The Fabulous 413

Having access to instruments and making music has been a big part of our lives.And today on The Fabulous 413 we’ll talk to a Berkshire-based organization that has created not just an ensemble program that creates social change through music, but is creating and supporting families all over western Mass. We’ll introduce you to the President and CEO of 18 Degrees Family Services Stephanie Steed who will tell us all about their Kids 4 Harmony program which removes the barriers to opportunities in music and beyond, and about celebrating their work and that of other care-taking organizations at an event at Westfield State University on Sept 17th. . For Live Music Friday, we bring to the studio the man who created both an 11-string archguitar and the Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra: Peter Blanchette. His partnership with Irish singer Éilís Kennedy is the basis for a concert at Bombyx in Florence next weekend and we'll geek out over his instrument, her beautiful voice, and the way their collaboration has blossomed over the course of their 20yr friendship. And have you ever tried wines from the Canary Islands? Neither have we. But that’s just what we’ll do as the Tina Turner Memorial Wine Thunderdome returns to State Street Fruit Store Deli Wines and Spirits in Northampton

Way back in April we talked with folx at City Space about their Pay It Forward Grant Program and now 10 lucky recipients are embarking on transformative artistic journeys through their space in Easthampton. We speak with artist who is kicking off that performance series: Deja Carr, who you may know better as musician Mal Devisa. We’ll find out what is going into her night of curated performances titled: “Never a Stranger to Home”, including a talk-back with artist Michael Hanson (aka Father Hotep), and hear from program manager Zoe Fieldman about some of the other artists that make up this years cohort of grant recipients. We’ll also discover how the English language has been ruthlessly truncated. Which is to say that our alphabet used to be a little longer a mere couple centuries ago. Word Nerd Emily Brewster, Senior Editor at Merriam Webster helps us to explore the sounds and ancient origins of the alphabet’s missing letter, and perhaps the reason we abandoned it to the throes of punctuation.Plus our weekly chat with US. Representative Jim McGovern is wholly debatable. Which is to say he too was watching the confrontation between Trump and Harris this past Tuesday and definitely has insightful takeaways to share, and not just about the Taylor Swift stinger.

We’re exploring new connections with ourselves, each other, the land, and our creative sparkSo we head to the hub of a new exhibit that has threads not just all over the valley, but halfway across the country as well. Exorcism equals Liberation is the title segment of a three part multi-disciplinary exhibit that takes a look at discourse, colonialism, and our inextricable ties to both. We’ll speak with the artist behind the work, Yanira Castro, as well as Kathy Couch from APE Gallery about the many landscapes that inspired the work, the myriad places and ways you can experience it including a dinner at the gallery, and the importance of coming together in real space to converse about the predominantly digital work. We’ll also head to Amherst where tonight the Old 97s will take to the stage at the Drake. The band has put out their 13th album, which just so happens to coincide with the 30th anniversary of their very first album, and we chat with lead singer and guitarist Rhett Miller about the drive of this new LP, all of his geeky passions, and the pains and pleasures of growing into their name. And last night many of us gathered to watch what might the only presidential debate we’ll get between these two candidates at White Lion in Amherst. We’ll hear from many of the folx who joined us why that evening was important to witness, and how they thought it went.

Today, we’re exploring possibilities, because everything is possible, even if we don’t know it yet. It’s the central idea at the core of New York Times bestselling author and Amherst resident Angela DiTerlizzi’s book that has launched a whole series: "The Magical Yet." Along with discovering the breadth of her catalog, and hearing how one of her books ended up in cereal boxes, we learn more about encouraging practice and patience in people of all ages, the recurrence of rhyme, and what those inquisitive minds might encounter after her latest book, "The Curious Why."The community theater in Monte's backyard has just gotten massively zhuzhed up with a mural by Darion Fleming, but it was a whole process to get from Idea to the paint on a wall that will get finalized this week. We check out the work in progress alongside Britt Ruhe of Commonwealth Murals, Linda Tardif, director of the Shea Theater, Suzanne Lomanto of River Culture, Town Planner of Turners Falls Maureen Pollack, along with the artist himself and explore the process of bringing the public’s consensus about what a mural in their town should look like, to the final product that will be unveiled this weekend. And we’d be remiss if we as two giant nerds of differing varieties didn’t talk about the legacy lost with the passing of actor James Earl Jones yesterday at 93, so we’ll recount our favorites, and how much of an impact beyond his voice the man has had on us and more.

