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Dec. 21, 2023: Mystic midterms and holiday favorites.

A holiday lights display from Maple St. in Greenfield
courtesy of Andrea Cohen -Kiener
/
NEPM
A holiday lights display from Maple St. in Greenfield

With only 10 days left in the year, we’re looking at end of year celebrations and what we’ve accomplished in the past 355 days.

To that end, we speak with Congressman Jim McGovern for our weekly mcgoverning just after he visits the area to join in the celebrations of Good Ben Clark of Clarkdale Fruit Farm’s appointment as Person of the Year, in addition to looking at the year in governance and the election year ahead.

As the year ends, so does a venue we’ve loved over the past 12 years. But one of Gateway City Arts last shows will feature the multi-faceted musician Mystic Bowie and his band Talking Dreads. We chat with the once member of Talking Heads offshoot, The Tom Tom Club, about the things that drive him creatively, and bring collaborators Jason Metcalf and Dan Thomas in to talk about the beauty of musical collaborations, especially in dub, and what to expect at their Dec 28th concert.

Monte and Kaliis discuss their favorite seasonal movies, including a controversial pick with their director Tony Dunne, and look over the photos they received after asking for the best local light displays.

Christopher “Monte'' Belmonte is host and executive producer of NEPM's The Fabulous 413. He was born and raised in Massachusetts and has been a radio host in western Massachusetts for the last 20 years — the last 17 of them as host of Mornings with Monte on The River 93.9/WRSI.
Kaliis Smith is a radio host and producer for NEPM's The Fabulous 413. She was most recently host and producer at The River 93.9/WRSI where she appeared on Mornings with Monte for the Nerdwatch segment and hosted weekday evenings.