The Fabulous 413

Yesterday, we learned the news of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Tracy Kidder’s passing. Today we revisit some of our conversation with the Williamsburg author after publishing his book, “Rough Sleepers.”And, we are joined by Salar Nader, protege of Zakir Hussain, as he brings the tabla to the studio for the first time for Live Music Thursday. We hear a preview of his contemporary sound rooted in tradition before he brings his Afghan Music Project to The Drake in Amherst March 26.Plus, as the war in Iran continues, our listeners want to hear from their elected officials about what the end game will be. Rep. Jim McGovern answers some of your questions about the war in Iran and the future of our own democracy here at home.

Poetry and politics cross paths in Montague this Sunday with a benefit to support our immigrant neighbors. We hear the debut of a brand new poem, inspired by an immigrant rights activist born in Montague, by National Book Award winner and UMass Professor Martín Espada. State Senator Jo Comerford from the Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester districts, who will also be at the event in Montague this Sunday, gives us an update from Beacon Hill about the status of immigrants in our community.Plus, born on the streets of New Orleans and shaped by the city’s second-line tradition, The Soul Rebels have redefined what a brass band can be. They will play De La Luz in Holyoke on March 26, but you can get a preview as they create a brass explosion live in the studio for an extra special Live Music Wednesday.

Spring is trying real hard to spring. Thus, we will do our part to gently nudge it along as we visit a small hilltop in Montague where Jo Rosen at Meadowhawk Farm is embracing her role as a seed steward and working towards seed sovereignty. Plus she'll give some insights to what you can be doing right now at the end of March to get your own seeds ready for your own garden.And the vernal times are when more than just birds break into song. The Local Vocal Chord Bowl highlights some of the area's many singing groups across a wide array of age ranges. Roxy Schneider and Ann Chiara of founding group and local ensemble, Green Street Brew, give us a rundown of the gathering and we and eavesdrop on a rehearsal with Susan Dillard and the Northampton High School Chamber Choir who'll perform at this Saturdays event happening at Northampton High.And Word Nerd Emily Brewster, resident wordster and senior editor at Merriam-Webster in Springfield explains to us why and how we organize adjectives in the way we do as we learn about the Royal Order of Adjectives.

We get a chance to sit with an incredibly gifted, lauded professor and author who is making an appearance in Northampton. Jesmyn Ward is a professor at Tulane University, a MacArthur Grant recipient, has won the library of congress prize for fiction, is the only black person or woman to win the national Book award twice, and all this from the acclaim of 4 novels, and 3 works of non-fiction. Although her body of work clearly meant she was a perfect fit for her upcoming sold out lecture at Smith College on "Hauntings," it has also been a network of constellations illuminating experiences across the black diaspora, and especially those in the south. So we get a chance to speak with the author about the balance of writing fiction, essays, non-fiction, the love and importance of reading aloud, connections of family and spirit and perseverance, using all one's senses in one's sentences, Martial arts movies and lots lots more. Plus Mr. Universe, founder of Kainaat Studios and board member of Amherst Cinemas, Salman Hameed, wears both of his hats as he talks about andrew weir’s latest adapation to hit cinemas nationwide and we explore the spectacle and science found onscreen in "Project Hail Mary."

We talk with one of the more important health organizations in the area. Tapestry Health provides care, information, and support for all four counties through an incredible network of programming including WIC, Harm reduction, Sexual and reproductive health, and much much more. We speak with some of their leadership team: CEO Mavis Nimoh and directors Lakayla Harris and Pedro Alvarez about the many ways they build and aid the community, and how you can help them continue the work at their upcoming Gala. There's celebrations ongoing, a band that feasts on tiny bursts of pop brilliance is coming to the Shea Theater to perform this evening. Brooklyn’s The Dream Eaters make a stop at the studios before heading up to Turners falls to join us for a most irreverent Live Music Friday. And in Easthampton, we’re celebrating Women’s History Month by heading to the women owned Tip Top Wine Shop for a battle of bubbles between two women winemakers, and get to hear about a wicked cool women forward wine convention that Lauren Clark just attended as well.

Right here in Springfield, the Community Music School is hosting a festival on Saturday afternoon, perfect for kids and their parents who often have to choose sleep over late night concerts. The Platform Festival is bringing 8 performances, crafting activities, Girl Scout cookies and more all together at the Robyn Newhouse Hall, and we’ll speak with some of the folx involved with both the event and CMS’ Prelude Preschool of the Arts Program, including organizer Sarah Soller-Milek, about making sure the whole family can be more involved in the arts. Genre defying artist Indë is celebrating the release of their debut album Role Model this weekend with a release show at Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity in Florence. The work has been a long time coming and the concert itself is proving to be a wide sweeping affair including appearances by many of the groups that the artist is involved in. We’ll hear a bit this new music, and hear about the journey to making both these tracks and the greater concert experience happen. And congressman for the 2nd district Jim McGovern talks about the disregard of the current administration for the economic struggles of non-billionaire Americans (which is most of us, btw), the Save America Act, the hearings for a new Homeland security chief, and more.

