We’re bringing up the lights on cool community action. Including the 4 days of cinematic endeavors making up the Fourth Easthampton Film Festival. Starting Thursday May first, Easthampton will bring more than 30 films over a wide range of genres, panels, workshops, concerts and more to Whoville. We hear from organizer Chris Ferry about putting this event together, and creating community among the filmmakers in the areaWe also get to talk with folx from the feature film being premiered at the festival. Tallywacker was filmed in western mass, with a primarily western mass cast, inspired by the real experiences of one of its leads, Jeremy Macomber-Dubs. Along with co-star Chris Goodwin, and assistant producer/actor Rebecca Macomber Dubs we learn more about the process of creating a full length movie from scratch and the music that makes it extra real. And a new farm is seeking to bring fresh produce and food equity to its neighbors and neighborhood. Nordica Community Farm sits on a nicely hidden 11 acre plot in Springfield that nearly was razed and developed, but through community action and community partners now houses a small CSA, pick your own herbs, and a burgeoning orchard. We speak with owners Anne Richmond and Todd Crosset, as well as CSA Member Ariana Williams about the triumphs and trials of growing just around the corner.

Today is all rainbows, double rainbows in fact!We start with Hampshire Pride, marching in Northampton this Saturday, May 3. They’re the first and longest running pride event in the area, which means its events and leadership have seen a lot of evolution. We chat with organizers Clay Pearson and River Matos about what’s in store for the community this year and what they’ve learned in their three years at the helm.And, the valley-based Rainbow Players are celebrating 25 years of creating devised improvisational works firmly grounded in social justice and disability advocacy. We talk with the program’s artistic director and founder, Ezzell Floraniña, and company members Wole Abiodun and Jay Lithgow about their work, the development of related non-profit ETTA International, the upcoming gala, fashion show and other events to benefit their work.Plus Mr. Universe, Salman Hameed of Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College, discusses a possible sign of life on a planet 120 light years away and the pitfalls of assumptions made when such discoveries become public.

What do you get when you mix a novel approach to foster care, devised theater, and youth leadership all in one place?The answer is Truth Tellers Theater, an inter-generational theater group where cast members use the healing powers of storytelling, community and performance to share their own tales with audiences each spring. We head to Holyoke to talk with folx from the Treehouse Foundation, Heroes Youth Leadership Program and the Truth Tellers ensemble about the strength of their collaboration, the history of their short but impactful past and the bevvy of upcoming programming, including the Runway 5k at a local airport next weekend. Live Music Friday puts dance in your orbit with the space-psych-rock disco that is Escaper. We hear some of their music before they perform at The Iron Horse.Plus, we get a preview of the upcoming Italian Wine Festival at Provisions in North Amherst with a north vs south Thunderdome with a tasty cheese guest appearance.

Today is for the brothers and the birds, not a bee in sight.Well, seeing actually factors into it, too! We head to Amherst where, on a particularly idyllic corner of the UMass campus, hordes of migratory birds are making their way back north. Professor Nathan Senner grabs binoculars and his trusty dog, Oliver, to head out into the woods to discover the many feathered friends that are finding their way home. He enlightens us to the ways that the campus itself is posing problems to conservation efforts, the methods they’re experimenting with to make the school’s landscape a bit safer for the traveling birds and how you can help.And, in Florence at the Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity, prose, theater and pie are coming together on stage this weekend. The Florence Poetry Carnival is bringing in Brother’s Keeper Poetry Ensemble as the featured literary artists for “Poetry and Pie.” We speak with founding member Marlon Carey about the group’s work, the melding of their styles on stage and the clandestine meeting between him and the carnival’s founder.And, although we don't have a chance to chat with Congressman Jim McGovern, our hearts and sympathies are with him as his family navigates recent tragedy. Note: The comic artist Kaliis mentioned with illustrations of bird calls is Rosemary Mosco.

Today we’re getting extra retro with an extra New England pastime, archaic conundrums and classic ways of making art. The art is found up and down the Hilltowns through Hampshire and Franklin Counties. The Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail is a network of studios that are open for the public to witness ceramic artists in their craft. We head to Florence to peek at the only wood fired kiln along the route and chat with artists James Guggina, Tiffany Hilton and intern Lucas Putney about their work and the upcoming festivities. And, few outside of New England know of or have played our classic pastime, candlepin bowling, but it's the style housed by some of the oldest operating bowling alleys in the nation, one of which is right here in western Mass. We head to Shelburne Falls Bowling Alley where owners Tony and Tam Hanna show us how the game is played, how the lanes are maintained and how far the history of the location stretches. Plus, Word Nerd Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam-Webster, lays an over 700-year-old mystery in our laps. Or does it lie in your lap? We look at the homophone pairing of lay and lie, and which one we should let sleeping dogs do.

It’s Earth Day!So we’re going to look at our mother through local lenses and explore our waterways, our skies, and of course, the ways we feed ourselves and each other. If we’re looking up, light pollution has more factors than just keeping you up at night, and one of the organizations seeking to bring more awareness to those factors is Northampton City Lights. Their mission is to Protect human health and wildlife by changing the way we think about municipal lighting and we’ll hear from Catherine Moriarty how their Northampton Night Fest event tonight at Historic Northampton will help them do more of that. And if we’re looking down to the water, Prof. Christine Hatch of Umass Extension has been examining swamps, bogs, streams and more. how those precious ecosystems are affected by human interaction, and how we can aid in their preservation and restoration are some of the questions we’ll ask when she joins us in studioPlus, transport may be the least sexy part of our local foodways, but that doesn’t make it any less vital. Nick Martinelli of Marty’s Local and Cathy Stanton of Quabbin Harvest Co-op talk to us about the important place local distributors have to farmers, retailers, and consumers as well to make a healthy food ecosystem.

