Steve Pfarrer
DailyHampGazette
United States
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Past articles by Steve:
The romance of the rails: 22,000 flock to the annual Railroad Hobby Show in West Springfield
It’s no secret that the U.S. railroad system, which a century ago had the largest passenger service in the world, looks very different today.Though the nation’s freight system is still significant, passenger service has long since been eclipsed by... → Read More
Spreading his wings: Former WRSI radio host Monte Belmonte heads to New England Public Media
SPRINGFIELD — Last month, when he stepped down from WRSI 93.9 The River after nearly 17 years hosting a morning show at the station, Christopher “Monte” Belmonte said he was not stepping away from radio. But the popular radio personality wasn’t ready... → Read More
All in for the arts: Florence Night Out returns, but founder says this will be her last year at event
FLORENCE — Donnabelle Casis had lived in Florence for close to 10 years when she began thinking about putting together some kind of event that would highlight the artistic energy she’d come to experience in her adopted hometown.“I’d met so many... → Read More
‘He left us wanting more, the way all great writers do’: UMass forum celebrates late historian Stephen B. Oates
AMHERST — He was, as one admirer put it, an “artful biographer” who wedded careful research with a novelist’s storytelling skill to write movingly about a number of famous American figures: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Clara Barton and... → Read More
Overcoming stereotypes: Northampton man aims to make independent film about a musician with a disability
NORTHAMPTON — For the last few years, Jeremy Macomber-Dubs has been advocating for people with disabilities. As someone who uses a wheelchair because he struggles with the effects of brittle bone disease, Macomber-Dubs know it’s a challenge to... → Read More
Room to play: Pay It Forward program provides artists with practice, performance space
It’s a given that many artists can struggle to find ways to fund their work. It’s also a given that it can be tough to find a place to do that work, whether for rehearsing or performing.In Easthampton, CitySpace, the nonprofit group that manages the... → Read More
The Beat Goes On: Hip hop and Islam join forces, the return of a native bluegrass daughter, and more
The Drake, the new club in downtown Amherst, has staked out its identity so far by offering a wide variety of music — jazz, funk, Americana, rock, classical and more — and also clearing away seating some nights for dancing.That’s the case... → Read More
Freeing music from prison: Florence concert to debut jazz composed behind bars and finally the seeing light of day
For many years, Lois Ahrens has been pushing to change the nation’s prison system. The Northampton activist, who heads the Real Cost of Prisons Project, has worked with fellow activists, artists, researchers and incarcerated people to try to end... → Read More
‘The Power of Truths’: Two-day festival fuses history, art and advocacy for social justice
Can the arts help us reexamine our past and come to terms with injustice? Can music, painting, film, literature and other mediums serve as tools for social change by helping us take a fresh look at our history and our personal beliefs?The Northampton... → Read More
Back in business: Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum in Hadley to reopen
HADLEY — The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, closed for much of the last two years because of the pandemic, will reopen to the public June 1.And when it does, museum officials say they’ll be offering new tours of the historic 18th-century house that... → Read More
Art in an unconventional setting: ‘Cellblock Visions’ showcases art made by incarcerated Americans
Back in the early 1980s, Phyllis Kornfeld, after teaching art for a while in public schools and other settings and not really enjoying the experience, heard about a new federal program designed to bring art instructors into prisons and work with... → Read More
The power — and fun — of words: Florence Poetry Carnival returns with readings, games, craft-making and more
FLORENCE — As Rachel Cyrene Blackman sees it, poetry is an art form, but it’s also one that extends beyond academia and the pens (or keyboards) of the most talented wordsmiths. Ideally, she says, it’s something that should be accessible to anyone, and... → Read More
Hands across the water: Australian artists join Mount Holyoke students to make traditional Aboriginal art
Centuries ago, Aboriginal people in the cooler climates of southeastern Australia made possum-skin cloaks to keep warm in winter and as a means of preserving ties to their communities and land, etching the insides of the garments with decorative art... → Read More
A very good run: Last concert of the Magic Triangle series at UMass Amherst, begun in 1990, to take place
AMHERST — Over 30 years ago, Glenn Siegel, then working as a jazz DJ at WMUA-FM at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, went to talk to Frederick Tillis, the director of the university’s Fine Arts Center. Siegel and some other jazz DJs at the... → Read More
An artist who ‘kept making’: The late Greta Kessler of Northampton never stopped producing art
During the later years of World War II, Greta Kessler studied at the Rhode Island School of Design — though when the war ended and U.S. servicemen returned from duty, her son Alex Kessler recalls, she was told she’d have to leave to “make room for the... → Read More
Mission from the heart: Nayana LaFond’s portraits bring attention to the violence many Indigenous women face
Just under a couple years ago, Nayana LaFond, like so much of the world, was stuck at home, sheltering from COVID-19. The Athol artist,who until that point had mostly been a semi-abstract painter, was looking both to keep busy and maybe take on a new... → Read More
Four Sundays move right on schedule: Northampton Arts Council shifts popular arts festival to April
Four Sundays in February has been a staple of the Northampton arts scene for years, a series of presentations staged each Sunday during winter’s possibly most dreary month to try and help people fight the blues.But last year, the series, produced by... → Read More
Breaking bread with Emily Dickinson and students: U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona tours Dickinson Museum
AMHERST — Friday, March 4 was a busy day for Miguel Cardona, the U.S. Secretary of Education, beginning with an early-morning visit to the Rafael Hernández K-8 Elementary School in Boston, the oldest dual-language community school in the city, where... → Read More
The Beat Goes On: Robert Cray, The High Kings, the music of composer George Walker and more
In a video interview he gave a couple years ago when he released his most recent album, “That’s What I Heard,” bluesman Robert Cray was asked to describe the record in three words. Cray pursed his lips a moment, looked to the side, then smiled and... → Read More
A witness to change: Iain Stewart, the longest tenured Cornucopia employee, retires after 40 years on the job
NORTHAMPTON — In the late 1970s, an old department store on Main Street was renovated and turned into a popular indoor mall for numerous smaller stores and a few restaurants. One of the early tenants of the newly christened Thornes Marketplace was... → Read More