The Fabulous 413

We start with the creative talents of our many interwoven communities. Not a Noplace is a nomadic QTBIPOC focused open mic series inspired by a line from a Lucille Clifton poem. The events are a whole body experience, holding space and spotlights for marginalized voices and artistry in our area, and we’ll speak with organizer Camille Asia about their next occasion on Dec. 6th. We'll also hear the dreamy bedroom pop of the globetrotting Jeanines who get to join their western Mass and Brooklyn components in our studios for Live Music Friday before you can hear them at The Drake in Amherst tonight, and celebrate their recently released album “How Can It Last”. Plus as the days dwindle the time for bubbles is upon us, so we head to Provisions’ new home in Thornes Marketplace to sample sparkling wines in the Tina Turner Memorial Wine Thunderdome with Benson Hyde and Toni deLuca, and learn more about how you can sample the bubbly at their upcoming Champagne tasting.

We’re seeing our landscapes change through art. In Northampton a new work looks at the way the railroad has changed the city over the past century through music, historical archives, and theater. Rhythm and Rails will be performed at the Forbes Library this Saturday and is indicative of the multimedia, multi-disciplinary work that Red Skies Music Ensemble puts together. Creative director Trudy Williams and members of the cast help us explore the ties of the Railroad to our time. We’ll also head out to Easthampton where a building full of artists are opening their doors to show the public what arts they are doing behind them this Dec 6, 7, and 13th. The Cottage St. Studios Open Studios only happens twice a year, so we join artist-art therapist Arielle Jessop-Humpage and bookbinder Lisa Hersey, two artists who’ll be participating, for a tour of the 5 floored facility and a sample of what beautiful works you might see this and next weekend. Plus our weekly chat with congressman Jim McGovern recaps the 43 miles walked last week for the food bank, the possible weaponization of SNAP against blue leaning states, war crimes in Venezuela and listener questions as well.

Today it is an incredibly overstuffed Live Music Wednesday, complete with icons and holidays and spectacle galore Americana legend Tony Trischka joins us ahead of his show tonight at the Iron Horse in Northampton. The renaissance banjo player has performed with Bela Fleck, Peter Rowan, Darol Anger, and way too many other notables to count, not to mention the bands and ensembles he’s led or been a part of, or the newer generation of players that have grown up listening to his incredibly versatile style, and we’ll get to chat with him about his career, latest album, and the joys of creating tonight's holiday spectacular. Then in Franklin County, the holidays are bringing the Franklin County Community Chorus together, under the direction of much beloved music director Paul Calcari, for a beautifully eclectic Holiday Concert this Sunday, Dec. 7th. We’ll hear a selection from a number of the chorus members, and hear about the appeal of making a more timeless program that you can see at this show on Sunday. And Word Nerd Emily Brewster, senior Editor at Merriam Webster runs ragged into a particularity of English that native speakers take for granted as we look at the ending -ed and the many ways and wheres that we pronounce it.

We head to Sunderland where a show that has become both timeless and indicative of ours is about to get on its feet for a cause. The radio play version of the timeless holiday tale “It’s A Wonderful Life” harnesses all of the goodwill of the movie, but lets your imagination roam. The mission driven theater company Valley Players will put on their version of this work over the next two weekends, complete with onstage sound effects, raising money for our neighbors: Wayfinders. We’ll talk with president Matteo Pangallo, director Chris Rohmann, John Bidwell of Wayfinders to talk about the collaboration and get hands on demonstrations of the wicked cool atmosphere of sounds that’ll be created by foley artist Chip Roughton about putting this production together. Perfect for Giving Tuesday! And we’ll head to Chicopee to see the evolution of a 117 year old family farm as it continues to bring fresh produce to the area in ways many don’t get a chance to see. McKinstry Farms and Market Garden may no longer be on its eponymous street, but the current generation has recently bloomed into a new market, a new greenhouse, a snack shack and ice cream and more. We’ll get a tour of the new facilities and talk with Nicole, Will, and Warren McKinstry about moving this family operation into the future.