Today is about empowermentIt happens when two organizations come together in order to let someone out there name a quasi moon. But what is a quasi moon, and why are we letting the public name it? We’ll talk with Latif Nasser of WNYC’s Radiolab, and Kelly Blumenthal of the International Astronomical Union, as well as Mr. Universe, Hampshire College and Kainaat Studios' Salman Hameed about what quasi moons are, how Radiolab got to name one already, and how everyone is working together to let one lucky person name earth’s own version. Plus next week the 3rd annual Climate Change and farming week begins and we get a glimpse of the many ways and interactions you can have with farmers, educators, state officials and more with Kathy Wicks, UMass Amherst Director of Sustainability for UMass Dining Auxilary and Stephen Taranto, climate program manager as CISA. And all that talking about farms is bound to make you hungry, so we’ll speak with Jillian Duclous of the Downtown Northampton Association (DNA, and get ready for the puns 'cause they're coming) about the return of the Taste of Northampton, also in its third year of this particular iteration. We chat with her about resurrecting the beloved festival, who’ll be feeding hordes of hungry samplers, and how her organization is helping build a robust economical ecosystem.

It's a double Live Music Friday kinda day! We’ll hear live music from the Happy Valley Guitar Quartet: A small section of the large guitar ensemble performs for us before their fundraiser in Shelburne Falls this weekend. Orchestra members Emmett Troxel, Charlie Salzberg, Dave Fried, and Amy Lashley bring their 6-string and 4-strings by for a performance, and maybe reveal the secrets and challenges of getting their extra big sound to fit on a small scale. Plus Dar Williams pays a visit to the studios. Dar has for the second year in a row helped to organize the River Roads Festival at Millside Park in Easthampton, which is a benefit for the Connecticut River Conservancy and their upcoming Source to Sea Cleanup. Dar will tells us about the partnership, perhaps wax poetic about her early music days in the valley, let us know what’s new at the festival and play us a couple of songs, some of which you might hear in her headlining set Sept 7th. Then we’ll Wine Thunderdome with our Franklin County Wine Friend Ken Washburn at the Leverett Village Co-op where we’ll taste California Cabernets, and leave our prejudices out of the glass. And get into one of Ken's latest accomplishments: becoming a ranked birder in Franklin County.

You may have noticed that we really like hanging out with folx who grow stuff. As they are the people who feed us, and since we also love food, it’s just a pairing that works really well. So today we’ll spend some time with an organization of folx who want you to grow stuff too, and maybe even grow it better. In South Hadley at Full Circle Gardens, Sharon Farmer, Marjorie Gerard, and JoAnne Palmer of the Western Massachusetts Master Gardener’s Association are fostering a slew of plants, and gearing up for their internship program, which is now taking applications. We'll discover how their branch of our state’s weirdly unique spot in the national network of organizations is doing it’s part to tackle hunger and climate change We also check out a new family orchard in Wilbraham that brings far more than just fruit to the people. Brook Fernandes of Fern Valley Farms joins us to chat about all things apple, agrotourism, and the multitude of pots their plans have taken root in, including movie nights, a concert series, and even pancake breakfasts! She's joined by one of the new voices from CISA we'll be hearing in Phil Korman's wake: Claire Morenon. CISA itself has a couple of farm tours coming up where you, too, can meet your local farmers, just like we do!Plus our weekly chat with Representative Jim McGovern sees the congressman feeling a bit of election and debate fever as both of those loom large, and addressing listener questions about Palestine on his journey to grow better legislature.