Today is full of lofty aspirations, including a farm putting its principles into practice to create better food ways for all of us. Meadowsweet Farm is a Real Organic livestock endeavor in Hawley that is keeping community in milk and meat, and showcasing quite a lot of what the area is producing in their remarkably stocked farm store. We meet Kyra and Gus Tafel, who shifted their location from New York to the W. Massachusetts hilltowns and walk us through their operations, including more lambs, and explain their connections to the methodologies they employWe’ll also have an extra special Live Music Wednesday with Boston quartet High Horse, who’ve been crafting their sound since their days at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory. And they’ll show off all of those skills, artistry, and innovation that blends a wealth of Americana traditions with modern songwriting in our studio before you can catch their set at The Foundry in West Stockbridge tonight. And word nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam-Webster, rouses us from slumber to gain a better understanding of the word "dream" and its evolution in English.

It is the greenest of days; originally celebrating a saint driving out proverbial snakes, that has become a hallmark of the Irish-American community So for this St. Patrick’s Day, we’ll chat with someone who spent time there being that connection between communities. After his tenure as congressman for the 4th district, Joe Kennedy III became special envoy to Northern Ireland during the Biden administration, learning more about their history, people, community, and economics in the process. We’ll get some of his insights from his experiences there. Sounds of the emerald isle are coming to the stage of the Shea Theater this Sunday, March 22nd in the form of a sprawling and talented local supergroup. We gather a few of their number, Rosie Caine, Chris Devine, and Michael Morgan to talk about how the ensemble came together, Rosie’s late start with songwriting, and how the sounds of Ireland have influenced their other musical endeavors beyond Rosie Caine and her Wild Irish ShenanigansAnd those Irish sounds are far reaching, so we’ll also mention some of our favorite Irish bands, so that if you don’t want to listen to yet another free U2 Album you don’t have to.**Kaliis says she meant to include Thin Lizzy in the honorable mentions, please don't come for her.

Today explores things in smaller sizes, like tiny pithy songs about the quirky nonsense of our lives. The Dream Eaters are a Brooklyn based band whose catchy pop nuggets have striking video and dance components. What started as a quote unquote serious project intended for YouTube has grown to something with a trajectory all its own and we speak with Elizabeth LeBaron and Jake Zavracky about their origins, music, and aesthetic. Essayist and professor Anne Fadiman has recently released a new collection. Frog and other essays is a personal look at a wide variety of unlikely and very personal connections, successes, and the finite. We speak with the Whately author about this stage of her work, and the many diversions found within its pages, as she readies for an in-person event in Northampton at Broadside Bookshop on March 18thAnd Mr. Universe Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College’s Salman Hameed wades through the Oscar aftermath to take a look at the troubling tale of Pluto and what it means for ongoing science and scientific process.

The culmination of Award season is happening this Sunday, so to get warmed up for all of the Academy’s rewards, we’ll talk with someone who has been portrayed in an Oscar winner. Walter Robinson was leading the Spotlight Team of investigative reporters at the Boston Globe in 2002 when they broke the news of decades of sexual abuse among the clergy in the Metro Boston area. We speak with him about the movie, the state of journalism, and more. Plus we'll let you know how you can ask your own questions at a special screening of the Best Picture winner for 2016, Spotlight, at Garden Cinemas in Greenfield next week on March 18th. The Academy Awards invite quite a bit of speculation from the film and lay community alike, with folx everywhere making their own predictions about the winners. We happen to know a certain ringer who’s been mostly on the money for the last few years with their picks: Enzo Belmonte. We speak with him and NEPM News Executive Editor Elizabeth Roman about our own takes on Sunday’s event. And an Oscar party is a great place to have a glass of a late winter white wine as the sun slowly comes back to us. So we head to State Street Fruit Store, Deli, Wine and Spirits to pit Italy against Portugal for this week’s Thunderdome.

In two weeks the city of Northampton will be flushed with sounds from all over the roots, traditional, and Americana diaspora. The 12th Back Porch Festival returns with a stellar lineup of 60 artists and musicians across a bevvy of 10 venues. We chat with founder, organizer, and host of the Back Porch Radio Show Jim Olsen about some of the highlights you can see all over the city, and the new ways the event is connecting folx with music. Then we turn to a blend of the traditional and the modern with Sonny Singh and his project Sangat who’ll perform at the Parlor Room this coming Monday, March 16. We’ll hear how the combination of Sikh and Muslim devotionals and classical instruments resonates with the sounds of right now in this collaboration with Qais Essar and Sukmani bringing the rebab, tabla, and trumpet together to break boundaries and bring us together.And our weekly chat with Congressman Jim McGovern explore the running calculator of costs for this war, the question of oversight and it’s possibility in this year of midterm elections, the looming disaster of the SAVE act in light of those elections and more.

We make our second stop with our next Mayor of the Month in Whoville, which is to say Easthampton and the newly elected Salem Derby. Though he’s been in the office since last July it was only made official with this past election. We talk with him about the exit of his opponent Lindsay Sekula who had been working in the office, the first wave of issues he’s preparing to face and his first proposed budget, his hopes for a more robust performing arts scene in the city, housing initiatives and much, much more. Then we get embroiled in scandal, or rather a modern suffix that has begun to denote controversy with Word Nerd Emily Brewster as we look at the origins and many usages of “gate” from its beginnings with Nixon, to it’s latest iterations attached to pizza and gamers

Today we put our efforts where our segments have been by heading up to the last of the 978 W. Mass towns we hadn’t visited yet and lend our efforts to the Morning chores at Hettie Belle Farm in Warwick. The farm is the other home of CISA executive director Jennifer Core, who shows us the ins and outs of caring for their many chickens, cattle, and copious amounts of sheep many of whom have just given birth, from feeding to watering, and even getting to attach a brand new lamb to its mother, we get an inside hands on look at the effort it truly takes to keep a working solvent farm going in Massachusetts. And in Easthampton, we’ll take a look at the friendships of women through the lens of a century. Enchanted April is a heartfelt comedy of connection centering 4 women each of whom steps a bit outside of their comfort zone in Edwardian Europe. We speak with Michael Budnick, Louise Krieger and Katerina Midtskogen of the Easthampton Theater Company that’ll perform the work this weekend and next about how the work resonates a century after its setting.

