The Fabulous 413

We're digging into the political sphere today. Folk punk author and humanist Billy Bragg joins us to talk about US and UK Politics, the rise of populism, and the evolution of his own work and views over his 40+ years of making music as he prepares to play at the Academy of Music in Northampton this coming Tuesday, July 23rd. Our weekly chat with congressman Jim McGovern delves into the question of whether President Biden should continue to be the democratic nominee and other pressing issues facing the nation writ large.And to wash a little of those politics out of our hair, we head to North Adams to hear about the free summer music program happening. Mass MoCA’s Director of Performing Arts, Sue Killam and General Manager for the Performing Arts, Addison McDonald join us to talk about their Chalet Series happening each thursday through the end of August.

Today is all about sweetness. It's in the bounty at Yellow Stonehouse Farm in Westfield. As the only certified organic farm for produce in Hampden county, and a CSA program that meets more needs than many, owners Connie Adams and John Kelch have side-stepped back into agriculture providing healthy options for folx, a safe haven for ecologies to blossom, and much much more. And it is literally the name of comedian Dulce Sloan. As if years of being a part of The Daily Show and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me wasn't laudable enough, she's released a book of essays earlier this year titled "Hello, Friends". We speak with her about her arrival at comedy, and writing, and how important it is to lift up those whose work you love. And perhaps it is in our confusion at our attempts to be that sweetness. Word Nerd Emily Brewster takes us on a winding journey to untangle the meanings of "sympathize" and "empathize", and we feel for the struggle we all have in telling the two apart.

Today on the Fabulous 413 is a first for us because we’re pointing all of our focus on one tiny organism and making a big show about it. We're taking the time to focus on a very tiny arachnid can make a really big impact on our health and the whole laboratory in Amherst that studies them Director of Education at Tick Report Paul Killinger gives us an overview of the impact ticks can have on the population at large, and informs us about the worst times for ticks and some best practices for keeping them away from you. We also get to see the process of ticks coming into the lab from all around the world to be cataloged and examined and learn about some of the things that they’re studying that AREN’T ticks. Plus we get a chance to hear how they're managing the outreach they’ve been doing to bring more awareness about ticks to the greater public, and get up close and personal with the process of testing that they offer to the public, while discovering ways their knowledge about these tiny creatures has grown and shifted over the years.

It may be Monday, but we're still thinking up good ways to get down in the area. Take for instance a chance to hear a veritable ton of heavy music heading to the woods of Millers Falls. RPM Fest takes place during Labor Day weekend bringing metal, rock and punk bands from all over the Bay State and beyond to western Mass. to elevate the volume for three days of music, food, and more. We chat with founder and organizer Brian Westbrook about the strength of the local metal scene, the need for a festival in the area, and how you can learn more, and get tickets, at an event they're throwing at Prodigy in Easthampton this Sunday, July 21st. And speaking of Easthampton, a new event space is opening up in Eastworks, started by one of the city's own. The Jupiter Club opens this Thursday July 18th, occupying one of the larger spaces of the mill building's first floor, and seeks to offer more to the greater community than meets the eye. Proprietor Sean Mitchell joins us to chat about opening a new spot, his memories of Easthampton of the past, and how this venture fits into the future that the city is envisioning.Plus Mr. Universe, Hampshire College astronomer Salman Hameed, eschews the news cycle to break down the pursuit of that most elusive of black holes: neither small nor supermassive, but somehow perfectly inbetween the two.