We’re rebuilding landscapes and crossing borders and timelines, but never streamsIn order to avoid paradoxes, we’ll meet up with Rangers Susan Ashman and Kelly Fellner, and Researcher and PhD candidate Jessica Scott at the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, where they’ll hold Workers Weekend. The event is meant to highlight both the impact of the location as one of only two federal armories in the nation, as well as the industrial innovations beyond firearms that the site helped to create. We find ties to our young nation, as well as ways we all can access their records for connections to family geneologies and much more. We’re also exploring art that casts a wide net across the Atlantic to Northampton. Younes Rahmoun is a Moroccan artist who has just installed a massive and sprawling body of work at Smith College, and not just in their Art museum. We head to the campus to catch the artist alongside curators Emma Chubb and Tiffany Bradley to explore the many ways this multi-materialed, multi-faceted portfolio connects not just different departments of the college, but our humanity as well . Plus Word Nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam Webster, elongates our vocabulary with super long words that you can’t use in scrabble because there is neither enough pieces nor board space, but d\ you can impress your friends with it (although it is probably not the one you’re thinking of, since that one only has 28 letters).

A song, a dance, and a dip in the riverAnother someone we know has just completed traversing the whole Connecticut River, but this time, astride a bicycle. We’ll talk with Reporter Ben James about the in-between moments of recording his journey for NEPM and several other New England news outlets, and introduce him to someone else who has taken the same journey but through a different medium: Kari Kastango, who finished swimming the river late last year. And we’ll introduce you to Baye and Asa, who have landed at the Adams Theater as part of their incubator program. Amadi Washington and Sam Pratt, the creative team who make up the company, chat with us about the importance of spaces encouraging art that breaks the mold, the inherent challenges of their medium, and the many evolutions of their thought provoking work, including one they’ll perform Saturday night in the Berkshires, "Second Seed".Plus we're celebrating new songs in particular. Singer-songwriter Jeffrey Foucault is releasing his first new album in 6 years this Friday and celebrating with a show at the Iron Horse. He and his guitar will join us for a quick live music Tuesday to hear selections from "The Universal Fire" and about some of the finishing touches others have helped put on the tracks you can hear in Northampton on Sept. 6th.

Nothing but entertainment for your Friday. Singer songwriter Johnny Irion joins us for Live Music Friday. His latest album, “Sleeping Soldiers of Love,” just came out earlier this month, so we’ll hear a bit about his musical journeys, including a collaboration with one of the Wilcos: Pat Sansone, find out what’s fun about that playing at the Red Lion Inn, where he’ll be August 31st, and how he’s gearing up for a tour with Son Volt next year.And we’re giving ourselves all the feels, including a good fright. Greenfield Garden Cinema has just announced a 25 movie 5 week marathon of Stephen King movies leading up to the spooky season. So we’ll talk with Isaac Mass, one of the owners of the theater not just about the amazingly frightening and visceral promotional campaign they’ve had for the event, but about the many other offerings they’ve been able to bring to Franklin County.Plus, we’ll get a beverage in there too. Lauren Clark and Miranda Brown at Tip Top Wine Shop in Easthampton have us pit two field blends against each other in today’s Tina Turner memorial thunderdome. Each attempting to make way more out of doing less in their wine making process.

Today, we’re exploring the subliminal stuff that’s there when you think it’s not. Take John Cage’s 4’33”, which was first performed 72 years ago today. It’s a work that is seemingly nothing, but contains a whole lot more. And now there’s a picture book so you can explore the silence with your little ones. We’ll talk with Northampton author Nicholas Day about his book Nothing, and the neat ways to talk about incredible advances in modern music in the simplest of terms It’s also in the archive of Frida Kahlo’s photographs. Only recently found and containing thousands of photos of the artist herself, her family, loves, and interests, the collection paints a new picture of her work and life. Springfield Museums will have a few hundred of these photos on view through next week, which coincides with their 2nd annual Latino Art Festival, so we head down the street to get a peek into the private collection of one of the 20th century’s most prolific artists with Curatorial Assistant Sophie Combs and chair of Mi Museo Lydia Martinez Alvarez about the intersecting power of those two events. Plus our weekly chat with Congressman Jim McGovern covers quite a bit of both subtle and obvious ground with his farm tour, political figures switching sides, ongoing Israeli Palestine conflicts, and persisting rise of covid cases as students head back to campuses in Western Mass and beyond.