In Northampton this weekend, you have a chance to learn and plant something a little different. Grow Food Northampton hosts its Annual Seed Share: a swap full of donations from local farms, businesses, and individuals, as well as many grown on the Grow Food Northampton Community Farm. We speak with co-executive director Alisa Klein about the event, and bringing the community together through workshops, activities and more to produce a more eclectic mix in their own foodOne of the folx leading a workshop for the event is Hunter Livingstone of Livingstone Mycology. We hear how he and his partner both came from different sciences to the fascinating world of mushroom production, and learn some of the benefits of fungi consumption, plus some of the most amazing looking reishi mushrooms and more. And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College’s Salman Hameed covers ground as expansive as the heavens themselves with an exploration of the oscars, the ongoing illegal aggressions in Iran, and a recently observed brand new black hole intriguing astronomers near and far. Including why if you’re following the discoveries of the Vera Rubin Observatory, you may want to turn your notifications off this week.

Her excellency the governor of the commonwealth of Massachusetts Maura Healey stops by the studio ahead of a visit to the Springfield Regional Chamber of Commerce. As she is up for re-election there’s a number of issues coming to the fore that we are looking for her take on including the budget that’ll be reviewed next week, ICE activity, her task force on hunger, Rural transportation and education and a couple of listener questions to boot. Also, you've got a chance to see the conversations about the FY 2027 budget presented at UMass Amherst next week. And for Live Music Friday, we’re joined by Noam Schatz and Anand Nayak one half of local band the Unlucky Shots, who are about to release their first EP with that particular name. Because you might have read about their plight concerning their nomenclature in the Boston Globe, but it turns out that story is longer and way more nuanced than even that article could include so we get more of the details about their journey to the name change.

Today we're centered on construction and destruction. In the creation end, the Jones Library is in the middle of its massive restoration project and is spotting an end point on the horizon. So we head out to Amherst to see how things are going as the building keeps its historic facade and gets updated to the 21st century.Decked out in hard hats and safety gear, we get a glimpse at some of the changes and improvements that are headed to the building, and learn how you can be a part of this new construction with their top off ceremony this week, where you can put your proverbial "John Hancock" on an actual part of the new building. library director Sharon Sharry, Dev. director Lisa DeGrace, Facilities supervisor George Hicks-Richards, and Project supervisor Karl Beaumier take us around the site to see the edifice’s progress. .And on the other end, our weekly chat with congressman Jim McGovern is extremely alarmed by the war instigating actions of our nation, especially as they attempt to bypass required congressional action, the issues with the latest farm bill, and his reflections on the Texas primaries.

We're encouraging you to go out and sing.Tim Eriksen, musical bon-vivant and renaissance performer, Amherst College professor of ethnomusicology, frequent collaborator with a wide swath of artists, founder of Cordelia’s Dad and most importantly this weekend on March 7 & 8, Chair of the Western Mass Sacred Harp Convention taking place in Florence at Bombyx. But in addition to teaching the next generation and helping 300+ folx to sing together in one place, he has a number of other projects in the worksWe learn more about Sacred Harp singing as American tradition, as the nation peers into its 250th year, and learn about the many other things he’s getting up to including a performance with a new ensemble at the Drake later this month, working with Rhiannon Giddens, touring the UK and Ireland and lots more. And a listener question that explores the ties between you and me...or is it you and I?It’s both and everyone cares, so word nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam Webster helps us discover why your ears lean towards pronouns the way that they do.

We’re looking at the past to see its influence on the present in a new book. The Judgment of Gender: How Women are Centered and Silenced in Pop Culture from UMass professor Allison Butler comes out on International Women’s Day, March 8th, and we chat with the author about what she discovered, and changes we all can make to shift things for the better. Towards the future, March means it’s almost time to get growing. The Greenfield Farmer’s Co-operative Exchange is one a few of its kind in the state, bringing folx the tools and supplies that they need for 108 years. We speak with Jeff Budine about the importance of making sure our local growers can get what they need locally. And right now, we’re celebrating in Pittsfield. Wander has recently received two awards from the greater community for their work so far. We speak with Jay Santangello about some of the events they have planned, and the important space their place has created in so short a period of time.

Today on the Fabulous 413, we head to Greenfield to see an incredible relic that city is housing. Turns out it is in possession of a 160 year old stagecoach, which itself is at the root of some mystery. We meet with city council and historical society member Sarah Bolduc to see the sight for ourselves, hear some of the history they’ve been able to unravel about the vehicle and how you can help revive it to its former glory. We also dig into the super fun pages of the debut novel from Easthampton author M.J. Beasi. I Was a Teenage Death God is not just about a young trans teen’s heightening circumstances, but an incredible metaphor for young adult and non binary experience across its many adventures and western Mass. setting. We speak with the author about their journey to writing, and more before you can meet them at the very first appearance on their book tour tomorrow March 3rd at the Easthampton Public Library. And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College’s Salman Hameed is as concerned and exhausted by our country’s military actions over the weekend as you might also be, and so we explore some science based ways to gain some hope about the bigger picture that may help.

