The Fabulous 413

Right here in Springfield, we’re returning to our rudie dreams for the Pioneer Valley Ska Festival. 30 bands from all over the nation will venture to 52 Sumner in Springfield for 2 days of skanking, ska, and ska-punk goodness. We’ll hear from one of those 30 bands, Futon Lasagna from eastern and central Mass, as well as organizer Eric Coles of 413Ska about picking up the beat in this corner of the valley. In Florence, the 17th Etchings Festival is bringing contemporary composers of many genres to the area to hone their craft and have it performed by well honed professional musicians in the Ecce Ensemble as well. Centered at Bombyx, the festival hosts 4 days of performances in their sanctuary and Look Park, and we’ll speak with founder John Aylward and visiting performer Pandelis Karayorgis of Boston Jazz outfit Surface of Sphere. And in a less music oriented cavalcade, but no less celebratory fashion, Silverthorne Theater is on the verge of opening their second production of their summer season, which will be their last on the Hampshire College campus, which has served as their summer home for years. We speak with director Ezekiel Baskin and others from the show Deep Blue Sound about this community environmental story, and what’s next as they look for a new summer location for the coming years. 

In the northern Berkshires, Many Forks Farm changed hands a few years ago, but that’s provided them with the opportunity to get themselves even more involved in the local community, and other organizations. We head to Clarksburg where there are no trains, but farmer Molly Comstock tells us of her journey through photography to get to agriculture and the innovative way the land is being preserved for farmers to come. Just next door, is a young city that's spawned legends in its own right, not the least of which is the Coca Cola Monster. Cryptids aside, the book North Adams Panopticon refocuses the infamous ledge and leads the reader through many incidents and occurrences that have happened on its precipice. We speak with author John Seven about his interest in the local urban legends, and more. And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios' Salman Hameed, shows us the many places where the building blocks of life have been found terrestrially and celestially, and how looking further into those origins might be more difficult with changes to grant review in the NSF. 

We conclude our trio of 250th focused Power of History talks with Clark University Professor Ousmane Power-Greene by looking at the years just after our official separation from England, our baby steps as a nation seeking to establish federal criteria, and the circumstances that led to Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman’s court case that would officially end slavery in the Bay State. On our nation’s birthday this weekend, you have an opportunity to expand your perspective to encompass the whole state. In Common:From the Berkshires to the Bay is a new program from GBH News that seeks to connect the stories of all 351 towns and cities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and we talk with host Jeremy Siegel about the series, the surprising facts he’s learned about our corner of New England, and the pilot episode that you can hear this weekend. And Congressman Jim McGovern is managing to survive summer in the DMV in this heatwave, a feat in and of itself, while simultaneously giving us his takes on recent SCOTUS decisions, his worries about possible executive branch intervention in the upcoming midterms, his thoughts on the nation’s birthday this weekend and more. 

In Williamstown, Images Cinema is about to emerge from a year of construction chrysalis with double the theaters and a wealth of other improvements. We head to the northern Berkshires to see the changes first hand and get a tour of the details from a member of their board who helped to design the upgrade, Matt Brogan, better known as the cider maker of Berkshire Cider Project. Now that July is firmly upon us, the berries are all out, and at one of the biggest farms in the 4 counties, they’re cultivating better plants for the climate changes to come. Nourse Farms in Whately provides strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry plants for farms all over the country, and fresh fruit for us lucky residents of western Mass, and we get a tour of their massive facilities and a taste of their bounty with CEO John Place, and Chief Administrative Officer Rachael Monette.Plus Word Nerd Emily Brewster, Senior Editor at Merriam Webster, walks us through one of the trickier practies of the English Language, where the soft sounds lay in schwas, and how they pop up in words we use regularly. 

We eke out a Mayor of the Month for June with Jennifer Macksey of North Adams, amidst the chaos of Solid Sound. We hear how this year is going, the effect that the festival has on the businesses and more in their downtown area, and some of the ways the city might see traffic change in the years aheadMount Holyoke College maintained a robust summer stock theater program for decades. After a 25yr dormancy, the program returns to the South Hadley campus to perform two fun family friendly mysteries. We speak with program revitalizer and director of the first production; Noah Ilya-Alexis Tuleja, an alum of the program himself, about bringing a more realistic theater experience back to campus. And a last pride story for June as we head to the hilltowns to discover a brand new school tailored for the experiences and needs of LGBTQIA2S+ youth. The J.S. Bryant School is a year round theraputic high school nestled in Cummington, and we speak with founder and school head Allison Druin about their methodology, and challenges

 Mark Greenberg is the studio manager and part of the production team at The Loft, Wilco’s Chicago recording studio and HQ. He composes and produces music for film, television, and video games through his own studio, the Mayfair Recordings Workshop. A long-time contributor and advocate of art and music in Chicago, Mark was the assistant talent booker at Lounge Ax, headed the team that built the physical aspects of Art Chicago at Navy Pier, was a founding member of the Coctails, and continues to play and record with Eleventh Dream Day among others. He's also one of our favorite people to hang out with every other year, so before Wilco's Saturday concert of originals at this year's Solid Sound Festival, Monte had a chance to sit with him and hear how the music is going. 