We’re walking again, but this time at the end there’s a hot beverage and more awareness about issues and programs concerning domestic abuse in our area. This Sunday the 22nd Hot Chocolate Run for Safe Passage happens bringing literal thousands of folx to downtown Northampton to walk or run for their cause. We speak with executive director Marianne Winters and development director Natalie Ulrich about the scope of the organization, the goal for this years event, and how you can help them reach it. We’ll also hear how the federal cuts earlier this year brought folx together to create a whole new organization hoping to strengthen the ties and infrastructure of the area’s foodways. Resilient Valley is starting an ambitious campaign tomorrow on Giving Tuesday, and we’ll talk with members of their team about how land trusts, food banks, community health advocates and others are combining their powers to build an even better network. And Mr. Universe, Salman Hameed sits us down for a heart to heart about the facts of life and where planets come from, or at least how planetary discs help planets get born. Note: We mention the incorrect website for Safe Passage within this show, it is correctly linked within these show notes.

It’s day 3 of the March for the food Bank. But you, say, wasn’t it just the past two days? Isn’t that enough marching? The thing about it is that the march has never ventured west into the last county that the Food Bank supports…. UNTIL NOW. We’ll share how the very first Berkshires Mini march sounded from its start at Hot Plate Brewing to 3 locations all helping the nearly 30% of Pittsfield residents that are food insecure: The Dream Center, Mercado de Vida, and the Pittsfield Community Food Pantry, each with very different ways that they serve the people of the west-most part of the state. We’ll hear stories of the folx they see day in and day out, how the Food Bank aids their daily work, and more. Then we’ll hear from the Governor, who joined Monte for a second time on the march for the food bank. Maura Healey talks about the difficulties states are facing in light of the recent SNAP pauses and more and how hunger fits into the well-being of the state and its citizens, and how it affects some of the other issues currently on her docket. Plus we’ll hear yesterday’s totals from the March to End Hunger's end in Greenfield and tell you two places where you don’t have to walk to support the Food Bank with two musically driven events in Northampton happening tonight and Friday.

Today we hear the conclusion of walking for 3 days across 4 counties and 46 miles to raise awareness of hunger and food insecurity in western Mass as the 16th March for the Food Bank is in the midst of its longest leg, 26 miles from Hampshire into Franklin County. We’ll hear from many of the folx walking along the way including Food Bank Ex. Director Andrew Morehouse, State Reps Homar Gomez, Lindsay Sabadosa, and Mindy Domb, State Senator Jo Comerford, DA David Sullivan, hear about the agricultural side of this issue from CISA’s Ex Dir Jennifer Core and Farmer Ben Clark, while visiting more of the almost 200 food pantries and meal sites that the Food Bank of Western Mass supports day in and out including the Amherst Survival center and the unlikely hub of food insecurity that is UMass. Plus a check in with the man dressed as Fred Rogers himself, Monte Belmonte as he and others push two empty shopping carts north to Greenfield.

Today on the fabulous 413, the 16th March for The Food Bank of Western Mass. begins, and we follow the journeys of Monte Belmonte, and those who seek to help our community members facing hunger and food insecurity. We’ll take on two counties today, walking from Springfield, through Chicopee, Holyoke, Easthampton, and finally Northampton to raise awareness and hear stories; not just about those trying to make sure our neighbors are fed, but about what repercussions the recent issues concerning snap have inflicted on folx in our area. We’ll hear from US Reps Jim McGovern and Richie Neal, Ex. Director Andrew Morehouse, State Reps Pat Duffy, Jake Oliveira, and Shirley B. Arriaga, mayors and marchers and more in addition to meeting folx in some of the food banks that count themselves among the 199 that the food bank supports across the 4 counties, as they push two empty shopping carts 17 miles north to raise awareness about the ongoing fight against hunger. And of course, as check in with the man dressed as Ernie from Sesame St himself.

