The Fabulous 413

20 years ago today the nation watched as Hurricane Katrina broke the levees and lay feet of water and devastation on the wards of New Orleans, destroying infrastructure, communities, and lives. And today on the Fab 413, we’ll speak with one person displaced by the hurricane happened to land in Ashfield and make themselves a little ubiquitous. Nan Parati has been making signs for businesses, events, and festivals for 4 decades, but when Katrina left her stranded in the Northeast, she built herself into Ashfield’s cultural and culinary landscape by opening Elmer’s Now it’s the Elmer’s building, and that restaurant is in new hands, so we’ll sit with Nan on this anniversary to get the Full story of amazing coincidences, and to meet the new folx helming a new cafe in the now legendary Elmer’s Space. We’ll also hear the melange of sounds that permeate the music of Clarinetist, bandleader, and composer Kinan Azmeh for Live Music Friday, and learn about woodwinds in his native Syria, and the importance of music to a changing world before you can see him perform with his ensemble City band tomorrow night at Antenna Cloud Farm. Plus ACF Founder Michi Wiancko speaks about what it’s like to play with Kinan in the Silk Road Ensemble, where they are both members.

Healthcare is a fraught issue in the US let alone the region. And there’s a local organization that’s been providing care for a wide variety of avenues to some of the most vulnerable populations across the 4 counties. Tapestry Health has been a force in the 413 for 50 years and has just undergone a few leadership changes. We speak their new Chair of the Board Brad Riley about their current services, and some of the challenges that Tapestry faces in light of the current administration. We’ll also hear how you can help them be around for another 50 years with their upcoming fundraiser The Walk For Every body. NEPM reporter and engineer extraordinaire Phil Bishop explores one of the peskier species that you might be hearing and seeing more of: The Spotted Lantern Fly. MDAR’s Jennifer Foreman Orth explains the true impact of the insect, and what you can do to mitigate its invasion And Congressman Jim McGovern speaks on the lessons he’s learned from his farm tour, yesterday’s tragic school shooting in Minnesota, listener questions on Gaza, the national guard in DC, the Epstein Files and more.

Every year, the congressman for the 2nd congressional district comes to to area for a whirlwind meeting with farmers, agricultural advocates, and other legislators, and members of his staff at various farms across his district. We tag along with US. Representative Jim McGovern at the second stop of his 15 location, 2 day Farm Tour up in Ashfield at Foxtrot Farm. and get to see firsthand how they’re transforming a former hay field into verdant and resilient farmland. Farm manager Abby Ferla tells us more about some of the farm’s practices and procedures including pick your own and their CSA, and how the uncertainty of our current grant structure is affecting the decisions they have to make right now. Then Word Nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam-Webster escalates down the hill to talk about contradictory phrases and uses of words that are far more than meets the eye and that all seem to have something to do with falling or rising... And as it’s Wednesday and traditionally that was the day we nerd out about things, we’ll bring back a quick Nerdwatch to explore the sudden uptick in the Isekai genre, and games that'll maintain that summer feeling way into the colder months.

We’re trying our best to get around, and a recent survey of folx in the area show that they’re having problems with that too. The People and Transportation Project report looks at the ways that folx in the 4 counties are and aren’t getting around, and the hardships they face getting from point A to Point which can have bigger repercussions in many other facets of daily life. We head next door to Wayfinders to chat with President Keith Fairey and the Rich Parr Mass Inc Polling Group who worked together to take this snapshot of what moving around in Hampden and Hampshire counties really looks like, and how it impacts jobs, schools, health and more. And we’ll see one couple’s agricultural dreams made reality in Bernardston, where two one-time academic researchers left their Boston labs to get their hands in the soil at Coyote Hill Farm. Ervin and Gloria Meluleni give us a grand tour of the land they cleared themselves and work organically, full of innovations and lessons from the land they’ve learned over the past few decades, including stumbling accidentally into a CSA.

We have a cure for your Mondays. It’s music! Music is the cure! And a new venue that we just saw last month is getting ready to launch right into a new concert series. The Hope Center for the Arts in Springfield is reviving its days as the City Center and is announcing its inaugural 25/26 Season of performances, and we’ll chat with Isaac Eddy, Lorenzo Gaines, and Kyle Homestead about the line-up. In Northampton, they’re encouraging you to make your own music. The Northampton Community Music Center is hosting an Instrument Petting Zoo tomorrow, inviting all walks and ages of folx to their building to test out new ways of making sound. Vocalist, bassist, current Digital co-ordinator and former student of the center Indë Francis lets us test out some of the instruments that’ll be available to the public for the event. Plus, resident Astronomer Mr. Universe, Salman Hameed, gives us even more information about how the platform he leads, Kainaat Studios, is leaning even further into getting all those folx to engage with the lunar eclipse.