The kids of today are having a chance to interact and learn from the people who have been on this continent for millenia. This Sunday, March 1st, the Nolumbeka Project hosts “Sharing Mohican Knowledge and Presence in the Berkshires” with Shawn Stevens and Wanonah Kosbab connecting us with the peoples of the Swansea Munson Mohican peoples who were forcibly removed from this area. We’ll chat with the two of them about what reconnection with their ancestral lands means.We’ll also head to UMass where the oldest student lead group on campus is celebrating a milestone with a huge party. The UMass Theater guild has 120 years under its belt and nearly 200 students participating in its productions and we’ll hear about its legacy and upcoming Gala from co-marketing director Kelly Duncan. Across the river at Smith, theater is being used to make people more present in the governance of their communities. The Policy playhouse festival connects local lawmakers and council members with students and issues through theatrical performance and we speak with founder Mary Clark Michael about using the arts to build better understanding of each other. And live music Friday returns Westfield native and The Voice contestant Madison Curbelo back to the studio as she prepares for her upcoming show at the Drake in Amherst on March 5th.

Maple has broken like the first dawning, and the commonwealth celebrates next weekend with Massachusetts Maple Weekend. And celebrate we shall, by heading to the hilltowns to meet some of the folx that are being recognized not just locally, but internationally for the way they handle sap. Boyden Bros Maple in Conway has been sugaring for 4 generations, and it’s current stewards are utilizing methods old and new to create a wide swath of maple products all season long and beyond. We meet Howard Boyden, the latest of his line to helm the endeavor, and learn much more about the nuances of sugaring, including his role in supporting maple producers across the continent, his family’s history in the business, his wife Jeanne’s award winning candy and more, and some of the ways their production differs from others. . And our weekly chat with congressman for the 2nd district Jim McGovern traverses the weirdness of the state of the union, venturing into the comments and behavior of the president at the event, and the ripples they have into the many issues that affect all of us. Plus a great listener question on fact checking.Note: We inccorectly refer in this episode to Mass Maple Weekend as happening on this weekend Feb 27-March 1st. Mass Maple weekend is actually occurring on March 7 & 8th.

Older practices are making their ways in to new routines and creations.In music that means bringing the roots of black sound into the times of now, which Corey Harris has been doing for decades. The MacArthur Grant recipient has been writing and performing the blues, reggae and more sounds of the afro-diaspora since 1990, and with 19 albums under his belt is bringing all he’s learned to a residency at the Springfield Conservatory of the Arts and a show at Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity in Florence on Friday Feb. 27th, we bring the pioneer to the studio to hear those sounds in their purest form. We also learn how the grapes of old are delighting the palates and practices of the new. Winemaker Filipa Pato and chef William Wouters are the husband and wife team fostering the wines under the Patowouters label using their experiences from the past 25 years in wine to establish practices influential in her native Portugal and beyond. At Provisions, who’ll host her for an event tomorrow afternoon on Feb 26th at their Thorne's Marketplace location, we learn about some of her methods the importance of native grapes, where you can meet them tonight, Feb 25th in Great Barrington and more. And Word Nerd Emily Brewster helps us explore a new facet of Merriam Webster’s website that might help you stay a little more with the times as we take a dive into their new page on Slang.

In Easthampton, we head to Eastworks where at 50 Arrow Gallery a new exhibit shows the not so hidden lives of a people often relegated to afterthought. A Time, A Place, Our Gaze: Re-framing the Subaltern looks at the black communities of New Brunswick, and shows through photos a glimpse of their daily lives in a way that is often overlooked in favor of sensationalism. We speak with Slavery North Initiative Director Charmaine Nelson and gallery director Jason Montgomery about expanding the horizon of what black life can and does look like, and how that can affect more than just history. Easthampton also happens to be the former home for local wrestling. However with the loss and sale of The Pulaski Club, the search began to bring the rings elsewhere. We talk with Perry Von Vicious, The Human Monster Truck and current title belt holder for Pro Wrestling Grind, about that company’s move to Florence's VFW with the start of this year’s local wrestling season this Friday, and some of the amazing nuances to this very bombastic sport.

We’ll visit the Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield’s Public Library, and learn about how they are offering more than books with the inclusion of a brand new on-site social worker. We’ll meet library director Alex Reczkowski, adult services and programming librarian Caroline Villarreal, and the brand-new social worker Gabriela Leon to hear how they are keeping community care in steady circulation with references to what their patrons need the most.At The Hope Center for the Arts in Springfield this coming weekend, two legendary groups join forces to pay tribute to a beloved member at the center of their venn diagram. The musical sensations Sweet Honey in The Rock and the Young@Heart Chorus join forces to pay tribute to the late Evelyn Harris with a special concert this weekend, and we chat with folx about the memories and impact of her presence. And as our trees eagerly await the time when the weather triggers the sap to run, Mr Universe ponders whether trees can predict eclipses. Hampshire College’ Salman Hameed takes a look at an intellectual spat that looks at both sides of the possibility.

