September 25, 2024: Improvisational longevity

There is a beauty to make up as we go along, feet on the ground, head in the sky. 

And not just with the Talking Heads reference either. The Northampton Jazz Festival takes place this weekend aiming to expand the exposure of people of all generations, ethnicities and orientations to live jazz, and bringing new visitors to downtown Northampton to increase the cultural vitality and economic strength of the city. Relaunched in 2018, the festival hosts a rich line-up of jazz artists from across the globe and around the region. Ruth Griggs, President of the Northampton Jazz Festival, and Ricard Torres-Mateluna, the festival’s Communications & Marketing director both join us in studio to talk about revitalizing the city's tangible connection to music through the festivals two days of offerings. 

It's also in showing people that there's better things to put in your glass. The area's second oldest brewery is celebrating its 30th birthday this weekend with a party in its honor at the Franklin County Fairgrounds. We talk with Gary Bogoff of Berkshire Brewing Company about how the craft brewer got its start, where it's future is leading, and all of the flak the company might have been taking over those decades about the misnomer of its name.

And Word Nerd Emily Brewster takes us online to where the dictionary at which she is a senior editor has taken a newly beloved word game and turned it up several notches. Quordle takes the now NY Times game and multiplies it by four and we talk about its popularity and that popularities repurcussions while attempting to solve today's challenge.