With Arts funding being cut everywhere, the places that are finding it in their hearts and wallets to support the creative communities around them are even more important. And today we’ll talk with Zoe Fielding of City Space about their efforts to do just that. The Pay It Forward Grant recipients have just been announced, and we’ll speak with them about the 10 folx bringing their work to the Easthampton stage over the next few months, as we explore how the landscape for arts patronage is changing. We’ll also talk with the first of those recipients coming to the Blue Room’s stage: Chestina Thrower, and learn from the UMass student about their quartet that will accompany them, and what this residency means to the growth of their work and catalog. Also, it’s time for another Power of History segment with professor Ousmane Power-Greene, where we’ll hear about Elizabeth Mumbet Freeman Day and where you can celebrate it, along with how her case became the proverbial straw on slavery’s back in the Bay State.

Metal, wood, fire, a fire lizard, and whales! Sort of. The salamander, which is often translated to fire lizard is the squirmy looking influence behind many congressional districts across the country and gerrymandering looks like it is about to become all the rage for both Republicans and Democrats. And it just so happens that one of the nation’s experts in the history of gerrymandering lives right here in the 413. We welcome back to the show Haydenville’s David Daley to help us navigate through the circuitous political meanderings of rigging elections through redistricting. For wood and fire, we’ll head to Wales, Massachusetts where Nipmuc Community organizations have gathered to create a Mishoon in unique collaboration with Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary.. Since the 15th, they've opened this ceremony and tradition to the public so that folx might come and see the ways the first peoples of this land live and thrive. We’ll hear about the importance of this practice in the past and to the present with the people who have inhabited these lands for millennia The metal is in Millers Falls, where The Heavy Music Campout RPM Fest returns to Montage next weekend and we’ll bang our heads with festival founder Brian Westbrook and hear what new sounds this year has in store for us all, earplugs at the ready.

Folk and americana musicians are all headed for the woods as the Arcadia Folk Festival hits year seven as a plethora of artists over two days headed to North and Easthampton from Red Baraat to Josh Ritter, and more And to talk with us about the sanctuary that will soon be filled with more than the sounds of songbirds is director of Connecticut River Valley Wildlife Sanctuaries for Mass Audubon Jonah Keane, and we’ll explore not just his favorites of who is performing this weekend, but also the synergy between the festival and the conservation space and the ways the event has continued its dedication to being environmentally friendly. We’ll also hear from someone whose emotional outlet became beacon for many. Diane DiMassa author of the comic Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist, is seeing a new anthology of her work released and chats with us about some of the origins of the comic and the ways it continues to resonate with the queer community and beyond before you can meet her in person at Mass Moca’s R & D Bookstore August 21st. And word nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam-Webster brings us along to ask language why it’s named things incorrectly as we take a look at some common English misnomers.

We’re continuing to highlight local traditions, and here at the very height of the harvest season, for Franklin county, that means the Harvest Supper which is celebrating it’s 20th year this weekend. We’ll chat with Stone Soup Cafe’s Kirsten Levitt, who helms the affair to chat about it’s origins with Juanita Nelson, the important place the event has in the community and the Cafe’s calendars, and the joys of bringing everyone together to celebrate the bounty of the county We’ll also head to Great Barrington where a tradition is currently being grown. The Queer Cinema Club seeks to bring known and hidden screen gems of the LGBTQIA2S+ community to the Triplex Cinema for showings to foster more connection in and around the the Berkshires, and we’ll chat with Ben Eliot, Champika Fernando, and Michelle Kaplan about what you can watch this week. And in Feeding Hills young beef farmer has spent 35 years doing the very best for his herd, including adding a small breakfast and lunch spot for those on the go. Autumn Mist Farm has supplied beef to local outlets in the area, and we’ll chat with founder Derrick Turnbull about his tenure in the cattle industry, and the hardships this year has presented.

Look who’s back from vacation! (It’s us!) And look at who else is about to have their vacation end! Your Kids! But going back to fun arts programming can take some of the sting off of that, and there’s a summer send off that helps to make sure those programs happen while also bringing the local music community together. Transformance 35 happens tomorrow, with a new list of covers being performed by local musicians. We'll speak with one of the organizers of the event, Northampton Arts Council s Steve Sanderson about the event and this year’s theme: “Immigrant Song”, and hear from one of the bands performing at tomorrow’s massive festivities: Big Yellow Taxi, and learn what continues to appeal about the songs of Canadian Joni Mitchell Plus Mr. Universe: Salman Hameed talks about how Kainaat Studios is encouraging millions of folx to watch the next lunar eclipse, and a planet near-ish to us we should pay attention to in Alpha Centauri, and the astronomical themes in a Josh Ritter song you might hear this weekend at the Arcadia Folk Festival.