Summer brings wicked fun festivals with it, and this weekend brings the return of two extra fun ones. There's Springfield Jazz & Roots Festival, the main portion of which happens July 12 & 13th. The free music celebration has been going on for 10 years, driven and created by the Blues to Green non-profit, and has been getting bigger and better every year. We sit with Bianca Jimenez, project manager at Blues to Green, about the specific growth this year has seen. We hear live music from local hip-hop artists T'Swan and Talynt who'll be performing at the festival, and get to totally fangirl out with one of the headliners of the festival, Grammy award winning artist Lisa Fischer.A little further north an idyllic stop in Franklin County brings us the Fifth Shelburne Falls Porch Festival. There's around 50 locations at porches, lawns, and business fronts that will feature music, art, and performances of all sorts, and we're joined by a pair of locals who can help us wade through the plethora of activities the town will be sharing with everyone on Sunday, July 14th. Poets Lauren Schmidt and Martín Espada will both be reading as part of the events of the festival, so we hear work from each of them, as well as a little history for the festival itself.And it's been a minute since we've had a Tina Turner Memorial Wine Thunderdome, so we head back to the location where all our uenophile adventures began: State Street Fruit Store, Deli, Wine & Spirits. We bring along an extra taster: NEPM reporter Nirvani Williams, to help us make sure that this contest between two wines with grapes we can't pronounce, from places we can't locate* has a clear winner. * Shot out to the Montague Bookmill for having such a good motto we had to contort it to our own purposes.

Our guest Juliana Merullo created for senior capstone project at Brown University, a long-form audio piece looking at the impact of the July floods on Western Mass farmers, the recovery efforts (including state and community support), and these farmers' fears moving into the next growing season. We felt that everyone should have a chance to listen to the episode in its entirety, and so we're posting the full piece here! It's titled "Deep Water".Thanks so much to Conway native Juliana Merullo for her thoughtful piece on the subject, and her appearance on our show. Check out more of her work at Possibly Podcast, The Publics Radio out of Rhode Island, and Atlantic Public Media. *Contains explicit language*

It's the anniversary of one of the worst agricultural disasters western Massachusetts has seen in years, so we look back at the floods of July 2023, and their aftermath with Piyush Labhsetwar, Farm and Land Stewardship Manager for Grow Food Northampton, who we interviewed immediately after the waters rose, and reporter Juliana Merullo who created a piece about the floods as her capstone project at Brown University. We also head to Feeding Hills to see how this year is treating E. Cecchi Farms with third generation proprietor Bob Cecchi, and revel in the bounty showing up in their farm store right now. And Rep. Jim McGovern reminisces on the response, or lack thereof, of the Federal government to last year's crisis, and looks ahead to possible crises on the horizon.

We head to Great Barrington to check out the Berkshire Film & Media Collective and it's executive director Diane Pearlman, who has made her own moves through the film and effects industry and is hoping to teach more folx to do the same with their initiative for Kemble St Studios. We also hunker down with a gritty, visceral, multi-faceted horror novel. Cuckoo is the latest work from Massachusetts based author Gretchen Felkin-Martin, and we speak with her about the nuances of horror, the real-life inspirations for the story, and more before we all have a chance to get our books signed at her event at Comics-N-More in Easthampton this Saturday, July 13th. And we discover that Word Nerd Emily Brewster is managing the team behind Merriam-Webster's "Word of the Day" column. So we get some insight about how it works and how influential it's become over the past 25 years

Today is about reemergences. One of those is with Hannah Mohan, formerly of the band And The Kids and Topsy, who is on the verge of releasing her first truly solo album. "Time is a Walnut" comes out on July 12th and will be celebrated with a concert at the Iron Horse on July 12th, so we bring the ingenue into the studio to talk about the evolution of her song writing, writing in community, and hear a few selections from the new LP. Another is a new collaboration that features a new venue to western Massachusetts: 52 Sumner. The location has just entered an agreement with the Springfield Chamber Players (also known as MOSSO) to be their home for the 2024-25 season, so we speak with Angela Park of Springfield Performing Arts Ventures Inc. and Mark Auerbach, Director of Bookings, Marketing, and Public Relations for MOSSO, about each of their organizations, and how this collaboration between the two can bring more art to more people in the 413.