Today has a little glimpse of the many stories our neighbors have to tell usStarting with the Hampshire County Food Policy Council, who have been collecting stories from some of the folx in our neighborhoods who are experiencing food insecurity. From those interviews, they have created an audio archive that highlights the challenges and intersections of the struggles of folx across the 20 towns and cities of Hampshire County. Kristen Whitmore, Alexandra Mello, and Iohann Rashi Vega, . We’ll hear some of the stories they have collected, learn about how those stories may translate into real change in the commonwealth, and find out how you too can share these stories now that their exhibit at Forbes Library has closed.Alice Parker, celebrated songwriter and Hilltown community member who passed away at the age of 98 at her home in Hawley last year, left a legacy of over 500 compositions, some of which will be performed in Charlemont this weekend through the concert series she helped to create. We’ll talk with Alice’s daughter Molly Pyle (STAY Skall) Stejskal and Alice’s neighbor and friend, Tinky Weisblat both of whom will be on stage to honor her memory as a part of the concert. Plus Word Nerd Emily Brewster, resident wordster and senior editor at Merriam-Webster, will gin up an answer to Kyle from Pittsfield’s question about the etymology of “gin up” and see if or how it might be related to the word "djinn."

Ever since the very beginning of this show, there’s one person who we’ve seen the three H counties of western Mass. with just about every week. And despite bringing them along on this ride from my previous radio life, this person has managed to broaden all of our ideas of who, what, where, and how agriculture happens in Western Massachusetts. His name is Phil Korman and this is his last week as executive director of CISA or Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture. So today on The Fabulous 413 we’re giving Phil a well-deserved sendoff as he embarks on his next big adventure. We’ll hear from Mike Wisseman of Mike’s Maze and Warner Farm about what his time during Phil’s early years at the organization were like and the changes he's seen on and off its board. As well as from Kat Chang of Reed Farm who’s newly been appointed to CISA’s board about Phil’s influence and leadership on the organization now and how the board's relationship with him and his position are evolving. We’ll tag along with Phil as he accompanies Congressman Jim McGovern on his yearly Farm Tour for the final time to a stop at Amherst Nurseries in Hadley, where we'll meet and hear from the man himself about the impact the last 16 years have had on him.

Today we learn the things we've always wanted to, but weren't sure of the channels to do it with. Including a thing we talk about a lot: Music! The parlor room collective has just announced a Fall workshop series of classes offering tons of opportunities for newbies and veterans alike to come together and build more music. We’ll talk with Executive Director Chris Freeman, and Leo Harrison, Parlor Room Collective Programming co-ordinator about this expansion of offerings, many of which are specifically BIPOC and LGBTQIA2+, and the importance of giving everyone access to art. Plus it’s time to look at the skies again! Arunah Hill is an organization that brings dark skies events to areas so people can see more of the heavens. This weekend in Cummington, they’ve got two nights of activities planned for those who want a better look at the stars, and we’ll chat with Jenny Powers of the Springfield Science Museum and amatuer astronomer Ed Faits about how much more you can see when the lights go out, and the extra fun things they've got planned to do during the daytime too. And our resident astronomer, Mr Universe, Hampshire College’s Salman Hameed, is ironically not watching the stars today, but screens and walls and stages. He got to experience an artist talk at Mass MoCA, so we’ll hear his take about Osman Khan’s recent exhibit "Road to Hybridabad", which you can also see in North Adams.

The Arcadia Folk Festival kicks off today. Two days of un-amplified fun times celebrating both the great outdoors. So we’ll chat with Jonah Keane , CT River Valley Sanctuaries Director at Mass Audubon, about the Arcadia Sanctuary and the many things it does when it’s not hosting a giant festival, and hear music from some of the folx playing tonight’s Paul Simon tribute and tomorrow at the festival: Heather Maloney, Pamela Means, and Isabella DeHerdt and Isaac Eliot of High Tea. And speaking of festivals, the DNC has just finished a four-day run in Chicago, but we sent 413 cameras to cover the events happening there, and hear from folx of the commonwealth and beyond who attended the convention. We’ll talk with photojournalist Barry Goldstein about what he’s seen and heard over the past three days covering the convention for the NEPM series Unprecedented and find out from his experience at both the RNC and the DNC if we are really as divided as it seems