It feels only right considering how much music we’ve filled this week with, that we go out with More music. So we’ll revisit the celebrations of our compatriots in community radio arms for Live Music Friday. Kalliope Jones began as a group of IMA students, but has grown a lot over the past decade and they’ll visit the studios before you can catch them at the Valley Free Radio Birthday Party And out in North Adams a new way to see and engage with music has just arrived. The Freshgrass Institute is a new endeavor providing workshops, residency programs, fellowships, and commissions to support artists. We’ll meet its director Sue Killam We’ll also hear from one of the folx who’s not only playing at the Freshgrass Institute this weekend, but who’ll be one of the folx taking stage in a few weeks at Northampton’s Transformance 35: Friend of the show, and fellow Kate Bush enthusiast Ciara Fragale. And just around the corner at Mass MoCA, an innovative creator with a unique approach to comedy will perform. We’ll talk to Julio Torres about his inspirations, and more before the laughter begins at his stand up this evening.

If you’re listening to us, you probably already believe in the power of community radio And today on the Fabulous 413, we’ll honor another station that’s rooted in the Asparagus Valley and is celebrating a milestone this weekend. Valley Free Radio began broadcasting 20 years ago and will celebrate this weekend with a birthday party, and we’ll speak with Board Members Betsy Lancto and Ed Malachowski about the important place they maintain on the airwaves And the new season for Antenna Cloud Farm launches this weekend, with innovative virtuosos from all over the globe coming to perform and create among the idyllic hills of Gill. We’ll hear about the performances you can see all month with founder Michi Wiancko, and get a taste of the pair you can catch this very weekend, Duo Yumeno Plus Congressman Jim McGovern gets way into a Massachusetts innovation that is now plaguing the nation: Gerrymandering and its possible effects on the legislative branch, the undying issue of Epstein, and more

Wow there’s a lot of music going on in western Mass, and we can’t get enough so we’ll tell you about another festival happening this weekend in Florence Etchings is the project of the area’s own ECCE Ensemble, who were also eager to get their ears on new work by composers of all walks. And we’ll talk with Cassandra Holden of Bombyx, and festival and ensemble founder John Aylward about the things you’ll hear over the next 3 days, and the winding road the festival took to land in Western Mass. We’ll also dig into one of nature’s most portable snacks, smack dab in the middle of the four counties. Blue Heaven Blueberries has been growing their bounty over 3 generations and a little over 60 years, and we’ll meet Donna and Joe Pease who’ve currently tend the acres of bushes in Middlefield Plus word nerd Emily Brewster, Senior Editor at Merriam Webster takes a pause from her drudge to explore the fun of collective nouns and the ways we have cataloged them through the centuries.

85 years ago Serge koussevitzky started a tradition at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s home away from home on the Lenox Stockbridge line, that has become a herald of the Summer for music lovers everywhere. Tanglewood on Parade happens today, And though it began as the “Allied Relief Fund Benefit.”, it’s now a fundraiser for all of the learning that is done at the BSO’s summer home, bringing activities for folx of all ages, and performances by every ensemble on the campus all day long So today , we head to the Berkshires to get a snapshot of the festivities that always end with canon fire from the 1812 overture and fireworks. We’ll speak with Maestros Thomas Wilkins and Na’Zir McFadden about their respective tenures with the institution and the work they’ll be leading in tonight's concert, hear performances from concertmaster Nathan Cole, and Principle Flutist Lorna McGhee, plus hear what happens beyond the music for the community with Senior director for Patron Outreach Amy Aldrich, and hear from each one about the incredible location and comradery that Tanglewood builds.

We're focusing on the amazing 01002 today. (That is the zip code for the People’s Republic of Amherst) Amherst has a lot going on. We’ll take a walk in Wildwood Cemetery where former Amherst resident, artist Matt Mitchell, has a brand new sculpture about to be unveiled. Along with cemetery director Rebebba Fricke and groundskeeper Silas Ball we talk with all three about bringing sculptures to surround the sepulchers, and how this place of contemplation was meant to be of conservation as well. Not far from that resting place at Amherst Cinema, their silver screen is filled with the sounds of music, and important pieces of music history on celluloid. We’ll talk with George Myers, the curator of the movie series Sound and Vision, which brings musical stories of all types into the spotlight, about the cinema’s Kurosawa film series and how his other film venture, Vision Video, is doing bringing film in physical media form back to the Valley. And from a kitchen table in Amherst we head to the stars with Mr. Universe. Amherst astronomer Salman Hameed, of Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College, gives us the scoop on what’s happening with Betelgeuse. Here's a hint, it's gonna be explosive.