Today is Patriots Day, a holiday to commemorate the battle of Lexington and Concord and the “shot heard round the world” in what is now the 617 area code. But today in the 413, we look back to last week when western Mass. planted a flag on our OWN side of the state and declared April 13 as 413 Day.At our party at CitySpace in Easthampton, we were joined by regular guests of the show including Emily Brewster, resident wordster from Merriam-Webster, who enlightened us on Massachusetts regionalisms and accents and answered live audience questions.And, we talked with prof. Ousmane Power-Greene from our Power of History segment about why our abolitionist history here in the 413 is worth exploring and celebrating.Plus, we hear live music from the western Mass. stalwart, singer-songwriter Erin McKeown, with songs on a borrowed guitar and a preview of the new musical they’re working on, set to debut next year.

We are encouraging you to stay up late because The Iron Horse, now almost a year in its new incarnation, is bringing back late shows. We preview tonight’s doozy of dance, connection and genre defying music.For Live Music Friday we hear from Bella’s Bartok as they wrap up their winter/spring residency at the horse. We hear how their latest album, “Apocalypse Wow,” sounds on its feet and learn how important a residency can be to the growth of one’s sound.On that same bill is the powerful queerpunk duo, Film & Gender, who’ve just come off of a 10 day east coast tour. We talk to bassist Issley about new music, the difference in feel between DIY venues and more established ones, increasing vulnerability in lyrics and more.And, with spring officially springing, we head to the Juicebox Wine Bar in Shelburne Falls to check out orange wines in a coastal battle for the latest Tina Turner Memorial Wine Thunderdome.

Today, as every day, we are speaking the language of community near and far and in all walks of life. For instance, we’re getting to know an organization that services the Berkshires (and a little beyond) to increase access to healthy food despite widespread funding cuts. We chat with Berkshire Agricultural Ventures Executive Director Rebecca Busansky about the Market Match program, which is currently fundraising for the 2025 growing season, and filling the gap left by HIP cuts while raising all boats in the effort. We also get a little Live Music Thursday with Brooklyn and Northampton-based singer-songwriter Stefan Weiner. He’s ending a music hiatus with the release of his new album, “How Lucky You Are,” and we hear about what inspirations lay amongst the tracks and if coming home has anything to do with it. And, our weekly chat with Rep. Jim McGovern hits both far and close to home as we discuss the proposed cuts to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, the inaction regarding detained legal immigrants, the insurrection act’s possible enactment and a pile of questions from listeners like you.

We are covering a lot of ground.Including a brand new venture for a collective right here in town, Marketplace at Gasoline Alley, a collective effort of 5 entrepreneurs who are expanding their offerings attached to the Urban Food Brood. We speak with some of the folx who’ve settled into this new spot, Kate Forest and Missy Doe of Forest Doe Botanicals and Kristina Marie Denson of Journey’s Lemonade (with the CUTEST CAMEO by the business namesake), and find out how collaborative economics can work right in our own backyard.And, we sample a 35-year career in folk music bringing all that experience and versatility to The Parlor Room stage next weekend. David Wilcox started playing guitar in college in the eighties and hasn’t stopped since, and we pepper the singer-songwriter about his Canadian doppelgänger, his greatest inspirations and the shifts in the musical landscape, both esoteric and physical.Plus, resident wordster Emily Brewster, senior editor at Merriam-Webster, explores a listener question about the contexts of the dictionary’s citations while Kaliis accidentally side steps into a question about curing meats.

Two tales of agriculture and commerce, alike in virtue, a spring of hope from a winter of despair. The Cannabis Control Commission recently swept through western Mass, making visits with officials and business owners in all 4 counties. Despite the recent shake-ups within the department, they’re currently looking forward into expanding how businesses might offer more green to the people through social consumption. We speak with acting Chair of the CCC Bruce Stebbins about what that concept could entail, how cannabis businesses are faring in the Bay State and especially Western Mass., and how the commission is faring after nearly 10 years of legal weed. We’ll also head to Conway to a farm most innovative in practice, philosophy and action. Natural Roots has been growing produce in the hilltowns in a number of ways that are unique to their plots and bringing their crops to the area. From their crop rotation, to the actual horses powering their equipment, they’ve sought to reduce and remove fossil fuels from their farming operations. We’ll chat to proprietor David Fisher about his recent award from CISA, why reducing their carbon footprint through their machinery choices was so crucial to their agricultural plans, and get a tour through their sprawling beautiful grounds along the South River, and get to meet the horses!

Although the United States was never specifically a penal colony, it is hard to deny that systematic penal labor was crucial to the founding of the nation. We think it’s important to consider as we prepare to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War. So today, we look at an art exhibit at Wistariahurst Museum that highlights the carceral system as we know it today. “Prison Reimagined" is a collection of artwork depicting U.S. presidents by incarcerated folx, organized by artistic director Caddell “Monty” Kivett from inside a correctional facility in North Carolina. We chat with Kivett and Wistariahurst’s director, Megan Seiler, about the power of this display and some of the systematic roadblocks that stood in the way.We also bring you back in time to yesterday’s party to celebrate 413 Day in Easthampton. We show you what Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll had to say when she stopped by the festivities and delivered a present from the Governor in person and in writing!And, we received another present on that stage from Mr. Universe, Salman Hameed of Kainaat Studios and Hampshire College, all while exploring the ways that galaxies are formed and photographed!