In a brand new collection from Restless Books, it’s made apparent that we as a country have been trying to figure out our relationship with the divine for centuries. A Nation Wrestles with God: American Prophets, Philosophers and Firebrands is a collection of writings from before this was a western recognized nation to to present day and we speak with editor Ilan Stavans and contributor Reza Aslan about the ways the untied states have engaged with and without religion. This past weekend one of the most lauded guests at Wilco’s every other year festival was a surprise to Solid Sound attendees. Natalie Merchant was all over the festival, performing pop-ups, and comedy, and sitting in on sets over all three days. We chatted with her about her history with the project, and her musical education work including her project with the Chicago Symphony: Mother Goose & the Cabinet of Wonder.  And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios' Salman Hameed, is fresh off a trip to the southwest and returns to relate how our approach to the Grand Canyon gives a lot of insight to the ways people lay claim to the Moon. 

It’s that time again. The time every other year that fans of a very specific Chicago band head east to North AdamsSolid Sound 9 is happening this weekend in the Berkshires, and today we’re at Mass MoCA to capture it.So as we ready to hear Mermaid Avenue for the first time ever live in concert with both Wilco and Billy Bragg, we’ll talk to some of the multi-hyphenate members of that band about this festival and their many other projects, including a documentary from keyboardist Mikael Jorgenson, and a sound art installation from drummer Glenn Kotche.We’ll talk music with Sima Cunningham of Finom, I Hear Voices, Postock, and many other musical ensembles about the pop-ups she’s involved with all weekend, and Jeff Tweedy himself about the importance of performing Mermaid Avenue at this moment.Plus the curator of the festival’s comedy cabaret, and former W. Mass resident himself, John Hodgman gives us a preview of the funny folx headed to the air conditioned portion of the weekend, and what hijinx helps to bring comedians to the northern Berskhires.

A rewind to last weekend at the Green River Festival where we’ll hear the warm bass tones of the Amherst based bassist Deja Carr better known to the world as Mal Devisa. We’ll get a glimpse into Deja’s creative process and revel in her performance under the Grandstands at the Franklin County FairgroundsAnd US Congressman Jim McGovern gives us his take on what went on with Trump’s alleged temper-tantrum where he refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill. And if the Democratic Social Mayor Mamdani effect, that swept through NY primaries this week, will have any implications for Democratic primaries closer to home.

We are getting people together for artistic endeavors no matter how harrowing it may be. Off to Westhampton, where one of the many studios that is part of the pottery collective the Hilltown 6 lays nestled by a waterfall. The artists who make up the group are hosting a workshop at Easthampton Clay this weekend and opening up their respective workplaces for a tour later in July. Potters Sam Taylor and Robbie Heidinger meet us to talk about the ceramics scene of western mass and more. In Amherst just outside of the UMass campus is an important lifeline to folx of Hampshire and Franklin counties. The Amherst Survival Center is much more than just a food pantry, addressing the growing needs of the public. We get a tour of their daily work with director Carleen Basler, hear a bit of how their services have changed, and learn how you can support them at a benefit concert this weekend. And word Nerd Emily Brewster knows we might be a bit stressed out by language sometimes, and especially with a deeper look at wrack with a w versus rack without one and how their meanings are kinda tied together.

We head north, to Northfield where a farm segued into beer-making, while supplying a much needed crop for the northeast. Four Star Farm has been growing hops of various varieties well before they conjured up their own brewery and we chat with brewer Chris Sellers about his journey from Poli-Sci to agricultural and local product advocate among the hop bines. Speaking of growing things, young artists are budding along with their creative parents. The exhibit Imaginary Friends is a collaboration of 11 artist parents with their children to create work together and spans from the small, to the interactable, and even to video projects in their ongoing question of how to maintain one’s craft with and after kids. We crash their installation process, getting a glimpse of what the public might see at their opening tonight. And musician, artist, folklorist, and more Mica Farias Gomez joined us for one of our Green River Festival pop-ups this past weekend. We’ll hear  the sounds of her incredible journey into her native Argentina and across south America, and with her co-conspirator Manuel Uriona about their connections to Double Edge Theater, and the liberation we’re all seeking.

We head to a new exhibit in Holyoke that’s helping newer artists explore their craft, and the anniversary of this nation with more experienced artists in the area. Valley Arts Mentors branched out of Piti Theater, but has grown to encompass many ways that we all tell stories including visual arts. This year’s cohort of mentors and mentees have recently opened an exhibit Revolutionary Artstories: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Equity, which we explore along with the artists who’ve made the work on display. The Green River Festival happened this past weekend, but if you think about festivals you've been to, how are their lineups looking in terms of gender diversity? Book More Women is an upcoming soon to be non-profit that started as an instagram project and has evolved into a full on movement, in which the Green River festival has partnered. We speak with founder Abbey Carbonneau about starting the organization, what her data has shown so far, and the struggles of getting other organizations to recognize their blind spots. Plus after running around all weekend we get to talk a little bit about our highlights from the festival as well. 

Today is a day to celebrate freedom and music, because it’s Juneteenth, but it’s also the first day of the Green River FestivalSo we’re combining those two things for a live broadcast straight from the mainstage at the Franklin County FairgroundsIn addition to a celebration of freedom for all, we’ll hear insights and music from some of the amazing artists performing as part of the this year’s line up: including last year’s NPR tiny desk winner Ruby Ibarra, who has ties to one of rock’s godmothers locally and internationally in June Millington, the musical legacy of Swamp Dogg, whose created and produced music of too many genres to mention, and whose influence reaches into many other artistic arenas as well. Plus we’ll get to meet one of the first guests this show ever had with the heartfelt lyrics and intrepid fingerpicking of Sunny War. And we’ll give you a quick history of the holiday we’re all celebrating as well. 