We’re learning history through our bodies, and arts and culture everywhere. The twelfth annual Pocumtuck Homelands Festival happens this weekend in Great Falls, honoring the many peoples who have stewarded and called these lands home for millennia with dance, song, vendors who are masters of their craft and more. We’ll chat with Kitty Hendrick Miller of the Mashpee-Wampanoag peoples, about the place events like this have in educating the public, and her ties to Public Media And at Jacob’s Pillow Festival, an innovative blend of afro- and afro-latin social dance has just premiered. Urban Love Suite is a look at movement through the styles of the diaspora from the earliest stolen peoples to the partnered dances of today, and we’ll speak with the artistic force behind the work Sekou McMiller, as well as dramaturg (and associate curator AND scholar in residence to the festival itself) Melanie George, about the core of the work and the process of bringing it to the Ted Shawn Stage. And the Tina Turner Wine Thunderdome checks unique wines and mission of one label. Stolpman Vineyards with Mary and Ben Daire at Dare Bottleshop and Provisions in Lenox. Plus we'll learn about an event they're curating at Tanglewood as well: Tasting Notes on August 16th.

We’ve got a bunch of current issues we’re tackling, some on stage, some in the houses of law. Two professors at Bard Microcollege in Holyoke are producing a theatrical work that dovetails with their teachings tidily. BELLY is a work that condenses a decade of research on black motherhood, and reproductive autonomy into an experience of music, dance, and spoken word, while stretching those findings through the the transatlantic slave trade to the friendships and families of today. We speak with writer/producer Haile Eshe Cole and assistant producer Nicole Young Martin about the choreopoem itself and the ties to their academic lives in Holyoke, including a dissertation pivot. We also explore the lack of space for newer theater works, and the importance of recognizing cultural importance amdist universal experience. And our weekly conversation with congressman Jim McGovern interrupts his congressional break to talk about the famine and ongoing issues in Gaza, questions about the Epstein files, the ever looming storm of impact the budget cuts will have to Energy initiatives and snap and more. Oh, and what he’s planning to do with the rest of that downtime. Seeing as he’s on vacation and all, sorta.

We’re reminding you that Africa is not a single country, so stop treating it like that. In fact there’s an opportunity coming up for you to learn more about and interact with the culture of several of the nations that make up the continent in Springfield. The African Community Festival happens August 9 celebrating people of the african diaspora and their many cultures. We’ll speak with organizers Naefia Padi, Emmanuel Owusu, and Doreen Dawes about the music, food, festivities, and community action that will happen at the event. We’ll also head to Westfield where their local farmers market has become a volunteer fueled labor of community. Market Manager Lisa Zlody, and volunteers Sarah Adams, and Priest Sandy Albim show us the many flavors of the current market in it’s current location, the impact of Hip and snap, and the coalition of folx coming together to make sure their neighbors are getting healthy produce. And with word nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam Webster, we swallow an orchard's worth of other fruits that English didn’t have terms for to specifically look at how apples came to be associated with laryngal protrubances. Which is to say we look at the term Adams apple.

This weekend, visual art isn’t the only type of art that you can see in the halls and galleries at Mass MoCA, as a 40 year musical collective known for expanding the definition of ensemble, vocal, and solo music commandeers the museum to push those boundaries in sound further. Today on the Fabulous 413, we head to North Adams, to get a sneak peek at Bang on a Can’s Loud Weekend, where the fellows who’ve been participating in their summer workshop, and fellow collaborators from around the globe gather to delve into the notes of “New Music” and perform them throughout the space, permeating the museum with performances. We’ll hear from Bang on a Can co-founders David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Michael Gordon about this year’s lineup, the nuances of composing music together, and sit in on a rehearsal of a work that's an example of that collaboration that will close out the festival: Shelter And we’ll meet Jason Treuting who joins the line-up with his ensemble So Percussion, and hear about how the beat can be a breakthrough to new innovations in instrumental music. Plus we'll hear a live solo performance from him in an excerpt of his work Amid The Noise

Over the course of this show, we’ve made many mentions of how important local agriculture is, and how crucial local involvement with that agriculture is. One of the best ways we as consumers can make that happen is through the implementation of CSAs: Community Supported Agriculture and the Farm Share model. So today we visit a farm in Great Barrington that was one of the first to start what you generally see as the CSA model today. Indian Line Farm was agricultural land through most of the 20th century, but in the 80’s it switched from Dairy to Produce and started towards what can be found on its grounds today. We head to its current grounds to speak farmer Elizabeth Keen, as well as Dan Carr of Berkshire Agricultural Ventures about the the farm’s history, present, and future. Our local astronomer, Mr. Universe, Salman Hameed of Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College shows us space’s influence on more terrestrial organisms including a moth that uses the milky way to navigate its migration in Australia. Also, we reflect on the legacy and impact of the late Tom Lehrer.