NEPM’s Hunger Awareness week gets an endcap, with a tasty music sandwich, where the filling is birds. It starts at the Berkshire Botanical Garden, where the watercolor paintings of Robin Crofut-Brittingham’s new book, The Illuminated Book of Birds are currently on display through the end of the month. We speak with the author/artist about her work and her event at the exhibit on Nov. 29th Then we head to Holyoke to meet with the most beloved octegenarian chorus in the world. The Young at Heart Chorus is performing a concert this Sunday, Nov. 23 at the Academy of Music comprised entirely of protest songs of many flavors. We speak with co-musical director Bob Cilman and several of the performers about the ongoing need for songs that question the state of the world, and the ones that'll show up in their "10 Alarm Fire: We Won't Shut Up" program. And for Live Music Friday, LuxDeluxe are making their post Thanksgiving show at the Iron Horse in Northampton a tradition, but this year are turning the concert into a benefit for the Food Bank of Western Mass. We’ll get a taste of the good times to be had with them on November 28th.

NEPM’s Hunger Awareness week continues, and today our weekly conversation with Congressman Jim McGovern dials in on food insecurity. McGovern is one of the strongest anti-hunger advocates in Congress and today we’ll hear how fighting hunger used to be a bipartisan issue. And why and when that changed. We’ll separate fact from fiction when it comes to some of the narratives surrounding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. And hear about his involvement in the 16th annual March for The Food Bank. While times may be tough and getting tougher for those who are hungry in this country, the US is a great place to be ultra-wealthy. Chuck Collins, the former heir to the Oscar Meyer fortune, has a new book called Burned by Billionaires: How Concentrated Wealth and Power are Ruining Our Lives and Planet. We’ll talk to the author about how billionaires may be impacting your everyday life more than you know. Chuck will be at the Odyssey in South Hadley tonight. And speaking of bookshops, dozens of them will descend on Northampton this weekend at the Northampton Antiquarian Book, Ephemera, and Book Arts Fair. We’ll talk rare editions, book bindings, and how this book fair is helping a local library with the book fair founder Mark Brumberg.

As NEPM’s Hunger Awareness Week continues, we head to another newer pantry just up the road from us here in Springfield. Born Free Food Pantry was birthed from a need in Six Corners to give access to the community to food and services that generally aren’t as easily available. We speak with founders Charlie Holmes and Terrence Lee, and other volunteers about feeding the people’s needs through faith and more. We also have an extra rare Live Music Wednesday with Jude Roberts, who we last saw as part of The Mammals. He’s got songs all his own, and a beautiful take on catchy folk in his latest album "The Olive and the Vine”, and we’ll give you a preview before you can see them for yourself at the Dream Away Lodge in Becket. Plus word Nerd Emily Brewster senior editor at Merriam Webster helps to explain the letters we don’t say and why as we explore the origins of silent letters in english words, and the historical occasions on which we sometimes say them.

Hunger awareness week continues here at NEPM, so, we’ll take you into one of the newest of the 199 organizations that the Food Bank of Western Mass works with in Western Mass at The Brick House in Turners Falls. Executive director Tom Taffe brings us into his small-but-mighty food pantry and tells us about the innovative new collaborative anti-hunger effort that several organizations in Montague have formed to fight hunger together We’ll head to Chesterfield to a small but incredibly diverse farm that is no stranger to the workings of both Snap and HIP as they affect both the people who need their services and the farmers supplying the produce for those programs. Rachel and Tevis Roberston-Goldberg, who show us the incredible array of things they produce at Crabapple Farm from livestock, to houseplants, to produce and more, and the effect that federal and state programs have on us all. A new play at CitySpace in Easthampton about the fateful accident that paralyzed soul legend Teddy Pendegrass and scandalized his career opens Nov 21 & 22. The Night We Rode takes a new approach to looking at the event and we’ll speak with playwright Mercedes Loving-Manley and the man playing Teddy, Springfield’s own Terrell James Jones about humanizing the people involved, and the things left behind in getting a new play on it's feet.

