The Fabulous 413

It’s that time again. 

The time every other year that fans of a very specific Chicago band head east to North Adams

Solid Sound 9 is happening this weekend in the Berkshires, and today we’re at Mass MoCA to capture it.

So as we ready to hear Mermaid Avenue for the first time ever live in concert with both Wilco and Billy Bragg, we’ll talk to some of the multi-hyphenate members of that band about this festival and their many other projects, including a documentary from keyboardist Mikael Jorgenson, and a sound art installation from drummer Glenn Kotche.

We’ll talk music with Sima Cunningham of Finom, I Hear Voices, Postock, and many other musical ensembles about the pop-ups she’s involved with all weekend, and Jeff Tweedy himself about the importance of performing Mermaid Avenue at this moment.

Plus the curator of the festival’s comedy cabaret, and former W. Mass resident himself, John Hodgman gives us a preview of the funny folx headed to the air conditioned portion of the weekend, and what hijinx helps to bring comedians to the northern Berskhires.

A rewind to last weekend at the Green River Festival where we’ll hear the warm bass tones of the Amherst based bassist Deja Carr better known to the world as Mal Devisa. We’ll get a glimpse into Deja’s creative process and revel in her performance under the Grandstands at the Franklin County Fairgrounds

And US Congressman Jim McGovern gives us his take on what went on with Trump’s alleged temper-tantrum where he refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill. And if the Democratic Social Mayor Mamdani effect, that swept through NY primaries this week, will have any implications for Democratic primaries closer to home.

We are getting people together for artistic endeavors no matter how harrowing it may be. 

Off to Westhampton, where one of the many studios that is part of the pottery collective the Hilltown 6 lays nestled by a waterfall. The artists who make up the group are hosting a workshop at Easthampton Clay this weekend and opening up their respective workplaces for a tour later in July. Potters Sam Taylor and Robbie Heidinger meet us to talk about the ceramics scene of western mass and more. 

In Amherst just outside of the UMass campus is an important lifeline to folx of Hampshire and Franklin counties. The Amherst Survival Center is much more than just a food pantry, addressing the growing needs of the public. We get a tour of their daily work with director Carleen Basler, hear a bit of how their services have changed, and learn how you can support them at a benefit concert this weekend. 

And word Nerd Emily Brewster knows we might be a bit stressed out by language sometimes, and especially with a deeper look at wrack with a w versus rack without one and how their meanings are kinda tied together.

We head north, to Northfield where a farm segued into beer-making, while supplying a much needed crop for the northeast. Four Star Farm has been growing hops of various varieties well before they conjured up their own brewery and we chat with brewer Chris Sellers about his journey from Poli-Sci to agricultural and local product advocate among the hop bines. 

Speaking of growing things, young artists are budding along with their creative parents. The exhibit Imaginary Friends is a collaboration of 11 artist parents with their children to create work together and spans from the small, to the interactable, and even to video projects in their ongoing question of how to maintain one’s craft with and after kids. We crash their installation process, getting a glimpse of what the public might see at their opening tonight. 

And musician, artist, folklorist, and more Mica Farias Gomez joined us for one of our Green River Festival pop-ups this past weekend. We’ll hear  the sounds of her incredible journey into her native Argentina and across south America, and with her co-conspirator Manuel Uriona about their connections to Double Edge Theater, and the liberation we’re all seeking.

We head to a new exhibit in Holyoke that’s helping newer artists explore their craft, and the anniversary of this nation with more experienced artists in the area. Valley Arts Mentors branched out of Piti Theater, but has grown to encompass many ways that we all tell stories including visual arts. This year’s cohort of mentors and mentees have recently opened an exhibit Revolutionary Artstories: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Equity, which we explore along with the artists who’ve made the work on display. 

The Green River Festival happened this past weekend, but if you think about festivals you've been to, how are their lineups looking in terms of gender diversity? Book More Women is an upcoming soon to be non-profit that started as an instagram project and has evolved into a full on movement, in which the Green River festival has partnered. We speak with founder Abbey Carbonneau about starting the organization, what her data has shown so far, and the struggles of getting other organizations to recognize their blind spots. 

Plus after running around all weekend we get to talk a little bit about our highlights from the festival as well. 