Today is a heaping helping of hometown heroes of stage, screen, and governanceWe’ll head to the Berkshires to talk with Colrain native Elizabeth Perkins, and hear all about how western mass played a part in her love of acting, and get a glimpse of what it was like to film the movie Big before you can ask your questions of the actor herself after a screening of that very movie at the Triplex in Great Barrington on Saturday. We're also going backstage with music that still looms large on the local scene. The band FAT has left a lasting legacy on the Pioneer Valley, and we’ll hear from one of the folx that helped that legacy to endure: Peter Newland. In addition to hearing some of his music, we’ll find out about what sustains their sound in the area, and what is in store for their upcoming show with NRBQ this weekend at the Academy of Music in Northampton. And Congressman McGovern is at the DNC this week. We’ll hear his highlights so far from the event, what he’s looking forward to on his upcoming farm tour next week, and a heartfelt reminiscing of his time with CISA’s Phil Korman who retires next week.

Today, we're traversing Franklin county to nourish the body and spirit. Lake Pleasant started as a summer retreat for like minded and curious spiritualists, and has grown into a quiet but resilient community while retaining some truly unique locations. We’ll visit their sites and hear their history as they get ready for their 150th commemoration festivities this Saturday with Mary Bordeaux and David James, two residents of the areaPlus we head across the bridge to Greenfield to Stone Soup Cafe who’ll host their Harvest Supper on August 24th. This annual event has become a tradition for Franklin County, and we talk with Board director Whitney Robbins and Executive Director and Chef Kirsten Levitt about how the idea to just feed the people with no strings right in the downtown commons came about, and what new things folx can engage with at this years dinnerAlso word nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam Webster, is igniting a pursuit for clarity between the words flammable and inflammable that may just be flammatory.

Today, we're awakening to some truths the plants in our lives can tell us about. We’ll head around the corner to Jen’s Organics where Jenell Smith is bringing a more public face to her ongoing journey of flavorful veganism in Mason Square. We’ll find out what inspired her change of habit, and the challenges she’s facing in her new brick and mortar endeavor, and the many delicious surprises that have happened along the way. .We then turn our attention to the plants and soil, and the people who tend them, who have been getting very very sick under our very noses and see a documentary that outlines one man’s legal fight against a massive corporation just to get answers, and find out that his struggle is connected to all of us. The film is called Into The Weeds and takes both a micro and macro look at Monsanto, the avalanche of legal troubles they’ve encountered, and the product at the core of it’s troubles: RoundUp or Glyphosate.We talk with Carey Gillam, author of "The Monsanto Papers;" Jennifer Baishwal, director of the film itself, and Massachusetts State Representative Carmine Gentile, who is sponsoring a bill regulating pesticides in the Bay State, and who will be introducing the movie when it shows tonight at the Triplex in Great Barrington.

We're back from vacation and highlighting some folx in the area who are also leaving their respective chrysalises.In Northampton, those emergences are musicians taking on the guise of other artists they know and love to raise money for arts education in the city. For the past 34 years, the Northampton Council for the arts has been ending summer with a locally packed blow out concert at Look Park that specifically raises money for art programs in the city’s schools. We’ll speak with organizer Steve Sanderson, as well as local artists Ian St. George and Inde, both of whom willl be performing, about Performance 34: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, happening August 20th. More broadly, its in the literature that grows from not just widening one's perspective, but in being well fostered as well. The Straw Dog Writers Guild has just opened up applications for the Third Emerging Writer of Color Fellowship this past week, and we’ll chat with the Fellowship's founder, Nicole Young-Martin, and Regine Jackson, the most recent Fellow about the program, and how it broadens everyone's literary perspectives and in providing space and stipends for BIPOC women and gender expansive authors, address an oft overlooked issue for developing talent as they prepare for a virtual information session tomorrow night. And Mr. Universe, Hampshire College and Kainaat Studio’s Salman Hameed has just returned from convening in South Africa with a bevvy of other astronomers about the nature of science and more. We’ll hear about the International Astronomical Union, and what a giant pile of scientists have to say about Space this year.