,We're looking at freedom and our relationship with it, because freedom’s legacy in this country has had a fraught relationship with the black community. Clark University Professor Ousmane Power-Greene in continuing to examine the nation's 250th birthday brings forward the case of Crispus Attucks, one of the victims of the Boston Massacre, now intrinsically tied to the story of this nation’s independence. We discuss Attuck’s life, how the liberty of the nation affected black revolutionary veterans, and more. Tomorrow is Juneteenth, the now federally recognized holiday that celebrates freedom for everyone. At the Iron Horse, an inspired collection of musicians are celebrating with a concert that honors that legacy. Indë,  PARRIS, and the Ujima Singers will perform in Northampton Tomorrow night. We sit in on their rehearsal, and speak with their musical director Indë about this performance and the impact of the holiday on the communities they’re centered within. And congressman Jim McGovern has some thoughts about the Iran deal, FIFA and how it connects to the USA’s bad habit of intervening in other countries governance, his juneteenth plans and how they tie into the ongoing importance of the upcoming midterm elections, and more.

Today is all about circles of life.For instance in East Longmeadow, which used to contain more agricultural enterprises, a third generation farmer is still growing vegetables for the area, while looking at ways to make sure that land is available for future generations to grow on. Neil Pomeroy shows us around Pomeroy’s Vegetable Farm, and gives us insight to its history and what’s coming up right now. Then we head to the Hitchcock Center for the Environment, where they’re not just teaching the adults of tomorrow about the ways we can be better to the planet, they’re readying for an event that gives us tasty morsels and beverages straight outta nature. Their Battle of the Botanicals Fundraiser happens tomorrow on Amherst College’s Campus, so we make a trip to see the breakthroughs they’ve been making in their innovative building.And language is constantly shifting underneath us, so word nerd Emily Brewster at Merriam Webster introduces us to some new terms that have just entered the slang section of their website so that we can continue to ruin the new phrases of the moment for the young folx in our lives. 

We are getting the bands together, because it’s the 25th anniversary for the Florence Community Band, which has grown from the idea of one woman seeking musical community, to having over 50 members or more finding their instruments, dusting them off, and joining in the sound. We speak with director Priscilla Ross and members Linda Davis-Delano and Yop Molenaar  about their upcoming concert on June 21st that will bring even more local bands into the mixAnd in a new novel by Heather Abel, bands of amateur investigators attempt to find the cause and cure of a mysterious ailment. The Emilys is a book that bears an indelible imprint of the asparagus valley, including an array of easter eggs for the locals, and we speak with the author about the issues of friendship, ecology, and place before you can meet her yourself at an event in South Hadley this evening. Plus this Friday being Juneteenth means there’s lots of places celebrating the nation's truest freedom day, and we’ll hear from Theresa Cooper Gordon, Damany Gordon, and Megan Seiler about the festivities happening in Holyoke at Wisteriahurst for the occasion.

We love new books, and the first in a brand new series from Jedidiah Berry comes out tomorrow. Kill All Wizards is a blend of 19th century gentility and classic sword and sorcery fiction of the early 20th century with homage to Roy Thomas and Robert E Howard and we chat with the author about the new novella and the release party at Vision Video in Northampton on June 16th where he’ll be in conversation with Kelly Link Juneteenth is this Friday and Springfield’s Symphony orchestra is celebrating by bringing the whole ensemble outside. Not only is this year’s program happening for free in Court Square in downtown Springfield, but it’s a family affair featuring both Avery Sharpe and Kevin Sharpe. We bring the two brothers to the studio to talk about their individual connections to the holiday and music itself along with SSO President Heather Caisse Roberts. And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studio’s Salman Hameed, puts on his cinefile hat to explore the science and spectacle of Stephen Spielberg’s latest foray into extraterrestrial speculation as we discuss Disclosure Day. 

Today has a lotta music, and a little international flairTanglewood is getting a visit from folx who play some of the smoothest music around. The Yacht Rock Revue started in Georgia on a whim, but now brings the sounds of the late 70s and early eighties to stages worldwide, even to their original tunes. We speak with Nicholas Niespodziani frontman and multi instrumentalist for the band about the inspirations of these tunes and the spectacle they’ll bring to the Berkshires on June 21st.Live Music Friday brings a brand new band polycule into the studio. The Golden Hours began as an immersive music experience, but has evolved beyond to be its own creative entity, a blend of the bands The Lowland Hum and David Wax Museum. We’ll hear a sample of what this sonicly-united ensemble will perform on the Iron Horse stage in Northampton on Sunday, June 14th. And the many games of the FIFA World Cup are underway, but perhaps you are as lost as I am on that front, lucky us, NEPM’s own Cara Foster is here to give us a bit of insight to the game and it’s global dominance everywhere, except the US it seems. 

It’s 413 Gives DaySo of course the fabulous 413 is going to double down on the goodwill of our neighbors coming together to support other organizations who also lost their federal funding just like we did by speaking with one more non-profit from the Berkshires who you may help. So we speak with the executive director of the Elizabeth Freeman Center, Divya Chaturvedi. The organization have been helping those who have experienced domestic abuse and sexual assault in the Berkshires with their ongoing survival for 50 years. We learn about their incredibly extensive programming that spans the entirety of the county, the ways they’ve learned to adapt to the needs of the community, and the ripples of impact they see relating to this loss of federal infrastructure. Then we head to Amherst to connect celebrations with history. Ancestral Bridges is hosting its 6th Juneteenth celebration this Sunday, and has discovered direct ties between the town, the Massachusetts 54th, and that holiday’s origins in Galvaston Texas. We speak with Anika Lopes, Deborah Bridges, Christina Miles, and Pam Tillis about the festivities and their discoveries.

