Article

OPENING VOLLEY: MAZZEO SUPPORTER UNLOADS ON TYER

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY AUG. 19, 2019) — Not if but when. National and local campaigns have an inverse relationship. Nationally, as we learned the day after Donald Trump became president, campaigns never end. If you’re serious about national office, you become a full-time huckster wheezling endlessly […]

Read More
Article

WOODSTOCK 50th MANIA AND A PITTSFIELD BAND CALLED ‘THE QUARRY’

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION AUG. 16-18, 2019) — The 50th anniversary of the Woodstock festival praise be has been thrust upon us. You may have heard about it.  Many of you might also know that a band from Pittsfield, Mass., The Quarry, played the most […]

Read More
Article

CAMPAIGN ’19: ‘IT’S QUIET OUT THERE … TOO QUIET’

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY AUG. 14, 2019) — As we approach late summer and early fall, THE PLANET will be sharing periodic coverage of Campaign ’19. In this semi-annual dog-and-pony show, the corner office (four years), council, city clerk, and school committee will be up for grabs. […]

Read More
Article

EPSTEIN’s DEATH: WAS IT AN INSIDE HIT?

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY AUG. 12, 2019) — THE PLANET‘s not buying the “suicide” of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, he of the billionaire lifestyle and friends among the crème de la creeps. Officials found Epstein “unresponsive” in his cell at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Facility. The shocker […]

Read More
Article

THE A-BOMBINGS OF HIROSHIMA, NAGASAKI: A STAIN ON THE NATIONAL CONSCIENCE

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION AUG. 9-11, 2019) — THE PLANET deliberately introduced the previous column (“Shoot Everybody”) with a reference to the “unnecessary” bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We did so to counter the prevailing view that contemporary circumstance justified Truman’s decision to drop the […]

Read More
Article

A MODEST PROPOPSAL: JUST SHOOT EVERYBODY

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY AUG. 7, 2019) — The 74th anniversary+1 of the day of the United States needlessly dropping an A bomb at Hiroshima (prefacing an even more heinous “event” three days later at Nagasaki), instantly vaporizing half a million innocent civilians, seems a precipitous time […]

Read More
Article

POP-POP, THUMP-THUMP … 12 HOURS … EL PASO-DAYTON … SOULS CRINGE AND PLOT

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY AUG. 5, 2019) — Pop-pop-pop-pop-poppoppopopopop. Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thumpthumpthumpthump. And just like that, in just 12 hours and an action-time of maybe five minutes in the United States of Amnesia, 29 innocent people were gunned down and 52 shot and wounded. Pop, pop … fizz, fizz […]

Read More
Article

A LITTLE TRAVELING MUSIC, SAM: A GLIMPSE OF ‘INSIDE BASEBALL’ AT PV

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, AUG. 2-4, 2019) — A formal welcome to August and the weekend. THE PLANET‘s review of a play’s out-of-state production was served, as most readers realized, with the “comments” feature suspended. This produced several reactions, mostly good, with several contacting us […]

Read More
Article

‘DAMN YANKEES’ AT SYRACUSE ONCENTER: SMALL IS BIG

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (ED. NOTE: For this column, THE PLANET is suspending comments for obvious reasons. This review of Damn Yankees is not for a local staging but for a production now under way in Syracuse, N.Y., where, incidentally, this site has gathered a following. Our normal comment component returns […]

Read More
Article

DEMS WILL LOSE IF THEY KEEP PLAYING THE RACE CARD … plus … RELATED GUEST COLUMN

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 29, 2019) — THE PLANET steps aside today for this guest column from John McWhorter. We occasionally publish guest columns not because we agree or disagree with the content but because they are reasonably well written and contain arguments pertaining to relevant […]

Read More
Article

LETTERS TO THE PLANET: DOING BUSINESS IN PITTSFIELD, AND MUCH MORE

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 26-28, 2019) — We open to the weekend by cleaning out some files, including letters sent in that for one reason or another weren’t used — the Sophie Tucker dilemma: So much to do, so little time to do it […]

Read More
Article

TRUMP ‘s 2020 INVINCIBILITY: THE JESTONS MEET THE DEATH STAR

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 24, 2019) — Given the campaign inactivity thus far, several have been asking THE PLANET if November’s mayoral election is too early to call in favor of Tyer. Short answer: A qualified yes, which we shall expound upon in a future column. […]

Read More
Article

‘ALL GOD’s CHILLEN’ BE RACISTS’ … or … WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ‘LOVE ONE ANOTHER?’

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 22, 2019) — He’s a racist, she’s a racist, all God’s chillen’ be racist. That does seem to be the most presently fashionable epithet, a form of political upchucking. Let’s see. Alexandria Occasional-Cortex (D-Lipstick) says Nancy Pelosi is a racist. Nancy Pelosi […]

Read More
Article

HEY, PSSSSSST! YEAH YOU!! WANNA BUY A MALL, CHEAP?

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 19-21, 2019) — The Town of Lanesboro expressed relief after the sale of the Berkshire Mall. The new owner, Durga Property Holdings, paid back taxes owed by previous owner Mehan Kohanesieh. Win-Win-Win, right? Possibly, and we hope so, but looking […]

Read More
Article

THE SAGA OF HARRY CHANDLER: FOUGHT, SOUGHT, AND CAUGHT

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 17, 2019) — Let’s see. There’s Spud Chandler, former flinger for the New York Yankees; Albert “Happy” Chandler, former commissioner of baseball; Gene Chandler, the Duke of Earl; Don Chandler, punter extraordinaire for the New York Football Giants; and Raymond Chandler, writer […]

Read More
Article

PITTSFIELD’s MAYORAL RACE: THE DABBLERS, THE DILLITANTES, AND THE REAL DEAL

BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 15, 2019) — Open season during a campaign year falls between early April and late July, when nomination papers can be had for the asking. The meaning of this civic ink-blot test clarifies when papers have to be filed on deadline, determining […]

Read More