary classic, how does that shifting of frame broaden our understanding of the original work? In the new book Miss Bates by local author Catherine Cliff , we explore the life of spinster Henrietta Bates from Jane Austen’s Emma, and along with NEPM reporter Elizabeth Roman, we’ll plumb the work and the perspective it gives both...

It's Friday and we find our studio filled with Americana legacy. Sam Grisman's notable father may have raised him on music, but he found his own way to the contrabass instead of mandolin. Over the years of his career he's rooted his sound in the innovations of his father, and the ambience of musicians that were regular guests of his upbringing. We hear from the bandleader with the current iteratio...

The 2nd Stockbridge Munsee Homelands Powwow is taking place this weekend after an incredibly well received event last year. This iteration brings even more descendants of the peoples whose land we now live on to reconnect with the places of their ancestors. We’ll speak with organizers Ginger Stevens and Mysti Hammer about the start of this celebration, and what they’re doing to keep the connection...

Today is full of archaic lore, which sometimes comes in the form of movement and sound. Flamenco Boston has been keeping their centuries old tradition alive in New England. The collective of dancers and musicians are performing today at the Holyoke Library with a stop by our studios to share their incredible artistry and learn more about this art form’s origins in the people's feet and on guitars...

We’re heading to Wilbraham where a turn off a main road brings wondrous vistas and copious amounts of locally grown fruit. Fern Valley Farm is nearing its tenth year of bringing bucolic views and tree fruits of all sorts to the area, and we talk with the family that brought it back from disrepair, Dan and Brooke Fernandes, and learn more about the trees and varieties they’re raising, and the commu...

Musician, writer, film and tv producer Boots Riley is headed to Amherst for a talk at UMass and a double showing of his movie I Love Boosters at Amherst Cinema. But his latest work is just the tip of the creative iceberg that started with rallies and hip hop group The Coup , and has several forays onscreen as well. We sit with the raconteur to talk about his activist upbringing and leanings, the r...

Singers are coming up from Connecticut to sing for the planet. Which is an incredible over simplification of what will happen when Concora arrives in Florence to perform “A Passion for the Planet" , a homegrown oratorio by Amherst composer Geoffrey Hudson that blends scientific prose, poetry, and sacred texts, advocating for change, and building a vibrant future. We’ll meet the composer as well as...

NYT best selling author illustrators Tony DiTerlizzi and Jeff Kinney both have new books for your littler ones, each dealing with a touch of the spooky. The Wump , which sees a middle school student’s inner demons suddenly become outer ones, and Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2 explores the imagination of a character from the Diary of a Wimpy kid series. We’ll talk with both ab...

This weekend on Sept 25th and 26th, the streets of Northampton will be filled with music. The Northampton Jazz Festival happens this weekend, and although they’ve been actively encouraging folx of all walks all year round, this is their big shindig, and we speak with board president Ruth Griggs and member Ricard Torres-Mateluna about what this year brings, especially with their headliner Lakeisha...

We're getting out in the community to see how we grow and learn more about ourselves in the process.  Woven Roots Farm has been providing produce and more for the community for over 20 years. From its start as a garden project to their current home in Tyringham the farm has sought to not just feed our neighbors, but create more positive impact on the land and environment as well. We speak with Ex....

A new local book combines the art world with language on the page and the intricacies of establishing a voice for oneself, even when that voice is subsumed in someone else’s story. Bird Girl is a new novel from author Duston Spear, centering an artist who is forced to confront a pivotal moment of her youth as it’s revisited in a podcast, and we’ll speak with her about the impetus for the work, the...

We head to the river where the community is coming together this weekend and next to improve the health of our local waterway. The Source to Sea Cleanup is happening at locations all along the Connecticut River, and we’ll speak with a matroyshka set of activists helping to make this happen, individually and through their respective organizations: David Bowles of Greenfield’s clean up, Nina Gordon-...

The Amherst Mushroom Company is a newer farm in its namesake town bringing tasty fungi to markets all over the asparagus valley. But it’s only part of a much bigger picture of conservation that their land is seeking to pursue. We head to their brand new facility to speak with farmers Sabina Shelby and Sean Lopez to get the full scope of their mycological journey.  In Great Barrington, two great ac...

The Walk for Every Body is a fundraiser to help all of the people in our area to stay healthy and keep the programs that Tapestry Health fosters in all four counties of Western Mass running. The event is in its second year and we speak with Interim CEO Damaris Jones, and Chief Development and Communications Officer Lisa Andrews to learn more about it.  In the Hilltowns, they are once again gatheri...

For Constitution Day, the SBS Democracy Project at Umass is hosting a wide array of talks and workshops to engage folx with our democratic process. And what does that have to do with Astronauts you might ask. It turns out that over 100 astronauts have banded together to start a nonprofit that specifically seeks to defend the constitution called Astronauts for America, and we’ll hear from Umass Gra...

Starting this weekend, in Northampton you can get up close and personal with the history of Paradise City with the new production from Plays in Place. The Hull/Hawley plays are taking a close look at two known figures in the city: Bathsheba Hull, and Joseph Hawley, and the impacts they had on the Northampton of their time. We speak with director Brianna Sloane and actor Trenda Loftin about the imp...