We celebrate freedom for all with a Juneteenth event that brings all of the community together. Arise for Social Justice has been honoring the holiday with a free celebration connecting folx of all walks of Springfield life with music food and services they may need and more. Executive Director Tanisha Arena joins us to talk about the party they’re throwing, and her journey to this work. We’re also looking at the immigrant experience through fiction and firsthand accounts. Restless books has just published the award winning collection People who live alone talk too much which highlights the incredible intimate moments of immigrants interacting with American culture in New York, and we speak with author Sofi Stambo about the appeal of short fiction, and how it can connect these snapshots to something greater. And as pride month continues, we look at the language surrounding the LGBTQIA2S+ community itself with word nerd Emily Brewster, because those words have come as long a way as we have, and the linguistic history of Gay and Queer are just as fascinating as the times and folx they have represented over the centuries. 

Festivities are coming to downtown Greenfield for Franklin County Pride this weekend. This ninth iteration is bringing even more folx, music, and organizations together to celebrate the rainbow of identities present. We speak with Heather, Fritz, and Tolja about this year’s festivities and the impact that political climate has on their efforts to make sure the community stays safe and seen. We continue to highlight the organizations of our area for 413 Gives Day with Resilient Community Arts. Founded in the pandemic, the non-profit seeks to create more arts access and equity to kids, teens and their grownups across Hampshire and Hampden counties. We chat with director Maddie McDougall and youth coordinator Libby Keller, both of whom are teachers in their day jobs, about the impact they’ve seen the arts make, and the gaps that the loss in federal funding leaves. And speaking of pandemic shifts, Carrot Corner Farm came to be when one family moved from their boat on the coast to a vegetable shaped parcel in North Amherst, and we’ll chat with co-owner Eli Mior about his introduction to agriculture and the innovative practices they’ve been implementing

Today is all about communication and immigration, which, let’s not forget, does include the founding fathers. And the founding itself might not have happened if an intrepid young bookseller hadn’t taken some initiative to bring a veritable pile of weapons to Boston from a conquered fort in New York to chase away the British. Local historians have gathered together to map out more of Henry Knox’s course through the Berkshires east with 59 canons and more, and that information is now available in a new book released by the Berkshire Historical Society. We’ll talk with authors Bernard Drew of Great Barrington; Gary Leveille of the Great Barrington Historical Society; Rob Hoogs, Monterey Historical Society; Ron Bernard, Sandisfield Historical Commission; and Tom Ragusa, Otis Historical Commission about Ye Trodden Path and learn how you can celebrate the book's release with them at Arrowhead in Pittsfield this Wednesday June 11th. And we continue our highlights of organizations that you can help through 413 Gives Day by chatting with Caroline Gear, executive director of the international Language institute, who’s been with the school for 40 of its 42 years. We learn the principles of how their model was built, and the changes 4 decades have made in the institution. And Caroline gives us a glimpse of the impact the rhetoric surrounding immigrants and funding changes for education have made in their offerings and outlook. 

We head into the weekend with a little music, a little beverage, and some extra care for our community. The Green River Festival begins in just 2 weeks bringing artists from all over the globe to Greenfield for three days of incredible sounds and community. Oh and we’ll be there too. We speak with John Sanders of DSP shows and organizer of the whole affair about some of the musicians headed to Franklin County. In Old Deerfield, the Memorial Hall Museum is raising a pint to the Baystate’s history. Brewing Massachusetts is their new exhibit that looks at the lineage, legislation surrounding and culture of beer, brewing and alcohol in Massachusetts. We get a tour with curators Ray Radigan and Lindsay Kruzlic. And we start our week of highlighting organizations for 413 Day with 18 Degrees. Over its nearly 130 year tenure, the organization may have changed names, but remains true to principles of aiding families and children in the berkshires, and now in Hampden county as well. We speak with executive director Stephaie Sneed about her tenure at the helm, and the ways they’ve supported some of the area’s most vulnerable populations. 

Sadly, a wide array of local organizations and non-profits that provide an equally wide amount of services to the people of Western Mass and beyond have lost grants and programs just like we did, and this is our chance to help them like you our listeners have helped us. 413 Gives is a one day four county wide effort to help fill the gap made for many organizations by recissions in federal funding, because we weren’t the only ones who felt that financial cut. We’ll talk with the leadership behind these efforts: Megan Burke of Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Kara Mikulich and Maeve O'Dea of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and NEPM’s own Matt Abramovich and learn more about how this collaborative effort helps us all. And our weekly conversation with congressman Jim McGovern sees a house resolution finally hit the floor, but brings up questions on russian sanctions and the US’ involvement in Lebanon, which is a stark contrast to the cuts simultaneously being made to WIC and SNAP, plus we get his opinion on AI oversight and regulation. 

This Sunday you’ve got an opportunity to see a new film by a Hampshire alum that explores a very American problem in a very unique way. Our Hero, Balthazar addresses issues of control, connection, class inequities and the endemic of school shootings through the eyes of two young men with very different backgrounds and takes on those issues and we’ll speak with screenwriter Ricky Camelleri about this dark but poignant movie, that'll get a screening at Garden Cinemas in Greenfield on June 7th.We’re also exploring ways to connect humor to the dark times in one’s life. Grief: a Comedy has been a one woman show, a book, and next weekend  on June 12 & 13th at The Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, will be taped for a special. We’ll chat with the woman behind the work, Alison Larkin,  to explore her career in comedy, and the importance of laughter in the overall healing process. And Word Nerd Emily Brewster is taking the Mario® route, delving into the plumbing and across rainbow roads to see which is the original phrase of things that come down the pike, or down the pipe. 

