One man’s percussive crusade to bring peace and connect cultures through his own is making a stop in Florence next week. Award winning Taiko player Takumi Sato is performing with his three sons in an ensemble called Peaceful Forest at Bombyx on July 21st, and we’ll speak with the family and Abby Kingsman of Mountain River Taiko about the upcoming show and his dream to play 1000 taiko shows throughout all 50 states. 

We’ll then head to Holyoke where for 50 years, Jericho, Center for exceptional children and adults has been making community for all, regardless of disability or personage. This Wednesday July 22nd they’ll host their annual Golf Tournament Fundraiser, so we take a tour of their 37 acre property with director Marie McCourt while summer camp is in session to hear about their history, and the resources they hope more folx come to take advantage of. 

And we end our wine drought by heading to one of our favorite spots in the Berkshires to hang out with Mary and Ben Daire at Dare Bottleshop and Provisions in Lenox where they bring back one of our favorite games, the blind taste with refreshing summer whites from unsung grapes.

We head to Greenfield where the Second Congregational Church is launching a brand new music series allowing music of all sorts to grace the halls of their sanctuary. We speak with the primary organizer of this new endeavor, Director of Music Mike Pfitzer, and their first concert’s headliner, intrepid singer songwriter Gillian Grogan about starting this program and the sounds you may hear along the way

In Ludlow, a family farm has been bringing produce to western Mass for 80 years. Randall’s Farm is a name we’ve heard from many of the other farms we’ve visited over the years and with good reason, their well stocked farm store has been an important pivot providing local produce to folx in the area, and a great source for quality local ice cream. We speak with the third generation at the operation’s helm Karen Randall, about the history and importance of their farm store. 

And congressman for the 2nd district Jim McGovern doubles down on his stance regarding ICE especially after their deadly altercations in Maine and Texas, explores the murky business of budget reconciliation, highlights the importance of the vacuum left with the dissolution of DOGE and more. 

Today we’ve got three ways that you can immerse yourself across western Massachusetts and in a wide array of mediums as well. 

In Great Barrington, they are once again encouraging the kids with cameras to share their films with all of us. TriFest International Film Festival returns highlighting the movies made by folx under 25 and giving them big screens for us all to watch. Year two is bringing exponential growth to the festival and we speak with founder Nicki Wilson about the event’s expansion.

On Saturday, folx’ll have the opportunity to really engage with the history of the town through a new work of theater. Common is a tale told through immersive audio giving folx better insight to the area, and we speak with theater-makerJohn Bechtold and Liz Larsen of the Amherst Historical Society about collaborating to celebrate the nation and the town in this unique way. 

And our interim word nerd author, Merriam-Webster editor at large, and NEPM Jazz A-la-Mode host, Peter Sokolowski, joins our excitement for the upcoming Christopher Nolan movie and voyages far and wide to explore words in English that have origins in the Odyssey

In Ashfield, the immersive experimental collective Double Edge Theater is bringing their summer spectacle to life. Cada Luna Azul is an expansive exploration through memory, connecting community to consequence, collective action to a changing landscape. We head to the hilltowns to bear witness and hear the cast and crew’s perspective onthe newest version of this production. 

A tome outlining the history of one of this nation’s original peoples has finally been released. A History of the Cherokee Nation by Rachel Eaton was rejected by academia and publishers alike for decades due to its frank and well researched contents. we chat with the author’s great niece, Mount Holyoke College professor Patricia Dawson, about her family’s perseverance to get the work in print, and more.

And movie theaters have been a refuge in the hotter months, providing both a cool gathering spot and entertainment both. And with one of the Berkshires recently Oscar nominated neighbors, Josh Safdie, they’ve come up with a series of summer movies to help us really feel the season on screen. We talk with Triplex creative director Ben Elliot about the 8 movies they’re showing as part of Free Air Conditioning. 

In Conway, we get to meet one of our most innovative farmers of an oft ignored crop. Windrow Farm is growing hay across several tens of acres, none of which are specifically belonging to the farm itself. We speak with farmer Jae Silverman about the importance of hay to the area, how he came to this particular business model, and get a chance to see how the knowledge of a century ago is still one of the better practices for feeding livestock in the area. 

This past week, the issue of lynching has once again re-entered public conversation, and there’s a Smith College professor who’s recently published a new book looking at the ways the black community has protested and made attempts to raise awareness about these tragedies. Assemblies of Sorrow: Performances of Black Endangerment in the Jim Crow Era is Samuel Galen Ng’s examination of those events, and we speak with him about their impact then and now. 

And when a star gets hungry, what does it eat? Turns out it’s the planets that are nearby, and Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios' Salman Hameed, introduces us to a nearby system that may be able to show us between its star and brown dwarf, what’ll happen when we become a tasty morsel for our own star. 