And in the summer, all of western Massachusetts a stage. We have the opportunity to meet a few of the thespians creating and developing works in the area. There's a single performer show written and performed by Jay Sefton, that deals with a difficult subject with humanity and humor. "Unreconciled" The play chronicles a survivor’s journey as he confronts his past and discovers the courage to use his voice and redefine what reconciliation means, and we talk with Jay, as well as NEPM Reporter Nancy Cohen who has both covered the previous production and participated in post-show talkbacks on the subject matter, about what this version of the show is bringing to the Chester Theater. Then we head to North Adams to immerse ourselves in an emerging theater project that takes a pair of people through the exhibits at Mass MoCA. "Where I end & You Begin" is the latest work of Eggtooth Productions. It's been intermittently offered at the museum throughout the year, so we take a quick break to experience it ourselves and speak with creators John Becktold and Ali Ross about the many connections they and the folx signing up to participate have discovered. And Mr. Universe, Salman Hameed builds up our hopes for cosmic migration with information about the lego brick inspired ideas for modular housing and buildings in space.

A holiday bonus revamp of all the EXTRA stuff we did at solid sound, including a chat with Mark Greenberg, studio manager of The Loft- Wilco's Chicago recording studio, extra songs from Americana/roots harpist Mikaela Davis, and a quick glimpse at the future director Kristy Edmunds has pictured for Mass MoCA and its place in the arts in the Northern Berkshires.

We speak with journalist, teacher, and author G. Mike Dobbs about his memoir "What They Didn’t Teach You in Journalism School: The Memoir of an Ink Stained Wretch", hear from Ex. Director Brian Boyles and board member Aaron Vega about Mass Humanities and the organization's recent move to Holyoke, and stuff our faces full of the blueberry bounty at Birdhaven Blueberry Farm with proprietor Emily Endris.

It's summer reading season, so we speak with two local authors about their recent works: Rachel Lyon's re-imagining of the Persephone myth with "Fruit of the Dead" , and astronaut Cady Coleman's memoir "Sharing Space". We also sit with NEPM Reporter Jill Kauffman to explore her contribution to the New England News Collaborative's series on fun summer trips across most of the 6 states in the region.

America's birthday is this week, so we speak with someone about to become one of us, Rosa Cuevas Ortiz, Naturalization and Immigration paralegal Harleen Kaur Multani who helps with the process, and director Laurie Millman who's organizing their annual naturalization ceremony in Northampton this July 4th, we corner our musical hero Nick Lowe at Solid Sound to gush over his works and elate, and Mr. Universe, Hampshire College's Salman Hameed teaches us about that one time when a blinking light in the sky showed scientists how quasars, and galaxies, turn on.

We head to North Adams to speak with the folx behind the biyearly festival at MASS MoCa, Solid Sound! In this eighth iteration, we hear from Wilco founder Jeff Tweedy, his sons Spencer and Sam, Wilco Drummer Glenn Kotche and his band mate from the freeform Saccato Quartet Darin Gray. We also chat with podcaster/musician Hrishikesh Hirway of Song Exploder, listen to the melodies of the amazing Americana harpist Mikaela Davis. All to hear just a little bit of what keeps bringing people back to the Berkshires every other year.

We speak with Emerson professor Bob Nesson, whose film "Holding Up the Sky", a documentary about the post prison evolutions of two ex-cons in Boston, is showing in Orange this weekend, check in with Rep. Jim McGovern about his visit with the Dalai Lama, tonight's debate, Julian Assange and more. And our favorite itinerant bartender, Sean Billson, swings by the studios for a cocktail thunderdome impromptu. GUADALA-PRAGUE DEUX1.5 oz Slivovitz1.5 oz Gin.75 oz Fernet Vallet1 oz grapefruit juicejuice of 1/2 limemix together, add ice, shake, strain. Le Pin2 oz Hennessy.75 oz Zirbenz.25 oz Fernet Vallet.5 oz orange juice.5 oz lemon juiceMix together, add ice, shake, strain.