The Tumble Science Podcast for Kids is hosting their Joke-Ha-Thon fundraiser after a difficult year facing the repercussions of federal funding rescissions. This year’s chuckle marathon competition will lead into a new pivot for Tumble’s creative team and we talk with Marshall Escamilla and Lindsay Patterson about this change and how well Monte will do against the other competitorsIt’s the nation’s 250th anniversary, but what about that whole 150-ish years before we made it official? And where in that history do we see the peoples who were brought to the colonies as property? Professor Ousmane Power-Greene chats with us about the landscape of slavery in the north in the years before we were officially America for this month’s Power of History. And in Granby, two farms that have been friends for decades have merged. In the past year the folx at Mckinstry Farms has taken over the reins at Sapowsky Farm  as its owners retired. We head to their farmstand to chat with Steve Sapowsky and Bill Mckinstry about this arrangement and the past and future of the farm.

We’re exploring some of the hidden aspects of our communities. Novelist Tom Perrotta’s latest book Ghost Town is a look at the summer in a New Jersey town where the family of one young resident is forever changed, and how those experiences shape his future. We get into the specters and suburban spectacle within these pages before you can meet the author himself at Odyssey Bookshop Tuesday Night, June 2nd. In Northampton, some of the area’s folk music heavy hitters are coming together to raise funds for the Children’s Advocacy Center of Hampshire County. One of those folk stars joins us for an extra special Live Music Monday, Pamela Means, as we hear a preview of the music she’ll perform onstage at the Iron Horse and why this particular cause resonates with her. And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios’ Salman Hameed has a wide range of things for us to ponder including how pigeons use magnetic fields, the ongoing conversation about who else might be in this universe with us, and whether or not they have already made a visit to the blue dot.

It's a house party this weekend, y'all. For the house, we have a conversation with newly appointed leader of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, secretary Juana Matias in the midst of her whirlwind Western Mass Tour, and get to ask about the ways the Baystate is helping it’s westernmost parts to weather the storm of our current housing crisis while learning how the office pivots in the face of construction and community opposition.  In Parties, River Valley Democratic Socialists are seeking to make better working conditions for all of our trans neighbors and friends through a Pre-Pride Party at Fame in Holyoke on Saturday, May 30th, featuring the sound of the Trans Inclusive Crime Syndicate DJ collective on the turntables. NEPM reporter Phil Bishop joins us to speak with co-chair Sasha Morsmith about the needs of trans workers in the area and about the importance of celebration to protest and progress. And since a good party needs music, we crash the rehearsal space of W. New England’s own Glad Machine for Live Music Friday to hear a bit of how their sound has evolved, and get folx ready to get down with them this weekend at the Drake in Amherst. 

It’s the last days of Foster Care Awareness Month and right at the base of Mt. Tom there’s an innovative model that’s introducing a neighborhood of care for folx of all ages. The Treehouse Foundation has built a community in Easthampton that seeks to blend the lives of seniors, children in foster care, and their families in one vision of support and growth. We head to their community center to talk with residents Sue Brow, Suzy Jubinville,  and Lynn Muth, along with ex. Dir Erica Kuester to hear how this intergenerational framework is beneficial for all.And our weekly chat with congressman Jim McGovern is still bearing scorch marks from his fiery speech on the House floor. So our conversation explores the lack of a war powers resolution, the looming issue of CUBA, the impact loyalty to the oval office could have on midterms, the farm bill’s impact on small farms and SNAP and a whole lot more. 

This weekend is the 20th anniversary of the Berkshire International Film Festival, celebrating on screens across the southern Berkshires and bringing filmmakers of all ages and from all over the globe to present their work over 4 days of showings, meetups and conversations. We speak with festival ex. director Kelly Vickery about the festival’s origins, and how it’s blossomed into this year’s lineup. We’ll also head to Buckland to explore the burgeoning agriculture at Fern Hill Farm, who’ve taken both new and old aspects to regenerative multi-generational farming. We speak with farmer Lindsay Allen about their alley cropping methods and how important trees are to the farm’s overall vision, and the things that urban farming has taught them about gathering the family together to work the land. Plus, Word Nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam Webster sidesteps from some quirky restaurant slang into an exploration of the linguistic evolution of the word Dish, and some other dining terms that have taken similar journeys.

Today has double book action to fill up your bookshelves. And with interesting connections. Storytelling as Healing is a presentation at the Northampton Center for the Arts that seeks to  center the power of storytelling, connection, and community in the movement to end domestic violence and support survivors. Featuring authors and readers of work that examines these experiences and situations, the evening highlights the power of the written word as a part of ongoing process and endurance. We’ll speak writers Patricia Lee Lewis and Mydalis Vera as well as Marianne Winters of Safe Passage about this Thursday’s event. And speaking of important and powerful histories on the page “Queer and How We Got Here” is a massive wide ranging new non-fiction graphic book from author-illustrator Hazel Newlevant that ties key moments and figures from queer history to their own life and gender journey. This Sunday folx have a chance to meet them at Comics N' More in Easthampton and ask their own questions about this information packed tome, but we sit with the author first to see how their own life is inestricable from the ones that came before.