This Saturday in Springfield at the Hope Center, a multimedia presentation examines the violent history of this country and seeks to repair some of its harm through congregation and art. Ashes to Ashes is both the name of a memorial art work seeking to lay to honor 4000 people whose lives were taken by lynching, and a documentary that parallels it with the life of artist Winfred Rembert, who survived a lynching himself. We speak with artist Dr. Shirley Whitaker, and with bassist Avery Sharpe who composed a work for the original ashes to ashes event about the lynching of his uncle.And in Great Barrington, folx of all walks are coming together to get their hands in the soil and feed their communities. Solidarity Farm and Garden is one of the many facets of Bridge, an public equity and health organization, a passion project of self sufficiency finally come to life, and we’ll chat with Gwendolyn Van Sant CEO and founding director of the organization and Ben Crockett of Berkshire Agricultural Ventures about the equalizing nature of growing together.

There’s only 9 days left of February, so it’s time to really double down before we get back to reminding folx that every month is black history month. And we’ll start just north of W.E.B du Bois’ birthplace at an organization that he co-founded. The NAACP still looms large in black culture and its Berkshires chapter is being revitalized through a new office to house their archives of local black history and efforts to improve the community. Local chapter president Dennis Powell speaks about the importance of the organization, past and present. We’ll also encourage you to engage with the full breadth of the diaspora. Elms college is holding its 9th Black Experience Summit tomorrow afternoon on Feb 20th, seeking to diversify our collective understanding through the work of local, regional, and national notables. President Dr. Harry Dumay talks about the event, its legacy at the college, and the place of faith in the keeping of history. And our weekly chat with congressman Jim McGovern explores the partial government shutdown and possible social media surveillance, the Save Act, his end hunger tour and memories of the late Jesse Jackson.

In Amherst, a musical meeting of cultures and landscapes is happening in a project from Sunny Jain. Wild Wild East is an exploration that blends ideas of expansion, cowboy mythos, the immigrant experience, and ritual. It’s a mesmerizing shift from his work in the brass focused Red Baraat, and we speak with the percussionist and composer about the pilgrimage into a more progressive sound. We also head northwest where two family farms have merged into a year round market feeding its community. Hager's Farm Market has made itself into a one stop shop for produce, dairy, ready made meals, maple, ice cream and more. We speak with Sherry & Chip Hager about becoming an indispensable resource for the hilltowns, the impact of SNAP and HIP, and their recovery from a devastating fire. And Word Nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam-Webster, our dictionary right here in Springfield, looks to the east for a question we posed about the origins of the word orient and its many iterations, which evolves into a look at its opposite end in the occident as well.

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.

Love is in the air and that love is taking many formsOne of which is conservation. The Trustees of Reservations are on a mission to conserve 30% of the Bay State’s natural resources for public use. After their successful acquisition of Beaver Brook Golf Course, even more efforts are on the horizon. We speak with Katie Theoharides, president of the organization about their next initiative, how you’ll see their efforts at the ballot box this year, and the fun things you can get up to with all this snow around.There’s a whole season of love onscreen at Triplex cinemas, with a new series called Screwball Valentines. From the tight dialogue of The thin Man to the hapless antics in Bridget Jones’ Diary, the warts, scars, and triumphs of the fall shift these romances in important ways, and we’ll chat with creative director Ben Elliot about the many films they’re including. And we welcome professor Ousmane Power Greene of Clark University back from Liberia to talk about a figure who is often tied to that country, Marcus Garvey, and the ideologies those that followed him engendered for another Power of History.

Thursday continues to steal all of Friday’s thunder and today we have two musical guests making incredible sounds all over the area. The Iron horse in addition to its recently announced Playing It Forward Campaign is launching a new series anchored by the Deep River Ramblers, a hit list of local musicians. The Happy Valley Bluegrass Church is far more secular than its name implies, but we’ll get a taste of the community sing-a-long that the event aspires to be. Then the incredible versatility in both voice and guitar of Emily King joins us before her performance in Amherst tonight, Feb 12th, at The Drake. The much acclaimed artist who’s collaborated and toured with the likes of Sara Bareilles, Alicia Keys, Robert Glasper and many many others and we’ll get to hear how deft and heartfelt her sound is first hand. And our weekly chat with U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern touches on some of congress’ responses to yet still more Epstein files, the relief of Canadian tariffs, the ongoing issue of funding for ICE, and some of the nuances of how his office interacts with us: the public.

Valentine’s Day is this Saturday so today we’re talking about love. What is it? We’ll hear the answer to that question, at least in a lexicographical fashion, when Word Nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam-Webster in Springfield defines love for us, and some of the disappointment the public has had with their etymology.Loves comes to town when the Springfield Symphony Orchestra hosts a pair of US debuts. Planet Earth: A Symphonic Journey is a pairing of film and symphony that builds both on Gustav Holst's Planets series and an abundance of budding love. We'll chat with conductor and composer Johan de Meij, filmmaker Dyan Machan, and SSO president Heather Caisse-Roberts about the many firsts this program entails. And if you love live music, The Iron Horse in Northampton is looking for your love. They are unveiling an ambitious new effort and we’ll talk with executive director Chris Freeman about their Playing it Forward Campaign, as well as the importance of that venue and beyond as community connective tissue, and how you can be a part of its future.

