The Fabulous 413

Change is afoot, because whatever shade you wanna call it, blue came out en force on Tuesday

So of course we’ve gotta get Congressman Jim McGovern’s opinion on the election results and where he saw them. But also start looking at what his party needs to do with this power they’ve wrested back. We hear about some of the key issues are on his radar, including leadership in the party and through committee, the walking back of the ex. Branch’s bravado in the wake of the flip, and questions from constituents about the next steps. 

And a Turners Falls cultural landmark is making a shift. The Rendezvous bar and lounge has just announced that it is becoming a worker owned co-op. So we head up to Franklin County to hear the venue’s history, its present, and the future that the folx involved see for it with the community and the staff coming together to create a long lasting hub for the people. 

Plus as the best time of the year starts tomorrow, we’ll have a cider days preview with juice from one of the bigger hubs for the Franklin County Cider Days festival: Clarkdale Fruit Farms. and we’ll taste under the tutelage of farmer good Ben Clark. 

We’re covering a lot of tumultuous ground, including a thought provoking new novel with an interesting take on both narrative and timeline. A Pearl Is Just an Accident is a new book from Hawley author Julie Esther Fisher telling the story of the transatlantic James family through a slow revelation of the events that made them, and we’ll speak with the author about this work and its take on humanizing trauma, and see how poetry affected its structure of semi-independent vignettes. Plus we'll let you know how you can meet her at an event at Forbes Library later this month.  

And we’re all reeling from the surprising results from yesterday’s elections where a cavalcade of glass ceilings seem to have been broken by the “blue wave”, not to mention a plethora of ballot questions right here in Massachusetts. We’ll check in with NEPM Newsroom’s Elizabeth Roman and Nirvani Williams for a round up of the results in the Bay State and beyond. 

Plus one of the most fun ways to use language is to make the sound of the thing you’re trying to describe, so Word Nerd Emily Brewter, Senior Editor at Merriam Webster joins us to explore the fascinating world of English onomatopeia. 

It's election day and we’ll look at one of the last ballot questions of our whopping 9: Question 8, the motion to repeal the standing law on marijuana. And to do that we’ll invite our local expert from the only black owned dispensary in Western Mass, Payton Shubrick of 6 Bricks here in Springfield. 

We’ll also head to Great Barrington where the conversations you might have started about voting can laterally slide into art and literature. Lit Salon is a new series presented by Edith Wharton's The Mount that pairs authors with musicians and engages all in conversations about their work and more. Founder Michelle Young and featured guest Colin Asher join us to talk more about getting the community to talk and think more at their next two events on Nov 6th and 21st.

Plus we’ll head to Northampton to see how we are helping the greater community in these times of crisis. The Northampton Survival Center feeds folx from 8 towns across Hampshire County and made innovative and important pivots during the pandemic that have helped their organization to aid even more people today. We’ll get a tour with Ex. Director Heidi Nortonsmith and Program Director Sarah Pease to see how their work is intrinsically connected to local farms and their neighbors as well. 

It’s election day tomorrow, and that means that we  have one last day to introduce you to one last candidate. So we’ll sit down with the challenger for the 1st district’s congressional seat: Nadia Milleron. We’ll talk with her about the differences between this contest and the last one she ran against the sitting congressman, her take on some of the ballot questions and more. 

Justin Beatty returns to tout an organization that's seeking to help artistic folx in our community. He’s a part of the Western Mass Arts Hub, an online resource that is hosting a workshop this weekend to help local artists get found for more projects. We’ll speak with him about how the Arts Hub works, and some of the skills they’ll be sharing in Saturday’s class. 

And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and Five College Astronomer Salman Hameed, traverses a bevy of topics including the losses in the star trek universe, the troubling rhetoric concerning a certain Michigander senatorial candidate, and how our sun may have squirreled away a whole other dwarf planetary sibling in our solar system that nobody knew about until now. 

We’re headed to Turners Falls where some of us are not defying gravity, but hoping it helps us and our relative need for speed. The 8th Montague Soapbox Races take place this Sunday Nov. 1st with community built and first law of physics powered vehicles of all sorts and contortions. We’ll speak with some of folx involved to hear how this event has made local impact

Speaking of local impact, since it is the spooky times, it seems only right that we delve into a bit of local history of the witchy kind. We’ll meet Al Weinberg of the Hadley Historical society to hear the tales, both true and legend, of Half Hanged Mary Webster, and her unique story against the backdrop of the Witch trials, plus her connections to other famous websters we might know of an etymological bent. Plus we'll hear a locally grown song telling her tale from Adam Sweet. 

And the Tina Turner Wine Thunderdome returns to its State Street origins, and increases it’s tasting panel by half as Emerson Stevens of importer Vineyard Road joins us, along with NEPM Reporter Nirvani Williams, to explore similar expressions of terroir from two totally different hemispheres. 

