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May 9, 2025: Return to musics

Music is the food of active minds, and that’s just science. Plus, Fridays are typically the time that The Fabulous 413 gets its music on, so we’re excited to meet those for whom a musical journey is just beginning.

We head to STEM Middle Academy with Rachel Rivard and Carolyn Dufresne of the Community Music School of Springfield (CMSS) to check out the 6th grade woodwind band, one of the classes that participate in the Sonido Musica program and benefit from the Play It Forward Drive. We hear from the students and teachers on the greatly positive impacts of having music in the curriculum.

Then, for Live Music Friday, a western Mass. fixture makes a pivot in sound and a change in lineup to reinvent itself for a wider sonic perspective. Splendid Torch has risen from the bones of Mamma’s Marmalade with their latest album, “Icon,” for which you can join their release celebration tonight at The Drake in Amherst.

Plus, if you were also heartbroken at the departure of our Hampden County wine friend Michael Quinlan, you’re in for a treat with the cameo in today’s wine Thunderdome at State Street Fruit Store.

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.