We're psyched about the long weekend, so we’re leaning into the celebration aspect of our extra day off.And on this show it means engaging with one of our favorite agricultural products wine! Kate Norris is one of the winemakers at Division Wines, carefully crafting the grapes of the Pacific Northwest into reflections of both the Willamette Valley and surrounding areas, as well as her early years in the Loire Valley, so we bring three teams of folx together for a supersized, hyperlocal thunderdome at Provisions in Northampton. We can’t celebrate without music, so Live Music Friday brings in a transatlantic duo creating bittersweet snapshots in time. Sophia St. Helen and Michael Lesko have just begun their journey of writing songs together, and we’ll hear a bit of that new creativity before you can see them perform at the Parlor Room on May 23rd. Plus word nerd Emily Brewster, resident wordster and senior editor at Merriam-Webster, gets us to look at words as an atlas and marker for location as we delve into the sound and context of American regionalisms. 

This weekend the 6th Odenong Powwow returns to Amherst Regional High School gathering folx of all walks and honoring the indigenous traditions and culture of the many tribes in our corner of turtle island. We speak with founder Justin Beatty about the lessons learned in all of his years of producing the event, and about the foods, folx and community that grows through celebrations like this. In Ashfield, a dream to reconnect with the land has blossomed into a learning experience in craftways. On Growing a Bunch Farm, owner Lisa Fortin has connected with sheep and lamb farmers across New England to create amazing yarn colorscapes. We chat with her about the summer camps teaching kids skills in the hot months, the bottle necks in fiber processing, and get to see some of her dyeing operation up close as she processes skeins for Bloom Woolen Yarns. And in our weekly chat with congressman Jim McGovern, the representative is so mired in DC ongoings that he may not make it home for the long weekend, but still finds time to reminisce on the late Barney Frank, the retaliatory republican primaries, the constitutional crisis inherent in the possible Jan 6 reparations, and the lessons we all should be taking and acting upon from the civil rights movements of the past. 

Today is accidentally a twofer, because when you have one of the nation’s most renowned ornithologists living in your purview, and the birds have just come back to the area because it’s spring, that’s just too much perfect kismet to not lean intoSo we’re headed out to the hills along the Connecticut river to go birding with author and illustrator David Sibley, as well as NEPM President Matt Abramovitz, avid birder himself, and digital creator Ayu Suryawan, on a hunt for the recently returned bobolink, and hear about the trials they face in our region’s habitat. We’ll also learn good "do"s and "don't"s for birders, tricks to bird calls, about Sibley’s work for the US Postal service that ties into the 250th celebrations, and more. Plus we get a chance to try out for ourselves NEPM’s own monocular to get a better glimpse of the birds (in addition to Sibley’s own very swanky telescope).(Also if you're interested in either False Knees or Rosemary Mosco's artwork, here are links to each!)

Today the fabulous 413 is about friendship, and literature. We head to CitySpace in Easthampton where a brand new theater company is kicking its first production out of the nest. Legoland is an amazing coming of age story about the impact of change and teenage fixation between two siblings who find themselves on an incredible journey to restore imbalance. We speak with the founders and actors of Why’s It Gotta Be Theater Company about the group’s founding, how cardboard and puppetry fit into this production, and where this beginning fits in their mission to present fresh queer voices and stories onstage.Then we head to the Berkshires to watch whales, or the hills that inspired tales of the sea at least. Arrowhead, Herman Melville’s country estate has just opened for public visits, so we get a tour with Berkshire Historical Society Director Leslie Herzberg to get some insight to the author’s life, and friendship with neighboring author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Plus we’ll learn some of the challenges that arise when  restoring a historical house to reflect the time period of its most famous residents.

We’re breaking open the old ways to impart a bit of depth, while also honoring several upcoming ends. In Amherst you have a chance to see a lost classic restored to the silver screen. Queen Kelly was a film plagued by problems and a hemorrhaging budget that was a death knell for silent movies. Tonight, Milestone Films will show their restored version of the film at Amherst Cinema. We talk with company founders Dennis Doros and Amy Heller about the nuanced work of this restoration, their mission to expand the cinematic canon, and the fun particulars of this movie that they’ll also explore in conversation. And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and former Hampshire college astronomer Salman Hameed fresh from the penultimate graduation at that institution delves into the notes of Galileo that lead the world to further enlightenment on the heavens, but brought him ever closer to the chopping block. 

Today we head back in time to before America was America. In fact in this year of the nation’s sesquicentennial, we head one hundred years before that to an incident without which, the nation may not have been founded. In 1676, Capt. William Turner lead troops to massacre the indigenous people encamped on the banks of the Connecticut river. That single act would domino to retaliation, erasure, and indelible marks on the land of western Massachusetts. We traverse that area with the president of The Nolumbeka Project, David Brule to learn more of the nuances of this moment in history and hear how the present is seeking to restore more accuracy about it’s significance, including their Day of Rememberance event this Saturday, May 16th. We’ll also have Live Music Friday with Case Oats, whose arrival in music has taken many twists and turns through writing school and garage rock to land their post card perfect narrative lyrics in Americana, which you can hear for yourself tonight at the Iron Horse. 

We have several reads for you, especially for your littles of whatever size and age they come in. The R.I.S.E. Festival is currently in its second year, bringing authors, artists, musicians and more to Northampton High School to celebrate the written and illustrated word, as well as promote the wellness that the arts can instill in all of us. We speak with organizer Jarrett J Krosoczka about all of the folx joining the festivities, and hear a preview from local musician Louis Phipps, one of the young performers who’ll join in those celebrations, and hear how this years festival has packed even more activities into one very full day on May 16th. And Congressman Jim McGovern checks in on the way to his offices in DC to explore the congressional votes on a war resolution for Iran, the administration’s current trip to China, the spread of redistricting fever in the fallout of the Callais decision, and the hotbed issue of rotisserie chicken that arises from a bevvy of listener questions. 