Today we have a trio of badass women, all smashing proverbial ceilings and bringing us closer together in the things they are building. Ashfield has been the home of a theater company that pushes the boundaries of how acting engages with community and the world for the past 27 years. Double Edge Theater’s founder Stacy Klein has recently released An Alchemy of Living Culture, a book that outlines not just the troupe’s history, but its philosophies and endeavors to embody the art it makes and we talk with her about our discoveries within its pages. In Chicopee, a food desert if being transformed by the efforts of one grocer and it’s greenhouse. Fruit Fair has been in it’s location on Front Street for 90 years, but it’s the decision of the new owners to grow some of its offerings themselves that help it to stand apart and we talk with co-owner Sam Newell about their drive towards inclusivity and food autonomy for the community.. And there’s expansion of traditional music as well. The trio Cécilia joins three well renowned musicians on their respective instruments together for forays into Celtic, Quebecois, and cape Breton tunes, and we’ll chat with pianist Erin Leahy of that group about the upcoming performance this Thursday, Feb. 12th at Bombyx in Florence, as well as Jennie Darby, Irish Dance Teacher at Scoil Rince Bréifne Ó Ruairc whose students are a part of this particular performance.

We’re boldly going forward with new projectsThe first of those is an effort to check in on the proverbial health of the 7 cities of Western Mass with a brand new segment, Mayor of the Month. First up is the newly appointed leader of the Massachusetts Mayors Association, Holyoke mayor Joshua Garcia. We talk about the importance of connection to community with his city's very swift evolution into controlling its own destiny. Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College’s Salman Hameed, returns from a significant soft launch in Pakistan to a much divided and divisive United States for the first time in a while, but it’s the ongoing science and new looks at Orion that connect his work to both countries’ current circumstances. And despite the disappointment of yesterday, the true winners of the superb owl were all of us who got to witness the halftime show. We’ll check in about the loss of the patriots, and the incredibly patriotic show put on by Bad Bunny.

At Holyoke Community College nestled into the Taber Art Gallery is an exhibit bringing together organizations of many aspects and local artists to imagine a western Mass of the future. River Valley Radical Futures is a multimedia examination of post capitalist society and what it would need and encompass. We speak with curator Alix Gerber and gallery director Rachel Rushing about what the people involved in mutual aid see in the coming years. We also get folx together in song. It’s become a tradition for Northampton to gather a cappella groups in song in February. The Silver Chord Bowl this year will feature 7 groups from all over New England. For Live Music Friday we’ll hear from the Amherst College group who’ll take the stage on Sunday: The Zumbyes, the oldest group on their campus. And cold temps call for red wines that embody warmer, nicer times. So we head to the only store in Leverett for a wine thunderdome of lighter reds with our Franklin County Wine Friend and avid birder: Level 2 Sommalier, Ken Washburn.

We sit with a pioneer in methods of modern history. Dr. Deborah Grey White, who in addition to elucidating the nuances of intersectional history before that was a more widely used term, has been confronting the gatekeepers of history throughout her entire career. We speak with her about the importance of archives and first hand accounts before you can meet the Rutgers Professor Emerita of History in person at Mt. Holyoke and UMass Amherst.We’ll also have an extra special live music Thursday with Ablaye Cissoko and Cyrille Brotto before they take to the stage at Bombyx in Florence tonight, blending the unlikely combination of koro and accordion in an amalgam that tells stories of two cultures within one shared sound. And congressman Jim McGovern tackles not just the things he’s anticipating for Superb Owl 60, but the rash of retaliatory redistricting, the looming issue of national elections and what that means for a republic that styles itself as a democracy, plus an ongoing spectre of the Epstein files

Today is all about reparations, because repair can build things better. Aaron Vega is only a month into his tenure as the newly minted President and CEO of the Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council, but his ideas to restore the area as a sought after commodity for industries of all types are already taking shape and we’ll speak with him about his vision for the organization’s future. We’ll also head to UMass where a new exhibit seeking the restoration of the future from the lessons of the past will soon open. Land of the Free is a multi-media series of 4 works by Canadian artist Camille Turner that look at the transatlantic slave trade through document, video, and ritual. The artist herself takes us on a tour through the museum to explore those connections before you can meet her and the pieces on display at their opening event tomorrow night. And word nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam Webster, is also looking at the ways we fix things, namely our bodies as we delve into the etymology of doctor, and the myriad uses it’s developed in its time

The dance mecca of the Berkshires, Jacob’s Pillow has just announced that it is moving to a year-round model for its programming, launching with two online classes and two performances in its recently re-opened Doris Duke Theater. We speak with executive and artistic director Pamela Tatge about this shift and the inspirational work on display this spring. We’ll also head to Ludlow where Jane Austen’s classic work of enemies to lovers finds its way onstage. The Exit 7 players perform a more modern adaptation of Pride and Prejudice for the next three weekends, and we chat with the show’s two leads, Heath Trudell and Emma Rucci about the present day appeal of this 200 year old work of romance. And in Granby, a beloved spot is serving up the most local food they can find. Something Special Cafe is the evolution of a catering company into more concrete digs, and we’ll speak with one of its two chefs, Laurie Bernier, about the shift to a brick and mortar eatery, and the importance of breakfast to the greater community.

Today is about gathering together and enjoying what the season has to give. For the United Way of Hampshire and Franklin Counties, that means gathering on a slope and tackling the powder at Berkshire east. Ski United is a multifaceted fundraiser for all that the organization does and we’ll chat with executive Director Geoff Naunheim, committee member John Ebbets about the power of community in winter. We’ll also bring folx together in Amherst in song. Calm and Candlelight is an event hosted by South Church in Amherst based on practices and chants in the style of the monks from Taizé, France and we’ll speak with Rev. Dr. Susan Cartmell and Director of Music Marilyn Brayne about the centering practice of communal singing especially in these out challenged times. And to get ready for the massive spectacle of the superb owl, Three generations of football loving Belmontes headed out this weekend to wish the pats a good journey and a good game in San Francisco, so we’ll eavesdrop as the torch of the new patriots correspondent of the past handing off to the one of the future.