Local author and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi stops by to talk about the latest tv adaptation of one of his novels: Apple TV+ series "Wondla", we sit with writer/comedian/podcaster John Hodgman to discuss his New England connections, and the fellow funnymakers that will join him in the Comedy Cabaret at Solid Sound this weekend, and Word Nerd Emily Brewster is a ton of fun, but is she funner or the most fun? And why do we have strong feelings about which sounds more right?

We speak with singer-songwriter Mon Rovia about their work and past at the Green River Festival, Antenna Cloud Farm director and curator Michi Wiancko walks us through their plans for the 2024 season which opens this weekend, and Benjamin Bland of Mass in Motion Springfield shows us how many groups can come together to make better food and physical activity policy happen in Western Massachusetts.

Pizza Quest VIII lands at Roberto's Pizza in Sheffield, we share our tiny but mighty pop-up with Philadelphia band Snacktime from this past weekend's Green River Festival, and Mr. Universe, Hampshire College's Salman Hameed breaks down universe contraction and expansion through the furthest galaxy from us that has ever been observed.

It's our live show from the Green River Festival Roundhouse! We're joined by new festival director, John Sanders, and two of the acts performing Friday sets at the Festival: Twisted Pine, and The Nude Party's Patton Magee.

We check in with the 5th graders and one of their teachers, Tim Austin, at Fort River School in Amherst to discover their civic engagement class which has them interacting with issues affecting folx in the Bay State and beyond, head to Florence to talk with Clara Li about the downshift from Great Wall restaurant to her family's new restaurant, Little Wall and how local produce impacts her menu, and Representative Jim McGovern, and hear an AI generated song about Northampton.

We take a tour of the many sustainable and innovative happenings at the Hitchcock Center for the Environment, and learn about a thirst quenching fundraiser they'll have on the 20th, continue our journey at Mumbet Freedom Farm in Sheffield, and check in on the high spirits of NEPM reporter and Celtics Fan Kari Njiiri as team clinched the title this week.

Mr. Universe returns from Pakistan on Eid to tell us about the difference between novas and super novas, we chat with David Blood and Alex Torres of Fame Lounge and Eatery in Holyoke about their Pride Block Party happening in tandem with Holyoke Pride, and we head up to Memorial Hall Museum to check out an exhibit about the history of the Green River Festival with festival founder Jim Olsen and museum curator Ray Radigan

We head to the hilltowns to hang out in a woodshop with two black woodworkers in Franklin County, Sam French and Charles Thompson, and hear about their experiences in western Mass, sit on the bestest couch ever at Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke while we chat with executive director Megan Seiler about their Wisty Wednesday series and it's extra special Juneteenth edition coming up, and Mary Daire of Dare Bottleshop & Provisions meets up with us to taste Loire Reds at their new store in Great Barrington.

We speak with musicians and educators Patrick Dailey and Tim Eriksen about "Jubilee: A Juneteenth Concert of Early American Music" happening at Historic Deerfield, and Clark University professor Ousmane Power-Greene wades us into the murky historical context of Juneteenth and the many ways freedom used to be celebrated.

We hear from the team embarking on a mission to restore a third Nelson Stevens mural to Springfield's Mason Square: Napoleon Jones Henderson of Afri-Cobra, and Britt Ruhe and Springfield artist SELF of Commonwealth Murals, sit with the Franklin County Pride organizers to hear about their celebrations this weekend, and Word Nerd Emily Brewster is totally alright, and helps us understand why both spellings of the phrase are also all right.

Carrie Ferguson takes a small break from their Grumpytime Club to throw a Pride Kickoff party at Hawks and Reed this Friday that will also celebrate the release of their new single "The Many I Am", we chat with writer/director/producer Julian Lowenthal about the Franklin County shot and conceived movie "Money Game" which will have a week long residency at Greenfield Garden Cinemas starting June 14th, and it's peak strawberry season, so we head to Hadley to sample nature's bestest candy with Joe Czajkowski of Lakeside U-Pick.