Today is a day to celebrate freedom and music, because it’s Juneteenth, but it’s also the first day of the Green River Festival

So we’re combining those two things for a live broadcast straight from the mainstage at the Franklin County Fairgrounds

In addition to a celebration of freedom for all, we’ll hear insights and music from some of the amazing artists performing as part of the this year’s line up: including last year’s NPR tiny desk winner Ruby Ibarra, who has ties to one of rock’s godmothers locally and internationally in June Millington, the musical legacy of Swamp Dogg, whose created and produced music of too many genres to mention, and whose influence reaches into many other artistic arenas as well. Plus we’ll get to meet one of the first guests this show ever had with the heartfelt lyrics and intrepid fingerpicking of Sunny War. 

And we’ll give you a quick history of the holiday we’re all celebrating as well. 

,We're looking at freedom and our relationship with it, because freedom’s legacy in this country has had a fraught relationship with the black community. Clark University Professor Ousmane Power-Greene in continuing to examine the nation's 250th birthday brings forward the case of Crispus Attucks, one of the victims of the Boston Massacre, now intrinsically tied to the story of this nation’s independence. We discuss Attuck’s life, how the liberty of the nation affected black revolutionary veterans, and more. 

Tomorrow is Juneteenth, the now federally recognized holiday that celebrates freedom for everyone. At the Iron Horse, an inspired collection of musicians are celebrating with a concert that honors that legacy. Indë,  PARRIS, and the Ujima Singers will perform in Northampton Tomorrow night. We sit in on their rehearsal, and speak with their musical director Indë about this performance and the impact of the holiday on the communities they’re centered within. 

And congressman Jim McGovern has some thoughts about the Iran deal, FIFA and how it connects to the USA’s bad habit of intervening in other countries governance, his juneteenth plans and how they tie into the ongoing importance of the upcoming midterm elections, and more.

Today is all about circles of life.

For instance in East Longmeadow, which used to contain more agricultural enterprises, a third generation farmer is still growing vegetables for the area, while looking at ways to make sure that land is available for future generations to grow on. Neil Pomeroy shows us around Pomeroy’s Vegetable Farm, and gives us insight to its history and what’s coming up right now. 

Then we head to the Hitchcock Center for the Environment, where they’re not just teaching the adults of tomorrow about the ways we can be better to the planet, they’re readying for an event that gives us tasty morsels and beverages straight outta nature. Their Battle of the Botanicals Fundraiser happens tomorrow on Amherst College’s Campus, so we make a trip to see the breakthroughs they’ve been making in their innovative building.

And language is constantly shifting underneath us, so word nerd Emily Brewster at Merriam Webster introduces us to some new terms that have just entered the slang section of their website so that we can continue to ruin the new phrases of the moment for the young folx in our lives. 

We are getting the bands together, because it’s the 25th anniversary for the Florence Community Band, which has grown from the idea of one woman seeking musical community, to having over 50 members or more finding their instruments, dusting them off, and joining in the sound. We speak with director Priscilla Ross and members Linda Davis-Delano and Yop Molenaar  about their upcoming concert on June 21st that will bring even more local bands into the mix

And in a new novel by Heather Abel, bands of amateur investigators attempt to find the cause and cure of a mysterious ailment. The Emilys is a book that bears an indelible imprint of the asparagus valley, including an array of easter eggs for the locals, and we speak with the author about the issues of friendship, ecology, and place before you can meet her yourself at an event in South Hadley this evening. 

Plus this Friday being Juneteenth means there’s lots of places celebrating the nation's truest freedom day, and we’ll hear from Theresa Cooper Gordon, Damany Gordon, and Megan Seiler about the festivities happening in Holyoke at Wisteriahurst for the occasion.

We love new books, and the first in a brand new series from Jedidiah Berry comes out tomorrow. Kill All Wizards is a blend of 19th century gentility and classic sword and sorcery fiction of the early 20th century with homage to Roy Thomas and Robert E Howard and we chat with the author about the new novella and the release party at Vision Video in Northampton on June 16th where he’ll be in conversation with Kelly Link 

Juneteenth is this Friday and Springfield’s Symphony orchestra is celebrating by bringing the whole ensemble outside. Not only is this year’s program happening for free in Court Square in downtown Springfield, but it’s a family affair featuring both Avery Sharpe and Kevin Sharpe. We bring the two brothers to the studio to talk about their individual connections to the holiday and music itself along with SSO President Heather Caisse Roberts. 

And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studio’s Salman Hameed, puts on his cinefile hat to explore the science and spectacle of Stephen Spielberg’s latest foray into extraterrestrial speculation as we discuss Disclosure Day.