The Fabulous 413

We're getting the feeling this has happened before. That feeling is the impetus behind the new podcast "Deja News" , where current events are linked to those with of the past with chilling, nigh prescient, similarities. At the helm of this endeavor is Rachel Maddow , and along with her co-host Isaac-Davey Aronson, we talk about adjusting to a more radio-like medium, journalistic integrity, and moc...

Today we are arriving on shores after being underwater. The recent rains have lead to dams breaking, riverbanks overflowing, and hundreds if not thousands of acres of farmland being awash in several feet of water. After the February and May frosts, this is a gut wrenching third punch in a growing season that has already been a struggle. We speak with the farmers and organizers at Grow Food Northam...

It's fun to take the long way around sometimes. We're not the only ones. John Burney's origin story for the start of Meadowbrook Farm in East Longmeadow involves a telephone pole in a field and a dream that's evolved to be ~400 acres of Western New England farmland. We speak with him and Jacob Nelson from CISA about blueberries, local wholesale, and the people who help to make that farm robust. We...

Today's show has a bit of an edge, or perhaps it is walking towards one. Renowned guitarist G.E. Smith will be playing a solo show and teaching a masterclass on the history of guitar both benefiting Belchertown Music Boosters , a local organization dedicated to supporting local arts programs in the Belchertown school system. After a bit of miscommunication, we're able to chat with the award winnin...

We're exploring touchstones today. We find it in a new exhibit that seeks to highlight folx often overlooked. The Lava Center in Greenfield hosts a number of projects, as we hear from co-coordinator Jan Maher , from plays to visual art to film festivals and more. Now open and on display at the LAVA Center is " Black Families of Greenfield: A Brief Historical Snapshot " which seeks to highlight the...

Today we witness how the paths can diverge. Which is to say that this weekend in the Berkshires, our Tanglewood correspondent, Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart , will lead his orchestra and an ensemble in a presentation of "Ragtime" that has been arranged specifically for them . Since the source novel and musical both deal with the potential, pitfalls, and triumphs of our young nation and the...

The things that shift when you're not looking is what this show is about. That happened last week with decisions that the Supreme Court handed down. Although some were expected, others were. To sort through the wreckage, we get Western New England University Law Professor Jen Taub involved to help us interpret the word of the justices. There's the slow subtle shift in how we understand things. Hav...

On paper, this is a holiday that celebrates us as a nation leaving the proverbial British nest to stumble out onto the world stage alone. But we'd rather celebrate the freedom to welcome new neighbors from near and far to these shores and make better, stronger, more diverse and interesting communities. Not so much melting pot, as tasty nuanced salad. So we celebrate with music, cause it's not a pa...

Sometimes it is totally okay to cut wide swaths. So we go extra broad with Mr. Universe, Salman Hameed , and go looking for one of the cosmos' coolest mysteries: gamma rays. Or at least the theories behind them, of which there are a lot, including one tied to dinosaur extinction and a BOAT. We also cast a large net toward civics. In order to be naturalized, each potential new American must answer...

Today we have very long memories, especially in light of the shortsightedness of the news this week. So we reach back to a text that has remained relevant and prescient for 170 years. The speech " What to the slave is the 4th of July? " was given by Frederick Douglass in 1852, but is read aloud in towns across the Bay State, including several in western Mass , through a program launched by Mass Hu...

The people we bring together are closer than you think. It happens somewhat ironically, in the portion of Rep. Jim McGovern's district that isn't actually in the 413, where he's just completed a round of town halls. In this week's mcgoverning with McGovern we find out about his constituents on the other side, and more solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ and drag communities. If you've got a question for...

This show is for babies.  Just kidding, but it is about young ones, and that's almost as cute.  First there's the music for kids and their grown-ups happening at The Parlor Room in Northampton. Liam Hurley and Nick Deysher , also known as Mr. Liam and Mr. Nick, curate The Parlor Room Kids Series , which happens every first Sunday of the month on a sliding scale so that everyone can be included. Th...

Community comes in all shapes and sizes and that's what we love best about it. It comes in the form of a long standing pillar of the coffee community turning his company over to his employees. Dean Cycon of Dean's Beans Organic Coffee announced his retirement a while ago, but his official last day was June 26th. And with that last day, the company became a worker-owned co-operative . We speak with...

