The Fabulous 413

We’re exploring innovations, and traditions, and some places where the two overlap. In Westfield, an incredibly prolific local artist has just had his exhibit extended. It seems that there is practically no medium that Don Blanton does not engage with, from sculpture, to painting, to graphite and ink, and even poetry, and currently a wide array of his work is on display at Westfield on Weekends. We get a tour with the artist and president Bob Plasse, and learn how you can celebrate with them as the exhibit comes to a close, and talk about the intersection of America's past with African history in Blanton's creations.We also get to hear the sounds of the eastern Steppes. Alash is a trio of renowned Tuvan artists bringing the amazing techniques and sounds of their culture worldwide who’ll be performing at the Iron Horse on Sunday April 5th. Live Music Friday sees their vocal finesse and traditions fill our studios And we got word of a new style of decanter that allows even more enjoyment of what your vintages have to offer. We speak with creator Michael Fors about his Liquid Jazz Experience and get a chance to the innovation this week’s thunderdome.

We’re highlighting an event that takes all we do on this show and condenses it into a day of learning, sharing, and expansion on the UMass Campus. Art for the Common Good is a full day convention at the Fine Arts Center that is bringing together artists, healthcare practitioners, policymakers, researchers and community leaders from across Massachusetts to look at the connections between art and our well being as humans.We speak with Drs. Jean King and Tasha Golden, as well as Jamilla Deria, director of the Fine Arts Center, and Betsy Cracco, assistant vice chancellor for Campus Life and Wellbeing and co-Chair of the Okanagan Wellbeing Collective on Campus about the ways in which arts and creativity can support healing, build stronger communitiesAnd although congress is currently on break, Rep. Jim McGovern still finds time to chat with us about DHS bill that did not fund ICE, birthright citizenship, a short civics lesson about the letter of the constitution and procedures that are currently either under fire or being shirked, plus the places in his constituency that he’s been visiting in this downtime.

No joke, we are building a better future through skill and laughterRight here in our own building the NEPM Media Lab spring cohort has just wrapped up their projects, which spanned from working with reporters at Mass Live, to interviewing their peers at schools in the area, and more. NEPM's director of education, Ismary Santiago-Lugo and education program coordinator Donyel Le’Noir Felton reveal more about the students of this session, and cohort members Enrique and Jahlyssa explain their insights and experiences as their time with us comes to a closeAnd laughter is some of the best medicine around, and it’s at the core of an upcoming fundraiser for the Northampton Center for the Arts. Revelry at 33 is an incredible affair featuring music, art, an auction, tasty delights, and this year, stand up comedy. We talk with the two performers who’ll take the stage to ensure art is available to everyone: beloved local figure Kelsey Flynn, and Rhymes with Orange cartoonist Hilary Price as well as NCA co-director Kelly Silliman to discover more about the communal nature of comedy, and the importance of having community performance spaces like 33 Hawley.

“Alienated Tongues” is the theme of this year’s Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival (MMFF) which kicks off tomorrow at Amherst Cinema and will run every Wednesday in April. We are joined by MMFF guest program curator Ayanna Dozier, a Brooklyn-based filmmaker and assistant professor of communications at UMass Amherst, to hear about her vision for centering women directors for this festival, and how her non-film work has added to the history and legacy of Janet Jackson.Then we’re off to the hills of Colrain to visit the largest brewery in town yet one of the smallest breweries in New England to talk to Justin and Katie Korby from Stoneman Brewery. We meet up with Jennifer Core, executive director of CISA, traverse a dirt road, a covered bridge, and visit the microbrewery to learn about how they became the first in the country to create a community supported agriculture (CSA) beer share.

Today’s show is one big love fest.Big Love Little Performances is the area’s only karaoke and lip sync fundraiser, and it's happening April 2 at The Iron Horse in Northampton to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County. We talk with two long-time ‘bigs,’ Bob Lowry and Jack Petrides, about the impact of mentorship on both the littles and on the bigs. We also talk with the creators of the event,Tara Brewster of Greenfield Savings Bank and Ann Walsh of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County.We show some big love to valley-based Transhealth, the only independent, non-profit healthcare organization in the nation devoted solely to serving trans and gender-diverse communities. We meet CEO Jo Erwin and hear what they are up to in anticipation of the Trans Day of Visibility tomorrow and the challenges they face from the federal government as they try to provide gender-affirming care here in western Massachusetts.And, astronomy lover Mr. Universe, Salman Hameed of Hampshire College and Kainaat Studios, tells us what might interfere with the love of star gazing as a corporation plans to launch thousands of mirrors into space that will impact our dark skies at night.

The Back Porch Festival descends upon Northampton with 60 artists in American Roots music across a dozen venues, and The Fabulous 413 broadcasts live from The Iron Horse on to kick things off. For an extra special Live Music Friday, we’re joined by musical guests Willie Carlile, bringing us Queer Country out of Kansas; Olive Klug, singer-songwriter storyteller from Portland, Oregon; Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars who are bringing sounds from New Orleans; and old-timey bluegrass Celtic jazz sounds from our local heroes, The Faux Paws.We are also joined by the founder of the festival, Jim Olsen, who’s been the host of the Back Porch Radio Show for decades.

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.