It’s Hunger Awareness Week here at NEPM and that means all week we’ll be talking with folx involved with the fight against hunger, the proverbial boots on the ground here in Western Mass. We start at the top, with the head of the organization for which Monte will march next week, executive director for the Food Bank of Western Mass Andrew Morehouse. We’ll hear about the ways that inflation and reduced government outlets have affected their abilities to service the area’s 199 food pantries, and the increase in demand that’s occurred this year. Plus we’ll get into the newest leg for the march for the food bank, the Berkshire’s Mini March. Right next to the issue of hunger is that of housing insecurity. Bittersweet Lane is a new book that is a magical mix of memoir and hard looks at policy regarding public housing and the effect and issues surrounding the lack of housing in the Nation. We speak with the author Jamie Madden about his ongoing work on this subject, his thoughts on recent efforts regarding affordable housing and more before he reads at a launch event at Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley on Tuesday, November 18th.

Today on the fabulous 413, we’ll visit the subterranean home of a legacy Western Mass business that is about the change hands. Turn It Up CDs and more took over a basement in Northampton 30 years ago and the owners, Patrick Pezzati and Chandra Hancock are now turning over the keys to one of their longtime employees, Carson Arnold, who starting shopping at Turn It Up when he was 10 years old. We’ll hear about how a store selling physical media has managed to weather 3 decades of digital incursion. And if you were looking for a fun way to support The March for The Food Bank coming up in just over a week and don't want to walk any part of 43 miles, maybe pop into State St. Fruit Store or Coopers in Northampton where you can make a donation that will land you with a goody bag filled with wine and more. And in the Thunderdome, we’ll taste some indigenous Eastern Block grapes with our wine snob friends at State Street And it’s Live Music Friday, we welcome back Gina Coleman and Diego Mongue from the Berkshire-based Misty Blues Band who bring their well rooted blues at De La Luz Soundstage in Holyoke tonight

We’re going from coast to coast in a new book from Alex Wertz. On Loop is an examination of the collision of sound, politics, racism, and culture in Oakland, CA and explores the trajectory of influence they have had on the evolution of the city. We speak with the author before you have a chance to hear more about his writing and experiences at a book launch party this Tuesday, Nov 18 at 33 Hawley in Northampton. And in Amherst, we’re taking our own bodies to extreme to help support others. The CWC Chilly Challenge will bring people together to support the daily work of the Center for Women and Community this Saturday, Nov. 15th. We speak with Director of Programming and Development, Kathie Cravelli about the daunting prospect of dunking yourself in very cold water, as well as the services they provide beyond the campus of UMass. And the Government has just gotten back in session after the longest shut down in the nation’s history, but congressman Jim McGovern has many thoughts about that process and what it’s done to his party, plus the possible penalization of the bay state for its actions paying for the SNAP deficit, the albatross of the Epstein files and more.

Just because we’re old doesn’t mean we don’t wanna have fun. The Toy Box in Amherst wants to encourage you in that train of thought. This Thursday, November 13th, sees the store hosting it’s third “So You Think You’re Too Old For a Toy Store” event for those 21+ who may have gotten out of touch with their more playful sides. We head to the amusement stomping grounds to play with toys ourselves and hear what’s changed for year three of getting older folx to come be playful in their space with owner Liz Rosenberg. Plus at the Hope Center for the Arts, a pillar of Latin Jazz and more comes to play in Springfield this Friday. Arturo Sandoval has thrilled audiences around the world with a sound that is both technically dazzling and deeply expressive, earning multiple Grammy Awards, an Emmy, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He joins us to talk about his beginnings in Cuba, learning under Dizzy Gillespie, and key lessons for us all about creating and enjoying music, including at his show on November 14th. And word Nerd Emily Brewster helps us understand the difference between the lines we use grammatically as we pit hyphens, N-dashes, and M-dashes against each other in a SYNTAX THUNDERDOME, as we also examine how AI is confusing and conflating the three.