We're about to go on vacation here at the show and it feels like we should start our pause with a bang. So for Live Music Friday we welcome the Greenfield-based synth-pop duo Homebody to the studio before their return to the Hatch Shell at Peskeomskut Park for their fifth free Homebody and friends show this Saturday. And ask them about the evolution of their sound and stage showin their 13+ years, and the wicked neat toys they've brought for a "stripped down" set of songs. Senior Editor Emily Brewster, our resident wordster, from Merriam-Webster in Springfield kindly digs into a request from Kaliis to explore the unicorn-like linguistic phenomena of hapax legomenaPlus the Tina Turner Memorial Wine Thunderdome returns to Provisions Longmeadow where, in Benson Hyde's absence, Bruce McAmis and Eric Rueli pit two very different, very-chillable, naturally fermented late-summer wines against each other, and against their fiercest competitor: cheese!

We’re blending the old with the new, musically and agriculturally! Sounds-wise, we’ll hear from renowned jazz guitarist Sheryl Bailey who is bringing her savvy touch and bop forward sensibilities to sit in with W. Mass’ own Green Street Trio. We’ll also find out from member of the trio Paul Arslanian what makes her style so compelling, and how their collaboration might sound this evening at their concert in Northampton We’ll also head over the mountains where a new cidery is meeting an old orchard and making a wonderful feast out of the whole affair. August 22nd is the date of the 4th annual cider maker’s dinner and we’ll hear from Kat Hand and Mike Brogan from Berkshire Cider Project, and Carrie Holland, CEO of Hancock Shaker Village about the spark behind this collaboration, the delicious things we can enjoy at the event, and some of the lessons the Shakers still have to impart on all of us. Plus our weekly chat with Congressman McGovern finds the representative discussing the democratic VP Pick, chatting with his constituents in Greenfield, the ongoing olympic medal winning magic in his district, and addressing a listener question about protecting democracy.

We’re learning skills to help the community through a near herculean amount of obstacles and circumstances We chat with Cathy Stanton, author of Food Margins which looks at the impetus, trials and tribulations of the Quabbin Harvest Food Co-op. This Saturday will see a celebration of the 10 years of collaboration between the institution with the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, so we sit with the author and co-op board member, as well as executive director at Mount Grace Emma Ellsworth, to chat about the storied history not just of the store, but of the food pathways for that region that make the co-ops appearance and survival so vitalWe're also joined by Kathleen Parks, one of the creative forces behind the band Twisted Pine and the duo Kat & Brad, but she’s got an incredible solo career as well, and a new album titled "Rolling Down the Line" coming out this week. So we bring the guitar, mandolin, 5 string fiddle player, and virtuostic singer into the studio to talk about the music she makes for herself before you can hear her in person in Lenox tonight. Plus we might have missed Mr. Universe on Monday, but that won’t keep Hampshire College and Kainaat Studios Salman Hameed from looking at the sky, and teaching us about the lunar tunnels that might be a viable alternative possibility for building structures for astronauts to reside in on the moon.

Sweet treats for the people!Which is exactly what we all can get at Flayvors of Cook Farm. 5 generations and 115 years in the cows are still coming home to their location in Hadley and we chat with generations 3 & 4, Debbie and Gordy Cook, about bringing ice cream into the equation, the virtues of their multiple prize winning herd, and how the times have changed lifting their cream to the top. It's in congregation as well. This weekend Springfield hosts the African Community Festival. The event celebrates the people, food, music, and culture of the African Continent and Afro-Caribbean diaspora, but is bringing much more than just that to Marshall Roy Park on August 10th. We chat with organizers Naefia Padi, Emmanuel Owusu, and Georgina Mensah of Unity Hearts Foundation, which is the organization that is helming the festivities, as well as Country Coordinators for Jamaica Doreen Dawes, Latoy McDowell, and Ali McDowell, and general coordinator Jammie Glen, and get to hear from their many voices the many ways in which this event enriches the community. And there's something sweet about the things you love being re-envisioned. Double Edge Theatre Ensemble member Tomantha Sylvester found herself cast as C-3PO for a brand new Ojibwe dub of "Star Wars: A New Hope." So of course we had to speak with her about the experience, how immersion in the language changed her view of the world, and why tools like these can be important to the preservation of our most endangered languages.