We speak with author and Greenfield native Essie Chambers who'll be coming to Odyssey Books to celebrate her debut novel "Swift River" on June 13th, get ready to party with the LGBTQIA2+ youths at queer prom in Holyoke, and get a tour of what's growing at Mumbet Freedom Farm in Sheffield with its lead stewards: Sunder Ashni and Adrian Seneca Bello.

We speak with Jo Clifford, author and performer of "The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven" who'll be be making her US premier of the work in Northampton this weekend, Live Music Friday brings multi-wreckage player Suitcase junket to the studio just before his show at the Iron Horse on June 8th, and drink beachy coastal white wine with our Franklin County Wine Friend and Sommalier Ken Washburn, who brings an extra friend of his own.

We hang out with Buffalo Tom, whose UMass Amherst origins brought them back to the area to celebrate their latest album Jump Rope, and dig into their longevity, day jobs, and the incestuous natures of local music scenes, and Congressman Jim McGovern gets into those felonies a little more and all the other fallout since that Capitol Hill has endured.

We hear from Damany Gordon of Genuine Culture LLC about their upcoming event on House Music which will center two of the genres pioneers, chat with the illustrious and multi hyphenated Dr Nell Irvin Painter who will be speaking at Bombyx this weekend about her latest collection of essays and her ongoing work on the life of Sojourner Truth, and Word Nerd Emily Brewster speaks up about silent letters in words.

We speak with the organizing force behind Chicopee's only Farmers Market: Center Fresh Farmers’ Market, meet with the CEO of Trustees of Reservations Katie Theoharities and discover the many ways that group is preserving important cultural and ecological sites for us all to enjoy, and hear a little asparagus science with the duo behind Tumble Science Podcast for Kids from this past NEPM Asparagus Festival.

We talk with SSO President Paul Lambert and jazz legend and NEPM Host of Jazz a la Mode Avery Sharpe about the upcoming Springfield Symphony Orchestra program for Juneteenth, and revisit some of our adventures this past weekend at the NEPM Asparagus Festival in Hadley with State Senator JO Comerford, MDAR Commissioner Ashley Randle, and a whole lot of folx learning how to properly bunch asparagus competitively.

It's nearly the NEPM Asparagus festival! So we chat with Supicha and Phil Hillenbrand of Thai Chili Food Truck about the growth of their business and what they'll be bringing to the Hadley Common this weekend, hear from Winterpills for Live Music Friday just before their sold out show at the Iron Horse tonight, delve into a bubbly reds thunderdome at Tip Top Wine Shop in Easthampton, and with asparagus on our minds, of course we talk to epidemiologist Dr. Andrew Lover about WHY this particular vegetable makes your body do odiferous things in the bathroom.

We get into the Hadley side of the area's asparagus rivalry with Wally Czajkowski of Plainville Farm, preview a series of new works on the broader idea of Puerto Rico with MIFA Victory Player's upcoming program "Puerto Abierto", and congressman Jim McGovern ventures into Trump verdict speculations, agricultural committee openings, flag burnings, foreign policy and much much more.

Eggtooth Productions joins us in studio to talk about bringing Virgina Woolf to the stage with their gender fluid, time bending production of "Orlando", Word Nerd Emily Brewster trips our tongues and minds with the descriptive tools of metonomy and synecdoche, and we chat with NEPM reporter Alden Bourne who recently produced a duet of stories about preserving Massachusetts Farmland.

Local historian and linguist Wren Wood gives us a glimpse into the speech patterns of Herman Melville, Springfield Pride Parade founder and organizer Taurean Bethea divulges the evolution of the event as they gear up for its third iteration, and we get ready for the NEPM Asparagus festival by visiting the Smiarowski Farm in Hatfield, where that vegetable has been grown by all four generations of farmers stewarding that land.