If you didn’t get enough beautiful bee content yesterday, today is gonna melt your wax. Because we're going to one of only two state apiaries here in Massachusetts, nestled into the far reaches of the UMass Amherst Campus now in it's 10 year of collaboration with the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR). We talk with beekeepers and researchers Kim Skyrm and Jessica Glover, don protective suits and head off to see their many hives and the residents thereof and talk about the very necessary and incredibly hard work of keeping bees in the Bay State. While there, we get to taste royal jelly and fresh honey, get in-depth on the work and lifespan of Queens, drones and workers, and hear about some of the challenges facing bees in the northeast, and more. Plus we'll let you know how you can visit the bees themselves at events around western mass this spring!

We are full of fiery passion, and beesYesterday's show might have sparked your yen for equity and justice. In which case interlink books might just have the kindling for your acts of protest. "Don't Be a F#$king Marshmallow: A Beginners Guide to Revolution" is a new graphic essay from author-illustrator Jesse Mechanic about which he'll be in conversation with Leyla Moushabeck of Interlink Books this weekend at Amherst College, and we'll chat with both about how to keep starting proverbial firesBut if your desire is bees, there's a festival for that. The Greenfield Bee Fest happens this weekend celebrating one of the most important pollinators, and the legacy of beekeeping connected to the city. We'll hear music from performers Mr. G (and Mrs G), as well as organizer Hannah Rechtschaffen of the Greenfield Business Association and get a taste of the festivities coming to the city formerly known as a town. And a great source to feed those bees is native plants and grasses. We head up to Conway Natives to talk with Lilian Jackman about integrating species that have called this land home longer than we have into your lawns and gardens and more. 

Today is a bit of a bummer if equality is a thing that you’re into (and hopefully you are), but the recent decisions by the supreme court might have you questioning if equality is a thing that America is actually into. So we talk with Haydenville’s proverbial canary in our democracy coalmine, author and former editor at Slate Magazine, David Daley, who has now written two books outlining the possibility of what just happened with the recent Callais decision, to dig into the far reaching effects of the ruling both for right now, and beyond the current redistricting. But we have hopeful things as well. Rachel’s Table is a local organization that has made headway in local hunger for over three decades. This weekend they’re encouraging the community to come together for their Outrun Hunger 5K event in Forest Park raising funds for their many programs and services, about which we’ll chat with ex. dir Jodi Falk. And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios’ Salman Hameed, takes a careful scientific comb to the many click-bait prone findings of recently released documents on UAPs, and how that sensationalism can affect later discoveries and more. 

The unsavory necessities of today means that a city full of people are ostensibly also filling their bodies with food which eventually becomes… other things that fill up toilets and that we don’t want to keep in our houses. But if not there, where does that go? There’s actually several answers, but one of them sometimes affects the Connecticut River and your ability to go out on it and enjoy the things the water brings us. Andrew Fisk of American Rivers takes us on a walk along Springfield’s riverfront to explore what Combined Sewer Overflows (or CSOs) do and how they affect the nearby populations. We’ll also have Live Music Friday with the post-punk perfection of Grammerhorn Wren, whose intricate quitars and heady vocals are celebrating the release of their latest album AEOE with a show at the Marigold Theater tonight, May 8. And in that same city of Easthampton, we head just across Perfume Pond to celebrate the longer days at with the folx of Tip Top Wine Shop in a showdown of savory white wines for this week’s thunderdome. 

In Haydenville, a microfarm is bringing colorful blooms to events and homes all over the baystate by doubling down on locally grown flowers. Flora Farm began with a much wider perspective, but has been focused on making their quarter acre of blossoms key to the floral needs of Western Mass and beyond. We talk with farmer Aspen Bey about the farm’s history, some of the challenges for younger farmers, and how their own history is being continued through the flowers they grow. We’ll also head to Longmeadow to meet the many teens organizing the Future Planet Fiesta. A festival only in its second iteration, the event is gathering ecologically minded school groups of all ages and community organizations to host a fun and information filled  gathering on the Town’s Common this Saturday, and we’ll hear from all of them the importance and cathartic nature of engageable action. And Congressman Jim McGovern  checks in with us still riding a high from Hampshire Pride, to explore the hidden costs and repercussions of the Iran war, his encouragement for folx to continue to be civically engaged, the draining of the social security funds and much more. 

We’ve got a super fun extra rare Live Music Wednesday in store with Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band before they take the stage at the Iron Horse in Northampton tonight, May 6th. They’ve been sterling examples of virtuosity in finger-picking , slide guitar, and washboard across their many albums and singles, and we’ll get a taste of their award nominated sound and heritage holding instruments right here in our studios with a few tracks from their latest LP, Honeysuckle. We’ll also head to Worthington where William Shakespeare and Tom Stoddard are meeting over a Danish kingdom. The Little Garden Theater is performing both Hamlet and the Hamlet-inspired Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead this weekend May 8-10th, intrepidly weaving together both stories and their respective casts in innovative ways. We speak with their production’s Danish prince themself Ace Tayloe, and hear about the largess of joining these two stories in the hilltowns.  Plus Word Nerd Emily Brewster, Senior Editor at Merriam-Webster invites us to slide out chairs up to the table and dig into a listener question about the origins of words used to describe meals of the day, from breakfast, to supper, and beyond. 