A whirlwind of information today. First up is Haydenville author David Daley, who arrives to talk about his latest book "Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections". The tome looks at pivotal cases that have lead to several recent decisions, including the undermining of the Voting Rights Act. With this election cycle being perhaps one of the most contentious in our lifetimes, many question the weight of ones vote, and we embark on a journey with the author to discover not just that the entire affair is more precipice than rabbit hole, but who the players moving this needle are and a bit of how they continue to do it. And this evening Amherst Cinemas will be showing the documentary “Common Ground”. The film takes a look at deteriorating soil health and ways to combat it, leaning heavily on the method of regenerative farming. So we’ll speak with Mary Johnson, Founder and CEO of the non-profit Regenerative Farms about how that process works and her organization’s global efforts to change agricultural practices. Plus we’ll bring in the listener who was so inspired by the film that they got us excited about it too.

We head out to Sheffield to sample the wares at Berkshire Mountain Distillers with founder Chris Weld and head distiller Will Wynn, look for the origins of our "love" of the game with Word Nerd Emily Brewster, and geek out for those of us who are unable to go to the ocean this weekend with beachy board games for Nerdwatch.

Today on the show, we're exploring the Americas. Yes, plural. There are two continents after all, connected by both peninsula and aspirations. And bringing traditions from south of us is Columbia's Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, stopping by our studios before performing at the Marigold Theater in Easthampton this evening. The group has been bringing the sounds of cumbia, gaita, and porro to life since 1940, creating an incredible legacy through several generations, while bridging the same on stages across the world. Crossing borders, we find another story that starts in El Salvador and ends with a 15+ year tenure at a restaurant in Hadley that has become an institution. We head to Alina's to chat with owners Maritza Amaya-Branche and Martin Amaya and discover how an injury and a trip to meet family has turned into a 30 year career, and how community has become an integral part of how they operate. And Congressman Jim McGovern has Olympic fever like the rest of us, especially with one of his constituents winning a bronze medal, but he's also tackling being sanctioned by China (!!!), contemplating the hullabaloo with the National Association of Black Journalists and the former president this week, and fielding a listener question about VP Kamala Harris' position on Palestine.

We accidentally get extra collegiate on the show today. Hampshire College's Salman Hameed talks about the possible answer to Bowie's decades old question: "Is there life on Mars?" Rocks have been collected that show possible signs of life, and Mr. Universe helps us to explore more deeply the methods and answers that we are still seeking to all of those questions. Clark University's Ousmane Power-Greene joins us to talk about the 19th century celebrations in Northampton of Britain's Emancipation Day. There's good abolitionist reasons for this, it turns out. And in addition to getting a glimpse of what some lucky fall semester students might learn from the professor in the coming semester, we discover that not all of the town's population was as eager to celebrate our former motherland's reckoning with the slave trade. And it was super dreary outside today, which makes those moments we get to go outside and enjoy the beauty there all the more important. There's a local organization that's made it their mission to make sure everyone of every ability can also enjoy the outdoors, through adaptive trails, techniques, and technology. We visit with friend of the show and ADA expert Christos Palames, and Karen Foster, executive director of All Out Adventures, to find out more of the ways they are helping the great outdoors be a place for everyone.

We head up to Mass MoCA to hear new sounds from explorative artists. For weeks a cohort of virtuosos have been incubating in North Adams and on August 1-3rd, the public will have a chance to hear some of the many pieces of music they've been working on. We hear members of Bang on a Can All Stars: Pianist Vicky Chow and cellist Nick Photinos, and hear from bang on a can and loud weekend founders Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe, about the appeal of opening ones ears, and the inspirations that can be found in the many halls of the museums campus, including from instruction itself.

We sit with Owen Elliot-Kugell, who has just written a memoir about her life, which inherently covers a good portion of her mother's life as well. "My Mama, Cass" taps family and friends of Cass Elliott, most famously known for her work with The Mamas & The Papas", and combines their knowledge with the memories and experiences of Elliot-Kugell for a well rounded look at both women's lives, and a deeper explanation of the book's 413 connections. And singer-songwriter M. Ward is taking stage at the Iron Horse this evening. September will see the release his newest album, "For Beginners: The best of M. Ward", and in addition to hearing some of those songs, we get to ask the man about boat videos, guitar tunings, and inspirations from dreams and more.

