The Fabulous 413

Singers are coming up from Connecticut to sing for the planet. Which is an incredible over simplification of what will happen when Concora arrives in Florence to perform “A Passion for the Planet", a homegrown oratorio by Amherst composer Geoffrey Hudson that blends scientific prose, poetry, and sacred texts, advocating for change, and building a vibrant future. We’ll meet the composer as well as Soprano Alisa Pearson and learn how you can not only see this work, but participate in it as well. 

A bit further south is the homeland of Choro, which gets a week-long celebration and workshop here in western New England. This year Choro Camp has brought the ensemble Agua de Moringa to help teach American enthusiasts in the form, and perform for the public as well. We’ll hear the group for Live Music Friday before you can enjoy them in person this Sunday, also at Bombyx. 

And all over Northampton, Artists have hidden small artwork for the public to discover as they engage with the city as well. The Fun Sized Art Festival is part celebration, part scavenger Hunt, and all about connecting the artists and art of this area with you and the city itself. We meet organizers Kim Carlino and Michael Crigler on the streets where the art will be to talk about this creative integration. 

NYT best selling author illustrators Tony DiTerlizzi and Jeff Kinney both have new books for your littler ones, each dealing with a touch of the spooky. The Wump, which sees a middle school student’s inner demons suddenly become outer ones, and Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2 explores the imagination of a character from the Diary of a Wimpy kid series. We’ll talk with both about their work and upcoming event at the Academy of Music celebrating it. 

Live music visits the studio with Latin Grammy-nominated and Brazilian Music Awards-winning artist Rogê, who’ll bring his unique blend of samba, soul, bossa nova, and funk to our studios before you can see him in person at the Parlor Room this evening, and we’ll have a chance to learn about the driving forces behind his move to the US, and the evolution of his last few albums. 

And congressman Jim McGovern is frustrated amidst this latest congressional break, especially considering the current visit and talks with China, Trump’s latest barrage of vitriol, and the momentum that needs to support his latest legislation that hopes to feed and support some of the most vulnerable members of our community. 

This weekend on Sept 25th and 26th, the streets of Northampton will be filled with music. The Northampton Jazz Festival happens this weekend, and although they’ve been actively encouraging folx of all walks all year round, this is their big shindig, and we speak with board president Ruth Griggs and member Ricard Torres-Mateluna about what this year brings, especially with their headliner Lakeisha Benjamin at the Academy of Music. 

In Holyoke, a wake up call about local foodways lead the beekeeper at Agudelo Farm and Apiary to look for better ways to nourish his community. We speak with owner Gustavo Agudelo about the bees he’s keeping in the city, his ties to Nuestras Raices, his work with bee removal and the network of beekeeping folx in western Mass that helped him build the system he’s got in place.

And word nerd Emily Brewster answers a listener's question about a technological divide in the way we describe graphic interface format, and the reasons English speakers have phonetic reasons to pick their lane for hard "G" gif or soft "G" gif.

We're getting out in the community to see how we grow and learn more about ourselves in the process. 

Woven Roots Farm has been providing produce and more for the community for over 20 years. From its start as a garden project to their current home in Tyringham the farm has sought to not just feed our neighbors, but create more positive impact on the land and environment as well. We speak with Ex. Dir Jen Salinetti about growing  over 800 beds on 12 acres by hand, and the farm’s history in sustainable agriculture and more. 

Woven roots has also been a part of an innovative incubator program hosted by Berkshire Agricultural Ventures seeking to help farmers connect with their individual farm legacies and with each other as well. Ex. Dir Rebecca Busansky and Outreach & Technical Assistance Manager Dan Carr join us to talk about their Farm Business Accelerator program, of which Woven Roots has taken part, and how Others can join this year’s cohort  of farm workers. 

Right now we are in the throes of the Tell it Slant Festival at the Emily Dickenson Museum, featuring readings of her work, and that of poets in the area as well. One of those poets who’ll bring forth their own work is Amy Dryansky, whose latest collection “Ambergris” is a fascinating look at personal and family dynamics and evolution as they connect with the natural world, and we’ll talk with the poet herself about this work and where you can see it in the wilds. 

A new local book combines the art world with language on the page and the intricacies of establishing a voice for oneself, even when that voice is subsumed in someone else’s story. Bird Girl is a new novel from author Duston Spear, centering an artist who is forced to confront a pivotal moment of her youth as it’s revisited in a podcast, and we’ll speak with her about the impetus for the work, the many mediums it connects, and where in the area you can meet her and her work in person.  

As everyone turns their eyes towards the world of AI, a new lawsuit is looking at how their language models learn. Local independent news outlet The Shoestring finds itself one of the plaintiffs of this lawsuit seeking recognition and remuneration for the many articles of theirs that they’ve found have been used in such a way. Managing editor Brian Zayatz explains the reasoning behind the suit and how could be a much bigger problem than their or any local news company alone. 

