2016 saw western Massachusetts sprawled towards its outer reaches with fluid, unofficial sites rising in places as disparate as Holyoke, Millers Falls and Belchertown. This year birthed a handful of series, umbrellas of aesthetic intentionality positioned on a landscape of one off gigs. Here’s a short list of these, some birthed in 2016, some further vivified, all going into the new year continuing to grow – all worth journeying west for!
GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP SCREENING SERIES
Where: School for Contemporary Dance and Thought, Northampton
When: The last Saturday of every month
Curators: The Good Night’s Sleep Collective
Featuring experimental independent film and video work connected to western Massachusetts, GNS has a regular home base for its showcases (formerly a renovated schoolhouse in Northampton, now the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought) and presents many outside screenings in alternate locations with emphases on political awareness, fundraising and solo oeuvres.
TICKED OFF TAPES PRESENTS
Where: Various
When: Various
Curator: Jeffrey F. Gallagher
Ticked Off Tapes (c.2016) champions the crudest of crude, the raw, the nonmusical. “What makes Ticked Off Tapes unique is that we want people’s demos, we want live recordings. I would like Ticked Off to be leaning towards a rarities label. I’d say ‘send me the weirdest stuff you have’ if your band was going to submit for a release*”. This declaration translates to Ticked Off’s occasional show series, known to occur at the Brick House in Turners Falls and Doll Haus in Amherst. Often pairing the “high” and “low”, “hype” and “non-hype”, Ticked Off is boundary pushing fringe curation.
*Gallagher for pioneervalleyunderground.wordpress.com
PHANTOM ERRATIC
Where: Jane Doe Jr. (Above John Doe Jr. Records), Greenfield
When: Various
Curator: Neil Young Cloaca
“Phantom Erratic is a series-non-series of irregular social-aesthetic-globules, illuminated from the surrounding fog of daily life by curious mooncussers. For all intents and purposes, these ‘things’ are events, but sometimes they are not. You can figure it out.” Going strong since 2008! Must see: Peskeomskut Noisecapades http://phantombrainexchange.suchfun.net/pnc_about.html
HUT
Where: School for Contemporary Dance and Thought
When: First Saturday of every month
Curator: Jake Meginsky
Multidisciplinary programs of 3 world class dance, sound, poetry and film solo artists challenging and expanding their respective forms together, presented in conjunction with the Northampton Arts Council.
PLATFORM
Where: Click Space, Northampton
When: First Friday of most months
Curator: Patrick Gaughan, Jon Ruseski
“P L A T F O R M is an open source lecture series designed to promote active discussion. P L A T F O R M is interested in creating a space in which writers/artists/academics/performers get to discuss things like research, practice, and process, offering a social discourse beyond their work.”
GRAY STREET GIGS
Where: Various, often at Cold Spring Hollow, Belchertown
When: Various
Curator: Sam Hadge
Western MA’s most prolific videographer Sam “Punk Rock Hobbit” Hadge runs a similarly prolific tape label and series under the Gray Street catchall, a cross genre home for “kinda weird stuff. Most of it I think doesn’t quite fit right with most of the music scene. It’s all just slightly off.”