Everyone is going through some things. Today we hang out with some folks using music to help that process. And that starts with a 200+ member multi city chorus that will be embodying the music of Queen this weekend in a concert at the Academy of Music. Rock Voices started small but is clearly mightier now, and we talk with some of the members to hear how the group has helped them and the greater community to blossom in it's tenure. We then mosey down the road to the A.P.E. Gallery, where Marcia Gomes is showing a choreographed reading of her musical-in-progress: "Keep Your Heart Open". The work centers on a family of women working through generational trauma to help their youngest members, and we chat with the creator about the impetus for the work, and how serendipity and community are still helping to make it better. The imaginative neo-soul sounds of Madison McFerrin are headed to Greenfield for it's free concert series on Friday Night. So we speak with the third generation professional musician about making music in her extremely talented family, how she works within to tackle issues that arose because of and during the pandemic, and the importance of a well crafted, fully intentioned album.

We meet some of the folx behind THCC: The Heavy Culture Collective which is bringing more of the underground music scene together for both networking and finding new places to play. Jen Krassler of Flora and Fauna farm stops by to tell us about some exciting innovations happening at the Easthampton Farmers Market, which she manages, and Congressman Jim McGovern is a little hopeful. For reasons.

We're always interested in folx taking their work farther. Or is that further? Word Nerd Emily Brewster, Senior Editor at Merriam Webster launches us into a discussion about the origins and differences between the two words to see which one goes where. But theater is definitely being pushed further in Ashfield, where the immersive Summer Spectacle from Double Edge Theater is starting its sold out run (although you can put yourself on the waiting list if you would like!). "The Heron's Flight" is inspired by the grounds on which the troupe makes their home, and we talk with co-artistic directors Jennifer Johnson and Travis Coe about the ensemble's process, how the land affects the work inside and out, and the nature of myth. And music that pushes our ears farther is being performed in the Berkshires this weekend. The Festival of Contemporary Music runs July 25th -29th on the grounds at Tanglewood, and each day's program through the festival's run will include a different work of Grammy-award winning composer Steven Mackey. So of course we can't pass up a chance to sit with him to talk about teaching, his journey to "classical" music, and the moments in sound that can perk up one's ears.

It's nearly someone's birthday!So we head to the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home to celebrate the person responsible for making this area part of the BSO's year round performances: Serge Koussevitzky. Live from the Tanglewood grounds we speak with Bridget Carr, Director of Archives and Digital Collections at the BSO about the maestro's history, with Anthony Fogg, VP of Artistic Planning about the specific activities happening this weekend in Koussevitzky's honor, and hear a bit of one of the maestro's double bass compositions from BSO principal double bassist Edwin Barker, accompanied by pianist Debbie Emery and on Koussevitzky's very own bass.

We love music around here. And it's about the time that Amherst Cinemas launches into its summer series Sound & Vision, which looks at music through a cinematic lens. We speak with George Myers who does programming for the theater about the films that are coming to Hampshire County each wednesday through September, and hear how seeing the many perspectives and genres on screen can open up our perception of the music we love. Maestro Thomas Wilkins, who in addition to being the artistic advisor to the BSO is principal conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Chair of Conducting at Indiana University, and so so much more. Each summer finds him in the Berkshires helming a few carefully crafted programs for folx of all ages, and instructing the conductors of the future in their craft. We get a chance to talk with him about his unlikely origins, diversifying the field, and how orchestras can be used to build community. And we got another suggestion for Pizza Quest, so volume IX of our journey takes us to the hilltown of Ashfield where we try out Country Pie with a large swath of the Belmonte family.

Chris Pureka joins us for Live Music Friday just before their show at the Egremont Barn tonight, Barry Goldstein lets us in on what he learned in this past week covering the RNC for NEPM's series "Red in a Blue State", and the Tina Turner Memorial Wine Thunderdome reads the signs on the horizon to see that it's gonna be good grilling weather, so Table & Vine Ambassador Michael Quinlan busts out some Rhone-inspired California reds that'll go great with whatever hits your barby.

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.