We’re headed to the east side of the Quabbin, which means they’re not quite 413 (but they’re sorta us in spirit, those towns on the reservoir). Hardwick Winery is on the verge of 30 years creating wine in the Baystate, broadening their scope from Mass grown grapes to involve more of the flavors that the state offers, and much more besides. We’ll talk with founder John Samek and his crew about the location’s start and the many stages of growth they’ve experienced over the past 3 decades. 

We’ll also explore the Shea Theater’s transformation, for it is the time of year where the whole venue shifts into a set piece for large scale thought provoking immersive and sometimes interactive theater. A Happening 6 is happening this weekend up in Turners Falls, under the theme SALVAGE, and we’ll speak with members of Cloudgaze productions about this new iteration of their ongoing theatrical exploration: Taylor Graves and Ezekial Baskin. 

And Congressman Jim McGovern fresh from a convention on Hunger at UMass gives his take on Tuesday’s upcoming midterms and on MA Ballot question 3, recent developments in Brazil and Israel and of course a few listener questions. 

You may have heard of the James Web Space Telescope but did you know that a new NASA telescope, set to launch in 2033 that will fill in the blanks for what the James Web CAN’T see, is being developed right here at UMass Amherst? We’ll visit Dr. Alexandra Pope on campus along with our resident astronomer, Salman Hameed to hear all about the PRIMA telescope and how it will dovetail with James Web to help us better understand the cosmos.

Ken Burns is a name familiar to both public media fans and those associated with the soon to be late Hampshire College. Next week, Ken Burns will return to the Valley for a fundraiser for the Northampton Community Music Center and we’ll talk with their executive director, Jason Trotta, about the mission of the school and how you can get Ken Burns perspective on the importance of music to his documentaries.

And pinch hitting for Word Nerd Emily Brewster our NEPM colleague, Peter Sokolowski who we will celebrate for his 20 years at the helm of the longest running daily podcast in history and we’ll call it a triple word score as we talk about the new edition of Merriam-Webster’s Scrabble Dictionary, and the 200 words you no longs have to fight your friends over. 

Since there’s only a week before the election happens, it seems like we should focus on  the gubernatorial race for the Bay State. 

So today we’ll meet the three folx vying for the seat in Massachusetts, with the NEPM Reporter who’s spoken to all of them: Nirvani Williams

So whether you’re curious about the triumphs and failures of the incumbent Maura Healey, or the veteran engineer full of possible solutions Mike Minogue, or the independent newcomer to politics running an impressive grassroots campaign, Andrea James

We’ll see how they fare on the issues of affordability, taxes, our housing crisis, education, and more. 

We’re out in the Berkshires to take in some beauty, and to celebrate because the Berkshires museum has recently re-opened after an 18 month renovation. 

We’ll speak with museum staff about the changes to their building great and small as Chief curator William Dore explains the shifts and the refocusing the museum had to make during the construction, and the familiar and new sights they’ve designed for folx to experience throughout their historic space. And Aquarium Manager Jordan Williams joins us to elaborate on the museum’s updated centerpiece, with nearly 6 times as much tank space as before and a plethora of new species and updated technology. We’ll meet their new occupants and learn the ways this section ties into the other exhibits the berkshire museum has curated

Plus the antiquities and art are not the only beauty we’re checking out at the Berkshire Museum. The Tanglewood Learning Institute and Tanglewood Music Center are launching a series they’re calling “Surprise Serenades” bringing string quartet performances to unlikely places. We’ll hear a performance and talk about the importance of connecting the community with this music from Mark Rulison, Artistic Administrator at TLI, Ed Gazouleas, TMC Director, and a trio of TMC fellows: Miles Huang, Yixiang Wang, and Alexander Davis-Pegis.

Today has a little bit of everything, including solidarity for all as we combine our powers outside in theater. The Teaspoon Brigade is an all ages interactive performance teaching us all that we have something to bring to the betterment of our communities, and we’ll talk with one of the folx involved Jayme Timpson Winell, about what you'll engage with at Park Hill Orchard in Easthampton for two performances on Sat. Oct 24th.  

We’ll also get a little spooky for this week’s Live Music Friday with Dr. Gasp, who’ll bring his seasonally-tinged folx and Americana to the stage of City Space in Easthampton tonight, Oct 23rd, and learn more about how creepiness crept into his songwriting. 

MGM and the City of Springfield made headlines this week over a dispute regarding renovations, a sale of their downtown casino, and changes to their agreement over the years. We sit with MGM Springfield COO Louis Theros for an exclusive conversation about the dispute and the move to arbitration. 

Plus if you’re looking for scintillating conversation on a wide array of topics with luminaries and experts from all over the globe, then Field Lenox is for you, and we’ll speak with organizers Lizzy Aspenlieder and Hunter Runette about the importance of the community gathering to think deeply together all weekend long.