We're still reeling from the awesome that was this weekend, and in that way, today's show is a bit of a recap. First we head to Amherst to check out the new Wes Anderson movie, "Asteroid City". We get to speak with executive director of Amherst Cinema Yasmin Chin Eisenhauer about some of the events coming to their theater, and then delve into the science-y-ness of the film with Mr. Universe, Salma...

It's Green River Festival Weekend ! And we're broadcasting live from the Back Porch Stage! We chat with Jim Olsen, the man behind the whole thing as well as Signature Sounds in Northampton about the history of the festival and the acts that have gotten him excited over the course of his tenure. We get Nan Perrotti, artistic director of the festival, whose distinctive style is easily identified on...

Technical difficulties are our favorite, let us tell you. But that doesn't stop us from chatting with Negin Farsad and Roy Blount Jr. of NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" just before they headed to the Berkshires for a live taping of the show. We subject them to a barrage of quiz adjacent questions as a warm up to the show on which they are regular guests, and broach the subject of farm animal sound...

It's finally summer! Astrologically, that is. We chat with local armchair meteorology expert Dave Hayes The Weather Nut about the differences between the summer of space and the summer of the skies and what we should expect at the Green River Festival this weekend. Local multi-disciplinary artist Terry Janoure is embarking on a new musical journey at Bombyx on June 25th . This new work titled "Sec...

We are back at full host capacity! Huzzah! But someone wasn't able to fully turn off while vacationing due to seeing a logo that referenced Western Mass. Monte chats with Tim Convery of Tim-Scapes about his city designs including the one for "HAMP", and other inspirations. Returning is hungry work, however, so we get a visit from Clarissa Lee-Madden of Grown Up Farm in Belchertown . Though this fa...

We are here for the uplift. It's found in the many Juneteenth celebrations happening next week, and especially in the one being thrown by Arise for Social Justice in Springfield. Founded 30 years ago, Arise has been a part of several initiatives for bettering the city, including opposing the biomass plant. We speak with Rusty Polsgrove about the importance of celebrating as a part of resistance ,...

Today was all about building the communities you need to see in the world. We take a brief breather from our Juneteenth gear up to look to the north at the things the Compost Cooperative is up to. Worker-owners Revan Schendler and Trenda Loftin swing through the studios to tell us more about the core mission of the co-operative and how their model seeks to combat recidivism and climate change at t...

We're checking out the things that remain. It's in the rumors of a bluesman that stay with us to this day. Ms. Annye Anderson has made a mission out of dispelling those tales about her step-brother, Robert Johnson, in her book "Brother Robert: Growing Up With Robert Johnson" . But her life is just as storied and interesting as his is, and we find out about both. It's in the celebrations we make as...

Sometimes it's good to dig into the roots of how we got to where we are. It is a compelling factor that will bring Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman's story to life at Historic Deerfield on Juneteenth . Tammy Denease of Hidden Women stage company presents her one woman show on Freeman's life. But it's just one of the many lives she portrays, so we speak about using theater as a tool to educate about hist...

Kaliis flies solo this week! No one panic! Although there was some panic about microbes from space at one point. Mr. Universe, Dr. Salman Hameed joins us live to chat about the complete futility of quarantining to prevent microorganisms that would have been brought back by space missions. But our caution about cosmic cross-contamination still influences missions to this day, and may see some resul...

More celebrations, more better, we say. We're celebrating a widening palate, constantly tested and rested in the Tina Turner Memorial Thunderdome, which we enter with the folx at State Street in Northampton . There we take two rosés and pit them against the seafood melange of ceviche, as the Wine Uncle and Yankee Sippah consistently up their pairing game. We're celebrating our queer community, esp...

Isn't it lovely when community comes together to make art? We think so! It's why we speak with The Greenfield Players , who for the next two weekends will bring the bard to Energy Park for their presentation of Twelfth Night . With company members Rachel Cronen-Townsend, Daniel Greycloud-Jacob, Steve Cronen-Townsend, Cassie Wood-Triplet, we get into the appeal of taking your Shakespeare outside fo...