Legendary fingerpicker and all around amazing musician Chris Smither joins us in the studio for Live Music Friday, we start our exploration of the origins of the Memorial Day Holiday and Black military history with Clark University Professor Ousmane Power Greene, and Table and Vine Ambassador Michael Quinlan brings three wines from his latest fixation to the Tina Turner Memorial Wine Thunderdome so we might taste a spectrum of Vermentinos.

We talk with organizer and founder of the Odenong Pow Wow, Justin Beatty, delve into the pages of a tri-literate children's book seeking to bridge cultural divides with translator Eliezer Nowodworsky and publisher Ilan Stavans, and our weekly chat with congressman Jim McGovern barely scratches the surface of the very publicly busy week he's had.

Our intern Cenai Collins spent his time with us working on a podcast idea. By the end of his tenure, he'd finished the first episode, and so we're sharing that episode with all of you! Congrats, Cenai, on your graduation from AIC!

We say goodbye to our intern Cenai Collins by chatting about his experiences with us, head to Colrain to chat with Justin and Katie Korby who have each won Good Food awards this year for their work in fermentation, and Word Nerd Emily Brewster drives us through the origins of words pertaining to traffic. OH YEAH, and it's our 300th show. Go us!

We hang out with the bovine brood at Mapleline Farm in Hadley and hear how the sister team of Jessica Dizek and Jennifer Zima are stewarding the location's 120th year of operation, then cross the mountains to Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams to chat with president James Birge about the ecologies of higher education, especially at a time when small college closures loom largely.

Mr. Universe goes to a UAP convention and tells us all the unclassified details he can, we take a walk around the corner to see how the folx at RAD's volunteer bike shop ar helping the community ride better, and talk about the real effects the Mass Reconnect program has had on community colleges with Springfield Techinicall Community College president John Cook.

So much stuff was happening we had to do a whole extra episode about it! We'll chat with the folx from Rachael's Table about their Outrun Hunger event in Forest Park, celebrate our families and ourselves with a new book from Leslea Newman getting a launch party in Northampton, and head to the Shea Theater in Turners Falls to celebrate some of the newest Americans with the program Immigrant Voices.

Erin McKeown and Spouse come in for Live Music Friday just ahead of their sold out show at the Iron Horse, we celebrate 20 years of universal marriage with a couple that was part of the lawsuit that made it happen, and head to Northampton to taste through Mary Taylor's catalog of wines in a thunderdome at Bottle-O.

We check out the only commercial poultry processing plant in western Massachusetts with the folx behind Reed's Farm in Sunderland, Word Nerd Emily Brewster zhuzhes up our vocab, and Congressman Jim McGovern talks about humanitarian developments, commencements in a time of wide protests, and more.

We broadcast live from the opening show at the newly re-vamped and much improved Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton. We're joined by the performers from the first official show, Rachael and Vilray, their opener Taylor Ashton, Parlor Room Collective Executive Director Chris Freeman, and General Manager Neal Robinson to celebrate the occasion, discuss the importance of the venue to the area, and peruse the litany of repairs and changes they've made to the iconic musical institution.

We delve into the history of the iconic Iron Horse on the eve of its official opening with a wide swath of folx who've watched its evolution, head to great Barrington to take a tour of a facility built by an icon at the Guthrie Center, and check in with the Americorps workers of the organization All Love, who are throwing a community Field Day this Saturday in Holyoke.

We chat with Mark Melnik of the UMass Donahue Institute about workforce disparity in western Massachusetts as the NEPM newsroom launches into a week-long exploration of the subject, local author and professor Naila Moreira celebrates the release of her new book "The Monarchs of Winghaven", and Mr. Universe draws parallels between the recent appearance of the Aurora Borealis and the protests at Umass.

We bring the Bay State's own bluegrass legend Peter Rowan to the studio for Live Music Friday, explore one of the oldest running quiz shows in american with Beth Ward host of As Schools Match Wits, enjoy a vertical wine thunderdome at State Street Deli Wine & Spirits, and delve into the work of the late Steve Albini with Time Eriksen and Peter Irvine of Cordelia's Dad who recorded two albums with him.