February 17, 2026: Hotbeds of history

It’s another one of those awesome rare live music Tuesdays with local saxophonist and more Mtali Banda, who’s been honing his craft for years in the valley and beyond and will present a concert next weekend at De La Luz in Holyoke. We’ll hear a bit from the musician and teacher himself as we dig into the themes of this latest show, which focus on Black History and Art, and hear from Damany Gordon of Genuine Culture LLC about bringing history in the making to western Mass.And Williams College’s most prolific son, John Sayles has a brand new book out, his third in as many years. Crucible is a historical novel of boggling scope that looks at the duality of Ford Motors as they strive to become completely autonomous by harvesting their own rubber, and what that means at a time of global and industrial crux. Spanning two continents, a little over 3 decades, and a whirlwind of characters, it may be his most intricate work so far, and we speak with the author about this new work before you’ll have two opportunities to ask all your questions yourself right here in Northampton and North Adams.