Next Sunday, the Super Bowl pits the Patriots and Seahawks against each other. Perhaps even more important is that this year's halftime show will feature global superstar Bad Bunny. We speak with Clark University Professor Juan Pablo Rivera and NEPM News Editor Elizabeth Roman about the cultural significance of this occasion to the greater Hispanic community, and where you can delve even deeper into these ideas on Saturday at 33 Hawley in Northampton And next week in South Hadley, folx have a chance to get an inside glimpse into the rock world of the early 90’s. The Royal We is an intense new memoir from Faith no more and Imperial Teen member Roddy Bottum that looks at the assemblies of both bands, the scenes they came from, and the impact of his coming out towards the height of the AIDS crisis. We speak with the author before you can meet him in person at Odyssey Bookshop on Monday. Plus at Tip Top Wine Shop in Easthampton, Lauren Clark and Miranda Brown brave the cold weather and former soviet bloc to help us discover the native Georgian grape Saperavi for this week’s wine Thunderdome.

We encourage you to engage your programming chops with the Global Game Jam happening at Hampshire College. Game developers of all experience levels and ages will gather in Amherst to create games over the course of 48hrs, starting on Friday Jan. 30th, and being presented on Sunday Feb 1st. We speak with organizer Violet Henriques about the appeal of this sort of creation, and how to get involved. Then we’ll head off to Hatfield to one of the few estate wineries in the northeast who are keeping even their grapes local. Black Birch Vineyard truly leans into the fact that wine is a local farm product through their many vintages, and even in the ways they maintain their fields. Owners Michelle Kersbergen and Ian Modesto speak with us about bringing wine to western mass and some of the agricultural challenge such a venture presents. Plus our weekly chat with congressman Jim McGovern addresses the very dangerous situations in the US of increasing violent confrontations, not just ICE, and not just against elected officials, but on a global stage as well, and highlights the need for balance in the results of the upcoming midterm elections.

We head to Northampton where this year’s annual Ice Sculpting Event is taking on a contemplative tinge with the community coming together to celebrate the life of one of the artists whose absence will be felt among the produced work. Dave Rothstein was a lover of all things winter and especially where the cold season and art intersected and we’ll chat with Park Hill Orchard's Russel Braen and others about the beautiful legacy he left behind. Speaking of art on one’s own terms, we’ll also see how the DIY scene and local beloved venues are intersecting as well. Genderqueer noisepunk outfit Film And Gender are wrapping up an 8 date tour with a late night show at the Iron Horse, and we’ll talk about their new member, the intersection of community and politics, and the nuances of punk and diy scenes before you can see their electrifying set on Jan 31st. And Word Nerd Emily Brewster senior editor at Merriam Webster helps us navigate a little improvised vocabulary repair as we bring three very similar phrases concerning construction under our lexicographical microscope.

Today is all about learning. For those beginning life’s journey, we look at a local television show that’s given them a platform to challenge themselves and each other and bring the whole community together in the process. As Schools Match Wits is western Mass. grown and sustained, and has been highlighting the knowledge excellence of students in the area for 65 years. We’ll chat with executive producer Tony Dunne and host Beth Ward about the new documentary highlighting the show’s legacy in the region and beyond. Plus let you know how you can see the directors cut in a showing at our studios.And there’s also ways that all of us can learn to change the world. The Sojourner Truth School for Social Change Leadership offers free education classes to the public so that we all can learn how better to fight the good fight for ourselves and the world we’d like to see those changes in. We speak with board member and teacher Amihan Matias about the school’s founding and her upcoming class “And Still We Rise” which focuses on BIPOC women and genderqueer folx and discover more about shifts in the ways we frame leadership that can benefit everyone.

Today amidst the snow, we give you two places in where you can learn new ways to interact with art in ways you may not have beforeFor instance, it's not often that you get a chance to hear certain Bach works on the instruments that he originally composed them for. A new recording seeks to remedy that with modern sensibilities. The Bach Dialogues joins keyboardist of many tempers Christopher O'Riley with cellist Matt Haimovich to pair a viola di gamba with a clavichord to get as close to the original sounds of the works as possible and we speak with the pianist and former NPR host about the collaboration and interpretation. And in Greenfield, a film festival is putting the cameras in the hands of the people. Greenfield Community Television brings back its annual film festival for a sixth year, challenging filmmakers to see just how fast creativity can move.Lights! Camera! Greenfield!, the two-week film sprint and festival, kicks off on February 9th, and we speak with GCTV station manager Bella Levavi about last year's films and how they can help you to make your own.

Today is all about preparation, because we don’t know if you heard, but rumor has it that snow is a’comin’.So we bend the ear of local weather enthusiast Dave Hayes the Weather nut, to find out what this storm might entail, how much snow we’re expecting, and other meteorological phenomena that may descend upon us over the next few days. Plus we get to show you a new way to get his updates!Live music Friday brings the beat heads to bear as Unagi joins us in studio. The Dj, beatmaker and producer has created collaborations across the US, although his roots are right here in Western Mass and we’ll hear what the crowds are in store for at his show at JJ’s Tavern in Florence on Saturday Night. And the Wine Thunderdome returns to its origins and the soil as we head to the basement of State Street Fruit Store Deli Wine and Spirits to explore two red blends from the Americas with high elevations and nuanced terroirs.