Today is all connected to the BerkshiresIn a new novel from Longmeadow native Vincent Yu, a small town and the base of the westerly mountains is rocked by a sudden alert about their imminent demise. What follows is the subject of the novel Seek Immediate Shelter, which highlights several Asian-American citizens of the fictional town of "Beckitt" and their connections to this mistake. We speak with the author about the novel, with its many twists, turns, and local easter eggs,  before you can meet him in person at the Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley on Wednesday night, May 6th. We’ll also head to the very real city of Pittsfield to chat with our next Mayor of the Month: Peter Marchetti. Hot off the heels of a meeting with the many other mayors of the baystate we get to learn from him about Pittsfield’s housing issues and economic drive. Plus we’ll hear about his volunteer work with Berkshire Pride, and learn how the recently launched 413 link bus service is starting to make a difference for the folx of his city, and much much more. 

Red Shirt Farm is a prodigal agricultural endeavor, but is innovating with vigor. Not only are they using green methods to heat their greenhouses, but a brand new farmstore is helping them to provide fresh produce and local products to folx in the northern and central berkshires. We speak with Farmers Jim and Sarah with Berkshire Agricultural Venture’s Dan Carr about the story of the farm and more. We’ll also have live music Monday from Max Wareham. The storied banjo player and historian has a brand new album due out in June. He takes stage at the Parlor Room this Friday, May 8th,  and we’ll hear how recording this album by himself in the most bluegrass-y of locations has shifted his perspective on the music he makes. And it’s Star Wars Day, and even though Mr. Universe, Kainaat studios’ Salman Hameed is more of a Star Trek Person, that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate by talking about super massive black holes, binary star systems, and other things that pop up in the galaxy far far away. 

It’s Free Comic Book Day! Started 24 years ago, shops and libraries around the country have given away millions of issues in the ensuing years. We chat with Xtian Reader of Comics ‘N More in Easthampton about how they’re celebrating this year, and the community connections this day bringsThe Adams Theater will showcase the work of artists who are looking at grief and connection through the lens of Dance. Boca Tuya has been in residence honing a massive work called Yahaira Yahaira, and we’ll speak with founder Omar Román de Jesús company manager Rachel Secrest and Theater Director Yina Moore about the importance of being given space and more. And on Sunday, folx will gather to celebrate the memory and work of a beloved member of the community lost over the winter. Nat Graves was a conduit for creation, and we’ll talk with Kat Adler about the memorial Absence|Presence that honors them at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls. 

Today is a garden sandwich with musical bread. Next door to us at the Hope Center for the Arts, a heartland grown sound that’s been honed for 40+ years takes the stage in Springfield. The BoDeans formed in Wisconsin but have brought their take on roots music into the 21st century and we’ll speak with founder Kurt Neumann about his time in the music industry and more before you can see their show Sunday, May 3rd. Polyglot Emily Wells is known for her inventive and evocative take with the music that she makes. One of the most interesting of which is shifting some of the more electronic all in one approach to  more acoustic bodies and instruments arrangements. She joins us alongside her string quartet of friends for Live Music Friday as her Antenna Cloud Farm residency concludes with a concert at The Shea Theater on May 2nd. And on the eastern edge of Springfield, the 16 Acres Garden Center has been bringing color to the yards and landscape of the area for almost 65 years. We take a tour of what spring is bringing to their facilities and learn about early pitfalls new gardeners can avoid.

Amherst Media takes the tools of tv, video, and podcasting and puts them in the hands of a public eager to create their own content for themselves, the folx of the town, and beyond. We take a tour of the oldest continuously operating public access station in the nation, and learn how you can both celebrate and support them this weekend at their gala from executive director Rachael Figurasmith, board president Jennifer Shiao, and board member Andrew Hart. Then we head to Becket where Jacob’s Pillow’s inaugural spring season brings an examination of sound, body, and connection through intercontinental pathways. Rowdies in Love returns to Jacob’s Pillow this weekend, having honed the vision birthed from Hari Krishnan and the company inDance at the Pillow Lab. We’ll speak with the choreographer and dancers Spenser Stroud and Eury German about the many manners of affection that manifest in the work as Indian Classical dance meets modern body movements. And congressman Jim McGovern addresses the press correspondent’s dinner events, Hegseth’s defense of our actions in Iran, his attempts to fight for the steadily eviscerated Farm Bill, SCOTUS’ demolishing of the Voting Rights Act and more. 

Today on the Fab 413, we immerse ourselves in an exhibit that seeks to make sure everyone has access to art with temporal freedom in that connection. Don’t mind if I do is a collaborative experiment demonstrating how temporary changes in power structures create pathways of access for visitors, artists, and staff. Anchored by a conveyor belt that brings artworks to visitors who are invited to sit around comfortable furniture and engage with it directly.We’ll head to Smith College Museum of Art, where this work is currently on display, to engage with it in person alongside curator Emma Chubb, and learn how the public of western mass has been interacting with it, and what the museum has done to make it western Mass. specific. We’ll also get to speak with the Artist behind the whole work Finnegan Shannon, and the original  and traveling curator of the piece Lauren Leving to hear about it’s origins, and some of the hidden nuances that have really resonated with folx in it’s travels around the country. After which we’ll tap senior editor at Merriam Webster word nerd Emily Brewster to get into the very weird way we talk about the vegetation we eat.