We’re on the road, exploring a festival bringing performing arts of all sorts to the southern Berkshires all summer long.Starting as we were beginning to head outside again just after lockdown in order to bring more life and engagement downtown, Berkshire Busk has been placing performers on the streets and corners of downtown Great Barrington since 2021, and in the intervening years in addition to growing in scope, they’ve also become a non-profit as well. 

So we’re broadcasting from the stage in the heart of W.E.B. DuBois’ hometown to get a preview of what performances lie ahead for this very weekend.

We’ll hear from the organizers of Berkshire Busk: Gene Carr and Carli Scolforo and learn about the festival’s origins, it’s impact on the town itself, and the many types of performances you can catch over the course of the summer months. And then because more visual performing arts are hard to describe on radio, we’ll hear from some of the musicians whose music you can hear this weekend all around town, Rees Shad, Colby Lewis, Steve Ide, Kat Winston & Michael Aaron,  all of whom have distinct takes on music they’ll share with all of us their enthusiastic public. 

'Tis the time of the season for festivals, and we’ve got two headed to Hampden and Hampshire counties for folx to get out in the sun and get some music along with their Vitamin D

We’ll hear about this year’s Yidstock bringing the newest, innovative yiddish music to Amherst. Starting today and going through July 12th, the four-day festival features seven concerts, workshops, talks, and special tours, all in celebration of Yiddish music, language, and culture. We’ll hear one of the bands joining that lineup, Levyosn. 

Just down the block from us, the Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival is also taking place this weekend, making a triumphant return to its original location in Court Square. The festival is much more than just the world renowned acts that play in the city of firsts, however, this year including Omar Sosa, Dumpstafunk and others, and so we crash a workshop being led by Zikina at the Community Music School in Springfield and learn how Blues to Green is incorporating those students into this year’s line up. 

And in our weekly conversation with Jim McGovern, we find the congressman up to his knees in cheese curds in Wisconsin, and get his take on our on-again, off again war with Iran, Platner dropping out of his senatorial bid, and a pile of listener questions on the liberties being threatened by proposed legislation. 

Nearly 100 years ago, 4 Massachusetts towns were dis-incorporated, their populations moved, and the area filled with water to appease the needs of people on the eastern half of the state. In the intervening years, the towns surrounding the Quabbin Reservoir have struggled to get their  needs updated and addressed by the state. This Thursday, folx from those 8 towns have a chance to speak with the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority in person, and perhaps discuss the legislation put forward as well, and we’ll hear from Belchertown's Ed Comeau and Shutesbury's Matteo Pangallo about the reservoir’s true impact on the people and land that surround it.

One of the nation’s oldest towns is celebrating America’s 250th anniversary with a trio of plays to bring us closer to the stories of the time of revolution. A Stake in the Ground 1774 is opening at Historic Deerfield and we’ll chat with artistic director of Plays in Place Patrick Gabridge and  director of museum education, Claire Carlson, about this collaboration and theatrical journey back in time. 

And speaking of the 250th, English has quite a few ways to go about saying that marker more easily, and our interim word nerd, editor-at-large at Merriam-Webster and Jazz a la mode host Peter Solokowski explains the whys of how the language treats these numbers. 

Right here in Springfield, we’re returning to our rudie dreams for the Pioneer Valley Ska Festival. 30 bands from all over the nation will venture to 52 Sumner in Springfield for 2 days of skanking, ska, and ska-punk goodness. We’ll hear from one of those 30 bands, Futon Lasagna from eastern and central Mass, as well as organizer Eric Coles of 413Ska about picking up the beat in this corner of the valley. 

In Florence, the 17th Etchings Festival is bringing contemporary composers of many genres to the area to hone their craft and have it performed by well honed professional musicians in the Ecce Ensemble as well. Centered at Bombyx, the festival hosts 4 days of performances in their sanctuary and Look Park, and we’ll speak with founder John Aylward and visiting performer Pandelis Karayorgis of Boston Jazz outfit Surface of Sphere. 

And in a less music oriented cavalcade, but no less celebratory fashion, Silverthorne Theater is on the verge of opening their second production of their summer season, which will be their last on the Hampshire College campus, which has served as their summer home for years. We speak with director Ezekiel Baskin and others from the show Deep Blue Sound about this community environmental story, and what’s next as they look for a new summer location for the coming years. 

In the northern Berkshires, Many Forks Farm changed hands a few years ago, but that’s provided them with the opportunity to get themselves even more involved in the local community, and other organizations. We head to Clarksburg where there are no trains, but farmer Molly Comstock tells us of her journey through photography to get to agriculture and the innovative way the land is being preserved for farmers to come. 

Just next door, is a young city that's spawned legends in its own right, not the least of which is the Coca Cola Monster. Cryptids aside, the book North Adams Panopticon refocuses the infamous ledge and leads the reader through many incidents and occurrences that have happened on its precipice. We speak with author John Seven about his interest in the local urban legends, and more. 

And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios' Salman Hameed, shows us the many places where the building blocks of life have been found terrestrially and celestially, and how looking further into those origins might be more difficult with changes to grant review in the NSF.