And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios and now Umass Amherst astronomer Salman Hameed, knows of the words we put in place to keep the cosmos as neutral as possible. But the skies have been getting heated ever since the president’s first term in office, and we’ll hear about the issues new and old that arise when talking about weaponizing space. 

We head to the river where the community is coming together this weekend and next to improve the health of our local waterway. The Source to Sea Cleanup is happening at locations all along the Connecticut River, and we’ll speak with a matroyshka set of activists helping to make this happen, individually and through their respective organizations: David Bowles of Greenfield’s clean up, Nina Gordon-Kirsch from the Ct River Conservancy, and Markelle Smith of the CT River Watershed Partnership.

We’ll also make our laughter extra dark with the play The Norwegians which opens tonight at Shakespeare and Company. Centered around 4 characters in the cold of Minnesota, the work is a new avenue for James Warwick, who shows us around the immersive set, and his own storied journey to directing in the Berkshires. 

Plus this weekend is the Lenox Wine Festival. Helmed by Mary and Ben Daire of Dare Bottleshop and provisions, the event has been highlighting small producers from all over the globe for 4 years. We hold a Thunderdome in this vein pitting two unlikely late summer reds against each other. 

The Amherst Mushroom Company is a newer farm in its namesake town bringing tasty fungi to markets all over the asparagus valley. But it’s only part of a much bigger picture of conservation that their land is seeking to pursue. We head to their brand new facility to speak with farmers Sabina Shelby and Sean Lopez to get the full scope of their mycological journey. 

In Great Barrington, two great actors are putting some of the screen’s best dialog on a regular stage for a good cause. The Triplex Cinema will be the beneficiary of a fundraiser featuring an adaptation of His Girl Friday starring Jack Davenport and Michelle Gomez, both well established UK actors in their own rights, and we’ll hear about their connections with the original film and more. 

And congressman Jim McGovern is about to be in recess, again, but still gives us his position on the recent increase of interest rates, a myriad of AI worries including in public schools right here in western Mass, L3’s recent million (billion?) dollar defense contract and a whole onslaught of listener questions. 

The Walk for Every Body is a fundraiser to help all of the people in our area to stay healthy and keep the programs that Tapestry Health fosters in all four counties of Western Mass running. The event is in its second year and we speak with Interim CEO Damaris Jones, and Chief Development and Communications Officer Lisa Andrews to learn more about it. 

In the Hilltowns, they are once again gathering the proverbial celluloid of the community to share. The 2026 Ashfield Film Festival happens this weekend, full of dozens of short films shot by friends and neighbors that all have western mass connections, and more. We’ll talk with some of the festival organizers Christopher Seward and Galen Knowles, and Dr. Jenn Flemming who can give us insight to the movie they’ll show as their feature on Friday “Girl Climber”

Plus it’s the autumnal return of our original Word Nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam-Webster, who’ll look to that dictionary to show us some new words that have just arrived on their website. 

For Constitution Day, the SBS Democracy Project at Umass is hosting a wide array of talks and workshops to engage folx with our democratic process. And what does that have to do with Astronauts you might ask. It turns out that over 100 astronauts have banded together to start a nonprofit that specifically seeks to defend the constitution called Astronauts for America, and we’ll hear from Umass Grad and astronaut herself Cady Coleman, and Jamie Rowen  of the Democracy Project to hear about this series and the national importance of bringing non-politicians into political discussion.

And tomorrow night, a woman who’s had an incredibly storied life in music is bringing an intimate night of song and her powerful voice to the Iron Horse stage in Northampton. Bettye LaVette has been singing since she was 16 alongside a number of Motown greats, but only really started garnering attention and accolades in the 21st century, and we’ll chat with her about her latest album “Worthy”, her incredible memoir, and more that she’s learned in the past 6 decades of performance, which you can enjoy yourself on Sept 16th.

Starting this weekend, in Northampton you can get up close and personal with the history of Paradise City with the new production from Plays in Place. The Hull/Hawley plays are taking a close look at two known figures in the city: Bathsheba Hull, and Joseph Hawley, and the impacts they had on the Northampton of their time. We speak with director Brianna Sloane and actor Trenda Loftin about the importance of these figures including the research that had to go into the work, and the many connections to our history performances like this can build within the community of the present. 

And Mr. Universe, 5 college consortium and Kainaat studios’ Salman Hameed, connects the current administration’s re-naming spree to the moon, and their efforts in that arena, and a recent development in the ongoing pursuit of dark matter. We’ll explore the possible discovery and why it’s exciting, the difference between the facilities that can detect it, the connections to WIMPS, and more.