The Fabulous 413

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.