Today is a bit chilly.Especially in Westfield where the community is coming together to support a local organization by jumping into incredibly cold water. The Amelia Park Children’s Museum’s Penguin Plunge happens this Saturday at Hampton Pond State Park, raising funds for the operation and growth of the facility, of which we get a tour from director Diane Chambers to see why folx are freezin’ for a reason. It’s also in the songs inspired by the growing of the light. On a Winter’s Night is a concert that brings 4 acclaimed songwriters together on one stage at the Hope Center for the Arts this evening, one of which will join us in Studio. Patty Larkin has been making insightful gossamer folk through 14 albums and myriad collaborations throughout her career and makes a stop with us for a rare Live Music Thursday. And our weekly chat with congressman Jim McGovern covers his constant concern about the operations of ICE, the ongoing Greenland debaucle, the president at Davos, and the importance of standing up and getting into good trouble right now

It is all about clean starts in this new year. In the case of education, that means sources of connection that can create long-lasting change in the lives and evolution of young students. Vilenti Tulloch is a local educator who not only is CEO of Academic Leadership Association, but has recently published a book about that work titled Engage to Excel: Building Trust, Belonging, and Success in the Middle School Years, and we’ll speak with him about the book and its respective release event this weekend at White Lion, and about the importance of those formative Middle School years. Then we’ll clean up our diets with healthy local food from our favorite local farms. Nourish Wellness Cafe has spent the past decade serving healthy local vegetarian and vegan creations to the community of western mass and this year sees them expand with a new location in the Eastworks building. We’ll talk with owner Casey Flaherty and partner Kyle Steinberg about moving into a new market and the importance of organic and local food to them and the area. And lastly we’ll clean up our language a bit as we speak with Word Nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam-Webster about a tricky quirk of the English language that involves adjectival phrases, possession, and contractions.

It’s cold. And after a full weekend of snowfall we can’t help but think of our neighbors in the winter who are facing heat insecuritySo we’ll chat with newly minted Ex. Dir of Community Action Pioneer Valley, Lev Ben Ezra, about their Eat up for Heat up fundraiser, which has a full week of local restaurants donating to the Claire Higgins Fund for Community Resilience. We hear more about who’s participating, the ongoing need in the face of unstable federal support and more. We’ll also have a look at the broader reach of American history from a whole other continent. Clark University Professor Ousmane Power-Greene joins us from Liberia to talk about the connections of the pioneer valley to the cross oceanic migrations that helped found the nation, and recent efforts to preserve, restore, and broadcast more of that history for an intercontinental edition of the Power of History. And is a galaxy naked without stars? Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College’s Salman Hameed talks with us about the first ever instance of a galaxy found without stellar trappings, and about an important shift in the trekkie-verse in an exploration of its latest show, Starfleet Academy.

A full weekend indeed. There’s a brand new theater company bringing a much lauded play to Easthampton for their first production ever. Heartbeat Theater will perform the nuanced exploration of family, insight, and mental illness to the stage of CitySpace and we’ll talk with actor Kimberly Gaughan and director Jason Rose-Langston about both performance and process.We’ll also meet the president of our friendly local Ice Hockey team just a few blocks from our studio. The Springfield Thunderbirds are the latest in a long line of AHL hockey teams to call western Mass. home and we’ll sit with President Nate Costa to hear how the team and organization does much more than score goals to engage with and create community including a MLK Jr. Day matinee game this Monday.And Live Music Friday brings in a Boston group who have been honing their sound through under grad, to graduate school and now across New England and beyond. Almost Olive’s core songwriting duo of Jacqui Armbruster and Karl Henry make music that remains folx based, but sonicly agnostic and we’ll give you a taste of what they’ll perform tonight in North Adams at Studio 9.

Today, we celebrate the struggles of the past and present and top it off with art, because art is why we endure. Let’s make a sandwich of it and start with the struggle of the past, because it is Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s actual birthday today, and the rights he pursued in his life loom large right now. Starting today, there’s a whole week of activities happening throughout the city to honor those ideals he pursued. We’ll speak with MLK Family Services president Shannon Rudder about this long lasting celebration. Then we’ll head to Amherst where we’re putting cameras in the imagination of our littles at the Eric Carle Museum. Saturday sees the official opening of the exhibit Click, which looks at the ways photography has been used in children’s books for over 100 years. We’ll explore this new exhibit and learn about their amazing film festival for bigger and littler kids with curation staffer Isabel Ruiz Cano.And our first McGoverning of 2026 with congressman Jim McGovern only has a few topics to cover, like the enduring overreach of the executive Branch, especially with regards to ICE, and what options that leaves his branch of legislature, the mounting pressures of Venezuela, Iran, and Greenland, his crusade against hunger and more.

Today is about laughter, and changes in language, and how the history of each is important to us as a nation as well. We’ve got one last best of word list for 2025 to address before we can fully commit ourselves to 2026 with word nerd Emily Brewster, as we look at the most democratic nomination and choosings of the American Dialect Society. At Smith College, a history professor is offering a course this year that is part examination, part exploration, and part memoir. Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor is teaching a class on the work of her father, titled "Richard Pryor’s America", which looks at his life, innovations, influence, and her memories with him. The course precedes an forthcoming book that tackles the same. We speak with the historian and author about her personal journey to teaching this class, and the repercussions of that voyage intersecting with a certain notorious and important word.