I first met Jane Trigere about 30 years ago, after she and her husband Ken Schoen moved to town from Easthampton in 1994. They bought the old firehouse, and quickly turned it into Ken’s bookstore, filled with tomes relating to Judaica, his specialty. Jane was very vocal about her opinions […]
About a year ago, my weekly lunch friends and I ate at the Ichiban, the newest Japanese/Chinese restaurant in Amherst, right next to the uber-popular Miss Saigon on North Pleasant St. The restaurant was cavernous, with two huge rooms and few diners were seated with us. Fast forward to late […]
Easthampton will soon see a depressing and abandoned mill turned into a huge new housing and retail complex starting next year. The news is more good for this up and coming community, which has seen so many great new developments in the past few years. The story on MassLive yesterday detailed […]
Back in 2008, when I owned the GoNOMAD Cafe, we celebrated the first ever Tag Sale Day in Deerfield. I had gotten the inspiration after visiting Hopewell, NJ and saw so many tag sales. When I had the cafe, it was a natural gathering place for tag-salers, and we did […]
The Bolt is a Great Little Electric Car We’re testing out the newest Chevy–the Bolt EV, all-electric car–on a road trip from Boston to Portland, Maine this weekend. I’ve always been interested in trying out something like this, but instead of a quick five-minute test drive, we’ll get a full […]
I am very excited about a new project I am working on with my webmaster Rose and my girlfriend Rachael. It’s called Hidden-Hills.com and it’s a re-invention of a website that was started early in the 2000s to promote towns that are out of reach of the Mass Pike and […]
We’re traveling across the vast expanse of Cattaraugus County in Western New York this week, after setting out from Corning where the TBEX conference was held. Two hours later we were exiting the interstate for the run-down city of Salamanca, which is inside the Seneca-Iroquois tribal nation. The tribe has […]
Two memorable outings in a beautiful part of New York State We set out from Corning New York toward the village of Watkins Glen, which to me only conjures up the famous racetrack…and specifically, a few concerts that have taken place over the years that jogged my memory. But Watkins […]
It’s taken what feels like forever, but it was back in 2011 that MGM began getting serious about building a casino in downtown Springfield. I remember the votes, and how Holyoke flirted with the casino on Mount Tom notion, and when it was all done, just giant MGM Springfield still […]
Summer’s End Means Great Music in Easthampton It’s the end of the summer, and like most people, I’m sad about that. But the one thing that late August brings to the Valley is a series of wonderful outdoor concerts with well-chosen world music stars who make Easthampton’s Millpond Live series […]
Deerfield Ruminations…. the town has come together in new ways, unexpected but everyone is happy about it. The new Facebook page, Deerfield Now is getting a lot of comments and people share interesting photos and news. That’s the beginning of making a community better. The infrastructure behind transit projects is always […]
If you have noticed the shiny new bikes that sit in specially-designed stands in strategic locations around the Valley, you’re not alone. I was thrilled when I heard about these new bikes and entered a raffle at the Northampton street fair a month ago. I won a year’s pass and […]