It’s veteran’s day, a holiday started after the end of world war I, the current evolution of Armistice Day has grown to encompass and honor those who’ve served in all of the conflicts since. But the change in the way those wars get waged in the following century has left more of a mark on both the way we approach military theaters, and those that enter them to fight. We chat with the director Catie Foertsch and executive producer Cptn. Tommy Furlong of “What I Want You to Know” a documentary that interviews combat veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts that have plagued this millenia about their expectations, experiences, and outcomes, before you have two opportunities to see this film in Great Barrington and Northampton this coming Saturday. We’ll also head to a tiny corner of Western Mass that sorta isn’t Springfield to see how a neighborhood CDC is helping more produce to be produced. Wellspring Cooperative took a quarter acre of ungrowable land, and built a greenhouse on top of it that’s bringing herbs and lettuces to the four counties and we’ll speak with Fred Rose and Farm manager Clive about what happens at Wellspring Harvest.

Today we examine the connective tissue of faith and culture. In Florence this Thursday a panel of musicians will come together to explore the ways sound and spirituality converge. Yearnings is a concert bringing together singers of several spiritual walks to look at the ways those beliefs sound and how the music of faith brings us all together. We’ll talk with the show’s creator Joey Baron, as well as its music director Kevin Sharpe about the collaborations that fuel the event. It’s Jewish Book month, and to celebrate, we’ll look at two new children’s books: one about a trailblazer for the Supreme Court, and one about the history of the celebration itself. What Louis Brandeis knows tells the history of the first jewish Justice, from his beginnings in Kentucky to the court cases that paved the way to his seat in the highest court and Fanny’s BIg Idea shows Jewish Book week’s origins in the Boston library system. We’ll speak to the author of both books, Richard Michelson about writing history for young folx and what other tomes you can celebrate the month with. Plus Mr. Universe Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College’s Salman Hameed and plugs pop culture into the skies as we explore a great many connections including to the comet 3I/ATLAS.

We’re finding new ways to learn, and helping those new ways to thrive. We head up to Greenfield to the Center School, whose innovative approach to making well-rounded and adjusted small humans has become a literal institution in the area. And as we get a tour of their new building with some of the staff and teachers there, we’ll hear about the change that inter-generational, integrated classrooms can have, and how a new fundraising campaign hopes to help them continue their educative work long into the future. We’ll also chat with multi-disciplinary artist and podcaster East Forest, who’ll perform at the Hope Center for the Arts this Saturday. We’ll hear how he links music to film and perhaps also to psychedelics, and the connections of various types he seeks to create in sound, and what spectacles will arrive in Springfield on November 8th. And at Tip Top Wine Shop in Easthampton, Lauren Clark and Miranda Brown take us to France for a Thunderdome that becomes a lesson about cork bleed and cork taint that is important for anyone who likes to imbibe.

We express ourselves and local history, and at the center of that venn diagram in Amherst, is hats So we head to the town to see how its millinery legacy is being honored and explored in 9 locations in an exhibit titled Hats. Anika Lopes of Ancestral Bridges shows us, through a number of the displays in businesses, museums and more, how the millinery industry of Amherst is tied to the black community, the educational legacy, and the cultural heritage of the people who’ve lived there. And even the film industry, as we chat with costumer Mona May, who in conjunction with the exhibit is coming to speak at Amherst Cinema this Monday to discuss the hats and her work in costuming along with a 30th anniversary showing of Clueless. And after a momentous election Tuesday this week, congressman Jim McGovern shares his thoughts on the results, the effects of the ongoing shutdown now in week 6 and whether there’s an end in sight, and his preparations for the upcoming March for the Food Bank.